I was just flipping through the sports options and landed on ESPN2 which is broadcasting a Grand Prix (I think race). They spoke about someone being penalized for using "power to pass" in a previous race. I didn't understand a) what "power to pass" is or b) what the penalty was. Can someone enlighten me?

Thanks,

Skip Montanaro

If you watch a Champ Car race long enough they'll usually explain it (in fact too often). It's a button on the steering wheel that gives them the ability to add a little timing, boost or mixture (whatever the CART governing body allows) that gives the motor an extra 50 or 75 HP or so. This gives them "power to pass" so to speak. They get a fixed amount of time per race to use this "feature". Usually 60 seconds or so.

The penalty was from the previous race. Some of the cars had an electronic glitch, Champ Car told everyone not to use the PowertoPass for the rest of the race. However some of the drivers did use it, therfore the penalty.

T.C.

I personally think it's a pretty stupid feature... If you have the power, you should either be able to use it or not. Having a "boost" button like in an arcade game seems a little silly. Add to that, the need for everyone to use it or not, strikes me as iffy too. If someone had an electronic glitch, then the car failed the driver. That's racin'... Don't penalize someone else for NOT having a failure...

-Josh2

Word... They need to do it like the old boosted Porsches, with a manually variable waste-gate. You can crank the boost all you want, but don't be surprised if it goes boom! That would require the driver to know a thing or two about what the car's telling him. "Power to Pass" is just a marketing gimick, and, yes, it's very video gameish. My $.02
Mark D.

Theoretically, I can see this being useful for eliminating 'blocking'. So you get less effect from other people being in the way. You pass quickly and minimize the effect. Emphasis on the word 'theoretically', because it would be ripe for abuse and very difficult to enforce.