March Racing Items

IRL

The IRL scored another victory Friday by attracting car owner Adrian Fernandez into the fold. Fernandez who was already running one car in the IRL will now run another with himself as the driver. If you know me I don’t think much of the owner/driver arrangement but it is good to see Fernandez bring the Tecate and Quaker State money with him.

The bigger tell might be what he said. Fernandez went to the big season opening gala put on by Bridgestone presents the Champcar World Series powered by Ford (or whatever the hell it is) and didn’t like what he saw. So he switched leagues and will be at Phoenix for this weekends race.

And what of the rest of OWRS. Bobby Rahal has already been thinking about switching. He is the car owner of one car in the IRL and is thinking about bringing Michel Jourdain over as well. Apparently the news of Fernandez’s defection to the IRL has made the Mexican sponsors nervous and with Gigante being a Rahal sponsor they may be forced to move to the IRL.

Newman/Haas, one of the real CART and now OWRS stalwarts has tested IRL cars at Phoenix and could be the final nail in the OWRS coffin if they leave.

FTG offered $13.5 million for the CART assets to the bankruptcy court a month and a half ago. Now he might get the assets and spend somewhat less. He doesn’t deserve it because he is an idiot, but he will win by default simply because he has the 500.


NASCAR

Congrats to Junior for his win yesterday at Atlanta. But I gotta tell you, even though it is the fastest of the Cup races, it was boring as hell.

Junior closed the gap on points leader Kennseth as they go to Darlington this week.


F1

Last weeks testing failed to produce any stirring results. McLaren did manage to improve steadily as the week progressed, but Williams and Renault still found themselves struggling.

Now the teams are preparing for this weekends Malaysian Grand Prix. The weather will be hot and as usual, there will be a chance for rain.

Last years winner Kimi Raikkonen will have a tough time defending his win if Australia is any indication. The qualifying controversy from Australia has also been addressed.

Earlier reports said that Bernie would not make any changes until at least Imola. However, crash.net is reporting that Ecclestone has proposed changing back to last years system of a lap on Friday and one on Saturday or eliminating the first round all together. Apparently neither motion had enough support but the issue will be revisited when everyone gets to Sepang.

In other news the battle rages on between Frank Williams and Ralfie boy. Ralfie says he is getting fed up with the lack of response from Williams regarding his contract. Frank Williams for his part has not commented publicly. Reports had surfaced a week or so ago that Ralfie was about to make the jump to Renault for next season. This would leave Williams with no driver and most likely force Jarno Trulli out at Renault. However, given the relationship between Frank Williams and Chip Gannasi don't be surprised if Scott Dixon gets a shot at a Williams seat next year.

As for Renault it looks like they will not change unless Fernando Alonso would make the jump to Ferrari if Michael Schumacher retires.

Rather it seems now that Ralfie is talking to Toyota about next season. This would almost assuredly knock Olivier Panis out of his seat. Ralf sucks and I honestly hope he does not go to Toyota. Frankly I think he is better suited for a Minardi!

And finally, the Bernie has laid down the law with the officials of the track at Imola and the repercussions could affect the future of the Grand Prix of San Marino. The aging facility known as both the Ferrari home track and the track where Ayrton Senna lost his life needs approximately $25 million in upgrades. Ecclestone has told the officials they will not retain the race if the improvements are not approved and made.

San Marino is in the last year of its F1 contract. It's hard to imagine the season not having what amounts to two races in Italy so look for the announcements to be made. San Marino track officials are in discussions with the Italian government to get the money for the improvements. One also has to wonder what Bernie has up his sleeve. With Austria out this year he still has 18 races and a Concorde agreement that calls for a maximum of 16.