What do I think of the unification of the Champ Car/IndyCar Series and what does the future hold for the unified IndyCar Series?

So, with last year’s IRL IndyCar Series Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti departing for NASCAR along with former series champion Sam Hornish Jr., and series champion and star Scott Sharp driving over in the American LeMans Series… so I ask this question to everyone, what do I think of the unification of the Champ Car/IndyCar Series and what does the future hold for the unified IndyCar Series?

When I first heard that of the Champ Car World Series and the IRL IndyCar Series was going to become one under the IndyCar Series banner, I had mixed thoughts on the unification, on one hand I was thinking that finally the IndyCar Series will have more competition not only more drivers going for the victory week in and week out, but larger fields and a better television package, one can only hope.

But on the flip side, first, the media kept making the mistake of calling this a merger, this was no merger, this was survival for the Champ Car Series and a buyout with Tony George and Tony getting exactly what he wants, he nearly destroyed open wheel racing in America which included the departure of a lot of good indy car drivers and now he gets his vision and basically complete control while the Champ Car World Series formerly known as CART is history after around 27 years.

Leading up to the Indianapolis 500 were I believe most of the teams will be on somewhat equal footing was an interesting blend, basically you had a big learning curve for the old Champ car drivers on the ovals and the opposite somewhat for the street circuit in St. Pete, plus you had the final showdown between the IRL IndyCar Series racing separately in Motegi, Japan, while the Champ Car teams where racing at the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Like I said, while Homestead and Kansas where really no contest for the Champ Car drivers as they have little experience on ovals, however the street circuit at St. Pete was a good race all the way around and you know it was the perfect showcase for the old Champ Car drivers as the rising star Graham Rahal made history by capturing his first IRL IndyCar Series victory and in great style. If that wasn’t enough for a good showing for open wheel racing, the split weekend showed even more excitement for the rising stars as first at the IRL IndyCar Series series finale (before the series would become one again) in Motegi, Japan, as Danica Patrick (who I have been watching since she raced years ago in the Toyota Atlantic Series) made history by capturing her first victory in the Indy Car Series and becoming the first female to win a IndyCar series event.

Specking of Champ Car World Series (formerly CART) series finale, the Long beach Grand Prix, which was a good one, you had a full 20 car field that was exciting as an open wheel race could be with one of the series raising stars winning the race after going from starting fourth to leading the race by turn 1, Will Power. Fans also say what could as well be the final appearance of some of the open wheels great drivers including one of my favorite’s Paul Tracy, who reminds me of Tony Stewart, it was also cool to see Jimmy Vaser racing one more time in couch tour, so in the end, goodbye Champ Car/CART, you had a good run.

With that said, So what about the future of the IndyCar Series? Now that the two series has become one, this is where the series history will begin and it’s only fitting that this will happen at the biggest spectacular in Motorsports today, the famous Indianapolis 500.

When it comes to the future of the IndyCar Series, I see success depending upon what the series does next starting with who are the drivers? Well I am glad to see that at least 9 drivers have made the trip from the Champ Car World Series over to the unified series including Oriol Servia, Will Power, Bruno Junquiera, Justin Wilson and Graham Rahal to name a few, however one driver I don’t see on the list is Paul Tracy, who in my opinion is key to the success of the series especially at the Canadian races, not to mention his character is unmatched by most drivers. Fans either love him or hate him and that’s huge, it’s headline news and he’s one of my favorite drivers. Tracy is not afraid to get into someone’s face, nor race hard for any position. Looking on down the line, what about Alex Tagliani or Kathrene Legge, where do they stand? Like I said drivers are key and more American drivers will help the series grow in America, Paul Tracy is key in Canada.

Where does the schedule go from the current one? Adding races like Portland International Raceway, Exhibition Place in Toronto, Road America, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico to name a few would make for a good combination, while removing Richmond would be good, it’s just not exciting.

How about the next generation indy car - turbo, supercharger or normally aspirated engines, this is the drivers and teams area, I’m staying clear this one. Well that’s it for now as I turn my attention to the 92th running of the Indianapolis 500, the rest of the 2008 season and a better 2009 season. Comments. (Photo Credit: Motorsport.com)

- Racedriven

Third time’s a charm for Ashley Force as she grabs her first career NHRA Funny Car victory.

A picture is worth a thousand words and for this Motorsports fan who is also a John Force Racing fan that has been watching John Force for years, this picture of Ashley Force beating her father John Force (who was going for his 1000 career round win on Sunday) on Sunday to grab her first career NHRA Funny Car victory in the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals is amazing. What a great job by Ashley Force who had been to the finals two previous times already this season back at Gainesville and last time out in Houston, now finds herself as the points leader by -59 points, what a victory.


(Photo Credit: Auto Imagery)

- Racedriven

Speedway Expo kicks off the 2008 Northeast racing season, but how was it?

Image taken by me: Tony Stewart's 1980's Hearse at the Unique Whips booth.

There isn’t a year that goes by that up here in the Northeast that we don’t have a Motorsports expo of some kind that kicks off the next racing season, in the past, the show was called Racearama, that was held mainly at the Big E in Springfield, Massachusetts, last year it was the first annual Speedway Expo and this year, it was no different with the second annual Speedway Expo, however unlike the last year's, this past weekend’s wasn’t much to really talk about.

Before we even got on the road, we already had a problem, we had to try and find two $5.00 off admission coupons at an Sunoco station that carried them and believe me when I say it, only Springfield stations might have them, no such luck, all out, you think considering we are on there mailing list and have a Sunoco credit card, it would be easier, nope, full admission for both my father and I, $15 each, plus $5 parking fee, great $35 dollars plus tolls, food at McDonalds (yeah twice eating there) and of course gas at $3.15 a gallon.

So what was and wasn’t on there? Well since we were forced to go Sunday Morning, Will Castro from Unique Whips with Tony Stewart’s Custom black hearse was on hand, what a creation, I’ve never seen anything like it, we passed it three times because of its location and we walk around twice, they had the Sunoco OCC built Chopper, nice one there, very detailed, that must be fast, but those spokes are tiny and three #40 Matt Kobyluck Mohegan Sun Resort Chevrolet Monte Carlo, yeah I said three including one at the newly renamed New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s booth. At the third booth, the guy asked me if he wanted him to move for picture of the #40 car, my reply, no need, this is the third time I had seen it at this show and already have several photos, he said, yeah, Kobyluck’s team got requests for three show cars.

Well, with that said, I ask to the organizers, were was more of the NASCAR Modifieds and the Camping World East Series Cars including last year’s East Champion and winner of the Toyota Showdown in California Joey Logona’s car, how about more racing collectibles, I’m just saying, where was everything?

All in all it was an interesting show, but having to pay full admission, parking fee and not having a lot there in a smaller space, it wasn’t worth it and since we got there just after 10am, we were home before 1:30pm with a little over a hour drive, go figure, good Cup series race, second place for Dale Jr.. I’ll think about going next year.

Image taken by me with my Kodak EasyShare DX6490:


Left: Rear view of Tony Stewart's Unique Hearse, Right: Sunoco Orange County Chopper.


Left: Todd Szegedy's No. 2 Wisk-Snuggle Modified Tour car, Right: #4 Modified Tour car and #40 Matt Kobyluck Mohegan Sun Resort Chevrolet Monte Carlo East Series Car.

Hopefully I will have more photos soon, but check out that hearse with the blue led's on.

- Racedriven

What should the identity of NASCAR’s Nationwide (formally Busch) Series be?

The NASCAR Nationwide Series, NASCAR’s second major racing series, which in some cases is also referred to as a stepping series to the Cup Series. For the past year or so, I have been thinking about this subject and in turn reading just what fans, writers, drivers and even owners comments on this subject and after going to Loudon, NH (NHIS) (like I do every year) to watch the Busch Series in action, I believe that there is no doubt that the series needs a new identity not only because Busch is gone as title sponsor and is replaced with Nationwide, but in general, its still too much like the Cup series.

First, would be in naming of series, when you look at NASCAR’s other two major series, they both have that non-changeable names, for example, NASCAR’s elite series is the Cup Series and that wouldn’t change even if the series sponsor does – The Winston Cup Series back before 2004, the Nextel Cup Series for the last couple of years and new for 2008, the Sprint Cup Series. In all those cases, the word “Cup” stayed and that’s its identity. The same can be said for the Craftsmen Truck Series come next season (2009) when they get a new sponsor, it’s always going to be the Truck Series so long as they run trucks. The point is, the identity is Cup Series and Truck Series and that’s would the Nationwide Series.

So what should NASCAR’s second major series be named, well GT is too common throughout motorsports, so how about the GS Series (GS standing for Grand Sport) or simply the Nationwide Sport Series or Sports if you prefer, its simple and it says a little about its (sports) cars.

Just added on 2/10: I was just reminded that before 1982, this series was named the sportsman series (thanks revjim) and with that, it got me thinking, a throwback in the name to its history, imagine this fourth option, the NASCAR Nationwide Sportsman Series, that would fix the identity and it gives it a bit of history.


Image was taken by me with a Kodak EasyShare DX6490.

Tony Stewart’s 2006 NHIS NASCAR Modified Car.

Going with a dream for a moment, what about the Nationwide Modified Series, of course this would have to include the Modified cars from NASCAR’s Regional’s, more under cars.

So what do you think the new name should be?
1. NASCAR Nationwide GS Series
2. NASCAR Nationwide Sports Series
3. NASCAR Nationwide Sportsman Series
4. NASCAR Nationwide Modified Series

Second, would come with the cars that they run, the series can’t run COT Sedans, so they need to go smaller and economical with new COT car. So as of now, that would be could come in the form of the Pony Cars – Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Mustang, Dodge Challenger, and the Toyota Supra/Celica. The second choice would be using Sport Compact cars – Chevrolet Cobalt SS, Ford Focus RS, Dodge Caliber SRT4, and either the Toyota Matrix or even better the Scion tC.

Now the third choice would be more of a dream of mine that I have had for many years now since I first watched the Modifieds Tour up at New Hampshire International (now Motor) Speedway years ago and was very impressed. So with that said, NASCAR should consider taking a page from its regional series and bring up those Modified cars as a base to start with and have them powered by the manufacturers. Image the Nationwide Modified Series with the COT Modified Cars. Like I said only a dream, but NASCAR should consider it of course with more safety added to the cars.

Third, would be the championship battle for both the drivers and the owner’s championship. Last season, the former Busch Series saw two champions - Carl Edwards crowned the driver’s champion and Richard Childress Racing crowned the owner’s championship and that’s cool to see.

The problem is really the driver’s championship where some say that it should be just for non-cup series drivers. I don’t know about that, however adding a chase format might be better, they would run it similar to the Cup Series, a regular season of 25 races with a 10-race chase format. It’s a start, however it would still most likely be Cup regulars winning.

Fourth, cost is a huge issue in this series, NASCAR could start by running a lot of the same rules from the Truck Series that’s a little cheaper to run right now compared to the Nationwide Series. Keeping with the cost, back in 2006, I wrote a column on this very subject called "My Take" Status of the Busch Series and What could be next.” Where I wrote this:

In Marty Smith's NASCAR.com column entitled "Busch Series needs a complete overhaul -- now", Marty interviews Jeff Burton who said "To start, bolt-on common bodies built from composites, crate engines and completely alternate tires." would reduce cost, to run the Busch Series is about $220,000 per race. I believe that, tires, people, cars, parts, etc...I like the idea of bolt-on common bodies built from composites, crate engines and completely alternate tires, it would get more owners involved, plus more drivers involved and at less the cost. Sponsers who are coming into the series, could pay less as well.

Interesting, I’m going to leave the cost issue there, NASCAR knows more about this then I do.

Finally, I could go on and on, however, to me there is only four major areas that NASCAR should be looking at in the Nationwides series, first the name, second would be the cars, third is the championship format and fourth is cost. Period.

One thing that shouldn’t be considered it anything that has to do with Cup Series regulars being removed from the series all together, that’s not the problem area, they add to the series with letting Nationwide regulars race up against them, its getting experience and the Cup Series drivers brings in the crowds too. All in all, that’s it.

- Racedriven

Should fans be thinking about Jimmie Johnson winning a 3rd straight Cup Series Championship now and if not, what then?

This past Monday on the season premiere of NASCAR Now, I couldn’t believe it when they asked “Will Jimmie Johnson win his third straight Cup Series Championship?” why? Why would you ask that, when did it become Richmond in September… This would be one of the last things I’m thinking about going into the new NASCAR season.

What about the fact that the Budweiser Shootout is this Saturday night or that the Gatorade Duel is next Thursday or even the fact that the 50th running of the Daytona 500 is a week from Sunday, yeah what about those.

So in light of that question, what might fans be thinking about going into the new season:

First, Dale Earnhardt Jr. driving for Hendrick Motorsports with a new number, sponsors and mostly new team., the only things that stayed the same was his crew chief Eury Jr., a couple members of his crew and he’s driving a Chevrolet. As a Dale Jr. fan, I am hoping for a good season and that that Hendrick equipment that has won the last two championships will stand up. I’m not making any predictions here, ok many one, a victory.

Second, The Car of Tomorrow becomes the 2008 full season car and no matter what fans say, NASCAR isn’t getting rid of it and we are stuck with it. I have heard that teams have worked with it to make it turn left better. However, I hope it makes racing better all season long and yes even from Atlanta to Martinsville and all out to Sonoma road course. I just wish it looked better.

Third, What about the Open Wheelers coming in, I mean you have former IRL Champion & Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti (with wife Ashley Judd – thanks 4ever3 for reminding me) driving the #40 Dodge for Ganassi Racing, former IRL & CART standout Patrick Carpentier driving the #10 Dodge for GEM, former F1 stand out Jacques Villeneuve driving the #27 Toyota for Bill Davis Racing (heard on SPEED, not full season deal yet with sponsor?) and of course the driver who made news for getting owner points from teammate Kurt Busch, Sam Hornish Jr. will drive the #77 Dodge for Penske Racing.

Predictions for the Open Wheelers, its too early to tell with the exception of Daytona, California and Las Vegas testing and I would have to say they will struggle for the first half of the season at least until they really get the stock car experience they need first. They all should have been starting off in the Truck Series or Nationwide Series for at least one full season if not two.

Four, How will Toyota do this season considering they signed Joe Gibbs Racing with two-time Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and new comer Kyle Busch.? I have to say, second year out of the gate and I see them winning at least one race and contending in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship. The question now is, who will be the first driver to win for Toyota? Thinking Stewart or Busch, yes Kyle Busch.

Fifth, what about the Nationwide Series? Should this series be named the Nationwide GS Series? GS stands for Grand Sport. That’s round one, the series needs a name like Truck or Cup. Second is a better car, pony cars maybe the answer or Sport Compact cars like the Cobalt SS, Focus, Caliber SRT4 and Scion tC (Toyota Matrix). That’s enough for now, I’m still thinking and I will have a column on it soon.

Sixth, The television package – mainly ESPN/ABC, All I got to say is all fans should be able to watch there races live and I mean watch them on television live even if the race goes over the schedule time frame – I’m talking to some of those ABC affiliates who decided to leave the race despite the fact that the race wasn’t over. The Daly Planet has a great article on this that everyone should read. That’s enough for now, I’m still thinking and I will have a column on it soon.

Seventh, oh boy, will the Hendrick Motorsports domination continue? Don’t be surprised if between the four drivers, they win 18 races (around half the cup series schedule), I know I wouldn’t be.

Eighth, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, what its future going to hold, Cup dates? A possible NHRA date? A redesign of the speedway? Lower ticketr prices, what? I really don’t have the answer for this one, all I can say is late June will be interesting when I go up for the Nationwide Series race and the Modified Tour race.

Ninth, will Juan Montoya spin out his new teammate Dario Franchitti going for a victory or will it be the other way around. Its always a big question mark to see who will challenge Juan Montoya next or who will challenge him.

And with all that said, finally number ten, who will be in the top 35 in owners points going into Martinsville and who be out? Drivers to watch on the bubble include Kyle Petty, Sam Hornish Jr., and Paul Menard to name a few. Time will tell.

As for the Jimmie Johnson winning his 3rd straight Cup Championship? If he does, it will be huge, however he has to deal with his over two teammates – Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. plus maybe other teams including Gibbs Racing…

- Racedriven

Making the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Better.

When you look towards the future of the sport, a lot of issues has to be addressed and throughout last season, several people who have been in the sport for years came out about what should the future should behold, well from this racing fan (who has been a NASCAR since the early 1990’s – before Jeff Gordon came in to the (the Cup Series in 1992 at Atlanta), why not think about these suggestions…

The Length of season, 34 to 37 races should be the max for the Sprint Cup Series and what we have now (36 races) is dead-on, no problems here.

The Length of race, If we are talking race per race changes, start with Pocono going to 400 miles, however one idea could be 3 hour timed races (not counting red flag periods) for most races except the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, Coca-Cola 600, (would someone please return Darlington to labor day weekend) Southern 500. As for Bristol-Martinsville-Richmond races, they are each appealing as they stand and shouldn’t be touched, 400 to 500 lappers is just what racing fans need on these three short tracks. It’s hard to change something that for the most part works, it’s just the way the races end up going sometimes. Two hour races would suck and remember ticket prices.

The Chase length and format, How about running a 30 race regular season with the points leader receiving a 50 point bonus going into the chase (would also work with 26 regular season too), then a six race chase for the Sprint Cup.

The Top 35 qualifying rule, This to me is the one of the worst and needs to be addresses, I also know that NASCAR will likely never remove this rule entirely, however, one of the things this sport was built-on is allowing any one (team or driver) the chance to qualify for a Cup Series race and with the top 35 rule, that doesn’t leave much breathing room. This top 35 rule is also a free golden pass for any team/driver in the top 35 to get into the field which gives most drivers an advantage during practice to only work on race setup, while the go-or-go homers have to work on qualifying and race setups. This is the major leagues with some of the best drivers out there, since when do they need a golden pass to make the field.

If NASCAR has to keep this rule, why not top 20 or top 25, those extra 10-15 spots will make a difference for letting the rest of the teams who are outside this rule have a chance to make the field on time. Personally, I know this wouldn’t happen, however, I would back to top 35 fastest, plus 36-42 or 43rd if no champion needs it with provisionals.

The Car of Tomorrow or Car of Today, When it comes to this new car, let’s face it, its not going anywhere, NASCAR is not going to get rid of it anytime in the near future, so everyone including fans are stuck with it, however, using the current platform, how do we fix it to make it look and drive better. I believe teams and NASCAR have made this car drive better at least from what I have heard from the Daytona, Las Vegas and California testing. They have lowered the center of gravity, which might help let it turn left in the corners better.

What about the styling, the look, the design, first let me say, I watch a lot of racing on television and not just NASCAR and many racing series have gone to a template car or common car as you will and while they for the most part look the same, they do look at little better to there street version.

So what about NASCAR’s COT that is powered by one of four manufacturers, well, let’s start upfront with the current car, the splitter is ok, however from the bumper down, go in just a little bit and then straight down like last years car and add the splitter underneath it. On top of the hood, round it a little better like a car now a days. The driver section in my option is off limits in the redesign, it safer, let it go. Moving towards the rear, with the rear wing, how about extending it upward to match the height of the rear window so drivers can finally see out the rear better and make the rear wind a little smaller.

These are just a few suggestions, of course you could have it look like four door. Basically, this racing fan is looking for a stock appearing racecar period.


Image was taken by me with a Kodak EasyShare DX6490

Look at this 2007 Chevrolet Corvette Racecar really closely and then look at NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow below, see anything similar..the front splitter and the rear wing, the only difference is the way the front splitter is applied to this corvette vs the way its on the COT, the rear wing on the Corvette is a little smaller and looks to be higher then the roof line, the COT has a large rear wing that makes a better door then a window.


Dale Jr's #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet COT test car earlier today at Atlanta Motor Speedway (Credit: Racing One/Getty Images)

As for the NASCAR points system. Check out my article from last month called “How to update the NASCAR points system.”.

What about NASCAR’s television package? All I got to say is, Daytona, we’ve got a problem, I will touch on this beast before the 50th running of the Daytona 500, its all about getting a good product out to the racing fans all over not only the United States, but Canada and beyond and if they can’t watch it, what good is it and that is one of the big problems with mainly the ABC affiliates on the west coast.

Comments?

- Racedriven

The year that was: Open wheel, F1, NHRA and Road racing though the eyes of this racing fan.

It was an interesting 2007 season all over Motorsports for me and on any given week I had plenty to write about and what an elevator of a season its been.

Open wheel racing in the United States doesn’t really count for much anymore like it use too, for the IRL, I watched basically the entire season or at least as they say Tivo-ed it to watch when I had the time. They still had there fair share of action including one spectacle in racing, the Indianapolis 500. Even with all of the rain being off and on all day, the race was entertaining at times and seeing Dario Franchitti win it (yes, even on fuel mileage and the race being shortened due to rain), it was cool too.

The championship battle all season long was nothing like I expected and with no Penske racing cars in the mix (like I predicted at the beginning of the season), but rather the battle came down to Andretti-Green Racing vs. the challenging Ganassi Racing team. In the end, it was one bad call on the Ganassi Racing side of it that ended it all and with a hard charging Dario Franchitti winning it all.

Soon after the Indy 500, WindTunnel asked the question “Which was the most interesting race to watch…Monaco Grand Prix, Indy 500 or The Coca-Cola 600?”, even after a good Coca-Cola 600, I still choose the Indianapolis 500.

Of course now the latest trend is for some open wheel drivers to invade NASCAR and what a crop it is - Dario Franchitti, Jacques Villeneuve and Sam Hornish Jr. just to name a few.

As for the Champ Car World Series, I began the season watching the first two races, the first-ever Las Vegas Grand Prix and then the popular Long Beach Grand Prix. Since then, Champ Car hasn’t even come on my radar at all. The championship from what I read was a run-away bust just like most of the races.

On yesterday’s Speed news, Miller reported on two interesting stories, first, that Paul Tracy had been emailed by Forsythe a couple weeks ago that told him to renegotiate his Contract or loss his ride as Miller put it. Tracy has been trying to get a hold of Forsythe for weeks now, but no response, Tracy did tell the media that he has an iron contract for 4 more years to race for them. Personally, no need for Tracy to renegotiate his Contract, they have to pay him either way. If he leaves Forsythe, were does he go? A team should pick him up either in Champ Car or some where else, but if its going to heard Champ Car more, no Tracy, no attendance.

The second story was that in a private test session at Homestead-Miami Speedway on the road course, both the Champ car and the IRL cars ran together on track (read more on both the Tracy story and this one here…), could this be a sign of these two low-rated series getting back together? Personally, that might be the only way open wheel racing in the US can survivor.

Time is always an issue every day in what you watch and don’t watch and as much as I like watch NHRA, I didn’t get a chance on most Sunday nights even with a DVR. I watched the live ESPN coverage from Indianapolis, but for the most part nope. However I’ve been a huge fan of John force and team force for years now since before I meet John Force himself at Racearama years ago. It was great to see Ashley Force come up and race in the funny cars and she did great for her rookie season.

Still shocked with John Force’s accident in (I believe) Texas, I hope he gets back on track next year. Good luck John, good well soon.

Formula 1, Formula 1 for me this season was a huge turning point as for the first time I wasn’t watching much of the series after the Indianapolis Grand Prix, instead with Eclstones comments about not needing the United States anymore and combining that with the racing, I ended up writing a piece called “Is Formula 1 in trouble in the eyes of its US and Canadian fans?” and walking away from the series. However I did end up watching the finale in Brazil and we all know how that ended - a controversy nightmare with no clear World Championship. In the end, Raikkonen won the World Championship and I guess I understand why, oh well.

Personally, I don’t understand why McLaren-Mercedes will continue to run in the Formula 1 after that FIA’s decision on Spy-gate or whatever.

Earlier today, Renault announced there 2008 lineup and they signed non other than the two-time World Champion Alonso to a two year deal. Let’s be honest, that was all Alonso was going to get, no other team can afford him or handle him, now he’s back number 1 at Renault. So for 2008, the World Championship battle could be Lewis Hamilton at McLaren vs.Raikkonen at Ferrari vs. Alonso at Renault, now that might be entertaining, now all Formula 1 really needs is on-track passing.

I heard the former Formula 1 winner Juan Montoya say, in the first four races this season in the Cup Series, he was either passed or had passed other drivers more times then in all season in Formula 1 and its true too. I see more passing in a single Martinsville, Richmond or Bristol Cup race then in half the season of formula 1. That’s what they neded to work on, being able to have competitive on-track racing period and retracting there comments on the United States with adding a GP in the States. You watch, F1 might not even be in Canada neither.

The biggest thrill besides NASCAR of course for me was watching the American Le Man’s Series and the similar Grand-American Road Racing Series both put on great races all season long, the 24 hours of Daytona (Rolex 24 at Daytona), 12 hours of Sebring, 24 hours of LeMans, the season in these two series were action-packed all around. In ALMS, it was Audi narrowly winning over Porsche in the prototypes, but what a race it was in the GT class, great battles all season long with the champion being Mika Salo.

In the same respect, the Grand American series came out on top in both there championship battle as well as there good, close, competitive racing all season long, no this isn’t an advertisement… One downfall this season was the official calls made during the race, you thought NASCAR was bad, nope. But, all in all good racing with GURNEY & FOGARTY winning the championship.

- Racedriven

What were the biggest stories in racing of 2007?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, boy do we have alot to be thankful for on this day, how about being thankful for a good racing all season long. On this Thanksgiving while you give thanks for all of this good things in your life and sit down to dinner with your friends and family, I ask you to ponder this question for a while, what was the biggest stories in racing of 2007 and what what was the biggest?

I have been pondering that very question for the last couple of weeks as it was the WindTunnel question of the week, so here's what my take...

When you look at last season in the world of Motorsports, you had a lot to consider for this award and the same goes true for this season. While Formula 1 had a lot to be thankful after last season (2006) including one good championship battle and the idea of moving on to 2007 despite the announcement of there 7-time champion Michael Schumacher would be retiring, they can’t say the same for the 2007 season as it’s on-track boring racing was over shadowed by its Ferrari with the FIA vs. McLaren-Mercedes in what is called Stephen-Gate that ended with no-constructors championship for McLaren and a terrible $100 Million Dollar fine and to top it off, Formula 1 then decided to pull out of not only Indianapolis, but the entire market of the United States fans in the cold.

This past May ended with "One of the great specticulars in racing" the Indianapolis 500 living up to its name after Dario Franchitti won in great fashion. The Indy racing League followed that up with it's Indy 500 winner capturing the IRL Championship with a last turn battle (on fuel) for the championship.

Another big story of the year was the Open-Wheel drivers invading NASCAR with driver’s like Dario Franchitti, Jacques Villeneuve, and Sam Hornish Jr., to join Juan Montoya made the cut.

There’ll all big stories in one way or another, but the 2007 season not only in NASCAR, but in all of Motorsports belongs to NASCAR’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.. When you look at the season that Dale Jr. has had both On-track and off-track that wins this one…

His On-track nightmare included not making the chase (due to the 100-point penalty after Darlington or the 10 DNF’s including 7 blown engines.) wasn’t even the biggest.


Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s new colors and car number were revealed at the Dallas Convention Center (Hendrick Motorsports/Autostock photo)

But off-track it was Dale Earnhardt Jr’s four huge announcements that really take the bill – first, (in May) leave DEI, second (in June), joining Hendrick Motorsports, third, Budweiser and #8 will not be making the move to Hendrick Motorsports with him and finally, announcing that he will be driving the #88 AMP Energy-Mountain Dew-National Guard Chevrolet Impala SS.

What a season, now that I have given fuel for thought, so what is the biggest story in racing of 2007 and why? comment below... See Yeah!

- Racedriven

Is the Formula 1 World Championship really decided? More

Last August, I wrote a piece about Formula 1 and what my take was on the current status of the series and I ended the piece by saying “Bottom Line, good bye Formula 1, you don’t want to support the United States and or at least Canada, than I don’t want to support your series.” and it was called “Is Formula 1 in trouble in the eyes of its US and Canadian fans?”

With that said, this race fan couldn’t resist watching one more race namely being the Formula 1 realty show season finale in Brazil in hopes of seeing the crowning of a World Champion that was to be decided on track at the finish line, but as we all know by now, that wasn’t to be as after the race, the officials discovered that three teams had violated the fuel tempeture rule by 13-14 degrees with a allowance of only ten degrees and as per the rule book, they should have been disqualified… but the officials decided not to disqualify the three teams in effect effecting the World Championship outcome giving the title to Kimi Räikkönen and not to the McLaren rookie Lewis Hamilton.

Well now McLaren has sent a letter of appeal to the FIA and the date is set for Nov. 15, so why the talk? Does anyone think McLaren is going to win the appeal? Is Kimi Räikkönen still going to be 2007 World Champion?

In my eyes and from what I understand the rule book reads, first, the officials did make the wrong call, they should have disqualified the three teams on the spot with the evidence that they had and it’s a huge discussion as why they didn’t. Second, McLaren does have a leg to stand on and I would say if they have all the evidence, they will win the appeal.

However he’s the bottom line, Kimi Räikkönen will still be the 2007 Formula 1 World Champion, because the FIA isn’t going to change the results and that’s it, so in my eye’s, McLaren lost both championships and in the record books under the 2007, World Champion will read Kimi Räikkönen* - FIA makes wrong call at season finale and awards both championships to there golden boy Ferrari.

For the record, I have to say, Kimi Räikkönen does deserve to be World Champion, just not the 2007 World Champion (that honor bellows to Lewis Hamilton) and it will go do in history as the FIA crowned the wrong person as World Champion. And that’s were I will end it.

More...
Recently, a reader (in my comments) asked me why I think Lewis Hamilton deserves to be the 2007 Formula 1 World Champion? JFTR, the only reason why I think Hamilton should be World Champion is because he won the points battle if the stewards had make the call to disqualify those three teams as per the rule book. I also understand that in Brazil, some teams were having problems all weekend getting consistent temperatures from the fuel pump rigs, however normally the stewards don't make many expections and to add to the case, those were the only three teams that were over the 10 degrees allowence on all of there pit stops. That's it.

With that said, if we are talking who deserves to World Champion without the points, well that easy, I would give the World Championship to Kimi Räikkönen, he has earned it, he has paid his due's in Formula 1, but that's not how Formula 1 is. Thank You for you comment and I hope I explained my position.

- Racedriven

Which championship fight is more exciting – Nextel Cup, Busch Series, Truck Series or the NHRA?

First up is Nextel Cup: Is it a two-man race for the Nextel Cup going into Charlotte? This question was asked a couple of nights ago on NASCAR Now and I really think it deserves a classic answer, simply put NO way, its not just a two-man race (being last weekends Talladega winner Jeff Gordon leading by 9 points of his Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson.). There is still six races left in the chase, I will say that both Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are had chargers right now and seem to be unbeatable at times, but I wouldn’t count out any driver in the top 6.

At this time last season, Jimmie Johnson was a full race out of the lead by -156 points behind Jeff Burton going into Charlotte and we all know he won the championship by 56 points over second place Matt Kenseth. So really any driver that’s around 210 points back, still has a good shot at victory. Really all one of these drivers really need is six races of top 5’s and top 10 finishes. Don’t forget, one blown motor and another competitor finishing in the top 5, that right there is around 156 point swing.

After New Hampshire, I choose two drivers that I though might win the championship this year, first being Tony Stewart which is in 4th place 154 points back and second being the defending Nextel Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson which is in second place only 9 points back of Jeff Gordon.

As for as the championship goes, it’s still really anyone’s (if your in the top 6 in the standings…) championship to win.

Second is the Busch Series and no I’m not talking about the driver’s championship that’s all but looked out by Carl Edwards, I’m talking about the owner’s championship… RCR is only 56 points behind Roush-Fenway Racing. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see Richard Childress Racing with the #29 Busch car driven by Jeff Burton and Scott Wimmer win the owner’s championship and Carl Edwards win the driver’s championship, that would make an interesting championship.

Third, how about the Truck Series championship, that’s a two-man race with Ron Hornaday Jr. leading Mike Skinner by 14 points, what a championship battle this one has been, these two has been swapping the lead back and forth for several weeks. I’m still looking towards Ron Hornaday Jr. to win the championship.

Finally, one points championship that is really unlike any other championship system I’ve seen is in the NHRA were they truly have a four-driver chase in four different classes called the NHRA Countdown to the Championship that features a unique format.that plays out over the final six races. Right now the chase is down to four drivers and two races left being Las Vegas, NV and Pomona, CA.

So who will win the 2007 NHRA POWERade Pro championships? It’s a hard one to guess on, two races to decide this championship with a total of 30 points between all four drivers, in Top Fuel I would say Tony Schumacher will win the championship, he’s been strong all season long and he’s the defending champion. In Funny Car, no doubt who that would be considering I’m a huge John Force fan including his next generation drivers, it will be Robert Hight, he has won a couple events and he’s a hard charger. How about Pro Stock, Greg Anderson has the upper hand considering he’s the defending champion and finally in Pro Stock Motorcycle’s, who knows… I can say it’s a Harley Davidson vs. three Buells, that’s cool to watch.

So which championship fight is more exciting? Right now I’m still on the Nextel Cup, but the new NHRA Countdown to the Championship is very different from any other series I have ever seen. What about my readers, NHRA or Nextel Cup? You tell me…

From Daytona to Homestead: The NASCAR schedule and landscape continues to change.

One of the most talked about issues in NASCAR is what tracks should be added, what tracks should stay and what tracks should be deleted from the schedules in quest to be in every big market. I wasn’t shocked at all with the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule that got released last week because there really wasn’t any big changes except from moving a weekend off or two around to give there drivers, teams and fans better alignment. One interesting touch from last year is the move of New Hampshire from mid-July to late June with good from me since I visit NHIS twice a year.

Personally I really don’t know what you can do to make the Cup Series schedule good for everyone, but consider one thing, back in the day, the schedule use to have over 70 races per year and now where down to 36 races a year, that’s change.

However the opposite can be said for the Busch series and Truck series schedule as they dramatically need to change because in some ways, the Busch Series schedule is worse than the Cup Series schedule. One way to make a dramatic change to both schedule is to: Simply put, split the cup schedule in half with 18 races being companion Busch Series events and the other half (18 races) being companion Truck Series events, for example New Hampshire hosts two Cup races per year and with that the Busch Series once in June and the Truck series in September, why not just do that. Both schedule would also include other companion and stand along events.

The Busch Series should continue to go to Canada (either in Montreal or somewhere over Seattle…) and to Mexico City, plus maybe bring the Truck Series along for support. This change would also add a date on the Truck Series schedule for racing in Richmond at RIR, NASCAR should have never have removed that race from n open date to go to Talladega.

Besides the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule coming out last week, earlier today two interesting pieces of news have come to light:

The first reads (Insert article from wsoctv.com: CONCORD, N.C. -- Bruton Smith, owner of Speedway Motorsports, Inc., said Tuesday that if Concord does not work with him on a controversial drag strip, he’ll take Lowe’s Motor Speedway somewhere else. Smith told Eyewitness News he is already looking for plots of land in the Charlotte area. He said he’ll close LMS and build a new speedway and his own airport so that race car drivers will easily be able to fly in and out of town. “I’ve built more speedways than anyone else in the world,” he reasoned. He said it would only take him 11 months and about $350 million to erect another one. Concord doesn’t look like it’s going to be a place for him to grow, he said, so if city leaders don’t change their minds, he will take his business and go. Smith said he’s dumbfounded that the Concord City Council voted against a proposed drag strip near the speedway on Monday night, effectively changing the area’s zoning rules. Workers had already started grading the land to make way for the strip.

Dozens of residents showed up at the city council meeting to protest the strip so close to their homes. Others argued the economic benefits of such a motorsports attraction, which would provide jobs and revenue in the area. Smith will have to take the city to court in order for the decision to be reversed. He wants to undo an annexation, which made the speedway, and the land around it that had been zoned for motorsports, part of the city limits. “Either they go, or we go,” he said. Eyewitness News contacted the mayor of Concord and told him what Smith had to say. He said he had no comment. Smith is estimated by Forbes to be worth more than $1.4 billion. )

That tells me that Smith is willing to go to just about any lengths to get what he wants for his racetracks including possibly closing down a historic track and building a new one just miles away just to build a drag strip. Personally it also tells me something else, if New Hampshire International Speedway is for sale one day and Smith purchases it, New England racing fans (including Canadian racing fans…) will loss at least one Cup race and pay more to watch NASCAR in action. There’s an old saying that reminds me of this story, “Money Talks and everyone else walks…”.

On a better subject, a former NASCAR track and historic track I might add has just been auctioned off to the highest bidder and the new owner is a Former NASCAR driver, Andy Hillenburg buys North Carolina Speedway (Rockingham) for 4.4 Million Dollars… according to the article in SceneDaily.com, Hillenburg hopes to return some form of stock-car racing to the facility within a year and it will also be home to his driving school.

Rockingham “The Rock” Speedway made for some of the most incredible races in NASCAR history including some championship winning moments, Steve Park’s victory in his DEI Chevy following the death of late great Dale Earnhardt, in 2004, Matt Kenseth beat out Kasey Kahne by 0.010 seconds for the victory and Carl Long’s incredible flipping car down the backstraight into turn 3 (you had to see that one…). Nevertheless, its good to see a new owner that wants to breath new life into a historic track. Hopefully the same can be soon said for North Wilksboro Speedway as there has been talk about a new owner there as well.

At the end of this entire shuffling event, it’s the fans who pay.

New Hampshire and Dover create tight points chase and sheds some light on future of the Busch Series.

With two rounds in the Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship complete, I would have thought by this point (after two races…) the chase picture would have looked more spread out considering what happened last season at first race with the lap 3 wreck and most contenders falling or crashing out early, but that wasn’t the case at all and no one expected to see Clint Bowyer pickup his first career victory and in such dominating fashion. When you looked at the other chasers after New Hampshire, just about everyone had really good runs and nothing really changed expect for Bowyers position moved up to fourth in the points.

However the opposite happened in Dover, I truly believe that that racetrack is the Monster Mile, it threw everything at the chase drivers including what some would say the kitchen sink, first the crash with Hamlin and Petty were Hamlin just looked like he ran over Petty and including the little fight sort of speck in the garage area, but the second thing, the huge crash coming off turn 2 with 15 to go with Busch breaking a frontend piece or blowing a tire, that created this huge mess and tight look in the championship.

However the final laps of this one were very exciting with first the third place battle with Dale Jr. finally passing his teammate Mark Martin (never thought I would say that…teammates) and second the lead battle of Edwards vs. Biffle with Carl Edwards and Roush-Fenway Racing winning the race, but it really should be no surprise that he won as he has dominated in most cases this season on concrete tracks.

Just one question, with no more concrete tracks left in the season, how will Edwards fair in the rest of chase and who will win the championship? First for Carl Edwards, he’s the dark horse this season for winning the championship, he’s got that car just right, as for who my picks are to win the championship, that’s easy, I would say either the two-time champion Tony Stewart or the defending Nextel Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson. Both have great records all season long and this is really Tony Stewart’s time to shine as he always does and for Jimmie Johnson, his victories this season combined with the creative crew chief on the pitbox calling the shots, he’s right there in it.

Staying with Tony Stewart for a moment, last month I wrote a piece called “Could this really come true: Joe Gibbs Racing to Toyota?” just days before Gibbs Racing made it official and the reason I bring that up is first I asked the question of what isn’t JGR getting from GM in terms of support? And second, is Chevrolet ready to loose Tony Stewart? First JGR got everything from GM in terms of support they needed, that never should have been a question, but the second is what the bigger story here is, I believe Tony Stewart should be in a Chevrolet period and despite the fact that for 2008 and 2009 he will be driving a Toyota, in 2010-2011, look for Stewart to be driving a Chevrolet once again, but I just don’t know where.

Finally, on last nights WindTunnel, one of the guests was Darrell Waltrip and most of the time I enjoy listening to what he has to say on the topics except if has anything to do with removing a Cup date from NHIS, but last night he said something that struck me, being changing the Busch cars to Pony cars… he said they shouldn’t, simply because when ever NASCAR has changed the Busch series to be different from the Cup Series, it didn’t work, but the answer he gave sounds good to me, DW said that the Busch Series should use old Cup Series cars, as much as I hate it in terms of staying with old cup cars, he’s right, the owners are going to have 100’s of old cup cars and really no place to sell or use them, maybe except for the ARCA Series. Recently Frank Kimmel has been driving and winning in a used Matt Kenseth Cup car, he didn’t even repaint it, but just put decals on it and off to the races.


Tony Stewart's 2006 Modified Tour car.
Image was taken by me with a Kodak EasyShare DX6490.

One other thought from me on the Busch Series, NASCAR has to use a car they already have in production, my pick would be a 110 wheelbase modified tour car… it would be a mix of old cup cars and/or modified tour car pictured above…Think about that.

Open Wheel racing vs. Road racing in the United States, what a difference…

This time it’s all about the IRL Indy Car Series vs. the Champ Car World Series (formerly known as CART) for Open wheel racing and the American LeMans Series vs. the Grand American Road Racing series in what is commonly referred to as Road racing at least in my eyes.

Starting with the Open wheel racing, the IRL Indy Car series this year has been not all it should be and it’s really not surprising. Thoughout the season, I have picked and watched the races that I wanted to watch which included the Indianapolis 500, ironicly enough the Chicagoland race yesterday was one of the best races all season long only second to the Indianapolis 500 and I will say this, I am proud to say that after a late race shootout, Dario Franchetti has won the race and more importantly the 2007 IRL IndyCar series championship and that’s perfect in my book. What a way to cap off a season for Dario, first the Indy 500 and then the championship…perfect. I have to say that my predictions for this season was a little off, including after the first race, I thought this season would be a wash with a Penske vs. Ganassi duel in victories and Penske would win, it turned out to be Ganassi vs. Andretti-Green Racing and in the end, Ganassi Racing was beat by for an interesting thing, themselves. I like the caption on Motorsport.com under the photo on the right, "It's been a crasy year!"

As for Champ Car, I stopped all together with them as that series continues to race outside of the US, as of now, Champ Car is done in the United States with how boring there races are, although next season could have something…

What about Road racing with first being the American LeMans Series, what a series you have here, LMP1, LMP2, GT1 and GT2, this series does have a could of concerns sort of speck, it’s really unknown to me why there is an LMP1, a LMP2, why not combine both classes or at least give Audi back at least half of what ALMS took away from them at the beginning of season in the amount of fuel and something else. There needs to be competition for the overall victories between Audi and Penske Porshe’s. One thing I have noticed is Corvette racing running unopposited and from one article I read, that wouldn’t happen in 2008, GM-Chevrolet has three choices for 2008, unless another competitor manufacturer enters the GT1, they wouldn’t compete and that would leave Corvette to either GT2 or withdrawal from the entire series. Bottom Line, why not have either two classes being LMP and GT or three classes being LPM1, LMP2 and GT, either way I hope Corvette Racing continues in 2008 even if they are in GT2, besides GT2 is very interesting to watch.

Finally it’s on to the Grand American Road Racing Series that has two classes being the Daytona Prototypes and the GT classes. It’s interesting to watch, but the calls from the officials are terrible at times.

One thought for Road racing in this country would be combining both series at three races being in the 24 hours of Daytona, 12 hours of Sebring and 24 hours of LeMans with two separate championships (one for each series), that would be exciting to watch.

If you look at Open Wheel Racing and then Road racing in the United States, one thing that some may not know is both have similar histories, the IRL and Champ Car was created after a split of the series years ago and ironicly the same can be said for Road racing as a split creates Grand-Am and the American LeMans series, but that’s were the similar histories end as there is only room for one large open wheel series here and on the other hand, maybe two road racing series

Is Formula 1 in trouble in the eyes of its US and Canadian fans?

So that’s the burning question at least in North America with its fans and the answer is yes at least in my eyes, why? That’s simple, after the 2008 Provisional Formula 1 schedule was released a couple of weeks ago, it officially showed that Formula 1 will not be coming back to the United States at Indianapolis nor anywhere else for the USGP and if that’s not enough, combine that with Bernie’s comment including

“It is not vital to Formula 1 to be in the United States,” Ecclestone told Britain’s Daily Express newspaper. “There are bigger markets for us to be in other parts of the world. We could be in India soon instead of the United States. We don’t have a lot of sponsors from the U.S., no American teams and only one driver,” he added. (From Racer Staff on speedtv.com)

while during this past Junes running of the United States Grand Prix and to top that all off, it looks like the World Championship might not be even making a stop anywhere in Canada neither that being at Montreal.

With all of that said, Formula 1 is now starting to become more of a realty show than a top racing series with the worlds best drivers considering with the exception of a couple weeks ago’s Grand Prix of Europe at the Nurgburgring (and that was do to the rain and the late race battle between Alonso and Mazza which after a little wheel banging, Alonso cruised off to victory... that's pictured above, Credit of photo: Motorsport.com…), this Formula 1 season has been not much to speck up unless you talk about some Gate story with of illegal documents or something, either way its just a nightmare.

So at least for this Formula 1 fan, I have come to the conclusion that if Formula 1 is not going to support neither the United States or at least Canada and clean up its act/racing, than its really not worth my time including getting up at 7:30am on a Sunday morning to watch a race. I am really beginning to wonder if Formula 1 in its current state is going to be around in the next 5 to 10 years, I would be surprised to see that. With that, something huge needs to change, the Formula cars are not even made for racing, they are made for straight line speed and nothing to do with side-by-side racing, oh yeah and seeing a driver lead a race, any race wire to wire without lead changes not including during pit stops is very boring to watch and considering that has happened several times in Formula 1 (this season) and also considering I was even bored watching the Monaco race earlier this year and I love that race, then what’s the point.

Bottom Line, good bye Formula 1, you don’t want to support the United States and or at least Canada, than I don’t want to support your series.

Oh yeah on a side note, congrats to Moto GP for signing another round in the United States, this time at Indianapolis, at least they see that the United States is an important market. I am really beginning to believe a saying that I read on one person’s blog, “Formula 1 is a parade and NASCAR is race”, good luck Formula 1, seek help with your racing… See Yeah!

Just can’t let these two races go – ALMS in Mid-Ohio and Formula 1 in Germany.

Despite the fact that there was no big NASCAR race, there was still some good interesting racing on television, you just have to know where to look. Taking into account that the Champ cars, NHRA and Grand-American Road Racing Series were in action, two races poped up at me from this past weekends racing namely the American LeMan’s Series in Mid-Ohio and the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in Germany with the never-ending battle for victory now between Ferrari and McLaren (Pictured on the right... Image Credit: Motorsport.com), this time, winner... McLaren.

ALMS:
Looking back at Mid-Ohio, Saturday’s Taped Delayed race for the ALMS was an interesting one and not for the Penske racing Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2) yet again beating up on the Audi TDI’s and winning another one nor the seeing a Corvette win in the GT1 class keeping in mind that there are only two Corvette’s arcing in this class against no one, but it was in the GT2-class and this beating of sorts between two Ferrari F430 GT’s, that stems back to Lime Rock Park in CT a couple of weeks ago when in this latest battle resulted in the coming together Tomas Enge in the Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing Ferrari and the Mika Sola in the Risi Ferrari not only damaging those two Ferrari’s, but in the process taking out another Ferrari and a Porshe in the same class. The ALMS penalized both teams and going into the event at Mid-Ohio they were on notice to say the least.

At Mid-Ohio the two Ferrari’s again continued there battle with each other damaging both cars and ALMS handing down a two minute penalty (which should have been more…) to Salo for his revenge on the first hit by Enge and Enge receiving a 5 minute penalty. Now for Salo, his team battled back, but for Enge, his team had some words for him after his 45 minutes in the car, “Your Fired”, yeah, that’s right the immediate release during the race of Tomas Enge, the team warned him not to get into it with Salo again… Great call by that ream, this makes me think of Kurt Busch at Dover and what Penske (And NASCAR) should have done to Busch… Interesting, did anyone else make that same connection?

One interesting comment, during the broadcast of the IRL IndyCar race, the announcers said that the Acura/Honda plants near by gave there employees 15,000 free tickets. However on WindTunnel, one call stated that he heard that number was 35,000 free tickets, unknown which one, maybe 15,000 per plant plus an extra 5,000.

F1:
In the words of Marc from Full Throttle, “What the hell was that!, that was my same reaction Marc… The Grand Prix of Europe at the Nurburgring in Germany, damn… the FIA updated the teams several times before the start of this race saying that race was 10 minutes, 5 minutes and so on away from the track, but despite that only one team started on intermediate tires, Markus Winklehock? Who? And what a move it was, once the race went green, a minute later the rains came down creating a river instead of a race track forcing everyone exept Winklehock to pit for race tires. What a mess… a seven plus car pile up in one of the corners, teams pitting for rain tires and a river instead of a racetrack… red flag, damn and Winklehock had a 36 second lead after starting last from pit road… I will say once the red flag withdrawn with the sun out, it was back to racing and fans say one battles for the lead in a while (with some describing this race as one of the best in years…) between Massa who lead and Alonso in second chasing down Massa from a six second gap and with five laps to go after several failed attempts passing Massa after getting together in what I call a racing incident to win the Grand Prix.

I have to say, seeing Massa’s reaction in the past-race to Alonso was interesting, Massa get over it, it was as clean as it was going to get…

Two very good races with two very different out comes and keep in mind, this is also the week (namely Thursday…) that McLaren answers charges in Paris in front of the FIA court over some Ferrari documents, what will the penalties be (if there is any…)

A day later...
Earlier this morning in Paris, McLaren answered charges at the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council and the ruling soon followed:

(From Formula1.com:) “The WMSC is satisfied that Vodafone McLaren Mercedes was in possession of confidential Ferrari information and is therefore in breach of article 151c of the International Sporting Code. However, there is insufficient evidence that this information was used in such a way as to interfere improperly with the FIA Formula One World Championship. We therefore impose no penalty.

“But if it is found in the future that the Ferrari information has been used to the detriment of the championship, we reserve the right to invite Vodafone McLaren Mercedes back in front of the WMSC where it will face the possibility of exclusion from not only the 2007 championship but also the 2008 championship.

(From Formula1.com:) Ferrari: lack of McLaren penalty ‘incomprehensible’

There's really not much to say about here, at least for now in Formula 1, the racing will continue to be a McLaren-Mercedes vs. Ferrari battle on the track and for the championship, as of now, both McLaren drivers are leading over the Ferrari camp in the championship with Hamilton out front.

Good Luck with this one and understand this, this one is not over by a long shot, all it takes is one piece of paper to say McLaren, see yeah in 2009... what an interesting twist that would be, not something I would want to see.

See Yeah!

Lap cars ruin possible duel in final laps of Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville.

After being rained out last night at Nashville, the IRL postponed the show on the Nashville SuperSpeedway until earlier this afternoon. Even with rain threatening, the Firestone Indy 200 went off as scheduled. What a pain in the neck racetrack for these Indy Cars to race on, there’s really only 1 to 1.5 groves on this track and no room to make passes at all, believe when I say I was surprised to see Scott Dixon as one of the only cars that could pass all day long and most of them were three wide down the front or backstraight.

Not to take anything away from the winner Scott Dixon of this race, but the bigger issue of this one was during the final laps of this race, oh, the entire race, there could have been a duel between at least three to five cars for the victory if the lap traffic wasn’t there. Think about it, how many times in past IRL races has this happened, too many.

To me, the IRL needs to add of all things a NASCAR rule being with 10 laps to go, all of the one or more lap down cars move behind the lead lap cars so that the lead cars can race for the victory. I have really never noticed this problem as much I did today.

Again congrats to Scott Dixon on picking up his second straight victory. Looking ahead to next weekend, I will be interested in seeing the first IRL race at Mid-Ohio, the Champ Cars have raced there in the past and did put on a good show, again I will be interested in seeing the pass on this track too.

What’s the future of the Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix?

First, Looking back at the 2007 United States Grand Prix at Indy this past weekend, I really didn’t watch to much of the multi-hours of coverage as I had in years past, but from what I did see leading up to race wasn’t bad. Multi-teams showed speed in practice including Alonso. However when it came to qualifying, the 22 year Lewis Hamilton continued to show just how good he really is with for the second straight race grabbing the pole over his teammate Alonso.

What a race despite the fact that there was really no lead changes throughout, behind the pole winner Lewis Hamilton and his teammate Alonso, there was a lot in the bat