Racing Of The United States Variety

[HandyNZL 1]

Of course they have to change the rule otherwise everyone has to adhere to the rules and drop ten grid slots and rules have never been made for adherence, so lets change the rule so there is no rule to adhere to. Makes perfect redneck sense to me....

[Massa 0]

14 cars with engine penalties: 11 Chevrolet, then the three Lotus engines for Bourdais, Servià, and Legge.

Grid projection:

1. Pagenaud

2. Dixon

3. Honda 3

4. Honda 4

5. Honda 5

6. Honda 6

7. Honda 7

8. Honda 8

9. Honda 9

10. Honda 10

11. Chevrolet 1

12. Chevrolet 2

13. Chevrolet 3

14. Chevrolet 4

15. Tagliani

16. Chevrolet 5

17. Chevrolet 6

18. Chevrolet 7

19. Chevrolet 8

20. Chevrolet 9

21. De Silvestro

22. Chevrolet 10

23. Bourdais

24. Servià

25. Carpenter

26. Legge

Weird.

[Massa 0]

ALMS tonight at 7:30 PM ET. Live on ESPN2, ESPN3, and on alms.com for international audiences.

Qualifying was red flagged for intense rain after the GTC cars qualified, so the session was canceled and they will line up by points (ALMS races, qualifies, and practices in the rain, but it was way too heavy). No rain scheduled for the race (4:30 PM local time) today.

That means we have the Dyson 16 and Pickett Racing 6 on the front row, third P1 is the Dyson 20. Then fourth through seventh are P2 cars, flanked on both sides by Level 5 Motorsports with Black Swan's entry (Pappas and Bleekemolen) fifth overall and Conquest sixth overall with their new Nissan engine and new driver David Heinemeier Hansson (joining Martin Plowman). Then the PC cars led by Alex Popow and Ryan Dalziel for CORE, with GT leaders Hand and Müller rolling off sixteenth overall. Six GTC cars at the end of the field.

[Massa 0]

The Chili Bowl midget race is being televised nationally on network TV for the first time ever. It's a few months late but this afternoon, 2 PM ET, on CBS. Try to find a stream. Midgets racing on dirt (sort of like sprint cars, but no wings). Definitely going to tune in during commercials of NHL playoff hockey this afternoon.

[Massa 0]

Really enjoyed the Chili Bowl on CBS. Here's a video of the highlights. How can you not be so impressed with this kind of racing? Turning right and left and wheel-hopping and just working their ***es off. Tony Stewart could only manage tenth! These Kevin Swindell and Kyle Larson and Swanson and Armstrong guys...they're the next stars of auto racing, no question.

Huge kudos to CBS for televising this. A lot of fun and New Zealander Michael Pickens was there, too. I remember him from Roush Racing's driver search a few years ago; it was a reality TV show and they were testing Trucks and the winner got a Roush deal. Pickens was eliminated in the first round; I believe Danny O'Quinn won.

Watched Nationwide last night, had Track Pass for free (you can listen to all 43 drivers, as well as the officials channel...free access to radios, so cool). Danica talks a lot, Blake Koch doesn't swear, Johanna Long needs her spotter to tell her how to drive, etc. Good fun.

Anyway, watch Danica's charge at the end of the race, beat both of her teammates...she was really, really driving. A lot of progress being made. It's the video that plays automatically at http://www.nascar.com/video/ for now called Final Laps. No direct link, but just watch Danica's driving. I was impressed.

That's all I have for you guys, check back tonight after I watch ALMS, it's hockey time.

[Massa 0]

Well nevermind the ALMS. Hockey's gone into a double overtime now...I can't take anymore TV today...the one ALMS race they actually show live in the U.S. and I miss it. Waaaah.

[Massa 0]

Félix Serralles in Monza for British F3.

Won the pole for race one. The entire field started on slicks. They came in for wet tires on the first lap. Serralles' team botched the stop and he came out tenth. He didn't recover. I didn't see the race but I'm disappointed he didn't have the drive to get at least one spot, unless his stop set him so far back it was impossible.

Anyway, Serralles goes from second for the third race, hopefully another third race win for him.

[Massa 0]

Félix Serralles recovers! Win in the second race, second in the third race! Serralles is now second in the standings behind the highly-rated and Red Bull-backed Carlos Sainz, Jr. Now we just need the third American in F3, Michael Lewis, to win a race and all three will have done so. Also have Conor Daly in GP3 (and Ethan Ringel, but while Daly has a shot, Ringel does not) and Alex Rossi in WSR (struggling with the new car in testing, it seems, part of which may be his downgrade to Arden Caterham due to his Caterham deal from last year; he is, at least, way ahead of his teammate so far; Jake Rosenzweig is also in WSR as I've mentioned but again, no shot).

Nelson Piquet, Jr. is leading the field to green at Rockingham this afternoon. Race is live now, have it on as background noise. It's great to see NASCAR back at a great track; shame it is apparently too far from anything to get good attendance.

Kasey Kahne is in this race. He has won three of the four Truck races he has run. Finished second in the other.

[Massa 0]

Racing season opens today in Thompson, CT. One of my local tracks. Whelen Modifieds coming up. Ryan Preece on pole. Bobby Santos third. You know who I'm pulling for. Short tracks are awesome, Modifieds are awesome.

Here are the Mods at Thompson in October:

I've seen the Mods a few times in person, it's incredible.

Haven't been watching the CWTS stuff today, but apparently Piquet got a controversial penalty. Dominated the race all day. Got a "speeding on pit exit" penalty. Problem being Piquet has the first pit stall, which means the exit line is right at the front of his pit box...meaning it's physically impossible for him to have accelerated to a speed over the threshold in the few feet between his Truck and the line. Didn't see it but I suspect he got screwed. NASCAR HATES FOREIGNERS ETC.

True story: Montoya did not get screwed at Indy.

[Massa 0]

This is 99% light-hearted, 1% a commentary on how much IndyCar is struggling. Josef Newgarden interviews people about Josef Newgarden:

[JHS18 0]

Thanks for sharing that Eric - that was pretty funny and pretty tragic all at the same time. Good that he took it the right way though - guess a lot of racing drivers could have had a "how can you not know who I am?" moment in that.

I actually really enjoyed the Indycar race yesterday. Good finish between Power and Pagenaud - and happy for Hinchcliffe's first podium, even if it did come at the expense of Sato and Hunter-Reay.

[Massa 0]

At the same time, a lot of people go to street races for the party atmosphere and couldn't tell you the difference between the IndyCar race, the ALMS race, the Indy Lights race, or the Toyota Celebrity/Pro race in Scion TCs. Just having people 1) attending an Indy race (and presumably that was filmed on a practice day), 2) knowing who Dario Franchitti was, and 3) sober enough to put a coherent sentence together, that's pretty positive for that series.

How did Power win? Didn't he have a grid penalty? I honestly hadn't even seen the results yet. Haven't watched a single lap of IndyCar racing this year. I usually latch onto one or two series each season and get really into it. This year it's mostly been F1 and ALMS. Last year NASCAR and IndyCar. Just haven't really had it in me to get interested in Indy this year; usually by April I'm absolutely stoked about the Indy 500 and this year I'm not the least bit concerned.

But I don't matter.

What matters is that someone's enjoying IndyCar, because even if I really want a lot of things to change, those things don't change when the sport isn't healthy because they can't be changed. So getting American open-wheel in good health is something I want to see, even if it's something I am not contributing to in any way.

[Massa 0]

Just venting a little frustration. It's totally unrelated to anything or anyone here, which is why I kept it wrapped in spoiler tags.

I see on other forums, all the time, how Danica is terrible and awful and the worst person and driver in the history of the world, while Johanna Long is a "real racer." Key claim: Patrick used her looks to get here, Long used her talent.

1) Long is more attractive in my personal opinion than Patrick, and in many others' opinions, so...I'm not really sure how a 4'11" essentially rectangular individual uses her looks to advance. Does this matter? Not at all. Even if either or both or neither driver used looks, who cares? They're on the track, they got licenses, they're doing a fine job.

2) Long was getting coaching all night in Texas. "Run here, run there, do this, don't do that." Same kind of coaching people were faulting Patrick for at the start of her career in NASCAR. But guess what? I listened to Patrick's radio too and she wasn't being coached at all! It was like a normal driver, though she admittedly talks a lot about nothing during caution periods which is very unique. For the record, one of the biggest problems facing Simona de Silvestro in Indy, other than equipment, has been that her engineers have to spend more time telling her how to drive than getting feedback to setup the car. Guess what? A lot of young, inexperienced drivers are in the same boat, just as Patrick was, just as Long is now, just as male drivers are or have been! Why does it seem like the women drivers are the only ones getting driving help? It could be because they're more open to asking questions about their driving and being told how...ever see a man read an instruction manual? Of course that could be complete crap, and it is complete crap, because there are driving coaches all around the paddock.

3) That's the other thing...why do we have to always compare the females to the females? They're out there on track with all the other drivers, compare them to all the other drivers, and you find both Patrick and Long are pretty typical stock car drivers who have shown flashes of excellence at times. Long has won stock car races on lower levels; Patrick has been a regular front-runner at the Indianapolis 500 for years which is no small accomplishment even if it doesn't translate massively to stock car success. They both are allowed to be out there, they both should be out there, they both have to learn, and what they accomplish relative to the entire field will always count for more than what they accomplish relative to each other.

4) Is Patrick really a b****? No, she's a racing driver, an egocentric, competition-driven racing driver, just like all the men we idolize as racing heroes! It's just that when a woman is over-competitive, she's a b**** who needs to be put in her place, when a guy does it, he's passionate and cares about the sport, when Vettel does it, he's a little crybaby spoiled brat. I'm just saying.

Alright, that wasn't in response to anyone or anything here, but I just needed to make that post because I am so sick of reading trashy crap about Danica Patrick and Johanna Long and Simona de Silvestro and anyone else. They're mediocre drivers with varying levels of potential who could improve, just like a Timmy Hill in NASCAR or a Josef Newgarden in Indy, not sure why we fault them for trying to be better drivers, though to be fair I don't know their Skip Barber records off-hand.

[Massa 0]

So I guess Graham Rahal made a comment about Marco Andretti during the race broadcast, saying "What's his last name?" to prove a point that he was driving too aggressively or recklessly or whatever.

Anyway, Mario Andretti goes on Twitter and asks Graham "What's your problem with me?"

Twitter war will ensue.

Here's my thing: take your p****-*** Twitter **** and why don't you go talk about it like men in the paddock, maybe throw a punch or two. I'm no A.J. Foyt homer over here but my gosh could you ever imagine A.J. Foyt settling a dispute on freaking Twitter?

What clowns. Despite hiding from the IRS, that freaking criminal Fidel Castroneves at least doesn't try to hide from anyone else and will go have a scrap if he has to, Kanaan and Hornish went at it but one of them was a pansy with his helmet on and the other was a pansy hiding behind his father. My point is the only driver who ever seemed okay to get into it was Danica Patrick. Scrotum full of neutrals, these guys...

...and I say that all from the comfort of my computer instead of to their faces. I appreciate, at the very least, irony.

[HandyNZL 1]

lol

[JHS18 0]

At the same time, a lot of people go to street races for the party atmosphere and couldn't tell you the difference between the IndyCar race, the ALMS race, the Indy Lights race, or the Toyota Celebrity/Pro race in Scion TCs. Just having people 1) attending an Indy race (and presumably that was filmed on a practice day), 2) knowing who Dario Franchitti was, and 3) sober enough to put a coherent sentence together, that's pretty positive for that series.

How did Power win? Didn't he have a grid penalty? I honestly hadn't even seen the results yet. Haven't watched a single lap of IndyCar racing this year. I usually latch onto one or two series each season and get really into it. This year it's mostly been F1 and ALMS. Last year NASCAR and IndyCar. Just haven't really had it in me to get interested in Indy this year; usually by April I'm absolutely stoked about the Indy 500 and this year I'm not the least bit concerned.

I have to say, I found the clips of the Toyota Celebrity race comedy gold. I've never seen someone actually HIT a hairpin before. That takes talent. Wait, I don't mean talent, do I?

He did have a penalty, but lots happened. I found it enjoyable anyway.

Just a quick question for you. What did you think to the Rahal/Andretti crash? I thought the whole point of the rear bumpers was to stop cars from taking off. But on the basis of this, they seemingly don't work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCBvDvm-g5s&feature=g-all-u&context=G2101e3aFAAAAAAAAFAA

[Massa 0]

Well...

1) I'm not going to comment on the design of the DW12. I've hated the design from day one, I still hate the design, I think they absolutely blew it. I can't talk about it without bias. I'm obviously going to tell you the entire thing is a failure and Lola and Swift had better, more innovative ideas that could have really helped IndyCar appeal to racing enthusiasts. The real cause of concern has been ovals and I'm not sure that anything barring a full-bodied car is going to stop an IndyCar going up over the tires if it ***-ends another car at speed. Of course they're going to a lot slower on speedways this year and the cars are having serious handling issues, particularly running close to other cars, so I don't expect pack racing, which is the real problem, not the fact cars can get airborne. You have no time to react in pack racing and way too much chance of huge wrecks. The trade-off, of course, is that the cars' handling is going to make it very hard to make a pass (not that there ever was passing on the 1.5-mile ovals; side-by-side isn't passing, it's just a crazier form of single-file).

2) The new "one-move" rule in IndyCar doesn't say anything about a "bad move." To be honest I doubt you can see **** in your mirrors, and since you are allowed to make one blocking move but not a second, there's really nothing I could find Rahal to be in the wrong for under the IndyCar rulebook as it is written. Outside of the rulebook, I personally do not believe in penalizing anything that's self-policing. If your move takes you out of contention (which it did), you don't need to be penalized in my opinion. A move that violates the rules as they are written and takes the other driver out but not oneself, that's a penalty. So no, I wouldn't penalize Rahal, and I don't think he was in the wrong to make his one move. I doubt he was expecting the straight-line speed of the Chevrolet and didn't realize Andretti would be alongside so quickly.

Andretti's obviously completely innocent in all that from what I see. He has every right to pass a slower car, Rahal has every right to make one blocking move, they just both were doing the same move at the same time and it caused a wreck. Not exactly something that's never happened before, especially IndyCar on a street course.

[Massa 0]

Beaux Barfield is considering action against Graham Rahal now. Barfield and Bernard have a huge problem: they are so easily swayed but so many different people to change decisions they already made. Race control either responds immediately or doesn't respond at all. At least when the FIA review an incident, they say right after the incident it will be reviewed, even if the penalty cannot be enacted before the race's completion. I don't believe Rahal deserves a penalty, but that's not the issue: the issue is if he deserves a penalty, review the incident then and there, don't wait for people to tell you on Twitter and some team owners to talk to you privately a few days later to change your mind. Just like Bernard has done so many times, playing the "well I'm not a racing guy" card as an excuse to just let Penske and Ganassi battle for his attention. You run a sport, you make decisions, you stand by the decisions, if the decisions are right, cool, if they are wrong, you admit they are wrong but you do not change them and instead go forward hoping to not make wrong decisions again. Amateurs.

You know, I need to just stop reading IndyCar news. I'm creating a separate thread for all American racing that isn't IndyCar and you will not discuss protests in Bahrain there either!

No, but seriously, I have to stop reading IndyCar news, I'm going to add it as a filter in Firefox to block all IndyCar content because I lack self-control (mostly because I just want to find some piece of news that will make me say "hey you know I should watch the race!" and I never do).

[HandyNZL 1]

Looks more like to me, that Andretti's front wheel hit the side of Rahal's rear tyre, thus literally getting him around the bumber-anti-catapult-thing.

In other words, just one of those things.

And even if that wasn't what happened, then the bumper probably still did it's job in absorbing some energy first, thus the take off speed would have been slower (albeit by not all that much, but small percentages can mean life and death).

I'm not sure if the idea of the bumper is to completely stop catapults or if the idea was to absorb and slow the following cars energy...much like the crush box in the nose cone does when one hits the armco.

[Massa 0]

Would this, in your opinion, do the job that IndyCar is trying to do?

I realize it makes no difference whatsoever because it wasn't selected. I'm just wondering if it would be realistic to have something that is 1) effective at lessening the consequences of wheel-to-wheel contact and 2) not so terrible for the car's balance as the heavy rear bumper has been?

[Massa 0]

Unfortunately I can't avoid Twitter, so I got these two tidbits:

1) Wade Cunningham is running for Foyt at Indy. One of 34 entries. They did it. Sorry, Katherine, you've failed to qualify. I guess Ed Carpenter and Sarah Fisher are bringing surprise second entries; no driver or funding yet for ECR but SFHR have Bryan Clauson. That's really cool. Clauson's a USAC guy, ran NASCAR and was probably the most promising young driver there, lost funding, back to USAC, then Indy Lights, still in USAC this year, splitting a ride with Bobby Santos this year at RW Motorsports.

2) Two Lotus teams are petitioning. Breach of contract on Lotus' part, they say. Trying to get Honda/Chevrolet engines, perhaps after Indy with a heightened supply for the race. Seems Bryan Herta Autosport is one of those teams. Gosh I hope so. You know, I might care a little more if Tagliani, Servià, and Bourdais ran well.

[Massa 0]

Lotus have parted ways with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (Oriol Servià) and Bryan Herta Autosport (Alex Tagliani). Neither team will be at Brazil.

Both teams intend to return for the Indianapolis 500 with either Chevrolet or Honda. I don't know what happens after Indy.

Ed Carpenter Racing have withdrawn their second car. The Indy 500 entry list is now at exactly 33. Jay Howard and Michael Shank Racing do not have an engine but are trying to become the 34th. Engine contracts were supposed to be signed last week for Indy. I guess he figures if D&RR and BHA are getting last-minute deals, MSR Indy can, too. We'll see.

I still expect, maybe just out of cynicism, Newman/Haas to withdraw Jean Alesi's entry.

I'm not sure if I'm excited for the 500 or not. By this time I normally would be ecstatic. I will be glad to see Servià and Tagliani with real engines.

[HandyNZL 1]

The Alesi thing intrigues me.

Must be a bucket list thing for him, perhaps?

[Massa 0]

The Alesi thing scares me. The DW12 should be a safer car, but gosh, I really don't think someone's first oval race should be at Indy, that's just terrifying because this track really takes something to drive and the DW12 is apparently a massive ***** around IMS balance-wise. It's not a knock on Alesi's talent or accomplishments at all. Seems like a nice guy, too. I just don't want someone at his age, out of a car for so long, strapping in and trying to do something that's very unknown to him and to everyone. And that doesn't mean I believe everyone else entered at the Indy 500 belongs there, because a lot of them scare me, too.

There used to be a rule about running some number of USAC races before being eligible to run in the Indy 500. A good modern era adaptation of that would to log either some number of Indy Lights oval races combined with testing for x miles an IndyCar on an oval OR to be approved for and run a complete (no retirement) oval race in IndyCar outside of the 500.

Of course you can't do that because then they'd never get thirty-three drivers with funding eligible. But they really should. Maybe they should make the Indy 500 invitation-only, and let me do the inviting. That would be pleasant.

[Massa 0]

Oh, and, Luca Fillippi (or Filippi, I forget)...not running the Indy 500.

Michel Jourdain, Jr. with Office Depot (Mexican branch) backing in the #30 car for RLL Racing confirmed now.

Not sure what the plans are for the 30 after Indy. They intended to run the rest of the season with that Luca guy but if they funding isn't there they won't. Could have just been not wanting Luca to debut at Indy, since Jourdain has won some oval races in the CART days and raced plenty more. Also did the Indy 500 when he was a lot younger than he is now.