Monday, October 28, 2013

INDYCAR: Paddock Blotter - October 28th edition



Otay, if Y'all are following at home, then these items may be a tad bit late; but, as I've mentioned before, I was in Indianapolis last week and thus enjoying another well deserved respite from thy A-L-L devouring keyboards of Zed 'Confuzer...

Wilson on the Mend
Justin 'B-I-G UNIT Wilson has been released from hospital in California following his nasty accident at Auto Club Speedway which for Mwah will always simply be California Speedway in Fontana, the track that Roger Penske built upon the toxic wastelands of a shuttered Kaiser Steel Mill - not to mention the site of Greg Moore's death...

As unfortunately Wilson's late race spin induced upon hitting one of those dreaded track seams caused an abundance of "Smoke On" to be called seeing the six-foot plus Brit to become the proverbial spinning top and unfortunately 'T-boned by trailing driver Tristan 'turbo Vautier's racecar with the incident causing Wilson to have his pelvis (broken) fractured in three places along with a bruised lung and ribs - while Wilson's now back home in Colorado to begin his recovery, albeit he'll be forced to not put any weight upon it for 6-8 weeks...


Sam Schmidt loses HP Sponsorship
This one caught me totally by surprise, as longtime Davey Hamilton and Schmidt -Hamilton-Peterson Motorsports IndyCar sponsor Hewlett Packard has decided to end its association with the team's No. 77 entry upon their most fruitful campaign to date with "Symone Pagenoe's" (Simon Pagenaud) breakout IndyCar season of finishing third overall along with scoring his first two 'BIG CARZ wins...

NO word on how this will affect the team, lead driver or its entire program, as it'd be a shame to see Simon on the sidelines once again, albeit I'm NOT predicting this to happen and hope the team can find the necessary funding to continue its upwards trajectory...

Hinch' wins another Term at Andretti
Glad to hear that thee Mayor 'O Hinchtown, aka James Hinchcliffe has been signed to a new contract to remain with Andretti Autosport in 2014, (with an option for 2015) along with the bigger news of Mikey's team switching to Honda power to become the Japanese auto manufacturer's B-I-G "anchor" team next year.

Now all that's left to be announced is whether Andretti will run four or five cars next season, with Hinch', RHR (Ryan Hunter-Reay) and 'Marcky-Marc (Marco Andretti) all being inked, we're just waiting to hear if E.J. "What, Me Worry?" Viso returns with CITGO and if Carlos 'Silk Munoz graduates to thee 'B-I-G CARZ...

2014 Driver Roulette continues...
As the driver dominoes continue falling; first with 'TK Follow-your Schnoz Kanaan's signing to run Chip Ganassi's fourth car next year, we were left ponderin' where thee Mayor 'O Hinchtown would land? While Jimmy Vassar decided the best B-I-G name after those two had found seats was le 'Hamburgular, nee Sebastain Bourdais, while KVRT's remaining driver "Symona-Symona" (de Silvestro) future with the team is in limbo, as they'll now be known as KVSH Racing instead with the addition of James "Sully" Sullivan's involvement, as the SH Racing outfit first ran Tomas "Rockem-Sockem" Schekter back in 2011 in association with KV Racing Technology...

Meanwhile apparently Panther Racing has lost its vaunted and extremely lucrative Nat'l Guard sponsorship to rival Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with thee 'Graminator, nee Graham Rahal becoming the Guard's new face in '14, albeit this supposedly isn't a done dealio just yet, as John "Print This!" Barnes has been crying foul and demanding an appeal, whatever that means... Which you'd have to ARSE-sume puts Ryan Briscoe's ride with Panther Racing next year into question?

And then there's the scuttlebutt hinted by Leigh Diffey during the Fontana broadcast that potentially A.J. Foyt has tired of Takuma Sato's penchant for wrecking chassis with an eager Conor Daly in the wings - while may be Briscoe would be willing to reassess his thoughts upon driving for 'Ol SuperTex's team, eh?

Not to mention Dragon Racing having an extra seat available - as surely you'd have to say that Briscoe is the biggest name on the marketplace at the moment, as I'd really like to see the affable 'Aussie in a well funded fulltime IndyCar drive next year.

Hmm? Perhaps as FAST EDDIE's (Ed Carpenter) teammate at ECR? Or better yet as Joseph 'STUD Newgarden's teammate at SFHR - as is it just Mwah? Or is the tail end of the IndyCar grid looking somewhat disheveled right now?

As 'TAG (Alex Tagliani) hopes to resuscitate his faltering Open Wheel Racing career (which I think unfortunately is over...) with Oriel Servia and J.R. Hildebrand just two of the list of suitors looking for IndyCar rides next year...