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Pucky the Whale

Racing Of The United States Variety

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And now I want to talk about television coverage. I wasn't going to do it in my Indy 500 thread, because that thread is for celebrating the greatest sporting event there is, not for complaints.

EDIT: I typed out a long rant and realized, you know, it was best to leave it unsaid. So I'll give you the classy, concise version. But know there was a profanity-filled ten-paragraph rant. That's how I really feel.

I wish that ABC would use a dedicated broadcast team. These NASCAR guys did not do their research and unfortunately it shows. This isn't their passion, and it isn't their area of expertise. Even the Indy guys (like the driver analysts) weren't very insightful, and that's a shame, because I know they have the knowledge. So many gaffes today, so little passion...it was just bad. The "the dream is over" stuff about Sam Schmidt was exceptionally sad; Sam had more than one car in this race, and it won't be his last time at Indy. Creating drama is really not the way to go when there was so much drama that really was there happening.

So much racing was missed. This is a race. I know they like to show the leaders, but the field gets mixed up (it certainly did yesterday) at the Indy 500. You never know when a pass may be critical, even if at the time it is not for the lead or not apparent. Scheckter, Kanaan, Wheldon...great overtakes, all missed by TV because they were preoccupied with showing the leader running all by his lonesome. Hildebrand's pass on Franchitti was basically for the win, and they knew that because Baguette's strategy was dependent on a yellow flag...yet they didn't show it. Sad. Wheldon won, and they could have had even a replay of how he got to the front (there were cars that didn't run out of fuel that he passed)...but they never did. Kanaan's 50-plus overtakes...we didn't really see any of them. There was also the overlooking of Dixon running out of fuel...he would have won had he not run dry, but it wasn't even mentioned. I feel as though that was pretty important. Wasn't the only time a driver fell-off or moved up or anything like that without any information. How did he get a lap down, how did he get to P5, etc. Not shown, not mentioned, not my business apparently.

The pit reporting...I know they can't interview everyone, and you have to prioritize on-track action over an interview. However, for Townsend Bell, Ryan Briscoe, James Hinchcliffe, Jay Howard, E.J. Viso, Takuma Sato, etc. to all retire and not get to say a word wasn't good coverage. They have sponsors that deserve some love. Without them, there is no race, and while they may not have been storylines today, they're still among the 33 who competed in such a huge race, and I would have loved to hear their perspectives. Let the fans hear and see the drivers, you know...let them be stars for a little while.

Another note about pit reporting: they didn't really report. I just wish there would have been more investigations...more information on why Tracy was in the pit so long, why John Andretti or Davey Hamilton were losing pace, etc. They are there to tell you what you wouldn't know if you weren't in the pits yourself, and yet they were really only used to tell you what you were seeing when the cars came in.

I do not complain about ads. I will complain about their timeliness. Yellow flag periods are good for ads. Periods when the leader has checked out to a huge lead are good for ads. Please try to make ad placement more sensible. Please! There's no need to miss critical overtakes for it. They did so many ad breaks at the start, but the real period to do it would have been once the Ganassis got clean air and into the lead. There wasn't much going on in the middle portion...that's when you do it. Don't show any laps behind the Camaro...that's when you go to commercial break. I know the yellows were timed oddly so that there were pit stops, but, you can know what lap the pit stops will be on, and show those, and flank those with commercials while they're just doing clean-up.

I would also like to see research. I am but a fan and I could tell a story about all 33 of these drivers/their teams. The broadcast could not. This is a sport of human drama, and the American people will never fall back in love with the Indianapolis 500 until it offers them the thrills of human competition. Without backstory, without emotion, this event is nothing to those who are not motorsport enthusiasts. It is but cars driving themselves in circles. According to the broadcast, Oriol Servià and Bertand Baguette are simply from Spain and from Belgium. They never had anything else to say about them while leading. No stories. And yet they were there. They aren't all Simona de Silvestro, they aren't all Alex Tagliani, Sam Schmidt, Charlie Kimball, J.R. Hildebrand, etc. But they all have a story and it's not right that I know more about them and their backgrounds than the broadcast did. You need to sell these drivers, make them stars, heroes, humans.

This event deserves more respect. The coverage didn't do it justice; that's going to put casual fans off, and that's terrible. When you go to the highest bidder, sure, you get money up front. But when you go to the best coverage partner you can have, you get the added benefits of people tuning in and deciding this IndyCar stuff is worth watching again next weekend and the weekend after that. There's a balance, and this is not it.

I'd also like to call out the IMS Radio Network. The call of the finish was lackluster and very confusing. They made it seem as though Hildebrand had won the race and missed Wheldon coming through to the line. Only Paul Page could amend this error. Very disappointing for what is usually quality coverage. I know mistakes happen, but certain mistakes can't be made; in the same way Hildebrand crashing out on the final corner as a rookie while leading is worse than when Kanaan and Scheckter did it in 2002 earlier in the race, botching the call of the finish in what will go down as one of the greatest races in history is hard to excuse.

I look forward to returning to VERSUS June 11 in Texas.

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Pippa Mann's drinking system failed around lap two.

She ran the rest of the race like that. Dehydrated with really bad cramps. 500 miles in 90°F heat.

And finished 20th. In her first ever IndyCar race, let alone 500.

That's pretty cool.

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It'll stick with him forever, but this J.R. Hildebrand is every bit the class act I thought he was.

His interviews with ESPN, NPR, etc. today, and even his post-race one on ABC...great. His speech at the banquet, too.

He basically said he didn't want to be remembered as the guy who lost the Indy 500 for being afraid to pass a lapped car when he could have made a risky high lane pass. Brave, but how can you not respect that? He likely would have lost had he backed off...it's a long straightaway and if you lose the momentum, well, Dan's eating your lunch coming to the line. I believe his wording was "pussy-footing." I respect the fact he didn't do any of that. He took it in his own hands. He wanted to win it and he took the risk rather than take the easy way and have someone else to blame for it.

He's handled this with so much class and maturity, doing interviews and TV shows and promoting the sport. Always with a smile, and always thoughtful of his team and the National Guard.

Finally. We had Andretti, Rahal, and Hunter-Reay as the "future Americans." To me, that was sad...none of them have compelling personalities. Now we have a true, articulate, classy, and personable American with a hell of a lot of talent. Go get 'em, J.R.

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Danica Patrick is endorsing William Rast eyewear now. I really hope this doesn't hinder any plans for Dan Wheldon to run more races this year, and I don't think it should...if anything, it shows their commitment to IndyCar.

Speaking of Wheldon, the Texas entry list is shaking around. Tomas Scheckter may still be there, but it won't be in the REDLINE car. Dan Wheldon may be there, but it won't be with Herta, who will not field a car in any further races unless it's Vegas. Eddie Gossage is busting his *** for Wheldon to be in the show. Some talk about KV Racing and Sam Schmidt Motorsports fielding him a car...and KV has ties to the SH/REDLINE deal, so...

REDLINE and SH plan to be full-time in 2012, by the way.

A lot of rumors about Indianapolis Motor Speedway being for sale. There were rumors a while ago that it had already been sold, and would be announced/completed after the centennial race, which is now over. However, these rumors are just like the ones where every young driver who has a decent day gets linked to a Penske ride. They happen every year and they're never true. Brian France was at the race with some other people from ISC. That really triggered the rumors; but consider that NASCAR is making a 2012 schedule for themselves, and the Brickyard 400 has experienced declining attendance as well as declining TV ratings. Goodyear have struggled greatly to make a tire for the track once the COT came into play, which made the racing go from exciting (as it was pre-2008) to trash; NASCAR fans have noticed. I also suspect that for some, the shininess and excitement of stock cars at Indy just wore off after a while. So, it might make some sense for France and ISC track presidents to be at Indy not to buy the track, but to negotiate for the 2012 Sprint Cup schedule. John Menard's name was also in the rumors. John Menard's name is in most rumors about buying tracks in the Midwest. To date, he owns zero of them. And I'm fairly confident he never has owned any.

Remember that time Wheldon won the 500?

It was alleged he was in a 2003 chassis. The seventh one ever built. The seventh of the current Dallaras. Oldest car out there for sure. Wow.

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The above post was ugly.

This one will be pretty, I promise.

15 winning Penske cars on the grid at Indy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/indianapolismotorspeedway/sets/72157626726202893/with/5781030213/

Cool stuff.

Penske's 500 wins, for the record:

1972 with Mark Donohue

1979 with Rick Mears

1981 with Bobby Unser

1984 with Rick Mears

1985 with Danny Sullivan

1987 with Al Unser

1988 with Rick Mears

1991 with Rick Mears

1993 with Emerson Fittipaldi

1994 with Al Unser, Jr.

2001 with Hélio Castroneves

2002 with Hélio Castroneves

2003 with Gil de Ferran

2006 with Sam Hornish, Jr.

2009 with Hélio Castroneves

79, 81, 88, 91, 93, and 94 were all Penske chassis.

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Jay Howard and RLL Racing will run at Texas. Service Central returns to sponsor.

But the bad news of the morning:

The Motegi race will be run as scheduled...on the road course. The oval is too damaged.

May as well call this thing Formula One-and-One-Half.

I understand the circumstances, and I know Honda really want to do this race, especially because Motegi will not return in 2012, but...this championship needs to be 50% ovals and 50% road/street/airport circuits. It's really tilting in favor of non-ovals right now, and that's not the way to go to have an exciting championship where drivers and teams are really challenged for all types of tracks. You can't favor one type of circuit if you want to maintain that uniqueness, and it's important to stay connected with all types of racing fans (there are plenty who only watch the ovals or only watch the road courses).

And while it should be better in 2012, at the moment, the road/street/airport races are definitely behind the ovals in terms of excitement with this generation IndyCar (as it was designed exclusively for ovals), so it really doesn't help there...

Don't take it the wrong way: I am really glad Japan still get to have their race, and Honda have been a great partner for the sport. I just don't like this 10-7 split of non-ovals to ovals when we were promised it would be 50-50. And while I have great trust in Randy Bernard, and thoroughly respect him, I'm nervous about getting it even. Consider this: Motegi is gone in 2012. So we're at 9-7. There will likely be another Brazilian street race in Porto Alegre. 10-7. The schedule is not going to exceed 20 races, and I doubt it goes too much further over 18, personally. Unless they can get ISC back on their side, there are few remaining ovals in the United States that could support an IndyCar race and realistically would. There's no way you make that even. If they get Phoenix and Chicago (ISC tracks) as some rumors say, we're still 10-9, and that's better, but worrying when they keep adding road and street courses while their relationship with ISC becomes rocky and the series is looking at more international races (Dubai, Mexico, China), and those aren't going to be ovals...

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Yesterday was a busy day in NASCAR...

Truck race was won by Clint Bowyer. Kyle Busch hit Joey Coulter after the race ended; apparently he was angry about something.

Busch then got out of his Truck and began talking to Coulter's team owner, Richard Childress. They had an argument, and Childress allegedly got Busch in a headlock and punched him three times before Busch fell to the ground. As Busch got up, Childress (who is 65 years old, by the way...his grandson, Austin Dillon, was in the race, and his other grandson, Ty Dillon, won an ARCA race this weekend) tried to punch him again.

NASCAR will announce penalties later. Busch is on probation from the Kevin Harvick incident (Harvick drives for Childress in Sprint Cup). A NASCAR statement made it seem as though there would be serious consequences for Childress. Not sure Kyle Busch did anything that can be penalized, as much as we'd all like to see him benched a weekend. It's not illegal to have an argument, and he didn't fight back at all.

Childress' age compensates for his size advantage over Busch, I guess...too bad it wasn't on camera.

Nationwide race yesterday was won by Justin Allgaier. Last lap pass on Carl Edwards, who ran out of fuel. The Nationwide guys are finally winning against the Cup drivers...

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Wow, just as I thought this was the worst action of the weekend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zv_j84t0Bw&feature=feedu

I read about that. Whilst it is good to see emotion from drivers when not so long ago they'd have said things to please sponsors, I think championships need to start taking a hard look at driver's antics on and off track. They're not exactly coming across as great role models for young kids.

Question for you Eric - why do so many fights happen in NASCAR over any other series?

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Some light on the situation:

Kyle Busch didn't confront Richard Childress at all. Childress took his watch off and handed it to Austin Dillon (meaning it was premeditated) and tracked Busch down by his motorhome. Childress hit him, then got him in a headlock and punched him repeatedly. Busch did not fight back at all.

Busch will not pursue criminal assault charges, though he should.

One analyst made a valid point: Busch was in a lose-lose there. If he fights back, he's hitting an elderly person. If he doesn't, he's a little pansy who got beaten up by one.

It's shocking to know that Busch actually handled something with some maturity, though his contact with Coutler was silly (for the record, Coulter and his spotter thought Busch was hitting them to congratulate him on good, hard racing...so it obviously didn't bother the driver himself. Just a case of the owner fighting everyone else's battles for them when, in reality, there were no battles to fight).

NASCAR will announce penalties tomorrow. They did confirm that Busch would not receive any penalties whatsoever, which is appropriate.

NASCAR have an inconsistent record, but I do think they do a decent job penalizing the really dangerous stuff (like deliberate on-track wrecking of another car). Off-track has been messy; sometimes it's a suspension, sometimes a fine, sometimes probation, sometimes a combination, somethings nothing at all. I can't recall a situation where they had to deal with a team owner. I have no idea what they'll do, but their statement made it seem pretty severe.

I also give NASCAR credit for waiting until Tuesday to announce penalties, as they always do. If there's no immediate danger (there wasn't; they told Richard where he could and could not go at the track Sunday), it's better to take a few days to formulate the right penalty than hand out something silly.

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To answer your question, it's just a cultural thing.

NASCAR has roots in "my car is faster than yours." Something about grit and pride and "good ol' boys." It didn't originate with manufacturers wanting to test new technologies or anything like that, where I assume most European racing rose from (I know that's essentially what caused the Indy 500). It was really a testosterone-fueled assertion of dominance through souping cars up better than the other guys.

The continued emphasis on personalities and big rivalries has only continued that. Childress is 65; he's old school, from the wild days of NASCAR. So it's no surprise, really. And then the younger guys do it because everyone before them did it...

I also think the racing lends itself to more controversy. A lot more contact, a lot more wrecks, and a lot more races (all of which are pretty long) for something to go wrong.

It's all about balancing the show with safety, and trust me, proactive safety measures are mostly fantasy. They'll respond when someone gets hurt, and to be honest, I can't think of anyone getting hurt in a NASCAR brawl (Kurt Busch got a broken nose, but he still raced, so...)

NASCAR has a lot smaller mess than the NHL does as far as fighting goes, since fighting's more common in hockey, and a lot more dangerous (since they actually know how to fight, and landing on ice isn't particularly safe). I know they'll look into the passing of Derek Boogaard. It's off-topic, but he died from an accidental mixture of alcohol and a drug; the NHL offer a behavioral health/substance help program to all their players, and he was part of that, so he was getting help. While we won't ever know the reason he was having problems, consider the logic: his career was likely over after a really bad concussion that resulted from a fight. Depression is very common post-concussion. Put the pieces together.

We'll just have to see how the react, but, end of the day, drivers and crew members and owners are always going to resolve things the way they want to, and some of these guys just don't have a great handle on their emotions.

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Bob Parsons, CEO of GoDaddy.com, said he wishes IndyCar would institute a "mandatory passing rule" for the street courses where the leader would have to stay to the left and let the other car by. Otherwise, he and Danica are going to NASCAR. :lol:

Good riddance, I say. I'll give you a prediction: there will be no decline in the TV ratings without Danica. You know why Randy Bernard hasn't called Parsons? Because he's got bigger fish to fry. Couldn't GAF about the Danica nonsense. That ship sailed, Danicamania died when she couldn't win a race in 2005, and it's just gotten worse and worse. Hell, she gets booed during driver intros now. Bernard's not going to waste his time with this idiot. Not worth it. Notice how Danica doesn't even get an on-board camera at any of the VERSUS races. The GoDaddy.com money isn't there anyway, so who cares if it leaves? Danica's not responsible for much viewership at all anymore, and while I know she has a lot of young fans, Bernard's getting Simona, Hildebrand, Franchitti, Power, etc. all over TV...there will be new faces for this sport, and ones that actually have likable personalities. The Danica thing was fantastic; then she took her helmet off and gave a post-race interview and we've all been cringing ever since. Every time she turns a corner with her interviewing skills...

Danica doesn't do much for the Nationwide ratings when she's there, and she doesn't do much for the IndyCar ratings, either. Parsons and her acts are getting really tiring, and Bernard's not going to prolong their time in the press by looking desperate and begging them to stay. He knows better, a lot of the fans know better (trust me; this thing doesn't have many casual fans...almost everyone who watches Indy is really passionate about it, so we really do know), and the joke's on "Must Pass" Parsons here.

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Bob Parsons, CEO of GoDaddy.com, said he wishes IndyCar would institute a "mandatory passing rule" for the street courses where the leader would have to stay to the left and let the other car by. Otherwise, he and Danica are going to NASCAR. :lol:

Wow, that's the funniest thing I've read all day. I think he's confusing blue flags with a battle for the lead there!

If the rule about a driver not being able to defend his position in Indycar wasn't bad enough...:P

Still, I can talk. I follow F1 and they have DRS which is essentially one driver powerless to protect his position from a rival. Cheap excitement and motorsport don't mix. You don't need stupid gimmicks in order to produce great racing.

Glad the hype around Danica is finally slowing down. The way I view it is when they put their helmets on, they're all racing drivers, regardless of gender, size, weight, ethnicity or whatever. And when you look at it from that point of view, suddenly Danica Patrick doesn't look anything other than average. I found it laughable to have her name connected to USF1 - how long ago that seems now.

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If the rule about a driver not being able to defend his position in Indycar wasn't bad enough...:P

:lol: Fortunately, they redid the layout for Edmonton for this year, so that rule for that one corner won't be there, because that corner is long gone.

The rest of the corners have the sensible no blocking rule (which means you pick one lane). It's a good safety measure when you consider accidents like Conway's. The chop-block is legitimately dangerous in IndyCar, particularly on ovals, and on road courses, well, they have to have some way to pass. :P

I don't mind rules that promote overtaking, but some are better than others. IndyCar's power-to-pass system doesn't bother me, for example. It's a really, really small boost (I think it's 5 horsepower), so you can't just use it to blow by on a straight; you can really only use it to set yourself up for one. And the guy ahead can use it to defend. But the best part about it, I think, is the strategy. With a limited number of pushes per race, it isn't just senseless pushing of the button.

I'm still unsure about the DRS stuff, but I guess that's a topic for another thread. I like elements of it, though.

It's always funny to me that in terms of overtakes, NASCAR has the most per mile of racing, and has no assists or anything. It may not be everyone's favorite series, but at the very least, the overtakes are legitimate (though there will always be some who think it's the same as driving their road car around in a big circle without ever braking...but they're probably dumber than Bob Parsons :lol:).

Anyway, I like Danica, honestly, but there's no sense for her to be in IndyCar. She doesn't want to be here, she's not winning anything here, and she's not getting any younger. She's a much better driver than she'll get credit for, and a much worse driver than IndyCar needed her to be. I genuinely think she's better than her results show, and I've seen her go wheel-to-wheel and really race hard (the haters always seem to be at the fridge getting another beer when she's doing that). I also believe her career would have been a lot more successful had she not had to deal with all the media pressure and hype, and hadn't gotten involved in the mess that is Andretti Autosport...but...she did, so, c'est la vie. Americans love Americans and underdogs and big stories...but they love winners, too.

I also don't think the racy ads were her best career choice, because as much as the public fell in love with her for being a female in a man's world, they don't want her to exploit that to get ahead in the sport. Then you consider the influx of female participants in auto racing, and that took away the uniqueness of Danica Patrick.

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Paul Tracy posted over on another forum that he's heard Alex Tagliani is out of the 77 car. I don't even need to tell you why; it's obvious.

I'm really hoping Tracy's dead wrong. But at the same time, I think it would be really daft for someone like Tracy, who is desperately trying to make his way back in to the IndyCar circle and find brands to represent, to post something he didn't think was true on the Internet. It would bite what's left of his career in the *** to be spreading rumors...

If the 500 polesitter and 500 winner aren't in Texas...I don't even know.

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:lol:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/new-cars/motorsports/shareTweet/article2046233/?utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links&utm_medium=Referrer:+Social+Network+/+Media&utm_source=twitter.com

As if it didn't get any funnier from the Parsons comments!

Considering the source, it's all made up. And even if the story wasn't made up, the Panther car was 100% legal. I'll guarantee if anyone's saying it wasn't, it was Dario Franchitti himself, since I don't think anyone else would be wondering why J.R. was better at saving fuel than him!

In reality, Ganassi were having fuel pick-up problems all month long on all four cars. It bit them again. Hildebrand was able to stretch the fuel longer as a driver, too.

I have to say, it's good to see IndyCar in the tabloids...that means people are starting to care about it if they want made-up, incoherent "journalism" about it. :lol:

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By the way, I got that link from Rahal's Twitter. You know, the Graham Rahal who is employed by Chip Ganassi...

Rahal was defending his teammate, Charlie Kimball. But rather than doing that with any maturity, he did it by calling J.R. Hildebrand out as "choking," and throwing Panther et al under the bus. Talk about a total lack of class, and it sucks that Kimball has to be associated with all that because Charlie's a very cool guy.

Graham's definitely among my least favorite drivers in the series, and I'm not sure why people always peg him as a future face of IndyCar. The name Rahal means very little to just about anyone anymore, he's an awful personality (learn from Danica: you can't just force a driver down the public's throat on the basis they're young, American, and could maybe possibly get that win one of these days...), and he was voted the least sexiest driver in IndyCar...not sure why we'd make him the face. :P

Speaking of maturity, Paul Tracy ran away crying from that other forum. Too many Internet tough guys out there today...

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:lol: Fortunately, they redid the layout for Edmonton for this year, so that rule for that one corner won't be there, because that corner is long gone.

The rest of the corners have the sensible no blocking rule (which means you pick one lane). It's a good safety measure when you consider accidents like Conway's. The chop-block is legitimately dangerous in IndyCar, particularly on ovals, and on road courses, well, they have to have some way to pass. :P

I don't mind rules that promote overtaking, but some are better than others. IndyCar's power-to-pass system doesn't bother me, for example. It's a really, really small boost (I think it's 5 horsepower), so you can't just use it to blow by on a straight; you can really only use it to set yourself up for one. And the guy ahead can use it to defend. But the best part about it, I think, is the strategy. With a limited number of pushes per race, it isn't just senseless pushing of the button.

I'm still unsure about the DRS stuff, but I guess that's a topic for another thread. I like elements of it, though.

It's always funny to me that in terms of overtakes, NASCAR has the most per mile of racing, and has no assists or anything. It may not be everyone's favorite series, but at the very least, the overtakes are legitimate (though there will always be some who think it's the same as driving their road car around in a big circle without ever braking...but they're probably dumber than Bob Parsons :lol:).

Anyway, I like Danica, honestly, but there's no sense for her to be in IndyCar. She doesn't want to be here, she's not winning anything here, and she's not getting any younger. She's a much better driver than she'll get credit for, and a much worse driver than IndyCar needed her to be. I genuinely think she's better than her results show, and I've seen her go wheel-to-wheel and really race hard (the haters always seem to be at the fridge getting another beer when she's doing that). I also believe her career would have been a lot more successful had she not had to deal with all the media pressure and hype, and hadn't gotten involved in the mess that is Andretti Autosport...but...she did, so, c'est la vie. Americans love Americans and underdogs and big stories...but they love winners, too.

I also don't think the racy ads were her best career choice, because as much as the public fell in love with her for being a female in a man's world, they don't want her to exploit that to get ahead in the sport. Then you consider the influx of female participants in auto racing, and that took away the uniqueness of Danica Patrick.

I see the point of it existing for ovals when the average speeds are so high, but on road courses when they are a lot lower? I've never understood the rule really. In my opinion there's a clear difference between blocking and defending. Blocking is doing something stupid, thereby putting yourself or the rival competitor in danger. Defending is placing your car intelligently on the track to make it as difficult as possible for the rival to come past.

I personally don't like to see fake overtakes, and the DRS in F1 gives exactly that, when a driver is not allowed to defend because the other guy can sail straight past. Or, if they do defend, they get a penalty. Which is a huge shame in my opinion, because just as a good overtake should be applauded, so should good defensive driving.

The best drivers don't need aids to get past a rival; they're good enough to do it on their own. Personally, I think of DRS in F1 and the no defending rule in Indycar like an Olympic swimmer using floats.

I fear in the likes of F1 and Indycar, the focus on racing is being lost. You won't like me saying that, but having stupid gimmicks to help overtake, and then not being able to defend your position, it's stupid. That's not what racing is about. That's making it too easy and really reducing the spectacle of what good racing is about.

Rant over.

On the NASCAR point - true, although as I was alluding to, overtaking should be difficult. I'm not saying it's easy in NASCAR, and I have respect for a lot of the drivers in the series, but a good overtake in motorsport should be like...a goal in football (or soccer, for you silly Americans. :P), not like a goal in basketball. Sometimes a race can have too much overtaking, which was a criticism of the racing in F1, particularly in Turkey. A race doesn't need loads of overtaking in it to be a classic, like a football match doesn't need either team scoring every two seconds for it to be exciting. That's just my view.

Anyway, as you say, discussion for another thread.

Yeah, I don't know. Obviously I don't have the same knowledge on Indycar as you do, but I never saw the hype about Danica Patrick that everyone else seemed to be seeing. It's great that she obviously got new people interested in the sport, but really, in a way, she's a bit like Dale Earnhardt Jr. Gets a lot of fame from more than just their driving talent. In the case of Patrick, because as you say, she's a female in what is seen as a man's sport so could be perceived as a novelty, whilst Earnhardt (like Bruno Senna in some respects) - an okay driver who has been massively hyped up because of a famous surname.

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Eh...a few points:

There isn't a no defending rule in IndyCar. There's a no blatant blocking rule. Watch Kanaan and de Silvestro at St. Petersburg. There was no penalty. Kanaan took a defensive line to the point Simona couldn't overtake despite being clearly faster, but he was not penalized because that's legal. Then watch Castroneves and Wilson at Detroit 2008. Castroneves made a huge chop-block and was penalized. So the IndyCar rule is actually exactly what you said...if you change lanes in a hazardous way, it's a block. If you drive defensively, it's legal.

Trust me...if the rules didn't allow for defensive driving, Power wouldn't win so much. :lol:

Personally, I don't think there's anything really fake about the racing in Indy. The rules got cleaned up this year and a 5 horsepower boost isn't a huge aid like DRS where there's no hope to defend and no chance to not just blow right by.

I just like drama. Whether it's an overtake or someone running out of fuel or whatever. If it's a big story, I like it. Talladega and Daytona are great...if you watch the last lap. Leading up to that, it can get really tedious. Too many overtakes. But a normal NASCAR race has a lot less overtakes than people think...you wouldn't believe how many people complain about there being too few passes.

I take the ice hockey approach. There are enough goals it's actually exciting. There are rules that help that happen, of course, but at the end of the day, I want to see a match end 4-3. Not some soccer snoozer ending 1-0, or some basketball game ending 110-80.

Though to be honest, I just know good racing when I see it, without thinking about it. That's when it's really good, when it doesn't need to be justified. The Indy 500 did that for me. ALMS at Long Beach in 2010 was another one like that.

The Danica/Junior comparison. It gets made a lot. It doesn't take into account Junior's 17 Sprint Cup wins, two Nationwide championships, championship contention in Cup for a few seasons, etc. Junior's achieved one hundred times what Danica has. Just because he has the name doesn't mean that's why he's still here. He's making a really good run at it this year, too. Third in points and no one's bothered to give him credit for that. The biggest story you'd think the media would be jamming down our throats, and it's largely ignored. :lol:

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Tagliani's ride is secure. Tracy done goofed. Consequences will never be the same.

What did change, though? Allen McDonald, lead engineer, has returned to Andretti Autosport. Two weeks too late for them...

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Tagliani's ride is secure. Tracy done goofed. Consequences will never be the same.

Back trace him and get him reported to the cyber police.

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If it races in the United States, it's U.S. racing.

V8 Supercars are looking at a round here. Or maybe in Canada. 11 of 12 Canadian provinces are U.S. states anyway. Do it with NASCAR when they run a roadie, have some drivers swap for the hell of it. The Ambrose experiment has worked out pretty well, especially when there are right turns involved, so now I'd like to see Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart wrestle with Holdens while Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards shake down the Falcons.

I've always liked Allan McNish. His message to J.R. Hildebrand was pure class. He made a video on Facebook for J.R. and essentially told him to comeback and show them who's boss, and congratulated him on a great race. McNish knows about throwing away a big race. Pure class. Not like I'd expect anything less from him, or from any of the sports car crew really. Good group of guys racing them there funny-lookin things over in Yerup. ;)

Talk continues to sizzle about Simona de Silvestro driving for Penske next year. That's nothing new; when a young driver in a small team makes waves, of course he/she is going to be linked to Penske. Simona setting fastest lap in the wet on the tight street course of São Paulo, fighting even though she was laps down from an accident that was far from her fault during the aborted Sunday race...that, to me, validated all I've been saying since her FBMW days. The talent is there, the attitude is there, the fire is there (too soon?), so I definitely believe she has a good future in the sport (Renault, Sauber, and another team offered her tests this winter, so even them there Yer-a-peein snobs like our All-American Swiss Missile :P. On that note, though, kudos to her for knowing that direction wasn't going to be the way to go. Another driver who turned down Sauber? Dan Wheldon, who was offered the full season of Friday drives for BMW-Sauber after the 2005 season. He chose Ganassi instead. You do realize that we wouldn't have seen the rise of Robert Kubica had Dan taken the offer...) Back to where I was, all the credit in the world to Simona, but Penske?

Let's break this down. She hasn't shown much on the ovals. Her equipment is awful, I get that, but she doesn't outdrive the expectations on ovals as she does on road/street circuits. Roger likes two types of drivers: champions and champions. The first kind wins the season, the second kind wins the Indy 500. I love Simona, but she's not quite at the level to be doing either of those things, at least not from what we've seen. Power's their championship guy (his oval results aren't there, but the form is), Hélio's their 500 ace. I don't think Roger's looking for a more consistent Ryan Briscoe...

In fact, I don't think Penske's looking to run three cars next year. Maybe Newman/Haas get their 6 back. They'll run Power and another guy. I think Briscoe's a guaranteed goner. He's had a long time to be on weird fuel strategy to try to pull off a bizarre Indy victory, and he blew his big championship chance. Once Power came in, he fell off. Castroneves will always have three reasons to hire him, but his driving has definitely been p**s-poor this year. I don't think Roger likes this three-car thing. Spreading it too thin, and that's leading to boneheaded pit mistakes on Power's car, and botched strategies, and general un-Penske-like happenings. They'll take Power and a 500 guy. Though 500 guy won't be Castroneves if he doesn't start winning this year...

There's also the Chevrolet factor. I realize de Silvestro was at the Chevrolet announcement, and she's been hanging around the Penske garage a lot, and she's been hanging out with the Penske drivers away from the track. But...if Chevrolet have a say with their "anchor team," I don't know. de Silvestro has marketing potential, but I'm not sure who Chevrolet are going after with Indy racing. Personally, I think they'll want Hildebrand (and they'll get him at Panther...I'm sure Panther will be a Chevy team again) for advertising. Young American who would be just as natural in an ad for the Volt as he would the Silverado. Captain America is his name, after all...

Very interesting developments, but I'm still not convinced the Captain's looking for much of anyone. Maybe if this Hendrick/Penske/Pendrick/Henske thing is true, and the third car becomes the 25 as a satellite team, maybe...

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