So, what about Bob?

(Jenkins in Studio; Source: Bob Jenkins racing.com)

I am not really sure what triggered the insult posted on the world wide web thingy directed at Versus lead commentator Bob Jenkins... Nor do I plan to go ‘N search for it, as I feel it was unwarranted, since I listened/watched the entire Sao Paolo telecast and I thought that all three announcers did fine! Although I’m not sure what to think about that “Hippy Dippy” Weatherman, a one Messer BRUT Arute-Arute... As I’m actually looking forward to having “LyndieCar” Thackston and Robbie “Purple” Floyd back on the show...

So, I don’t know if Y’all are getting’ tired of Mwah remindin’ yuhs that I’m a Visually Impaired ‘Vurd Botcherer... But I only bring this up to illustrate the point that for myself the “Talking Heads” are a very integral part of my continued Motorsports coverage, as obviously they “Paint” the Picture for me and thus I depend on decent Broadcasters covering the action to fill in the details for me...

I’ve been listening to Mr. Jenkins (amongst others...) for a very long time now, as in way back to his RPM2Night Dazes, when ESPN actually broadcasted other racing series besides RASSCAR... And I’ve always found him to be a credible Broadcaster, not to mention becoming convinced of how much of a Class Act he is by the multiple times he’s dropped into AutoSport Radio to give another enjoyable interview.

And perhaps it was just me, but I thought that Professor Jon Beekhuis ‘N Robbie Buhl did the majority of the talking Sunday morning, to the point where Buhl’s voice became raspy from his excessive chatter... As Robbie ‘N Jon bantered back “N forth over what strategy should Ryan “The IZOD Dude” Hunter-Reay employ towards the stalking Ryan ‘Disco Inferno Briscoe... To which Bob seemingly steered clear of.

And my only critique of Messer Jenkins performance would be that somewhere in the middle? He seemed to have a “DW” moment where he momentarily swooned over something Princess Sparkle Pony was doing, but I can’t even recall what that was?

Nah, Mr. Jenkins, you Sir do NOT need to apologize... As I rather appreciate the way you lead the In-Booth Crew, even going so far as to admit on air that you don’t try to stop the two ex-drivers consternations, a la Mike Hull’s self appointed “Mediator” role at TCGR, which I’m certain is by design...

Next up will be Marty “Nationwide” Reid and Scott “What Pace Car” Goodyear... Which means most likely a veritable Slobber-fest over DannaCar’s every move, which means I’ll most likely need to tune-in to Mike “Yippee-Kai-Eh!” King and Davey Hamilton on the IMS Radio Network instead, as long as IndyCar.com can bother to post the correct New York time!

Oh, and lastly, another thing I appreciated was Bob Jenkins actually reading off the Row-by-Row Starting Grid instead of running it on some little tiny ticker tape stripe upon le Telescreen, So later today I’ll raise a Guinness in a Toast to you Bob! So, don’t fret, I’ll be back for the next Versus broadcast...

Jenkins is the Man

You really should listen to Trackside

So I’m a little late to the party, as I’ve just begun listening to Trackside with Cavin ‘N Kevin on a weekly basis in the year 2010, BUTT!

I’m certainly warming-up to listening to this Dynamic Duo pontificate each week on 1070-The Fan, which I’ve been tunin’ into via le internets… As after all, where else can you go to hear Curt Cavin actually make Gil De Ferran laugh out loud multiple times? Or go from The Captain’s other Prodigal Son, a.k.a. Gil De Ferran, who’s quite methodical, and always uses thought out reasoning to the mile ‘O minute, flame retardant required verbosity of Davey “STUD!” Hamilton… As I was totally unaware of the fact that Davey and Gil have something in common… They’re both members of the 1995 Indy 500 Rookie Class…

Along with the somewhat coy musings of Cavin, like; we’re still awaiting the announcement of who Dale Coyne’s Primary Driver will be… After Kevin announced Milka Duno’s full season inking… Not to mention Curt’s quip about Milka only meeting 2 of the 4 portions of Boy Scouts of America requirements…

And I’m certain that both Kevin ‘N Cavin will have plenty to say during this Thursday evening’s Preamble for the Indy Car season opener on the Streets of Sao Paolo…

TAG laces up skates before heading south

Walter Gretzky, Alex and Eddie Shack
(Photo courtesy of FAZZT Race Team)

Alex Tagliani has been busy racking up his Frequent Flyer miles according to his FAZZT Race Team’s latest release, as hopefully he’ll remember to change into his driving boots upon arriving in Sao Paolo, eh?

As Alex Tagliani got his first opportunity as an actor playing a small speaking role for the upcoming film, Score: A Hockey Musical. Alex played himself in the film along with other Canadians such as Walter Gretzky, Marc Jordan and Margaret Atwood in a scene that was filmed at an ice hockey rink in Toronto. Alex thoroughly enjoyed the experience although he wasn't certain he would give up his role as IZOD IndyCar driver anytime soon.

"This was an incredible opportunity," said Alex. "I had so much fun doing this today! I got to put on my hockey skates again and it's been quite awhile since I had those on my feet. And I completely enjoyed meeting all of the actors and singers who are in the film. I don't think I will be pursuing a career in movies, but I had a great time and was honored to be invited to participate in the film."

As it sounds like he’ll be keeping his “Day Job” for now, eh?

Moss does triple gainer

In case by now you haven’t’ heard, Sir Stirling Moss took a nasty tumble down his home’s elevator shaft after apparently not noticing that the lift had malfunctioned, stopping on the floor above as the 80yr old Brit stepped thru the floor’s partition and fell a long ways down an empty elevator shaft Breaking both ankles, four foot bones and chipped four vertebrae, along with a lot of nasty skin abrasions…

Sir Stirling Moss recovering in hospital after lift shaft accident

The last chance I had to see the “Best Man to never win the World Championship” was last summer whilst milling about the BRDC’s Clubhouse at Jolly ‘Ol Silverstone, but I missed him by ‘Dat Much… As I was told I’d just missed seeing Sir Stirling upon returning from the Loo…

And my favourite memory of Moss has to be upon walking past the mangled front bodywork of an extremely rare Shelby GT350R at the Monterey Historics that he’d crumpled against his opposition upon giving it the Rowdy Holmes treatment, as Moss’s solution to the crumpled front fender was to autograph it and simply walk away! (Although you’re NOT supposed to have any contact when Vintage Racing…)

Stirling Moss Speaks

Roush has Penske’s number

Nah, nuthin’ to do with some Roundy-round action from somewhat Hotlanta…As I was scourin’ le internets for something to scribble ‘bout… I found it interesting to learn that Jack Roush (Senior) has just scored his most amazing 400th victory… While I thought it was simply astonishing when The Captain cracked the massive 300 mark in 2008.

So I guess its somewhat ironic that Roush’s monstrous “W” tally comes no less than from the hands of his son Jack Roush Jr. and co-driver Billy Johnson in this weekend’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race at Homestead, where after Roush Jr. had secured Pole Position, the Ford Mustang GT was deemed to have illegal brake ducting and forced to start from the rear of the grid.

Yet I suppose its worth noting that The King of the Outlaw’s, a.k.a. Steve Kinser has amassed more victories then either the Cat-in-the-Hat or Roger Penske with an insane 520-plus! Not to mention 20 World ‘O Outlaw titles, as interestingly it was the same Messer Kinser who made his one and only Indy 500 start as a 42yr old “Rookie” in 1997…

MicFish ‘N Chip

Sitting down for lunch on Friday afternoon I turned on le Telescreen for a little background noise… And indeed NOISE it was, as the SPEED Channel had once again digressed into the DannaCar Network… URGH! As Kyle Petty rambled on ‘bout Lazyboy recliners and Princess not bein’ comfortable with her Steering wheel position, Blah-blah-blah…

Thus my DannaCar-intolerant thoughts were interrupted by the Talking Heads noting how Jamie ‘Mac, (McMurray) winner of this year’s DayToner Pothole 600 was sportin’ a new sponsor this week, as in those very same burnt orange arches that jumped off the Newman Haas Lanigan Racing Ship, leaving the Son ‘O Stash without an Indy Car seat… (Currently)

So I’m wunderin’ if it’s just me who finds it interesting how ‘Cheep has pilfered MicDougal’s away from rival Carl Haas… And if this will lead to seeing Graham Rahal windup at TCGR after all, Hmm? Couldn’t Chip do another “Development Driver” deal with Graham, say having him pound ‘round in a second Grand Am Riley-BMW (coincidence that his Pappy runs BMW’s ALMS GT Program, not to mention some car dealerships, eh?) and perhaps drive a third Ganassi entry at let’s see? The Brickyard, Hmm? Another RLR/Ganassi effort sponsored by Mickey D’s?

Then The Cheepster could bring him back full time in 2011, as after all ‘Cheep… Roger’s got three fulltime Open Wheel Racecarz, so DON’T you needs to up the ante? Or is it just one more sign of how ACK! That Tin Top Bomber series Down South still rules the roost…

Spanning the Globe - As there’s other Racing going on besides Planet DannaCar

Spending way too much time inside this weekend, as hey that bright yellow thingy has been popping in ‘N out of the clouds this afternoon … After another rainy Northwest day yesterday…

I found it entertaining to note the wide variety of racing series on le Telescreen, as there really are other series already competing besides that ever so present Danica Patrick and her 2010 World Tour, as surprisingly I watched my very first ever “Aussie” V8 Supercars event yesterday from none other then Yas Island and the Yas Marina circuit, which previously held the very last round of the 2009 Formula 1 Championship in Abu Dabi.

Then today, while probably everybody Up North Eh! In “Oh Kana-Duh” was watching some ‘lil ‘Ol Hockey game in Vancouver, BC eh? I accidently tuned into the season opener of the World Superbike Championship, (WSBK) coming from Down Under on Phillip Island in Austraila, Mates!

And those riders are simply BONKERS! As maximum velocity was reached by none other then Max Biaggi, who twisted his Aprilia’s throttle to an amazing 320kph… (As in 198.72mph!) CRIKEY’S!

Yet it was the 26yr old Englishman Leon Haslam leading away from the front in Race 1, having scored his first ever WSBK SuperPole, as Haslam streaked away with the two factory Ducati Xerox riders of Michel Fabrizio
And Noriyuki Haga nipping at his heels as the trio sped away from the pack, before Haslam aboard his Alstare Suzuki led from wire to wire and defeated Fabrizio in a photo finish of 4-one thousand’s of a second!

And it was entertaining to hear how Haslam was punching a hole in the air for the trio of riders at 297kph, while Haga in third was benefitting from the draft while cruising about at 305kph! With Biaggi blistering the field while chasing the leading group with an astounding 316kph, SHEISA!

Yet I missed the majority of Race 2 due to a TV Guide hiccup which claimed it was the WSBK Boyz at Silverstone next, (Huh?) so I went for a walkabout instead, returning “Just-in-Time” to see Race 2’s final four laps with Haslam Leading once again, albeit being stalked by Carlos Checa riding for the Althea Ducati Team alongside his aptly nicknamed teammate, Shane “Shakey” Byrne.

Yet apparently the crafty 38yr old Spaniard had been saving his tyres and on the final lap with just three corners remaining, Checa made his move and powered past Haslam to claim his first victory of the season.

And Oh yeah, I failed to mention the AMA Supercross race from Atlanta, Georgia last night, where Ryan Dungee won his third race of the season…

Have you taken your Randy letter to the Mailbox yet?

THE ‘DAWG’s letter writing campaign to incoming Indy Car CEO Randy Bernard is fast approaching, as pressdog wants Y’all to get your letters to him in time for his first day on March 1st, 2010… Which YIKES! Is just right (‘N left) around the corner, so in ‘Dawgsta-speak, DO IT NOW!

And yeah, your humble No Fenders Scribe did indeed mail his 1pg letter earlier this week…Although I left out the part ‘bout wanting FREE Popcorn!

Tick-Tock ... Time Running Short to Write to Randy by March 1

BarneSpeak: Fanbase Building 101

“Our success and whether we’re going to stay in business, in all motorsports, is determined by that 10-year old kid. It’s not going to be determined by the 40-year old looking at the computer.”
John Barnes, Panther Racing co-owner
(Source: My Name is IRL.com)

URGH… ACK!
There is so much WRONG with this statement that I do NOT even know where to begin and hence I’ll wait for another day to scribble my thoughts upon the sheer STUPIDITY of this statement!

Psst! Mr. Barnes, perhaps you’d like to talk to one of your contemporaries, a way further Progressive Team Owner named Keith Wiggins on Fan interaction, eh?

Here's your Sign!

Troxel slides past the Boys

Although The ‘DAWG may have previously scooped me on Melanie Troxel’s waxing of the Bo-Deenie Bobsled Challenge field recently held at Lake Placid, New York, I noticed pressdog didn’t mention listening to Melanie on the Speed Freaks, which I did before my FREAKIN’ internets link became permanently broken after 2yrs of listening, SHEISA! Why does everybody have to continuously “TWEAK” their websites to make them look more Bright ‘N Shinier, eh? QUIT moving the links around will Yuhs! But I digress…

As Melanie’s brief chat with duh Freaks was a decent interview, while it struck me that here’s one more driver searching for that elusive Sponsorship in hopes of landing a Full time ride in 2010… As you can listen to Troxel by clicking here.

Meanwhile no word on Dental Plan Dan “Spike” Wheldon who apparently was black ‘N blue after flipping his Two-man Bobsled during the Bodine Sled-fest, as I believe that both his hair ‘N teeth survived, although no word on whether or not any of his prized footwear was damaged?

And on a recent Autosport Radio show, Melanie’s main squeeze, a.k.a. tommy Johnston Jr. noted that his better half had now picked up In ‘N Out sponsorship, as in hamburger’s Y’all!

St. James spearheads Femme Fatales Motorsports project

While Y’all are salivating over ‘Dat influx of Femme Fatales competing in this past weekend’s ARCA Rollerball Derby… You may wish to note that another female, who I’ve previously scribbled about opening the door for the likes of DannaCar ‘N Others, named Lyn St. James was also recently in DayToner spearheading a Women in Motor Racing exhibit being funded and overseen by the fine “FoMoCo” folks of Dearborn, while St. James did the research for the project with the assistance of Graduate Students of Indy’s IUPUI College.

Lyn St. James: Women in the Winner's Circle exhibit

So I guess it was nice to read in the above story that I’d gotten my facts correct on the Damsel le France affectionately known as ‘Helle Nice, which you can read all ‘bout her, Sarah, Milka and Sheez! Even DannaCar in my No Fenders story,

Women in Racing: The Centennial Years (2009 Edition)

Move over IndyCar

In his typical satirical ‘Vurd Botcherer fashion, Marc of Full Throttle has just let the Catbyrd out among the Pigeons… By penning the story of ‘Scooter’s pending Most Excellent Vacation, as Scott Pruett plans to join other Open Wheel Racing Starz like ‘TAG (Alex Tagliani) Christian Fittipaldi and Mark “Brundell Bros” Blundell Down Under for the upcoming SuperCarnivale’ weekend.

As you may recall that the Surfer’s Paradise Oz-fest upon the Gold Coast was a wildly popular venue for the CART/Champ Carz for 18yrs before the Indy Racing League gave the event the Cold Shoulder Mates… While A1 GP failed to bring any Shrimps to the Barbie… And now the event will revert to becoming a major V-8 supercars showcase instead. So may be I’d better go grab a Fosters instead of some flat PBR eh?

Scott Pruett, among others in an Aussie V8 supercar?

DAKAR 2010: El Finale

It’s always funny to find out some sliver of information on the final day of a race outing, as I was surprised to hear Robby “Purple” Floyd utter that American Bike rider Jonah Street was from the sleepy little town of Yakima, Washington; Say What? So it was even funnier when I went to the Rally Pan Am website which noted that Jonah’s Hometown was Ellensburg, WA, which makes his efforts even more impressive as there AIN’T a whole lotta Desert in Ellensburg! (Which is known more for its Rodeo) And although I recall Jonah’s DAKAR exploits last year where he had to retire due to a wrist injury, I paid little attention to him since after all he was ridin’ a “Scooter.” Yet Jonah is a very accomplished rider having won the Baja 500 twice along with finishing runner-up twice in the grueling Baja 1000, as the Ellensburg rider finished a very respectable seventh overall on his Privateer KTM 690 in his fourth DAKAR. (Although I’m certain he’s somewhat disappointed with that finishing position, eh?)

Cyril Despres of France won his third DAKAR in the Bikes category by 62+ minutes over Norway’s Pal Anders Ullevalseter with Chile’s Francisco Lopez third; having won three stages aboard hisAprilia RXV 450, as it was the Italian make’s inaugural running in the DAKAR.

As Despres has now won in Africa twice (2005, 2007) along with this year’s Argentina-Chile Rally Raid, while Three-time winner Marc Coma (2004, 2006, 2009) was 15th after being caught changing a rear tyre illegally during a Stage and being given a 6hr Time penalty for this infraction.

And although the Organizer’s had hoped to favour the smaller 450cc’s Bikes by placing Air restrictors on the (KTM) 690cc Bikes, to which KTM protested by not Officially competing this year, nevertheless 8 of the first 12 places were taken by KTM 690’s, which will be banned outright next year with only 450cc Motorcycles participating.

Overall Bikes winning Time = 51:10:37

Meanwhile the hotly contested Car category became a battle of wills between el Matador and ‘Skeeter, as Volkswagen Motorsports Boss Chris Nissen was happy to let the Drivers compete for the overall glory without Team orders…

And although his lead was nibbled away in the closing stages, nevertheless former Two-time World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz won this year’s DAKAR over teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah by a very scant 2min 12 seconds behind Sainz with American Mark Miller finishing third overall (33mins adrift) giving the VW Race Touareg 2’s a clean sweep of the podium, as Volkswagen finished 1-2-3 in the Rally’s closest ever finish!

Overall Cars winning Time: 47:10:00
Distance/Stages: 9,000 Kilometers/5,536 miles; 14 Stages/15 Days
Times = (Hours/Minutes/Seconds)

Interestingly this year’s Car’s runner-up Al-Attiyah was an Qatari Olympic Skeet shooter, a la “The Wee Scot,” (JYS) nee sir Jackie Stewart.

While Robby “Dirtmann” Gordon was his usual brash self, having wowed the fans with his jumping anticts at the races start and then delighting the huge crowds in Buenos Aires with a slew of “Victory” Doughnuts after having crossed the line in seventh place in his Monster Hummer and finishing eighth overall… Yet, I’m not sure how much of a friend he made with El Matador? As on Stage 12, Sainz who was starting in P9 was anxious to pass the “slower” vehicles in front of him to catch the disappearing Al-Attiyah, since after Gordon had let the Spaniard pass him, Robby decided he was going too slow and gave Carlos his patented “BAJA BUMP!” BOOM! Hitting him squarely in the rear… BASH! ‘Ol PT AIN’T GOT NUTTIN ON MEESE…

Thus reportedly as Sainz was doing a live French TV interview where Gordon walked up and slapped him on the back, Sainz simply walked off into the distance without a further word said, while Gordon immediately made hay for a SCORE Off-road event after finishing the DAKAR. Hey uze ‘RASSCAR BOYZ, you’d better watch out since reportedly bump Drafting will be reinstated this season…

Unser’s, Tagliani and Howard on Autosport Radio tonight

In case you weren’t able to take part in last night’s Gala Indy Car Driver-fest benefitting the IRL Ministries, then you’ll wanna check out Don Kay’s Autosport Radio webcast live tonight around 3:45PM PACIFIC; when Don’s slated guest line-up includes: ‘Little Al (Al Unser Jr.) and son ‘Just Al, (Al Unser III) ‘TAG (Alex Tagliani) and batting clean-up; Jay “Funnyman” Howard.

Thus, it’ll be fun to hear what both of the Unser’s have been up to, as ‘Lil Al now works for the IRL, while possibly ‘JUST AL still harbours ambitions of racing in the Big Show, nee the Indy 500 one day. Following the Unser’s will be ‘TAG whose always good for a laugh along with Jay Howard, who’ll most likely dip once again in to his bag ‘O dry British wit…

Autosport Radio Show

NOTICE:

The Show starts EARLIER than normal tonight around 3:45PM PACIFIC in order to fit everybody onto the Broadcast. And if you miss it you can always go to the Show Archive session...

Floyd hosting DAKAR

Wondering’ what Indycar Pit Reporter Robbie “Purple” Floyd (NO relation to Alex “Pink” Lloyd or some Boxing Dude Mayweather…) is doing during the Offseason? Whale I just discovered last night what he’s up to.

Thanxs to “Goose” who alerted me to the fact that Versus was indeed showing daily highlighted coverage of this years DAKAR Rally, I got to see Robby hosting the half hour show’s recap of Stage 3 action, where apparently you don’t wanna be the leader of the event… As it appears that versus’s daily coverage will air at 12:30PM PACIFIC. Thanxs Goose…

DAKAR 2010: Time to play in the Dirt!

Err, perhaps that should be Sand, eh? As the Nations of Argentina ‘N Chile ring in the New Year with the 32nd running of the DAKAR… The world’s most intense long haul Rally, when the 184 motorcycles and quads, 136 cars and 52 trucks competing will be on display on January 1st during the event’s special Presentation Stage in Buenos Aires; as the prestigious “Car” Category victor’s will most likely come down to a shoot-out between what appears to be the only two factory backed Rally Raid squads: Defending Champions Volkswagen vs. BMW, while Robby Gordon’s Monster Hummer could be a Darkhorse? (6th Overall after Stage 1)

And by my very unofficial count… Hey you try reading 128 entries, eh? The vaunted Car class is quite an eclectic mix, with a menagerie of Cars, Pickem-Up Trucks, Buggies and SUV’s both large ‘n small… Why “HE-Double L!” There’s even a Mercedes Benz something-ruther taking’ part.

Thus, by rough count there’s four Factory BMW X3cc’s vs. five Factory VW Touareg’s. A total of three Hummer H3’s from the Robby Gordon Motorsport stable, with the third being driven by a South of the Border pairing, as the Chillie sponsored Hummer was runnin’ a bit too HOT-HOT-HOT! With a late stage incident causing minor damage to the windshield & mirror and ending up 39th overall.

Then there’s five “Mister Bitchies” (Mitsubishi) Racing Lancer’s, (the ex-Factory Cars?) Three/Four Nissan Pick-up’s, Ten+ Buggies, 13/14 Toyota Land Cruisers, (Huh? I thought they were outta production?) two Subaru Forester’s, Four Toyota RAV 4’s (some in 4X2 mode) Four Toyota FJ Cruisers, an interesting Mitsubishi Pajero Flex-Fuel ‘rig (Rally Car vehicle) and in P128 and last on Day 2 during Stage 1 of 16 was the No. 419 of Rafael Norberto Sanchez & Cristian Fernando Lusardi in the lone Hyundai Santa Fe nearly seven and a half minutes (7:23:13) adrift of Stage 1 leader Joan "Nani" Roma’s BMW X3cc. (Who did his best Hero to Zero impersonation the following day when he rolled his ‘Bimmer!)

Day Two’s Runner-up featured “El Matador” (Carlos Sainz) in his trusty Touareg, while lurking in third place was the King of the Desert; Nine time Dakar winner Stephane Peterhansel, who’s been hired to give BMW its best shot at overall glory.

Yet sadly, a 28yr old female spectator was killed along with four others being injured at the 75 kilometer’s mark, when a racing vehicle slid off course and struck the spectators in an “Out-of-bounds” non-permitted viewing area, becoming the Rally’s first spectator casualty in four years.

Meanwhile the Pajero Flex-Fuel entry is the Rally’s very first vehicle in the newly devised Ethanol class, being heavily(?) backed/promoted by Brasilia’s Ethanol industry… With no reports to rumours du jour that the Pajero Rally Car will be the Official Pace Car of the upcoming inaugural Sao Paolo IndyCar race… Hey I’m just guessing here, but Apex Bra-zillia plus Sucar-beets ‘N stuff; Yuhs know?

But I don’t know if Versus will once again cater to our wishes of providing a 30mins nightly recap this year or not? Since I couldn’t find anything on their annoying website, along with never getting an answer to my inquiry; alas, if anyone knows the answer to this, please leave me a comment…

Happy Freakin’ New Year!

Talk ‘bout ringin’ in the New Year in style… All I can say is: Yo Travis! You’re ‘Juan SIC Puppie!

So in case you haven’t heard yet? Last night Stuntman extraordinaire Travis Pastrana became the latest Daredevil to ring in the New Year in another mind-bending stunt put on by Deeter Majestic’s ‘lil ‘Ol Drinks Company better known as Red Bull… As the plan was for Travis to smash the existing Rally Car jump record of 171 feet set in 2006 by Rally America Teammate Ken Block, as apparently somebody had just beat Pastrana to his original goal of being first to jump 300 feet with a jump of 304’.

But Travis’s jump would be even more impressive as he planned to jump his Subaru Rally Car off of the Pine Street Pier over 250 feet onto an anchored barge in Rainbow Harbour in Long Beach, CA at midnight, eastern (Right-coast) time to ring in the 2010 New years in style!

In case you’ve never heard of the 26yr old Maryland native Travis Pastrana, he first burst into the limelight 10yrs ago at the newly minted X-Games, where he was stripped of his Gold medal and prize money for celebrating his accomplishment by jumping his motorcycle into the San Francisco Bay at the tender age of 15!

Yet Pastrana is no stranger to injury, having suffered 50+ broken bones in his career along with 20 concussions, not to mention separating his spine and being in a coma for three days; as you name it, he’s probably broken it! Along with two back operations he’s had his left knee surgically repaired nine times and his right knee six; as apparently Travis is after Lee Majors fictional 6 Million Dollar Man role, eh?

But back to the stunt at hand, which was part of the never ending cadre of wicked stunts as part of the now yearly Red bull No Limits New Years Eve show, as Travis decided to do something unique after last year’s mondo “Scooter” jump by Robbie Maddison. (Which I still think is the ‘SIC-EST!)

Pastrana & Co. took a Subaru WRX Sti and modified it to Rally Car specs, with an uprated turbo giving the Flat-4 cylinder “Lump” 400bhp in order to give Travis the needed “OOMPH!” to launch the 3,000lb “Sube-ah-Roo” off the 15 degree angled ramp at a speed of 92mph from a standing start of 1,000 feet from Shoreline Drive…

Funny enough! I haven’t watched any Stunt person Hi-Jinx on le Telescreen since sitting thru an overly “Slick” 2hr show one decade ago when Robbie Knievel successfully jumped the Grand Canyon 228 feet way back on May 20, 1999, albeit losing control of the bike on landing and suffering a broken leg in the harrowing feat…

So, ESPN’s 1hr show was a bit more palatable, albeit I got really SICK of the “Stick ‘N Ball” references… As I kept feeling like they were trying to DUMB IT DOWN for all of ‘dem Sports Fans who DON’T watch any Motor Racing activities… Although it was good to see Jamie little once again; even if she was part of the let’s HYPE the SHEISA outta this routine.

But first a little more on Travis, who I’d ahveda say is “Certified!” As in simply insanely CRAZY! As Travis was the first person to successfully complete a double back flip on a motorcycle at the 2006 X-Games, has jumped a motorcycle into the Grand Canyon – before parachuting to a safe landing… And the piece de la Resistance. Drumrool please… Tuh-duh! Jumped outta a perfectly safe Aeroplane WITHOUT a Parachute in order to be plucked from the sky by a fellow Jumper, as part of his zany TV show Nitro Circus…

And finally the hour of the jump had come, as just prior to Midnight ET the Subaru was fired up, and it sounded NASTY! With a sweet ARSE bark, as Travis teased the approx. 20,000 spectators with a few warm-up runs before it was finally GO-TIME! As I really liked the added reminder in the cockpit: Turn Air ON! As Travis’s Rally Car was fitted with an oxygen tank in case he hit the water at 6-G’s and needed to be pulled out by Frogmen, he’d have a ten minute supply of breatheable air, while further safety considerations included the deletion of his Rally America Navigator, with 120lbs of lead ballast inserted into the right-hand seat instead.

And then he was off! And TANK GAWD the Announcers SHUT-UP and let us just listen to that NASTY sounding Subaru accelerate down the pier and fly into the sky some 220+ feet before landing on a “Slick as Snot” ice rink of a landing ramp on the awaiting 240 foot Barge, as the night’s air dew had moistened the 40 foot wide landing ramp in the awaiting darkness… Before Travis pitched the WRX Sti sideways for an impact with the catch fence safety wall designed to arrest the hurtling Rally Car! As Pastrana triumphantly extricated himself from the vehicle, walked to the end of the ramp and did a back flip into the harbor… After having just unofficially jumped 274 feet which was shortly recognized as an official new record distance of 269 feet, besting the previous record by 98 feet!

So I guess it really does give you wings, eh?

So while the Mainstream media continues to Ballyhoo the SHEISA outta Jimmy Johnson’s 4-Peat in RASSCARLAND… And the Speed Freaks Stat Mann Caruthers picked Tanner “DRIFT-THIS” Foust as his Freak ‘O duh Year! I’m giving the nod to ‘TA (Travis Pastrana), also known as the “Wonder Kid” who NOT only has won four consecutive Rally America Titles, but jumped a ‘Freakin Sube-ah-Roo 269 feet OVER water in the pitch dark… So take ‘dat Jimmy!

SIC, TOTALLY SIC!

Junior tackles Ganassi

Nope! Not that ‘lil Ironhead… No, I’m talking ‘bout Junior Seau, the only National Football League player to come outta retirement more times then some Cat named Brett Lorenzo Favre…

As its come to my attention that Junior’s new Versus TV Show; Sports Jobs with Junior Seau will be airing the episode where he goes to work on Scott Dixon’s TCGR IndyCar at Sears Point Raceway, with the episode airing tomorrow night (Wednesday: 12/23) at 7:00PM PACIFIC. So if you’re hunkerin’ for some Open Wheel Racing action then you might wanna check it out… (ALWAYS Check your Local Listings)

Rally-who?

So I’m guessing; HA-HA? That part of the Speed Freaks segment Sunday night with ESPN’s Terry Blount; Who simply snorted that NOBODY in America knows who Sebastian Loeb (or WRC) is… Was in part an attempt to wind-up the listening audience? As I have to admit it immediately got my goat… As I’m becoming quite tired of all of the glowing praises being given to “the Sarge,” NO! NOT Kenny Sergeant, but the other Sergeant who’s got a disgusting sponsorship deal with a branch of the Armed Services… As I will ALWAYS feel that there are two organizations whom should NOT be allowed to sponsor Motorsports, i.e.; Military and Religion! But I digress… As Terry Blount was aware of whom Travis Pestrona was… Yeah, he’s the current Rally America Champion, Bubbah!

And I guess I’m in the minority as I actually found the WRC races to be dare I say it? More exciting then F1 when they were time delayed broadcast upon SPEED. And I hazard a guess that they’d be watched next year with the Kimster’s arrival, eh?

But back to the Freeks broadcast, as the ‘Blountster was on the show to debate his yearly Top 10 Motorsport Driver’s choices, of which yielded four RASSCAR names, three Formula 1 drivers, two IndyCar Piloto’s and a lone ‘Straightliner choice.

Ranking the world's best 10 drivers

But Kudos to Statt Man Caruthers for bringing up Sebastian Loeb’s name, who after all is the MOST Dominant World Rally Championship Driver of ALL time, having just claimed his sixth consecutive WRC crown! And good job Terry, as the more I ponder it? The more I find it would be hard to come up with 10 drivers who’d make everyone happy, although I’d have to give ‘ZEBB (Sebastian Vettel) the nod over Webber, Mate! NOT to mention where’s The Doctor, eh?

The ‘Utter Mikey

Whale I’m not sure why, but Mikey “Aw Shucks” Waltrip sure seems to be getting’ a lotso press lately. And I’ll skip the Mikey blows 0.6 in another Accident scandal…

First there was ex-Toyota F1 Star Jarno Trulli and ex-F1 Piloto Mika Salo hangin’ 10 in the Michael Waltrip Racing pits during the Phoenix, AZ RASSCAR weekend before testing ‘Juan ‘O ‘dem Roundy-round Carz.

Mika Salo & Jarno Trulli’s RASSCAR adventure

Then there’s the news that Mikey and ‘TAZ, a.k.a. Marcos Ambrose will run a 24hr race in Abu Dhabi aboard a Ferrari F430GT, which Marcos hopes not to mess-up too badly; claimin’ he hear’s those Ferrari’s can be real expensive to repair…

Marcos Ambrose – Michael Waltrip start your Dhubai

And then lastly comes word that Mikey will be a speaker at the inaugural Motor Sport Business Forum North America in Orlando, FL, focusing upon the Biz ‘O Motorsports; Co-promoted by Just Marketing International, (JMI) a Zak Brown Production…

Kinda makes you wonder what makes him such a sot after commodity, (Comedy) eh?

GE’s sale of NBC to Comcast closer

The Business transaction of General electric, the parent Company of NBC/Universal to sale it’s flagging television Network to Comcast appears to be in the home stretch, after a deal to purchase Vivendi's 20% stake in the joint Company for $5.8 Billion has been struck which should ultimately clear the way for Comcast, the Nation’s largest Cable television Company to acquire a controlling 51% stake of NBC/Universal for approx. $30 Billion, which is far less then its previously abortive takeover bid of rival Network ABC, in which Comcast was spurned by Walt Disney a few years ago.

So will we see Indy Cars on “The Peacock” (NBC) in the near future?

Whatever happened to No News Friday’s?

Whale like Veteran F1 “Journo” Joe Saward spouted off recently, there’s traditionally NOT any news of substance, i.e.; Politics, Economy, Motorsports, etc published on Friday afternoon unless you’re trying to bury the story over the weekend so it’ll be ancient news by the time Monday rolls around…

Thus, it was a bit peculiar to have not “Juan, but three stories break cover over the course of Friday; including BMW’s New Deal, Force India’s Non-change Driver line-up and Montreal’s revival. (Not to mention Saward’s continuing speculation about some rogue F1 outfit named Stefan Grand Prix…) As the “Kimster” rand and the Grand Prix du Canada posts were supposed to go out yesterday, but I simply ran outta time, and thus, this extremely rare Sunday version which is after all supposed to be your Humble Scribe’s day ‘O rest, Yuhs Here?

More “As the USF1 Vurld Turns”

The serious Hi-jinx ‘N Superb Sarcasm, Err Humour of Decklen’s excellent talking movies continues…

Day 5 at the USF1 HQ

Day 6 at the USF1 HQ

You can find Parts 1-3 by clicking here and then scrolling to bottom of post…

Night of the Living Bloggers

Otay, I confess I stole the title from “Jeffie” of My Name is IRL, which after I read it makes me smirk and think of that long lost MTV video classic Thriller and all of the marching Zombies…

After having recently learned about the Indy Car “bloggaratzi” taking over the Indianapolis Airwaves last Thursday evening on AM1070’s The Fan’s Trackside with Kevin ‘n Cavin, in which I tuned-in for my very first Trackside episode, carefully taking notes of everyone participating during the entire two hours.

Also, I especially liked Kevin’s quip about Curty Cavin’s Job Shadower: Are you going to be a Word Butcher on the keyboards or an Ink Stained wretch in Journalism… To which Cavin replied I’ve tried to talk him outta going into Journalism since there AIN’T gonna be any newspapers in the future…

But I really enjoyed Kevin doting on the “Vurd Botcherers” aspect, of which was a very clever takeoff regarding an ‘Ol article Jeff Olsen wrote abouts us nucel bashers ‘O keeboards many Moons ago, which I scribbled my thoughts in Beauty ‘N the Beast when gang tacklin’ the effervesant Mr. Olsen, noting how it was the perfect opportunity to cancel my subscription to Racer magazine!

Thus here’s my “lowdown” on the show’ participants in order, as Kevin Lee said ladies go first, so drumroll please…

the race gIRL
1) Monica
Talked about upcoming “Tweet-Up,” while Cavin noted that Monica sounded an AWFUL lot like the Princess; Dan-Dan-Daniker, or as “The DAWG” calls her; the Danistar… To which Curt also mentioned that Kevin was wearing his pressdog T-Shirt to which shameless pandering then took place. As for the Tweet-up, you’ll have to go elsewhere in the Blogosphere since I’m nNOT-a member of the TWIT-er Nation, which I like to refer to as the GRUNTER Nation…

Is it May Yet?
2) Will McCarty
Kevin asked for a brief description of his site to which Will explained started with the famous Son ‘O Stash mustachio photoshop pic and also provides Race Day weather forecasts which is what he does in his real job, along with having a very good sense ‘O Humour!

Also gave a “Shout-Out” to Jeff of My Name is IRL “Fame” who couldn’t make it since he was stuck in Rush hour AZ traffic… You know when Arizonan’s actually have to go the legal speed limit instead of 37.5+ mph over!

Open Paddock
3) Doug Patterson
This Blog is new to me, with my notes saying that Doug resides in Indy and he “Yakked” about the current state of the I500 as Matt “CAM-WOW!” Chamois of The Other Side likes to call the Indy 500…

Planet IRL
4) Kohl Kirkland
Kevin noted that Kohl was the first of three members from Planet IRL, which seems a little overboard to me (Hee-Hee-Hee…) As this even took Kohl by surprise, who gave another Shout-Out to Jeffie, Gee Whiz, what’s the Dealio, eh?

Kohl brought up the subject of the current Open Wheel Racing Feeder system, mentioning how USF2000 had just had a press announcement, while also noting how there were only two I500 Rookies in ’07 and how we need more “Young Guns” in the series. Cavin gave his two cents on the muddied waters of our Open wheel ladder system, while Kevin brought up how the Champ Car Atlantics used to give $1m bonus to the season’s Champion.

For more Feeder series insights, I suggest you check out Ryan’s Junior Open wheel Talent blog, which keeps tabs on this sorta stuff.

16th and Georgetown
5) James Black
James talked primarily about the leagues hottest property at the moment; Ryan “The IZOD DUDE! Hunter-Reay as Kevin ‘N Cavin bantered on ‘bout how they expect RHR to do in 2010, as Curty pondered if RHR could take TK (Tony Kanaan) straight-up? But he certainly expected Hunter-Reay to push Marco and the Princess, or did Kevin say that last part?

Also Cavin said tell us ‘bout your IMS Seating Chart project, which James has just launched on his site after the previous author was unable to continue it, to which Cavin lamented I don’t know why the Indy Star never did anything like that before Kevin interjected; you shoulda taken a camera with you when you were counting all of ‘dem seats! To which Curt replied; whale I was trying to not get caught by the (Yelllow Shirts) Security…

Oil Pressure
6) George Phillips
George mentioned how he was probably the oldest (Southern) IRL Blogger having gone to his very first I500 race in 1965 and lamented on the lack of diversity in today’s Indy Car Series, noting how he really missed the competition of rival chassis/engine combinations and the innovation in general this brought about when everybody wanted to see what showed up each May at the Speedway; citing how Chip Ganassi took a flyer on the relatively unknown Reynard chassis in ’94 and two years later it was dominant. (It was also the Cheepster who switched to the rival Toyota when the Honda was dominant in CART, before Toyota became the “Lump” to have…) But all three agreed that they’re will never be another tyre war and they don’t like them either…

Planet IRL
7) Paul Dalbie
Paul brought up a great subject over how it just seems a little too coincidental that the latest round of the Danistar to RASSCAR made the Airwaves just prior to the ICS’s IZOD title sponsor announcement and how this perpetual Danistar SHIT is conveniently fueled by ESPN as he never saw anything solid on this after it broke via ESPN’s assistance…

Indy Racing Revolution
8) Chris Estrada
Mr. “CHiPs” as I like to call Christopher talked a bit about how he got called up to the big leagues… And wanted to know the Hosts take on the current level of competition and what Tony Kottman needed to do, since he felt that if the league didn’t do something to spice it up from this year’s Red ‘N White Show; Can you say TCGR ‘N Penske? Then he felt that the league may be hard pressed to continue riding the IZOD wave…

Drive Hard-Turn Left
9) Bill Potter
Bill is also another “Indy Homeboy” (While Monica also mentioned she was in the process of moving there, since it’s the Heartland of Open Wheel Racing) who wanted to know how the proposed Comcast Takeover, Err merger of NBC/Universal would effect the IndyCar viewership? To which Cavin commented he just doesn’t know how important it is to Comcast?

pressdog
10) Bill Zarhin
After some guffawing ‘bout wearing The DAWG’s T-Shirt, Bill shocked us all by talking ‘bout Formula 1 instead… Hey, wait a minute… F1? What’s going on here, that’s my turf Bubbah!

Bill spent considerable time chronicling the absolute zaniness of the just completed season; how BRAWN GP came outta nowhere along with Red Bull Racing which was an Also Ran squad before the season and how they finished 1-2 in the Drivers & Constructor’s Championships. And that doesn’t even mention all of the vonybrtdird… Err Controversies, sorry ‘bout ‘dat, meese nucel’s gotz in duh way!

Indy Car Garage
11) Tyler Carmichael
Tyler wanted to know if they thought the ICS was doing enough to build-up a younger Generation of Drivers to grow the league. To which Cavin said that sounds like a question we had earlier… To which it musta been here when Kevin noted the $1m Prize Fund Mazda used to hand out for the Atlantics Champion, to which Cavin said is only a third of what it’ll cost to be driving for a bargain basement bottom rung ICS team… And $5m will only make you an average race team

Planet IRL
12) Joel Osborne
Joel, the Threes Company member of the Planet IRL Tag team wanted to know when was the last time a USAC Driver made it in Indy Cars instead of going to RASSCAR? To which Cavin explained how the parallels between USAC and RASSCAR were largely due to the similar driving style which is all about the weight bias being on the right rear tyre… To which Kevin eluded to how there’s NO current USAC road racing to give them the experience needed… To which Don Kay likes to lament how that’s exactly what Bruce Ashmore and his Gold Crown Series is setting out to rectify… While Cavin rattled off some names of drivers who had their shot in the Dark Dazes of the IRL (Pre-Unification) saying how Tony Stewart was a wildcard, but bringing up my favourite American IRL driver name Billy boat… And I seem to recall somebody named Greg Ray?

Anyways that’s the end ‘O my notes; so good job to all of the Word butchers taking part, to Kevin Lee for being the catalyst of the yearly Blogger Night and Curt Cavin and Kevin for making the show hum right along, as I’ll try to participate next time and may be we can talk Kevin “N Cavin into doing that twice a year? May be right before the season starts next year…

And if you’re interested in listening to the show, then check out the Trackside Bloggers Podcast, click here. (Thanxs to George Phillips who I borrowed the link from…)

You may also wish to read George Phillip’s Oil Pressure take on the event in his story An evening with Indy Car Bloggers

Schumacher Benetton-Ford up for grabs

Ever wanted to buy a Formula 1 racecar? Whale here’s your chance as its been widely reported that Michael Schumacher’s 1994 title winning Benetton-Ford B194 is now being offered on eBay.

“The car is in condition as in the 1994 Formula 1 season with paddle shift and traction control," the advertising reads. The car is in racing condition, with the painting and sponsoring scheme as in 1994."
The engine was overhauled by Langford Performance Engineering/Wellingborough (UK) and was since then just running a few minutes for test and check reasons.”
(Source: Grandprix.com)

Good Luck!

Bloggers taking over the Airwaves

Yep! Y’all read that right, as I first learned of this amazing Radio Show Broadcast scheduled for tonight via “The Dawg,” a.k.a. pressdog…

Trackside plans Blogger Night Thursday

So I didn’t bother to enter myself in the melee ‘O Bloggaratzi, as may be it was something to do with pressdog’s reference to Clown Carz, eh? But you may wish to catch all of the frivolity on AM1070’s The Fan tonight between 4-6PM Pacific… But beware you’ll need to sign-up for an account ahead of time. So tune-in and see how many bloggers you can count…

Wedding proposal F1 style

And although the walls of the financial debacle seem to be closing in upon Formula 1, its nice to see that its not all Doom ‘N gloom in the F1 Paddock, as grizzled “Journo” Joe Saward has a very short but sweet post upon a fellow colleagues novel way of proposing marriage, click here.

Help Spa-Francorchamps

Apparently some of the local residents who aren’t fans of Formula 1 are trying to cause the demise of one of the world’s most legendary race tracks… Spa-Francorchamps! And thus cause the Belgian Grand Prix to fade away because its too loud. SHEISA!

So please check out the petition to KEEP Spa-Francorchamps on the F1 calendar in the future, click here.

Turnin’ the BIG Six-Oh!

A ‘lil Indiana ‘Sycamore has told me that today a “Mega” middle aged procostinator of Indy Car Doom ‘N Gloom is celebrating his Birthday today… But wait, it’s even better yet as my reputed “Source” sez it’s none other then ‘Ol Open Wheel Racing Curmudgeon Robin Miller’s SIXTIETH BIRTDAY!!! AYE KARUMBA!

So Happy 60th Birthday Robin…

and NO word on what Ye ‘Ol Windbag (and friend) Dave Despain presented Robin with for this momentous occasion… As it’ll be hard to top last years gift when Despain actually had video footage of giving him a Tin-Top ride with someone named ‘Lil Ironhead…

And good luck blowin out all of ‘dem candles Robin!

George’s Downsizing

Thanks to Mr. CARPETS of Indiana for spotting the following article upon Tony & Laura George’s palatial estate going upon the market… Just one more sign of how desperate Tony G. is to keep his Vision Racing team afloat? (C’Mon, Y’all knew that was coming, eh?)

Tony George's home and 12 acres for sale

Snakes ‘N Stuff

Whale other then the fact that the “Danicker Channel,” nee Versus nearly 1hr IndyCar preamble is TOO F%%KING LONG! (Are we going for the RASSCAR approach here or what?) I did get a chuckle outta Mr. BRUT Aruet-Arute’s interview segment with EJ “What, Me Worry?” Viso, who listed his hobbies included Skydiving and Base jumping… Before showing Arute-Arute ‘Juan ‘O his pet Snakes… To which the BRUT-ish ‘Juan professed his huge dislike of the scaly critters… while viso stood there laughing loudly while Arute-Arute said; “You think this is funny?” Before asking what does it mean when he wraps himself around my neck to which viso replied it means FRESH MEAT! Before telling Jack to give his Snake a kiss… I tells yuh, that Viso dude is ‘Juan SIC cookie… Now if he could just pull some of his woe-jo on those DAMN pesky red carz, eh? As I’d really like to see someone else besides Dario, Scott, Ryan or Hulio in Victory circle – Kapishe?

Birthday’s ‘N Stuff

Today, August 14th, The Indianapolis Motor Speedway officially celebrates its 100th anniversary. On this date in 1909, a series of motorcycle races were held on the newly completed 2.5 mile Oval.

But Triple-A (AAA) sanctioned Automobile racing had already made its stop at Portland, nearly two years BEFORE the very first Indy 500. (Not to mention the five people who’d lose their lives during Indy’s very first weekend of Automobile racing…)



Cash for Clunkers?
Apparently current F1 Points leader ‘JENSE (Button) is trying to cash in on that ‘lil car dealo where you can swap your Supercar for something a tad bit more practicle, eh? Click here.

Brack’s Bling
So what do retired Indy 500 Champions do in their after lives? Take one Kenny Brack, who you may have heard of? Whale Brack got an offer he couldn’t refuse and decided to participate in this year’s Rally X-Games, with some Formula Duh Dude named Tanner (Foust( as his teammate… And you may know that Kenny beat all comers including Tanner and somebody named Travis Pestrona, and recently was a guest on Speed Freaks… To listen, click here.

Dale Coyne Racing trivia answer

So awhile ago I asked Y’all if yuhs could tell me what was wrong with the following picture in my post titled: Spare Coyne.

As this was taken the day after this years Indy 500 By Indiana bureau chief Danny B. in the parking lot of my esteemed Hotel in Speedway, Indiana... And thus, for those of you with eyes like the certain type ‘O nocturnal animal a certain David Hobbs likes to refer to... I found it a bit funny when reviewing the picture a few weeks later to notice Bruno Junqueira’s name still boldly emblazoned upon the trailer’s lower flank nearest the tailgate... I mean c’mon! What would have happened if Junky had actually kept his ride for Eric Bachelart’s squad while some dude by the name of tomas “Rockem-Sockem” Scheckter was busy at the keyboard of Coyne’s second I500 entry...

Bloggers invade Indy

Whale Otay; first of all excuse me for writing this after the fact... But I just cannot seem to squeeze-in everything going on around Der Motorsporten Vurld in a timely matter... I mean its HELL tryin’ to keep up with the Blogosphere as there’s several great Motor Racing Bloggers to choose from.

Secondly, forgive me for not being Bold enough to introduce myself to the other fellow “Blog-arati” (I like it Jeffrey...) whilst being fortunate enough to be granted access to the inner confines of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Media center this past May, which was a totally KOOL experience for Mwah.

Case in point, I missed the following Blog stories during the Month ‘O May, as I’ve just stumbled across Erik Decker’s Laughing Stalk blog totally by accident, having never heard of it or him... as Erik actually dropped a quick line about the esteemed “Blogger’s Alley” in the Media center this May, of which I only met two of the noted eight... (OOPS! Sorry ‘bout ‘dat!) Especially since this was the very first time Bloggers were granted access...

Other Bloggers at the Indianapolis 500

Also, since I was away from ze confUZer while gallivanting about Speedway, Indiana... And “Lucy” in the sky with Diamonds in particular... better known as my esteemed? (Or Steamed! Hey uze try reading’s this stuff constantly...) Screen reader, I missed Jeffery’s (My Name is IRL) post about our excellante trek around the Speedway grounds; as Jeff isn’t NO slouch when it comes to the Indy racing League and its support series...

Friday at Indianapolis

And I recommend you check out all of the Blog-arati listed upon Erik’s list for some great writing and the latest ‘N greatest info on (primarily) what’s happenin’ in the Indy Car World. Not to mention the frozen Tundra brigade from Up North, Eh? As in:

Matt Chamois: The Other side
Meesh’s: So Here’s What I’m Thinking;

Better known as S.H.W.I.T. according to Pressdog, not to forget Mark, Ryan and whomever else I’m forgetting...

Marc: Full throttle
Ryan: Junior Open Wheel Talent

So it just goes to show Yoose’ (me included) that ‘Juan can simply NOT keep up with the explosion of information floating freely about Al gore’s invention thingy, eh? As now I’m even further behind! Having the good fortune to be traipsing around Jolly ‘Ol England at the moment...

F1 moves to FOX

GASP! Once again it’s the part of the Formula 1 season I detest the most... Besides the winter break, when FOX TV takes over the race coverage and we get to indulge in four DUMBED DOWN Broadcasts... Beginning with this weekend’s Turkish GP in Istanbul, which FOX will air in its abbreviated format at 12 Noon Pacific.

Where are you Varsha, Hobbs, Matchett and Winsor? We needs Yuh!

Gasoline Alley Talk Show

Whale I’d totally forgotten about it until this weekend, that if you’re hunkerin’ for the most enlightening and entertaining rants of Indy’s past, then perhaps you’ll want to tune-in to “The Machine,” a la “D-Squared” better known as IMS Historian Donald Davidson, who gladly fields questions of a nostalgic manner on his excellent show The Talk of Gasoline Alley on Indiana’s 1070 The Fan Radio almost every night thru the Month of May, along with previous archived shows available in podcast form...

The Talk of Gasoline Alley

Live from Indy, NOT!

Robert Doornbos; ’09 IRL Spring Training (Indy Car.com)

Nope, not there yet... But James of 16th and Georgetown is “In the House...” (Or is ‘dat “Hizzy” as pressdog would say?) The Grandstands, Gasoline Alley, Pit Row, IMS Gift Shop (May be Not?) Tenderloin Sandwiches line and the somewhat dated Men’s washrooms... (According to Jeffrey) And Oh Yeah! Did I mention that James is posting a veritable Boatload of live shots along with constant updates? And soon will be joined onsite by Will of Is it May yet? (Sorry for leaving any other fellow Bloggers onsite at IMS outta this post...) Check out James Day 1 pic’s at: ROP Day 1 Wrap-Up

And for all of uze Twitter-holics, James has also posted a list of choices available from the Blogosphere, which I believe was originally derived from IndyCar.com, which has all of your live Timing & Scoring and On Track action, including the Green flag being dropped on the entire field in just hours...

IMS Recognizes Bloggers

And lastly, yesterday’s Quote of the Day came from “The Flying Dutchman,” a.k.a. Two time Indy 500 winner Arie Luyendyk whose shepparding Bad Bobby D thru his Oval Track adventures:

Both are fluent in Dutch. But the only time we use it is on the radio when we're talking about the engineers," Luyendyk joked.
(Indystar.com)

Meanwhile I’m hoping that TAG (Alex Tagliani) WON’T be Walking like an Egyptian this Month ‘O May, eh? )Sheez! Y’all knew that was coming, eh?)

Jenkins is the Mann!

Perhaps Y’all already know this, have figured it out or come to a similar conclusion> But after listening to Bob Jenkins once again on Autosport Radio yesterday... It became abundantly clear to Mwah just how much of a Class Act Bob Jenkins is... And judging by the reaction of the audience upon his introduction... This is a commonly held opinion, as the show’s first guest Kevin Savory of Andretti Green Racing certainly didn’t receive the same over joyous reception...

And Jenkins, whom I’ve just commented about his in booth pardners Jon Beekhuis and Robbie “That’s my Pick” Buhl seemingly not letting Bob get too many words in edgewise, is an extremely articulate, bright, clever and quick announcer... As Don Kay asked him if he’d fallen asleep while listening to the monotonous sponsor plugging... Oh No! I listened to every word Jenkins quipped... Later mentioning how you know you’ve made it when you have to hire somebody to do your lawns for you... And could Mr. Kay hurry up the interview as he’d promised his wife Pam they’d be home by 9PM in order to watch Dancin’ with the Starz...

Oh yeah, Jenkins noted I’ve got my own website now; it’s Bob Jenkins Racing.com, so check it out please...

So, I’ll hold off on my comments about the Versus broadcast as I like the majority of Talking Heads they’ve got working, especially Jenkins & Beekhuis... And “Lyndie-Lyndie” (Lindy Thackston) of which Will of Is it May Yet? Has a great interview with; is actually quite enjoyable to listen too... Especially versus (pun intended) ABC’s Brienne “My Daddy owns a Race Team” Pedigo...

To visit Bob Jenkins brand new website; Click here

Groundhog Day?

Whale... Due to unforeseen circumstances... Which Y’all are probably thinkin’ (Think Pink?) Man that Dude sure has a lotta excuses... As I’m not sure what’s more amazing... Having waited all winter long and then being unexpectedly occupied on the very first two Open Wheel Racing race weekends or the outcome of the very first two Formula 1 races of the season, eh? And thus after an all day excursion to the Doctor’s office... I missed the very first ever Versus Indy Car TV broadcast and didn’t manage to finish watching my tape of Kuala Lumpur’s Malaysian Grand Prix until 11PM last night as the tape cut out while the National Anthem’s were being played! So, NO race winners interviews...

Having awoken an hour early Saturday... As the live Indy Car Qualifying was slated for 7:45AM Pacific; “Left Coast time,: all I could do was laugh momentarily as a “Hoosieronian” voice cooed over the internets: This is the IMS Radio Network, live Indy Car Qualifying has been delayed slightly due to the Firestone Indy Light Quals running late... Please stand by on the Streams and we’ll begin as soon as possible... As I briefly thought? Oh NO! Jeffrey and Will musta angered ‘Old Mother Cupboard and made it rain?

So anyways, your humble scribe is definitely under the weather... Which is ironic since we’re having the first taste ‘O Summer here in the Pacific Northwest... Albeit still some 20-25 degrees less than Kuala Lumpur... (Hey! Can you say Monsoon?) As we’re definitely in uncharted territory here... ACK! Can the thermometer really be above 60 degrees?

Thus, I’ll be taking it easy for a few days as I await the effects of the Doctor prescribed tranquilizers dissipating and furiously ham-er (it-up?) away at ze keebored... As hopefully my knucel’s don’t gets toe much in DUH way... Now its off to LaLa land and then back to le ‘Ol School tappin machine as I managed to set my Shiny New Boxes commands “Just-in-Time” to record last nights, Err this mornings Speed Report and Wind Tunnel... As it only hurts when I laugh, eh?

Thankem Goodness ‘dat meez ‘lil clock radio doesn’t Pickem-up that Sonny ‘N Cher station...”I’ve got you Babe!”

And I did hear via Dave Despain’s “Last Call?” Last night, that there’ll be an interesting new article today in the Miami Herald over some new Hulio developments which could throw a monkey wrench in his defense?

And I sure wished that Justin Wilson could have given Dale Coyne his much deserved and long overdue inaugural Indy Car victory yesterday instead of one of duh “Big Three” snatching the checkers.... YAWN!

GItter Done!

Centennial Era Gala held

(Lyn St James, Sarah Fisher and Janet Guthrie)

As previously mentioned, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been running a series of video clips of various racing highlights from the past as it prepared to kick-off it’s 100yr Centennial (trilogy) Era celebration with a gala ceremony on February 27th. The shin-dig was attended by 19 of the 27 living Indy 500 champions, along with other noted participants including Janet Guthrie, Lyn St James and Sarah Fisher.

Friday night fights:
Rivalries in racing never die, although they might mellow just a bit. That was Bobby Unser's sentiment Feb. 27 at the IMS Centennial Era Gala.
A reporter asked three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Unser whether old rivalries between the Unsers, A.J. Foyt and others might heat up. Unser joked that he was skeptical the Gala would stay peaceful.
"I can't promise you that," he said with a laugh. "There could be some problems. But I noticed Foyt's down in Houston with airplane troubles, so that takes care of half the fights right there. Parnelli (Jones) is here, though, to take care of Foyt."

This comes from a man who made my Baddest Bad Asses list for once lighting a Rolls Royce on fire during a demolition derby... As Bobby’s NO stranger to fisti-cuffs... Just ask the Albuquerque Police!

IMS Centennial Era Gala notes

Scooter sound bites

(Miguel Duhamel)
As this weekend brings a close to the Daytona “Speed Weeks” marathon, with the running of the Daytona 200 Friday evening, live on SPEED, the event will run underneath the lights for the first time. Look for Miguel Duhamel to potentially win his record sixth Daytona 200 race, while James “bubbah” Stewart will look to resume his winning ways in Saturday’s Supercross event, having seen his streak of seven straight victories being snapped last weekend at Indianapolis’s Lucas Oil Dome...

Spies wins in Superbike debut Ben Spies, the reigning three time AMA Superbike Champion, whom after not getting the nod to move into MOTO GP full time this season, has elected to go World Superbike racing for Yamaha instead. Spies showed his potential by taking pole position for his very first heat race at Phillip Isle in Australia, but faltered to 16th place after running off track. In the second heat, spies was a bit more patient, running behind “Nitro” Noriyuki Haga on a Ducatti, who’d won the races first event, and is considered to be the favourite for the World Superbike title this season. Yet, Spies finally decided to flex his Yamaha R1’s muscle and passed “Haga” in the closing stages and then motored away from the Japanese rider and Italian Max Biaggi who took third place aboard his Aprilla, to win the races second heat and his very first World Superbike race...

Schuey injured in crash
Whale, it appears that seven times World Champion Michael Schumacher is human after all, since the F1 Superstar suffered apparent road rash in a recent “Scooter” accident south of the Border...

Schumacher injured in Motorcycle accident


(Desmosedici GP9)

New “Duc” unveiled
With the opening round of the 2009 MOTO GP season just around the corner, look for the “Kentucky Kid,” a.k.a. Nicky Hayden’s return to the forefront of action, now that he’s once again back on competitive equipment, having made the switch to Ducatti and becoming 2007 MOTO GP Champion Casey Stoner’s teammate, as Hayden who won the MOTO GP crown in 2006 along with Stoner will hope to pressure “The Doctor: and defeat reigning MOTO GP Champion Valentino Rossi this season...

New Ducatti unveiled

Stoner beats Massa
In the traditional Ferrari – Ducati winter team ski follies held at Madonna di Campiglio this past January, MOTO GP star Casey Stoner defeated Felipe Massa in a go kart race held on ice, while Nicky Hayden grabbed the final podium spot.

Kimi Raikkonen wasn’t present, as apparently the Finn had a touch of the flu? (Or simply too much Fizzy the evening before...) While Ferrari tester Marc Gene was at an abortive test session at Vairano, which saw the Scuderia offer Felipe’s younger brother Eduardo an opportunity to come and play in the snow.

Thus, by finishing third, Hayden bested Ducati test rider Vittoriano Guareschi, Luca Badoer and Eduardo Massa in the intra-squad karting race...

Sarah Fisher on Autosport

Whale... I find it hard to believe that I’ve scooped the “Dawg;” as in Pressdog, who appears to be a pretty big Sarah Fisher supporter. (Since I know we both donated funds to her INDY 500 effort last year). Yet, as far as I can tell, NO word has been mentioned yet that Sarah will be a guess on the Autosport Radio Show this Tuesday. (7PM ET)

FAR OUT!
(Thank You letter from Sarah Fisher)

DAMN! Wish I could be there in person as Sarah’s list of FIRST’s in Indy Car’s are MORE then Danica’s...

Indy race car Stolen

And I thought it was bad enough that Clay Bennett STOLE our Beloved Sonics... But talk about starting the new season off on a bummer... As apparently USAC Silver Crown team owner Eugene Nolen had his #20 Dirt Car stolen upon his way towards the series kick-off event in Arizona.

The 2005 white Ford F350 hauler and matching white 48’ Gooseneck trailer; both with Indiana plates and race car inside were stolen from a Red Roofs Inn in Oklahoma City on February 16th and therefore driver Shane Hollingsworthwas unable to compete at theManzanita Speedway season opener, while Nolen is doubtful if he’ll be able to continue competing as his race car was uninsured...

Race car’s theft slows Indianapolis businessman’s passion

ore damaging cutback news

And ironically while Deeter Majestic’s Red Bull Racing concern is soaking up all of the PR over its new car launch, another disturbing sign of our global economic crisis has reared its ugly head with the dismissal of Austria’s premiere Formula 1 sportscaster...

Voice of Formula 1´ Heinz Prüller gets the chop

De Ferran on Autosport Radio

With the just completed Sewer-dooper-bowl over, while Danica is busy getting’ squeaky clean... And SPEED having stooped to running an all day marathon ‘O Pimp-Me-Ride... I’m feeling a tad bit similar in announcing the fact that ex-Indy 500 and double CART Champion Gil De Ferran is slated to appear as a guest upon Danny B’s most favourite radio show... Autosport Radio tomorrow...

(Weather providing, eh? As I’m not certain to what the latest snowdrift predictions are for the Indiana area...)

More bad news

Whale I suppose by now, Y’all have heard that Roger Penske has pulled the plug upon his pet project: The Raceway at Belle Isle, and therefore the 2009 IRL Labor Day event has been cancelled. This was due in large part to The Captain simply not wishing to spend anymore of his own money, along with the fact that various sponsors and race teams have departed, as Firestone has left as well as Audi and Porsche “Works” efforts from the race weekend’s supporting cast, the ALMS.

WRC teams withdraw
Adding a further blow to the global motor racing scene, comes news that both Suzuki and Subaru have decided to withdraw from the World Rally Championship and will cease their factory team’s competition immediately. This is a major blow for the WRC and now leaves only two Automobile manufacturers competing: Ford and Citroen.

And although Suzuki’s decision isn’t surprising, as they’ve generally been back markers, having only contested last season, Subaru’s whole motor sports image has long revolved around rallying, having won six WRC titles. So it will be a bitter pill for the WRC to swallow.

Will WRC’s loss be F1’s gain?
And with the departure of Subaru from rallying, whose ‘Works” efforts have long been overseen by David Richards Prodrive operation, is this a signal that Richards may be on the verge of buying the departing Honda F1 outfit? Recall that it was Richards who brought Honda its best season’s results by finishing runner-up to Ferrari in the Constructors championship in 2004, before ironically, current team boss Nick Frye sent Richards packing. So, who’ll have the last laugh? Although Richards could now have competition to buy the Brackley based squad from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and the Korean Auto manufacturer Hyundai?

Freak bites

Jay Howard, who won the PRI go-kart race this past Thursday was on the Speed Freaks show and once again was quite funny, just have to get use to his extremely dry wit... As apparently he pulled and Eddie “F-Bombs R-Us” Carpentier on the show when asked about Scotty “The Goose” Speed. (Otay, I’m guessing on the F-Bomb, since it seems that it was chopped via the 7 second delay...)

But, Howard has just gained a ton of respect by pointing out how un-impressed he is by all of the ranting ‘N raving over Scott “NOSE” Speed, as he just isn’t as good as everybody makes him out to be...

Good on you mate! Now, you’ve gotta listen to the Speed Freaks interview...

Jay Howard interview

And don’t think that the Indy Racing League has a popularity dilemma? As NOT one but two freakin’ fans calling in for the Santa stash give away BLEW the motorsports question... Which for Kee-wrist’s sakes was even DUMBED down to a multiple choice answer: A) RASSCAR; B) IndyCar; C) Motorcycles or D) Drag Racing?

First contestant; Ed Carpenter? Uhm? RASSCAR BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB!!!!!!!!!!! (Buzzer sound effect) WRONG! Then they got a female contestant, who appalled me by divulging that she’s a Formula 1 fan, as Crash Gladys said should I say it? It’s the most OBVIOUS of all! Danica Patrick? Oh I know this “Juan!” She’s... RASSCAR!!! BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB!!!!!!!!!!!

To which I burst out in laughter... No, sorry, Princess hasn’t jumped ship yet; at least I don’t think so? As Crash Gladys said later, I think that the IRLhas an identity crisis, if fans DON’T know which series Princess drives for... (I mean Edward Carpenter is a bit ‘O a stretch... Could you imagine asking ‘bout EJ Viso?) But remember kiddies’...

“7 out of 10 Danicker Patrick fans know the alphabet!”

Brickyard Inn closes

During Sunday night’s Speed Freaks show, Crash Gladys speculated that more bad news was coming henceforth from Indy Car, but she didn’t know what it was, only that Joie Chitwood had left the PRI event early and the bad news would be announced on Monday.

So, I spent the day checking the newswires, internets and blogosphere and um? Whale Nothing! And after a quick check this morning, this is the only bad news I can find regarding Indy Car...

The Brickyard Inn motel behind Turn 2 at the southeast corner of IMS is closing immediately, after 45 years of business and will be raised early next year.

According to the Indy Star report, the motel simply couldn’t keep up in these hard times, which to me isn’t surprising, having stayed there in 2007 when I went to ride around Mecca in the Indy Racing Experience’s two seater. Having guessed that the décor hadn’t been changed since the 1970’s, (Ok, so I wasn’t far off, eh?) nevertheless, I enjoyed my room as you actually had to use a real key to unlock your door and the wake-up calls were done by a real “live” person on a telephone with a rotary sounding bell tone.

Indy Celebrities

Yet, it was clean and the staff was most pleasant, even though when I asked for suggestions on where to stay, the person sheepishly mentioned the Brickyard Inn, saying... Uhm? Whale, it’s NOT exactly “State of the Art!” And there’s much nicer hotels in downtown Indiana... But the price was definitely right and it was next door to the Speedway. So perhaps a new, more modern hotel/motel will emerge in the future?

Brickyard Inn motel closes

Hobbsnobbing in London

While (Shocking?) not surprisingly... McLaren hot-schu Lewis “Jaguar” Hamilton has been collecting most of the post season award hardware, even rubbing elbows with Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown...

Yet, along with young “Louise;” the “A-list” of the Autosport gala included Sir Stirling Moss, Sebastian Vettel, Ari Vatanen, Sebastian Loeb and David Coulthard, while Carl Haas was presented with a John Bolster Award for his services to motorsport...

Way to go Carl!

2008 Autosport Awards

Rossi; “I could-ah been a contender!”

Ah, “The Doctor’s” definitely in! As reigning MOTO GP champion Valentino Rossi recently completed testing a Ferrari F2008 at Mugello.

And although the Doctor was full of (himself?) his usual bravado; claiming with a little hard work, he could become an F1 challenger... But with his lap times being two seconds behind Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro’s team drivers; I don’t expect to see Rossi in the cockpit of a Ferrari F1 race car anytime soon!

And don’t forget, that Rossi’s not the only Championship interloper to recently put himself behind the wheel of a Formula 1 racecar, as “Seb,” a.k.a. Sebastian Loeb, the reigning and only five time World Rally Champion recently said during his interview on The Speed Report; Red Bull gave him a present for winning. As the French ace was shown having a seat fitting and running in the inclement weather of Silverstone in preparations for his full day of running during the recent F1 winter test at Barcelona, where Seb ran 83 laps behind the wheel of a Red Bull chassis. Loeb finished a respectable 8th out of the 17 participants...

To read more about the Doctor’s adventure, see; Valentino Rossi, where you can also follow the link to an accompanying video...

High School radio

Whale now that Wind Tunnel is done for the season, I’ve decided to start listening to the Speed Freaks broadcast full-time... And last night’s show started off fairly slow, with an opening monologue about college football, blah-blah-blah...

Then they got to their first interviewee: Larry Roeseler; 13 time overall winner of the Baja 1000, along with 17 class victories... Ten overall wins in the two wheel class, a.k.a. motorcycles, with Roeseler saying it took him 10yrs to win his first 4WD overall victory in 2004, having now claimed his third Trophy Truck victory in this year’s 631 mile “Loop” race;

SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK (Unlimited Production Trucks)—1. Roger Norman, Reno, Nev./Larry Roeseler, Irvine, Calif., Ford F-150, 12 hours, 40 minutes, 33 seconds (49.81 miles per hour);

Next up was Mark Burnett, who won the class 6 event, driving solo aboard his Ford Ranger, which is pretty impressive considering it took him some 20+ hours to complete due to a litany of mechanical woes. As Burnett told a story about the various booby traps the Mexicali’s enjoy setting up, when he was almost skewered by a steel line tied to two trees during his motorcycle days. As the wire went thru his arms, chest and helmet! And he had to ride back seven miles to get aid, before being flown by helicopter to a hospital...

Thus, this brought the inevitable from “the Sarge.” Nope! Not Tony Schumacher, the other Sarge, a.k.a. Kenny Sergeant, whom seems to have an affliction for the sizes of male attachments... As he once again wanted to know who’s got the biggest hevo’s; Asking both Roeseler and Burnett if they put their manhood out there... Whose are bigger? Scott Dixon, Indy Car; Jimmy Johnson, RASSCAR or those of Baja piloto’s...

Sorry, Kenny, but who FLIPPIN’ cares, eh? How ‘bout some real racing questions instead! Although there was a pretty good slam on Robby “Dirtman” Gordon’s shrinkage due to being a RASSCAR driver now, as he only managed to complete 17 miles...

And it seems somewhat ironic... That the site had been working, albeit it’s usual stuttering and low volume during the non-advertisement periods... But, right when we got to the breaking news on whatever GM is cutting from the motorsports arena, the site CRASHED! And I could never get the dag-nab-it thing to re-connect...

Rocky goes ballistic

Nope, I’m not referring’ to Rocky the Flying Squirrel going postal on his good friend Bullwinkle, nor beatin’ the buh-jesus outta the evil Boris & Natasha...

No, while Scotty “The Goose” Speed was getting me all riled up with his SMART ASS remarks, there was also a very brief interview on the Speed Freaks TV show just prior to the top of the first hour with “Scooter” piloto extreme Rocky Robinson, who’s just broken the two wheel land speed record at Bonneville by going 360.9mph...

HOLY SHEISA!

To check out a very cool video on the affair, see; Ack-Attack Streamliner

Speed claims IRL is Boring!

Yeah! That’s right, Scotty “The GOOSE” Speed, the ex-Formula 1 Scuderia Toro Rosso piloto, who was interviewed on the Speed Freaks show this past Sunday, on a number of topics; including Lewis Hamilton and Drag Racing, had the following to say when asked by Crash Gladys if we’d ever see him at the Indy 500, Speed said; “Honestly, I think it’s BORING to hold the throttle full down around Ovals.”

“The IRL is about half as competitive as NASCAR, maybe one quarter as much as F1!”

And then further blathered on ‘bout how you see Open Wheel Racing drivers getting their ARSE kicked by the Bomber piloto’s in the Roundy-round ranks...

Hey, Scotty! Look out, here comes Sam Hornish Jr. And he’s got a present for you, mate... It’s called the Bump ‘N Run! As Rubbin’ is Racin.’ And is it just me, or isn’t his team owner Deeter Majestic currently running NOT one but two F1 teams?

As I’m sure Y’all are wonderin’ what ‘Ol DC would have to say on the matter, eh? You can listen to the whole interview at the link below.

Speed on Speed Freaks

Branson sets sail

British tycoon Sir Richard Branson, along with his son and daughter, set off from New York harbour, last Wednesday morning around 2AM in hopes of setting a new Transatlantic sailing record aboard Branson’s Virgin Money, a 99 foot mammoth sailboat, featuring members of Britain’s America’s Cup challenge team, in hopes of bettering the current 6 days 17hrs record. But after only two days in storm conditions and being hammered by a “Mega” 40 foot wave, Branson and crew abandoned their current attempt and will sail for the nearest landfall in order to complete repairs and hopefully attack the record in the next 2-3 weeks or next year...

Move over Bubbah

Although James “”bubbah” Stewart may have just become only the second ever rider to complete a perfect season... Just caught this great story about Ashley Fiolek, who just won her very first Women’s Motocross Association championship... And what’s even more impressive about the talented 17yr old female rider is the fact that she’s deaf and cannot hear when to shift her motorcycle...

Motorcross rider uses engine rythm

Bia” drops by?

Well, I was certainly surprised to notice who the latest comment in; The Champion came from... Leaving me momentarily chagrined! As the name left was Ana Beatriz...

NO WAY! Can it really be the same Ana Beatriz who just finished third overall in this year’s Firestone Indy Lights (FIL) Championship. (And must be considered as a threat for next year’s title, eh?)

Along with finishing runner-up to first time winner Arie Luyendyk Jr. and ahead of fellow Brazilian “Rafa,” better known as Rafael Matos in this weekend’s FIL season finale at Chicagoland, where Matos was crowned 2008 Firestone Indy Lights Champion...

Therefore, Ana’s outstanding performances this year surely must mean she’s the FIL’s Rookie of the Year! Having become the series very first female winner and a semi-frequent guest upon Autosport Radio, where I’ve enjoyed all of her appearances...

Well, that was too cool “For Sure!” and really made my day...

Way to go “For Sure,” Bia!

Versus Dream Team?

Last week on the Autosport Radio show, Mr. Donald Kay had a great ‘lil broadcast with Flinstone Indy Lites driver James Davidson, Broadcaster Extraordinaire Bob Jenkins and Conquest Motorsports Team Owner Eric Bachelart...

Mr. Kay started off the show by saying how the audience had gone wild when he suggested the broadcast booth line-up for next year’s Versus television channel’s coverage of the Indy Car World Series.

Host: Bob Jenkins
Colour Commentator: Davey Hamilton
“Antagonist” Eddie Cheever

Which does pose an interesting question? As I’m guessing the likes of former voice of the 500; Host Paul Page and his colour commentator sidekick Mike Dunn, along with pit reporters Dave Rieff and Gary Gerould are contracted to ESPN2’s NHRA Drag Racing, while I’d assume that Marty Reid, Scott Goodyear and all of the bubbly pit lane personalities will stick with ABC for their 5 race deal, since there’s always some N-Car Lite race to cover after the month ‘O May, eh?

Just as long as they DON’T bring back Mr. Insert Sponsor Here Rick Benjamin... And I’m guessing Derek Daly is too provocative? But I’d take Jon Beekhuis over Mr. Cheever any day...

So, who would you like to see in the Versus broadcast booth?

If you’re really wound-up over this issue, you can try emailing Versus via their website: Versus TV and hunting for their contact info...

Oh Danny Boy

Whale there certainly seems to be quite a bit of hubbub over the previous story penned by the maestro of Open Wheel Racing, you know none other then that LUV-able curmudgeon Robin Miller...

As inquiring minds wanna know? Just where in the HELL will Dan “SPIKE” Wheldon land next season, after Miller’s infamous TK Going to Ganassi story lit up the Blogosphere and hence I’m assuming Y’all tuned into Wind Tunnel last night, eh?

As one pundit noted, “Dental Plan Dan,” is going to get his shot in ‘dem Tin Top bombers after all! As it appears that The Cheepster is set to do an in-house driver swap, with two BLOODY BLOKES changin’ rides... Err, me thinks a Scot AIN’T NO BLOODY Englishman, but I digress...

As Y’all will be chompin’ at the bit to know just what’s goin’ on in Cheepsterland, eh? Yep! Danny Boy will take over the previously vacated Ganassi/Sabates No. 42 Dodge, with Dario “Where’s my Pants” Franchitti making a return to Open Wheel Racing aboard TCGR’s No. 10 Polaroid Special... (Whale, Otay, Perhaps NOT, eh?)

But seriously folks, what’s all of this talk ‘bout Wheldon not being successful upon Road Courses and hence he’ll be replaced by none other than Bruno “Whiney Bags” Junqueira? Or that Newman Haas Lanigan would let potential series superstar Graham “Son ‘O Stash” Rahal leave their fold?

Yet, the burning question seems to be where will Wheldon ultimately end up? As Indy aficionado Danny B sez; we know he’s NOT going to Penske or AGR... Could he wind-up in a second Rahal Letterman Racing chassis? As that’d be a nice grouping of Ryan “The Dude” Hunter Reay partnered with Danny Beckum Wheldon... But can Wheldon bring any sponsorship with him? As you know RLR isn’t running a second car this season because of a lack ‘O funding.

Of course there’s always Oriel Servia’s seat at KV Racing Technology or any of the other Champ Car Ref, Err Transition teams... Not to mention the lesser known IRL entities... Like some of ‘dem perennial meat packer’s, Err Mid-pack team named Vision Racing...

Yet, it would seem that being from England and having began racing go karts at the tender age of four... Before coming Across the Pond to contest Formula Ford and Toyota Atlantics, prior to making his IRL debut driving two events alongside Sam Hornish Jr. at Panther Racing in 2002, Wheldom MUST have some Road Racing prowess?

Interestingly, Wheldon entered into a rivalry with fellow Brit Jenson Button prior to coming to America, as he’d like to have continued his way up the ladder towards Formula 1 but didn’t have the financial backing... And if Wheldon’s such a right turning slouch, then why did BMW Sauber offer him a contract in 2006? And reportedly Wheldon said he’d like to look at his F1 options after his contract with Chip Ganassi was up...

So, wait a minute, I’ve got it! As The Cheepster’s done it before, as in recall Montoya was worth the price of two F3000 drivers... Yeah, I can now see it very clearly! The Hamburgular will come over to TCGR with Danny Beckum taking up his seat at Scuderia Toro Rosso... Yeah, that’s the ticket! (Nah, I’d expect Wheldon to re-sign for TCGR next season...)

Racing fodder

While still fuming over the BASTARDIZED Indy Car calendar... Here’s a few quick tidbits to ponder.

Il Notre Dam
”Kana-duh’s” favourite(?) son Jacky V, a.k.a. Jacques Villeneuve will NOT surprisingly attempt to resurrect his floundering RASSCAR Tin Top career with a solo outing in this weekend’s N-Car Lite race on the Il Notre Dam’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. (Saturday) Apparently the forces to be, have helped ensured that the Kuh-nuck will give his fellow Canadian’s something to cheer ‘N spend their “Looney’s” on when Jack Vanilla pilots the #32 brown Racing Toyota Camry...

You may wish to also check out the Grand Am Boyzs blastin’ about the man made isle on the St. Lawrence River tonight on SPEED at 8PM EASTERN. (5PM Pacific)

UPDATE:
I just learned that Pat the Carpenter, a.k.a. Patrick Carpentier will give up his Sprint Cup ride this weekend in favour of competing for the overall win on the Il Notre Dam in this weekend’s Nationwide racing event. Apparently Carpentier wishes to commemorate his one year anniversary of Tin Top racing fighting against his ex-Open Wheel rival in his home country...

Michael’s Boo-Boo
Perhaps you’ve heard about Michael Schumacher’s latest traffic incident? Apparently while trying to put the “Schuey-swerve” upon an unsuspectingmotorist while in another classic hurry to the airport, Herr Schumacher failed to see a fellow motorist opening his garage door... As the Seven Time World Champion then struck the hapless pedestrian and sent him sprawling across his hood, to which the German was quick to give the startled Brit a massive tongue lashing, before the two exchanged insurance information.

Of course this pales in comparison to the sad news I first learned about while watching this morning’s Hunga-boring F1 practice.

A death at Enstone
The Renault F1 team was shocked on Wednesday when a research and development engineer was found dead at the team factory in Enstone. Police and paramedics were called and William Millar was pronounced dead at the scene. There have been press reports that a firearm was involved, but neither the police nor the team are currently making any comment about the matter while police investigate the circumstances.
(Source: Grandprix.com)