Racing Of The United States Variety

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Scott Speed is suing Red Bull after being released from the team. When the team announced Kasey Kahne would be joining on a one-year loan from Hendrick, Speed took the hint that his time was up (as Brian Vickers, out for the season due to blood clots, is returning for 2011). However, because he was under contract with Red Bull, he could not contact any other teams to try to line something up for next season. He asked Red Bull to release him so he could do so, but instead of releasing him, they signed him to a contract extension and told him he was all set for 2011, implying they would go to three cars. Then they confirmed they wouldn't go to three cars, but had three drivers signed. All the corporate Red Bull people, who are running the team from Austria, were at Homestead and, rather than personally tell him then, they sent him a fax a few days later after indicating he was all set for 2011.

At the end of the day, I think his lawsuit is dumb. That said, I don't agree with how Red Bull have handled their drivers in the past; they have no idea whatsoever about running a NASCAR team. You can't just have corporate HQ in Austria running it when they don't even watch the races. They need to spin the NASCAR team off from the company. Call it Team Red Bull, have both cars in Red Bull livery, but let an actual stock car team run it. The way they released Allmendinger and Speed has not been pleasant, and I can't help but find it funny that Allmendinger's beaten them consistently at his new team. They run STR like ****, too. The team needs to have some balls already. They fired A.J. and Scott, but wouldn't do it face-to-face. Pansies. This team, like Speed himself, think that just because they can do F1 (well, Speed really couldn't do F1, but in his mind), they can do stock cars with their eyes closed (or their eyes on something else, like the Red Bull girls at corporate HQ/F1 races), and that's not going to happen.

But, rather than p**s away the money he hasn't p**sed away with a dumb lawsuit, Speed needs to grow some balls, toughen up, and deal with the fact that this is only an issue because he had no results; if Red Bull released him after the season, but he had been a legitimate contender, teams would be contacting him. You only contact teams in Soviet Russia, and when you are unproven.

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More.

NASCAR driver Scott Speed filed a $6.5 million breach-of-contract lawsuit Friday afternoon against Red Bull Racing, the team that released Speed following the 2010 season. In the lawsuit, filed in North Carolina Superior Court in Statesville, N.C., Speed claims that Red Bull did not fund the team as necessary to compete at the Cup level. According to the lawsuit, Speed signed a three-year deal in September 2007 for a salary of $300,000 in 2008, $500,000 in 2009 and $1 million in 2010. He would receive 50 percent of prize money for each top-10 finish, 45 percent for finishes 11th-20th and 40 percent of prize money for finishes of 21st or worse. In June 2008, the deal was amended to include 2011 at a salary of $1.5 million and options for 2012-2013 at raises of $500,000 annually. In January 2010, the deal was revised to cut Speed's pay from $1 million to $500,000 for 2010, according to the complaint. In May 2010, Red Bull picked up Speed's option through 2013, according to the complaint, but then fired him Nov. 23. The $6.5 million figure represents the salary Speed would have received from 2011-2013, in addition to the $500,000 reduction for 2010. Speed said Wednesday that the filing of the lawsuit was in hopes of being able to pay bills due next year, given that the chances of now getting a ride for 2011 are slim. Red Bull Racing officials indicated Wednesday that they would not comment on Speed's release or any pending litigation.(Scene Daily)(12-11-2010)

If you made $500,000 in 2010 and can't pay your bills, it's time for a lifestyle adjustment. He was born into wealth, has been making six-figures for the last five years, and now he wants salary he was never actually contracted to earn over the next three years in one lump sum? There's a reason teenagers make minimum wage.

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Speed, I guess, has a case to be heard at the very least, and people more intelligent (?) than us will no doubt make a decision regarding it that Red Bull will then appeal, and so the circus continues.

However, had I been earning that sort of money, for those years, I sure as hell wouldn't have any bills to pay....it's all the hangers on and leeches that "celebrities" have these days that squander away the money. Why the person earning the money doesn't see this is beyond me...but I suppose to look cool you gotta have your own little clique...

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That's because the guys who race in that are very young and extremely inexperienced. They do their learning in the public eye.

Anyway, as much as I've knocked Indycar in the past it is pleasing to hear lots of great news after the championship has gone through some tough times. Hopefully it'll once again become a big force in the world of racing.

So you agree then...Sunday amateurs....

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Well, the IndyCar guys are Sunday amateurs, too, riding around in NASCAR's third-tier development series. Welcome aboard, Dan-o.

Speed, I guess, has a case to be heard at the very least, and people more intelligent (?) than us will no doubt make a decision regarding it that Red Bull will then appeal, and so the circus continues.

However, had I been earning that sort of money, for those years, I sure as hell wouldn't have any bills to pay....it's all the hangers on and leeches that "celebrities" have these days that squander away the money. Why the person earning the money doesn't see this is beyond me...but I suppose to look cool you gotta have your own little clique...

If I were the person more intelligent than myself, I would let him win, but not the seven figures he wants. Instead, I'd give him ten...digits to his parents' phone number. He could use the lecture about only paying the minimum balance on your credit card...

I doubt this one will get too out of hand, and he has a few more to go to be the most-legally-embattled man in NASCAR (though if he stops paying his bills...). Mayfield has something like eight lawsuits right now (some may have ended by now), Robby Gordon has at least two, ExtenZe has two NASCAR-related ones. I don't think people realize what they get into when you sue someone. Mayfield sued, got counter-sued, requested an appeal, got sued over the appeal, the suit over the appeal was appealed, then his attorney sued him for not paying him, and then the IRS sued him for not paying his taxes because all of his money dissolved in legal fees. All while he was already suing his mother over allegedly murdering his father (a lawsuit he forgot to file for years after his father's death and only remembered when his mother testified against him in one of his other suits, which makes it seem baseless; of course, most of Mayfield's cases have been such. He used meth, he failed his pee-in-a-cup test twice, he's refusing rehab, and he'll never race again). And he previously sued his former employer, Evernham Motorsports. He's the kind of person who should just **** off. He's 41 and he acts like he's 5...just deny everything and try to get your revenge by tattling on others for things they never did.

Oi.

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Lighter note...

There's a new NASCAR game coming out. However, the realism of the drivers' body-types seems a little bit off...

Tony Stewart...

Game v. real

More embarassing, however, is what they did with Danica.

Woman v. man

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IndyCar hot stove!

Tomas Scheckter was at the One America office; One America sponsor Andretti Autosport, who say they're going to stay with four cars despite losing 7-Eleven, Meijer, and IZOD (a fifth at Indy for John, of course). Hunter-Reay has a new sponsor apparently. However, Mario Moraes seems more likely at this point, if he can bring the proper funding. Moraes takes a lot of crap for his style and he wasn't exactly Marco's best friend at Indy 2009, but the kid has pace and can run up front. If KV hadn't over-expanded, Mario would have been just fine. The problem, of course, is even if Scheckter or Moraes bring funding, they'll both bring a lot of broken wings, broken suspensions, broken hearts, and, in Scheckter's case, broken condoms. Wheldon will race for free and race for wins, but, they need more than that.

Marco, for the record, is involved in some interesting shenanigans. He's dating Charlie Sheen's ex-wife, who is in rehab, and was set up with her by his friend Paris Hilton.

Ganassi will most definitely have a B-team with two cars. Rahal's one with the NTB sponsorship. Charlie Kimball was rumored to be the other, but now they say it's Hinchcliffe. Hmm...Rahal and NTB paired up at Newman/Haas, and Hinchcliffe just tested, and the team needs someone to buy it...two teams with 100+ wins uniting into a four-car superteam? They'll have a good battle for second behind Power, then.

Servià will likely reunite with old buddy Jimmy Vasser in a one-off at Indy with that REDLINE Xtreme team. Kanaan's rumored to be heading KV's way, too, for a full-season. This seems extra likely if Moraes ends up at Alcoholics Anonymous.

Still talk about a double finalé, with a street race and an oval race in Vegas in the same week to end the season. Please!

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Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson at the Indy 500 in 2011, says the rumors. Talk about old school. The 500 used to have F1 and NASCAR drivers, among others, taking on the regulars, so it's fantastic to see that starting to come together again. It's such an exciting era for IndyCar, I think, with Randy Bernard in charge. Bringing in someone who had never even watched a race before was just the right thing to do; everyone involved in open-wheel since 1996 has been looking backward and Bernard's finally taking this sport somewhere.

Kahne, for the record, is a USAC Midget champion and, as a result of that, raced in Champ Car Atlantic for a bit, as well as testing an IndyCar with Panther and a Champ Car with Rahal (who is likely to drive for at the 500).

Johnson, five-time NASCAR champion, has no open-wheel experience, though his background includes off-road racing; in fact, Johnson was Team USA's rally driver when they won the Race of Champions in 2002 (he was partnered by Jeff Gordon, the pavement racer, and Colin Edwards, the motorcycle racer). Johnson's won Indy before, albeit in a stock car.

It will be a lot of fun to see how they do if this can be pulled off, and hopefully we'll have even more names joining in the future (Kyle Busch is one I'd love to see. He's tested an IndyCar and he just has that undefinable "talent" that I feel could translate to any type of racing vehicle if he had enough time to adjust). Robby Gordon and Sam Hornish, Jr., with their NASCAR rides falling apart, are both expected back for Indy, too.

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Randy Bernard wants to break the track record at Indy and he wants to break it in 2011. Tony George didn't want to go over 230, so they didn't. Bernard says it's time to restore the romanticism of racing and break the records. To do so, though, they'll need to bust out the 3.5L Methanol-powered engines of old for Indy and, with so many Ethanol partners, that might not be easy to do. Regardless, at least by 2012 they'll really be going for it. Bernard wants to hit 240...and beyond.

I realize the negatives here. I know there's danger, I know a lot of Indy's drivers aren't ready to hit 240, I know this and that and the other thing and guess what? Randy does, too. I love the idea. Indy has SAFER barriers, the chassis are safer than they were last time they went that fast, there are strict blocking rules, and if there were a serious threat, they wouldn't do this. I don't like to see drivers get injured, but it's amazing to me that if a football player, or a hockey player, or whatever gets an injury, it's no big deal, happens all the time. When a racer gets the same injury, we need a new rule book.

Indy was magic. The speed is the magic. It was unthinkable to go that fast, that long, that close, on that track. Is 225 fast enough? No, it isn't. Because it isn't the fastest they can do. Why don't people go to qualifying anymore when they used to? Because there's no chance of anything interesting happening. When there's history on the line, when there's just a wee bit more danger, when the fearless really shine through, well, now you have a show, now you have a sport, now you have something worth giving a damn about!

I never thought they'd do anything like this. Breaking track records is soooooo 1995. And here we are. Bernard's a man of his word and if he can make it happen in 2011, he will, and if not, he'll make damn sure those turbo-charge 6-cylinders in 2012 bring something serious. Awesome. I'm not one of those nostalgic "the way things were..." people because, well, the way things were is the same way they are now! But, there is still room for racing in a more pure form, and I'm glad Indy are taking the initiative to make that their identity instead of that "American GP2" crap they were falling into.

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Chip Ganassi one-ups Roger Penske and now has a four-car Indy team. Graham Rahal in the #38 Service Central car and Charlie Kimball in the #83 Novo Nordisk vehicle. The teams will be fielded out of drag racer Don Prudhomme's shop, but he has no involvement with the team. Interesting, for sure.

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Who is Charlie Kimball, Eric? How say you?

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Who is Charlie Kimball, Eric? How say you?

Charlie Kimball's an American born in Britain. He's a diabetic, hence his sponsor Novo Nordisk. Racing-wise, he's been alright, but not too impressive. He won an F3 Euroseries race at Zandvoort in 2006, one of three Americans to win a race that season (Richard Antinucci had 2, Summerton had 1; oddly enough, Antinucci ended up in IndyCar briefly, and Summerton's likely to land at Walker next year). He lost to his teammate, Guillaume Moreau, by one point, tied with Sébastien Buemi, and beat his other teammates Romain Grosjean and Tim Sandtler. He was underwhelming in WSR in 2007, and returned to F3 in 2008 only to be released after a string of **** results. Last two seasons he was in Indy Lights, P10 in 2009 and P4 in 2010 for Andretti with no wins.

Both Rahal and Kimball bring funding, and I have a bit of a feeling Rahal's signed as Dario's replacement down the road, while Kimball's just kind of tagging along. Ganassi's a great team owner, but he was never the talent scout and developer Penske was/is, and that sets them apart, in my mind. Zanardi's the only exception that comes to mind; the others were either unsuccessful, already proven, or not Chip's hire (Montoya and Dixon were both part of other deals; Montoya for Zanardi, and Dixon's ride was funded by the CART bosses to prop up the car count. Chip got lucky there).

The big ticket as far as the rookies go, in my opinion, is Hildebrand, though J.K. Vernay is likely to get a ride, too, which will make it really interesting.

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More on Kimball:

He wins, Vettel second. 2006 F3 Euroseries at Zandvoort. Maybe we'll see a bit of something out of him. I'm very interested to see Hildebrand and him taking on other potential rookies like Vernay, Soucek, and for one race, Guerrieri.

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NASCAR Home Tracks, the grassroots stuff...

The champions were honored recently, including Bobby Santos who, as Bruce knows , is my favorite driver ever. Santos was the youngest Modified champion ever (at 25).

Canadian Tire champion D.J. Kennington clinched after 17 years in the sport, and proposed to his girlfriend at the ceremony. I liked this quote from him:

It's been a dream come true. NASCAR's a class act. They really make you feel like you're somebody. All this whole week has been just awesome.

For all the crap NASCAR gets, they treat their little guys well. Big congrats to Santos, Kennington, Burt Myers, Ryan Truex, Eric Holmes, and German Quiroga on winning their championships and taking the next step to the big show. Most of them were racing on small budgets with a lot of family support and little else.

All will be in the Toyota All-Star Showdown, of course, which features grassroots NASCAR racers from all over the country. Travis Pastrana will make his stock car debut in that one, too.

On a final note, the American Auto Writers and Broacasters Association named their Team All-America. Santos made the First Team, an extremely high honor for a short track racer. I realize I'm biased because I've been following his career for a long time (we're from the same town, so I know him and his sister, who also races), but he had a great year and I'd love to see him get a big break. He's had some chances and done well, but at the end of the day, he's never had the sponsorship money to stay at the top. Interesting, though, that his biggest curse was likely his biggest gift: his family didn't have the travel budget to continue their family-owned team that used to run select events over a wide variety of series, and he instead was signed last-minute to race full-time in the Whelen Modified Tour (his first full-season in any series) for Bob Garbarino. That worked well and he's gotten more exposure than ever before.

The entire First Team (alphabetized):

Jörg Bergmeister

Todd Bodine

David Brabham

Kyle Busch

Bryan Clauson

Larry Dixon

John Force

Dario Franchitti

Jimmie Johnson

Ricky Johnson

Levi Jones

Antoine L'Estage

Patrick Long

Rob MacCachren

Frank Manzo

Simon Pagenaud

Will Power

Scott Pruett

Natalie Richard

Memo Rojas

Bobby Santos, III.

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Gah. Post got messed up.

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A Honda stock car.

Running in the ASA-sanctioned ISCARS tour. New NASCAR regulations in 2013 seem to have Volkswagen excited; will Honda come to play, too? I know of a man who owns a large network of Honda dealerships...I think his name is something like Rick Hendrick.

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Very difficult to predict how an open-wheel road-racer will do on an oval. You need a very special set of Mansell-balls to do it and that's a rare commodity these days.

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I've mentioned Jeremy Mayfield's legal battles here, and this new article just makes them even crazier.

http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/sprintcupseries/Jeremy_Mayfields_stepmother_alleges_in_deposition_that_he_supplied_meth_to_his_father.html

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INDYCAR:

• James Rossiter is expected to run the road courses for KV/Lotus this season. Another driver (perhaps Townsend Bell) to do the ovals.
• Katherine Legge, after a miserable and embarrassing stumble about in DTM, is returning to the U.S. to pursue an INDYCAR ride.
• Paul Tracy at Conquest alongside Baguette for 2011, it seems. Good fit if true. Both driver and car will be considerably overweight.
• Expect ABC's run of Indy 500 coverage (dating back to 1965, with the race being aired since 1971, and live since 1986) to end soon. With Comcast almost done buying NBC, changes are coming.

NASCAR:

• Raybestos have pulled the Rookie of the Year sponsorship after Kevin Conway won the "title" in the Penismobile facing no other competitors. 2011 looks just as bad, minus the male enhancement sponsors. The talented, attractive, and marketable Brian Keselowski, brother of Brad, is likely to be the only driver to contest ROTY in Cup next season, starting and parking his family-owned Dodges.
• Drivers can only compete for points in one of the three national series. This means guys like Keselowski, Edwards, and Busch cannot run for the Nationwide title anymore; however, they can and still will run all or nearly all of the races. It's entirely possible the Nationwide champion will have 0 wins; in fact, it's rather likely.
• Daytona testing coming up from January 20-22.

ALMS:

• New TV deal puts all races live on the subscription ESPN3.com. They'll be aired in 90-120 minute packages next-day on ABC or ESPN2. I'm not sure if they'll be docu-dramas with no racing or showing the actual race with the safety car periods etc. edited out. I heard only Baltimore will be a documentary and the rest will be legit, so hopefully we don't get screwed...

Grand-Am:

• Testing complete for the Rolex 24. Starworks, now with a Ford-Riley, paced the session. Their lineup includes Colin Braun and Ryan Dalziel, as well as three drivers I've never heard of. Christophe Bouchut, Luis Diaz, Scott Tucker, and Mark Wilkins put one of the Level 5 cars in second, while the other (Ryan Hunter-Reay, Raphael Matos, Scott Tucker, and Richard Westbrook) was right behind in P3. GT leader was Burtin Racing with their Porsche. Can't say I know anything about that team.
• Action Express are fielding two Porsche-Riley DPs this season as Brumos Porsche move to GT. Brumos were fourth in class with Hurley Haywood, Leh Keen, Marc Lieb, and some other guy.
• Blundell, Brundle, and co. were P13 overall and in class with United Autosports.
• Ganassi did not test, though they have confirmed their two lineups for the race. Pruett and Rojas will be joined by Joey Hand and Graham Rahal, while Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Jamie McMurray, and Juan Pablo Montoya split the 02.

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NASCAR may scrap points system? NASCAR is considering scrapping the points system it has used since 1975 in favor of a simpler method that awards points per finishing position. The overhauling of the system is one of a handful of changes NASCAR is considering implementing before the season begins next month. Series officials have been detailing their ideas in individual meetings with teams. The sanctioning body wants to go to a scoring system that would award 43 points to the race winner, and one point less for each ensuing position down to one point for the 43rd-place finisher. NASCAR is also shying away from wholesale changes to its Chase for the Sprint Cup championship format. Teams have been told NASCAR is leaning toward keeping it a 12-driver field, with one caveat: The top 10 drivers following the 26th race of the season would qualify for the Chase, while the remaining two spots would go to the drivers with the most wins who are not already eligible for the Chase. Preseason testing begins Thursday at Daytona International Speedway, and NASCAR president Mike Helton and vice president of competition Robin Pemberton are scheduled to discuss some of the changes planned for 2011. But the major announcements aren't scheduled until next week when France makes a presentation during Charlotte Motor Speedway's annual media tour. NASCAR is still debating how to award bonuses under a straight points system, and ideas being considered are for anywhere from one to three points being given to lap leaders and race winners.(in part from the Associated Press)(1-17-2011)

I like this.

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NASCAR is for girls and hosers

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Testing began today in Daytona with Steven Wallace setting the pace. Well, the slowest pace, that is, in both sessions. Father Rusty played the hataz gonn' hate card and accused those who don't think Steven's ready for Cup of being "jealous" of their accomplishments. Those zero Nationwide wins Steven has really do make me jelly, I can't lie.

The Waltrip and Red Bull Toyotas looked fast in the draft, while Jimmie Johnson just looked pitiful. Speaking of johnsons, Jimmy d#ck (no relation) announced a Camping World Truck Series team for 2011.

Big shocker: Daytona and Indy (and Charlotte) winner Jamie McMurray has re-signed with Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing! Who would have thought?

Josh Wise will fill in for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. this weekend.

Noticeably absent from testing are Bobby Labonte (who tested both a GT2 Ferrari for AF Corse and his Toyota COT this off-season), Robby Gordon, Front Row Motorsports, and TRG Motorsports, among others. Labonte and his team feel as though they learned enough from a Goodyear tire test earlier this winter and are confident about the 500 without testing. I'm not sold.

Perhaps the biggest story of testing was the return of Brian Vickers, who missed the majority of last season due to blood clots. Vickers drove the Red Bull Toyota at Disney World Speedway last week to get reacquainted with the cars, and is now participating his first offical session since May. He has not been cleared by NASCAR's doctors for the 2011 season yet, but it is almost certain that he will be in time to race the Daytona 500.

[HandyNZL 1]

When does the season start, Eric?

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When does the season start, Eric?

That's a harder question to answer than it should be.

The Daytona 500 is February 20th. However, there are about eight days of racing at Daytona leading up to that, starting with the Budweiser Shootout on February 12th and including the Gatorade Duels qualifying races, the Truck race, and the Nationwide race.

And the first NASCAR race of course is the Toyota All-Star Showdown next weekend, featuring drivers from all of NASCAR's regional touring series.

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http://www.motorracingnetwork.com/MRN-Radio/Shows/Daytona-Testing/Shows/Daytona-Testing-Jan-21.aspx

Streaming Daytona testing there. It's one of the more boring things you can watch, but...you can watch it anyway.