IRL
The field is set for the 88th running of the Indianapolis 500. The field was filled on a breezy, cloudy day that held really very little drama. Greg Ray was the fastest qualifier of the session while Robbie McGehee was slowest on the day and in the field. Jacques Lazier had turned some laps in Foyt’s 14T car on Friday and was well over the slowest speeds but the deal apparently fell through and he never took the track after Friday.

Brian Barnhart told the potential qualifiers that a “respectable” speed was all it took to get in. Speculation was that 210+ would be considered respectable. The fact that Lazier never got in the car smacks of politics to me. I really have to wonder if he would have made an attempt had Marty Roth been the slowest qualifier. I have said it before and I will say it again. If you raise the purse of the race to $25-30 million then you will have no problem getting 50 cars to attempt to qualify. As it stands, it just isn’t cost effective to run unless you have big sponsor money or you can get a top 5 finish.

FTRG was also in the paper yesterday talking about shortening the month. Again, if you raise the purse, that kind of problem goes away.

F1
Congrats to Jarno Trulli who won the Grand Prix de Monaco yesterday and in the process ended Michael Schumachers bid for his 6th consecutive win to start the season. Trulli, who started on the pole, lead all the way in this one. Down the stretch he was chased by Jensen Buttons, but his lead was never really in doubt.

Trulli was a wildly popular champion, but to be honest anyone NOT in a Ferrari would have been a welcome change of pace. The irony is that Schumacher pretty much did himself in that he was screwing around behind the safety car and locked up his brakes forcing Juan Montoya to hit him and send him into the guard rail. Schumacher took the low road and claimed the incident was Montoyas fault, but anyone who saw it knows otherwise.

F1 and IRL

F1
Interesting stories during the non practice off week coming from the various team camps. First of all Ferrari seems confident that they will retain the Marlboro sponsorship past the 2006 deadline. All this tells me is that the persistent rumors of the demise of F1 in Europe will come to fruition. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens with this one.

More speculation out of Williams regarding their 2005 driver situation. Now it is looking more and more like Mark Webber will get one of the seats. The team would love to have Buttons, but his contract with BAR will probably not allow him to leave. Besides, given the current state of affairs with the teams, why would he want to leave BAR for Williams. Rumors persist about the other seat, but according to sources, Jeff Gordon’s name is being bandied about as someone who deserves a test. Gordon was in Spain for last weekends race, but only said he was a guest of Williams. He also has stated many reasons why he would not go to F1, but then also has expressed that he is not too old to go F1 racing. He feels an F1 ride would be more for US sponsor dollars coveted by F1, but he seems curious.

IRL
Rain washed out a portion of yesterday’s track activity, and when it was all said and done Julio was on top with a lap of 220.3. Julio, first on the track Monday becomes the first driver of the month over 220. Dixon was second at 219.5. Yellows were out for a spin by Marty Roth and for Robby Gordon. Gordon became the first driver to tag the wall this month, but damage on the car was reportedly minor.

500 Qualifying

IRL
Qualifying is done for the first weekend at Indianapolis. Honda was dominating on a cold and cloudy Saturday afternoon. They took the top seven slots. Julio was the top Toyota and will start 8th.

22 qualified Saturday and another 4 went Sunday. At this point only Greg Ray has a car that everyone assumes will make an attempt. His team was in tech on Sunday, but he didn’t practice. Word is that he is attempting to get some sponsorship.

Buddy Rice driving for the Rahal/Letterman team took the pole with Dan Weldon second and Dario Judd third. Rice’s speed average of 222.024 was slower than the 223.7 that Tony Kanaan put up in the practice session Saturday, but higher than Rice had been all month. He seemed to be the only one who did not lose speed. So now we have 26 cars in the field.

Larry Foyt is slowest at 213.277. That leaves 7 spots to fill. With Ray making 27 that leaves 6. Drivers wandering about the pits looking for rides include 1996 winner Buddy Lazier, his brother Jacques. 1999 ROY Robbie McGeehee, and P.J. Jones (who looks to be penciled in as the Beck Motorsports driver).

The defunct PDM team is reporting it is close to making a driver deal. Dreyer and Reinbold, Panther and Mo Nunn have all expressed interest in trying to qualify another car for the race. And the 66 Penske G-Force was out again Sunday opening speculation that a deal similar to last year could be in the works.

Honestly it looks like they will get to 33, but at what cost? If they get to 34 are they going to allow a Foyt car to get bumped? What about Mary Roth. He looped it twice last week and still isn’t up to speed, but he is still trying. Practice resumes Wednesday and runs until Sunday when the last day of qualifying takes place.

NASCAR
Junior wins again! And now Jeffy is all pissed off at the dumbass Tony Stewart for slamming him into the wall. Maybe one of these days NASCAR will figure it out and suspend that moron!

F1 and IRL Early May

F1
Michael Schumacher wins his fifth straight race this season and ties Nigel Mansell for that distinction. The Sandwich was second and Jarno Trulli was third. JPM was a DNF and Fernando Alonso was fourth in front of the home crowd. Sorry but that is about all the excitement I can muster for the Spanish Grand Prix.

One thing of note was the Bernie saying he wasn’t making qualifying changes ASAFP. His proposal is two 30 minute sessions where you must complete a minimum of 6 laps with the fastest being the counted lap. Failure to complete the prescribed number of laps would result in the car being moved to the back of the starting grid.

I like the change proposed as it brings back the more traditional style of qualifying.

IRL

Practice is underway for the 88th running of the Indianapolis 500. On a warm and breezy Mothers Day 33 cars were on the track. For the record Scott Dixon in the 10 car was the fastest at 219.7. Julio was second and Adrian Fernandez was third. Sammy was sick and could not come out to practice. Sarah was the first one out at approximately 1:09 when her mother waved the green flag to start the session. I heard AJIV went out but I never saw his car. I saw him heading back to the garage. I got up to get a Fosters and I guess I missed him.

We were right behind their pits but I never even saw the car come out. The cars seem ready to start attacking the 220 mark today and probably by the time I get out there Friday will be assaulting the 225 mark. With the wind and heat yesterday I thought 219 was pretty good.

I was a little disappointed with Mike. He was only able to muster a 216.763 for 13th best. Guess they still have some work to do.

When we got there I thought the crowd was going to be pathetic. We drove in had a parking spot that indicated there were not many fans there. It was early, but still I expected more. As we neared the pagoda however it appeared as though there were quite a few fans present. The autograph lines were deep and there were a lot of fans milling around. When we came around to the stands I was surprised to see as many as I did. It was an hour before practice and the stands had as many people as were at most practice days combined last year. Again though the weather was great.

IRL

IRL

A couple of days ago I wrote that I thought Ron Hemelgarn would be good for a car or two in the 500. Apparently I was mistaken. Hemelgarn announced late Tuesday that he would not only be skipping the 500, but would most likely go to the rival OWRS.

As you might imagine over on Speednet there is quite a lively debate about this announcement. IRL haters are talking about how TG has turned his back on the little guy in lieu of Penske and AGR. Mind you, some of these are the same people who mocked a small budget operation like Hemelgarn. The IRL fans are making excuses why Hemelgarn is not making it in the IRL. Mainly they use the economy and walk lock step with TG over the issue. But I think there is more to it.

I admit, I don’t know a lot about Ron Hemelgarn, but he has always been at Indy and has usually found enough to run more than one car. Before the split the team usually ran one car in the CART series, but not always. They were always down on the food chain though. Then when the IRL started it seemed like a perfect fit for a guy like Hemelgarn. Capped costs were just the beginning. When the league struggled early Hemelgarn was most likely, and by all accounts, given subsidies by TG to increase his IRL and Indy 500 presence.

Fast forward to 2003. Instead of the Aurora and Infiniti engines, the Aurora is reborn the Chevrolet and Honda and Toyota come on board. TG basically tells the teams that his subsidies will end. After all, the league is entering its 8th year and the teams should be stable. What is really happening though is the influx of former CART teams who are stable and bring big sponsorship money. Along with this the Toyota and Honda engine programs are lease programs and they are quite costly. Naturally chassis costs rise as well. To further exacerbate the situation, the lower cost Chevrolet engine is a downright dog. Not even Sammy is able to do anything with it.

So you have a Ron Hemelgarn at the crossroads. His driver brings some Coors money, but not like Miller and Budweiser bring. The team’s main sponsor, Delta Faucet, is a small outfit located in Westfield, IN. Good company, fine fixtures, but not a lot of money for a race team. Hemelgarn really has no choice but to run the Chevy engine and thus is uncompetitive. In fact they are one of the last teams to get the updated “Chevworth” engines later in the season.

Now it is 2004. Hemelgarn seemingly wanted to run the IRL, but he just doesn’t have the money. The Chevworth package is as much as the Toyota or Honda, plus the fact that by Indy, a $100k upgrade package will be needed to convert the 3.4L engine to a 3.0L. The team has no driver bringing in money after canning Bubby last year and Delta’s money is nowhere near enough to run Indy, let alone the IRL season.

Hemelgarn waits, and probably asks TG for assistance (I don’t know this, just that it makes sense if you look at the timing of everything). When no assistance is forthcoming Hemelgarn has serious choices to make. He has entered 2 cars in the 88th 500, but again he has not signed an engine deal, nor does he have a driver. At this point it will cost about $600k for just a car and engine. That is no crew or any other expenses. He need a driver that can bring at least that much money, but who in their right mind would do that. Buddy would probably come back, but he doesn’t bring enough. Hemelgarn knows he is unlikely to make more than $300k on the race. You do the math.

So, Tuesday’s announcement comes as no real shocker to the world. What is the shocker is what team manager Lee Kunzman says next. Not only will the team not be in the 500, but they are working on a deal to go OWRS racing. On the surface this seems ridiculous. In fact my friend Scott wondered about it.

Well it is simple. You see, the Three Stooges aka, Kalkhoven, Gentilozzi and Forsythe (sorry if I misspelled them but I don’t care enough about them to check) are now subsidizing cars to keep OWRS afloat. The rumor is that Forsythe has offered to lease 2 cars to Hemelgarn for $1. Yes that is ONE DOLLAR! Now Hemelgarn would be an idiot not to take the offer and run with it. By doing this he really doesn’t have to sign a money driver, but can take a chance on a young talented driver who has shown some skills. He still will have the Delta money which he can use to travel from event to event and pick up some prize money along the way. Plus, if his cars are out on the track he just might pick up some added sponsorship money.

I certainly do not blame Hemelgarn for doing this. I doubt if the press or other teams will be very receptive to him, but if he can make it financially I doubt if he cares. What gets me goes back to the message boards. The subsidizing of teams by TG was wrong according to the CARTers, but what the Stooges are doing goes unchallenged. What gets me is that these are team owners who are running the show. This is ultimately what did CART in, but these boobs don’t see it. From the IRL standpoint, fans are calling Hemelgarn a sellout, but they loved him when he was getting those same subsidies.

I for one wish Hemelgarn good luck. I don’t see any future in OWRS, but when they fold hopefully there will be a spot for a guy who seems to just love racing.

F1

One thing is certain, these new proposals will certainly generate a lot of talk about how F1 is becoming yet another spec or cookie cutter series ala NASCAR. I don't think you would see a great deal of increase in spending on R & D.

For one thing, and I agree and applaud them for actually thinking more than one race season in advance, when that tobacco money goes away in a couple of years ALL of the teams will have to tighten their belts. Right now there are what, 5 teams who have tobacco as their main sponsors. That is a lot of money. Without it I think you will see the smaller teams really suffer as their sponsors fill the void with teams like Ferrari, McLaren, BAR and Renault because of the potential for greater exposure. That puts the guys currently at the back of the grid in a position of having to find new sponsors. And if reports are correct, new sponsors aren't exactly lining up to get in.

The Bernie even called Stoddardt a beggar for the way he courted potential sponsors in the paddock last season. Ferrari can probably keep their advantage because of their personnel and because they are so far ahead of everyone. But for how long? When the Marlboro money is gone how will a car company that sells what, 3000 cars a year be able to afford the testing they do now? If I was them, and I am sure this has already been considered, I wouldn't count on FIAT making up the difference. I just think there is going to be less money to go around in the very near future.

Bottom line, IMO, is that the teams, and especially engine manufacturers, know new rules are coming. They have a couple of years before new engine rules take effect, so they have a couple of years where I think you will see some MAJOR investment into R & D, but after a couple of years it will drop dramatically. Will it turn into just another spec series? I certainly hope not. I have nothing against the notion of throwing everyone into equal cars and letting the drivers hash out who is best, but we already have enough of that and F1 is supposed to be about drivers AND cars. Or so I had been told!

F1

F1

Well the boys all got together today and decided to create a dream come true....oh wait a minute.

Well yes, the F1 clan did all meet today in Monaco with FIA president Max Mosley. The biggest surprise is that most of the matters put forth last week by the Max were met with open arms.

The engine configuration of the current V-10 or changing to a V-8 still has to be hashed out. On one hand, keeping the current config would allow teams to keep their current engines thereby cutting costs. On the other hand, if those engines are kept teams are going to be expected to make them last 4 or more race weekends. It looks like if the engine is changed to a V-8 it will be limited to 2 race weekends.

One interesting thing is that a separate championship for engine manufacturers could become a reality. I thing that would be an awesome addition to the series.

One of the big obstacles of getting these changes in place before 2008 is the Concorde Agreement. The official governing rules of F1 also allows King Bernie to rake in a whopping 70% of F1 profits. Certainly Bernie has to be credited with the explosive growth of F1 all over the world over the past 20 years, but one must wonder when too much is simply too much.

With the Concorde Agreement not set to expire until 2007, don't expect any changes until then unless Bernie is willing to take a smaller slice of the pie. Yeah right! Also, we will have to wait and see how the majority really feels when it comes to voting on new rules and configs. Everyone seemed happy today. I mean shit, who couldn't be happy at a fancy F1 bean feast and meeting? Who knows how these guys will act in the future. Their track record is that they will never agree on anything!

F1 and IRL

F1

Tomorrow the big “Monaco Summit” starts for the F1 boys. Team owners are expected to meet to discuss the future of Formula One racing and Max Mosley’s proposed changes. I chronicled them in a previous article so I won’t list them again. But, what are they really going to accomplish at this meeting?

This is a group of people who will never agree on anything. As I understand it, the Concorde Agreement requires full approval by ALL owners before a change can be implemented. Under Mosley’s plan, only a majority would have to agree.

To be honest the owners really do need to address the future. As we are down to 10 teams, with no new teams seemingly showing interest and the loss of several teams over the past few years, it is incumbent upon the current owners to promote and save their own series.

The series needs new sponsors with the loss of all tobacco money in 2006 and it needs younger team owners who will become the stewards of the series. The old guys now in aren’t getting any younger and there seems to be no one to take their place or start new teams.

F1 is at a crossroads. Tracks like Imola, Austria and even Silverstone are taking heat for not being up to quality standards. Some like Belgium have felt the sting of losing races. Spa is back this year, but Austria is not. Places like China and the Middle East are being courted as the new hotbeds of F1 racing. Sure there is money in the oil rich OPEC nations, but China? Turkey and Russia also want in. Where does that leave some of the European markets? And what of the USGP? Frankly I think TG and the Bernie’s relationship is strong and the race will continue, but it is no secret Bernie wants to be on the west coast too.

Canada damn near lost their race this year. Without sponsor dollars to replace those lost when tobacco money goes away there will be less cars, not more. On the surface Ferrari would appear to have the world in the palm of its hands, but they are such a small part of FIAT that they can not be self sustaining without the Marlboro money. No government can or should be expected to run race teams. Renault is in the same boat. McLaren, BAR and Jordan all rely on tobacco money. What is their future? When it comes right down to it, only Williams, Minardi, Jaguar, Toyota and Sauber aren’t sponsored primarily by tobacco companies.

And of those teams, only Toyota seems to be on unquestionable solid footing. Williams is probably looking to hire a young driver so they can pay less for him, Minardi has the support of Ferrari but for how long, Sauber has good money with Petronas and Red Bull but there has been scuttlebutt regarding Ford’s commitment to the Jaguar program.

The bottom line is this. These owners are going to have to face a future without tobacco money and that future will be bleak if they decide not to do anything about it. Costs are spiraling despite efforts such as the one engine per weekend rule, but this if F1. Costs are supposed to be high. For the owners, they will have to decide how high is too high and they will have to show some profit to entice new money, owners and sponsors to the series.


IRL

The open test completed last week showed that Penske was still king at Indy. Sammy led all sessions with Julio right behind him. Dixon was consistently third. Some good news for the 24 car of Dreyer and Reinbold was that Mike was fast right away. Generally he was fourth fastest in every session. Honda struggled, but Tony Kanaan did not take part in the test. He was allegedly tire testing in Kentucky.

The track opens for practice Sunday. As it stands today, temps are supposed to be in the 80’s and of course there is a chance of rain.


Someone on the message boards started a thread about Snakepit memories. I added this gem…

Letsgocolts
Member
Registered: Aug 2002
Location: Indy
Posts: 792
Man oh man those were the days.

I don't remember the year, but Q95 was sponsoring Tim Richmond and they were having banner contest for some $1000 stereo, which at the time was a lot. All you had to do was have a banner that had Tim Richmond's name and Q95 on it.

We snagged three sheets from my buddies mom on the Friday night before Pole Day and sewed them together and spray painted "Show us your t*ts for Q95 and Tim Richmond".

Well as you may or may not remember, Richmond tried to knock the wall down in the morning practice. Q95 postponed the banner contest a week if I remember right, but it didn't stop us from proudly displaying our banner stretched across three cars.

It was a rainy and muddy day and the infield was a mess, but we had what seemed like a thousand people around our banner and any females that happened by were "encouraged" to heed the advice of the banner by all the people around.

For the most part it was all good, muddy fun, but there were a few who would jump on or in cars that would try to drive by with girls in them.

I had an old Torino that at one point I counted 20 people standing on. The truck which was the other end of the banner had a cap on it and one of the corners was caved in, but the guy who owned it just stood back and laughed about it!

That went on for about 5 hours. I don't think I ever saw a race car that day, but I was young and stupid and it was all about the party. What a day!

F1 and IRL

F1

So Jacques Villeneuve wants another shot at F1 eh? Well good luck you turd. Just look at how good BAR is doing this season without your sorry, albatross ass at the wheel! And don’t tell me it is because of the Michelins, or because they have a new engineer or because Honda all of the sudden decided to turn up the wick. No JV you just sucked.

Back in 1995 JV won the Indy 500. He was young, aggressive and human. He then made the leap to F1 where two seasons later he was World Champion in the Williams. Now he has made himself available again to that Williams team. So far there has been no response from Sir Frank.

Villeneuve’s manager Craig Pollock has been campaigning for JV’s return to the big stage, but he has also claimed that Jacques will not be taking a seat so as to hang around at the back of the pack. He wants to compete with Schumacher. He must be stoned.

I used to like JV, then he became this overblown, self-important, me me me turd of a human being who’s greatest line came before last season when he tried to run down Jensen Button-his team mate-by saying he would not respect Button if he could not keep up with him. Button not only kept up with him, he outqualified and outraced him on a consistent basis.

JV, maybe you ought to go back to CART and see if they can help you. Pollock has said money is not an issue. I assume that is because of JV’s fleecing of BAR over the past few years. Well if money is not an issue, then CART/OWRS should love to have you back!

IRL

Practice for the 88th Indianapolis 500 begins Sunday. Currently there are 25 confirmed car/driver combinations, but there are 9 more entries, some with two cars listed. The question will remain, however until the end of qualifying: Will there be 33 starters? Of course according to TG, 33 is just a number.

Unfortunately PDM who had two cars entered closed shop on Friday and unless a driver with money steps in it looks like they are out.

The problem with the other 9 entries is almost the same. With the engine lease being $350k and $100k for the upgrade kit a driver is going to have to bring a half a million dollars in sponsor money to get a ride. Then the owner still has to have a chassis and crew members. All told it will cost about a million dollars to run Indy. Of course some of these costs can be deferred if teams will joint the IRL circus, but travel does add to expenses as well.

Here is a breakdown of who or what may happen between now and Bump Day. At least from a perspective 5 days away.

First of all, one of the 9 entries is for the Newman Haas team. They have already named Bruno to drive their car so that puts us up to 26. The remaining teams with extra cars are, Team Rahal (2), Nunn Racing (1), Dreyer & Reinbold Racing(1), AJ Foyt Enterprises (2), Panther Racing (2), Beck Motorsports (2), Marlboro Team Penske (2) and Hemelgarn Racing (2).

Let’s take these in logical order. First of all AJ will try to stick another car in the field. Personally I would like to see Airton Dare get the nod. He and AJ seemed to get along well enough and Dare was fast in inferior equipment. The downside is that Mo Nunn probably had Mike picked before he signed on with Dreyer and Reinbold. Nunn may do the right thing and give Dare the ride. That’s 27. Hemelgarn wants to be at Indianapolis. Could your 1996 winner (hack) Buddy Lazier be in the wings. Buddy worked for Hemelgarn for years. A lot of speculation has been floating around that Beck will hire Jimmy Kite. That would be 29.

Now there is the last 4 spots in the field. Being local I think Panther will give someone a chance. That could also be Kite. Penske most likely lease his car out. I kow Robbie says he is retired, but is he going to be able to resist one more shot at the big money if Mike gets in safely on Pole day? The only one who probably won’t field another car is Rahal.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. A lot could happen with T cars after the first weekend. Stay tuned for more!

F1, IRL and NASCAR

F1

Yesterday I wrote about the changes FIA president Max Mosley has introduced for the future of F1. I was a tad remiss in that I did not write that Mosley's plans are an effort to drastically cut costs in F1 racing. Certainly his intentions are noble and frankly, necessary for the long term health of the sport. If you look around at the team owners and principals you notice it is not a group of young men. Rather it is older guys who may be nearing retirement age. And look at the companies involved with F1 racing. Ferrari, BMW, Daimler-Chrysler (Mercedes), Ford, Renault and Cosworth. These are companies with deep pockets, but in a world economy that is still coming out of the 90's hangover, these guys are not really willing to up their ante's any more than what they are currently.

Ferrari has a reputation in the world beyond F1, but since they limit the number of cars they sell they are limited on budget even though they are part of the Italian government. Daimler-Chrysler is under extreme pressure from stockholders to turn a profit and pouring more and more money into racing at this level is not cost effective. And go right down the line and the story is the same.

Next week the teams are meeting in Monaco to discuss the future. One thing is for sure, unless changes are made the circus may get shut down.

And people think IRL has problems.

IRL

Day one of ROP is over. Larry Foyt was just as happy as a clam when he was finished. I'm going to try to go out tomorrow during lunch if anyone is interested. The IRL is conducting an open practice Wednesday and Thursday. Yesterday, Foyt, Ed Carpenter, Mark Taylor, Kosuke Matsuura, Luis Diaz, Marty Roth and Jeff Simmons also took part in the ROP yesterday. Simmons and Roth will still need to complete their programs when the track opens May 9th.

Local boob Robin Miller floated what he called a "rumor" in his online column on Friday that TG was going to cut the 500 down to a one weekend event because he wanted to have another IRL race in May. Miller is filled with so much hate towards the Speedway it just clouds his vision.

First of all, no one would ever let RM in on any secret. Ever. Second, if he did hear it, it was because someone wanted to make him look bad. But as usual, he does have his faithful followers who eat up his word as if it were the Gospel truth.

That radio show him, Dave Scoggins and Jay Baker do is just pathetic. Piss poor attempts at humor, constant stabs at the IRL while trying to make it sound as though they are sympathetic to the open wheel cause and a lot of F1 news that is both untimely and usually inaccurate. Keep trying boys, maybe OWRS will actually finish the season.

NASCAR

In what is one of the biggest surprises to me is that NASCAR is NOT contemplating fining Junior for the fans reaction to Jeff Gordon's win on Sunday.

Tony Stewart, however has been squarely in NASCAR's sights since Sunday. The moron of the year was involved in two accidents on the track for which he took no responsibility. But NASCAR is considering disciplinary action against the blockhead for an incident after the race. Stewart, slowed with the rest of the pack as they took the checkered flag under the caution, decided to turn left directly onto pit lane (the wrong direction) instead of taking the usual lap around. Of course the boob claimed it was because of the debris being tossed onto the course after the race. Stewart rammed into Terry Labonte demolishing his car. Stewart, no stranger to idiocy, will probably be fined and put on probation. This turd needs to be suspended for a season until he proves he is fit to live among human beings.

Buhl Retires

Robbie Buhl announced Friday that he was retiring effective immediately from his position as driver of the Dreyer and Reinbold #24 Purex IRL Indy car. Thank you Robbie!

Those of you who know me, know that I have always rooted for Robbie. I always thought he was a pretty good driver, seemed like a good guy, one who always seemed to have time for autographs, yet time to driver the car.
Unfortunately Robbie fell into the trap so many drivers fall in to. One of car ownership. I'm not knocking owners, but I have maintained forever that you simply cannot both drive and own the car. It just puts too much of a strain on a persons time.

As an owner your time is spent with sponsors and trying to attract new sponsors for your program. You are dealing with team personnel issues as well as trying to strike a balance between being competitive and profitable, lest we forget this is a business. Throwing driver responsibilities on top of all that and it is a recipe for failure. One of the major jobs is going to be neglected. Be it driver or owner side, if you are not 100% on all jobs then there will be no success. Something Robbie has to have seen over the past couple of years.

I don't want to sound like I am picking on Buhl, better drivers than he have failed. Dale Earnhardt found much less success at the wheel once he started DEI and especially when DEI was fielding Cup cars. DW never found any success, Eddie Cheever had very limited success (although an Indy win is a big deal, it was still when the IRL had a bunch of hacks), Adrian Fernandez and even A.J Foyt have had limited success since 1980 being both owner and driver. In fact Foyt is the last one to have any sustained success as a driver owner and that was back in the 70's.

I salute Robbie's decision and hope this will help the team attract new sponsors, generate more money and become competitive. I see today that he has signed Mike to drive for the team. I like this a first step to get back to where the team was when they started. Of course they are still saddled with the Chevy engine, but maybe they can concentrate on more testing as well.

Racing

IRL

The teams are all heading for Japan this week for the 2nd Bridgestone Japan Indy 300 at the Twin Motegi track. This race marks the end of the 3.4 liter engine as the rules make a change to the 3.0 liter engine beginning with the Indy 500 in May. This was done as a response to the speeds achieved, coupled with the crashes of Kenny Brack at Texas and Tony Renna’s fatal crash at Indy last year. Hopefully this is not just a knee jerk reaction to a couple of bad crashes and the changes made will greatly enhance the safety of the cars.

So far in testing, the new configuration has been safe and effective. Speeds will probably be down, but as I know from experience, when changes are made it is only a matter of time before they are back up. Good luck to all at Japan.

But the IRL has got to do something about the lapse of time between races. It has been nearly a month since Phoenix and it will be more than a month before Indy. This series is on thin ice as it is. It needs to get some momentum going and keep it. If you only race every month, any excitement from the previous race is long gone. TG has the money, unfortunately his brains are bad news. OWRS will be lucky to make it to raceday. Take advantage of them and build your series the right way. You have to forget about the diehard CART fans. They will never be back. But for us fans who are craving Indy Car racing, waiting a month between races is just too much.

One other note about Indy and the IRL. Someone started a thread last week asking what changes people would make if they owned the Speedway and there were no IRL or OWRS. I found it amazing the boobery of many posters. Many wanted to see the Silver Crown cars out there. Some wanted Trans Am races. All I could say as I read the responses was “Thank God these people do not own the track”.

F1

This is one of those rare times in the F1 season that the teams have three weeks between races. This gives everyone a chance to extend their testing sessions. Couple that with the next race being in Europe and this becomes a real chance to gain some ground on Ferrari. Last week the teams were at Barcelona. BAR was your big winner garnering fastest time in almost every days practice. Of note was Scott Dixon’s return to testing. Scott was fast, just a tick off the veterans, most of the sessions. But Thursday’s rain showed Scott has a long way to go on the rain tyres. Friday brought decent results, but mechanical problems slowed his progress. I still expect him to be in the Williams next year, but I think his stock may have fallen just a bit.

This week the teams are at the Paul Ricard circuit in France. Dixon of course will be in Japan so I don’t think he will run. F1 also announced that new safety regulations could be initiated this season. Allegedly the cars are ‘cornering’ too fast and there are safety concerns. Now depending on who you ask, this is nothing more than a move to slow Ferrari down. When it comes down to it, the owners will never agree on any single plan to “increase safety” in the cars. So the FIA will step in and make a rule.

I do not like rule changes in the middle of the season. I am not happy about Ferrari’s dominance, but that is because I am not a Ferrari fan. I certainly admire the fact that they have come out of the gate as strong as they have and have just killed the competition. More on this later.

Americans

News reports today indicate fighting in the "Sunni Triangle" in Iraq is intense. Once again the reports are that more Americans are dying as a result of the insurgent Shiite resistance. When is enough, enough?
Every day over the course of the past 6 months we hear more reports of our troops dying. And for what? For the freedom of some stone age country that may or may not have had enough rocks to throw at Israel?
I am too young to really remember Vietnam and what brought about our escalated involvement in what was their civil war. But from what I have seen since the fall of Baghdad a year ago, there are just too many similarities.

I would agree that Saddam Hussein had to be taken down. He was a ruthless, killing dictator who ruled with an iron fist with the brutal help of his two sons. What I do not now agree with, nor did a year ago was the method.

First of all, we went in on the basis of eradicating the country of Hussein AND his weapons of mass destruction. As the months rolled by some evidence was found that may have been linked to WMD's, but in fact nothing of any substance has been found.

If we wanted to take down the leader we should have done it covertly using special forces and CIA ops to take care of the problem. But, dumbass Bill Clinton had the CIA and Special Forces so depleted and strung out around the world that I am not sure we could have pulled it off.

Instead, W uses the 911 terrorist attacks to go after Osama bin Laden. Then, after committing all of those troops to Afghanistan, we decide to fry the Iraq fish.

This war is a failure. The only thing I have had proven to me is that the Iraqi people seem split on Hussein. So why are we forcing him out when we have no good reasons other than we don't like him or his human rights record?

It is so obvious that those people do not want us there, and equally obvious that most Americans do not want us there. We lost. There is no shame. I have to believe that W did what he thought was best based on his feelings and intelligence. But there comes a time when the human price becomes too high. That time is now.

How 'Bout Them Pacers?

Congratulations to YOUR Indiana Pacers! 2003-2004 NBA Central Division Champs! I haven't had too much to say about the team this year. It's not because I don't care, it has just gone so smoothly compared to the last couple of seasons under Zeke.

Right now the Pacers have an opportunity to also win 60 games for the first time in franchise history AND can wrap up home court advantage throughout the playoffs with a few more wins.

While this team has battled a few nagging injuries, most have been minor and have not been a major problem. The team, and I am knocking on wood, has not lost three games in a row all season. They have weathered a point guard rotation, games without superstar JO and primadonna extraordinaire Al Harrington and Jonathon Bender as well as a new coaching regime that extended into the front office.

Once again, Donnie Walsh looks like a genius. Well okay, he looks like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but that is beside the point. He and Larry Legend have put their stamp on this team and while I doubted coach Rick Carlisle's ability, he has been the captain that has kept this crew focused and winning. Something the previous coach could not do.

How will the Pacers do in the playoffs? Who knows. Most national pundits feel they are the only team in the east that can challenge for the championship. Detroit will be tough, Milwaukee , until last night owned us this season. We have no answer for Baron Davis and New Orleans and the Knicks are much improved despite Isaiah Thomas. But bottom line is this team can do it.

Stay tuned as this one could have us wearing the headphones out at the track this May listening to playoff games!

F1 News

The Bernie has made some minor changes to the qualifying process for this weekends race at the Sepang circuit. Basically he has put more time between the sessions to give the teams more time to prepare. It's not overnight like last year, but it should help.

In other news, Scott Dixon has been scheduled for two tests with the Williams team. I discussed a couple of days ago the possibility of Dixon making the jump to Williams for next year. It looks like the wheels are in motion to see if he can handle it. Dixon is a fantastic driver who, at only 23 has almost his whole career in front of him. That sounds amazing when you think about how much he has accomplished so far.

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.

Fire Mike Davis

In about an hour the Hoosiers will be taking on Illinois in what I and most people feel will be their last game of the season. The team stands at 14-14 going into the game. To avoid the first losing season suffered by the Hurryin' Hoosiers since 1969-70 when the team went 7-17 under acting head coach Jerry Oliver, the team has to win today. Frankly, I just don't see it.

Don't get me wrong, I will be more than happy to eat those words tonight! But I have to be realistic. Illinois is playing as well as anyone in the conference right now and is playing up to the level most expected before the season started. Indiana has been God awful!

Yesterday a bunch of no names came on to beat a piss poor Ohio State team. Can we count on Mark Johnson et. al. again today?

Regardless of the outcome, Coach Mike Davis has got to go. Rumors of his dismissal have been spotty. I think most want him gone. But there is always the undertone that the school won't pay another coach to not coach. Poor management of the athletic department may well mean we have to endure another year of Whorf.

The Hoosiers are going to have to win the Big Ten tournament to get to the NCAA, and if they don't they may not be able to even make the NIT. This team has suffered from poor coaching and poor play all season. But the one thing that really has given me the red ass is that Davis has continually called out Bracey Wright, then turned around and let him shoot a hundred times a game, called out the other players as dumb, but doesn't yank them, then turns around and says he is to blame. You can't have it both ways coach. You can't call out the players AND take the blame. It's one or the other.

Davis is an incompetent coach and his dismissal is long overdue. Indiana needs to clean house of anything that was ever connected to Bob Knight. I know his reach is far in college basketball, but that cancer has to be cut out. Knight started taking this program down in 1994. Davis is finishing the job. Now it is time to finish Davis .

Indy News

Well that brilliant guy we know as Tony George is at it again. He says he is considering shortening the month of May even further and possibly reducing the field for the 500.

He says he is concerned that their is a lack of quality cars at the back of the fields and he wants to reduce that. Well dipshit, how about if you go out and find some sponsors and some drivers and teams and bulk up your series.

This dolt says it is the economy and that even NASCAR is suffering. Well who gives a shit about NASCAR. I swear every time that moron opens his mouth he just makes a bigger fool of himself. Why don't he just shut the hell up?!

Australian Grand Prix Wrap

One down, 17 to go for the F1 boys. Unfortunately, it looks like if you are not Rubens or Michael Schumacher it is going to be a long season. Ferrari simply dominated the weekend at Melbourne.

Taking fast times in all of the practices and the front row in qualifying they backed it up with an impressive 1-2 finish in the Australian Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso managed to grab the final podium position. Ralfie was fourth and Juan fifth.

The biggest story other than the Scuderia domination was probably the outcry over the qualifying procedure. Nearly every team complained of the new rules and even Bernie himself thinks a change may have to take place to keep viewers. Most were unhappy about the fact they had to run two laps in 90 minutes and the first one really didn’t count and no changes could be made. However the Bernie has decided there will be no change until at least the fourth race at Imola.

So now it is back to the drawing board for everyone except Ferrari. Williams was never a factor, Renault probably had as good of a day as they could expect with their 3rd and seventh place finishes. Takuma Sato and Jensen Button brought the BAR’s home in ninth and sixth respectively, which should have made them happy. Coulthard was eighth and has been crying like a little baby since the weekend over the lack of car he perceives to have. His team mate Raikkonen failed to finish and ended up dead last.

No teams lost both of their cars in the race, although Minardi’s team of Baumgartner and Gimmi Bruni were close as Baumgartner went out and Bruni was down 15 laps after long delays in the pits.

Frankly it was a crappy race. Juan got punted early trying to hold of Alonso and with that the Ferrari’s took off. Next it is off to Kuala Lumpur and the Malaysian Grand Prix. It’s a fast track with three slow corners.

Temperatures are usually high and could play a part in engine reliability. However, unless the teams can figure out how to match Ferrari’s pace, it is going to be a long season.

2004 F1 Season Preview

All the previews are in and it is time to go racing for the F1 boys! Starting this weekend in Melbourne, new team configurations, rules and cars will be pushed to the limit to give an early glimpse into how the 2004 FIA World Championship will shake out.

While next year will offer the most intriguing driver changes, the fact that some of those changes are already known could play a part in this seasons action. Williams may actually feature two lame duck drivers if Ralfie boy doesn’t get his contract with Frank Williams worked out. David Coulthard will be departing McLaren after the season and I don’t see him taking a second class ride so I think he will retire. And what of Michael Schumacher? At age 35 he is old by F1 driver standards but he doesn’t seem to have missed a beat. Will he retire at the end of the season? I doubt it, but if he wins the title he just might.

Elsewhere, only Renault seems set with its lineup for the foreseeable future. A change the fans will notice is the weekend schedule. Last year’s Friday morning (Thursday at Monaco) practice is gone. Some of the teams at the back of the grid who gained experience with those sessions will suffer this loss the most. There will be two one-hour sessions on Friday in which all teams except the top 4 from last season will be able to run three cars. In fact, that third car can sport alternate livery of the team Saturday will feature 2 45 minute practice sessions followed by 2 qualifying sessions.

The qualifying sessions will follow last years guidelines i.e. one lap per car in the first session and those times will determine the order of the second session which will also be one lap. The other big weekend change is the “one engine” rule. If a driver ruins an engine prior to qualifying he will be charged 10 positions on the starting grid for a replacement. If it happens in qualifying or after, he will have to start at the rear of the grid.

Also, launch control and automatic transmissions have been outlawed this year.

Finally, the season has been changed. Despite the Concorde Agreement’s mandate of a maximum of 16 races, this season will feature 18 races with new stops at Bahrain and in China. The Canadian stop, originally thought to be gone was reinstated as was Belgium after a one year hiatus. The US race has been moved to June and the Brazil race is now the season ender.

So what does it all mean? Are we going to have any surprises this season? My thoughts are this: Unfortunately I don’t see any team beating Ferrari for the championship. And having said that it is tough to pick against Schumacher to win his seventh title. Honestly I don’t think Juan will have much incentive to get his team the title although he sounds like he is focused and ready to do the job. Ralfie sucks and wouldn’t win against me. Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard are a little more intriguing. Raikkonen was only 2 points back at the end of the season last year and you know he wants to get a title this year to lord over Juan when he gets there next year. And Coulthard wants to show the team they are making a mistake by letting him go. Unfortunately theirs may come down to a car issue. The McLaren is always a thing of beauty, but the Mercedes engine winds so high. It has been detuned to help it last the weekend, but at what cost? Renault will have a say so in some races, but I don’t feel they are ready yet to challenge for the constructors or drivers titles.

Here are my predictions for the 2004 season… World Champion – Michael Schumacher Runner up – Juan Montoya Third – Rubens Barichello Constructor Champion – Ferrari Runner up - Williams – BMW Third – Renault Fourth – McLaren-Mercedes Fifth – BAR – Honda Sixth – Toyota Seventh – Sauber Eighth – Jordan Ninth – Jaguar Tenth - Minardi Enjoy the season, stay tuned for more and I’ll see you at Indy in June!

2004 IRL Season Opener

Congrats to Sam Hornish Jr. for his win in yesterday’s IRL season opener at Homestead. Sam waged a great battle with Julio before taking the lead on the last lap in his first race as Julio’s team mate and collecting $115,800. Dan Weldon, Tora Takagi and Tomas Scheckter rounded out the top 5.

Once again the margin of victory was well under a second. There were 15 lead changes among 8 drivers. Robbie Buhl managed to come home in 10th, but for a long time it seemed like he might be a top 5. While watching the race we thought he was doing fine and the next thing you know he was 10th. Apparently the car lost a gear on their last pit stop. Buhl had a pretty good drive. He kept the car on the track and managed to finish on the lead lap. I’ve got to feel that the team will be a little disappointed with the finish, but they should be happy with the overall race and drive.

The real disappointment had to come from Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti. Dixon was fighting for the lead with Sam and Julio when the cars started to make green flag pit stops on lap 87. Dixon spun around coming into the pits and made a lot of contact with the pit lane attenuator spraying sand and parts all over the track. 17 laps later Franchitti slammed his racer into the 4th turn wall. Neither Dixon nor Franchitti were hurt in their accidents.

Alex Baron who started 2nd also found the wall on lap 126 and rookie Mark Taylor crashed the Menards car on lap 39. Both Taylor and Baron were uninjured as well.

Some other notable items were Scheckter keeping his car intact, little AJ moving up 4 spots only because of the crashes and having his engine expire 10 laps from the finish and polesitter Buddy Rice coming home 7th. As for Scheckter it is always news when he doesn’t hit anything. AJ might as well give up. Even if AJIV was up to the challenge, the cars aren’t. They are the worst team in the league with no prospects of getting any better anytime soon. They are pathetic.

Crowd wise it looked pretty good on TV. The main stands looked about 95% full and overall it looked like about a 65% turnout. The weather looked great and as usual, the IRL put on a great show for the fans.

Daytona 500 Wrap

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.

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.

IU Basketball In Shambles

As I was watching the Iowa-Texas Tech game tonight I had a couple of thoughts. Impossible some you might say! But I really did.

First of all, let me say how glad I am that Steve Alford is not the coach at Indiana. I don't think Mike Davis is the right guy, but I am pretty sure Alford isn't either. He has done nothing since coming to Iowa and it looks like his isn't good enough for the big time. I like Steve and admired him greatly for his accomplishments on the court at IU and his philosophy on life, I just think he is in over his head. On the other hand I am also glad Bob Knight is not still the coach. Well just who the hell DO I want? Good question, because to be perfectly honest I don't know.

Here's the deal folks. Bob Knight was a great coach at IU for 23 years. He was a bad coach for 6 years after that. Knight's feud with the school's management drove him to take the program down. Knight would have completed the job had he been allowed to stay. Not that Myles Brand acted properly, but he had to let Knight go. Knight knew it too. He pushed so hard for that firing it was almost like watching a spoiled little kid and a parent. He has been quoted as saying he should have left in 1994. My question is why didn't he? Why did he continue on and tear the program down? Knight is an idiot now in my book. For the first 23 years I, like most Hoosier fans laughed when he got out of hand with his words and actions. But he was winning and he was happy and that made the fans happy.

Starting in 94 he just became surly. You should have left Bob. You were the steward of the program and you let a lot of people down. But I figure you don't care. Your massive ego drove you to it and you never admit mistakes.
Speaking of mistakes, Mike Davis. Davis is a good guy, a guy who cares about the kids, about his kids, about the program, about the school and about the tradition. He seems to be an excellent recruiter, but his bench skills are bad news.

Mike's problem is caring too much. He just can't escape the pressure. He puts it on himself and has no release. This job is killing him. There is no way he will last. He knows the tradition of Indiana basketball and he knows how close he is to turning this team into DePaul or Georgetown.

Teams that were once proud and mighty and now are also rans. Indiana is different. There is a tradition. 5 National Titles, countless Big Ten titles, the mystique. Kentucky, UCLA, North Carolina, Kansas and Indiana. Those are the schools who are synonymous with basketball. (Yes I know about Duke, but they have only done it with one coach). Indiana is dangerously close to being out of that group and something has to be done to stop this slide.

A Reply To Ms. Madigan

So there are many who want to see the Colts leave Indianapolis. At least that is what I gather from Beckie Madigan's letter from the Indianapolis Star on October 12, 2003.

I don't know who Ms. Madigan is, nor do I know whom she represents when she says there are "many" who want them to leave. I guess in their minds, if the Colts leave we can build more jails and incarcerate more of our population in what I am sure will be a wildly successful means of stopping crime. Plus, if the Colts leave, we can continue to build great palaces to education and all of our kids will automatically be smart and able to pass their I-Step tests.

For that matter, our air will probably be cleaner, streets will be in better shape and most likely the weather will even improve.

Of course those people who have jobs because of the Colts will just have to suffer, or wait, they can get those high paying jobs that don't exist because we have pro football.

Wake up people. The Colts generate millions of dollars for the local economy. Money that will be gone when they leave. There will be no filling of that void. The money they generate has been going to the CIB and then distributed back to the team and other interests of the CIB. But why bother to look at both sides, when so much is riding on the children.

Face it, money and fancy schools never made one child smarter, only teachers, parents and the children can do that. No amount of prison space will ever be enough. Ever. But since I am sure you never thought about it, take a look at the money the team and its players give to charity and remember, when they leave so does that money.