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Pucky the Whale

Racing Of The United States Variety

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So, this has been bugging me for most the day. I thought I'd post my thoughts here and see what bites.

I saw a clip today of the Nationwide race that I believe happened just the other day. Basically, what happens is Carl Edwards wrecks Brad Keselowski intentionally on the line, before Brad's car is hit several times broadside and at a fast speed.

What really boiled my blood though, was Edwards and his team's reaction, celebrating, clapping, cheering, yelling "good job" over the radio.

Good job?!

There's just been possibly one of the worst types of incidents you can get in motor racing, a car being hit broadside. How the f*ck is that a good job? Thankfully, Keselowski was okay, but how would they have felt if he'd been injured or even worse?

My next question. How is NASCAR, such a joke of a series, able to survive? It's biased as f*ck and it's more dangerous than any other series I'd say, seeing as you've got some complete tools, racing around in 200mph cars with no disregard for each other's safety when they should never be allowed anywhere near a race car in the first place.

Now let me say, the things I know about NASCAR and oval racing on general could be written on a sticky note so feel free to correct me on anything. Yet, as an "outsider" so to speak, this series doesn't look good. At all.

It was a bulls##t maneuver.

But you posted your reaction a bit too soon, and it was a bit too harsh.

NASCAR penalized Carl Edwards 60 points (by NASCAR standards, this is a large fine) and $25,000, as well as placing him on probation until December 31 (meaning he is subject to suspension if he does anything objectionable between now and then).

Now, the claims you make...don't let frustration lead to irrationality.

Biased as ****? It's entertainment, sure, is everything legitimate? No series is, sorry. There are backdoor deals everywhere, certain teams that get past tech inspection, certain teams that have their own set of rules, etc. All series you watch, all series I watch...it just is. But it's not that biased. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. hasn't won since 2008, so they aren't exactly throwing races.

Most dangerous series ever? Try harder. Brad Keselowski wasn't injured and the move was declared illegal and penalized. NASCAR just doesn't announce penalties until Tuesday/Wedensday rather than same-day like the FIA. If it were dangerous, Elliott Sadler would have died on Sunday in a massive head-on, full-speed hit into a stretch of armco where the car hit so hard the engine flew out of the car and the rest of the car flew backwards across the track. Sadler, however, was 100% uninjured due to the extreme safety of the COT, and the SAFER barrier will be installed in that area by the next race at Pocono in June 2011.

NASCAR run a safe show. They really do try; sometimes the drivers ignore the rules, sadly. Not everyone in the sport is admirable, but no sport should be judged on one athlete. They all have a few really classless people, and a few really great ones. You've expressed a vague interest in the NHL, yet they didn't penalize a blatant hit to the head that actually did seriously injure a player (concussion).

So, my point here?

To each his own. You don't have to like NASCAR. Just try to be rational about it. Every series and every sport have flaws. :)

There is some really top calibre in the series currently, so just let them do what they are paid to do, RACE!

Two problems here:

1. Only six IndyCar drivers are actually paid. ;)

2. You make it seem like the drivers don't like the rule. They actually do. The drivers asked for the rule to be put in place in Champ Car in 2007, and asked the IRL this year to do it. All other drivers who commented on the rule since 2007 have been in favor of it. Hélio knew the rule and approved of the rule and agreed to follow the rule. He then broke it. You may not like the rule, and that's fine, but the drivers all agreed to it and were the ones who asked for it, so there's no sympathy for Hélio.

Over-arching point:

We're all allowed to like what we like and what we don't, but I think the easiest thing to do is to just "love it or leave it." Why spend your time letting these sports really bother you when you can just ignore them and stick to what pleases you? It's okay to dislike something; just be fair in your criticism. :)

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Back from the Pennsylvania 500. If anything happened, I would post it here. But nothing really did. ;)

So instead, here are all the pictures I took:

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The world of U.S. sports car racing is about to get quite the shakeup. Jean Todt's visit to Daytona? The FIA want to sanction Grand-Am as NASCAR intend to drop it. Their goals? Make the GT class GT3. Audi, BMW, and someone else I forget have expressed an interest in a Grand-Am GT3 formula. As for Daytona Prototypes, the FIA would like to "embrace technology" and make the greenhouse smaller for sleeker, more aesthetically pleasing prototypes.

This puts the ALMS in an interesting position, of course, trying to fight the FIA on their own soil to keep LMP racing here. With Don Panoz looking to sell, it seems like ALMS may be absorbed into a WLMS-type series, with the "big races" and a small amount of teams going, and everything else heading to Grand-Am or closing up. I'd absolutely be gutted by that; ALMS are hurting in prototype car count, but still produce fantastic racing, and with an Audi R15 and perhaps the Aston Martin DBR1-2 joining full-time in 2011, ALMS can still get it done.

I was impressed to see ALMS taking my advice and putting a program on Discovery Channel that explored the green technology of the series. That's who you need to market ALMS to: people who don't actually watch auto racing. It's the one market they can completely dominate over NASCAR etc because it's such a unique series and has appeal to a more affluent, educated crowd, which sponsors really appreciate.

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2. You make it seem like the drivers don't like the rule. They actually do. The drivers asked for the rule to be put in place in Champ Car in 2007, and asked the IRL this year to do it. All other drivers who commented on the rule since 2007 have been in favor of it. Hélio knew the rule and approved of the rule and agreed to follow the rule. He then broke it. You may not like the rule, and that's fine, but the drivers all agreed to it and were the ones who asked for it, so there's no sympathy for Hélio.

I can't believe that, sorry, and these guys are racing drivers? It just smacks to me that Brian Barnhart has never watched a single auto race outside of the IRL. This is what he said (and I'm quoting) whilst defending the rule.

Our rule against blocking is there from a safety aspect, but we're also trying to improve entertainment value. If you allow cars to defend, you're going to have a boring event.

What?!

A few things

1. Safety, okay, on an oval I can see the sense behind that. There have been some truly awful accidents with cars interlocking wheels on oval tracks and you only have to look as recent as Conway's crash as evidence for that. But, "motorsport is dangerous", fans, drivers, teams all know that, yet the continue to turn up and race. Also, on a street track where average speeds are way slower than they would be on an oval track, the danger of cars interlocking wheels is considerably less.

2. He's basically admitted that yes, the IRL are indeed manufacturing fake racing. That's how desperate the series is right now.

3. Yes, it may cause a "boring" event, but that's racing! Overtakes in auto racing need to be difficult and hard fought to the last, and they need to be spectacular and impressive. That's what'd get the crowd flocking. You aren't going to get an exciting race all the time, likewise in oval races where cars are passing almost constantly, that's not much better either. It's just too much. You need to strike a happy medium. As I've said in a previous post, I couldn't care if I go to a race and there isn't much overtaking, but if the lead cars are battling (meaning the lead car defending and the ones behind attacking it), that's exciting, that's a good race. Furthermore, in those sorts of situations, isn't it the case that the faster car in second is attacking the slower one in first? So if you let the faster guy go past so easily and he disappears into the distance, then that's boring.

I find it a bit of an insult really, what this guy is saying. He's basically underestimating knowledge of the fans, he thinks if the fans see lots of super-fun overtaking, it'll be all good! Yet I'm sure there's many people in the crowd who'd want to see what these drivers are really good at and battling hard with each other instead of waving each other past all the time. It's blindingly obvious for the world to see from what he's said and how the series opperates that this is not real racing at all, it's a desperate series, struggling to keep ailing TV figures up and trying to survive until the new car comes into place.

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ALMS @ Mid-Ohio today, will be broadcasted live on ALMS website but you have to register for a code to watch here.

2nd time the ALMS has been officially broadcasted (excluding justin.tv & USTREAM users) live on the tinterweb! The 1st race was Laguna & that was 1 of the best races I've EVER seen!

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James, Paul Tracy, who attends drivers' meetings, and talks to the drivers, posted on another forum that the drivers asked for this rule and support it and all agree to abide by it. I trust he knows the situation when he was around in CCWS in 2007 and the IRL in 2010 when these rules were made. All drivers knew of the rule.

I don't like it and neither do you, but don't feel bad for the "poor little drivers who aren't allowed to race." Because they agreed to it, and many of them asked for it (Tracy, a noted hard racer, among them). Why? Because Barnhart does a poor job with blocking calls, so they wanted it clearly defined, however ridiculous the definition was. They got a definition, they agreed to race under that definition, and no driver asked (not Power, not Franchitti, not Dixon, not Tracy) defended Hélio in the least; they knew that, while it may not have been a block in other series, it was a block in this series. Hélio supported and knew the rule until he broke it; sucks for him.

Driver support doesn't make it a good rule for the fans, of course, but that's how it is. Some like it, some don't. I don't like it, but not everyone does agree with me, and not everyone should.

Barnhart should be fired, but not over this. So should many others: Kevin Blanch, for example, lets Ganassi and Penske compete with illegal cars (as we all knew) because they threaten to leave the sport every time they fail tech inspection. Penske, for the record, leaving would kill the IRL because he essentially is the most powerful man there. He owns all the engine leases, and therefore if he leaves, so do all the engines. He runs the IRL and has for a while.

Just do what I've been doing for a while and ignore the IRL; they have no fans and there's a reason for that. If you find something so stupid and frustrating, there's no need to keep reading news articles about it and watching clips of races and such. Don't give it more attention than it needs and don't let something so silly bother you this much. Sometimes you have to just let things go. :)

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ALMS @ Mid-Ohio today, will be broadcasted live on ALMS website but you have to register for a code to watch here.

2nd time the ALMS has been officially broadcasted (excluding justin.tv & USTREAM users) live on the tinterweb! The 1st race was Laguna & that was 1 of the best races I've EVER seen!

Ahh, good. Away from ranting.

Are the codes free? I'd like to watch; like Laguna Seca, Mid-Ohio will be on CBS sports in a "documentary" format, which doesn't really show the race quite the way I'd like to watch it.

ry0806102-copy.jpg

NASCAR engine builder Roush-Yates will supply Ford-badged EcoBoost V6 motors for LMP2 cars in ALMS in 2011. Lola are already confirmed to be compatible with these engines. Expect Dyson to transition from the Judd Mazda to the Roush-Yates Ford, as Mazda's funding has been iffy at best, and Dyson are rumored to be competing with a Roush-Yates engine in Grand-Am later this year.

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I can't wait to watch this one next week...I heard the margin of victory was around .500s. ALMS is fantastic. Please don't spoil the result if you watched it live. :)

I did watch the Grand-Am last night. The GT finish was amazing, with Leh Keen and Jonathan Bomarito having a thrilling battle in their Mazdas (hell, Segal was in it too, and then Edwards). Fun stuff. Sounds like Grand-Am GT really is going to use FIA GT3 cars in 2011, too, which will be fun.

ALMS 2011 looks promising as well. Level 5 have officially left Grand-Am to focus on ALMS, and with the new, low-cost LMP2s, teams such as Level 5 could make the move up from LMPC (and Tucker driving the Audi at Le Mans has many curious about the team's future; they say there will be a diesel prototype full-time in ALMS, so I wonder...). Additionally, Baltimore and Oklahoma City street races are likely, and a return to Infineon is possible. Portland talks are on, as well, so a revised schedule can be expected. Sadly, Mid-Ohio, Road America, and Lime Rock are all in jeopardy right now; we'll see. Aston Martin are also looking at full-time competition, possibly with Fernández, which would add a fantastic element to the sport after seeing Long Beach, arguably one of the best races I have seen in 11 years of watching racing.

The Aussie's got a hat-trick of Nationwide wins at the Glen now. He's just so much better than these guys on the roadies. It's really why I like to watch NASCAR on the road courses; you see such a difference in the elite drivers from the rest, and yes, there are many elite drivers in Sprint Cup who I feel could have held their own in world motorsport had they gone through karting and formula cars rather than stockers. Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch...it's great fun to watch them take on Juan Pablo Montoya, Marcos Ambrose, Ron Fellows, Jan Magnussen, Mattias Ekström, Max Papis, Scott Speed, etc to get a feel for how good they really are. Edwards has beaten Schumacher in the RoC (twice, I believe), while Johnson and Gordon won the Nation's Cup with Colin Edwards in 2002. Like NASCAR or not, you have to respect the top drivers there, so it's a lot of fun to see them get a chance to show their talents on the road courses.

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I have to admit, the ALMS headlines certainly make for interesting reading of late. I wasn't convinced when I heard that ALMS would be merging LMP1 and LMP2 into one class, and, as a conventionalist when it comes to sportscar racing at least, I continue to stand by that view. I certainly don't believe the likes of GTC and LMPC should be in a series on which was originally based around diversity and innovation, but if it helps the series survive and go on to better times, needs must. Certainly, I presume that with how great a hit ALMS has proved in terms of great racing this year, that some manufacturers out there must be interested in joining what is still essentially a great championship.

I was going to do another NASCAR rant post on the thing about drivers now being finded for bad-mouthing the championship. What, is this a communist championship all of a sudden? But on the back of that ALMS race, I'll save that one for another day.

In my view, it seems to be the only form of racing in the US that I am interested in currently. Hopefully as new cars and new rules come into place over this decade, that'll change.

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NASCAR's fines, actually...

Nearly every major sport, racing sanctions included, have a rule against speaking against the sanctioning body. I know IMSA (who sanction ALMS) have one. Do I agree with this? Not necessarily, but I understand it. If you worked for Company X and said "Company X are w#nkers and my boss sleeps with whores," you could expect some trouble, no? It's the same logic so...while it may violate the concept of freedom of speech, its understandable for an organization to have rules about it.

What I didn't like about NASCAR's fines were that they were done secretly and that there's no evidence NASCAR has a rule saying you cannot speak poorly about the sport. They told drivers to "speak their minds" and "use the media to get to us," and now they fined for it. I think that there was a misunderstanding with the drivers; NASCAR drew a line. Saying races are fixed, for example, would be crossing the line. Saying NASCAR needs to change the Chase or make new aero rules, however, was what NASCAR wanted drivers to say. It did bother me, too, but at the end of the day, I'm not going to blacklist everything associated with NASCAR over an unfortunate ruling that could have been handled a bit more professionally.

ALMS, then.

I love the combined LMP class. ALMS runs on a lot of tracks where LMP1s have no advantage over LMP2s; sometimes, the LMP2s have the advantage. This was even the case when they had Audi R10 TDIs full-time, or when the Aston Martin DBR1-2 was racing at Long Beach. Having the battle for the overall win also be for the championship is just more exciting for the style of racing ALMS has; we saw great Acura/Porsche/Audi battles recently, great HPD/all sorts of Lolas/Aston Martin/Porsche battles in the present times...so why not have that pass the HPD makes on the Drayson Lola count for championship points, too? It adds a nice element to the racing, and while it wouldn't be right in LMS, where the circuits are more natural and larger and the well-funded teams are in LMP1 rather than LMP2 (not saying the LMS doesn't have great LMP2 teams; they do, but you'll notice in ALMS the big sponsors are all in LMP2 while the LMP1s are mostly bare).

LMPC and GTC? Yeah, not really into those. I think the goal for LMPC was to get those teams to be able to upgrade their engines to run in the new low-cost LMP2 next year; and some may. GTC would be great if they'd allow all GT3 cars, not just the Porsche. Needless to say, ALMS is a leader in green racing and innovation even with these classes; not a single car in the ALMS runs on pure 100% petrol (I think Ethanol is stupid, but at a bare minimum, teams must use a 10% Ethanol 90% petrol blend...and others fall under clean diesel, isobutanol, 85% Ethanol 15% petrol, etc).

I do think there's promise for the future. I'm hearing an Audi R15 TDI in the hands of a privateer and a works/semi-works Aston are on for 2011...the prospect of some of these races on tighter circuits with those battling Highcroft and Dyson is just thrilling.

The one concern I have: the financial well-being of the sport. Rumors always persist that Don Panoz is looking to sell the ALMS, and with Grand-Am likely to join the FIA fold in 2012 and get a complete reorganization with proper rules and proper cars...the American sports car war gets very, very interesting.

As far as new cars, new rules, etc...yeah. A lot of series in the U.S. could use some redoing. Personally, I watch sports cars for fun and will put on NASCAR in the background when they're at a good track. There aren't any championships outside ALMS really worth watching every round of...so of course they don't televise every round of the ALMS. :P

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Wow.

I watched a NASCAR race on a road course and wasn't left disappointed. :)

NASCAR did a good job officiating the race; no unnecessary safety cars or suspicious debris cautions or anything. They let it play out and the best man won, fair and square.

Great to see Montoya finally snap the bad luck. He could have won any of three or four other races this season, so I'm glad that's behind them and they're back on track. With more luck and better communication, they'll be absolutely deadly next year. His teammate McMurray, not noted for his road racing, ran really well, too. What a year he's had!

Ambrose...tough go with the tire problem at the end, but a podium is better than nothing. Montoya just had them all covered. Ambrose is a joy to watch in these races, though. His late braking is fantastic.

Johnson just not on championship form this year...the Chase seems wide open at this point. Harvick, Gordon, Burton, Busch...they could all give him a hell of a run.

And it's nice to see next year the schedule will get a complete reorganization, meaning the Chase will get a shake-up, making it a lot less predictable in 2011. Hopefully, Watkins Glen or Infineon will be included; they need a roadie in there.

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Simona de Silvestro is a damned good racer, I've concluded.

She's had some bad luck and some bad runs this year, but Mid-Ohio should have been the worst. It wasn't. She finished P8 in a 27 car field. In one of the oldest, heaviest (the older cars are much heavier) cars out there (I think only one is older/heavier; Howard's)...without any telemetry in the pits. They did it the old school way with pencil and paper and a totally sh*t car and nabbed P8, ahead of names like Andretti, Hunter-Reay, Wheldon, Hildebrand, Kanaan, Carroll, Rahal, and Our Lord's Daughter Danica.

de Silvestro, for the record, still aims for F1, and at 21 she still has time to get to Europe as long as she's shooting for GP2 or such rather than straight to F1. She has tremendous talent with actual wins in actual racing series, and is one of the nicest people in auto racing. Great attitude. I hope she makes it; I've followed her career since I saw her in FBMW, and it's nice to have someone in open-wheel racing who isn't an a##hole (no offense meant...they're just rare; maybe my standards are too high). She's focused on racing; she's not there to be a celebrity or a model like Danica, because she knows she's neither. She tested in GP2 after just one year in FBMW, which is too big of a jump, so I hope she didn't make a bad first impression and can come back to Europe and see how she goes.

It's always nice to see good people do well. I'm a casual fan; everyone knows that. The drivers interest me, and I think that's why I've lost some interest in F1; there's no one I want to see succeed. So it's good for my sanity to see Jamie McMurray, Simona de Silvestro, Bobby Santos, Scott Pruett, David Brabham, etc. doing well. :P

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Well really watching NASCAR bores the hell out of me, but I DID watch the race at Watkins Glen with those race cars, not sure what they are called, but to me they look very primitive compared to our V8 Supercars here in OZ, but hell A Tasmanian has won the race 3 years on the trot !!! Go Marcus Ambrose. I guess the road racing suits him more then the oval stuff!! But GEEZ seeing the way these cars are constructed with "C" section beams running accross the back of them it sure looks like very primitive racing to me. But hell it was an enjoyable race, apart from the numerous Cautions/stoppages etc. :-)

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Yeah, NASCAR's rough to watch if you watch too much of the oval races. I usually just watch the last 10 laps and the highlights on the ovals.

The cars are both really primitive and really advanced, if that makes any sense. Somehow, with all the lack of technology, the teams have to find simple advantages, and end up with budges in the Formula 1 range over these outdated vehicles. It's baffling; for all the money spent, why not upgrade to something that looks better, races better, has more technology, and is cheaper to run like a V8 Supercar?

Ambrose is in a league of his own out there on the road courses; he brakes so late. He can be so far behind another driver and out-brake him in the corner because no one expects him to do it. Very smooth. His oval performances have been tough this year, but he's actually done really well there, and with a new team next year, I think he'll be more of a factor on a regular basis.

I'm glad he won. He's really easy to support; one of my favorites.

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Sounds like Ekström will get an oval race later this year in Sprint Cup...

Kasey Kahne will be going to Red Bull in 2011 for one year on loan from Hendrick, who have no room for him until 2012, so that means the Scott Speed adventure is over a bit later than it should have been. Red Bull will still back Speed; but all the teams Red Bull owns have rejected him, so it looks like driving Dietrich's lawnmower may be his next job. However, Brian Vickers may never return; he'll know in November if he'll be able to. Hopefully he will, but if not, Red Bull could be looking at Ekström full-time in 2011.

In ALMS, Greg Pickett's out for the rest of the season after his back-breaking crash at Mid-Ohio, fresh off his first overall win at Lime Rock with Klaus Graf. The team will ask Porsche for a replacement, as Maassen will not be available. Could we see the glorious return of Dumas or Bernhard to ALMS? I hope so. If no Porsche driver is available/ready to make the jump to an LMP, we may see Memo Gidley step in, as he drove in the 6 Hours of Monterey for the Cytosport team. Hope to see Pickett back in Sebring, of course...real shame. It will be interesting, though, to see how the Porsche fares against the HPD if one of its original pilots is behind the wheel. It's a very competent car and was only 7 points behind Highcroft in standings until they had to sit out Mid-Ohio.

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Paul Menard has bought a ride at Richard Childress Racing using John Menard's many monies.

paul_menard_sideburns.jpg

RCR are making a mistake expanding to four cars from three. Statistics:

In 2008, RCR had three cars. They ranked 4th, 5th, and 6th in the final standings with a total of 3 wins in 36 races.

In 2009, RCR had four cars. They ranked 15th, 17th, 19th, and 21st in the final standings with a total of 0 wins in 36 races.

This year, RCR has three cars. They rank 1st, 3rd, and 13th in the standings with 2 wins in 22 races.

Conclusion: RCR are spreading themselves too thin with four cars and are making a bad mistake.

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I'm watching the Motorcycle Documentary called On Any Sunday from 1971 and was wondering if Motorcycle Racing is still popular here in the United States as it is in Europe and Australia? The types I a talking about are Super Cycle, Off Road, and Trails. Or has this sport been over taken by the NASCAR and Indy Car Races?

___________

F150 Parts

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While Dallara and Lotus (the car company, not the F1 team) have both confirmed they will supply bodywork for the 2012 IndyCar, and Honda having announced their commitment to supplying engines in 2012 (not sure if it's real Honda or Honda just putting a badge on something Penske builds and owns leases too...the rules are too unclear anyway), the teams aren't so pleased about 2012.

The Indy Star reports...

I thought it was a joke. We still don't have any information. You'd think by this point they'd be able to hand us something in writing. They don't.
I read things in the media, but we've got no rules.

Despite a lack of clarity, Cosworth are expected to commit to the engine side of the 2012 overhaul, as are "an American firm," likely what was once Menard Engine Group, recently purchased by a group including IndyCar driver Davey Hamilton. Randy Bernard has also been in Europe to talk with VWAG and Ferrari, the latter of which has some interest, but not willing to commit yet. VWAG, frustrated by the IRL management when they initially expressed interest back in 2009, are no longer willing to supply or badge an engine.

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Kevin Conway and ExtenZe won't be adding any length or girth to their deal with Front Row Motorsports. Tony Raines steps in today for Michigan. Rumors include Richard Petty Motorsports, a team desperately in need of funding, and Robby Gordon Motorsports, a team desperately in need of funding. Conway is likely the worst driver in all of NASCAR's nine series.

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NASCAR continue to announce scheduling details for Sprint Cup, though the ripple effect is bothering NASCAR's lower tier series, ARCA, and IndyCar. The latter has had to reschedule already confirmed dates to work around NASCAR's massive shake-up, with New Hampshire, Baltimore, Kentucky, and Chicago all being moved around on the IRL side. Races in Kansas, Homestead, and Watkins Glen are not expected to return to the IRL calendar; a race in Fontana is a possibility, as they lost one of their NASCAR dates. It could be a combination with Grand-Am using the road course and IRL using the oval on the same weekend.

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Speaking of the IRL schedule, expect an announcement Tuesday from Texas Motor Speedway confirming the return of the double-header, something that happened at Michigan in 1979. Rather than the normal 550 kilometers, the IndyCars would run two sprint races in the same day. Details are still unclear (i.e. if the second race will be independent from the first or feature an inverted starting grid based on the initial race; the points structure; etc), but two hard-charging all-out sprints is a compelling idea, and one that makes sense. While not everyone likes oval racing, if a series is going to do oval racing, they may as well do it over-the-top, and a double-header of quick sprints is certainly an interesting way to accomplish that.

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So who are the drivers to look out for in Batracer, Eric? We are all most intrigued...

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Well, Craig, if you buy KOOL TOOLS at a new low price of $100NZD, you can find out who the stars and cars of Batracer really are! Be sure to enter "f1masterbatracerxoxoxoxoxoxoxololpenismontoya" in the referral code box so they know I sent you there!

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Last lap pass for the overall win in ALMS LMP at Road America.

Second time this season, the other being Long Beach.

This series is too good.

Major congratulations to Jonny c#cker and Lord Paul Drayson on their first win. That was a brilliant little race, start to finish.

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Nationwide at Montréal today...a bit rough, too many safety cars...but a late-race restart set up a fantastic battle to the finish between Boris Said (ex-sports cars), Robby Gordon (ex-CART and sports cars), Max Papis (ex-F1 and CART), and Jacques Villeneuve (ex-F1 and CART). Good stuff; reminds me of the touring cars. Sure, it took a restart to get them that close, but then again...BTCC at Brands in 2009 was after a restart, and the 2006 Indy 500 was after a restart, etc, etc, etc...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEO_2iEujx0

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Audi are evaluating Team Penske, Highcroft Racing, and Wayne Taylor Racing for campaigning an R18 full-time in the 2011 American Le Man Series. I hope it's Wayne Taylor; Penske and the R18 would make the ALMS rather dull after such an epic 2010. We don't need Penske writing the rules for himself, in my opinion. And I'd like Highcroft to continue with the HPD so there's something to take the Audi on at the street races and Lime Rock.

I personally don't want the Audi back. Save it for Le Mans or LMS or whatever they want. The series is very competitive and very exciting without the dominant cars. I like competition, and I don't like to set super-restrictive rules, but it's been a lot of fun in the races without Audi and Peugeot. A lot of different cars have run up front and there have been a lot of battles for the wins. ALMS can't tell Audi no, so fair game to them if they want to show up with the best car and align with the best team, but it certainly makes races at bigger tracks not worth watching.

The Audi deal would also include a GT3 car in ALMS or Grand-Am, depending on regulations. Wayne Taylor Racing could theoretically enter the R8 GT3 at the Rolex 24 in addition to ALMS...

Additionally, a lot of talk about Fernández getting a new Aston Martin with Lowe's backing and going racing. This I like. Long Beach was the best race of the year hands down.

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Notes and such...

IndyCar

  • The new championship trophy is a naked man on a unicycle. It, like socialism, made sense to someone.
  • Sarah Fisher is likely to retire after Homestead and start a family. She'll stay as a team owner, though hopefully back down to one car. The two-car thing was a horrible idea.
  • HVM Racing don't pay their bills. They say they'll be in Homestead. We'll see. Simona better have funding for 2011, because she's likely a free agent.
  • Robin Miller spewed some oral ejaculation and pretended Graham Rahal will go to a third Ganassi car. If he's right, it will be the first time. Sounds like wishful thinking.
  • Will Power better win the title.

NASCAR

  • Trevor Bayne has signed with Roush Fenway Racing after leaving Michael Waltrip Racing. Waltrip wanted Bayne, one of the top prospects in the sport, to stay, but Bayne and his father felt there was no room for him on a team with a full Cup roster and the rising Ryan Truex in the wings. Bayne's likely to do another Nationwide Series season in 2011, before moving up to replace David Ragan in Cup in 2012.
  • Volkswagen unveiled a new Passat. The rumors say it's NASCAR-bound. Something about Team Penske. I'm intrigued.
  • Braun Racing has become Turner Motorsports; Brian Scott and Tayler Malsam are out, and Jason Leffler's likely gone in 2011. Scott joins the RAB Racing team, who won at Montréal in the video above, for this weekend's race.
  • Jimmie Johnson wins his fifth Sprint Cup in just eight more races!

ALMS

  • It's too quiet in the world of ALMS. And with the new TV package rumored for 2011, it will likely stay quiet.
  • No Audi for 2011. I'm indifferent. Just give me an Aston.

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Whats your take on Milka Duno, Eric? Should she be racing? She seems awfully slow at every track.

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