Yes, IMS Power Shakeup This Week

Official release from the Speedway HERE

The short of it is: Tony George no longer runs the Indianapolis Motor Speedway or Hulman & Co. George will remain on as a board member and will also be responsible for looking at a business plan for the Indy Racing League in order to have the thing make some money instead of hemorrhaging it.

If you want to find out more about the two fellows taking Tony's responsibilities at IMS Corp, LLC and Hulman & Co., read the article. Yeah...I've never heard of them either.

On a completely different note:
The Yellow Shirt Twitter Tracker (nowhere near as extreme as that on the Tonight Show) has Curt Cavin saying that the League is putting 300 more pounds of downforce into the cars for the ovals. Downforce = grip, grip = passing (hopefully).

IMS Power Shakeup This Week?

As Robin Miller will continually remind you until your ears bleed and fall off, he broke the news that Tony George was supposedly being thrown out of his spot by his evil conniving sisters who want to see racing as we know it fail (end-sarcasm).

Apart from being the only news source in America to have this claim, Miller is also telling us that this Tuesday, June 30, is D-Day for Tony George; he'll apparently be somehow reassigned out of his CEO-of-The-Speedway gig.

On a whole other plane, a super-secret ninja acquaintance of mine who has been part of the Indianapolis racing community for some time and has a solid list of connections is thinking that perhaps Joie Chitwood might be on his way out as the Speedway's president. I have a rather hard time believing that, since the problem is apparently the amount of the family's money that Tony is throwing into the IRL and Vision Racing.

However, based on what Robin Miller is saying and based on ninja-acquaintance's thought regarding Chitwood, here's my idea: Tony George is removed from his post as CEO of the IMS Corporation and is put into the position of IMS president as a way to have him focus on the Speedway while the IRL is put in the hands of...someone (Chitwood, Cotman, Barnhart, Humpy Wheeler...whatever). In the meantime, Vision Racing will still have access to the family bank account and perhaps have Ed Carpenter as the person at the center of that operation -- if Lauren George weren't so darn young, I'd say she'd be a good fit at that post.

The logic behind this? There is none! I'm a lowly blogger, so what do I know? However, is my wild speculation any worse than what Robin Miller does for the Speed Channel? I think not.

Review: Suntrust Indy Challenge

This picture was taken just after the end of the Suntrust Indy Challenge. That, or he just saw the Boost Mobile commercial with Danica signing fat dudes' chests. Either way, this poor li'l fella is not feelin' very good right now.

Seriously, what the hell happened to IndyCar racing? I had this race set on DVR so I could come home after my friend's birthday was over and watch the race. Unfortunately, I also fired up some of the other blogs on the interwebs and found out that this may have been the worst auto race of any kind ever.

After Scott Dixon grabbed the lead via pit stops around mid-race, I TURNED THE RACE OFF. This is the first time I haven't sat through a full IndyCar race in...I don't even know how long.

I'm tired of even trying to think of little suggestions for how Brian Barnhart can fix this. What they need to do is figure out what the spec of these cars and engines were around 2005 and just revert them all back to that. Whatever small things that were done over the past four years have finally added together to absolutely kill the IndyCar Series. If we're to have at least two more years with this formula, it needs to be solved before the races are run in front of nothing but the flies in the floodlights.

My predictions were middling this time around. The pick of Dario Franchitti as winner might've been good had he been, y'know, able to pass. Instead, his teammate Scott Dixon takes the cake once again. Dark horses Mutoh and Matos were kind of decent choices, with Hideki coming home fourth and Matos in eighth. My Danica Watch turned out to be pretty darn wrong. I'm going to have to say that's not down to her driving, though; position in this race was determined by pit work and not much else. Dixon, Franchitti, and Rahal were given their position based on some lucky breaks, while Mutoh and Patrick were given their position based on some pit strategy. Everyone else was a lap down and that was all she wrote.

One major surprise is the lack of Penske cars on track when the checkered flags flew. I'm not sure what exactly happened to them, but turn 2 was apparently not very friendly to them. Briscoe was out early with his slide and wall contact off of the second turn and Helio (from all accounts...it was after I turned the race off) did the exact same thing later on. Uncharacteristic mistakes from a couple of great drivers on a great team.

U.S. of A. is up 2-1 on Brazil right now in the Confederations Cup Final, which has turned out to be 500,000-times more interesting than the IndyCar race was. Later on today, it's tons of motorcycle racing from Donington (WSBK) and Assen (MotoGP). I'm going to try my best to simply forget about the IndyCar race...at least until Robin Miller shows up on Speed Channel later tonight.

Yellow Shirt Preview: Suntrust Indy Challenge

It's Saturday, so let's crank up the lights, fill up the stands, and have ourselves a good, old-fashioned short track race.

I'll skip the endless gushing about how great I think Richmond International Raceway is, but just understand that I think this track is just fantastic. The IRL needs -- NEEDS -- to go out into America and dig up good, unique tracks like this one. Unlike the soulless, nearly identical 1.5-milers at Chicago, Kansas, Las Vegas, and Kentucky and the slightly better but just-as-identical tracks at Texas, Charlotte, and Atlanta, there are a ton of tracks out there that are their own beast. Since the IRL is obviously trying to diversify its schedule CART-style, they need to get more unique little tracks that actually require that the driver drives the car, don'tcha know.

Tonight's race, much like the first half of the race last week at Iowa, has a chance to be rather interesting, since the teams that spend the most time in the wind tunnel won't necessarily be the teams at the front at the end. As we saw last week with omas Scheckter, the driver that feels very confident in his or her equipment can make a ton of noise on restarts and in traffic. There are some pretty good drivers lined up pretty deep in the field, so we'll see if guys like Tony Kanaan can put on a few passes and work their way toward the front.

My predictions that were spot-on last week for whatever reason:

Winner: Dario Franchitti. He was fast in practice, he was really fast in qualifying, and I see no reason to not believe that Dario will make it two-for-two on the short tracks this season. Richmond has lower banking and a shorter lap, but the layout and the style of racing is pretty similar to what we saw last week, where Dario dominated the last portion of the race.

Dark Horse: Hideki Mutoh. Hideki was very solid last week and, despite being mired back a bit in qualifying, he has been very fast in practice. Hideki is one of those guys who very quietly works his way towards the front and just kind of sits and waits for his time. If Tony Kanaan doesn't work his way up towards the front at one of his better tracks, Hideki could be the guy to bring Andretti/Green their first win since this time last year.

Ninja Dark Horse: Raphael Matos. He's not really that far behind Mutoh in my opinion, but I'll put down his inexperience and his place on a team that has never found victory lane as the reasons his victory would be a huge surprise. Matos has been surprisingly fast in his U.S. Marines car this weekend and we know he's had the speed to be near the front on other tracks. Perhaps tonight can be the night Matos and Luczo-Dragon make it happen.

Danica Watch: The outlook is not particularly good for Danica. This is a very middle-of-the-road kind of race for Danica and it will probably be a victory for her to be in the top half of the field by the end of the race.

Coverage starts at 8 on VERSUS (thank God) and the green flag should be dropping at 8:45. A friend of mine is celebrating his birthday tonight, so no live blog for me. I'll have the DVR fired up and I'll try and get a review up tomorrow.

Max Mosley: A Profile In Ignorance of History

Back in the Seventies, fed up with the dictatorial way in which the sport was being run, the constructors taking part in the Formula One World Championship got together to present their side of the argument at meetings and make sure their interests were served by the sport.

The most vociferous of the team leaders, and therefore the best man to lead the charge, was the principal of the Brabham team: Bernie Ecclestone. To help represent their organization's interests, the constructors found, in their own ranks, one of the more spectacular lawyers in the land and one of the brainchildren behind MARCH Engineering: Max Mosley.

For years and years, Mosley butted heads with Jean-Marie Balestre, head the FIA, the sporting equivalent of the FIA (seperate entities at that time), and the French equivalent thereof, over various aspects of the governance of the sport. After a particularly perplexing incident where Ayrton Senna was disqualified for a collision with teammate Alain Prost (a Frenchman), it was widely thought that Balestre acted on behalf of his countryman. Mosley picked up the presidency of FISA (the governing body), then managed to take the FIA itself from Balestre. Bernie Ecclestone was given control of the commercial rights, and the stage was set for the 16 years leading up to today.

As with all dictators who replace other dictators, the same problems tend to exist, but are represented by a different face. Fast-forward a decade and a half, and we have nearly the exact same situation that we had from the mid-Seventies until 1993. Max and Bernie began running the sport with a "my way or the highway" mentality, making new rules with reckless abandon and little consultation, and cracking down on the way money was distributed within the sport.

Naturally, the teams came up with a union to make their opinion heard, the teams came up with a vociferous leader to state their case (Luca di Montezemelo), and they've been butting heads with Max and Bernie.

Unlike the Max-and-Bernie vs. Balestre deal, this one was resolved much faster but in much the same fashion: Max Mosely will no longer be a part of Formula One and the FIA.

Despite the fact that the budget cap was a splendid idea -- one of the few that Max had made as FIA president -- the teams simply saw it as more strong-arming by the governor of the sport. The worst part is that Max seemed to give no consideration to the cost-cutting measures that the teams were placing on the table. Instead of being seen as someone trying to save F1 in this tough economy, Max continued to be seen as someone who didn't car about the wants of the people actually involved in the show.

By doing the exact same thing that he was hired by Bernie to fight in the Seventies and Eighties, then facing the exact same fate as predecessor Jean-Marie Balestre, Max Mosely has shown himself to be truly ignorant of history. Seriously...after being on the other side of the argument for so long, what did he think was going to happen when he strong-armed the teams with rules changes?

What we need to worry about now is who will be running things as we move on into the future. If he could reconcile his differences with some of the people in the sport, my early vote goes to Jackie Stewart, with Ron Dennis in a close second.

Silly Season: Racetrack-Style

In accordance to the words of Curt Cavin in today's IndyCar Notebook in the Star, changes are coming to the IndyCar schedule -- for better or worse, depending on who you talk to.

For those too lazy to click the preceding link, here's the gist: there will likely be 18 races next year, with exactly half only having left turns and the other half including turns that go the other way. A little bit of funny math will tell you that adds two road courses and subtracts one oval from the schedule.

As far as the road courses that are to be added, it's pretty easy to figure out. Apex Brazil is putting a bunch of money into the series so it can have a race in the company's home nation (as well as that of several drivers). There is a question of where the track will be, but it's looking like the streets of Brasilia might be the early favorite.

Road course number two is likely to be Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Alabama. The track has already had its shakedown, hosting a test session before the season got underway and hosting a huge number of spectators for said event. If George Barber gets off his butt and actually commits to improvements he says he'll make for the Indy Cars, the track will absolutely have a race.

The major question is which oval is going to disappear, and I think Mr. Cavin's answer to that question might set off more than a few fans of IndyCar's past. He says that, because of legal issues involving the former promoter and the State of Wisconsin, Milwaukee may find its way off the IRL schedule. Of course, this would be a complete disaster because Milwaukee is...y'know...unique and historic. When you have Chicagoland, Kentucky, and Kansas, three tracks of nearly the exact same configuration, on the schedule and you don't have the oldest operational racetrack on the planet on there, there's a problem. Let Wisconsin and the former promoter deal with their thing; there's a new boss at the Mile and the race is always well-attended. Keep the Mile on the schedule and throw out one of the soulless ISC tracks that don't value the series to begin with.

MEANWHILE!

Racetrack shenanigans are making their way (as I predicted) into the FIA/FOTA conflagration across the pond. First off, Monaco's promoters have stated in very plain English that they will not run a race that doesn't include a red car featuring a prancing horse. This sentiment is beginning to be echoed in many circles of race promotion.

The Guardian in Britain has found out that some journalist in Europe has found a provisional calendar for a 2010 FOTA championship. This calendar includes Silverstone (which Bernie Ecclestone unceremoniously dumped for 2010), Buenos Aires (same story, but in the late '90s), Imola (there's a trend here...), Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montréal, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. New to the circus, should this championship go off, would be the Lausitzring in Germany and a street race in Helsinki, chief city in a country that has produced a couple of F1's best drivers ever.

The FIA seems to know it's losing steam in this battle and Max Mosely has backed off a little bit and might be looking to compromise. More to come on this for sure.

Review: Iowa Corn Indy 250

No live blog today, folks. Father's Day dictated that I enjoy today's race from Iowa over fish and chips and a pint of Guinness...and my dad and I enjoyed the heck out of it!

I also enjoyed the race itself, for the most part. Today's race featured an old friend who has been missing from the series all season: passing. Tomas Scheckter got it off to a solid start by passing seven cars on the first lap before E.J. Viso brought out the yellow out...more on the color yellow in a moment. Scheckter was blindingly fast on fresh tires and was up to second place at one point before falling back...more on Tomas in a moment as well.

Unlike so many races so far this year, the lead of the race was decided under green flag conditions with an on-track pass, then solidified by green flag pit stops. Sure, the racing got a little dull when the green flag ended up being out for a vast majority of the race's second half, but that's how those sorts of things work. That does not change the fact that Dario Franchitti had to catch Ryan Briscoe (first time that seems to have happened this year), then shove his car onto the inside like and complete a pass in order to win. What an amazing and novel concept -- something that certainly didn't happen in the NASCAR race or the Formula One race today.

For an event sponsored by Iowa's corn-growing conglomerate, it seemed appropriate that the yellow flag was so prominent for the first half of the race. Apart from E.J. Viso throwing his car on a suicide run around the outside on Turn 4 on the first lap, all of the incidents took place at the exit of Turn 2. The reason: after two years of settling soil, the ground around the track's infield access tunnel is at a slightly lower level than it was in 2007. The tunnel, however, hasn't moved and there's a fairly pronounced bump between Turns 1 & 2. Everyone played off the incidents as cold tire issues or simple snapping loose, but the evidence is there: lots of black double-helix tire marks heading towards the wall at the exit of Turn 2. Moving an access tunnel is no easy task, but something will need to be done if the problem worsens next year.

As for my predictions this week: I was so completely correct that I couldn't believe it. Dario Franchitti won, and he did it convincingly with obligatory Ashley Judd interviews and everything. I erred a bit in my preview when I said that Dario hadn't won a thing since 2007; he, of course, won at Long Beach this year "like a gentleman" (according to Mrs. Franchitti).

Dark horse candidate Tony Kanaan was certainly strong and held the lead for quite a long time before disaster struck after a mid-race pit stop. A mix of cold tires and that pesky bump sent TK into the wall and ended his day. It'd be interesting to see where he might have ended up had that not happened.

Ninja dark horse pick Tomas Scheckter -- along with teammate Mike Conway -- was the massive surprise of the day. Schecketer, who was crammed back in 16th at the start by the fact that qualifying was set on entrant points, immediately shot towards the front of the pack at the start. He was absolutely spectacular on fresh tires when everyone else was struggling to get up to temperature. Restarts were a festival of three-wide, outside-line passes by the Mona-Vie car and, in spite of "only" finishing sixth, Scheckter was definitely one of the strongest cars out there. Should be interesting to see where he ends up at Richmond.

The Danica Watch turned out to also be correct, as she ended up in ninth place at the end. The #7 car was happy early on, and some sound pit work put her at the front for some time. Unfortunately, the car became less happy as the day wore on and she drifted down the time sheet. Now that her top five run is over, she is starting to lose her grip on the upper tier of the points battle and that could effect things as her contract situation rolls along (since that is obviously based entirely on her talent and not on marketability at all...).

The next round is at one of my absolute favorite tracks in America, Richmond International Raceway. 3/4-mile, 60 foot wide, d-shaped gladiator arena that tends to get pretty good crowds to boot. It hosts two of the NASCAR races that I actually enjoy watching and the IRL race is pretty darn good too. Plus, as an added bonus, we get our VERSUS coverage back and can forget about ABC for a night. Looking forward to it, for sure.

Yellow Shirt Preview: Iowa Corn Indy 250

We've had two weeks to digest how lame big track racing has gotten (Brian Barnhart is working on the problem, apparently), so let's try and forget about it by tackling a couple of killer short tracks.

The site of this week's circus will be Iowa Speedway, a 7/8-mile, D-shaped ring of craziness. Unlike just about all of the 1.5-milers on the schedule, Iowa is delightfully different from everything else. It has variable banking in the turns, which opens up multiple grooves for the drivers. It is also spectacularly wide, which allows the drivers to go three wide on the straights with ease. Most importantly, a race here is won by the driver, not the aerodynamics.

There is but one problem with the track this year: weepers. It rained cats and dogs before the USAC midgets took to the track last night, and the storm left a ton of water in the ground. The midget race was run after the track was dried, but water began popping back up through the track and causing all sorts of issues. USAC cars can deal with losses in grip -- they make their living running on dirt after all. Indy Cars and their little brothers in Indy Lights run too fine of tolerances to be hitting random patches of water on an oval.

Qualifying was "washed out" in a sense by the weepers and at last look, the safety crew was still desperately trying to clean them up (there's an army of trucks and safety workers on the backstretch). It's hard to know how things will look when it comes time for the Indy Lights cars to take to the track, but we're about to find out.

As for the big cars, it's hard to know if they'll even race tomorrow. The weather forecast, at least for the early part of the day, is pretty unfavorable. Word butcher/meteorologist Will from Is It May Yet? says the race will go off, but it will likely start later than scheduled. The problem will be what happens to the water once the rain stops and the surface dries. If the weepers show up tomorrow the way they did today, there will be a massive issue.

As it is, I'll keep up the optimism that we'll race and give my oh-so-awful predictions:

Winner: Dario Franchitti. Dario was second in the first practice, first in the second practice, and will be starting the race near the top of the grid. He's a good driver, he's in one of the fastest cars, and he hasn't won a thing since Chicagoland '07. He'll have to watch out for those Penske cars, though...they'll be fast too.

Dark Horse: Tony Kanaan. It's hard to ever consider Kanaan a "dark horse", but this year has not been kind to his team and they have been relegated to the second tier of IndyCar. However, Tony has it in him to win and he's been consistent in practice. Plus, Kanaan is generally strong on tracks like this one.

Ninja Dark Horse: Tomas Scheckter. What a story it would be if Tomas can bring one home for Dreyer & Reinbold. He has the ability to drive the wheels off his car, as evidenced by his 9th-fastest times in both practice sessions. As long as he doesn't drive his car into the wall and gets a few breaks, he could be near the front at the end.

Danica Watch: Top ten, probably. I don't see her doing all that well in this race, especially since she's had awful luck in this track's brief history. She might be able to challenge her way into the top five, but I don't think she'll get much farther that.

There you have it. Everyone do your anti-rain dance and let's hope the race goes off as planned. Should be a good race, assuming it happens.

Officially Official: Auto Racing Rips Apart At the Seams

So the years of threats have finally been realized and the split the sport has so feared has finally taken place.

The autocrat and the team owners, after arguing for some time over matters of cost and control, have gone their separate ways to run two different series in direct competition with each other.

On the one hand, you have the teams: all of the most recognizable driver names and car liveries from years past, confident in their ability to sell out races and keep fans away from the other side.

On that other side, there is not much. Only a couple of recognizable drivers and teams that haven't seen real glory for some time, mixed with a lot of newcomers unfamiliar to the world. The fans will be initially hesitant to jump in with the new series. This series, though, will provide a more cost-effective way to run things and has a couple of solid engine manufacturers who are aboard. This series will also be able to reach into the feeder series around it and bring up drivers who never would have had a shot at the big leagues before.

The other thing the grand autocrat has is the crown jewel of the sport, the race that all drivers who have aspired to this level of motorsport want to win. No matter what happens with the series' other races, this event will still draw massive crowds, massive profits, and massive glory to the winner.

The teams will likely play that off with a shrug and say, "yes, but they don't have the best drivers and teams". They will spend money to bring new venues into the fold and spend even more money to put what they consider the fastest, most technologically advanced cars on the planet on the track.

It is plausible to think, however, that the egos of the teams will not serve them well. It is obvious that there are only a few teams that provide all of the winners and bring the most fans to the tracks. Those teams, since they will feel responsible for any success the series is having, will want to make power grabs and there will be conflicts. The interests of the teams on the track, where there is already a decent amount of bickering, may find their way into the boardroom and bog the series down.

It is also plausible that, confident in their ability to sell the names no matter how dull technical regulations may have made the product, the teams will continue to spend money somewhat recklessly until they realize that the more affordable -- if slower -- system employed by the autocrat's series is much more attractive to teams and is providing a higher level of competition. In light of this, some of the teams may even think about bolting for the other series because of its higher level of competition, lower costs, and the fact that they miss running in the crown jewel of the sport.

As time wears on, the lower-cost, more competitive series championed by the autocrat (who is beginning to look more and more intelligent) might draw fans and, most importantly, restore itself as the premier form of the sport. The more stubborn teams that are still split off will begin to get desperate in this case; new car formulae, more gimmicks, more activities that are only vaguely related to the race (concerts, carnivals, etc.) to draw fans.

The worst thing about this, though, is that it may desperately injure the sport on both sides of the split as it becomes more protracted. Viewership may end up getting split straight down the middle as the series become established, sponsors ignorant to the sport may end up being confused over who to throw their money behind, and attendance will suffer at all but a select few races. For the first time in a long time, the word "profit" may leave the vocabulary of the people involved on both sides.

....But enough about the 1996 CART/IRL split.

Honestly, I see the Formula One/FOTA situation turning out exactly the same as the CART/USAC-then-IRL split ended up when all was said and done. Words will be exchanged, PR machines will go into full-swing, and things might get very testy for some time, but it will be exactly the same in the end. Mosely and the FIA have come up with a better formula (innovation within a budget cap, as opposed to unlimited spending on minutae), they have the sport's major cash cow: the Monaco Grand Prix, and they have one of the best businessmen in the world, Bernie Ecclestone, running the commercial side of things.

The only wild card in all of this is that the FOTA's split-off series will have access to a lot of venues that have been alienated by Bernie's ruthless tactics. You know the British Racing Drivers' Club will be more than happy to welcome Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Brawn GP, and Team McLaren back to Silverstone while Bernie waits for Donington Park to finish its renovations. It is almost certain that France will have a race, though it will certainly not be a Nevers-Magny Cours (Le Mans Bugatti, perhaps?). It is also certain that the new series, with strong representation from automakers, will want a race in the world's biggest car market: the United States. We may also see a return of tracks like Imola, Estoril, the A1/Osterreich-ring, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and others to the world-class racing calendar.

I just wish these people could have put aside their egos and made a compromise of some sort. We just finished this exact same problem in the States, and no matter what series they supported, any American open-wheel fan will tell you that they wish it could have been resolved before the sport was nearly killed.

Max Mosely Throws Down on FOTA

After the Formula One Teams Association and Federation Internationale de l'Automobile failed to come to an agreement on how to properly fund Formula One in 2010, the FIA came up with some pretty harsh words -- but pretty sound as well -- for the wayward teams. Autosport was kind enough to publish the entire statement HERE

I'm not going to take up a bunch of space talking about this, that, or the other, but I will say this: The United States just finished a massive war of words and racing series between the autocrat with the big cash cow and the teams with the big egos. The autocrat with the cash cow won. FOTA needs to look at recent history across the pond and consider their actions carefully.

Review: 24 Heures du Mans

So it is in the books: Another 24 hours have been logged at the Circuit de la Sarthe and, most importantly, a new marque leaves its mark on the opening decade of the 21st Century.

The four rings of Audi have been replaced by the roaring Lion of Peugeot as the automaker of note in this classic endurance race. Audi's brand new R15 TDI could not hold sway against the sheer speed and efficiency of Peugeot and their 908 HDI-FAP. The major hindrance to a Peugeot victory in last year's event was the lack of strategy and coordination in the pit lane -- something that the ruthlessly efficient Germans with ruthlessly efficient Wolfgang Ullrich in command had never lacked. The Peugeots were fast last year, but the crew was not.

For this year, Peugeot obviously rectified that issue, because they were extremely smooth on race strategy and the cars performed magnificently. Only two issues struck the Peugeot factory effort during the entirety of the race: the robotic efficiency of the pit crew bit the #7 when it was released into the path of Pescarolo Sport's own 908 when it should have been held for a moment longer, and the left-rear of the #8 had to be completely replaced as day turned to night. The #9 car, however, was bulletproof. When the #8 sat in the garage, the #9 shot into the lead and never looked back.

Audi, on the other hand, looked almost human in this year's race. The lack of on-track testing at the Le Mans circuit obviously hurt them, as none of the drivers seemed to be content with the car until daylight broke on Sunday. Also, uncharacteristic human error became a problem for two of the cars. The #3, under the direction of Alex Premat, lost control on the approach to the Indianapolis corner and hit the wall, dropping that car deep into the field early on. The #2 seemed to have some sort of mechanical issue or puncture as it entered the Porsche Curves and Lucas Luhr was unable to prevent the car from spearing the tire barrier. The #1 car was the only one that remained in one piece, but the speed simply was not there to catch the Peugeots.

The scary moment in P1 came deep into the darkness, when the Pescarolo Peugeot carrying Benoit Treluyer ended up parked against the barriers at the Esses. There was no camera replay of the incident, but accounts say the car got unstable after hitting a bump, dug into the grass, and flipped into the barriers. The car was so entirely destroyed that the only things distinguishing the car were the white bubble top and the fact that the only remaining body panels on the car were painted the lime green and light blue of Pescarolo Sport. The moments following the accident were frightening; after the safety crews made their initial assessment of the situation, they brought out tarps to block photographers from getting close to the incident -- which could have been interpreted as keeping cameras from seeing a bloody mess inside the cockpit or something. Fortunately, after a tense hour of waiting, word was received that Treluyer was awake and alert.

One fine story that came out of P1 was the introduction of the Aston Martin-Lola to the world. First of all, the cars looked absolutely spectacular, finished off in the light blue/bright orange of the Gulf Oil Company -- colors that have graced such notable machines as the Ford GT40 and the Porsche 917. Second, the cars were very fast, propelled by the only proper power plant an Aston can really have: a roaring, gasoline-powered V12. Considering the dominance that diesel-fueled cars have enjoyed for the last several years and the semantics that Henri Pescarolo used to go through because of the disadvantage provided to his Judd V8-powered cars, it was interesting to see a gasoline-powered car running with the diesels. Apparently, the trap speeds for the Astons were easily higher than those of the diesel cars, but the diesels have immense levels of torque that could not be overcome. The next few years could see a return of gasoline to the victory stand, though.

In the Prototype 2 category, things did not turn out quite as I predicted. Team Goh, the only Japan-based team to ever take an overall victory at Le Mans, looked very strong with its Porsche RS Spyder as it battled on and off with Team Essex's Porsche. However, as Sunday progressed along, problems began to crop up and the car spent some time in the garage. The stamp was put on Goh's day when the car seemed to malfunction under braking for the first chicane on the Mulsanne straight, sending the car into the aluminum barriers on the side of the road, then through a tire wall on the inside of the chicane. Driver Seiji Ara escaped in one piece, but it is safe to say the car did not.

In GT1, the final year before the unified GT class takes effect, it was a dominant farewell for the class' most prolific team, Corvette Racing. The two 'Vettes were the class of the GT1 field the entire race, and they even battled each other throughout the day on Sunday. It looked for a time like the excellent-looking black #64 might take the win, but a broken transmission with just over an hour to go ruined their day. Luckily, the #63 was there to take the reigns and, after the crew pitted the car to clean the accumulated grime off the nose, a bright yellow Corvette crossed took the checkered flag for the final time in the forseeable future.

In GT2, there was more American dominance, though the vehicle-of-choice was of Italian make. Houston, TX-based Risi Competizione's two-car effort shot rosso corsa-colored flames in the face of the Porsches and other Ferraris to take a well-deserved victory. Unfortunately for the competition, it looks like Giuseppe Risi and his F430 GTs are going to be the team to beat in the American Le Mans Series and in the 24-hour race for some time to come. Porsche's dominance seems to have definitively ended and the only thing that will probably beat the F430 is Ferrari's next rear-engined coupe, the F450.

So there you have it. I made predictions and, as always happens with races like this one, I was made to look a fool. My P2 and GT1 predictions were almost right, but an untimely smash for Team Goh and a broken transmission for Corvette #64 made me a solid 0-4 on picks. However, it was a spectacular win for Peugeot and, as we roll into the near-future of Le Mans, the Peugeot-vs.-Audi-vs.-the world matchup should prove to be an interesting one.

24 Heures du Mans: Sunrise Update

One of the cooler moments of any 24-hour race is the hour or so where the sun lights up the sky, then clears the horizon. After many hours of watching anonymous headlights floating down the roads of central France, it is fantastic to see the cars emerge from the darkness carrying the battle scars of many hours of night racing.

Of course, some battle scars are larger than others. Here's a run-down of what's been going on in the first 14.5 hours of action:

-Audi #3, being driven at the time by Premat, overcooked it on the approach to the Indianapolis corner in the opening laps, parking it in the barriers and cracking the front end. The car was repaired, but lost a ton of ground.

-Peugeot #7, with Pedro Lamy at the wheel, was sent out of the pits in the path of Pescarolo's Peugeot, who stuck one of its various front winglets into the left-rear of the factory car. The #7 car's tire was busted before it reached the Dunlop Bridge and it shredded, taking the entire left rear part of the car with it. The safety car was deployed, as bits of rubber, carbon fiber, and mechanicals were strewn all over the track. The car was fixed and on its way, but much time was lost.

-Audi #2, under the direction of Lucas Luhr, appeared to have a flat left-rear tire. The replays were inconclusive, but the result was not: the car was stuffed into the barriers at the start of the Porsche Curves. The back end of the car was entirely wrecked and, despite protestations from Luhr, the officials would not let him limp back to the pits because of the sheer amount of fluid leaking from the car.

-Several mechanical things took place as day turned to night and night dragged on, but one incident takes the cake. In the 14th hour, the #17 Pescarolo Peugeot ended up parked next to the barriers at the Esses in complete tatters. There were no replays, but the car was so completely destroyed that there was no question that something catastrophic happened. Benoit Trulyer was yanked from the car and taken off in the ambulance, but all reports say he's awake and, most importantly, alive.

At this point, two of the factory Peugeots are leading the one remaining Audi of any concern. The Brabham/Wurz/Gene car has been leading for quite a while and is still looking good. Still, even though the sun is on its way up, there are still nine whole hours left in the event. There is plenty of time for things to go entirely wrong and, being the home stretch of the Le Mans 24-Hours, something certainly will.

The sky is turning a happy pinkish-orange over the La Sarthe district of France and we will be racing in full daylight before too long. Nine hours, 17 minutes left to go. Full review coming when day hits in North America.

Yellow Shirt Preview: 24 Heures du Mans

Here's what I love about this time of year: within a span of three weeks, the three greatest racing events in the world are all run. If you're an American oval racer, you want to win the 500-Mile Race at Indianapolis. If you're a European, South American, or Asian open-wheeler, you want to win the Grand Prix on the streets of Monaco. If you're a sports car driver, you want to win the 24-Hour Race at Le Mans. These are the biggest festivals of speed in the entire world and, as I said, they're all just three weeks apart.

Le Mans is steeped in a ridiculous amount of history that, while not quite as long as that of the Indianapolis 500, is certainly as colorful. From the get-go, the 24-hour race has been the realm of periodical international dominance -- by which I mean certain nations have, through various auto makers, put their stamp on the race over various periods of time.

When the event started, it was Bentley's Speed-Six that became the defining sports car of the '20s. Alfa Romeo took over in the pre-war years with the 8C. Jaguar, with three of the most beautiful cars ever built: the XK120, C-Type, and D-Type, kicked the field around a bit. Ferrari then took the reins and put down the competition for seven out of eight races. Ford answered Ferrari's refusal of a sale proposal by building the GT40 and winning four consecutive races. In the '70s and '80s, Le Mans became the stomping ground of Porche's screaming-fast prototypes: 917, 936, 956, and 962. The '90s provided a little parity, with Japan getting its first 24-Hour victory behind Mazda's quad-rotor 787, and Peugeot grabbing a couple of wins for the home team. Since then, though, the Germans have taken back over on the wheels and ingenuity of Audi.

One of the great things about all of the cars on that list and all of the other machines that have taken to the Circuit de la Sarthe is that they are, in some form or another, relevant. Up until the 1970s, the cars had to be homoligated, meaning you could go to your local Ford dealer and order up a GT40 if you wanted to impress the neighbors, or a wealthy Italian might have picked up an Alfa 8C to cruise the Alps.

Even after the homoligation rules were taken away, there is always some relevance of the participating cars to the everyday driver. Porsche took the engineering prowess that built the 917 and put out the 911, a car that has become an icon on both the street and the racetrack. Mazda's 787 proved that a rotary engine could be fast and could be made durable through sound engineering. Most recently, Audi perfected its fuel injection system (FSI) and it's diesel technology (TDI) with the R8 and R10 prototypes. Unlike any racing series left in the world at this point, the technology seen on a Le Mans-winning car is very likely to find its way into road cars not long after the dust from the race has settled.

What also makes Le Mans great is that, while engineers have to push the envelope and make their cars extremely fast (Nissan's Group-C cars would beat 250 m.p.h. on the Mulsanne Straight), they also have to make them last an extremely long time while under extremely high stress. Not only is the race long, but it is held on roads that, by today's standards of racetrack construction, are entirely inadequate. The regional government has done what it can to keep the D388 and Route de Mulsanne (the run from Tertre Rouge-to-Mulsanne-to-Arnage) smooth, but these are still public roads. Public roads get eaten up by large trucks and they get various fluids dumped on them by the thousands of road cars that take the route. A Le Mans prototype must be able to survive the dangers of traveling a public road at 220 m.p.h., but run fast enough to stay ahead of the other cars.

Not only must the cars be durable, but so must the drivers. There are three drivers for a typical Le Mans team and, you've gotten sleepy after a three hour drive between cities, imagine being woken up from a 2-hour nap at 3AM to go drive a 200 m.p.h. race car. To make it even more fun, the four-class system means the fast cars have to me mindful of the slower guys in front, while the slower guys have to be paying attention to their mirrors. Did I mention that this is all happening on a pitch-black racetrack? These drivers have to remain sharp for so long and they absolutely have to be mentally prepared for their drive.

The members of the team seem to do a lot of sitting around, but they have to be just as sharp as the drivers. You never know when your car is going to pull into the garage with a busted third gear, and you have to take the entire gear stack apart to replace it. When that happens at 4 in the morning after 12 hours of constantly servicing the cars in the pits, you have to be ready. That's the mechanics' job and it is just about as difficult as that of the driver.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is a mix of the endurance and skill of the engineering, the mechanics, and the drivers, and that is what makes this race so excellent.

My winning predictions:

Prototype 1/Overall: Every year that has started with a two and two zeros, except 2003, has been won by a car carrying the four rings of Audi, and there is absolutely no reason to pick against them this time around. Peugeot has a strong car, yes, and Aston Martin, as is their wont, have created a beautiful machine, but something catastrophic needs to happen to both Audis in order for them to lose. This just in: Nothing catastrophic enough EVER happens to Audi; if the car hits a fire-breathing Tyrannosaurus Rex going 478 miles-per-hour, the team will have the solution ready in the garage and the car will come back to win the race. Besides, both the Audi R10 and the Audi R15 are built to do one thing: go really fast in a straight line, which is what makes up about 75% of the Circuit de la Sarthe. My vote goes to the Audi carrying Kristensen, Capello, and McNish, because that's a lineup of pure royalty when it comes to Le Mans' current era.

Prototype 2: P2 is very underrated in the world of Le Mans-style racing because it's the only one that has no relevance to the outside world -- P2 is all about racing. One of the best cars in this class, the Porsche RS Spyder, is teamed up with a team that's won the whole thing when they entered an Audi R8, Team Goh. I'm going to go ahead and give them the nod for P2.

Grand Touring 1: This is a special year in GT1, because it's the last year before the class is merged into GT2 to make one big, happy GT class. That also means one of the most prolific makes in GT history, the Corvette, is getting its last hurrah. Corvette Racing has slowed a bit over the last few years with the improvements on Ferrari's big cars and the inclusion of Aston Martin's DBR9, both of which are tied to the Prodrive company. However, the 'Vettes are the highest-qualified GT1 cars this year and the C6.R promises to be strong in its farewell tour. Oliver Gavin, Oliver Baretta, and Marcel Fässler in the #64 are the guys I'm going to throw my prediction behind here.

Grand Touring 2: This is one of the crazier classes in Le Mans-style racing because the racing is always so even. This is due mostly to the fact that so many of the teams buy Porsche's customer winner, the 911 GT3 RSR. The Porsche has been essentially bulletproof for years on-end and there's no reason to think it's slowing down anytime soon. I'm going to put my weight behind the #80 Flying Lizard Motorsports car. Why? They win races and they have the coolest name of any team in all of racing. Count it!

The 24-Hour Race kicks off at 3:00PM sharp, which translates to 9:00AM in the eastern quarter of the U.S. Speed Channel may show way too much NASCAR and silliness, but one thing they do completely right is Le Mans -- 17 of the 24 hours will be shown live on Speed, with a half-hour before and a half-hour after. Since 9AM is a bit much for someone my age on a Saturday, I'll be catching up with my DVR, but I'll be trying to keep the world updated throughout the day, night, and next day with my mighty blog powers. Should be fun!

And Now, More Complete Silliness

Apparently, A.J. Foyt can't decide who he actually wants driving his car since Vitor went all Joie-Chitwood-stunt-driver on him at Indianapolis. First there was Paul Tracy, who left a shamed A.J. behind after A.J. provided a dog of a car. Then there was Anthony Number Four, who couldn't point the car straight coming out of Turn 2 at Texas and busted the car.

Now, A.J. hooks up with who was once crowned by the great font of valuable knowledge known as Robin Miller "America's next big open-wheel star", Ryan Hunter-Reay. Hunter-Reay had been signed by Vision in April when Tony George realized Izod would not be happy if their driver wasn't in a car. It looked like a good move at first, as Ryan was right in the mix for the win at St. Pete.

The results started dropping for both Ryan and teammate Ed Carpenter, and now it seems like Vision worked out a deal where they can focus on their main driver (Ed) and keep Ryan and his Izod shirts in a car. Vision immediately gets more money-per-race to throw at the #20 (though the six races run with the #21 are now a big money pit). A.J. Foyt Enterprises gets the Izod and (this is unconfirmed, but I'm assuming) William Rast money, plus a very competent driver.

A.J.'s team has always been behind the 8-ball on car development since all of CART's big boys switched sides back in 2002-2003, but there have been some spurts of excellence. Remember that last year's Watkins Glen (insert sponsor here) Grand Prix was where Darren Manning, in A.J.'s car, was beat to the line by...Ryan Hunter-Reay. There's a pretty big spate of road/street races coming in July and August and, if Team A.J. can put a solid vehicle together, Ryan could bring some serious results. Also, we've got some "handling" ovals coming up, which is something at which Ryan used to be pretty darn good.

Also of great concern: Alex Lloyd is officially cutting ties with Chip Ganassi next week and opening up his options for either the end of this season or all of next season. This is a fine move on Alex's part, as it has been pretty obvious that Chip was never going to move him into one of the Target cars. When Dan Wheldon ran off to Panther, Dario Franchitti was moved over to the #10, and the current scuttlebutt is still focused on Danica getting a third car/replacing Scott Dixon at Ganassi. Lloyd has been running just the Daytona 24 and the 500 for two years now and, as all race drivers do, he just wants to race. There is no word as of yet whether HER energy drink will stick with "Pink" Lloyd or a new Ganassi/Danica team, but that is something that is sure to have an effect on where Alex ends up.

Finally, the Danica situation is still very fluid. My personal opinion on it: if I were driving for a second-tier team with a teammate who spends all of his time shouting at his teammates and happens to have the favor of his father/team owner, I would probably want out. A lot of Danica's sponsor money is tied in no way to AGR, so her options are pretty much unlimited here. She'll sit back and watch the contract offers flow in, then probably make a decision in July or August.

Where Has All The Racing Gone?

Just for a little reference into what I and many others are on about, this is what the finish to an IndyCar race is supposed to look like:



Visions like this are the reason that Scott Goodyear drives into our heads the notion of "side-by-side at 214 miles-per-hour". It's what IndyCar racing became known for in the late '90s at venues such as Texas, Charlotte, and Atlanta, and on into the '00s as the series moved into Kansas, Kentucky, and Chicago. Even when the IRL made the switch to a new chassis formula in 2003, the racing did not suffer one bit, as shown by the above photo or by this bit of low-quality YouTube goodness (don't bother with the misspelling of "Meira"...this is not my doing):



For better or for worse, the IRL became all about the side-by-side racing and it has certainly led to some of the most exciting stuff ever seen on a paved road. The expectation became that IndyCar racing would ALWAYS look like this and ALWAYS provide some sort of drama and excitement so the fans could go home happy when all was said and done. CART even tried to capitalize on it by sticking a gigantic piece of metal onto the rear wings in order to ensure that the leader would be at the back of the pack by the end of lap one promote drafting at their oval races.

Now, all of the sudden, the side-by-side racing is sorely lacking from the IndyCar series and it has become darn near impossible to pass on ovals with any kind of regularity. The Texas race, which has always been ridiculously exciting and is one of the IRL's most marketable events, was a complete snoozer for 2009, having been decided on pit lane instead of by bumping wheels in the quad-oval or slingshotting around the outside in Turn 3. The IndyCar community, which eagerly tuned in to VERSUS and put butts in seats at TMS because of what they'd seen in the past, was completely disappointed in what they saw. Kansas and Indianapolis were also difficult to watch at times because it seemed like passing had become a complete impossibility.

"Why has this happened," you ask? Well, there are several factors involved here that are all the fault of a single person:

Factor 1: Though he was using it as an example of how to keep the cars pointed in the right direction and keep them slow enough to actually run at Texas, Jon Beekhuis pointed out the dearth of silly little flaps attached to the rear wings of the cars. While providing a tremendous amount of drag to keep the cars from pulling 5 vertical and 4 lateral Gs in the turns, these flaps also punch a gigantic hole in the air behind the car. Now you might be saying, "Well, wouldn't that promote drafting and passing like the giant piece of metal on the CART cars?" One might think so, but it provides a nice lead-in for my second issue with the cars...

Factor 2: These cars are far too aero-dependent. This is a problem that Formula 1 had for years and years because the cars had been put in a wind tunnel for a few weeks, sprouted little winglets and thinglets, and could run very, very well -- assuming they were running in unspoiled air. In situations such as, I don't know...a race, there wasn't enough air pressure on the winglets and the cars didn't work. IndyCars, while not having sprouted all of the little additions that F1 cars did, rely far too much on the front wing/needle-nose area to plant the wheels into the ground and make the car turn. If you draft up behind another car like you might do on the backstretch at Texas or going into Turn 1 at Indianapolis, you suddenly lose downforce, you lose grip in the front wheels, the car understeers, and you have to lift off the throttle -- all of which means you don't pass the guy in front of you.

Factor 3: This ties into the last item: the cars seem to have relatively little mechanical grip in the front end. I don't know if this is down to tire construction or the suspension or what, but the front wheels simply cannot overcome a lack of downforce. The simple fact is: if the tires are grippy enough or the suspension shoves them into the ground enough, they work better. I'm not a hundred percent sure on how the IRL enforces suspension pieces and the extent to which they can be adjusted, but I have a feeling it's way too much. I also have a feeling that the IRL has messed with the suspensions and hardened up the tires to take away grip and slow the cars down. Unfortunately, all this has served to do is bring us back to the last item: too much aero dependence -- air over the wings is what's keeping the cars planted.

Factor 4: Everyone has the same engine, and that engine is tuned to top out at 10,300 rpm, come hell or high water. The Honda Indy V8, while certainly a competent engine, has obviously been neutered in the interest of not blowing up and creating bad publicity. When the Honda was put up against the Toyota and the Cosworth/Chevy back in 2003-2005, it was the cream of the crop -- it made Andretti-Green and Rahal-Letterman the teams to beat in IndyCar. However when the competition went away, so did the power; cars are slower now and, as I said, they don't rev past 10,300. Which means that, even if there's less air resistance pushing against the engine, it doesn't have any reserve power to compensate. Instead, you're left with an engine on its limiter and you can't get past the guy in front of you to even avoid washing out when you arrive at the turn.

All of this comes back to the director of competition for the IRL, Brian Barnhart. He's the guy who makes decisions like making Dallara the de facto official chassis supplier, what the profile of the car should be, how much power the Hondas can put out, and how much side-by-side should be allowed. Now, Mr. Barnhart would obviously like to keep the racing safe and keep things like Kenny Bräck's 2003 crash or Dario Franchitti's flip at Michigan in 2007 from happening again. However, you have to take into account the commercial side of things and the fact that, if your product isn't interesting, people aren't going to buy into it. Of course, Barnhart doesn't care how many people are actually watching his races; as long as it goes off exactly how he wants it to, everything is completely fine in his world.

Terry Angstadt is out in the world, working his butt off (and doing a damn fine job of it, I might add) to get sponsors, racetracks, and fans to join in with the IRL. When he wants to promote the IndyCar Series, he'll reach for something like the above video from Kansas or the video of that three-wide finish at Chicagoland. However, when you try to market yourself as the most exciting thing on four wheels, your current product had better stack up.

Barnhart needs to get together with Angstadt and come up with some sort of compromise that will allow for safety at levels like those in 2003 or 2004, but still be fun to watch like 2003 and 2004 were. Sure, there were some dangerous crashes at that time, but that's part of the sport. I challenge you to find a sport that's not dangerous in some way (and no...poker is not a sport). Injury is part of the game and, if both Kenny Bräck and Davey Hamilton have been able to race after what they've been through, the danger is nowhere near the level that it was just 15 years ago. Bring the excitement back to racing!

My personal solutions: On the current Dallara/Honda package, change the suspension to shove those tires into the ground and let the engines go to 11,000 rpm or even further. That will give the cars more grip, and it will give them more power to actually use the draft.

For the next car formula, give us some (bleep)ing ground effects! Yes, the idea of downforce without drag is a little scary from the speed department, but that can be fixed with the engines. What ground effects will do is stick that car to the ground no matter what's going on with the front wings and the cars can actually, y'know, race each other better.

It shouldn't be so hard to take what is essentially the same package we've had since 2003 and make it do what it did up until just recently. Let's put the "racing" back in the Indy Racing League.

A Conglomeration of Miscellaneous Thoughts...

First off, I just realized I didn't update the IndyCar points table...That will be done just as soon as I throw this up.

-An American driver from the Indy Lights series is getting a ride. Now, let's just soak in for a moment how completely insane that statement is. As far as I can remember, the only two Americans to drive Indy Lights and be called up into the big cars were Ed Carpenter and Marco Andretti. Now that I think about it, Graham Rahal did run one race, but he cut his teeth in the Champ Cars for the most part. The latest call-up is one Richard Antinucci, nephew to Eddie Cheever, who will tackle the road race at Watkins Glen for the black hole that is Team 3G. In fairness to 3G, they've never been very strong, and they lost a lot of momentum having Stanton Barrett in control for the first six races. Maybe having Jacques Lazier and Antinucci around will bring some mild success.

-Formula One is plumb crazy. No, not on track. On the track, it's 2002 all over again except for the fact that the cars are white instead of red and Jenson Button is much cooler than Michael Schumacher. No, it's the off track shenanigans that have gotten so brutally ridiculous over the past few weeks that it's hard to know if Formula 1 will even exist in 2010. You can go somewhere like ITV or the BBC and read ad nauseam about the details, suffice it to say that Max Mosely and the FIA want one thing, while the teams disagree almost entirely. The key difference between this rift and the many others they've had is that the teams are a de facto union now, and all of them but Williams and Toyota could essentially boycott next year. Threats like this are nothing new, but this is the first time in a long time that the teams look to be serious.

The really tricky thing, which I don't think anyone in the media has really looked at, is what happens in the event that the current heavy-hitters are actually not part of the world championship next year. It's fairly well known that Max Mosely has a pretty solid backup plan in place, with a lot of teams applying to get into the new, low-budget F1. What happens to the Ferraris, McLarens, BMWs, etc. of the world though? What I see is Bernie Ecclestone jumping in with the teams, booking all of the tracks that he has a strong personal relationship with, and leaving the FIA in the dust. Unlike the American open-wheel split of the late '90s, this split will probably be resolved quickly and decisively should it take place. There is far too much at stake, the FIA has almost no star power at this point and Bernie is a marketing genius that can drive his competitors into the ground.

Friday will tell us how this might shake out, as that is the final day for applications to the 2010 championship.

Busch-whack Normally I find so very little compelling about NASCAR that I don't ever write about it. However, I thought I'd throw in my opinion on the story that every other racing journalist seems to be enthralled with. Here's a quick reference guide on how to conduct oneself when, while in Nashville, one is presented with a custom-built, custom-painted Gibson Les Paul guitar:

DO: Plug it into an old Fender or Marshall tube amp, crank out some sweet riffs or chords while you or someone in the near vicinity sings a melody that matches what you're doing on the guitar.

DO: Hang it up on the wall, show it to your friends, maybe put a nice plexiglass box around it...make it something that you'll be proud to show your friends, kids, and grandkids for the rest of time.

DON'T: Smash it like Pete (bleep)ing Townsend! You're in Nashville: country music capital of the planet, and you're smashing a custom-made Les Paul?! Maybe if they gave you a guitar for winning anywhere else on the planet, it'd be okay, but you do NOT do this in Nashville.

I've always liked the ireverance with which Kyle Busch presents himself to NASCAR fans because he so obviously loves it and loves egging the fans on. But when you take a priceless guitar that so very few people have had the opportunity to own and smash it to pieces anywhere near the Music City is a complete travesty. That's the last straw, and I officially join the world of NASCAR in hating him.

This makes me think: What would happen if Busch were in IndyCar? Would he try to get his team in on a win at Texas by shooting them with the revolvers? Would he celebrate the 500 by dropkicking the miniature silver Pat Vidan off the top of the Borg-Warner and throwing the milk at someone's head? Let's just not let this happen ever, for the love of everything that's good in the world.

Pseudo-Live Blog: Bombardier Learjet 550

I join in just in time to see one of the most prolific stars in the history of professional sports, Shaquille O'Neal, be completely befuddled by an air gun and tire. Shaq...is tall...and can palm an entire IndyCar wheel. We have also been informed that Shaq's feet are indeed larger than Danica Patrick's. As silly as it all is, it's really quite good to see a star of Shaq's caliber bringing attention not only to the IndyCars, but also to one of the series' smaller teams. Good things all around. We're already being slaughtered by commercials featuring Danica...take the good with the annoying, I suppose.

9:23, pre-race
Helio being interviewed in the back of a pickup truck by Jack Arute, who is apparently everywhere tonight. Helio talking of the difficulties of racing at Texas and the virtues of patience in a race such as this.

9:24, pre-race
Bunnies and rainbows Danica being interviewed by Robbie Floyd. She is so positive these days, it makes me sick sometimes...she does understand that beating the Penskes and Ganassis of the world will be a task, though.

9:26, pre-race
On-the-move interview-o-rama! LindyCar Thackston with Dario Franchitti now. Same story on patience and all that stuff. They ran out of pit reporters to put in the trucks, so there are no more to be had.

9:27, pre-race
One of the great things about Eddie Gossage is his one-upsmanship. VERSUS just showed the graphic of the infield of Texas Motor Speedway being able to hold four of the new Cowboys Stadium...take that, Jerry Jones!

9:31, pre-race
Lovely montage of how petulant Marco Andretti can be at times. I really hate this kid sometimes...the replay of last year's incident with Hunter-Reay made me want to drive to Texas and smack him.

9:33, pre-race
Nice explanations by Professor B on the intensity of the banking at Texas and the aerodynamic gizmos put on the car to keep them slow.

9:35, pre-race
Robbie Buhl describes how entirely ridiculous driving around this track in packs can be. Scary stuff if your a driver, but I bet it's soooooo fun.

9:39, pre-race
The wide shots confirm one thing...the crowd tonight is GINORMOUS. Could break 100,000 tonight, for sure.

9:40, pre-race
Shaq: "Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!!!!!" Very enthusiastic start from the man. All rows "hot". Let's get this sucker started.

9:43, pre-race
Start of second parade lap. Flash bulbs a-poppin' like the Super Bowl. I looooooove night racing.

Lap 1
We are GREEN GREEN GREEN! Dario jumps the crap out of the start. Lead pack jumps away and the field goes crazy behind them. Dario leads lap 1.

Lap 2
YELLOW! Graham Rahal has a brain fade, spins, tags Milka Duno on the way around. Graham looks to be alive after a tough hit...replays forthcoming.

Lap 3
Graham lost the back of the car. Car was waaaaaay loose. Caught poor E.J. Viso, and both of them nailed the back end off of Milka's car. Tough breaks all around.

Lap 6
The booth tries a new angle: blame NASCAR! They're saying the Goodyear rubber from the trucks was not friendly with the IndyCar rubber. Replays show Ed Carpenter had a similar issue as Graham and nearly took out Hideki Mutoh.

Lap 8
Pit stop hilarity from the back of the field. Jacques Lazier obviously not having a good night already and the mechanics are all over the front end.

Lap 9
Jacques Lazier has apparently stretched the throttle cable on the 3G car. retart coming.

Lap 10
GREEN! Single filing for a bit, but Briscoe looks for the lead off of 4!

Lap 12
After nearly clobbering each other, Briscoe has the position.

Lap 16
Marco Andretti all over the outside of three separate cars.

Lap 19
Marco owning the high side against Kanaan. Good stuff for both drivers on the racing.

Lap 22
Mario Moraes, Dan Wheldon, and Danica Patrick having a pretty solid battle for 5th for a little bit. Good ol' Texas racing.

Lap 24
Graham Rahal: "I've never had a car that bad...I was hangin' on for dear life." Really confusing wreck, to be sure.

Lap 28
Jacques Lazier is today's moving chicanery. Someone's gotta pick up the slack for Milka now that she's out.

Lap 33
Matos and Doornbos raced through 1 and 2 with virtually no space between the cars...how do they do this stuff?

Lap 37
Danica apparently had a crazy lift a while back...perhaps an electronics issue or something, that dropped her back a couple of spots.

Lap 40
That issue aside, Danica is still madly fast, catching up with Wheldon.

Lap 43
Ryan Briscoe is pretty darn fast in clean air. Or perhaps Dario is holding back until later on...

Lap 46
Engine cover comes off the back of Mike Conway's car. This kid can't buy luck...

Lap 53
Green flag pit stops starting. A.J. Foyt IV the first taker.

Lap 55
Wheldon and Andretti in the pits. Beats Marco out of pit lane as Danica pulls in.

Lap 58
Briscoe slams the brakes on his way in, beats the Ganassis out of the pits. Helio on his way in as well.

Lap 59
Carpenter last into the pits. A million turns into the front wing and he's back out. Fisher in and out as well.

Lap 62
Lots of traffic in front of Briscoe...Ryan nearly tried a three-wide pass to get by. Chose the better path and went under Scheckter.

Lap 68
Fun with lapped traffic! Briscoe having all sorts of trouble with it.

Lap 72
Jack Arute looking pretty sweaty in the pit lair. Shows the advantages of sportsmanship between teams -- namely not being in the way of a car leaving its pit box.

Lap 76
Dixon to second as Dario can't get through traffic.

Lap 81
Briscoe up over three seconds on the Ganassi guys, as they're stuck in all sorts of traffic.

*A note to Honda: the Odyssey is NOT as cool as the A-Team van, no matter what you try to say. I will fight your entire marketing department over this.

Lap 85
Helio past Dario for 3rd. Marco in on this battle as well, but got caught up behind Carpenter.

Lap 90
Dixon has Helio all over his mirrors for second. VERSUS...not showing it at all. C'mon guys!

Lap 93
The odds on us seeing a "debris caution" are going up with every second Briscoe pulls away from Dixon. Briscoe in traffic right now, though.

Lap 102
Briscoe is making this such a boring race. He's lapped up to 9th place Mario Moraes and he doesn't look to be stopping soon. Lapping Kanaan as I type.

Lap 105
A.J. Foyt IV first taker on green flag stops once again.

Lap 110
Everyone has pitted, it seems, but Briscoe. The man is invincible today....something bad is sure to happen soon...

Lap 112
Castroneves takes lead as Briscoe hits the pit.

Lap 115
Past halfway. Briscoe, Dixon, Helio, Dario, Marco in the top 5.

Lap 117
Helio FLIES past Dixon on the outside. Penske domination all around.

Lap 123
Battle for second heating up again. Helio had to slow up in traffic and Dixon is catching him up a bit.

Lap 129
Ryan Briscoe is making Texas look like a snoozefest. I guess he can be glad about that...the fans might not be, though.

Lap 134
Pass for second! Dixon by as Helio loses some "mo-momentum". Thanks to the booth for that fun bit of vocabulary.

Lap 136
Wooooah. Marco finds some crazy speed and zings by Helio for third. Can he chase down Dixon?

Lap 139
Yes....Andretti did have the speed to catch Dixon. He passed him like Scotty was standing still

Lap 148
Briscoe's car is a happy car, according to Robbie Buhl. No kidding, man.

Lap 151
YELLOW! Yellow for..."debris"! Good work Brian Barnhart, you dumb sack of crap.

Lap 153
Pit stops! Wait....who was first out...Kanaan? Looking to get back on the lead lap? Castroneves got by Dixon for the only position change. There's an A.J. Foyt IV between Briscoe and Marco, but we'll see what happens...

Lap 156
Hideki Mutoh is still shown on pit lane, according to Timing & Scoring. Danica's right-rear tire changer had a slip up on her stop, so she had a bad stop...but no position loss as she was last on the lead lap.

Lap 157
Matos gives it a splash of more fuel. Looks like Rafa is looking to play the fuel game for the remainder of the race. One lap to green...

Lap 160
GREEN! Briscoe fast as always. Marco facing all sorts of pressure from Helio.

Lap 162
Helio and Dixon both past Marco. Can they catch Briscoe, though?

Lap 164
Top five running in line: Briscoe, Helio, Dixon, Marco, Dario

Lap 167
Helio on Briscoe's tail into Turn 1. It could get hairy here soon...

Lap 168
Wheldon looking for fifth from Dario; tries the high side, but Marco's the only guy who's been able to run up there tonight.

Lap 173
YELLOW! Car in the wall off of 2. It's A.J. Quattro. From what I saw, he might've washed up the track and found the wall. Replays as soon as he ad break is over...

Lap 175
Looks like the final pit stops of the day are forthcoming. Tony Kanaan's effort to get on the lead lap might pay off...

Lap 176
Pit Stops! Helio wins off of pit lane! Crowd went pretty crazy as they left the pits. Helio, Briscoe, Dixon, Dario, Marco.

Lap 177
Replays show a huge fuel spill from the rig onto Kanaan's car. No bar-b-ques today, though.

Lap 178
Nice video of the shortest race in Indianapolis history. Johnny Rutherford wins after 102 laps of racing. Johnny is really one of the more underrated drivers in the history of the race. You hear about Mario, A.J, and the Unsers, but not much about Rutherford anymore.

Lap 181
One to go until green. Just under 50 laps to go, which means life is sure to get interesting pretty soon.

Lap 182
Okay, no green...Helio apparently was going too slow out of 2...Barnhart's a clown

Lap 183
GREEN! Ganassis side by side for 3rd, Dixon holds the spot. Briscoe all over Helio looking for the lead.

Lap 185
Top eight in line on the track. Wheldon throws about 900 blocks on Danica...Barnhart sure to come down on that...maybe

Lap 189
Top four in line. Next four...not so much. Marco and Danica trying desperately to get past Wheldon.

Lap 192
Danica really kills Wheldon going into 3 for fifth.

Lap 200
A couple years ago, the race would be over right now. Instead we get more crazy excellence! Helio, Briscoe, Dixon, Dario, Danica.

Lap 204
Danica steadily losing ground on the top four. Looks like the Penskes and Ganassis will be fighting this one out.

Lap 207
Top three now leaving Dario behind. No blue cars allowed in this group...Red is the color of the day.

Lap 209
Marco past Wheldon for sixth.

Lap 213
Fifteen to go, Marco fighting Danica for fifth.

Lap 214
TOO MANY COMMERCIALS! Why can't we do the "presented with limited commercial interruption by..." thing?

Lap 218
Ten to go! Will interesting things happen? Who knows....

Lap 220
The Penskes have left the Ganassis behind...will the Penskes make this an interesting finish?

Lap 223
Danica and Marco still having a great battle for fifth. Can Danica keep her top five streak up?

Lap 227
Can Briscoe catch him up? Probably not...

Lap 228
Briscoe praying for an airstrike now. Helio running off

Checkered Flag!
Helio wins it! Briscoe, Dixon, Andretti, Franchitti, Patrick, Wheldon, Kanaan, Carpenter, Moraes round out the top ten. Good work, all. Fence-climbing time!

I'm going to write a lovely post at some point soon about the fact that these cars can't run next to each other on a track like this. Races in the past would've had about 30 more lead changes in the last ten laps. Not to say Helio's win isn't deserved or something...that'd be a lie. Just saying...it used to be a lot more interesting before it was all messed up by everyone's favorite race director.

My picks, as always, were not correct. Dixon couldn't catch up the Penske cars at the end. Danica spent the last bit of the race battling her teammates and getting blocked by Wheldon. Tony Kanaan did an amazing job getting back on the lead lap, but couldn't move up past his battling teammates.

Next up: The Iowa Corn Indy 250. Iowa is definitely one of the cooler events on the circuit, with good crowds packing the 7/8-mile oval and all sorts of shenanigans taking place on-track. Most importantly, there's little aero involved in passing there -- all about driver skill and horsepower. That will be nice to watch after the last bit of the Texas race...

Yellow Shirt Preview: Bombardier Learjet 550k

It used to be the most anticipated race outside of Indianapolis. It was the one race apart from the Indianapolis 500 that made me say, "Holy crap, I need to be watching the IRL!" It was all about 2-wide, pack-style racing for two of the most hair-raising, white-knuckle hours of the year.

In recent times, the race has lost a bit of its luster. Certainly, this is due in part to safety concerns -- well-founded safety concerns, at that. Just ask Davey Hamilton or Kenny Bräck how dangerous this track can be. Brian Barnhart, above all else, wants his drivers to come out of the race alive and in one piece.

Of course, in a commercial, attendance, and viewer-driven sport, there is definitely such as two much of a good thing. The current IndyCar package started out as one that was relatively safe, but could still draft and pass pretty darn well. Unfortunately, Mr. Barnhart, the Iron Hand of Not Knowing What Fans Want, added enough aerodynamic bits to the bodies and took away enough mechanical grip from the chassis and tires that the IndyCar Series has turned into an F1 race with only left turns -- minus the limited innovation F1 still employs. The cars can't get near each other without the front end of the following car washing out, so drafting into corners has become a near-impossibility.

Fortunately, it looks like the aero package may have been tweaked a bit to return the "show" back to the show. There was some fun two-wide action between Danica Patrick, Helio Castroneves, and Dan Wheldon during the opening practice and there was some actual...passing?! The race may not be the bonanza that it was in the early part of the decade, but it could be more entertaining this year than it has been in a while.

The beauty of the IndyCar race at Texas is that it is fabulously fast for the track it's on. Texas is a virtual copy of the artist formerly known as Charlotte Motor Speedway, which makes it somewhat ideal for NASCAR racing. The track has high banks, relatively tight turns, and it's pretty damn bumpy. The cars might've gone faster at places like Michigan or California, but the tight layout and tight racing of Texas makes it seem so much faster than anything the IndyCars race on -- even Indianapolis. The racing can get pretty intense, and there have been many cases where a late accident has had an influence in the final result.

My picks for the Bombardier Learjet 550k:

Winner: Scott Dixon. It's pretty hard to argue with Dixon in a Ganassi car at a track like Texas. There have been three oval races this season so far, and Dixon won two of them -- including Kansas, which is a 1.5-mile tri-oval where drafting is a key element. Dixon won here last year, he's starting near the front, and I have every reason in the world to expect him at the front when all is said and done.

Dark Horse: Danica Patrick. Oh yes, I'm finally going to give some love to bunnies-and-rainbows Danica...in a purely metaphorical sense, of course. Quick, name the only driver to finish in the top 5 in each of the last four races. That's right: Danica has been quietly putting up consistent finishes and moving her way up in the points. She qualified pretty close to the front, ahead of such luminaries as Wheldon, Andretti, Rahal, and Kanaan. As long as she isn't caught in someone else's problem, Danica could challenge for the win for sure.

Ninja Dark Horse: Tony Kanaan. Tony only gets this nod because he's starting so far back in the field, and because he's still fighting the really tough injury he sustained at Indianapolis. Kanaan had a fine start at Milwaukee before everything fell apart, then caught fire. Like Danica, he needs to keep out of the issues of some of the more inexperienced drivers around him. If he does so (and his car doesn't inexplicably fall apart) he will be near the front at the end -- something Tony's accustomed to doing at Texas.

Danica Watch: see above.

There you have it. Currently watching the NASCAR trucks at Texas and, considering the kind of two-wide racing they've been able to pull off, I'm optimistic about tomorrow night's IndyCar circus. 9PM, VERSUS, be there!

Would You Like Silly Seasoning On That?

Lots of crazy stuff happening in the world of driver contracts on the way into the Texas race this weekend:

-Stanton Barrett out, Jacques Lazier in. Very impressive move by Mr. Barrett, considering he is a part-owner in Team 3G. Jacques hasn't raced in a while, but he's got plenty of experience in cars like these -- including a victory at Chicagoland when he drove for John Menard. Good move here, for sure.

-Tomas Scheckter out, Milka Duno in. I suppose Dreyer & Reinbold wanted Scheckter's far superior car control at Milwaukee. Scheckter is far better-suited to Texas than is Señorita Duno, but D&R seem to be behind her and her Citgo money, so what can you do. More on this in a sec...

-Paul Tracy out, A.J. Foyt IV in. This is a simple one: A.J. IV and his granddad are both from Texas and the team is based in Texas, so why not get a little home cookin' going? Plus, much embarrassment ensued from the awful condition of Paul Tracy's car at Milwaukee, so I think A.J. is using this as time to tune the thing up a bit.

-Conquest w/ Alex Tagliani in. After a one-race layoff following a rather successful Indianapolis 500, Conquest will field a car at Texas with Tagliani once more. It is notable that Tagliani has not seen Texas Motor Speedway since practice and qualifying for the botched 600-kilometer CART race there in 2001.

-Thomas Sceckter, upon further review, in. Turns out Dreyer & Reinbold weren't canning Scheckter for the weekend, but simply moving Duno back to her #23 car. Scheckter's personal sponsor, Mona-Vie acai juice, put up the money for D&R to put up the #43 car. Scheckter's ridiculous driving style has always been well-suited to the high-speed, high-bank tracks and he has been close to victory many times at places like Texas, Michigan, and the like.

Meanwhile, it is worth mentioning that the IRL family recently welcomed two new members: Bethany Lloyd (daughter of Alex "Pink" Lloyd and Samantha), and Ryder Carpenter (son of Ed Carpenter and Heather). Mazel tov!

Debate still goes on over Cleveland's status on the IRL calendar next year. Pretty much everyone is starting to agree that the two-race system might work, assuming they find the money to pay purses and track operating costs and the like. It's being floated around that race #1, on a temporary 1-mile oval, could be a sort of all-star race with pageantry and fireworks and all that good stuff, while race #2 would be a points-paying road race on the traditional Burke Lakefront road course. More on this and any other tweaks to the schedule sure to come as the summer rolls along.

Cars are at Texas Motor Speedway already, and the first practice is tonight at 7:45. It's also notable that, for the first time in a long time, the IRL is running with the NASCAR truck series this weekend. Since the truck series is the only NASCAR that's fun to watch in full, I always liked it in the old days when ESPN would have them run together in the interest of having its Speed World crew in one spot. Beatin' and bangin' Friday night, drafting and two-wide Saturday night...always a fun time.