Racing Of The United States Variety

[Massa 0]

Well disregard that ****.

RLL will field two full-time cars with a possible third at Indy.

Ed Carpenter will start his own team with Fuzzy's Vodka sponsoring. He will race the ovals. Possible James Davison will race the road courses.

[HandyNZL 1]

Two thinking points:

1 Had Dan not been killed, or even, had the crash not been as severe and just took a few cars out, would you be going along the lines of "get off the ovals"? Whilst I agree with you, post the death of Dan, to some degrees, to me, racing on the oval's is what sets the Indycars apart from most all of the other open wheel classes of the world, and for me, is a bit of a draw card...not for the salivating of an impending crash, but the extra balls, the extra/different strategies, the different dynamics that this sort of racing brings. So, taking safety out of it (lets just say they are as safe as they can get, for arguments sake), would you still take them off the ovals?

2 Do you think Wade Cunningham might get a ride somewhere? He has excellent road skills, and has won Indy twice for the Indylights, and hasn't had the best of runs in the two events he had rides for this season with the big boys...personally I think he should have raced some road courses, and not the ovals so that he could get familiar with the cars. I think he would have made more of a showing and thus attracted some sponsors...

[Massa 0]

I don't think they should get off all the ovals. Indy can stay, Iowa can stay...if they still raced Richmond, Milwaukee, Gateway, Loudon, etc. that'd be fine. Quite honestly, I don't enjoy the flat-out, 1.5-mile oval racing and was happy to hear tracks like Kansas, Chicagoland, and Kentucky wouldn't be on the schedule in recent years even before the safety debate. The oval races lose money for the track and for the series...

Apparently, the leading drivers have asked not to return to the 1.5-mile ovals, and a few said they would not return to IndyCar if they continued to go to those tracks. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but it's been reported.

If there was a way to as-safely-as-possible run bigger, high-banked ovals with a rules package that didn't create the terribly dull pack racing, I'd reconsider, but everything they're proposing seems to be a bit frightening. I won't name names, but running these tracks at higher speeds and less downforce may make the guys have to brake...but there are plenty of drivers in the 2011 field who wouldn't brake anyway.

Wade Cunningham should have a ride. He should have had a ride years ago. He, like many others, took advantage of this being the last year for the current car so you needed a little less money to get some races in. It all comes down to what kind of sponsorship he can bring, but the car count is projected to be surprisingly high next year. The problem is I don't see many part-time entries, and I don't know if Cunningham has full-season funding. But if you bought a new chassis, you're going to use it for the whole year.

[Massa 0]

Cunningham says no chance for full-time; goal is Indy 500 one-off and see what that can lead to. Though we all know that Wheldon couldn't even get a ride after winning the race when rides were abundant, so we'll have to see. Seems a bit early to be giving in, but also realistic.

Randy Bernard basically confirmed today they will run a street race in Las Vegas (on the strip if they can pay; sure, cool atmosphere, but the Champ Car layout from 2007 was badass) instead of the oval. Upset over comments from LVMS that essentially said IndyCar made the mess and left LVMS to clean it up...

A lot of driver pressure to only run Indy and Iowa next year as far as ovals go...maybe still Fontana but I don't know. Would eliminate...Texas? The others have been eliminated by economics already.

[Massa 0]

This happened last night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDBd0CLjOwc

Was it wrong? Of course.

NASCAR has parked Kyle Busch for the weekend. He will not run the Nationwide race (Denny Hamlin will take his place), or the Cup race (Michael McDowell will be in that ride).

I think the only thing more wrong than how Busch retaliated is how NASCAR is handling this.

1) Precedent. Remember the video below? Carl Edwards wasn't parked, and he was already on probation that season! You can't park Kyle Busch just because what he did was under caution, or because it was at a higher speed, or because it was to a championship contender. It's the same exact intent; wreck the other guy. They gave Edwards a monetary fine and a loss of Nationwide points (admittedly, the new system forces drivers to only score points in one series, so Busch has no points to be fined, and had Edwards done that in 2011, he too would have had no points to lose).

On the flip-side, they parked Robby Gordon for the Pocono Cup race after his actions in a Nationwide race at Montréal. They did have a different approach to the rules then, but how is this worse than what Edwards did, and how is what Busch did worse? I get it: Robby and Kyle have histories as "bad boys," but Edwards was ON PROBATION. So they just extended his probation...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=65TMetjlbaQ

2) "Have at it, boys." NASCAR claimed that, starting in 2010, they have a new "have at it, boys" policy. Retaliation isn't just legal: it's encouraged. This is what NASCAR asked for. The reality is that NASCAR never wrote rules about what constitutes "having at it" old-school stock car style, and what constitutes "crossing the line." Kyle can't cross the line if you don't draw it for him, and then you end up making **** judgment calls about rules you don't even have. Sometimes "having at it" gets you held in the pits for a lap, parked for the rest of the race, fined, whatever it is. But it's rare when it's parked, and until you define what is a park-able offense.

NASCAR does a fine job enforcing rules...the problem is, they just don't have any rules actually written down. Better than having the right rules and then not enforcing them, but it's absolutely silly to say "have at it, boys" and then say "well there's actually a limit, and that limit is determined by who does it, who they do it to, and how ugly it looked."

3) This happened in a NASCAR Camping World Truck race. Kyle Busch is parked from NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup events this weekend. Okay...so explain what happens if the driver who did what Kyle did is one of the drivers who only runs one series. If it had been a guy who just runs the Truck races, and wasn't running Nationwide and Cup, would he have been parked from the next two Truck races? Would he have been parked for the weekend from the weekend's races he wasn't even entered in? You can't make a penalty specific to Kyle's situation, where he runs all the races in one weekend, because now you have to find some way to make it equal to the next guy in a different situation: is it equal to penalize a driver two Truck races instead of one Nationwide and one Cup, when the Cup and Nationwide races combine for much higher prize money than two Truck races, and when only the Cup race counts for points for Kyle while the Nationwide race is just for fun? How do you handle this again with someone else?

I say bull****. I don't defend what Busch did, but he should be racing this weekend. NASCAR needs to say "well, we didn't expect that to happen, sorry." Admit they don't have a rule, and then you make the rule, and guess what? You can't retroactively enforce the new rule if you make one. You admit you weren't prepared to make a call on that, lay out a new rule, and enforce it for any future incidents.

What a mess.

[Massa 0]

The IZOD IndyCar Series will race on a new 3.87-mile street cirucit in Qingdao, China next season.

Lotus engine is under the minimum weight. If they allow it to run with ballast, it could be a big advantage. The weight distribution of the new car is terrible, according to Tim Cindric (who has the overweight Chevrolet engine in his team's vehicles0 due to the awkward rear (particularly the bumper), so running ballast could make the Lotus more competitive. I'd find this hilarious, since all the bottom teams got stuck with Lotus since no one wanted them. I'm also pleased the Chevrolet is too heavy because I'm on the Honda bandwagon as far as the engine war goes, and hope Chevrolet does what they do best and ****s the bed. As much as I like Will Power and Ryan Briscoe, I dislike GM, I dislike Team Penske and Hélio Castroneves, I absolutely hate Andretti Autosport, and I just like to be contrary to all the "I BLINDLY LIKE CHEVY BECAUSE AMERICA" people. I support the Americans on the F1 ladder because no one else does, but not on the Indy ladder because too many people do. Take Humpy Newgarden, for example. I'd love the guy if he were back in Europe, but don't care for him in Indy Lights/IndyCar.

Anyway.

Bryan Herta Autosport may become the Lotus anchor team. Whichever car is sponsored by Lotus will run the black and gold, not the green and yellow, apparently. Black and gold, as it happens, fits in very well with Bowers & Wilkins and Magnolia and could work with William Rast, and since most people anticipate Alex Tagliani at BHA, I'd assume those sponsors would be there. BHA are my favorite team, and Tagliani is one of my favorite drivers, and I think it would be really cool to see them lead a Lotus underdog program to some good results. We'll see.

Lotus won't test until January. That's a worry.

This is more of a worry: http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-series-trying-to-solve-2012-cars-speedway-issues

Every driver hates Justin Wilson because he is every team's first choice driver, so no one can get their programs together until Wilson signs, and Wilson is taking a damn long time. You have an offer from Andretti, just sign it, move on.

[Massa 0]

New Daytona Prototype for Grand-Am.

http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2012-chevrolet-corvette-daytona-prototype/

Huge improvement from the current car.

Excited by Grand-Am's triple crown: Rolex 24, 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, and the new race at Indianapolis. Teams are committing extra cars and star drivers from outside for all three, and that's awesome, even if I prefer sprint races to endurance ones.

[Massa 0]

NASCAR is the best racing in the world. That was damn cool. Kudos to Stewart.

[Massa 0]

Some thoughts driver-by-driver on the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup season...

11,550 laps were completed in Sprint Cup this year, and none thrilled more than the final 267 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Never has there been a greater individual performance in stock car racing than the one Tony Stewart treated race fans to Sunday night, and over the course of the Chase playoff format. One of just two drivers to ever win the USAC Triple Crown (Silver Crown, National Midget, and National Sprint Car titles in the same season), and the only to ever win both Sprint Cup and IZOD IndyCar Series titles, Stewart has been among the best drivers in racing's history. Watching Stewart run low into the corners, diving below hard racers Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski for the lead, or his four-wide maneuver on the restart, his pass for the lead from Jeff Gordon, or his battles with Carl Edwards on affirmed that. But while the 118 overtakes he made in the 400-mile race impress beyond belief, it's Stewart's character that really shined in Miami. Once one who could not avoid trouble with sponsors and reporters, so much to the point he took anger management courses, let alone conflict within his team, Stewart was as powerful a motivator for himself to put in such a heroic drive as he was to his team. His pit crew cost him dearly with two errors on the right-side in critical stops; one two-tire stop took 14.4 seconds, slower than even a normal four-tire change by a few tenths. Yet there were no scathing criticisms or acknowledgements of defeat. Stewart had charged from forty-first early after sustaining damage, and knew he could do it again. He was on the radio instantly encouraging his team, praising them even, leading them with enthusiasm and confidence. A team owner for three seasons, now a team leader, and a community leader, too, through his Tony Stewart Foundation dedicated to chronically ill children, drivers injured in motor racing, and endangered animals. Off the support of crew chief Darian Grubb, the help of supplier Hendrick Motorsports, and above all the love of his ever-present father, Stewart built the strength to score five victories in the final ten weeks, win the race to win the championship, and climb to the top of the stock car world for a third time, and as a driver, and a man, he impressed us all.

Carl Edwards, a valiant second in the Ford 400 and an impossibly close second in the title, lost to Stewart on a tie-breaker. Edwards won just one race all year, back in March at Las Vegas, and it cost him. Stewart's hard-charging mentality, his deliverance in "must-win" situations, and his style as a true, hard racer bested Edwards' consistent "points racing" approach, and it always should. A great driver, and, while flawed, certainly a class act (particularly in how he always goes into the grandstands to mingle with the fans when he wins a race), but one who needs to get back to the root of all racing success: winning. Will Carl be a champion one day? It's hard to see how he wouldn't, but in his loss, he made quite the statement for those in NASCAR: even with a 4.9 average finish in the final ten races, you still can lose the title, and you still will if you don't take gambles and don't win races. The racer beat the thinker, just the way we all love to see it. Edwards had nineteen top five finishes to Stewart's nine, and twenty-six top tens to his nineteen. But all that matters, all that should matter, is Stewart's five wins to Edwards' singular triumph.

It easily could have been fourth-place man and Edwards' teammate Matt Kenseth at the top of the standings this year. With a balance of both consistency and victories (three on the season, including the Chase race at Charlotte), Kenseth was more-than-formidable in his contesting of the title. What took him out? Brian Vickers, quite frankly. In Martinsville, Vickers made an absolute mess of himself as a driver; normally one to refrain from criticism, commentator Dale Jarrett claimed that "Vickers [had] hit everything but the pace car" during the 500-lap race. And while some may see NASCAR as cars just going round-and-round in circles, the only thing circular in the sport is the cycle of retaliation. Kenseth served it to Vickers, putting him square in the wall on the Virginia track. Naturally, Vickers returned the favor and drove into Kenseth, who had already fallen out of contention after being caught up in a totally separate wreck. Weeks later in Phoenix, Vickers wrecked Kenseth again while the latter was running twelfth after starting from pole. In all of it comes a validation for NASCAR's "have at it, boys" doctrine. It truly is self-policing; Kenseth wanted his revenge, and it cost him the championship when he messed with someone who had absolutely nothing to lose.

Behind Kenseth placed Brad Keselowski, the season's surprise. With three wins, Keselowski became the first driver to take advantage of the new wild card system, where the two winningest drivers outside of the top ten but within the top twenty would qualify for the Chase on one condition: their wins would not count for bonus points in Chase seeding. Keselowski overcame that deficit, though, to finish in the top-half of playoff drivers. Many questioned his move to leave Hendrick Motorsports, a top team that had no open seats to offer, for the struggling Penske Racing. Now united with Nationwide crew chief Paul Wolfe, Keselowski has had the privilege of concluding Sprint Cup races with his signature celebration (a lap around the track with the American flag), and has found validation for his switch of teams.

A five-year reign is over. Jimmie Johnson is not the Sprint Cup champion, his string of titles sandwiched by Tony Stewart triumphs in 2005 and 2011. And deservedly so; since his full-time running in Cup began in 2002, Johnson has never had a worse season. Just two wins, no poles, and an end to his nine consecutive top five points finishes. But we won't cry too long for Jimmie. To have twenty-one top ten finishes and end sixth and be able to call that your worst season to date can't be too shameful. Johnson faces uncertainty with his team for 2012, as long-time partner Chad Knaus may be moving up in the Hendrick organization, with rumors that Darian Grubb could move over from Stewart-Haas while Steve Addington joins the defending champion. Regardless, what Johnson really faces is his biggest challenge yet, and his chance to prove if he is worthy of all-time great status. How does he face adversity? How does he recover from a down year? It's a storyline worth following for the next season.

More later.

[HandyNZL 1]

It's clearly obvious Jimmie Johnson has lost it, and should be fired from the team forthwith.

[Massa 0]

Thanksgiving night (Thursday in the United States) holds the tradition of the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Toyota Speedway Irwindale, a series of USAC midget and sprint car races on the paved half-mile speedway. If you check out the link below at race-time, you will be able to see a live stream of the race, apparently:

http://3widelife.com/

Why watch?

Because USAC is ****ing cool. The feature National Midget race will be 98 laps as usual, a salute to J.C. Agajanian (same reason Wheldon drove 98 at Indy this year).

See? It's awesome.

Bryan Clauson, who has driven in both NASCAR's Nationwide Series and now Firestone Indy Lights (he will either be in the IZOD IndyCar Series part-time, or running the ovals in Indy Lights again while doing road/street courses in Star Mazda), is looking to win his third consecutive Turkey Night.

Other drivers to watch: How about Toyota-backed Kyle Larson, Tanner Swanson, and Kody Swanson, regarded among the top young talents in all of the United States? You can't count out veterans like Tracy Hines, Brad Kuhn, or Jerry Coons, Jr., either.

And then there are the past champions, joining Clauson. Long-time NASCAR competitor Jason Leffler has won the race twice and will return once more. Bobby East, who at one point made it to NASCAR, sits fourth in the National Midget points and also has a victory, as does Billy Wease, a former Penske Racing development driver.

The other past champion?

My favorite driver in all of racing: Bobby Santos, III. Compared to a "young A.J. Foyt" by Ryan Newman after they raced each other in Whelen Modifieds at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, 26-year-old Santos has made a name for himself nationally winning all the biggest pavement short-track races in the last decade. A champion in the NASCAR Whelen Mofidied Tour in 2010, and now the USAC Pavement Sprint champion for 2011, Santos has succeed in not only modifieds, sprints, and regular midgets, but also Silver Crown's "big midgets," winged midgets, supermodifieds, karts, and the stock cars of ARCA and even Nationwide. He has a development deal with the low-budget Tommy Baldwin Racing, and has had plenty of offers from top teams like Richard Childress, but never had the funding for a real NASCAR program.

Having driven for Carl Edwards' USAC team in years past, Santos now has a golden opportunity for Turkey Night: he will be driving for his friend, Tony Stewart, in the Tony Stewart Racing midget. Do not count this kid out. I could talk for hours about the races I've watched him in. He is leagues above all the guys I've ever seen race at my local short track, or guys I've raced karts with. I can recall him starting dead last and charging to first place and the win with some really bold overtakes in a 25-lap race that must have had about 25 cars in it. He's a lot of fun to watch and he's a great guy. Plus he's from my hometown.

Drivers who have come from USAC and are presently racing?

Presently at the Sprint Cup level, guys like Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, and Kasey Kahne. In IndyCar? Ed Carpenter for one. Even in Italian Formula 3, Michael Lewis, winner at Monza and a wet Spa, started in USAC. You'll find many more through history, too. It is American racing.

Conclusion: WATCH IT. IT'S GOING TO BE AWESOME. MIDGET RACING IS FANTASTIC.

[Massa 0]

One thing I like to do in the off-season is watch early 2000s NASCAR races. You pick up on a lot of things you didn't watching them live, especially when you, like me, were 10-and-under during those years. Plus, there are plenty of races (particularly what is now Nationwide and Truck) that I missed so I get to see them for the first time.

Two things I'll point out today:

1) In pre-taping for the 2000 race at Martinsville, Bill Weber does his piece on the late Alan Kulwicki's great comeback in 1992 in reference to Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett, and Jeff Burton, who were far behind Bobby Labonte in the standings but still eligible to win the title. As it happens, there were rumors that Kulwicki was homosexual, and I suspect Weber was aware of these, as he made the ultimate Freudian slip: "For these three driver, their Martinsville mission is queer...mission is clear." Great stuff. Where's Weber now, as a footnote? Fired from broadcasting after an incident in a hotel, Weber is now a magician in Florida.

2) The 2001 fall race at Dover was NASCAR's first since the attacks of September 11 canceled that weekend's race in Loudon, New Hampshire, which was run as the season finale in late November (very cold). The coverage showed something that didn't surprise me, but was still really cool to see. In the drivers' meeting, Bobby Labonte, one of the more reserved NASCAR drivers, went up to the front, asked everyone to stand, led them in the Pledge of Allegiance, thanked them, and sat back down. Labonte has always been my favorite Sprint Cup driver, and there was something just really cool about that quiet leadership, which has always characterized him. Just so cool to see him do that. Pure class act and I hate that he's just not competitive anymore. So many people who started watching NASCAR in recent years will never know the days when he won the 2000 championship, and was a weekly threat for race wins. And he was damn consistent: he didn't retire from any of the thirty-four races in his title-winning season. Also the only driver to win the Cup and Nationwide titles in his career, and even if someone else does it, there would need to be an asterisk in that guys like Carl Edwards won their titles when they were already full-time Cup drivers with massive teams, while Labonte was actually a young talent back in 1991 driving for his small family team when he won. But above all, the guy has so much character out-of-the-spotlight, and this footage really sticks with me.

[Massa 0]

If you go to around 6:28 you'll see why I posted this but you should watch the whole thing anyway.

[Massa 0]

The race is streaming live right now. The sprint car race got off to a tough start with cars spinning. I believe three cars flipped over. Red flag. Points leader Audra Sasselli (yes, a girl is leading the points, the horror) involved. Cody Gerhardt's car is still on its roof on the front stretch; extraction continues. Hope all is well there.

http://www.usacracing.com/usac_live

[Grabthaw the Hammerslayer 4]

The IZOD IndyCar Series will race on a new 3.87-mile street cirucit in Qingdao, China next season.

Thanks for the updates Eric, do read them. Strangely perhaps for you I quite enjoy IndyCar.... I particularly like the ovals (and I never thought I would say that).

And Dario has a hot missus.

Shame Indycar has not extended its reach much in UK - if you asked Joe Public they would not even know who Dario was, let alone see an IndyCar race, which is tucked away on a pay-channel on satellite with some truly grim commentators with no personality. Briefly when our Nige went over there it got onto one of the main terrestial channels, but even then was edited highlights.

Good job we have the glorious Internet and its downloadable torrents...!

Tell me Eric, where do you get most of your info from? - never really found a good IndyCar news site.

[Massa 0]

You're absolutely correct that finding a good IndyCar site isn't easy. Most of my information comes from Trackforum. It's not a pleasant forum to post on because it's just a lot of re-hashing split politics and so much "us v. them" with ovals v. street courses, or Americans v. foreigners, or whatever it is. But there are a lot of well-connected people who share good information that's often accurate, so I just dig through those threads to get the news and the paddock talk.

Marshall Pruett's articles for speedtv.com are pretty quality as far as the talk/rumors go, and the technical stuff.

Robin Miller and Curt Cavin also put some information out at speedtv.com and indystar.com. Hit or miss, and Miller's comes in small bits surrounded by a few pages of agenda, and Cavin just does fan Q&A with decent information but not much passion.

Beyond that, there's just not much out there. IndyCar really don't do a good job with their own site. I'd love for there to be a site for IndyCar similar to what Jayski.com is for NASCAR; it just aggregates every piece news and every rumor out there in one place.

[Massa 0]

Speaking of rumors, apparently Newman/Haas' drivers aren't as locked up as they had been at one point. I don't want to speculate but I do wonder if the events of Las Vegas have made some sponsors that were ready to return for 2012 want to rethink. Hinchcliffe is apparently in jeopardy of losing his seat based on funding, and with Sprott being in financial services, where you don't want to be associated with high-risk image, you have to wonder even if wondering isn't very professional.

Servià and Telemundo are no sure thing either, or at least not at N/H even if Telemundo remains as they said they would in the summer. I know A.J. Foyt has talked with Servià, as well as Wilson, Baguette, and Conway.

Tagliani is really a lock at Bryan Herta Autosport with Lotus engines. He's a bit upset about how Sam Schmidt runs his team, but while I'm a big Tagliani guy, I think it's just best to leave that as water under the bridge and go on with the 2012 program. Fact is, had Sam not bought the team, Tagliani wouldn't have had a 2011 season to complain about. I know Tagliani wanted the team run the way he built it to be run and I respect that, but you can't have it both ways if you sell the team to someone.

[Massa 0]

Newman/Haas Racing has closed. Has been talked about for years given Haas' health, Newman's death, and their inability to attract a long-term buyer. Oriol Servià, Telemundo, and Honda had been confirmed this summer; when it turned out they didn't have an engine deal, and Servià was talking to other teams, something seemed to be up. James Hinchcliffe is also without a ride now, and some great staff, too. Not sure if Telemundo or Sprott are still backing their respective drivers, but both will need to come up with money to stay on the grid. Servià finished fourth last year; highest non-Penske non-Ganassi driver, actually beating two of the Penskes and the two Ganassi juniors. He is, by far, the steadiest driver in the series (won an Indy Lights title with zero wins), and gives such great feedback. Someone has to hire him. Hinchcliffe is a good personality and a solid talent. I'd like for him to get a second year, but it's difficult.

Josef Newgarden is expected to join Sarah Fisher Racing full-time in 2012.

Brian Barnhart has been removed from race control. He will oversee things like getting the haulers to the right places on-time and what is served to Robin Miller at the media buffet. Currently, Tony Cotman is the only person left in race control. They should fire him, too, in my opinion, but they won't. Rumored replacements include Beaux Barfield, who does race control for American Le Mans.

Also released was Terry Angstadt, president of marketing. His job became vaguely worthless with Randy Bernard as CEO, though he was replaced by someone whose name I don't recall. Angstadt was nicknamed "Talkin' Terry." He always said "big news coming" and then...nothing. He did help the sport land IZOD and get new races in Brazil and China, which is positive.

They now need to rid themselves of Kevin Blanch. He's part of the tech inspection process and for years he has let Penske, Ganassi, and others use cars that weren't fully legal in IndyCar and Sam Schmidt in Indy Lights. One guy he exempted? Tony George, the man who hired him in the first place. Vision Racing was using illegal cars, but never once received a penalty. George actually fired chief engineer Larry Curry from the team, saying that he would not employ people who were making the cars illegal, but in doing so, he did less to preserve his team's integrity and more to completely damage the sport's, making it known they were getting away with it prior to Curry's release. Bernard says he wants more transparent rules and rules enforcement with the 2012 car. Blanch will not do that for them.

The 2012 car is struggling mightily to reach high speeds on bigger ovals. Everyone's bitching about that. Honestly, I think it's a good thing. The cars are topping at about 218 at Indy, and then need to brake into the corners because the car's a bit of a pig. In my opinion, this would safely eliminate pack racing. I know everyone wants the cars to go 1,000,000 mph on the straights and then brake into the corners, but that's just going to kill drivers in single car wrecks rather than fifteen-car wrecks. Yes, doing low 200s and then braking because the car handles poorly does make IndyCar a carbon copy of NASCAR, but...if they want to run NASCAR's ovals...

Jimmy Vasser and Jimmie Johnson: http://i41.tinypic.com/2euto55.jpg

The paper says: https://p.twimg.com/Afpj-grCQAEqa0B.jpg

So drunk, in fact, their names became 'Jimme Johnson" and "Jimmy Vassee." I expect this document to hold up in a court of law.

Also Johnson doesn't have his wife's approval to run open-wheel races, and has asked before. He especially won't have it now after LVMS, and he especially won't have it after he himself said Indy shouldn't run speedways anymore for safety reasons...

Proposed 7/8-mile oval (think Iowa Speedway) in Minnesota: http://rejblog.com/2011/11/30/racetrack-could-mean-big-changes-to-small-minnesota-community/

I doubt it gets built. Nothing gets built. But we do need more short tracks, for both NASCAR and IndyCar if they choose to continue with ovals.

The unreliable source of Sports Illustrated reports Roger Penske is considering firing Kurt Busch. Busch is seeing a sports psychologist after this, which he was fined $50,000 for:

But that's nothing new.

And countless others. I don't think Penske will actually fire him. Penske's soft.

David Reutimann allegedly had a sponsor to run a fourth car at Richard Childress next year. Rumor has it, that sponsor fell through.

[Massa 0]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand remember those Kurt Busch videos...well he's been released from Penske Racing.

Don't be quick to credit that softy Roger, though. It was the decision of sponsor Pennzoil and their parent Shell.

Though I doubt it helped his case much that no respectable crew chief was particularly willing to go to the 22 car to take Busch's abuse after many have already left him, including this year's crew chief Steve Addington who takes the reigns for Tony Stewart's team in 2012.

Possible replacements include:

Sam Hornish, Jr.: a failure in Cup, now with a Nationwide win.

David Ragan: a failure in Cup, now with a Cup win.

David Reutimann: a failure in Cup, now with two Cup wins.

Brian Vickers: a failure in Cup, now with two Cup wins. Also a very not-so-Penske personality and style.

Brian Keselowski: Brad's brother. Not very marketable, but sufficiently underrated.

Casey Mears: a failure in Cup, now with a Cup win, and a contract to race for Germain next year. But if he's smart he made his contract strong enough to have job security and weak enough he was ready for an opportunity like this.

Landon Cassill: the only logical choice, also the one not being considered.

Kurt Busch won the 2004 championship after the lapped vehicle of Joe Nemechek screwed Jeff Gordon over in the final race. As such, he has the use of six past champions' provisional starting positions, meaning that if he were to fail to qualify six or less times in one season, he would actually start the race from forty-third, bumping out the slowest entrant outside of the top thirty-five in owner points who had previously been in the field. This makes him a valuable asset to any of the teams outside of the top thirty-five...

...but why a guy who has twenty-four race wins would want them as much as they would want him (what do they care? They have no sponsors to worry about), I do not know. I also doubt they can pay him.

Which means we may have just one singular Busch in Cup next year...

[Massa 0]

David Ragan has left Roush-Fenway Racing in pursuit of the now vacant ride at Penske. I have one word for if Ragan gets the seat: lame.

The guy has done what, exactly?

Oh right been useless in Roush equipment for years. Most notable for making an utter fool of himself at Martinsville and facing the wrath of Tony Stewart at the start of his career, and more recently, for totally blowing the Daytona 500 and being mediocre to the point UPS gave up and left the team, taking another major sponsor off the cars and into NASCAR corporate solely as the Official Whatever of the sport.

Yes, I support a lot of mediocre drivers, but if any of them got the seat at Penske, happy as I'd be for them, I'd be dissatisfied.

I'm sure their logic is that they know what they get with Ragan. But it ain't much. He didn't exactly "deliver" for big-money UPS and big-time Roush-Fenway.

I'd rather see Penske take a gamble on a young driver with something to prove, like Landon Cassill, or even someone more out there than that. I know that we're in an awkward time when there are so many great young drivers, but none are ready for Cup, or they are already signed to other teams in long-term deals, so there aren't many drivers from whom to choose. But there has to be something better than Ragan or David Reutimann or whomever else can step into that car and underwhelm Pennzoil/Shell out of the sport next.

Take the guy who eventually took Keselowski's pre-Penske ride: Landon Cassill. If not him, why not Stephen Leicht? Former Penske Nationwide driver Justin Allgaier perhaps? You have to go with the guy who has potential to develop into a really solid talent over the guy who has no chance of ever amounting to much more than an 18th place kind of guy.

I know a young driver can be a disaster. But I do remind Penske of the guy he took a chance on, Brad Keselowski, and how good he turned out with some patience. I also remind Penske of the guy he had in that car before Keselowski: another of many unimpressive Davids, Mr. Stremme. They certainly got what they knew they'd get from him: jack****.

It wouldn't be any different with Ragan.

[Massa 0]

IndyCar will not race at Las Vegas in 2012. Texas is still to be confirmed.

The new car is unbalanced, slower on ovals, blah, blah, blah. My only complaint is it's ****ing ugly. I'm glad it's unbalanced. They're slower because they're braking. Which will make the oval racing a ****-ton better. I know everyone wants to go 250 mph on the straights and then brake to avoid pack racing, but that's how drivers get killed in single-car wrecks. If they're only hitting 215 on the straights and still braking, that's the right way to do it.

I put this together. Can do for NASCAR and/or ALMS if there's any interest; if not, won't waste time.

Forgot to include James Davison as a possibility for the fourth AA car, and Giorgio Pantano as a candidate for one of the Dreyer & Reinbold cars. Neither have much of a chance, though.

[HandyNZL 1]

I hope Sato gets a ride...he was starting to make headway alongside TK. I think TK taught them how to set up those Lotus-alikes properly over the course of the season.

[HandyNZL 1]

A big bonus this year is that the cars are new, the engines are varied, and they will take the better half of the first season to start making headway. Expect the big teams near the front, but as there is a split in the engines....who knows who will be at the front.

[Massa 0]

I don't expect the big teams up front.

I expect the Lotus engine, being 45 lbs underweight, to be up front.

Weight distribution is seriously messed up on the new car given the 30-lb rear bumper that having ballast over engine weight is going to be such a huge advantage.

It may be wishful thinking because I want a full grid reversal (and Tagliani on top), but it's also the general consensus of a handful of insiders that the Lotus is going to be the one to beat right now...

...but it's also the only one that hasn't been on track so for all we know it's a grenade.

[HandyNZL 1]

Look, we don't wan't to know about your sexual preference for Tagliani on top...we want to know what you think of the motorsport

Generally speaking, a lighter engine is closer to a grenade than a heavy one.

Are Indy allowed to have any engine material they like? Or is it prescribed like F1? I've never seen either way from anything I have read.