Racing Of The United States Variety

[JHS18 0]

I'm sure that makes Eric feel like his duty as a TF1 moderator is complete. 298 posts and he managed to convince someone else to watch it. Give that man a medal for err...services to...the Indy 500!

[Massa 0]

I have no idea how you figured out I made 298 posts but I like to pretend you sat there counting one at a time.

Glad you watched and enjoyed it, The Shadow, one of the best Indy races they've ever run.

[Massa 0]

Barfield holding the caution for "the show" is no different than when they had power-to-pass for "the show" or double-file restarts for "the show" or that rule where lapped traffic gets moved to the back on restarts with fewer than twenty to go for "the show." I am now consoled and at peace with it.

Bryan Clauson is promoting the Milwaukee Indy race with Josef Newgarden. I figure you don't send a driver who isn't in the race to go promote so stay tuned.

Dragon only has one Chevrolet engine, for Katherine Legge. They are still working on securing the 7 car for Sébastien Bourdais.

[JHS18 0]

I have no idea how you figured out I made 298 posts but I like to pretend you sat there counting one at a time.

Glad you watched and enjoyed it, The Shadow, one of the best Indy races they've ever run.

The more you know...

[Massa 0]

In figuring out how to do that (I did), I realized that I have a Flag As Spammer button now. Good stuff.

There won't be an Indy 500 next year. Just an Indianapolis 5U0.

That's a really horrid logo. I think they confused 97^th running with 1997...

I know Indy's getting old but replacing the wheel in the wing-and-wheel with a cane is a bit insulting to her.

[Massa 0]

Dario Franchitti only got $2,474,280 for winning the Indianapolis 500. Dan Wheldon earned $2,567,255 last year.

Overall purse was $13,285,815 this year. Last year? $13,509,485.

A huge drop? No. But the first drop in purse I can ever remember and that's not a good sign for the health of the Speedway.

Rubens Barrichello won the Rookie of the Year award. The award does favor race performance, but it takes the entire month of May into consideration (the highest-finishing rookie in the race does not get it by default, and plenty of times hasn't won it). Congratulations to Rubens on that.

That should do it for the lingering Indy 500 stuff, I suspect...

Oh, fine. One more thing. Japanese commentators. Biased commentary is the worst (to be fair I don't know what they're saying exactly ) but I do feel bad. The first Japanese driver debuted at Indy in 1991. Takuma Sato has brought Japan a long way at Indy; first time a Japanese driver ever contended. Outside of that, it's entertaining in a strange way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOpd109HWCg

And no matter what language, that move on Dixon...beauty. I could watch it all day.

[JHS18 0]

Damn, I was about to post the exact same thing.

It sounds like the guy has constipation when Sato passes Dixon...disturbing.

I love Japanese people. They're amusing.

[Massa 0]

Robin Miller says the "Chevrolet owners" (assuming he means Roger Penske and John Barnes) are trying to push out Randy Bernard. Link as soon as this hits print media. He said it on the radio.

Keep in mind:

1) Robin Miller is Robin Miller.

2) It's the time of year when we always get a "the Speedway is for sale" and "Tony George is coming back into power" rumor from Robin or someone similar.

Anyway, it's a real shame that there's discontent among the owners over their own personal choices. Randy Bernard hasn't done everything the way I'd want to see it done, but he's done a hell of a lot of good.

[Massa 0]

Alright guys...

Robin Miller says that Will Power apparently said he heard Randy was on the way out and was upset because Power likes Bernard. Of course, Power's owner doesn't.

I don't want to say anything bad about Roger Penske. I don't believe self-interest or "greed" are bad things. But it seems to me that if Will Power, the driver, is supporting Randy Bernard despite "turbogate," it can't be that big of a competition issue. Penske just wants to be in control. Penske doesn't like not being in control of the series. He controlled CART, and he controlled Tony George, and now he's lost control of Randy Bernard. It's a Penske issue. It's not a competition or series issue. If it were a real competition issue, Power would want Bernard gone, too, since Power's driving a Chevrolet.

This sport...man. It just can't seem to get anywhere. Someone I've never heard of heard Bernard was out after this year. Others say IZOD is gone, too. This sport can't get past itself (neither can the fans, and I admit to doing it myself sometimes, too). It's stuck in split politics and it's stuck in CART mode and it's just making a huge mess out of its own stupidity.

There's a fine line between protecting your team and taking down the sport such that you have nothing to field a team in. Penske plays really close to that line.

[Massa 0]

It appears to be Penske, Barnes, and perhaps Kalkhoven. It does not include Reinbold and likely not Andretti (both work closely with Bernard; Reinbold getting out of Lotus, and Andretti promoting Milwaukee and Baltimore this year). I guess we forget Ed Carpenter owns a team, too, with Derrick Walker and Tony George so that could be part of it, too.

Whatever it is, a legitimate thing or just another wild rumor, I am sick of having to deal with this after Indy every year.

It's almost as if NASCAR plants these rumors to kill the Indy 500 high.

But seriously, let's get this series together! Go go go go go go! If every race could be half of what Indy is, it'd be one hell of a series!

[Massa 0]

Statement from Randy Bernard: an owner is calling other owners trying to get him fired.

I won't speculate but I actually will speculate and say I think it's John Barnes.

Whoever it is, sharing is an interesting tactic.

[Massa 0]

Bernard says it isn't Roger Penske on Twitter.

Now this is getting silly.

Release an official statement or keep quiet. Playing a guessing game for attention on Twitter is just not something I really need to see happening.

Though I need someone trying to oust Bernard to be happening even less, I think. Augh.

[Massa 0]

Full breakdown of how much prize money everyone won in the Indy 500. No race pays more in the U.S.

http://www.gpupdate....st-of-winnings/

If you're wondering about why some people made a lot more than others who finished around them, I think, but don't quite know, that has to do with TEAM money.

[Massa 0]

Fryer on Twitter (@JennaFryer): three owners, two team managers, one former CEO, and a former¹ champion are involved.

My guess:

Owners: John Barnes, Ed Carpenter, and Kevin Kalkhoven.

Team managers: Derrick Walker (ECR) and ??? (is Jimmy Vasser a team manager?)

Former CEO: Tony George

Champion: ??? (Tony Kanaan is the only series champion in a Chevrolet...no idea what he would be mad about...)

Could be overlap, of course. Maybe Jimmy Vasser is both a manager and a past champion. Maybe George is both an owner and a former CEO.

Could it be a team manager not with a team owner protesting? Maybe Cindric? These names are all speculation.

¹ I hate this phrasing. James never use it as a journalist, okay? A "former champion" implies you were a champion but were stripped of a championship. Tomas Enge, for example, was stripped of his F3000 title so he is a former champion. He was a champion once, now he isn't. If you win a championship, you are always a champion. Give the year for a one-time champion. Two-time, three-time, four-time, etc. as needed. Never former. Past is a bit of an adventure to use, too.

[HandyNZL 1]

They really should write a book:

How to Implode a Race Series

[HandyNZL 1]

maybe they just want to be like F1 and have stupid political fluff going on...why anyone would want to try to outdo Ecclestone and co I do not know.

[JHS18 0]

¹ I hate this phrasing. James never use it as a journalist, okay? A "former champion" implies you were a champion but were stripped of a championship. Tomas Enge, for example, was stripped of his F3000 title so he is a former champion. He was a champion once, now he isn't. If you win a championship, you are always a champion. Give the year for a one-time champion. Two-time, three-time, four-time, etc. as needed. Never former. Past is a bit of an adventure to use, too.

That's incredibly ironic given how we were told at university that we should all have Twitter and that it was an essential journalistic tool.

I guess there's an emphasis on "tool" for some more than others though.

[Massa 0]

1) The more I see this Dario guy on TV the more I like him. It feels weird.

2) Back to the nonsense.

Every owner is denying it's them. But Randy Bernard and Beaux Barfield say it's true. Children, please.

Tony George wants to be back in power seems to be the consensus. How do we make him disappear?

[Massa 0]

Alright...

1) Teams are upset about Honda getting the new A/R compressor.

2) Teams are upset about the fines. In the past, there was more "flexibility" for "fixing things." However, it was stated before tech inspection that there would be harsh fines and that the rules were the rules. Team owners are just spoiled by the "old way" of doing things where illegal stuff was sent on the track and fines either didn't happen or were private (the team owners feel "embarrassed" by the public fines, but the sport needs to make them public to keep them fair and if you don't want to be embarrassed and fined don't break the rules, eh?)

3) Some (teams, the board) believe that IZOD is doing a poor job as title sponsor. They have not had much of a presence at the track or in advertising this year as they did in the past.

4) Teams are not content with Beaux Barfield. It may pertain to the fines (though that has more to do with Will Phillips and Kevin Blanch, but above all Randy Bernard for directing them to start getting serious). I'm not sure what else the problem would be with him other than he's new and new things are bad and horrible because new things help the sport get away from the past.

5) Some are oblivious to the fact that the Indianapolis 500 got higher TV ratings than the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race for the first time since maybe 2005. Note that 2005 was Danica's year at Indy, and 2012 was Danica's year in NASCAR, and the Indy 500 somehow managed higher viewership.

6) Randy Bernard said that it is not Roger Penske "calling the other team owners" but some believe that Penske is simply using John Barnes as a proxy and that Penske and Tim Cindric both support removing Randy Bernard. Penske did, however, say publicly that he made peace with Bernard and supports him.

7) The Qingdao race that isn't even confirmed at all has some upset. It may have to do with team sponsorships and what happens if that race doesn't happen. Not sure. I don't believe this is the big issue.

8) Ed Carpenter wants to direct attention away from Randy Bernard and place blame on Robin Miller. That sounds like confirmation that his team with Tony George and Derrick Walker are involved.

9) Keep in mind KV Racing is the only team with an owner (two, actually), a team manager, a former CEO, and a champion (two if you count Vasser). Not saying they have anything to do with this but if they did, Jenna Fryer's tweet would make some sense. I still think most assume the former CEO is Tony George, though, as George has voiced displeasure with Bernard and with IZOD, among other things.

[Massa 0]

The full Indianapolis 500 on YouTube:

[Massa 0]

Dragon Racing gets one Chevrolet engine. They will now be fielding one car at a time. Bourdais will drive the #7 at the road and street races. Legge will drive the #6 on ovals.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-dragon-to-split-single-entry-for-bourdais-and-legge/

I hate that we never get to see Bourdais do a real IndyCar oval race (their 500 was a super-short program). He can do ovals. One of these days a full-time ride with a good team will show up again...

But kudos to Jay Penske for at least giving Bourdais the bulk of the schedule, even though Legge has a lot more funding.

[Massa 0]

Miller says it's John Barnes, Tony George, Michael Andretti, and Mario Andretti. Kevin Kalkhoven has a "silent endorsement" of it. Roger Penske is not involved according to Miller. Others say Penske is behind-the-scenes.

http://auto-racing.s...pulsive-revolt/

Michael Andretti is promoting Milwaukee and Baltimore for Bernard. That was unexpected.

It doesn't sound like it's too bad for Bernard, though. But it's still unfortunate.

[Massa 0]

Apparently Penske started the movement, then deliberately backed off right before it got public. Penske doesn't do anything in an open curtain.

Michael Andretti is now denying everything. "NO!!!!" "There is no lynch mob!" "Sensationalism!"

So Michael Andretti is really part of it.

Speaking of Michael, the interview at 0:30-ish is hilarious.

[Massa 0]

Robin Miller's on the radio...well, commercials are on the radio, but I guess Miller talks every seven minutes.

Robin says on 1070 The Fan:

Mario Andretti has been mad at Randy Bernard since Las Vegas. Mario wanted the race to be restarted after Wheldon's accident. Bernard dismissed Mario from the room to continue the decision-making process.

This is consistent with the way John Barnes deals with people. Miller decides to go to personal attacks. Calls Barnes a "reptile" and brings up the irrelevant lawsuit with Wheldon not being paid by Panther Racing. Cool stuff, Robin, make yourself the story.

He doesn't know where it's going but says Hulman and Company (Bernard's employer) are happy. Miller says they "almost broke even last year." But wait...Bernard said they made a profit last year...uhh...

Tony's been trying to get back in...Miller's starting to sound nervous and unsure of what he's saying now.

Miller just hinted that IZOD is on the way out.

"Mario Andretti" just called Robin Miller during his interview. Now this is getting really stupid.

Miller thinks Randy Bernard will survive.

[Massa 0]

So why don't I follow drivers and teams and racing things on Twitter?

Because I think Twitter and Facebook are entirely stupid for anything other than people I actually know but have no way of contacting in real life off Twitter at certain times (i.e. people I went to high school with who go to different colleges). That's just a personal belief. Your mileage may vary to Twitter/Facebook are always stupid to Twitter/Facebook are great for everything and everyone and wonderful substitute for actually talking (they aren't...a wonderful way to build up narcissism in an endless quest for likes and RTs that then sends you out in the real world where you don't get constant validation from stupid things and you completely fail at everything...I wrote a paper about this, so I'm an expert ).

Anyway. Here's an example.

You have:

1) People denying involvement in this movement.

2) Idiot fans making really rude and immature remarks to team owners and drivers, sometimes crucifying people with no involvement at all.

3) Drivers taking the fans' bait and making themselves look stupid now.

They look like middle schoolers, both in how they run the sport and how they conduct everything publicly over Twitter. I know Robin Miller was stirring the pot making this public, but no one has handled this well now that it's in the public and they're to blame for that. There's no statement from Bernard's employer, there's no formal statement from Bernard, there's just a lot of tweets. xxxxxx

Everyone is a moron and now we all get to see a theater of stupidity. You'd almost believe, with how dumb it is, that the conspiracy is Bernard, Miller, and the Chevrolet owners are creating a fake situation to draw attention to IndyCar post-Indy and add all this huge manufactured drama to it.