Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Something Other Than FIA/FOTA for Once

Good news, no news, and bad news in the world of Formula One. I'll start from the bottom end and move up, because that'll leave you all feeling good and you'll have forgotten the not-so-good stuff.

The bad news is that another major manufacturer is ditching F1 in the interest of saving the parent company some cash. Following Honda through the revolving door is the Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiellgemeinschaft -- or BMW, if you're a normal person who isn't me. Like Honda, the chief reason for the withdrawal from F1 after 10 years of competition as an engine builder and full manufacturer is money. There is also the fact that the results have not been good for the Bimmer squad this season and, apart from Australia, where Kubica collided out of third in a tussle with Vettel, the BMW's have gotten very little airtime.

All of this strikes me as somewhat ironic, considering BMW was one of the manufacturers opposing the 40 million-Euro budget cap, and now they're withdrawing for financial considerations. Oops.

Meanwhile at the AEK Hospital in Budapest, not much news has come out of Felipe Massa's room since it was revealed he was awake, moving and talking. From all indications a couple of days ago, Massa will at least be alive and able to function as a normal human being from now forward, but the condition of his left eye (the one where the spring hit him) is unknown. Knowing Felipe's competitive spirit, he's going to want back into his Ferrari as soon as possible. However, if his left eye got beat up in the collision or scratched by his fractured skull, his racing career could very well be over. More to come, for sure.

The good news of the day, whether you like the man or not, is that Formula 1's most prolific champion is planting himself back in a Ferrari. Over a dozen people had been listed as "possible" by various media sources as seat-fillers for the injured Brazilian, but the most intriguing "possible" was officially announced today as Ferrari's second driver for the forseeable future: Michael Schumacher.

Naturally, everyone and their mothers are going to write Schumi in as their predicted winner for the rest of time. Let's not jump to conclusions, though; Schumi hasn't tested the latest Ferrari, even though he's probably had input into it. He hasn't driven a race since 2006. Most importantly, he hasn't driven with the new aero package, bald tires, or without traction control since the mid-'90s. Besides which, his teammate Raïkkönen is still a spectacular driver and there are still many good drivers on other good teams to deal with (Hamilton, Button, Vettel, etc.). I won't write in Schumi as a winner until I see the red car with the red helmet cross the line in P1.

Oh, and in one of the more perplexing overreactions of all time, Renault has been excluded from the Valencia GP for failing to properly attach a wheel to Alonso's car during a pit stop. The wheel came off and the FIA bosses probably had visions of Henry Surtees' freak accident the week before running through their heads when they made the decision. The major problem? Fernando Alonso, who essentially sells out the two Spanish rounds of the World Championship all by himself, won't be competing in the race. Spaniards are experts at throwing insults at people they don't like (see: Lewis Hamilton), and there are a lot of people regretting the amount of money they spent in order to NOT see their hero race. Wouldn't have expected any less from the FIA.

Renault and the FIA will have four weeks to battle this out in court, as F1 is on their summer break. Haulers move into Valencia on August 20, and the cars grid up and go on the 23rd.

Update!
Felipe Massa, according to reports, was up and about in his hotel room earlier today. No news has been passed along in a while about his left eye, but judging by the optimism shown by everyone quoted in the article, no news is good news in this case. Apparently, Felipe also asked if he would be fit to race by the Valencia round....ohhh, those race car drivers.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Fim de Semana Difícil para Brasil...


Or, for those who speak English and are frustrated when reading Tweets from Kanaan, Moraes, or Barichello, "Difficult Weekend for Brazil"

I'll start with the most significant event of the weekend: Felipe Massa's Saturday qualifying incident at the Hungaroring. Not only was the victim of this completely freak occurrence a native of Brazil, but the car that shed the 1-kilo steel spring was piloted by a Brazilian. By all indications, it looks like Felipe will emerge from this in relatively one piece -- pretty good for someone who suffered a frontal skull fracture, a basal skull fracture (which is the injury that has claimed the lives of many drivers of old), a concussion and a good-sized laceration on his forehead.

Judging by this photo (not for the faint of heart), if the spring had hit Felipe about two inches lower, we may be writing his obituary today. It's also pretty obvious that, in spite of his woozy condition, Felipe clearly understands that his life was nearly ended that moment. His good eye looks like that of a man who went a few rounds with ManBearPig or something.

Fellow Brazilian Rubens Barichello, who surely feels a level of misplaced guilt for driving the car that fired the errant spring, has begun calls for research into making this racing thing safer. Unfortunately, it is situations like this and like that of Henry Surtees last week that lead to innovations in safety to prevent issues in the future.

MEANWHILE

The IndyCar Series race in Edmonton, while being duller than a box of rocks after all of the rocks have been emptied out, continued the weekend's theme of "let's see how much trouble Brazilians can get in".

On the first lap, (Brazilian) Rafa Matos was punted off the track when Mike Conway was squeezed between Rafa and (Brazilian) Tony Kanaan going into the first turn. Moments later, Paul Tracy tried a bit of an optimistic move in the little purpose-built portion of the mostly-airport circuit and punted (Brazilian) teammate Mario Moraes onto the grass and out of the race. Tracy, who has apparently jumped on the Danica bunnies-and-rainbows train, admitted fault for the incident, but also said that it might be good for Mario to be on the wrong end of one of these ridiculous incidents.

The only exciting thing that happened in the entire race happened to catch (Brazilian) Tony Kanaan out and end his race. Kanaan, who has fallen victim to a suspension breakage at one of the fastest points at the Speedway and a pit barbecue at Milwaukee, got splashed with fuel once again and got torched (video HERE). This was an extremely scary fire as far as pit fires go, but Kanaan did a smart thing here: in the post-BBQ interview, he admitted that he knew he was covered in ethanol and knew that the car was about to light up like a broken propane tank, but he stayed in the car to get it away from his pit crew before the fire broke out. Props also to be given to the Ganassi and Penske crews, who jumped into the fray with buckets and hoses and extricated Kanaan from his car.

Oh and, because of his association as a fellow South American, Columbian Juan Pablo Montoya snatched defeat from the jaws of victory at the Artist-Formerly-Known-As-The Brickyard 400 by supposedly speeding on the pit lane after flat-out dominating The Speedway. The only man to pilot three different types of car in anger at The Speedway was well-clear of the field and on his way to embarrassing the NASCAR establishmet by being a 500 winner to meet success in stock car oval racing when the penalty fell. There's always next year...

Monday, July 20, 2009

Finally, News!

Okay, it's not necessarily good news -- at least not in my opinion -- but I think it does help clear up a question or two regarding the leadership of the Speedway.

Curt Cavin broke the news this afternoon that, as of a week from now, Joie Chitwood will no longer be president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Unlike the "resignation" of Tony George, this decision was entirely a voluntary one because, instead of being the head of one track, Chitwood will now be VP of many racetracks. The job he will be taking will be Vice President of Operations for International Speedway Corporation; he'll be well-suited to his new job since he helped ISC with the construction of Chicagoland Speedway.

So, after five years of Chitwood's leadership (which was fantastically good, by the way), who steps in to fill the void? Well, everyone's been talking up former Charlotte/Lowe's Motor Speedway president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, his recent unemployment, and his recent visit to the Indianapolis 500. Many have thought he might take over as some sort of leader within the league. Now, though, there is an opening for a job pretty much exactly the same as the one Wheeler held for 40 years. He's old, so he's not a long-term solution, but he'd be a good fit for at least the next five years or so.

Thank goodness there's a race this weekend...I'm getting bored over here.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Review: Honda Indy Toronto

What a ridiculous, astounding bit of racing that was. There was passing, there was drama, there was more drama, and there were incomprehensible acts that left spectators and racers alike scratching their heads.

First off, let's talk about the home team, eh? Alex Tagliani, from nearby Quebec, kept himself near the front of the field while Dario Franchitti ran around in the lead for a while. Dario eventually ran off to pit lane and Tags led the race pretty convincingly for a good piece of time. After pit stops and some untimely yellows, Tags was mired back in the field, where he ended up trying to divebomb past Tomas Scheckter, who was in the process of passing a damaged Mario Moraes, and all three cars ended up stuck next to the tire barriers. Tags earned himself a pair of gloves from Tomas, who channeled his inner Roy Halladay to hurl a fireproof nomex fastball at the #34's cockpit.

Ontarian Paul Tracy, former two-time winner at Exhibition Place, was blindingly quick and made some of the wildest and bravest passing moves to be seen on the track today. Unfortunately, a pass for second on Helio Castroneves ended something like this:


Neither driver would give complete fault to the other, but the local fans made it pretty obvious what they thought of the incident: Helio was showered with boos for maybe the first time in his life and the boos got louder every time the video was shown to the fans. Tracy kept his cool, though, shook hands with Helio, and will move on to Edmonton with the knowledge that he at least had a really fast car today.

One of the more perplexing cases of the day was that of E.J. Viso and Mario Moraes. Moraes, who I mentioned had been previously damaged when Tagliani and Scheckter tangled with him, got his damage when Viso shut the door on him going into Turn 3 and clipped Moraes' wing. After the race was over, as the cars were cooling down on Lake Shore Drive, Moraes apparently had the red lenses on or simply wasn't thinking and he speared Viso into the wall going just-about-full speed. Moraes has become a complete nuisance on the track at this point in the season; if Brian Barnhart does not come down on him hard, then perhaps Barnhart isn't the person to run the series.

In other Barnhart news, Dario Franchitti may have been gifted the win by a completely baffling decision that had Jimmy Vasser in a complete outrage before the slightly destroyed state of his car became issue #1. Frachitti was on his way into the pits and had already committed to the pits when a yellow came out. Franchitti wasn't penalized, which is just fine, but he was given his position on the racetrack back in front of Paul Tracy. So let's see here: Franchitti went into the pits, ended up behind PT after all was said and done, then was given his position back for no discernible reason. Shortly thereafter, Tracy is trying to pass Helio to catch up with Dario and is knocked out of the race, which Dario goes on to win. SERIOUSLY, WTF?!

Oh, and blogosphere Canadian Bureau Chief MeeshBeer reported via Twitter that E.J. Viso had a bit of a run-in with Rafa Matos after all was said and done. Not sure what happened there, but it's just another bit of drama from a drama-filled event.

OH! I almost forgot to mention: there was passing! It seemed like every pass came with brake-locking and power-sliding and if someone wasn't passing someone else, they were at least taking a look at a pass. As I said, Paul Tracy was a star of the side-by-side driving, but it was happening throughout the field.

My picks were middling at best. Will Power, who easily had the drive of the day -- suffered a flat tire on the wing of Graham Rahal coming to the green flag, went to the back of the pack, managed his way back through the field -- took home a very impressive third. Justin Wilson putzed around mid-pack for a while before finding his way forward again and finishing a respectable fifth. I've already covered Tagliani, and Rafa Matos ended up in a very quiet 10th. Danica actually ended up in the top ten, but that may have been a product of the fact that 8 cars were behind the wall when the checkered flag fall.

Next race is in a fortnight (I love it when I get to use that word) in Edmonton at the City Centre Airport. See you then!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Yellow Shirt Preview: Honda Indy Toronto


For the first time in the history of the IndyCar Series and the first time since 2007, when the Champ Car World Series made its swansong tour, open-wheel racers will be taking to the streets of Exhibition Place Toronto.

Street circuits are an interesting case, for the most part; many of them go for only a few years become they either become financially unreasonable or garner complaints from those whose city streets get shut down for a week every year. Toronto is one of the notable exceptions to this rule, having hosted motor racing since 1986. Before that, open-wheelers -- including Formula One -- raced on the undulating Mosport Park in nearby Bowmanville. Mosport, despite being one of those truly classic road courses, with sweeping corners and massive elevation changes, was considered too fast and dangerous for the light, turbocharged CART cars and they left that facility.

A slower, more accessible facility was devised at Exhibition Place, a convention facility on the shores of Lake Ontario, and Bobby Rahal took victory. One of the interesting things about this track's longevity is that many IRL drivers who began their careers in CART/Champ Car have already seen this track and, even though the cars are vastly different, will have a good idea of the nuances of the track itself. That list includes: Will Power, Paul Tracy, Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Graham Rahal, Alex Tagliani, Justin Wilson, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Robert Doornbos, and Tony Kanaan. On top of that, Danica Patrick took a turn around this track when she drove for Bobby Rahal in the Toyota Atlantic series. This means that, even though some drivers might be familiar with this track, the one with the best car balance and best idea of how their car will behave on this track will be the winner.

On that note, who will be the drivers to look out for?


Winner: Will Power. Okay, I just like cheering for Power because of his awkward situation with Team Penske. I also like cheering for him because of the fantastic paint job on the car. Apart from the sponsor decals, the car is painted identically to Al Unser's 1987 Indianapolis winner. Oh, and Will happened to win the last race on this track with KV Racing's Champ Car in 2007. He's one of six drivers who ran that 2007 race and he's in the best equipment out of those six. Yellow Penske car, for the win!


Dark Horse: Justin Wilson. Yes, yes, I know, he won the race last week and he should really be one of the favorites here. The only reason I keep Justin down here in dark horse land is because of the team he drives for. It took Dale Coyne well over 500 races to pick up his first victory and I don't know that he can hold back the better cars in this one. Everything I'm saying is probably entirely wrong, but I stand by it: I think Will Power has a much better shot at victory.


Co-Ninja Dark Horse: Rafael Matos and Alex Tagliani. It's getting to be high time that Luczo Dragon Racing finds itself some victory lane-type success. They started out as a sort of subsidiary of Team Penske, gained plenty of experience with good equipment, then plugged in a talented rookie into the car; they've shown signs of brilliance, let's see if they can make it happen.
MEANWHILE, somebody's gotta fly the Maple Leaf in Toronto, even if he's from Quebec. Tagliani has been reasonably fast and, as I watch the time sheets in qualifying, he is impressing there as well. This would be a fantastic thing for Conquest Racing if Tags could pull it off.

Danica Watch: Don't even bother watching. When ABC showers us with coverage of Danica rolling around in 15th, read a book or something. She will not be of any concern when the race rolls around, and that's that.

Race starts at 1PM in the east, 10 on the left coast. Grab yourself a couple shots of Segrams, crank on some Rush, and be there for racing, Ontario-style!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Charm City Grand Prix in 2011?


As someone who frequented the Charm City, Baltimore, just about every summer in the '90s to watch the Orioles play in their spectacular ballpark, I just had to sit up and listen when the news was broken that a group is planning to bring the IRL to the Inner Harbor in 2011.

The group who brought the plan to the city's government is called Baltimore Racing Development. BRD has already come up with a full-on proposal (which can be found in pieces on the sidebar HERE) which has already been brought under serious consideration by not only the City of Baltimore, but the Maryland state government.

According to reports:

Maryland's interest is serious enough that Terry Hasseltine, director of the state's office of sports marketing, traveled to St. Petersburg in April to observe the "Streets of St. Petersburg" race.

"The stands were packed around every corner. People were just buzzing throughout the area," Hasseltine said. "There had to be at least 110,000 on that final day."

Hasseltine said the Baltimore event could draw 40,000 to 70,000 people a day before the final race. By comparison, he said, "The Preakness is a one-day activity."


One of the folks you would expect to be most against this plan, the city councilman who represents that bit of Baltimore, seems to be pretty well behind it. His only concern is the impact of noise on residents who live not-too-far from the proposed track, and that's a pretty simple thing to fix.

A good, detailed report from the Baltimore Sun, with an embedded video from the local CBS affiliate, can be found HERE.

If this race goes off two years from now, count me in on the spectator list!

Update!

For those too lazy to click all the links and such, here's a map of the track included in the BRD proposal. I think they have the turn markers mixed up; from what I'm reading, Turn 1 would be the hairpin between Oriole Park and M&T Bank Stadium.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Review: MotoGP United States Grand Prix


Okay, so I predicted that this race would be a classic -- a battle of epic proportions between Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. Turned out I was not only wrong, but entirely disappointed in the way the race turned out.

Some back story: Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa were teammates on the Repsol Honda team for a decent bit of time. Nicky was a good, successful rider and he had been putting a pretty good amount of pressure on the invincible Rossi for some years, finally culminating in a superb championship of the top class of motorcycle racing in 2006. During that season, though, the first signs of unrest began to appear: in the penultimate round, Pedrosa had a massive brain fade under braking and took out Hayden, resulting in Hayden needing a miracle mistake by Rossi in the last race to clinch the title. Pedrosa, being a young Spanish star, was embraced by the Honda bosses after he outpaced Hayden in 2007. In 2008, the Honda was obviously better-suited to Pedrosa and, mid-season without giving Hayden a similar choice, Pedrosa was switched to the dominant Bridgestone tires. Hayden also pointed out that, if a newer, better part were developed, Pedrosa got it on his bike and Nicky, former World Champion, wasn't even given the option -- Honda was obviously trying to drive Hayden out by showing Pedrosa preferential treatment.

Fast forward to July 5, 2009, and Hayden is holding down the bottom of the top ten with a Ducati that he still hasn't entirely gotten used to. In the meantime, Pedrosa immediately shot to the lead from the second row on the start with a pretty impressive move around the outside. From there on, he only had to look back once: when Rossi managed to catch him up and nearly pass him on the final turn of the final lap. In the meantime, Rossi had to deal with teammate Lorenzo, who was quite racy in spite of separating his shoulder on a wicked high-side wreck Saturday.

The home team brought in the fifth (Hayden) and seventh (Edwards) finishing spots -- neither really had a shot at the win, but a solid run for each rider.

Given the situation regarding Hayden's divorce from Honda, a manufacturer he had represented successfully and with dignity for a decade in AMA and MotoGP, I was not too thrilled to see Pedrosa cross the line in first. I don't really know much about his personality or what he's like away from the track, but it was a disgrace that took place between he and Honda, and Nicky. He's really the only rider I never want to see win a race.

MotoGP will putz around Germany, Britain, and the Czech Republic before returning across the pond to take on the greatest race course in the world: the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I hope to make it there and support my local speedway by putting one ticket's-worth of money into their bank.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Pseudo-Live Blog: Camping World Grand Prix

I am definitely not watching auto racing until the last possible moment right now. There is an epically FANTASTIC tennis match happening at Wimbledon right now, and I dunno if I want to turn it....I will though in a minute or so.

Lap 2
Tennis match over (finally). Roger Federer is the Roger Penske of grand slam tennis matches: 15 victories. Briscoe leading from Wilson (!).

Lap 3
Replay shows I missed stuff already. Matos and Hunter-Reay. No mo race for RHR, it seems. Very well-timed IZOD commercial...YOU'RE DRIVER JUST WRECKED. Highlight of Roger Penske's 100th victory...narrated by Paul Page, which makes me miss him more.

Lap 4
Justin Wilson...TO THE LEEEAAAD! I completely missed that because commercials = me not paying attention.

Lap 5
Marco slow on the escape road with a not-happy tire. Awkward 180 needed to get him pointed the right way. Replay shows collision with Viso...Andretti whining forthcoming.

Lap 7
Ryan Hunter-Reay says the whole field slowed up and he had nowhere to go but up Matos' butt. Wilson ready to lap Marco.

Lap 8
THREE WIDE down the straight! Marco causing many issues, but Wilson and Briscoe finally through. Wilson runs away now that the traffic is gone.

Lap 9
Rahal to the pits. Fuel strategery by the Newman/Haas/Lanigan team. Moraes can't get a lap on Andretti, sho is probably going to kill someone by holding up traffic.

Lap ???
We're in a local break, so I have no idea what's going on. However, Chicagoland Speedway just did a commercial and their one IRL clip was Danica interspersed amongst many NASCAR highlights. Subliminal messaging? Probably.

Lap 12
Moraes finally past Marco. Lost SIX seconds on the leaders thanks to the petulant Andretti.

Lap 13
Danica mention #1 of the day. She's waaaay back in 11th, not having fun. Paul Tracy is wobbly in 12th.

Lap 14
Paul Tracy in to get some magic worked on his front nose. Wilson and Briscoe holding station at the front of the field.

Lap 15
Who Wants to Be A Millionaire is back! The show that rescued game shows and sparked an Oscar-winning movie...BACK!

Lap 18
Wheldon into the pit. I'm wondering if Briscoe is waiting for pit stops to get past Wilson...Penske's crew is kinda better than Coyne's...

Lap 19
Wilson IN THE PITS. 8.7 seconds -- verrrry good. How will the black tires work against Ryan's last few laps on the reds. Danica and Helio in and out as well.

Lap 20
Antinucci spins, brings out full-course caution. Briscoe...pits? He needed fuel. Wilson will likely grab the lead when Briscoe and Moraes come in for tires. Yellows after pit stops on ovals: bad. Yellows after pit stops on roadies: VERY good.

Lap 21
PIT STOPS (for most drivers). Briscoe out at the top of the field of those who pitted. Most everyone else stayed in order on the way out.

Lap 23
We are...GREEN! Wilson followed by....MIKE CONWAY! and....GRAHAM RAHAL!!! I love road racing. Rahal takes second into the bus stop aaaaand Dario Franchitti is in the dirt...I think he might've been helped a bit. YELLOW!

Lap 24
So Moraes divebombed Ed Carpenter, breaking at least one of those cars, then Dario just kinda...spun behind him. Not really sure how that happened.

Lap 25
More strategery as Rahal hits the pits. Franchitti grabs some spiffy new tires. Moraes' car apparently healthy...but he should get a drive through from race control for that DUMB move. Update! he did get the drive through...and his wheel is wobbly.

Lap 26
GREEN GREEN GREEN! Wilson really jumps the heck out of that start and leads Conway and Mutoh through the hills of upstate NY.

Lap 27
MAJOR airtime for Dad's Root Beer (which is actually quite good). Good work for the ginger-Englishman-F3-Champ.

Lap 28
Dan Wheldon having some serious time with Helio's mirrors. Looks like only a matter of time before that pass comes off...and as I say that, it does. Moraes back in the pits for tires and a quick look at the left front.

Lap 30
YELLOW! Paul Tracy sitting against the wall minus a rear wing. Got majorly loose coming out of the toe of the boot and ripped it up.

Lap 32
Graham Rahal apparently not too thrilled with some of the blocking from teammate Bobby D. Pulled up during the yellow and gave a little wave to say something along the lines of, "I'm having a fine day. How are you?"

Lap 33
Strategery! Carpenter and Franchitti into the pits. Too bad for them they're both a lap down.

Lap 34
GREEN! Conway holds on a bit better this time, but Wilson still far and away a better restart. The rest of the field may be calling for an airstrike to catch Justin up.

Lap 35
Vince Welch tells us that red tires = 18-20 laps. As the Pressdog would say: "viewing enhanced".

Lap 40
We've been in a bit of a road course-style fuel conservation parade for a while. Perhaps the wick will be cranked up if we get a couple more yellows and no one has to save fuel.

Lap 41
Helio looked for a pass on Wheldon, but wisely backed off going into the bus stop. We could really use that "push-to-pass" on this track...PIT STOPS!

Lap 42
Wilson nearly stalled in the pits, but caught it and escaped ahead of Conway. Danica nearly caught Wheldon coming out of the pits...Time to watch Helio, Briscoe, and Dixon and see how long they last before pitting.

Lap 43
Helio in. Briscoe to the lead. Dixon and Kanaan behind him.

Lap 44
Dixon to the lead as Briscoe and Kanaan hit the pits. ABC is not telling us the order in which these people come out of the pits...viewing not enhanced.

Lap 45
Wilson out ahead of Dixon. Briscoe THROUGH on Dixon. Helio and Conway all over the rear wing of the #9. Somehow or another, the lead belongs to...Marco Andretti?!

Lap 46
Wilson cycles back to the lead as Andretti pits He was a lap down earlier, by the way. Red cars all over the place a second or so behind Wilson.

Lap 48
Back from the full-screen ad break. Wilson still holding onto the lead. Camera in Danica's footwall watching her work the pedals?! Viewing DEFINITELY enhanced!

Lap 50
Do I hear "Jaws" music? The amount of grey asphalt is shrinking between Castroneves and Wilson...massive five-car battle forthcoming? STAY TUNED! (ironically, I just flipped the channel to avoid watching a GoDaddy ad...)

Lap 51
50 down, 10 to go! By the way, I've been fudging up Helio and Briscoe for a while now...Briscoe is in second, Helio in fourth. Marty Reid gives us the David vs Goliath analogy (finally).

Lap 52
Briscoe is definitely catching up, but Wilson seems to hold it at 1 second and....YELLOW! Mutoh loses the car at the exit of Turn 7. Jaws music playing REALLY LOUD for Wilson now.

Lap 53
Firestone commercial: good. IZOD commercial: bad. Seriously, time for a new approach, IZOD. I did manage to get three pairs of socks from an IZOD outlet for $5 yesterday...that's not too bad.

Dale Coyne is very bad at masking nervousness...can't say as I blame him in this situation. Roger Penske has the "this is the thousandth time I've been in this position" look about him.

Lap 55
GREEN! Wilson runs FAAAARRRR away on the restart. In-freakin'-credible! Dixon now putting mad pressure on Briscoe through the Boot and Wilson disappears into the distance.

Lap 56
Dario Franchitti dive-bombing the wrong way through the order. Viso AND Kanaan past him on the backstretch. Briscoe's car is not happy in Turn 7.

Lap 57
Wilson nearly FOUR SECONDS clear of Briscoe now. Dixon really wants by Briscoe here, but I don't think either of them have anything for Wilson. Somewhere at the Glen, Meesh is smiling...

Lap 58
Incredible business for Dale Coyne Racing and Justin Wilson. Briscoe is definitely holding up the queue here. Airtime for Stefan Wilson, brother of Justin.

Lap 59
Two to go! FOUR AND A HALF SECONDS between Wilson and Briscoe. Unbeeeeeeelievable!

Lap 60
White flag! A volcano needs to open at the bus stop to stop this train!

Checkered Flag!
First-ever win for Dale Coyne Racing! Many kudos to Justin Wilson of a fantasmical victory! Briscoe, Dixon, Castroneves, Andretti, Conway, Viso (!), Kanaan, Doornbos, Wheldon wrap up the top 10.

It says something that, once the green came back out near the end, the gap between Wilson and everyone else grew EVERY LAP. What an amazing drive for the tall man.

Wilson, gentlemanly as ever in his victory speech. Major hug time for Dale Coyne and his wife. Good stuff all around for the Coyne guys...Sonny's BBQ and Z-Line Furniture party for all! Dale himself very happy, after coming here for a Super-Vee race back in the day and being a major team owner since 1990 and finally grabbing victory.

My picks: don't mess with me! My dark horse won, my ninja dark horse got some major second-place time before falling back on pit stops, my winner finished third because he was held up by Briscoe. Danica...finished 11th; that one was a bit wrong, but whatever...road racing in these monstrosities is not her thing.

IndyCar circus flies over Niagra falls to the shores of Lake Ontario. Exhibition Place Toronto, former playplace of the Champ Cars, will be the site of our next street circus and perhaps our next surprise winner

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Late Night Double Preview Extravaganza!

All sorts of fantasticness tomorrow afternoon to commemorate the 233rd anniversary of our independence on America's twisty tracks from the warm, wooded mountains of the East to the cool, wind-swept hills of the West. I'm here to give you a rundown of what I'm looking for in the two headliners.

Yellow Shirt Preview: Camping World Grad Prix at Watkins Glen



Thank the mighty heavens, we get to throw a little unpredictability into the series with a trip to one of America's great road racing venues.

Now, when I say unpredictability, I mean that in a relative fashion; Scott Dixon in easily the dominant driver in IndyCars on this track, but at least positions 2-4 have a chance of being someone other than a Penske or Ganassi driver. There is guaranteed to be SOME sort of passing, especially when fast drivers like Dixon, Castroneves, and perhaps Tracy are trying to find their way to the front. Sure, the field will spread out and we'll have some pretty dull portions of the race, but that's road racing and you'll have to deal with it.

As far as the venue itself: how can you argue with the history behind Watkins Glen? In 1948, the village itself hosted the first major non-oval event in America following World War II on some small roads leading up the hills to the village's west. The permanent road course was established in the '50s, and it was in 1961 when Formula One came a-knockin'. The U.S. race at the Glen was a mainstay on the Formula One calendar until 1980, and the track has also hosted a round of the NASCAR schedule for many years. IndyCar recently made its return after a long period of time where running open-wheel cars at the track was seen as too dangerous. The name "Watkins Glen" is pretty much synonymous with road racing in America and the track (with the help of some free grandstands from Nazareth Speedway) has never looked better.

My win-tastic predictions for the race:

Winner: Scott Dixon. Because, DUH! He won three in a row here from 2005-2007, and would've won his fourth in a row in '08 had he not made an uncharacteristic error warming up his tires under yellow and spun the car into Ryan Briscoe's path. Dixon is starting from the second row, has a good pit crew, and is amazing at this track. Case. Closed.

Dark Horse: Justin Wilson. Major nod to the tall guy from England, coming off of many oval races (not Dale Coyne Racing's strong suit) and back onto a few twisty tracks (DCR and Justin's VERY strong suit, as evidenced by the St. Petersburg race). Wilson wowed by putting his car in the front row next to Ryan Briscoe and, if his pit crew can keep up with the bigger teams, he can certainly keep up with the bigger drivers.

Ninja Dark Horse: Mike Conway. Why not, y'know. Big, sweep-turned, undulating-terrain, purpose-built road courses are the former British F3 champ's forte, not narrow streets or big ovals. He placed the car on the third row next to Dario Franchitti and he's certainly not wanting for driver skill. A couple of tough breaks in the early races put Conway behind the 8-ball, but he had a strong race at Iowa. Plus, it'd just be fantastic for Conway and D&R to be challenging for the front of the pack.

Danica Watch: Normally I would write Danica off on a road course, as these cars don't fit her road racing ability very well. However, when I see that she's placed her car on the inside of the fourth row, I start to think that maybe she's got something to bring to the table this week. Top five for Danica.

Race is at 1PM on ABC. Be there!

Yellow Shirt Preview: MotoGP United States Grand Prix



At the other end of the country, on a slightly less historic but no less magnificent ribbon of road draped over a couple of hills between Monterey and Salinas, California, grand prix motorcycle racing takes the U.S. by storm once again.

Seriously, I appreciate the history of Watkins Glen and I understand the setting is nice, but I dare you to find any racetrack in America -- oval or road course -- that can beat Laguna Seca when it comes to scenery. From the hill overlooking Turn 6 and the Rahal Straight, you can see the track, the fence, then a vast valley dotted with trees and houses and framed by more of the sudden, steep mountains common in that part of the world. You can walk to the other side of the same hill and see about half the track, from Turn 10, down the front stretch and through the Andretti hairpin, and through Turn 5, with the bustling paddock contained therein. A short walk away, to the crest of the next hill, you come face-to-face with one of the craziest corners in all of racing: the Corkscrew. Typed words on a blog don't begin to describe what it's like to watch a vehicle drop some 20 feet in elevation over a blind brow in a matter of a couple of seconds, but it's astounding. If you've never been to Laguna Seca, get that done; I recommend the Historic Races in August, but I bet the MotoGP/AMA weekend would be a good one as well.

As for the racing itself, it can vary. Sometimes, as with 2007, the race can be a snoozer with one rider running off with everything. Sometimes, as with 2006, the home team runs off with the victory, as Nicky Hayden was able to do in GP racing's return to Laguna Seca. Or sometimes, you can have a true classic, as with 2008 -- Rossi and Stoner dueled each other nearly to the death in the first half of the race, with the crown jewel being Rossi going Alex Zanardi-style through the dirt at the Corkscrew to take the lead.

Which type of race will this one be? My vote is going towards "Classic". The race I linked to ranks second on my list of greatest motorcycle races I've ever seen, just behind this year's race in Catalunya (video HERE...dig the Italian commentary). This all leads into my pick for the winner of this race...

Winner: Valentino Rossi. The man's just fantastic when it comes to grabbing a bike by the scruff of its neck and making it do whatever he wants. Jorge Lorenzo is just behind Rossi in terms of talent, and they're on equal equipment, but I just can't see Lorenzo taking down the 100-race-winner. Plus, Lorenzo, though he put his Yamaha on pole, had a wicked high-side wreck late in qualifying and he did not look too healthy afterwards. Lorenzo might put up a challenge, but his medical status and Rossi's sheer talent will win the day.

The Home Team: Nicky Hayden (of Owensboro, KY), and Colin Edwards (of Houston, TX). Hayden won this race on the Honda in his world championship season of 2006, but his inability to come to grips with his new Ducati has hampered him in the results department -- expect him to maybe break top ten, but not much more. Edwards' Tech3 team uses a very similar bike to the ultra-dominant Yamaha factory team and the results have been fantastic for the Texas Tornado -- a couple breaks here and there and a little home-race motivation could perhaps send Edwards to the podium.

MotoGP is at 5PM on FOX, so check that out after IRL has wrapped up and you've had a chance to knock back a few Russian Imperial Stouts.

By the way, the finish to the Artist-Formerly-Known-As-The Firecracker 400 was hilariously amazing. Kyle Busch is the most arrogant P.O.S. I've ever seen in my life. Seriously, he tries to throw a block to hold the lead a quarter-mile from the finish and ends up wrecking half the field and nearly killing himself? That scrawny punk wouldn't have lasted five-and-a-half seconds if he pulled crap like that on A.J., Parnelli, Roger, Rathmann, or Herk in the old USAC stocks. He's lucky he didn't end up wrecking Tony Stewart, who went all mature-team-owner-Tony in his victory speech.