I’m sure you all know by now that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the winner of the 46th Dayton 500. You probably know I am pretty freaking happy about it too! Way to go Junior! Well as it turns out Daytona had just about everything we have all become used to seeing with the exception of a mad dash close finish. At the end Junior just had it covered.
He was the fastest car all day and his only competition was Tony Stewart who didn’t have anything for him when it came down to it. Kurt Busch seemed to have a fast car, but seemed reluctant to get involved in the finish since he was a lap down. Greg “Whiffle” Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Scott Wimmer and Kevin Harvick all were strong, but never really strong enough to hold a lead if they got there. Whiffle might have had a chance, but he stepped on his dick and drove into the pits about 100 mph costing his a stop and go penalty and possibly the race.
We had the “Big one”. 12 cars were taken out when some cars got together on the backstretch. Michael Waltrip seemed to take the biggest hits and actually flipped a few times. There were a couple of other incidents, but nothing major. Speaking of Waltrip, he added to what probably amounted to the most exciting, or fun part of the weekend: driver comments.
Waltrip was very critical of the safety crews and their extrication of him from his wrecked racer. Waltrip told the crews he was all right and to turn the car over. It took them 10 minutes to do so and Mikey was not a happy camper. There has been a push, especially amongst the drivers the past couple of years for NASCAR to retain their own safety crews. Waltrips comments will certainly add fuel to that fire.
As usual, Tony Stewart had plenty to say over the weekend. Apparently him and John Andretti were involved in a couple of on track incidents and in an interview while parading around the track yesterday he said he had told Andretti to stay away from his car, that John didn’t think he had done anything wrong and that that is why the Petty’s fired him. Stewarts crew chief Greg Zippadelli had similar comments later in the race. Andretti, as usual, just looked like a deer in the headlights.
So the big one is done, now the reality of a long, grueling season sets in. Can Junior stay up front and stay in the top 10? Probably, but competition will be keen these first few races. One thing of note is that only two driver car combinations did not make the race. That does not bode well for the rest of the season. I will be keeping an eye on that situation as well.
Monday, February 16, 2004
Thursday, February 12, 2004
2004 Racing Season
This week is Speedweek in Daytona. The closest thing to the Month of May in racing. It is also the Test in the West week for the IRL. Someone mentioned that OWRS had a Spring Training, but I have yet to find any evidence of it. The F1 boys have all been out testing in Spain and Italy and it is shaping up to be one hell of a year.
Even this IRLic is excited about Sunday’s Daytona 500. Daytona always marks the start of the season. Followed by the other leagues, Daytona gets everyone back in the feel. Saturday night Dale Jarrett won the Bud Shootout for last years pole winners and previous Shootout winners. On Sunday, Greg Biffle and Elliot Sadler took the top two spots on the grid in qualifying. Today the Twin 125’s were run. Junior won the first one and will line up third Sunday. Sadler won the second so fourth will be decided by time. Junior is off to a good start with this win. His time Sunday was third best and he is always fast at Daytona. I would really like to see him win Sunday and take the championship. It is his time. Go Junior!
Past that it really is more about who I don’t want to win. Your Tony Stewarts, your Jeff Gordons and even your Kevin Harvicks. I don’t want anyone hurt I just don’t want them to win. I’ll have more on Daytona as the race draws nearer.
The main focus of this blog will be the IRL and everything it entails, including its ongoing battle with OWRS. About a month ago some moron federal judge here in Indy had a chance to put the struggling OWRS out of its misery once and for all. He didn’t do it. So once again this season there will be two leagues. That is if OWRS ever hits the track. Something has to be done. The IRL puts on great shows but other than Indy has shitty attendance. CART/OWRS has nothing anymore. All of their “stars” are in the IRL. They have Paul Tracy as their big fish. Past that they have Bruno Junqueira, Patrick Carpentier, Michel Jourdain Jr. and Alex Tagliani. I like those guys, all right, not Tracy, but geez, talk about a lack of passion or pizzazz for us Americans.
The IRL would have welcomed those guys. Couple that with the fact that the IRL will be in the road course racing business within a year and why keep OWRS around. That judge made a huge mistake. So we all know how I feel about OWRS. It shouldn’t be. That doesn’t mean I won’t watch their tape delayed parades. I just know there is not enough room for OWRS and the IRL and the IRL isn’t going anywhere. But both sides are killing each other. Sponsors are too few and far between to make everyone happy. This is the time to start eating into the 800 pound gorilla that is NASCAR.
They have made some ridiculous point rule changes and have pissed off a lot of people. But no, we just continue with the Open Wheel Civil War. On to the test in the west. Yesterday Julio was fastest in practice at the Phoenix International Raceway. 2003 IRL Champion Scott Dixon was second. Today they practically swapped positions with Dixon fastest and Julio third. Sammy got in there for second today. As of this writing 18 drivers took the track today and turned 1297 laps. That is good, but 18 are not enough. On the other hand, not all teams participated.
In other on track news, Robbie crashed his car. Sounds like it was too bad to be repaired. Once again this team starts the season behind the proverbial eight ball. Robbie has to get out of the car and be an owner or give up owning it and just drive. Not sure why he can’t see that. Other involved in the crash were Tora Takagi (what a surprise) and newcomer Darren Manning. Speaking of Robbie, his sometime former teammate Sarah Fisher signed a deal with Kelley Racing. Details were not confirmed. Got to say she looks pretty cute schlepping’ beers at Johnny O’s.
While NASCAR’s new point system is a joke, the IRL and OWRS both instituted sane changes to their scoring systems. The IRL will give the same amount of points to drivers back in the finishing field in an effort to keep them from racing when they have no chance. OWRS will give the winners more points in an effort to separate the competition, which is what NASCAR should have done.
By the way, earlier I said there had been no details on the OWRS Spring Training. There were reports that 4 of their teams showed up at Sebring. This league will struggle. I heard that OWRS Homer Derek Daly say he thought they would survive, but then what else would that boob say. There’s still room on the IRL bandwagon Derek, come on over. That will do for today. I will cover F1 in greater detail in the next few days especially once we get Daytona behind us.
Even this IRLic is excited about Sunday’s Daytona 500. Daytona always marks the start of the season. Followed by the other leagues, Daytona gets everyone back in the feel. Saturday night Dale Jarrett won the Bud Shootout for last years pole winners and previous Shootout winners. On Sunday, Greg Biffle and Elliot Sadler took the top two spots on the grid in qualifying. Today the Twin 125’s were run. Junior won the first one and will line up third Sunday. Sadler won the second so fourth will be decided by time. Junior is off to a good start with this win. His time Sunday was third best and he is always fast at Daytona. I would really like to see him win Sunday and take the championship. It is his time. Go Junior!
Past that it really is more about who I don’t want to win. Your Tony Stewarts, your Jeff Gordons and even your Kevin Harvicks. I don’t want anyone hurt I just don’t want them to win. I’ll have more on Daytona as the race draws nearer.
The main focus of this blog will be the IRL and everything it entails, including its ongoing battle with OWRS. About a month ago some moron federal judge here in Indy had a chance to put the struggling OWRS out of its misery once and for all. He didn’t do it. So once again this season there will be two leagues. That is if OWRS ever hits the track. Something has to be done. The IRL puts on great shows but other than Indy has shitty attendance. CART/OWRS has nothing anymore. All of their “stars” are in the IRL. They have Paul Tracy as their big fish. Past that they have Bruno Junqueira, Patrick Carpentier, Michel Jourdain Jr. and Alex Tagliani. I like those guys, all right, not Tracy, but geez, talk about a lack of passion or pizzazz for us Americans.
The IRL would have welcomed those guys. Couple that with the fact that the IRL will be in the road course racing business within a year and why keep OWRS around. That judge made a huge mistake. So we all know how I feel about OWRS. It shouldn’t be. That doesn’t mean I won’t watch their tape delayed parades. I just know there is not enough room for OWRS and the IRL and the IRL isn’t going anywhere. But both sides are killing each other. Sponsors are too few and far between to make everyone happy. This is the time to start eating into the 800 pound gorilla that is NASCAR.
They have made some ridiculous point rule changes and have pissed off a lot of people. But no, we just continue with the Open Wheel Civil War. On to the test in the west. Yesterday Julio was fastest in practice at the Phoenix International Raceway. 2003 IRL Champion Scott Dixon was second. Today they practically swapped positions with Dixon fastest and Julio third. Sammy got in there for second today. As of this writing 18 drivers took the track today and turned 1297 laps. That is good, but 18 are not enough. On the other hand, not all teams participated.
In other on track news, Robbie crashed his car. Sounds like it was too bad to be repaired. Once again this team starts the season behind the proverbial eight ball. Robbie has to get out of the car and be an owner or give up owning it and just drive. Not sure why he can’t see that. Other involved in the crash were Tora Takagi (what a surprise) and newcomer Darren Manning. Speaking of Robbie, his sometime former teammate Sarah Fisher signed a deal with Kelley Racing. Details were not confirmed. Got to say she looks pretty cute schlepping’ beers at Johnny O’s.
While NASCAR’s new point system is a joke, the IRL and OWRS both instituted sane changes to their scoring systems. The IRL will give the same amount of points to drivers back in the finishing field in an effort to keep them from racing when they have no chance. OWRS will give the winners more points in an effort to separate the competition, which is what NASCAR should have done.
By the way, earlier I said there had been no details on the OWRS Spring Training. There were reports that 4 of their teams showed up at Sebring. This league will struggle. I heard that OWRS Homer Derek Daly say he thought they would survive, but then what else would that boob say. There’s still room on the IRL bandwagon Derek, come on over. That will do for today. I will cover F1 in greater detail in the next few days especially once we get Daytona behind us.
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