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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!

Paul Menard Takes The Brickyard 400 Victory

Leon — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 04:28:13 +0000

(workingonmyredneck file photo)

Once a year, late into the summer, NASCAR rolls into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400 Sprint Cup race.

To the racer and race fan, Indy is the “holy grail”, the most hallowed of race tracks, the maker of legends, and a legend of its own. To describe the meaning of Indy is almost indescribable. Indy is like the high school beauty that you were afraid to ask out for a date, very intimidating. It is like a 21st century cougar, enticing you to do something that you know will haunt you forever. All the while, Indy demands respect from all who have ever attempted to conquer the track.

For 35 years the Menard family has tried to conquer this facility. For most of those years it was John Menard, Paul’s father and billionaire owner of the mid-western home improvement store, Menard’s, who owned Indy cars and failed to win the Indianapolis 500. However, on Sunday Paul Menard tamed the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and won his first Sprint Cup race of his career.

As a team owner and sponsor, building supply magnate John Menard spent two decades, not to mention many millions, trying to win the Indy 500. Menard invested in engines such as the Buick V-6 turbo and the Old Aurora, and drivers like a young Tony Stewart, who finished sixth at the Brickyard on Sunday when his fuel mileage gambit fell short.

Menard’s Indy car teams won three poles at Indy and a season’s championship with Stewart, but never the big prize at the big racing plant at 16th and Georgetown Rd. “We didn’t have any success with those engines,” he said, “but by God we were fast.”

One of those pole days turned tragic when Menard’s driver Scott Brayton suffered a fatal accident at Indy during practice after recording one of the fastest pole-winning times in the Brickyard’s history. Menard’s team was so dominant in qualifying, Stewart moved over to the pole in another Menard entry powered by a Buick V-6 turbo. But as was too often the case, Stewart’s Buick blew up.

But this year the Menard family fortunes changed. As has become the trend over the last few years, the Brickyard 400 has become a race that relies very heavily on fuel mileage. This year was no exception for the winner.

Driving with sponsorship from his father’s company, Menard’s, in the Richard Childress Racing Chevy, Paul Menard first outfoxed Jeff Gordon and then out-raced him.

“I’ve always been a low-key guy,” said the 30-year-old Menard, who kept his cool by saving fuel for the majority of this final stint, knowing that guys loaded with full tanks of gas and riding on fresh Goodyear tires were hunting him down as the laps clicked off.

It wasn’t that long ago, shortly before he began driving stock cars on the short tracks of Wisconsin, that Menard watched Gordon win the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994 aboard the DuPont Chevy. At that time Gordon was a wunderkind that many people doubted was worth the bonus team owner Rick Hendrick had paid him to snatch him from the clutches of Ford.

This year, Menard watched Gordon in his rear-view mirror as the laps wound down with the race on the line. “He was catching us two or three seconds a lap,” said Menard, who got the word from crew chief Slugger Labbe that he had enough fuel to run flat out to the finish with just three laps remaining. Menard concentrated so hard that he didn’t notice the race was over. “Was that the checkered?” he radioed his crew chief in a situation when most drivers are screaming about winning.

After Sunday’s race, it appears that Paul Menard has arrived at the Sprint Cup level.

See this for the unofficial results of the Brickyard 400.

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

The Voice Of The Indy 500 Dies

Leon — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 02:52:12 +0000

(photo courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway)

Tony Stewart is an Indiana native who grew up at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He drove cars in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 at IMS, winning the latter in 2005 and 2007.

Stewart spoke for a lot of people Friday when he commented on the sad news that Tom Carnegie, the long-time public address announcer had died earlier in the day.

“He was the voice of the speedway,” Stewart said. “I still have a tape of my qualifying lap at Indy during my rookie year when I broke the track record, and it’s his voice and his words that helped make that moment so special. His voice was unmistakable and was such a part of Indy, and when he wasn’t there last year, you knew that something was missing. While a lot of us knew this day was coming, it doesn’t make it any easier. He’ll be missed.”

Carnegie, the legendary chief announcer for the IMS Public Address system for an incredible 61 years, died in the Indianapolis suburb of Zionsville. He was 91.

Carnegie served as the Public Address announcer at the Speedway from 1946-2006. He called 61 Indianapolis 500’s, 12 Brickyard 400’s and six United States Grands Prix for millions of fans at IMS.

Carnegie’s incredible baritone coined and developed such iconic phrases as, “AND HEEEEEEE’S ON IT!” “HEEEEEERE’S THE TIME AND SPEED REPORT!” and the classic “AAAAAAND, IT’S A NEEEEEW TRACK RECORD!”

Born in Connecticut as the son of a Baptist minister, Carnegie grew up aspiring to be an actor. But those hopes were dashed when he was stricken with polio as a student in Missouri. He turned his attention instead to the broadcasting of sporting events, and his sense of the dramatic quickly came to the fore.

After graduating from William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo., he landed a job in 1942 at radio station WOWO in Fort Wayne, Ind. Westinghouse in Pittsburgh owned WOWO and sister station WGL, and the station manager suggested the name Tom Carnegie would go well in the East since the name Carnegie was prominent in Pittsburgh. So Carl Kenagy – Carnegie’s birth name – became Tom Carnegie.

Mr. Carnegie will be greatly missed by all who ever attended the Indy 500 and heard that booming baritone voice over the public address system!

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

McMurray Wins The Brickyard 400

Leon — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:37:47 +0000

Photo courtesy Johns Harrelson/Getty Images

Jamie McMurray greatly increased the quality of his racing resume Sunday with The Brickyard 400 victory. He now has joined some very good company with the likes of Jimmie Johnson and Dale Jarrett. Johnson and Jarret were the only other NASCAR drivers to win The Daytona 500 and The Brickyard 400 in the same season before McMurray’s victory Sunday. Series points leader, Kevin Harvick, finished second followed closely by Greg Biffle in third.

Juan Pablo Montoya led the most laps, 86, but again had fell disappointingly short when his team opted to pit for four tires while leading with 23 laps to go. Six others took two tires and that pushed Montoya back to eighth on the restart and two laps later, he crashed while scrambling to make up lost position.

That crushed Montoya, who refused to comment immediately afterward. His equally crushed crew chief took the blame. “Bad call,” Brian Pattie said. “Crew chief error. We should have taken two tires.”

This is the second consecutive year that Montoya was the most dominating race car at the brickyard 400 and failed to win the race! Last year he was issued a “speeding ticket” leaving the pits. However, this year Montoya was subject to his own aggressiveness trying to make up for what turned out to be a poor strategy decision on the pit stop.

Nevertheless, team owner Chip Ganassi was not crushed by Montoya’s failure. The second team at Earnhardt-Ganassi, the #1 Bass Pro Sports Chevy took up the slack, and rewarded Ganassi with his first Brickyard 400 victory. McMurray’s Brickyard 400 victory put Chip Ganassi in a class all by himself. Ganassi is the first team owner to win the three crown jewels of auto racing , the Daytona 500, the Indy 500, and the Brickyard 400 all in one year!

Of being at his best in the big events, McMurray said, “I think it’s coincidence a little bit that we’ve run well at all those big races. After sitting on the pole at Darlington and running second, then going to Chicago with the same car, sitting on the pole, finishing fifth, we had a car that they had given all the updates to, and we were going to bring here. I asked Bono (his crew chief, Kevin Manion), ‘Any chance we could bring the same car we ran at Darlington and Chicago?’ He’s like, absolutely. We raced Chicago Saturday. I went to the shop on Monday, the car was stripped down, they were taking it in to repair it.

Many pundits thought that Jamie McMurray’s racing career was on the downward slide when Roush-Fenway Racing was forced to eliminate one of their race teams due to the new rules limiting owners to a maximum of four race teams. That rule went into effect at the beginning of the 2010 race season. However, with McMurray’s Daytona 500 victory, now his Brickyard 400 victory, and a near miss with Harvick at the spring Talladega race, McMurray is making the pundits “eat some crow”!

Here is the unofficial results from the 2010 Brickyard 400.

What is your take on Jamie McMurray’s performance in 2010?

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

Franchitti Wins 2010 Indy 500

Leon — Mon, 31 May 2010 18:53:07 +0000

(photo courtesy IZOD IndyCar series)

Sunday was the 45th anniversary of the first Scotsman, Jim Clark, to win at the Indianapolis 500. That jovial Scotsman just happened to be Dario Franchitti’s boyhood hero. So it was at The Brickyard on May 30, 2010, the second coming of Scotland to this hallowed grounds.

At a place where speed is king, Sunday Dario Franchitti had to slow down in order to win his second Indy 500. The normally lightning fast Scotsman, who is married to actress Ashley Judd, had to be coaxed by team owner Chip Ganassi to lift his right foot off the accelerator to try to conserve what little fuel left in the fuel cell. The Target-Ganassi pit box had figured that Francitti might not have enough fuel to finish the race. In order to stretch out the fuel that was remaining in the fuel cell, they were coaching Dario to slow up and “save gas”.

Franchitti’s Target-Ganassi Racing #10 Target Dallara Honda was the absolute class of the 33 car field at The Brickyard Sunday, leading 155 of the 200 laps. For the car that consistently ran in excess of 224 mph all day, fuel consumption had become an issue by lap 197, Franchitti had slowed down to an average speed of 208 mph. Futhermore, by the next lap, Franchitti has slowed all the way down to 202 mph! That speed was more than 20 mph below his qualifying speed just a week previously.

Trailing Franchitti in second place was the 2005 Indy 500 winner, Dan Wheldon. However Wheldon, driving the Panther Racing #4 National Guard Dallara Honda, was also suffering the same fuel shortage issue. Additionally, the Target-Ganassi pit box and Franchitti wasn’t totally sure of how much fuel Wheldon had remaining in his fuel cell. they were hoping that Wheldon would be slowing his pace as well, trying to make it to the end of the race. The Target-Ganassi plan worked!

As Franchitti took the white flag, there was a horrible crash near the back of the pack of cars that was still in the short chute between turns 3 and 4. Ryan Hunter-Reay ran out of fuel and Mike Conway, who led the race only 40 laps previously, clipped Hunter-Reay’s left front tire sending him airborne and hard into the catchfence! Conway’s race car impacted the catchfence with such speed and force that it shredded the car. There were only two sizable pieces left, the cockpit titanium tub containing the driver, Mike Conway, and the engine/rear end! According to the Indianapolis Star, Conway escaped with some orthopaedic injuries to his left leg, most likely some fractures. Conway can consider himself a VERY luck man this morning!

So in what has, through the last few years, become a race between Team Penske and Target-Ganassi for the Indianapolis 500 victories, it was Target-Ganassi who was triumphant on May 30, 2010!

With that victory came another first in the two most prestigious levels of racing in the USA, Indy Car Series and NASCAR. It is the first time that one car owner has won both the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500 in the same year!

What is your view of the 2010 Indy 500?

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

The Indy 500: A Historical Review

Leon — Sat, 29 May 2010 15:27:32 +0000

(Photo courtesy IZOD IndyCar Series)

Throughout all the additions, renovations, and updates applied to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1909, much of its original atmosphere seems to shine through. Many of the more than 3.2 million bricks are still there covered up under the 1 1/2 feet of asphalt. Yet the only part of the bricks that are still visible is the yard of bricks located at the start-finish line. The concrete and steel grandstands along the front stretch offer reminders of their wooden predecessors, additionally the pagoda has had several reincarnations. About the only casualty of progress has been the old wooden garages of gasoline alley, replaced in 1986 by the concrete structures now.

Originally built as a testing facility. The four original partners were Carl G. Fisher, James A. Allison, Frank Wheeler, and Arthur Newby who put their minds together to build the speedway on a 320 acre tract of farmland west of downtown. All four were involved in Indy’s thriving, higher end, much pricier auto industry.

Fisher owned a bicycle shop, teamed with Allison to build the company that made compressed gas headlights for those early cars. Newby owned a bicycle shop but made his name making chains, which were the key to the drive trains in cars and airplanes. Wheeler, with George Schebler, built carburetors. Over a campfire in November 1905 they reportedly brainstormed ideas that four years later led them to pool $200,000 (with another $50,000 borrowed from a fifth investor who eventually dropped out) to make the racetrack a reality.

Construction began March 20, 1909 for the inaugural meet in August that ended in disaster with numerous accidents, five deaths, and an outcry to shut down. Fisher and Co. decided to pave the track with bricks from and Illinois company and subcontracted through four other firms. The job was completed in just 63 days.

In 1911 the first Indianapolis 500 was premiered for all to see and was won by Ray Harroun in a Marmon Wasp that included the first rear view mirror. His average winning speed was 74.602 MPH!

The Speedway has changed ownership three times in its history. The four track founders sold the track to WWII hero and former Eastern Airlines owner Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker in 1927 for about $750,000, the same price he sold it for in 1945 to Terre Haute, IN businessman Tony Hulman. At the time that Hulman took control of the speedway, it had been dormant because of WWII. Hulman rebuilt the speedway from the ground up, replacing the wooden grandstands with the current version. His efforts made the month of May synonymous with the Indianapolis 500!

Whether standing or sitting in the grandstands of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, this grand racing facility oozes history. There is this faintly heard whispering of names from the past. The names of Rex Mays, Ray Harroun, A. J. Foyt, Billy Vukovich, Al Unser, Sr., Bobby Unser, Andy Granatelli, Parnelli Jones, Roger Ward, Rick Mears, Johnny Rutherford, Mario Andretti, and Roger Penske are just a few that have walked in Gasoline Alley.

This Sunday is the the celebration of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s centennial era, 100 years. I can’t wait to see the Purdue marching band, to hear the singing of “Back Home Again In Indiana”, to hear those high strung V-8′s fire up!

But lest we never forget, the single most important reason that we celebrate this holiday is to honor our American military! That is what this weekend is really all about. We must never forget about the sacrifices that we have asked of our young men and women!

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

Castroneves Fastest on Opening Day

Leon — Sun, 16 May 2010 02:06:15 +0000

(photo courtesy Penske Racing)

Team Penske kicked off the month of May in positive fashion Saturday by recording some of the fastest laps – including the fastest of the day – during the opening day of practice for the 94th running of the Indianapolis 500.

Helio Castroneves, who will attempt to tie the record of four Indy 500 wins later this month, recorded the fastest lap of the day when he went 226.603 mph in the No. 3T Team Penske Dallara/Honda. Teammates Ryan Briscoe and Will Power also were clocked among the fastest 11 of the 27 cars that practiced Saturday.

Castroneves, who won the pole and the race last year, is attempting to tie the record held by Rick Mears, Al Unser and A.J. Foyt. His performance in the 2010 IndyCar Series season so far – third in the standings with a win at Barber Motorsports Park in April – offer encouragement.

Practice is scheduled to resume Sunday at 12 p.m. ET. Pole day qualifying is set for Saturday, May 22 beginning at 12 p.m. ET and will be televised live on Versus. The Indy 500 will take place on Sunday, May 30 at 1 p.m. ET with ABC’s live coverage beginning at noon.

It is not long til Jim Nabors will be singing, once again, “Back Home Again In Indiana”!

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

More Troubles For Tony George

Leon — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:15:38 +0000

(photo courtesy Indy Racing League)

Another chink in the armor of Tony George was unveiled today. George announced that he is suspending the operations of Vision Racing, his IRL race team also co-owned by actor Patrick Dempsey. George’s step-son, Ed Carpenter, drove for the team, which was purchased in 2005 when Mr. George bought the assets of Kelley Racing.

This move is the latest blow to Tony George and his racing empire. 2009 was a catastrophic year for Mr. George. In June of 2009, Tony George was forced to resign as the CEO of The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which his family has owned and controlled since the end of WWII, and relinquish all control of the many family corporate businesses. Two weeks ago he resigned from the IMS Board of Directors.

George has also resigned from a leadership role of The Indy Racing League, which he founded to be a more affordable alternative to CART. Effectively, the IRL did more to damage the health of open wheel racing than good in the US. By starting his own sanctioning body, the IRL, and reserving 2/3 of the starting positions for Indy 500 for the IRL competitors, it drove a huge cavern between CART and the IRL that took 12 years to resolve. Ultimately forcing CART into bankruptcy and dissolving all together.

Tony George single handedly put open wheel racing in the US on life support for the 12 years that there was a division between CART and the IRL! The Indy 500 has lost a large portion of glitter of being “The Greatest Spectacle In Racing”. Thank you Tony George!

So with this latest announcement, the high flying Tony George is looking for a place to dock and right his sinking ship! The once very influential executive is grasping for a life vest!

What is your take on Mr. George’s fall from his Titanic leadership roll?

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

The Meaning of Indianapolis

Leon — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:23:15 +0000

(photo from racintoday.com)

NASCAR rolls into the 100 year old historic facility known as THE INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY!

Why is Indy so important?

It has a historic tradition.

Winning it makes you a part of history.

Winning this race is life changing.

THIS IS INDY!

The many stories of triumph and tragedy!

The Ghosts of legendary drivers.

The highs are higher!

The lows are lower!

THIS IS INDY!

The winner becomes an instant American icon.

Your resume has changed forever!

Kiss the bricks.

Drink the milk.

THIS IS INDY!

Timeless

History

Heartbreak

Heroes

Legends

240,000 fans

15 years for NASCAR

GLORY!!!

THIS IS INDY! THIS IS INDY!! THIS IS INDY!! THIS IS INDY!!

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

The Tradition of Indy

Leon — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 02:28:51 +0000

I can still remember the very first time that I had the opportunity to go to Indianapolis. It was for the 1987 Indy 500. I went with a friend in his in-law’s motor home. As we drove down 16th Street and got to the corners of Georgetown,16th Street, and Crawfordville Rd, there it was….the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway! The hair on the back of my neck stood at attention and my heart rate raced!! WOW, I am really looking at The Speedway!

Up to that point I had either, listened to or watched, the Indy 500 for about 30 of my, then 36 years. Now I am here, and I going to watch the pomp and pageantry of the 1987 Indy 500 in person! I am going to witness the “THE GREATEST SPECTACLE IN RACING”!

As I walked into grounds at Indy again the exhilaration of being there washed all over my being. The ghostly presence of yesteryear legends are hauntingly present at the Brickyard! Sam Hanks, Parnelli Jones, Roger Ward, A. J. Foyt, Jr., Al Unser, Sr., Andy Granatelli, Mario Andretti, Tony Hulman, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, and two time winner and my hometown boy Billy Vukovich, are just some of the names that came to mind as I sat in my seat. I was totally humbled to be in this very historic facility!

Sunday NASCAR will run its 16th race at The Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Even though NASCAR only accounts for 15 races so far, they are establishing their own niche in the annals of The Indianapolis Motor Speedway historical books.

Two of Indiana’s favorite sons, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, have accounted for a total of 6 victories out of the 15 races ran so far.

So when the crowds start to file into the track on Sunday morning, I can only assume that those same electric , exhilarating, and historical thoughts that are associated with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will permeate their brains.

After all, there are 100 years of revered history that ooze throughout this facility!

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