F1
Do I even need to post the results from Sunday’s race at the Hungaroring? Of course not. In reality, many are calling it the most boring race of the season and in fact if passes were worth a dollar, we would have no dollars.
The only noteworthy thing was the results of a team owner meeting Sunday morning. Allegedly the owners were unable to agree on anything. This puts Mosely’s changes in jeopardy unless he uses his power to force them. If he does that he will have opened a can of worms that could theoretically spell the end of F1 as we know it as teams may well bail on the series.
I have said on here before that I was not for the changes, If I want to watch cost conscious racing with specs then I can watch IRL, NASCAR or OWRS.
IRL
What a day at the Kentucky Speedway! The racing was fast and furious. There was only one wall tagging incident and the weather was perfect. Adrian Fernandez got his first IRL win by holding off pole sitter Buddy Rice. Series leader was Tony Kanaan was fifth as Honda once again showed its dominance. In fact they wrapped up their first IRL manufacturer championship.
Tomas Scheckter was especially strong in his Panther Chevy, but a broken clutch caused him problems in the pits and his day was ruined.
Kentucky is an awesome track and Sunday there was an excellent crowd on hand. The track reported 61,000. That is nearly double of a couple years ago. Maybe this thing will catch on. I know I will continue to go.
The IRL goes into its stretch run now beginning with KY and this weekend at Pikes Peak. TK has a 50 point lead over Buddy Rice. That is a lot to make up, but Rice and the Rahal Letterman team has been strong all year.
NASCAR
Junior finished 5th at the Glen on Sunday which is good. Points leader Jimmie Johnson had another DNF and asshole won the race.
One thing of note from the stockers is that Jeff Gordon was not fined for his failure to go to victory lane at the Speedway the previous week. Gordon claimed he was just being spontaneous in stopping at the yard of bricks after the win. BS. I don’t really care what these guys do to celebrate the win, but don’t lie about it. With the feud that has been brewing between Pepsi and Coke and NASCAR’s ridiculous alignment with one the teams are going to try to devise ways around advertising the competitor’s product. The genius Mike Helton each week seems to be telling the driver what they can’t do. If he would just tell them what they HAVE to do after the race there won’t be any of this crap.
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Monday, August 9, 2004
Brickyard 2004 Weekend
NASCAR
Well another Brickyard 400 is behind us and congrats are in order for Jeff Gordon. He simply dominated the field to win his fourth Brickyard and his fifth race of the season. I’m sure he cheated, but until the investigation is complete I will just say congrats.
Junior held up pretty well and completed the race. He had trouble on one of his pit stops that really cost them but in all honesty he had a 6th to 8th place car at best. Finally though a blown tire and crash caused him to finish 27th. He remains third in the points and in fact the top 10 did not change. However, Mayfield dropped a position to 12th and Kasey Kahne moved up to 11th and neither are that far out of the top 10.
The race was sloppy as hell. 13 yellow flags caused the speed to drop to just over 115 mph. It was a pretty good weekend. The weather was perfect and the crowds were good. There was even more dicing than ever before during the race. I attribute that to the fact that the older guys are now so much more adept at running at Indy and the younger guys don’t know any better.
F1
The big bombshell was in the F1 ranks this weekend. Jensen Buttons surprisingly has signed on with Williams for the 2005 season. In a completely unexpected move, a loophole in Buttons’ BAR contract apparently has allowed the Brit to move to the Grove team. There has been speculation that bonuses agreed upon for Buttons have not been paid. What seemed like a cohesive team may have been a boiling cauldron all along.
Of course now speculation runs rampant on who will replace Buttons. There is already talk of releasing him now and bring up test driver Anthony Davidson for complete the balance of the season. Some reporters think this is a bad idea since Davidson has not raced in a couple of years. This argument is ridiculous unless the intention was to keep him as a test driver forever. If Buttons is as unhappy as it sounds, then cut his ass now.
Jarno Trulli’s name has been bandied about as has Jacques Villeneuve’s.
As for Williams I guess this will put to rest my prediction that Jeff Gordon will be in the other BMW seat. I don’t see Jeffy in the Honda and frankly I think he took out his frustrations on the rest of the field yesterday at IMS.
Well another Brickyard 400 is behind us and congrats are in order for Jeff Gordon. He simply dominated the field to win his fourth Brickyard and his fifth race of the season. I’m sure he cheated, but until the investigation is complete I will just say congrats.
Junior held up pretty well and completed the race. He had trouble on one of his pit stops that really cost them but in all honesty he had a 6th to 8th place car at best. Finally though a blown tire and crash caused him to finish 27th. He remains third in the points and in fact the top 10 did not change. However, Mayfield dropped a position to 12th and Kasey Kahne moved up to 11th and neither are that far out of the top 10.
The race was sloppy as hell. 13 yellow flags caused the speed to drop to just over 115 mph. It was a pretty good weekend. The weather was perfect and the crowds were good. There was even more dicing than ever before during the race. I attribute that to the fact that the older guys are now so much more adept at running at Indy and the younger guys don’t know any better.
F1
The big bombshell was in the F1 ranks this weekend. Jensen Buttons surprisingly has signed on with Williams for the 2005 season. In a completely unexpected move, a loophole in Buttons’ BAR contract apparently has allowed the Brit to move to the Grove team. There has been speculation that bonuses agreed upon for Buttons have not been paid. What seemed like a cohesive team may have been a boiling cauldron all along.
Of course now speculation runs rampant on who will replace Buttons. There is already talk of releasing him now and bring up test driver Anthony Davidson for complete the balance of the season. Some reporters think this is a bad idea since Davidson has not raced in a couple of years. This argument is ridiculous unless the intention was to keep him as a test driver forever. If Buttons is as unhappy as it sounds, then cut his ass now.
Jarno Trulli’s name has been bandied about as has Jacques Villeneuve’s.
As for Williams I guess this will put to rest my prediction that Jeff Gordon will be in the other BMW seat. I don’t see Jeffy in the Honda and frankly I think he took out his frustrations on the rest of the field yesterday at IMS.
Wednesday, August 4, 2004
August Racing
It’s Brickyard week here in Indy and you know what that means. The snobbiest, rudest and most misinformed of all race fans will converge on Indy for the next 3 or 4 days. Oh don’t get me wrong, there are many good NASCAR fans out there, but the snobby ones who think their little taxi cab racing is the do all end all of racing are pitiful.
NASCAR itself has become so overblown and ostentatious that they are squabbling over such trivialities as knocking over other sponsors ads in victory lane. Couple that with the ridiculous points system for this season and NASCAR has really lost all of my respect. But be that as it may, their circus does roll into town this week and for the city and the league it is a big deal.
Hopefully Jr. will be able to run the whole race and have a good result. Also it would be nice if Jeff Gordon was a DNF and Tony Stewart crashed….hard. Just kidding about that. I don’t want anyone hurt, even Tony.
If you are heading out, look for me at “The Spot” on Friday and probably up in the E Penthouse on Saturday.
F1
The three week holiday is always nice at this time of the season. Normally it heralds the final third of the season and the final push for the championship. Of course this year the championship is a foregone conclusion. It also normally brings out the start of silly season, but that started weeks ago if not last year when JPM said he would be in the Williams for only one more season.
The latest however has Christiano not making any more appearances in the Toyota. As reported here over the past few weeks, Christiano was upset that he was not privy to the teams plans for next year. Now that it appears Jarno Trulli will take over the ride daMatta wants out and it looks like the Cologne team will oblige.
For his part Christiano says he has other F1 offers he is considering and has made it known that he isn’t interested in going back to CART.
Well we have another week off until Hungary so enjoy the break!
IRL
The 2005 season schedule is out. Here it is, of course, subject to change.
2005 IRL schedule
March 6: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Fla., 1 1/2-mile oval
March 19*: Phoenix International Raceway, Phoenix, 1-mile oval
April 30*: Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi, Japan, 1 1/2-mile oval
May 29: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, 2 1/2-mile oval
June 11*: Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas, 1 1/2-mile oval
June 25*: Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, Va., 3/4-mile oval
July 3: Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kan., 1 1/2-mile tri-oval
July 16*: Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn., 1 1/3-mile oval
July 24: The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis., 1-mile oval
July 31: Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Mich., 2-mile oval
Aug. 14: Kentucky Speedway, Sparta, Ky., 1 1/2-mile oval
Aug. 21: Pikes Peak International Raceway, Fountain, Colo., 1-mile oval
Aug. 28: Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, Calif., 10-turn, 1.99-mile road course
Sept. 11: Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Ill., 1 1/2-mile D-shaped tri-oval
Sept. 25: Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y., 11-turn, 3.4-mile road course
Oct. 16: California Speedway, Fontana, Calif., 2-mile D-shaped oval
Noticeably missing is of course the second Texas race and the Nazareth race. Nazareth is shutting down after this year and NASCAR fucked up the last IRL race of the season at Texas. The Glen and Infineon have been added. There also remains a wide open slot between the middle of March and the end of April. Speculation is that a street race will take place in St. Petersburg, FL. That sucks.
But you want to know what really sucks? There is speculation that the schedule for May 2005 will once again be altered. The track would open on Wednesday with practice on WE, TR and FR. Pole day Saturday and quals on Sunday. Then the schedule would play out as it has recently. Just more and more taken away. I’m not going to rant and rave too much until I see it officially, but I am not happy.
Finally, I have to comment on Sunday’s race at Michigan. Congrats to Buddy Rice who passed TK with just 11 laps to go to win. But what was appalling was the crowd. Sure by IRL standards it wasn’t bad. Estimates run between 40,000 and 60,000. Unfortunately the track holds 136,000. Now I ma not so naïve to think that the IRL should have filled the joint this week. But I do not understand how many of my fellow posters on Indystar.com and Trackforum.com can claim this as a victory. They claim it was a bigger crowd than last year (whoopee shit), bigger than CART was getting (whoopee shit) and that the ‘business plan’ would call that a success and that this was probably their goal. Well that is BS. If it is the goal of the IRL to continue on with crappy attendance and nonexistent TV ratings then how long is this thing going to last?
I will be going out the track this weekend and it will just break my heart to see the crowds. Saturday will look like Pole Days of the past and race day you are crammed in like sardines. Oh I am not one to live in the past. It does no good, but I can’t help but be reminded of the days when Indy was king. Fucking Tony George is an idiot and a loser and his idea of fixing what was allegedly wrong with open wheel racing is a joke.
NASCAR itself has become so overblown and ostentatious that they are squabbling over such trivialities as knocking over other sponsors ads in victory lane. Couple that with the ridiculous points system for this season and NASCAR has really lost all of my respect. But be that as it may, their circus does roll into town this week and for the city and the league it is a big deal.
Hopefully Jr. will be able to run the whole race and have a good result. Also it would be nice if Jeff Gordon was a DNF and Tony Stewart crashed….hard. Just kidding about that. I don’t want anyone hurt, even Tony.
If you are heading out, look for me at “The Spot” on Friday and probably up in the E Penthouse on Saturday.
F1
The three week holiday is always nice at this time of the season. Normally it heralds the final third of the season and the final push for the championship. Of course this year the championship is a foregone conclusion. It also normally brings out the start of silly season, but that started weeks ago if not last year when JPM said he would be in the Williams for only one more season.
The latest however has Christiano not making any more appearances in the Toyota. As reported here over the past few weeks, Christiano was upset that he was not privy to the teams plans for next year. Now that it appears Jarno Trulli will take over the ride daMatta wants out and it looks like the Cologne team will oblige.
For his part Christiano says he has other F1 offers he is considering and has made it known that he isn’t interested in going back to CART.
Well we have another week off until Hungary so enjoy the break!
IRL
The 2005 season schedule is out. Here it is, of course, subject to change.
2005 IRL schedule
March 6: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Fla., 1 1/2-mile oval
March 19*: Phoenix International Raceway, Phoenix, 1-mile oval
April 30*: Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi, Japan, 1 1/2-mile oval
May 29: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, 2 1/2-mile oval
June 11*: Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas, 1 1/2-mile oval
June 25*: Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, Va., 3/4-mile oval
July 3: Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kan., 1 1/2-mile tri-oval
July 16*: Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn., 1 1/3-mile oval
July 24: The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis., 1-mile oval
July 31: Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Mich., 2-mile oval
Aug. 14: Kentucky Speedway, Sparta, Ky., 1 1/2-mile oval
Aug. 21: Pikes Peak International Raceway, Fountain, Colo., 1-mile oval
Aug. 28: Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, Calif., 10-turn, 1.99-mile road course
Sept. 11: Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Ill., 1 1/2-mile D-shaped tri-oval
Sept. 25: Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y., 11-turn, 3.4-mile road course
Oct. 16: California Speedway, Fontana, Calif., 2-mile D-shaped oval
Noticeably missing is of course the second Texas race and the Nazareth race. Nazareth is shutting down after this year and NASCAR fucked up the last IRL race of the season at Texas. The Glen and Infineon have been added. There also remains a wide open slot between the middle of March and the end of April. Speculation is that a street race will take place in St. Petersburg, FL. That sucks.
But you want to know what really sucks? There is speculation that the schedule for May 2005 will once again be altered. The track would open on Wednesday with practice on WE, TR and FR. Pole day Saturday and quals on Sunday. Then the schedule would play out as it has recently. Just more and more taken away. I’m not going to rant and rave too much until I see it officially, but I am not happy.
Finally, I have to comment on Sunday’s race at Michigan. Congrats to Buddy Rice who passed TK with just 11 laps to go to win. But what was appalling was the crowd. Sure by IRL standards it wasn’t bad. Estimates run between 40,000 and 60,000. Unfortunately the track holds 136,000. Now I ma not so naïve to think that the IRL should have filled the joint this week. But I do not understand how many of my fellow posters on Indystar.com and Trackforum.com can claim this as a victory. They claim it was a bigger crowd than last year (whoopee shit), bigger than CART was getting (whoopee shit) and that the ‘business plan’ would call that a success and that this was probably their goal. Well that is BS. If it is the goal of the IRL to continue on with crappy attendance and nonexistent TV ratings then how long is this thing going to last?
I will be going out the track this weekend and it will just break my heart to see the crowds. Saturday will look like Pole Days of the past and race day you are crammed in like sardines. Oh I am not one to live in the past. It does no good, but I can’t help but be reminded of the days when Indy was king. Fucking Tony George is an idiot and a loser and his idea of fixing what was allegedly wrong with open wheel racing is a joke.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
