Working On My Redneck ™ » Indy Cars

Memorial Weekend: The Greatest Racing Day Of The Year!

Leon — Tue, 22 May 2012 02:10:26 +0000

(WOMR file photo)

As we enter the last weekend in May, the traditional start of summer, we will be feasting upon the greatest racing day of the year!

The Greatest Spectacle In Racing

The morning starts out with “The Greatest Spectacle In Racing”, the Indianapolis 500, from the hallowed grounds known as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This year there appears to be about 10 -12 drivers that have a legitimate shot at drinking the milk in Victory Lane.

Check out the starting line up for Sunday’s 97th running of the Indy 500.

You will notice that Team Penske has put all three of their drivers in the first two starting rows, as well as three of the four Andretti Autosport drivers! On the pole is Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe. The next two drivers to fill out the front row comes from the Andretti Autosport stables, that being the new Godaddy.com driver from Toronto, James Hinchcliffe. On the outside of row one is another driver for Andretti Autosport, Ryan Hunter-Reay.

On the inside second row, again from Andretti Autosport, is the owner’s son, and Mario’s grandson, Marco Andretti. Lining up in the middle of the row is Team Penske’s Will Power, the winingest IndyCar driver in 2012. On the outside of row two is anther Team Penske driver, and three-time Indy 500 winner, Helio Castoneves!

The biggest surprise of Indy qualifying, and a big dark horse for the race, was where one of the Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing drivers starts for the race. The rookie, Josef Newgarden, put his car on the inside of row three. The next two spots on the row three belong to KV Racing, the owners being Kevin Kalkovin and former IndyCar racer, Jimmy Vasser. Those two KV Racing drivers are, the IndyCar veterans Tony Kanaan, and E.J. Viso.

Out of the starting 33 drivers, there are only 6 American drivers in the field! The American with the best shot of drinking the milk in Victory Lane this year most likely is Marco Andretti. Having said that, there is the “Andretti Stigma”! Both his father, Michael, and his grandfather, Mario, have been known to blister the rest of the field in many of their races at Indy, however, only Mario was able to drive into Victory Lane back in 1969. That year Mario was driving for the legendary, “Mr. 500″, Andy Granatelli.

The one driver that I am keeping an eye on is rookie Bryan Clauson, driving the other Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Indy car. I have watched Bryan wheel midgets and sprint cars at Knoxville, Oscaloosa, and Belleville, off and on for the last five years, and he is a very talented race car driver. He even had “a cup of coffee” in the Nationwide Series a couple of years ago with Chip Ganassi. Even though Clauson is in Indy 500 this year, it is still with a small under-funded team, Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, with really no chance of wining the Indy 500. Nevertheless, he has his foot in the door, and this year could be his audition for a better team in the future!

My pick for the 2012 Indy 500 is three-time Indy 500 winner, Helio Castroneves!

The Night Cap

Not long after the conclusion of the Indy 500, the focus moves Southeast to the center of the NASCAR world, Charlotte, NC. The longest race of the NASCAR season, the Coca Cola 600, will take the green flag at the Charlotte Motor Speedway late in the afternoon, and race late into the night.

Qualifying for the Coca Cola 600 will get under way this Thursday at 7 pm EST. However, if the All-Star race was any indication as to who will be strong for the race, the following drivers and teams may be “letting the big dog eat” Sunday night!

The driver that is now a whole lot richer after his All-Star victory is “Mr. Five-Time”, Jimmie Johnson. Looking equally as strong Saturday night was his team-mate Dale Earnhardt, Jr., wining the fourth segment and finishing 5th overall. “Blazingly Bad” Brad Keselowski finished second to Johnson in the “money segment”, as well as wining segment three. Matt Kenseth finished third overall, but won the second segment. As a note, ol Kylie Busch seemed to have a very strong horse, and therefore, do not count out “The Shrub” Sunday, either.

As a member of JUNIOR NATION, and seeing that the Hendrick Motorsports Diet Mtn. Dew #88 Chevy was a strong horse in all five segments, I am thinking that Dale Jr, has a very good chance to break out of his extremely long winless drought! Go #88!

However, if I was a betting man, I would put the farm in the back seat of the #48 Lowe’s Chevy! In the final segment, the money race, Johnson was just too fast for the competition to deal with Saturday night. I think that “Mr. Five-Time” is back!

I would like to leave you with just one thought

This weekend let us not forget what this holiday is really all about. It is a time that we should all be grateful to, and remember all of, our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, and grandparents who fought for our freedom so that we could enjoy this weekend of the greatest racing of the year!

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Check out this Kieth Urban video and listen to the lyrics!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJLcClIH72o

The 2012 Indy 500 Entry List

Leon — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:39:43 +0000

(WOMR file photo)

Three former winners and seven rookies, including Indiana boy Bryan Clauson living his “surreal dream”, bracket the list of drivers named to 34 entries filed for the 2012 Indianapolis 500.

The 96th running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” is scheduled for Sunday, May 27, at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway, site of the Dan Wheldon’s improbable final-lap victory over rookie JR Hildebrand last May. Wheldon scored his second Indy 500 win when Hildebrand crashed in Turn 4 on the final lap. It was the highlight of a star-crossed season for Wheldon, the 33-year-old Englishman who was fatally injured in a multiple-car crash during the season-ender at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Oct. 16. Unfortunately, yours truly was present for that final race at Las Vegas!

All drivers will compete in the new Dallara DW12 chassis, named in honor of test driver Wheldon, that debuted at the start of this season. The Indianapolis 500 will be the first oval race for the new car.

In addition, engine competition returns to IMS for the first time since 2005 with 2.2-liter turbocharged V-6 engines supplied by Chevrolet, Honda and Lotus. Chevrolet and Honda each will field 14 entries, with Lotus powering six. The distinctive sound of turbocharged engines will return to the 500 for the first time since 1996, inaugural year of the Indy Racing League.

Past Indy 500 winners on the entry list

Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002, 2009) leads the list of past winners, which also includes Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Dario Franchitti (2007, 2010) and Scott Dixon (2008). Castroneves will attempt to become the fourth four-time winner of the race, joining A.J. Foyt Jr., Al Unser and Rick Mears. Franchitti, meanwhile, will try to become just the 10th driver to earn at least three Indianapolis 500 victories

Past IndyCar champions

IndyCar Series champions assigned to cars include Dixon (2003, 2008), Franchitti (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011) and KV Racing Technology w/SH’s Tony Kanaan (2004). Four-time Champ Car World Series champion Sebastien Bourdais also will attempt to make his first Indianapolis 500 start since 2005.

The rookie class

The rookie class of seven drivers features the most experienced Formula One driver in history, Rubens Barrichello, and past Firestone Indy Lights champions Wade Cunningham and Josef Newgarden. Other rookies assigned to cars are reigning/two-time USAC National Driver’s Champion Bryan Clauson, James Jakes, Katherine Legge and 2010 American Le Mans Series champion Simon Pagenaud.

Clauson has been hired by Sarah Fisher and Wink Hartman to drive the #39 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing/RW Dallara/Honda. Clauson, of Noblesville, Ind., will be teammate to American Josef Newgarden of Nashville, Tenn., fulltime driver of the #67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Dallara/Honda. Clauson and Newgarden were teammates in Firestone Indy Lights in 2011.

Clauson won back-to-back USAC National Driver’s Championships in 2010-11 for his performance in all three major USAC open-wheel divisions. He also won the USAC National Midget Championship in 2010 and 2011 and has scored more than 26 USAC wins.

In addition, Clauson had four top-five finishes in Firestone Indy Lights racing in 2011, when he earned a Mazda Road to Indy Scholarship for winning the USAC National Driver’s Championship. His best finish was third at Iowa Speedway for Sam Schmidt Motorsports.

The 96th Indy 500 Entry list

Entry list for the 96th running of the Indianapolis 500, with car number, driver, hometown, car name, engine and entrant:

2-Ryan Briscoe, Sydney, Australia IZOD Team Penske Chevrolet Team Penske

3-Helio Castroneves (W), Sao Paulo, Brazil Shell V-Power/Pennzoil Ultra Team Penske Chevrolet Team Penske

4-JR Hildebrand, Sausalito, Calif. National Guard Panther Racing Chevrolet Panther Racing

5-E.J. Viso, Caracas, Venezuela CITGO/ PDVSA KV Racing Technology Chevrolet KV Racing Technology

6-Katherine Legge (R), Guildford, England TrueCar-Dragon Racing Lotus Dragon Racing

7-Sebastien Bourdais, Le Mans, France Dragon Racing Lotus Dragon Racing

8-Rubens Barrichello (R), Sao Paulo, Brazil BMC/Embrase KV Racing Technology Chevrolet KV Racing Technology

9-Scott Dixon (W), Auckland, New Zealand Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Target Chip Ganassi Racing

10- Dario Franchitti (W), Edinburgh, Scotland Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Target Chip Ganassi Racing

11- Tony Kanaan, Salvador, Brazil GEICO/Mouser Electronics KVRT Chevrolet KV Racing Technology w/SH

12- Will Power, Toowoomba, Australia Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet Team Penske

14- Mike Conway, Bromley, England ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt Racing Honda A.J. Foyt Enterprises

15- Takuma Sato, Tokyo Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan

17- Sebastian Saavedra, Bogota, Colombia Team AFS Chevrolet AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport

18-Justin Wilson, Sheffield, England Sonny’s BBQ Honda Dale Coyne Racing

19-James Jakes (R), Leeds, England Boy Scouts of America Honda Dale Coyne Racing

20-Ed Carpenter, Indianapolis Fuzzy’s Vodka /Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet Ed Carpenter Racing

21-TBA Chevrolet Ed Carpenter Racing

22-Oriol Servia, Pals, Spain Lotus-Dreyer & Reinbold Lotus Lotus-DRR

25-Ana Beatriz, Sao Paulo, Brazil Team Ipiranga Chevrolet Andretti Autosport/Conquest Racing

26-Marco Andretti, Nazareth, Pa. Team RC Cola Chevrolet Andretti Autosport

27-James Hinchcliffe, Toronto Team GoDaddy.com Chevrolet Andretti Autosport

28-Ryan Hunter-Reay, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Chevrolet Andretti Autosport

38-Graham Rahal, New Albany, Ohio Service Central Honda Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing

39-Bryan Clauson (R), Noblesville, Ind. Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing/RW Honda Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing

41-Wade Cunningham (R), Auckland, New Zealand ECat/ABC Supply Honda A.J. Foyt Racing

45-TBA Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan

67-Josef Newgarden (R), Hendersonville, Tenn. Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing

77-Simon Pagenaud (R), Poitiers, France Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports

78-Simona de Silvestro, Thun, Switzerland Nuclear Clean Air Energy Lotus HVM Racing Lotus Lotus-HVM Racing

83-Charlie Kimball, Camarillo, Calif. NovoLog FlexPen Honda Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing

98-Alex Tagliani, Lachenaie, Canada Team Barracuda-BHA Lotus Bryan Herta Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian

99-TBA BraunAbility-Schmidt Pelfrey Motorsports Honda Sam Schmidt Motorsports

TBA TBA Lotus-Newman Haas Racing Lotus Newman/Haas Racing

All 34 cars are 2012 Dallara DW12 chassis with Firestone tires.

(W) _ Denotes Indianapolis 500 winner

(R) _ Denotes Chase Rookie of the Year Candidate

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Jim Hall Honored At Long Beach

Leon — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 23:04:45 +0000

(Jim Hall’s Chaparral 2J, “The Sucker”)

As a young kid watching racing in the 60′s, I remember seeing these new innovative designed sports cars, the Chaparral, driven by the duo of Jim Hall and Hap Sharp. The first Chaparral that I remember seeing had this weird huge blade/wing above the rear end that would plane out during acceleration, and flip-up like a huge board, creating drag, and act as a speed brake when the brake pedal was depressed. I had to “look” twice, it was the strangest thing that I had ever seen!

Jim Hall remembers the first time he saw “the look”. The one on the faces of fellow road racing competitors and race officials when he would first roll out a race car that was so thoroughly innovative that it would obviate just about everything else in the paddocks.

“The first time I saw it,” Hall said during a telephone conversation Tuesday evening, “was when we brought the high-winged 2E car to Can Am races in 1966. People looked at it and went, ‘Wow’. And then they would start to kind of grumble.”

Hall, one of the co-founders of Chaparral Cars, was confronted by that reaction a lot during his days as a sports car designer. He produced so many innovative, now iconic, racing machines during the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, that the way it sounds now, he almost got used to “the look”.

And then the grumbles.

But apparently any hard feelings generated in the paddocks and on the tracks during those days have long-since dissipated because on Thursday night, Hall, as part of pre-race festivities at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, will be honored by his peers in the Road Racing Drivers Club by way of the RRDC Evening with Jim Hall.

No doubt the subjects of moveable wings mounted on suspensions, ground effects and the “vacuum car” will all be brought up that evening.

And from the sound of it, Hall kind of wishes he would be remembered more for a driving career which encompassed running everything from sports cars at places like Sebring to Formula 1 cars at places like The Nurburg Ring. Hall says he thinks of himself as “a pretty fair driver”.

But it was the engineering – albeit married to his experiences in the driver’s seat – that has defined Hall’s racing career.

Hall was one of the first to formally study the physics of speed and then incorporate massive amounts of engineering into the cars that he and Chaparral co-founder Hap Sharp built in the second half of the 20th Century

Hall, now 76, was formally trained as an engineer. At Cal Tech, no less. But his first interest in racing cars was the driving part. The part, he said, that was “the most fun.”

But it was the engineering – albeit married to his experiences in the driver’s seat – that has defined Hall’s racing career.

“The teams that we ran against in those days, a lot of times didn’t have development engineers,” Hall, who still lives in the Chaparral-base city of Midland, Texas, said. “They had people who designed the cars and built them, but the racing teams weren’t full of engineering talent so that, the birth of Chaparral race cars, may be about when that started.”

“People recognized the significance of having somebody with an engineering discipline to help the team solve the problems. In my case, it was really a good system because I was a designer, I was a driver and I was a development engineer. What ya call that is a tight feedback group”, Hall recalled.

The 2E slotted for the Can Am Series, with its huge wing that sloped for corners and straightened out for high speed in straightaways and which was mounted high above the rear wheels, was the first of the hugely innovative Chaparrals.

It was the car that gave birth to “The Look”, as I alluded to in the opening paragraph.

The 2J is the legendary “sucker car”. It had two engines. One to power the vehicle’s rear wheels and another, smaller two-stroke snowmobile engine to power two huge reverse fans at the rear of the car. When activated, the fans would suck air from the underside of the heavily-skirted car to create a vacuum. Sort of a hovercraft in reverse, the vacuum would suck the car downward and provide an estimated additional downforce of about 1,000 pounds.

Competitors and Can Am officials thought it just plain sucked.

“The 2J was, of course, a very, very different car,” Hall said. “It created quite a stir when it showed up. It was obvious to everybody to be quite fast because it would go through the slow turns so much faster than the other cars because it held its download through the slow corners.”

It had another characteristic, as well. One that produced the grumbles.

“It also managed to spew out some stuff out of the back of it,” Hall said. “Although I didn’t think any of it was very important – and the fans’ velocity were not such that it would pick up anything very big and throw it out the back; it would throw out dust and small particles out the back and sand and dust and small particles came off other cars, too – but I don’t think it was a huge thing.

“But that was the first thing we heard. “Oh, wow, it’s throwing all this stuff out onto the track.’ Of course all that stuff came off the track in the first place. I don’t think that was a legitimate complaint. I think that what the shock was to everybody was how fast it would actually run.”

The 2J was quickly banned because of pressure on the series from other teams and it never won a race.

That, more than 40 years down the road, still hurts Hall.

Hall made 11 starts in Formula One between 1960-63, and raced in the SCCA Trans-Am, USRRC and Can-Am Series in the 1960s and ‘70s, winning the 1964 USRRC championship. Competing in World Championship Endurance Racing against the might of Ford and Ferrari, the Chaparral 2D won the 1966 Nurburgring 1000, followed by the Chaparral 2F winning the 1967 BOAC 500.

As a team-owner in the Championship Auto Racing Teams, Hall won the 1978 Indy 500 with Al Unser. In 1979, Hall debuted the Chaparral 2K, Indy-car racing’s first ground-effects car. Fellow-Texan Johnny Rutherford drove the “Yellow Submarine” to his third Indy 500 victory and CART and U.S. Auto Club championships in 1980.

Hall left CART and open-wheel racing in 1982, then returned to the sport in 1991 with driver John Andretti. Hall was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1994, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth in 2005.

Hall, 76, retired from racing altogether in 1996. He continues to reside in Midland, remaining active in the oil and gas business, and motorsports racing legacies topped by the meticulous restoration of his race cars.

So it very fitting that The Road Racing Drivers Club honors such an innovative and leading edge creator, Jim Hall. He made some extremely brilliant contributions to the entire racing world.

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Las Vegas IndyCar Race Questions Unanswered?

Leon — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 12:56:51 +0000

(WOMR file photo)

After viewing the moments that were leading up to the violent crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that prematurely took the life of Dan Wheldon, it is not precisely clear who caused the incident. More importantly, it is not going to make the incident go away. And that is ok. No good will come out of “fingering” the guilty party, in this instance. Again it is impossible to cite any one individual Sunday.

However, there are some circumstances that need to be examined that led up to one of the most devastating IndyCar wrecks in recent memory. The IndyCar officials must examine these elements and correct them immediately!

Items that the officials need to re-examine and apply a correction are as follows:

The first: Was INDYCAR in violation of its own rules? Rules which govern the number of cars in races at specific tracks.

It appears that the series may have been in violation of those rules.

On page 93 of the 2011 rule book, it says:

“The starting fields for each Race shall be a maximum of 28 Cars (which includes 2 provisionals), except as follows:

(a) Brazil – 26 Cars (which includes 2 provisionals)

(b) Indianapolis 500 Mile Race – 33 Cars (no provisionals)

(d) Mid Ohio – 27 Cars (which includes 2 provisionals)

(e) Motegi – 26 Cars (which includes 2 provisionals)

(f) Baltimore – 26 Cars (which includes 2 provisionals)”

So, according to the rule book, the field at Las Vegas was six cars larger than it should have been. The fact that INDYCAR has rules in place that govern the size of fields would seem to acknowledge that problems could occur from excessively high car counts.

Rules aside, putting 34 Indycars on the Las Vegas track seems to violate common sense. Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a 1.5-mile tri-oval. Its surface is banked to 20 degrees in the corners. It is lightning fast to put it mildly!

Both the drivers, as well as the teams, were nervous about the impending race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. IndyCar officials only gave the divers 3 1/2 hours of total practice time prior to the race at a facility that had not seen an IndyCar race since its reconfiguration. Probably that was not in keeping with safety standards of the IndyCar procedures, as well.

After the fatal wreck, which occurred on lap 11 and prompted INDYCAR to cancel the remainder of the race, driver after driver questioned the decision to hold the event in the first place.

Veteran drivers such as Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti used terms such as “unsuitable” when talking about the track vis-a-vis modern Indycars and the size of the field.

This, too, is common sense for virtually everyone who follows racing, but it still needs to be said: Indycars are not NASCAR cars. The drivers of Indycars are much more vulnerable to the kinds of things that happened at Las Vegas than are NASCAR drivers.

The second: Were there people on that track who should not have been on that track?

Perhaps. I think it fair to argued that there were people on that track, and other tracks, simply because they could drum up enough sponsorship to be there. So-called ride-buyers.

That belief here is; ride buying can be a dangerous practice.

That is nominally so in stock cars where the drivers are surrounded by steel and composite cocoons. In open-wheel racing, a lack of talent and experience can be highly dangerous.

One of the things that has kept more crazy wrecks from happening, and fewer medical helicopters in the air at Indycar events over the years, has been the fact that the vast majority of people in the cars were qualified to be there.

Drivers knew and could trust the person next to them on the track. They knew dumb moves would be kept to a minimum.

But the new economics have caused changes when it comes to hiring and keeping drivers. Sponsorship money is having a bigger say in who pilots the cars that teams put on the tracks.

INDYCAR says an investigation has been launched. And you can bet it will be as thorough as possible, no matter who it is doing the investigation.

My hope is that any and all investigations result in the adoption of measures which will prevent a replay of lap 11 at Las Vegas from ever happening again.

Drivers’ and spectators’ lives are on the line. Additionally, the future of the sport may also be on the line. From the viewpoint of WOMR, it’s a good sport, very exciting, and a very exhilarating sport to watch.

What are your thoughts ?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Indy Car Racing: Risks vs. Rewards

Leon — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 03:36:47 +0000

(Dan Wheldon with my son, Jeremy, @ Las Vegas Friday)

A record number of race cars racing just inches apart in abnormally large packs at lightning fast speeds that exceeded 220 mph. A newly concocted “bounty” of $5 million for a victory from a non IndyCar season participant who could start from the back of a larger than most starting grid, and win the finale. The driver who was anointed to receive the $5 million “bounty” was the two-time Indy 500 winner, the latest victory being 20111, Dan Wheldon. A fiercely contested season championship. A media frenzied driver leaving the series, driving her last race in the IndyCar Series before jumping to a higher paycheck in the NASCAR side of automobile racing.

Last Sunday the IZOD IndyCar World Championship races at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway incorporated all of those elements in one very short captivating afternoon in a racing series that is attention and media starved, compared to NASCAR.

However, the spotlight has intensified for the IndyCar Series since Sunday, and for all the wrong reasons! As the whole racing world mourns the death of the affable British IndyCar driver, Dan Wheldon, who perished in a horrendous, fiery 15 car crash, there are many questions that need to be examined and answered.

First and foremost the question to be answered should be: In an effort to come out of the shadows of the NASCAR circuit, is the fastest racing series in the USA over-stepping the limits of safety? Additionally, are the Indy Car officials putting their race car drivers at an undue risk?

The death of Dan Wheldon, who was the “poster boy” for the $5 million dollar prize for the non-IndyCar driver that would start at the back of the grid and ultimately win the last race of the year at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, is the lastest blow to an already struggling open wheel racing series. That series has been reeling every since Tony George drove a wedge into the open wheel racers by starting his own Indy Racing League in 1996. From that point, in 1996, the infighting between CART and the IRL resulted in a very weak open wheel series, thus confusing the fans. That same infighting resulted in a once prominent racing series desperately gasping for life.

To that end, two years ago The IndyCar Series hired Randy Bernard as CEO. Bernard was hired away from the Professional Bull Riders, where he earned a reputation as a bombastic promoter by merging bucking Brahmans with glitzy pyrotechnics. Bernard brought the same flair to IndyCar, tweaking and toying with the rules to try to increase action.

The season finale was intended to be an attention-getting master stroke of genius for the IndyCar Series. Last weekend there was a glitzy parade down the Las Vegas Strip saluting the end of the current chassis that dated back to 2003. The newer chassis will make its debut in 2012, is sleeker and incorporates many more safety features.

The $5 million dollar prize was a failed attempt to snare moonlighting drivers, like Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, and possibly Kasey Kahne to try capture that bounty. When Bernard could not find any takers, Dan Wheldon and his Sam Schmidt Motorsports team was selected as the only driver eligible for the $5 million dollar prize.

Sunday’s crash was not the first time that an IndyCar has gotten airborne during a race on a mile and a half race track, however, it was the first fatality in recent years. Two drivers, Davey Hamilton (Texas 2001), and Kenny Breck ( Texas 2003) suffered significant major injuries. in their similar type crashes.

Is this the time that the IndyCar officials take a hard serious look at the risks vs. the rewards of running this series on high banked, high-speed race tracks?

I must add, that having been a spectator last weekend at Las Vegas, the small portion of the race that occurred was intense, exciting, and very dramatic. However, the horrendous, fiery debris field that resulted from a very small mistake made by one driver makes one pause to think that maybe IndyCar needs to re-evaluate their mission statement.

The racing world will long miss Dan Wheldon! Hopefully Weldon’s death won’t be ignored. Instead, it is the opinion of WOMR that all the officials of the IndyCar Series conduct a transparent and thorough investigation. Additionally, those same individuals need to implement the findings of that investigation to further increase safety in the series!

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Is There IndyCar Life After Danica?

Leon — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 03:56:45 +0000

(photo courtesy IZOD IndyCar Series)

Now that Danica Patrick has jilted the IZOD IndyCar Series, in favor of the bigger money of NASCAR, the sports writer’s keyboards have been set ablaze with stories of DANICAMANIA!

However, nobody is really sure how she will fare in “the door slammer series”. There are a couple of things that are certain, Danica will be driving very good equipment, JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series, and Stewart-Haas Racing at the Sprint Cup level. Secondly, Ms. Patrick will be bringing a huge boat load full of GoDaddy.com money, media hype, and frenzy to the 2012 season beginning with the Daytona 500!

Meanwhile back at the forlorn IZOD IndyCar Series, there is one thing that is definitely certain: Danica Patrick’s departure will leave a huge vacuum that will be impossible to fill. From many aspects, that spells MAJOR trouble from a racing series that is gasping for its collective life!

These days, it appears, that the only media press given to the IZOD IndyCar Series has been the stories about Ms. Patrick’s divorce from the IndyCar Series and her marriage to NASCAR. Aside from the Indy 500, the only press coverage of that open racing series was her rumored move to NASCAR. Her press conference, last week, got more media attention than all the races on the schedule to date.

When Patrick exploded onto the scene seven years ago, open-wheel racing was wobbling, wheezing, and gasping for air. Open wheel race fans can thank Tony George for his brilliant idea of taking his football and going home! Patrick’s presence infused fresh interest and attention into the series. Some felt that she single-handedly dragged it to shore and pumped life back into it.

So what happens after Danica departs?

I can only imagine that the answer keeps folks in the IndyCar Series awake at night and pulling out their hair. If they’re not worried, they really ought to be!

The IndyCar Series has been a one-trick pony for years, did I say thank you Tony George! Other than the Indy 500, I doubt that Joe Sixpack could name another race on the circuit. (It doesn’t help that 12 of the league’s 17 races are carried on a cable channel that many fans can’t get, Versus.)

Notwithstanding, for seven years the series has long been a one-star show in terms of mainstream following. Now that lone star has departed the fix for the big leagues of NASCAR.

What will Danica’s long-term impact be on NASCAR? Nobody knows for sure. But we do know what the impact will be on the IndyCar Series, and the future is gloomy for life A.D (after Danica).

Someone call 911!

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Danicamania: Judgement Day For NASCAR?

Leon — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:46:43 +0000

(photo courtesy John SommersII/Getty Images)

There is no doubt that Thurday’s “DANICA DECISION DAY” was a huge news deal in American automobile racing. Additionally, WOMR was a very sad to see that it was also a very big news event, a sad commentary. If this is a clear barometer on the state of American automobile racing, Danica Patrick moving over to Nationwide full time in 2012 with JR Motorsports then a move up to Sprint cup in 2013 with Stewart-Haas Racing, then folks we are in big trouble!

It is sad to see that a race car driver with just one victory in her entire “big time” racing career has stopped the presses! It appears that DANICAMANIA is back in full swing in NASCAR! It is quite unfortunate that, to be a news-worthy race car driver at the Sprint Cup level, money and not necessarily talent is the underlying requirement. Nevertheless, it appears that GoDaddy.com is willing to pour huge dollars into financing Danica Patrick’s racing career!

For WOMR, the only aspect of her public persona that is objectionable is an insistence of being treated just like all the male sports stars, all the while basing that persona on her obvious attributes as a female. Therein lies a double standard!

And, wasn’t it crazy about how she kept referring to herself and that kind of wierdly-creepy Go-Daddy CEO, Bob Parsons, as “we” during her teleconference on Thursday. Her deal/relationship with that guy and the company seems to draw driver/sponsor attachment a little too close for comfort!

Patrick’s IndyCar career has been defined as nothing more than a journeyman driver, in spite of her one victory at Motegi, Japan. Likewise, her IndyCar career appears nothing more than a media blitz of beauty and branding the Danica persona. What she will bring to NASCAR is more of the same, big sponsorship money and media hype.

As far as Patick’s ability to win races at the Nationwide and Sprint Cup level, there are only a couple of names, in which, to draw a comparison. Both Sam Hornish, Jr. and Dario Franchitti tried their hand at NASCAR and were woefully unsuccessful in their transition to NASCAR. Needless to say, both of the previously noted drivers won IndyCar championships, as well as, the Indy 500. Neither of those accomplishments are annotated on Danica Patrick’s resume!

It is WOMR’s opinion that this announced deal for Danica Patrick is strictly all about money. You know that old saying, money talks and BS walks! She brings to the negotiation table a whole truck full of money. Let’s face it, what team owner wouldn’t be willing to take her GoDaddy.com money, especially in light of these harsh economic conditions, where sponsorship money is extremely hard to find?

Scouring this Danica-GoDaddy.com deal, it allows Tony Stewart, at Stewart-Haas Racing, to start up their third race team at the expense Danica’s GoDaddy.com sponsorship dollars!

So just what does Danica Patrick bring to NASCAR? On closer examination, it would appear that what Danica brings to NASCAR is big GoDaddy.com money, possibly some new demographics (women and some new male chauvinists pigs), and some diversity that NASCAR has been longing for, for so many years!

The question that begs to asked is “will Danica pose a threat for logging some victories during her Nationwide and Sprint cup career?” It is the opinion of WOMR that she will not threaten the current crop of drivers in either the Nationwide or the Sprint Cup drivers for wins. However, Danica Patrick will command/steal much of the limelight away from most of the current crop of drivers. It will be big news, worthy or not, whether she finishes in the top 10 or the bottom 10 of the race.

What is your opinion on the NASCAR DANICAMANIA?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Is Hendrick And Penske Considering an Indy Car Alliance?

Leon — Mon, 30 May 2011 16:17:21 +0000

(photo courtesy auto123.com)

This Hendrick Motorsports decal was spotted Sunday at The Centennial Indy 500 on the wings of two of the Team Penske Racing cars on the grid before the start of the race. The decals were on the inside rear wingplate on Will Power’s #6 Dallara Honda and Ryan Briscoe’s #12 Dallara Honda.

This could only lead to speculation that, quite possibly,there could be a alliance between Penske and Hendrick in Indy Car. This comes at a time when Chevrolet has announced that it will be coming back into the open wheel racing world, in particular, the IndyCar Series in 2012.

One rumor running throughout the garage area is that, Penske officials are keen to add Simona de Silvestro to their team but are having financial issues with three cars. On the Hendrick Motorsports question, Penske officials would not comment on why HMS decals were on the two cars.

An alliance with Hendrick, a big Chevrolet dealer, could help. And remember, Ganassi now has two-two car teams with Dixon and Franchitti, Rahal and Kimball. A Penske Hendrick Alliance could work like Ganassi’s two teams.

Additionally, Honda just announced that they would be making Target Chip Ganassi their lead team in developing their new engines for the IndyCar Series in 2012.

Could this be the start of a move away from Honda and towards Chevrolet and a possible Hendrick Motorsports alliance for Team Penske in the IndyCar Series?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Wheldon Capitalizes On A Rookie Mistake

Leon — Mon, 30 May 2011 04:06:22 +0000

(photo courtesy IZOD IndyCar Series)

Dan Wheldon inherited the lead when rookie J.R. Hildebrand hit the wall coming out of the final turn on the final lap and went on to win the 100th anniversary Indianapolis 500.

Sunday’s victory was the second for Wheldon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he won in 2005 with Andretti Green Racing. Wheldon, driving here for Bryan Herta Autosport, does not have a full-time ride in the IZOD IndyCar Series this season.

Wheldon said he felt “a lot of relief” as he saw Hildebrand’s car scrubbing against the outside wall. “I knew it was the last lap and knew a lot of those guys were struggling on fuel,” said Wheldon, driver of the #98 William Rast-Curb/Big Machine Dallara/Honda. “I just kept pushing. Bryan Herta Autosport have given me such a dream ride. I love Indianapolis. I love the people. I love everything about it, the tradition, the history. It’s an incredible feeling.”

Hildebrand skidded across the finish line to secure a second place in his very first Indy 500.

“Just a bummer to come home second again,” said Hildebrand, referring to the fact that Panther cars have now finished as runners-up at IMS three straight years. “I really felt like we had an incredible opportunity to get on the big stage.”

Hildebrand had the perfect opportunity to win the 2011 Indy 500 as a rookie, however, it wasn’t in the cards for him. Hildebrand made one slight error in judgement that cost him an Indy 500 victory. As he went up high in turn four to pass a slower race car, he got up into “the marbles”, lost front end steering, and slammed into the turn #4 retaining wall.

Meanwhile, Dan Wheldon was busy celebrating his second Indy 500 with co-owners, Brian Herta and Steve Newey.

“I think my contract expires at midnight tonight,” said Wheldon, joking with team co-owners Bryan Herta and Steve Newey during their post-race news conference at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “I just knew when I started this race that I wanted to do everything in my power to deliver a win for not just myself – I didn’t feel I had anything to prove – but for such a great group of people.”

Working under terms of a one-off/Indy-only schedule, Wheldon and the fledgling Bryan Herta Autosport IZOD IndyCar Series team scored an upset for the ages during the 100th anniversary edition of the Indianapolis 500. Wheldon inherited the lead on the 200th and final lap when rookie J.R. Hildebrand hit the wall exiting Turn 4, a straightaway removed from what would have been an even bigger upset.

In the corner of my eye, I saw him hit the fence,” said Wheldon, a 32-year-old native of Emberton, England, now residing in St. Petersburg, Fla. “I just carried on by. As Bryan says, you have to make it to the Bricks (start/finish line) with a car that can go forward with all four wheels. At that point I knew it was mine.”

Sunday’s victory in the #98 William Rast–CURB/Big Machine Dallara/Honda was the second for Wheldon at IMS, where he won in 2005 with Andretti Green Racing en route to the driver’s championship.

“This is obviously a very, very special racetrack to me,” said Wheldon, the 18th multiple winner of the Indy 500. “I love this racetrack. I love how the fans energize the Speedway. To think that I’m a two-time winner, I mean, Bryan, who has been a teammate and a good friend for a long time, gave me a fantastic opportunity to win the race.”

It appeared, however, that Wheldon was destined for his third consecutive second-place finish here to rookie Hildebrand, the driver who replaced him at Panther Racing after a sometimes tumultuous two-year stint. Hildebrand had inherited the lead on Lap 198, when Bertrand Baguette of Rahal Letterman Lanigan LLC was forced to pit for fuel under green. At that point, Hildebrand’s lead over Scott Dixon, the 2008 Indy 500 champion from Target Chip Ganassi Racing, stood at a healthy 3.5925-seconds. On Lap 199, Hildebrand’s advantage over Dixon grew to 3.8403-seconds.

With the crowd standing and applauding John Barnes’ Indianapolis-based team, Hildebrand exited Turn 4 high and slid into the SAFER Barrier while attempting to lap fellow-rookie Charlie Kimball. Hildebrand’s car hugged the wall, leaving a black streak on the white concrete as the yellow and checkered flags flew. Wheldon, who had passed Dixon for second, crossed the Yard of Bricks with tears in his eyes.

Wheldon believes he has found a home with Bryan Herta Autosport, which is preparing to run the full IndyCar schedule in 2012, when a new chassis/engine package will be introduced. Herta added he currently has no plans to compete in Round 6 of the series, the Firestone Twin 275s night races at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth on June 11.

“It was not the plan,” said Herta, who forged a technical association with Sam Schmidt Motorsports at IMS. “Our plan has always been to race here, and we’ve got a project that we’re going to be working on a little later this year that we’re committed to. We never had a plan to do more races this year. Our plan was always to try to come back and compete fulltime next year. Right now, that’s still the plan.”

“Does this (win) change anything? I don’t know. I think it’s going to create some opportunities for us for sure and I think we’re going to have to decide if we stay the course or if we take advantage of any of the opportunities that may come up. But for me, there’s nothing else we can do this year that’s going to be any better than this. All we can do is come down the mountain now. If I were to look ahead right now, what I really want is to sign a sponsor and sign Dan Wheldon and go racing next year fulltime and try and win the championship.”

What an exciting finish this was for the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500.

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Franchitti Could Join Some Elite Company

Leon — Sun, 29 May 2011 13:26:25 +0000

(photo courtesy IZOD IndyCar Series)

Every year early in the month of May Dario Franchitti makes a visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. Franchittti loves spending time touring the museum viewing the old historic race cars that depict the history of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing”.

Mostly, Franchitti loves to see the old cars and bask in the history of the Brickyard. But, every now and then, he will take a peek at the Borg Warner Trophy and look for the image of his face, which appears twice on the Indy 500 winners’ trophy.

“This place has an incredible history,’’ Franchitti said. “This is the Centennial year and just about anybody who is anybody in racing has been here, one way or another.”

“It’s a real honor to be part of that history.’’

The dashing Scot, and husband to Ashley Judd, could make more Indy history on Sunday by becoming a three-time winner and becoming only the sixth driver to win here in back-to-back years.

It’s all pretty humbling for the quiet, unassuming Scot.

Although he came to American racing in the 1990s with the “big potential’’ label firmly attached to his name, the 38-year-old Franchitti didn’t achieve the kind of success that was forecast for him until the latter part of his career.

His three IZOD IndyCar Series titles and two Indy victories have all come in his 30s.

Franchitti exudes cool in his appearance and in the way he approaches racing, but Dixon and team owner Ganassi both say appearances can be deceiving.

“Dario is a great teammate because he is willing to share just about everything,’’ Dixon said. “But, if you’re racing him head-to-head, look out. He has a burning desire to win.’’

“He is much more competitive than you would think by looking at him,’’ Ganassi noted. “The guy still has a fire in his belly.’’

Sunday, Dario will take that competitive fire onto the biggest stage of the IndyCar season, the Indianapolis 500. And, starting a disappointing ninth in the 33-car field, Franchitti will have to do some hard work to become the 10th driver to win “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’’ three times or more.

The leadup to the race has not gone as well as Franchitti would have liked. Despite all the rain during May, Franchitti was one of the leaders on the speed chart prior to Pole Day, and was widely expected to have a great shot at winning the pole. Instead, the Ganassi team made an uncharacteristic mistake and Franchitti ran out of fuel on the last lap of his four-lap qualifying run, relegating him to the third row of the race grid!

It was truly an agonizing day for Franchitti, who walked from the pits with his helmet on, avoiding all media interviews.

“I didn’t want to talk to anybody or speak to anybody or listen to anybody,” he said later. “I just wanted to go away for a minute. I didn’t have anything positive to say and I was very angry.”

Not to excuse that mistake made by the Target Chip Ganassi team, winners of the Indy 500 have come from much deeper in the field than ninth starting position. However, the Indy 500 is a very difficult race to win under any circumstances.

“Any race is difficult,’’ Franchitti said. “Any race you’re required to do everything right. This place is exactly the same.”

“You’ve got to do all the pit stops right, you’ve got to make all the right moves on the track in traffic on your own, you’ve got to have a fast car and a little bit of luck. Millions of things have got to go right to finish this race.’’

He added, thanks to the nearly constant rains this month, no one has had a lot of time to figure out the best race setup for their car.

“The start of the race is more of a gamble maybe because you haven’t had those multiple days to just tweak on the setup,’’ Franchitti added. “In some ways you’re going into an unknown, plus it looks like the temperature is going to be warmer. It looks like it’s going to be above 85 degrees for the first time all month.”

“Those are all going to be factors, but somebody is going to hit on that perfect setup and they’ll be very fast – and I hope it’s us.’’

If Franchitti can pull off a victory today in the 100th running of the Indy 500, his next visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum will be oh so much sweeter!

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!