Neal Rubin writes in the Detroit News: "Anywhere else, it's a speed bump. When the race track starts coming apart in Detroit, it's a disaster."
He added: "As these words spill out and I pause occasionally to slam my forehead against the keyboard, the race is on hold and ABC is scrambling to fill air time, sticking microphones in the faces of a bunch of wiry gentlemen in fire suits."
Despite the red-flag delay to repair the track mid-race, Grand Prix organizer Roger Penske said overall the event was a success.
"I was thrilled for the weekend," Penske said Monday. "When you look at the number of people who traveled to Belle Isle and the Isle is jewel...we had great racing and I'm sorry we had to have a delay. I think we had some lessons learned there and, to me, I think people were happy. It was a deliverable that I wanted. We showcased our city in a very positive way."
But as great as the weekend may have been, otherwise, the race delay caused by poor track conditions became the story of the 2012 Detroit Grand Prix.
Potholes and grooves that recently were filled with synthetic rubber became exposed during Sunday's race, and crews had to filled the gaps with epoxy that settled enough for the race to resume after a two-hour delay. Scheduled for 90 laps, the race was shortened to 60.
Jalopnik: "Indy's return to Detroit's Belle Isle course was supposed to be another signal of the rebirth of the American automaker. Instead, it's just been a reminder of Detroit's failing infrastructure and Indy's inability to make anything outside of the Indy 500 remotely interesting.
"Race organizers patched up the cracks in the road with a filler that, it seems, couldn't survive a weekend of racing abuse and started coming up earlier in the race. The Grand Prix was allowed to continue until Hinchcliffe hit a chunk and lost his steering, causing him to kiss the tires."
Penske acknowledged the problem Monday and promised an improved race course for 2013.
Interestingly, the Free Press, unlike other media outlets, found inspiration in the snafu: The headline on its web story read: "When Kid Rock said it rocked, well, it did, until it suddenly came apart at the seams, only to be restitched and resalvaged, like the city of Detroit's pride and industry are slowly being rebuilt."
