Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Tuesday Ramblings

Randy B. with JMV

Randall Bernard, no matter what your opinion of him is, certainly tries to get things done. He put on a fine 15-minute interview on The Ride with JMV on 1070 The Fan yesterday (Go HERE and scroll down -- and feel free to stop on the Vince Welch interview while you're at it). Mr. Bernard drops that four-letter word that starts with "F" that used to be taboo at the IRL offices ("fans") on more occasions in 15 minutes than people named Barnhart and George seemingly did the entire time they've been involved. The new fearless leader seems to be of the mind that, if you cast enough lines, you'll eventually catch something.

Of note from this interview:

-The ICONIC committee does not have a final decision on chassis, but will take their final vote just before the July 14 press conference. The committee has apparently pared down the choices a bit; but that committee is tighter-lipped than the North Korean government, so we probably won't hear a darn thing until General Looney and Mr. Bernard step up to the mic.

-ABC's people have given the a-OK on an 11AM start for the Indianapolis 500, opening up the door for the $20 million-dollar, 1,100-mile double-dip. He also mentioned he's got commitments from some NASCAR guys, assuming sponsor issues can be worked around. Jeff Belskus, CEO of The Speedway, gets the final call on moving the start.

-Versus' IndyCar ratings are up a cool 35% from last season -- yes, 35% of next-to-nothing isn't much, but we'll take progress where we can get it. Unfortunately, ABC seems to be down a bit; you can go to any blog on the planet for comments on ABC's TV coverage.

-On that note, Mr. Bernard seems committed to honoring his current TV contracts: ABC through 2011 (I think) and Versus through 2018. He seems to want to work with Versus and some cable providers to get that network on more screens. He's also very interested in Versus parent company Comcast's purchase of 51% of NBC (good good good for the IRL).

Randy B. with Planet-IRL

Planet-IRL scored some quotes from Mr. Bernard during the Watkins Glen weekend. The major score was that Mr. B does not want to end the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and that he confirmed he is in talks with Las Vegas about that season-ending date. I can definitely see this deal going through, as Las Vegas is one of those unique tracks with only one Sprint Cup date (in March), so it only has a bunch of little drag racing events and short oval races for the rest of the year while a beautiful 1.5-mile oval sits there, doing nothing. I think LVMS and (let's drop this name again) Bruton Smith should be more than happy to bring in a big-time autumn race.

On a Personal Note...

The Pressdog put out a post sometime last month about supporting your favorite track, and it's a damn good message for the folks out there. I mentioned something along these lines sometime last year in regards to your local track, be it a quarter-mile of packed clay or a four-mile ribbon draped over picturesque hills.

My favorite local track happens to be home of the biggest single-day sporting event in the entire world, but it still needs all the help it can get to keep itself running for three major-league racing weekends. Therefore, as much as it may annoy some purists and IndyCar fans, I plopped $90 on the counter at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ticket office (and my buddy and his mom did as well) for a Tower Terrace ticket to the Brickyard 400. Yes, it's NASCAR, and I'm more than aware of the sort of crap that the France family has pulled on open-wheel racing throughout the years, but that's not the point.

The point is that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway gets more money to keep itself running. Even though they drive ugly cars full of 1960's technology, the NASCAR drivers understand what it means to drive and win at 16th and Georgetown and, behind the Daytona 500, any of these guys will tell you this is the race they most want to win. I'll gladly put down the cash to watch 43 guys who want it bad race on my favorite track in the world.

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