Bob Jenkins, Who's Gonna Win It?!

[Cinco 30]

If only I was alive.

But, I felt that was the catchiest title for the official IndyCar thread of life. I'm the only IRL guy around, and I don't care. It wouldn't be the same if I wasn't posting useless stuff in Outside F1 and you know it.

So, Ryan Hunter-Reay will be testing with HVM, might run a second car as a teammate to EJ Viso with some IZOD and some IndyCar bucks. Please. RHR is the man!

Gil de Ferran may bring his team to Indy. Robert Clarke of Honda works closely with that team, and is now Indy Lights driver Ana Beatriz' manager. Beatriz is Brazilian, so her future may be with a de Ferran effort. But don't expect in 2009, even if the team does show up. My theory: de Ferran drove for Penske as a teammate to an Helio Castroneves. Helio's trial won't be over until May. Let's say Helio is able to race (I'll withold my opinion as to what should happen, but I do feel that Helio will face some time in prison). Tim Cindric (he runs the show at Penske) said they won't take Will Power out of the car if he's doing well, which he probably will be, so the Aussie Assault should remain in tact. And Penske has AVIS and Verizon for a few races for a third car, but what if they give equipment and those sponsors to de Ferran with Helio driving? Yeah. I think so.

It's a big if, though, as Helio may not be able to race. In which case, I'd hope PT, Servia, RHR, Scheckter, or someone else on the sidelines would get it.

And a grid for those of you not keeping score at home, now you can:

Driving car number 02...it's Ronald McDonald....Graham "Bobby Jr" Rahal in the McDonald's Dallara for Newman/Haas/Lanigan!

Driving car number 06...it's everyone's favorite Dutch trucker...Robert "Bobby D" Doornbos in the Bobby D Dallara for Newman/Haas/Lanigan!

Driving car number 3...if there's a will there's a way...Will Power in the Can't Say Marlboro Because of Little Kids Like Me Dallara for Team Penske!

Driving car number 4...his teeth are modelled after NASCAR on FOX's Digger the 3D gopher...Dan Wheldon in the National Guard Dallara for Panther Racing!

Driving car number 5...he may be a ride buyer but you can't buy hair like that..."Super" Mario Moraes in the KV Racing Dallara for KV Racing!

Driving car number 6...Briscoe never days...Ryan "Mr. Manske" Briscoe in the Can't Say Marlboro Because of Little Kids Like Me Dallara for Team Penske!

Driving car number 7...DANICA!!!!!!!!!...."Her Ladyship" Danica Patrick driving the sacred Motorola Dallara for Andretti Green Racing!

Driving car number 9...with the personality of a Toyota...Scott "The Iceman" Dixon in the Target Dallara for Chip Ganassi Racing!

Driving car number 10...the same number of months he's gone without looking in a mirror...Dario "Elvis" Franchitti in the Target Dallara for Chip Ganassi Racing!

Driving car number 11...the same number of inches as his nose is...Tony "Danica's Teammate" Kanaan in the 7-Eleven Dallara for Andretti Green Racing!

Driving car number 12...good thing they don't race in NJ because Brazilians (waxes) may be banned there...Raphael "Old Fart" Matos in the Raphael Matos Dallara for Luczo-Dragon Racing!

Driving the mean green 13...drinking his Visoberry Power Juice...EJ "Checkers or Wreckers" Viso in the PDVSA Dallara for HVM Racing!

Driving car number 14...a Brazilian who like, earned his ride, seriously!...Vitor "Wants you in his rearview" Meira in the ABC Supply Co Dallara for AJ Foyt Enterprises!

Driving car number 18...it's zee-line, not zed-line...Justin "Badass" Wilson in the Z-Line Desgin Dallara for Dale Coyne Racing!

Driving car number 20...dude, like, an Indy racer who started on dirt, seriously!..."Special" Ed Carpenter in the Menards Dallara for Vision Racing!

Driving car number 23...socialism never looked so good (don't read that, Obama)...Milka "Double D" Duno in the CITGO Dallara for Newman/Haas/Lanigan!

Driving car number 24...he's probably the only guy you know...Mike "Autumnpuma" Conway (aren't all Mikes nicknamed that?) in the TBA Dallara for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing!

Driving car number 26...watch out USGPE, he's coming to waste your carbon fiber...Marco "Living on the name" Andretti in the Meijer Dallara for Andretti Green Racing!

Driving car number 27...making some ninja moves to totally destroy his teammates...Hideki "The Average Asian" (MadTV reference) Mutoh in the Formula Dream/Panasonic Dallara for Andretti Green Racing!

Driving car number 34...I have nothing to say about him...Jaime "???" Camara in the Sangari Dallara for Conquest Racing.

Driving car number 98...no stunt compares to racing at 230...Stanton "Hollywood" Barrett in the Interush Dallara for 3G Racing.

I forgot a few, I'm sure. But I'm bored with doing that.

[Grabthaw the Hammerslayer 4]

I'm the only IRL guy around, and I don't care.

No, you're not. I have followed IRL for some time too, although TV coverage in UK is terrible unless you subscribe to a satellite provider, which I don't.

So, young, dead Eric - tell me where I can get access to good coverage over the Internet.

I did subscribe to the Race Director thing for Champcar a few years back but that was terrible.

[Quiet One 15]

We created a monster...

[Cinco 30]

No, you're not. I have followed IRL for some time too, although TV coverage in UK is terrible unless you subscribe to a satellite provider, which I don't.

So, young, dead Eric - tell me where I can get access to good coverage over the Internet.

I did subscribe to the Race Director thing for Champcar a few years back but that was terrible.

Well, there are two options for you.

The legal option: Indycar.com streams all the races with the totally ace radio commentary featuring the legendary IMS Radio Team. But the downside is it's crappy because it only shows the leader. Which is very tedious on an oval unless there's a battle for the lead, and even tediouser on a road course because there's never a battle for the lead.

The not-so-legal option: Go to ustream.tv and search "IndyCar" on race day. If a feed called "motorsports" shows up (the graphic is some pink cartoony thing), that's good. If not, you'll find one. You'll get the real feed of it, with the boring commentary, but it's probably better.

The Burro option: Watch it on ustream on mute, with the radio commentary going on the other feed.

The Indy 500 option: Honda.com did a real Indy 500 webcast last year, that'll be an easy find.

[mikathegreat2 2]

IRL=spec series, not mine or DOFs kinda thing!

[Cinco 30]

I hate spec cars, too, but they happen. I'm not going to turn down exciting racing, or the Indy 500, even if it isn't what it used to be. There's still a lot of magic there, at least for me. I like all racing. I like Indy, I like stock cars (not really big on NASCAR), I like F1, I like touring cars, I like drag racing, I like sports cars.

[pumpdoc 2]

How dare you bring up Bob Jenkins without mentioning Larry Nuber? Kids, if they weren't wet behind their ears...................

[Argento Reloaded 1]

IR ..What?

[Cinco 30]

Tagliani may have a ride with Conquest.

RHR and EJ might split the 13 (boooo....RHR is my favorite, but EJ was told he had a full-time ride, and deserves a full-time ride. Not cool to screw him over this close to the season starting) because HVM doesn't have the funds to run two as of right now. IZOD IZOD IZOD IZOD IZOD...there, I did my part, now do your's, Tony George.

Milka's Arctic Ice sponsorship might not be real. Which hurts her chances of a full-time ride. I'm gutted. She's so talented.

I hope it doesn't effect Rahal, who had the logos on his car.

Sato might be looking at an IndyCar (or ALMS) ride, but neither series is actually opening up seats left and right.

One team who MIGHT be is Rubicon. Rubicon will figure out their 2009 plans after a sponsor meeting coming up shortly, but it looks like Buddy Rice won't be the driver. Tomas Scheckter has a shot, and I'd like that (granted, Buddy is an Indy 500 and Daytona 24 winner and deserves a ride, too), and maybe Sato. Sato probably has Honda yen, Scheckter may have $1,500,000 in sponsorship, which is exactly what Rubicon needed.

[pumpdoc 2]

Good lord I just realised that Eric would have no idea who Larry Nuber is.

[Cinco 30]

Good lord I just realised that Eric would have no idea who Larry Nuber is.

I'm sure you won't believe me now, since you mentioned that, but I do know who Larry Nuber was, but other than being Bob's original partner at ESPN (or was he the original? I think Eli Gold may have been the absolute first, but I could be wrong) I can't claim to be a huge expert on him. So I'll write Larry Nuber on the blackboard 1000 times and visit Wikipedia and see what 80s ESPN footage I can dig up on YouTube and get an education on the real broadcasters. I've got nothing on you, so I'll go cry to my mommy and see if she knows how to fight the mean man inside the computer.

EDIT: Yep, I do know nothing. Per Wiki, Nuber and Bob called the first race on ESPN (a USAC midget race).

[pumpdoc 2]

Yup, they were a good team, way before the other cable networks started showing races.

[Yoda McFly 1]

So, I just have to ask...

With all this "unification" bullcarp we heard about last year ... How come there's only 22 full-season entrants?

I won't repeat any of my Anti-King-George or pro-CART from the old days ranting ... I just want to know, if "unification" was what was supposed to "save open-wheel racing in N. America" ... Where the hell are the 35-car entry lists? Is the 500 going to be "No-bump" again?

I know, "it takes time", "rebuilding year" and all that tripe ... I'm kind of looking forward to 2011, but with all the talk from the George-Meister himself and others in power about how the new chassis will have heavy input from "artistes" and "design students", frankly, scares the crap out of me. They seem to have finally gotten the "flying machines" to stop flying ... Let's not get back to those days, please.

Oh, yeah. I'm alive and stuff. It's time for my yearly post.

And don't get me ranting on F1 ...

But, I seem to have arranged a method to get V8s coverage without having to wait till the end of the year, so I'll survive.

[mikathegreat2 2]

I watched a bit of that IndyCar race, towards the end of the race, lots of crashes & fair play to Justin Wilson for leading but of course Penske wins! BTW has Eric forgotten his password again??

[Cinco 30]

Forty cars on the preliminary...

My predictions for the TBA:

8 Townsend Bell

17 Oriol Servia

19 Bruno Junqueira

22 Tomas Scheckter

23 Milka Duno

25 Marty Roth

34 Alex Tagliani

36 Jaime Camara

48 Buddy Rice

52 Jay Howard

68 Darren Manning

91 Buddy Lazier

Should be an interesting Bump Day.

In other news...Long Beach was pathetically dull, but ratings were up from St. Pete (still down from last year). I don't know who decided we should go from Alex Zanardi's late-race heroics to win in 1998 to the silly tugboat of a car with an underpowered spec-Honda engine that sounds like George after a nice trip to KFC. But we did. I'll be happier when we get to Indy, I can still enjoy that.

VERSUS coverage does make the blandness go away a tad, though. St. Pete was interesting. So it's not all bad.

[AutoRacer5 0]

Didn't see this thread.

Shame that Will Power couldn't get a ride for Kansas.

[Cinco 30]

I too will be really disappointed if Power isn't in a car...but we won't know until Saturday. It's not very likely he'll get one, though. It sucks, because Cindric said if Power was doing well, they wouldn't do this to him, and he's ahead of their other two, so I'd like an explanation as to how this doesn't fall under the "if Power is doing well in the points" category. He better be in a car. Especially because he finished fifth at Chicagoland, so we know he can get it done on the ovals. Someone's got to have a Dallara floating around. Marty Roth...where are you...come back...we love you Marty...

[AutoRacer5 0]

Bronze Badges got in the mail today for when I go to the second week of qualifying. Anybody want to try to meet up or something?

[Cinco 30]

I'm jealous. Still at least two years til I go to the Speedway for the first time.