In Ye Immortal words 'O P.T. Barnum, or was it 'Ol
Uncle Bernaughty? Thee Show Must Go On!
In case You've been Hunkerin' down, Oh Never
Mind! For those that Don't Know, this Saturday Nites' IndyCar Season Opener at
Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) has been move to Primetime Television viewing, on
what Ye Elder Statesman 'O IndyCar Bloggers Denotes as Big NBC! Although the
Days Television coverage is split between its two TV Networks, i.e.; NBC Sports
& NBC.
According to my Zap2It' TV Guide, Qualifying presumably
Airs at 2PM Pacific, followed by Half Hour Pre-Race and Post-Race Vignettes All
on NBC Sports, (NBCSN) with the Race itself Airing on NBC from 5-7PM Pacific.
But as Always, Check Your Local Listings!
Meanwhile it's good news for the Dale Coyne
Racing with Team Goh Squad on the Driver Front, as Spanish Rookie Alex Palou
has successfully returned Stateside to Texas, while (ECR) Ed Carpenter Racing
is expecting Thar Niederlander' Rookie
Rinus VeeKay to also make the race, which interestingly Racer's Marshall Pruett
notes is the last International Driver affected by possible Travel Ban issues.
Hmm? That implies to Mwah that Carlin's got it's
two Drivers already lined up, But is waiting for its turn in thou Spin Cycle of
News-bytes'; Err Press Releases, Eh?
Whilst on a trivial note, is it just Mwah?
But I tend to recall that Yo Adrian! (Fernandez( ran the "Double
Nickel" #55 during his Super Aguri IRL Days, which makes me wonder if
Thars some nebulous tie to Palou & Co. choosing this number?
Naturally this sent me Down another
Wabbithole', as 'Ol sir Paul *McCartney) once Crooned 'bout Fixin' A Hole to
See Where It All Goes: Oh Never Mind!
Although I learned that it was actually Super
Aguri Fernandez Racing originally running Roger Yasukawa in the Dreaded
Indy Racing League Fulltime that first sported the number 55 in association
with Adrian. As Mario "Boom-Boom!" Dominguez campaigned the No. 55 in
CART's Final Season; Err Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series
Powered by Ford '03 season...
Then for '04, arguably Adrian's finest Open
Wheel Racing season, when he netted three victories, albeit now competing
Fulltime in the IRL; ACK! Once again in-conjunction with ex-Formula 1 Driver
Aguri Suzuki's Super Aguri Fernandez Racing, Adrian drove the team's No. 5 G-Force/Honda
entry with team-mate Kosuke
Matsuura piloting the #55.
Although the Fernandez Racing Squad ran two
cars in 2005, one for Scott Sharp and the other once again for Matsuura, for
reasons unknown, Adrian was unable to secure Funding for himself and only
contested that year's Indianapolis 500 in a Mo Nunn collabouration.
Adrian apparently Quit Open Wheel Racing in
'07, and the last I recall of the #55 in Indy Cars I'm aware of is when Aguri-san' (Suzuki) brought Matsuura
to the Panther Racing team Wayback in 2007, remember them Y'all?
As All of this
conjecture over the #55 and it's nebulous connection to Aguri Suzuki, Japan and
Hondre' backed entries makes me wonder if there's some Honda connection I Don't
know about? Or am i just grasping at Straws?
But it's Not All sunshine, Bunnies 'N
Rainbows, as finally comes word of what seemed somewhat inevitable, with Carlin
publicly confirming Tuesday that they'd be parking the team's No. 31 entry for
Texas, citing lack of Funding. which means only 24 Entries will be contesting
Indy Cars Season Opener Saturday Night.
And since Marshall notes that Conor Daly will
be driving the team's lone #59 entry , which he's contracted to do for Carlin
on All Ovals excluding Indianapolis, presumably Rinus VeeKay will indeed
participate Saturday aboard the No. 21 ECR entry.
Meanwhile continuing the Not So Rosy, Glitzy,
Slap Happy News regarding the return of IndyCar's, Racer's Marshall Pruett also
laments how we'll be losing an essential component in our Motorsports coverage
with the loss of the Independent Photographers; OUCH!
