2009 ROC Recap

Whale this year’s ROC, the REAL Race Of Champions… NOT to be cornfuzed with that dually departed abomination of Pontiacs goin’ round ‘N round in some Adult Spirits series… (IROC) Has just been completed, having taken place in Beijing, China on November 3-4.

And with this year’s event having been moved forward one month and clashing with something called The Chase, Team USA dug deep into its bag of available Personalities, settling upon a pair of largely unknown Rally and Drifting Champions… As with NO disrespect to either Travis Pastrana or Tanner Foust, I think Double Formula D (“DUH!”) Champion Foust was OUT of his league…

As this year’s entrants consisted of no less then several top caliber names like: Jenson Button, Mattias Ekstrom, Marcus Gronholm, Mik0 Hirvonen, Tom Kristensen, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, to name a few.

2009 ROC Preview

And this year’s event in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium, site of the 2008 Summer Olympics, having moved from the previous two events at London’s Wembley Stadium in December also saw a change to the event’s format with Drivers and Nations now competing in Groups before progressing to the Semi-Finals.

The Nation’s Cup which began the two day event on Tuesday, saw a grouping of four and two groups of three compete against each other, with Team USA competing against France and Scandinavia. As Team USA made it into the round of four: China, Germany, Great Britain, and USA.

surprisingly Tanner Foust defeated the TERMINATOR (Schumacher) in round One before Michael’s teammate ‘ZEBB (Vettel) won the next round against Travis Pastrana in Rally Cars to see Vettel then defeat Foust in Heat 3 in ROC Buggies.

‘Zebb’s win enabled the Defending Nation’s Cup Champion (Team Germany) to advance to the Finals vs. Team Autosport GB, consisting of World Champion elect ‘JENSE (Button) and 3-time (WTCC) World Touring Car champion) Andy Priaulx, who’d defeated Team China. Team Germany then went onto defeat Team Autosport GB 2-1 and claimed its third Nation’s Cup title.

Team Germany wins Nation’s Cup

The following day (Wednesday) saw the similar first round groups format, where 2-time Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) Champion Mattias Ekstrom defeated all three first round competitors including Pastrana; while Foust lost to button in his first round grouping, as Ekstrom would cruise all the way thru to the Finals.

The other side of the ladder saw the TERMINATOR similarly working over his competition, starting off by defeating old F1 rival David Coulthard and also basically cruising thru his heats, as Schuey would face his protégé, the young Wunderkin Vettel in the Semi-Finals, but ‘ZEBB crashed and thus Schumacher would once again square off against Ekstrom in the Finals, of which the “Swede” (Mattias) easily won, by taking the first two of three heats.

Mattias Ekstrom:
"This is a very special day for me," the 31-year-old Swede smiled. "I was not particularly fortunate this year in the DTM. To end the season with a victory against Michael Schumacher is fantastic!"

Ekstrom is Champion of champions again

Sports Cars 'N Stuff

So I was a bit perplexed upon turning on the Telescreen to SPEED last Friday(?) and seeing the wet Montreal Grand Am race in progress… Huh? I thought some of those selected Dudes were busy doing tyre testing at the Speedway? So how’d they do that, eh? And you’ll wanna check out the great pictures that James of 16th and Georgetown has posted of the Daytona Prototypes pounding around IMS; click here.

Also an interesting story written by ICS stalwart Curt Cavin for Indy Star, Robin Miller’s Alma-matar: Grand-Am Drivers want to Race.

Hayden’s good news
After scoring his very first podium of the season at Indianapolis, after holding off a late charging Andrea Dovizioso, the Kentucky Kid, nee Nicky Hayden has been granted a one year contract extension with Ducatti and thus will partner “aussi” Casey Stoner once again in 2010 after reportedly being on the bubble, as the Italian company had been shopping Nicky’s ride to various MOTO GP competitors…

Stupid Pet tricks?
So why does that title make me think of Dan-Dan-Daniker… (Or is that the Danastar, Bill?) As it’s definitely NOT something I usually scribble about, but I suppose Y’all have heard ‘bout Roush-Fennway RASSCAR *Star” driver Carl Edwards having just broken his foot while playing Frisbee with a bunch ‘O friends… Which seems only a little less ridiculous then Jimmy Johnson’s golf Cart follies…

Le Mans 2009

And sadly, lost in the entire hubbub over the Max “N Bernie Show... Along with my elongated coverage of this year’s Indy 500, I’ve simply not had anytime to discuss the best Sports Car race in the world, commonly known as le 24 Heurs du Mans, which takes place this weekend upon the Circuit de la Sarthe, in Le Mans, France, of which Y’all can catch a most impressive 18+ Hours of coverage upon SPEED, beginning Saturday morning at 5:30AM Pacific...

2009 Le Mans Entry list

And on a historical note, this year’s 77th running of le 24 Heurs du Mans marks the 50th Anniversary of Aston Martin’s historic 1-2 sweep, with Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori taking the winners laurels...

Carroll Shelby remembers 1959 with Aston Martin

Whilst this year’s three car Aston Martin LMP1 squad faces a decidedly uphill battle in repeating victory vs. the all conquering Audi’s and Peugeot Turbo Diesel juggernaught...

Aston Martin goes back to the future

And Don’t forget to root for Team Seattle and their magnificent Ferrari 430 GT2 Entry, as I should really be at their Race Day party, eh?

Patrick Dempsey & Team Seattle join forces

A somewhat quiet weekend

Its funny to think of the weekend just squandered, being considered a “Quiet” weekend due to the Formula 1 circus receiving a well deserved break, while the Indy Cars are all settling in for a month’s stay in Indiana. And thus, upon pulling significant seat time in front of the Telescreen, alas I fell fowl to Lee Jiffy’s words ‘O warning about being a Couch Potato this weekend. Since I’m not as technically savvy as Meesh pulling up live streams via le confuzer, nor able to see anything on a tiny 4X4 box, I instead stuck to the tried ‘N true methods of remote control itus...

Supercross throw down in Los Wages
I started the weekend’s gorging ‘O television by tuning into the AMA Supercross finale live from Las Vegas, NV, as I’ve become somewhat intrigued by these INSANE athletes... Thanks in large part to Jefford, who’s a Motorcycling nut, having acquired one of Ryan Dungee’s past “Scooters” for his son Dundee.

Thus, I’ve been pullin’ for Dungee to win this season’s Supercross Lites West title, which he accomplished prior to the East-West Shootout Saturday... In which he finished runner-up by mere inches.

I’ve also been somewhat interested in the made for TV Drama-fest between James “Bubbah” Stewart and Chad “Crocodile” Reed of which a simmering rift has widened over the season with the plethora of Dirty Tricks being played between the two of them, who’ve for the most part owned the season, being head ‘N shoulders above the majority of the field. And after some questionable team tactics in Salt Lake City, Reed was trying to do the impossible and come from behind a six point deficit in the final round.

Thus, I found it most enjoyable to see Paulsbo “Home Boy” Ryan Villopoto on Stewart’s ex-Kawasaki score his second victory of his rookie season, while Reed tried making Stewart crash into the tough bloc’s with an overly aggressive move while stalking Stewart, which wasn’t successful as Reed would finish second with Stewart winning his second Supercross title aboard Chad Reeds ex-Yamaha mount by ultimately finishing third...

New Jersey Soak-fest
Sunday morning I decided to endeavor in watching the Grand Am race live from New Jersey Motorsports Park, which unfortunately was under a deluge of precipitation... And I mean heavy rainfall, as the in-car camera showed a virtual whiteout as Mark Patterson nailed the suddenly slowing Ricky Taylor on the opening lap, causing considerable damage to his Michael Shank Racing Daytona Prototype, as the racing conditions were simply atrocious, as the drivers noted that you could only see about five feet ahead, with many noting looking out the side windows to find braking markers...

Of course much was made over “Uncle Scooter’s” over-indulgence of F-Bombs caught on David Donohue’s in-car camera after the two collided during the finish of the previous week’s race in Virginia. As it was wryly noted how that conversation would most likely not make its way into Scott Pruett’s Children books, eh?

And it was most ironic while pit reporter Brian Till was doing a segment on how rain and electronics DON’T mix, the Telescreen went blank! And then the picture cut out several more times before finally returning. As the Proto Auto Lola, a combined effort between Tracy Krohn and Lola, scored its maiden victory, as ex-Formula 1 piloto “Ricky” Ricardo Zonta simply motored away from his manager Max Angelelli, building up a 40 second lead in the precipitous conditions, as it helps to be ahead of the rooster tails, as Zonta had taken over from Nick Johnson, whose Nordic driving talents had paid off handsomely during the races opening stint, as the Lola’s superior downforce finally paid dividends for the team after developing the chassis the past few years, giving Krohn its first win since July, 2006.

Budget Cap This!
Taking a brief gander on the confuzer, (so much for not logging on Sunday) I noticed that once again Emperor Bernardo is flexing his muskcles, by stating that he’s decided that BRAWN GP will not receive the Honda $20 million prize money he’d promised them after all, since the team’s just doing a little too good for Bernie’s liking... Having even gone so far as saying that they should have kept Honda’s name, since Brawn doesn’t sound good to him!

Is there a Doctor in the House?
For the afternoon, I tuned into the Spanish MOTO GP event, of which I missed the starting segment, hence not knowing why The Kentucky Kid (Nicky Hayden) continued performing so badly... New Team/Bike blues? As unheralded Collin Edwards has completely outperformed him to date on a non-works machine.

And being in Spain, which reports have noted is worth an extra tenth or two for the Spanish riders, it was most impressive to see The Doctor (Valentino Rossi) simply run down Dani Pedrosa, pass him and motor off into the distance, while Ducatti’s Casey Stoner held onto the final podium spot after a late race scare from Pole Sitter Jorge Lorenzo, who crashed with four laps remaining while trying to run Stoner down for the final Jerez podium step...

Tracy’s new Tattoo
“BOSS! Dee Plane, Dee Plane!”
(Sorry ‘bout ‘dat, couldn’t resist, somme-thung to do ‘bout Tattoo’s, eh?)

Thus for my bug-eyed Telescreen nightcap, it struck me how once again, how time flies by as Bob Varsha was filling-in, with Robin Miller co-hosting Wind Tunnel as Ye ‘Ol windbag Dave Despain was taking only his second ever night off... As the trivia question was who was the first fill-in host? It was Ralph Sheheen way back in 2004 when Despain contracted laryngitis... As DAMN! Was it really five years ago when I watched that episode?

Of course I was most interested in the interview with Mr. Chrome Horn, whom seemed overly sedate with his interview, as I for one am looking forward to the Month ‘O May being over simply so we won’t have to hear about the 2002 INDY 500 controversy, eh? As its interesting how the results do seem a little bit skewed in favour of the Speedway...

Towards the end of the interview, Varsha noticed Tracy sportin’ a brand new “Tat.” When asked about it, PT responded that he’s had a LOT of Free time lately and not a lot to do... Which gathered laughter from both Varsha & Miller, as Tracy continued on saying that he’s been tinkering on his cars in his garage, etc. as I seem to recall that he’s also a Harley fan and has a few custom choppers, but just too much DAMN Free time on his hands lately...

Asked about Toronto, he bluntly stated that they need him to be there this year in order to sell tickets...

And they razzed him on his lack of performance in SPEED’s Fantasy Racing League, to which he replied; “I just pick the drivers I like.” And how it’s probably Bad Luck to pick himself for Indy since he really doesn’t like any of the drivers at Indy this year. Yuck-Yuck-Yuck... With Tracy stating, well I like Dario and Kanaan, but I’m NOT going ‘dare for NO STINKIN’ dancin’ contest!

And Miller who was sporting a Head Cold this evening, made the comment during the shows opening segment when a caller asked about why no Will Power at Kansas... That the rumour he’s been hearing is that Penske will farm out Power to his son Jay for Luczo Dragon Racing to run a two car entity after INDY... (But hey, this is only a rumour, eh?)

And for those of you North of the border, eh? With your magnificent TSN, you may be able to catch the Tracy segment buried somewhere on the SPEEDTV website page?

Rolex 24 Postscript

Whale, by now I’m sure you’re all aware of how this year’s Rolex 24 nail biter ended, with David Donohue piloting the #58 Brumos Porsche, holding off a (whimpering) Juan Pablo Montoya by a scant 0.167 seconds! Hey Juan; Get Over It! You really don’t think you can go undefeated at Daytona Beach indefinitely, eh?

And I was glad to spot Too Much Racing’s Twiter, Tweeter, Err Twitter post proclaiming that Grand Am’s “Live” Timing & Scoring for this year’s Rolex 24 wasn’t working... Since I was beginning to wonder why in the HELL I couldn’t make it work either... As I was trying to get the scoop upon Car #88...

Farnbacher Loles Racing Hour 18 report:
“The No. 88 Porsche was a solid seventh in class, driven by Steve Johnson, Dave Lacey, Robert Nearn, James Sofronas and Richard Westbrook.”
(Source: Motorsport.com)

Yet, while riveted to the Telescreen, I was able to learn Robert Nearn’s #88 Farnbacher Loles RacingPorsche 911GT3 Cup racecar was in 7th place in the GT class at the 18hr mark – and was holding station at the 21+ hour mark... And that one of his co-drivers is an ex “Dancin’ pardoner, as I seem to recall Robert sharing driving duties previously with Steve Johnson, an ex-NFL Dallas Cowboys Tight End, while racing for Synergy Racing in the ALMS... As the No. 88 soldiered home to 15th place Overall and 7th in the GT Class...

So, I was quite elated at the turn-out of a most nail biting finish... As I’ve previously stated that I was rooting for the #58 Brumos Porsche... Since I’d wanted David Donohue to cap a win on the 40th Anniversary of his father’s victory and Buddy “Hot Rod” Rice definitely deserved a Rolex timepiece after just having been most likely dumped from his D “N R Indy Car ride, eh? And as much as I like Scott Pruett, it was nice to see somebody else win the big race after TCGR’s three year lockout...

Daytona 24hrs race report

Rolex 24 Results

Aston Martin on the prowl

While many had been holding out hope that Aston Martin’s current head honcho David Richards would indeed purchase the assets of the declining Honda F1 operation... Richards has decided that in this continuing global economic crisis that he will instead focus his company’s efforts upon a return to Circuit de la Sarthe this June instead, as Aston Martin will build a brand new LMP1 V-12 petrol powered challenger to go head to head with Audi’s R15TDI’s and Peugeot’s AP908’s turbo diesel’s in this summer’s 24 Heurs du Mans Sports car classic.

Aston Martin will return to Le Mans with two striking Gulf Oil livered challengers upon the 50th Anniversary of the firm’s victory in France, when Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori were victorious behind the wheel of a DBR1, as the David Brown Racing entries gave Aston a 1-2 sweep in 1959.

Richards Prodrive organization is no stranger to the top step of the podium at Le Mans, having scored multiple GT class victories, including the last two years with his DBR9 and the step up to the Prototype ranks will be in collaboration with Lola, as plans call for his key driver nucleus to consist of expanding upon the efforts of last year’s Privateer entry campaigned by Charouz Racing System, as Antoin Charouz will join the works efforts, with his 2008 teammates Stefan Mucke and Tomas Enge as co-drivers. Aston will also retain the services of Darren Turner, adding Harold Primat to the mix with a final driver to be named later...

Rolex 24 nail biter

WOW!



I’ve just finished the second of two dazes veggin’ in front of le Telescreen... Gorging myself on the crown jewel of Grand Am, the Daytona 24hr endurance race, which was a real barn burner, as I haven’t been that “Jazzed” over a race since last season’s Formula 1 finale at San Paulo!

Thus, the coverage began on the RASSCAR channel, more commonly known as FOX, with a 30min. pre-race bantering, as I was unaware of the fact that David Donohue’s snatching of pole position in the #58 Brumos Riley/Porsche Daytona Prototype (DP) came upon the 40th Anniversary of his late, great father Mark Donohue’s pole... Before the elder Donohue went onto victory for somebody known as “The Captain,” while just a few of the tidbits Mwah gleamed from the 16hrs of television coverage... Was the rumour that Ferrari is potentially working upon a V-8 powerplant suitable for DP competition... That would be cool, eh? And there were two Ferrari F430 Challenge cars in the race, with Max Papis at the keyboard of one entry.

And Chris Neville did a fascinating piece about the monstrous tyre programme Pirelli goes thru in order to supply the entire Grand Am grid, as tires come into the Pirelli compound and are immediately scanned for their bar code... As there’s a total of 75 tire buster’s (runners) bringing the black rubber to 70 awaiting tire changers in the Italian booth, where there’s 3,000 rain tires on hand. Not to mention the 7,000 “slick” tires, for a total of 10,000 black doughnuts... Of which every team is allowed a maximum of 30 sets for the entire race week, while this massive tonnage of black rubber constituted 15 semi-trailers. And when the race is in the thick of competition, the Pirelli boys can crank out 60 sets of tires per hour! But let’s not forget that somebody has to pick-up the tire bill, which will set back each team owner $60,000 per vehicle... So, I’ll let you do the math for the TRG & Farnbacher Loles Racing five car armadas.

And two of the best quips of the weekend both centered around “The Cheepster’s” (Chip Ganassi) unprecedented attempt of capturing four consecutive overall Rolex 24 victories.

So Chip, how do you prepare your team to run in the 13+ hours of dark at Daytona? “Turn out the lights!”

And Dario Franchitti reflecting upon why his boss Chip went back to a three driver line-up per car vs. last year’s four... Well I think Chip want’s his own watch... Since they only hand out four per winning car and Chip didn’t get to have one last year...

Thus, it was amazing to turn on the tellie this morning and see the top four DP’s running nose to tail with just over two hours remaining, as Buddy Rice went no holds barred on passing the Iron man, a.k.a. Scott Pruett, whom Kyle Petty reckoned was the Mark Martin of Grand Am competition... He just keep’s getting younger and better each year... With the TCGR Boys getting Juan Pablo Montoya out ahead of the #58 Brumos car with 1hr 46min. remaining... As I began screaming at the TV; C’mon Garcia! C’mon Garcia! C’mon Garcia! Get Juan, as I really wanted to see the Brumos car win for several reasons... Like the Donohue Anniversary, the Buddy “Hot Rod” Rice connection, Brumos NOT having won a race since 2003, etc.

And thus with 53mins left, under record caution flag #24, Garcia handed off to David Donohue, the sole driver change made by the top four entries during the races final pit stop. And I sat with all four fingers crossed yelling GO DAVID! For the last 38mins, after he’d skillfully passed JPM... And then with 5mins remaining Donohue was told to ignore the dashboards various alarm bells going off! And on the white flag lap he was instructed to switch over to reserve on his fuel, as his co-driver Darren Law had been victimized by running out of fuel at Montreal last year 20’ shy of the chequered flag, while MAC Montoya continued breathing down his gearbox and neck literally...

Oh, by the way... Do you know the trivia answer to what is David Donohue’s connection to the Pacific Northwest?

2009 Rolex 24 commences this weekend

YIPEE! Its finaly time to kick off the new year’s racing season whit the 47th running of the 24hrs of Daytona endurance race. (Saturday - Sunday)

As previously noted in Grand Am tests at Daytona, there will be the usual plethora of “Big Names,” with RASSCAR and Indy Car drivers aplenty, along with a personal favourite, as Robert Nearn is set to take part once again.

This year Robert’s with the Farnbacher Loles team, aboard the #88 car in the GT category. (Porsche 911) And according to Robert: The test went well – “We actually ended up 2nd in the final session and the car ran with no problems. We should be able to qualify in the top 6 so we are in good shape for the race.”

So be sure to check out all of the racing action which kicks off on FOX at 3PM Eastern Saturday before switching over to SPEED at 4:30PM Eastern...

Also, you may wish to check out the following story that describes the abundance of Racer Blog’s SPEED will conduct this weekend...

SPEED to offer extended Daytona race coverage

UPDATE
Interestingly, as one of the two Porsche GT teams sporting 5 car armada’s, as The Racers Group (TRG) battles against Farnbacher Loles Racing, (FLR) it was the little car that could that swept to the GT pole position instead, with the #70 Speedsource Mazda RX-8 of Sylvain Tremblay starting 20th overall.

Andy Lally scored first blood for TRG, by putting his #67 Porsche 911 second on the GT grid, (21st Overall) while the highest qualifying FLR Porsche was the #85 with Wolf Henzler behind the wheel. (4th in class; 24th Overall) This is the same Farnbacher Loles entry that will race for charity, racking up laps for the Children's Tumor Foundation this weekend. And if you’re wondering where the #88 of Robert Nearn lined-up... Their Porsche slotted into P37 (Overall) as apparently it suffered from set-up issues, which are now reportedly cured, as Richard Westbrook will be taking the green flag Saturday...

Rolex 24 Starting Grid

Grand Am tests at Daytona

Anticipating another classic race around the clock, the majority of Grand Am teams will complete three days of testing at Daytona Beach, today, with the usual suspects towards the top of the time sheets.

As previously mentioned, Roger Penske has switched from his duo of Porsche factory backed RS Spyder’s in the ALMS to a single Riley/Porsche Daytona Prototype, which ended up fourth on the time charts during the opening days testing, with Ryan Briscoe, Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas behind the wheel, as apparently Penske will only be fielding a single entry for this year’s contest with no sighting of Curt Busch or “Hulio Castro-nervous” on the premises, while approx. 52 challengers took part in the test session.

On Sunday, “The Captain,” a.k.a. Roger Penske showed up at Daytona and confirmed he’d only be running a single car in this year’s Rolex 24, while Dumas set the fastest time of the third session on Day 2.

Chip Ganassi’s championship winning squad is looking for an unprecedented fourth consecutive overall Rolex 24 victory, along with the victor’s matching Rolex chronograph time piece. As “The Cheepster” (Ganassi) will once again return with a Telmex Riley/ Daytona Prototype with Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and “MAC” (Juan Pablo) Montoya at the controls, whilst TCGR’s second entry, featuring its stable of Open Wheel Racing stars Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Alex Lloyd took to the track on Sunday and were fastest in the middle of three practice sessions with Dixon behind the wheel.

Indy Car driver Buddy “Hot Rod” Rice was part of the Brumos Porsche DP driving strength along with David Donohue and Darren Law who wound up third fastest on Day 1.

Meanwhile perennial title challenger Wayne Taylor has switched from Pontiac power to the ever improving Ford lumps, which Michael Shank Racing (MSR) has put to good use in the past. Thus, it shouldn’t be too surprising that Taylor’s entry Was fifth quickest on Day 1 of testing, while the MSR Daytona Prototype piloted by Michael Valiante once again headed the timesheets, with Valiante’s co-drivers including AJ Allmendinger, John Pew and Ian James. MSR’s second entry posted the third quick time during one of Sunday’s practice sessions, as “OZ;” Oswaldo Negri Jr, will be partnered with Ryan “The Dude” Hunter-Reay, Colin Braun and Mark Patterson.

Other Sunday runners included Darren “Danger Mouse” Manning, Kyle Petty & Leo Hindery Jr. aboard the Orbit Racing BMW Riley, whilst ex-Indy Car drivers Ryan Dalziel and Tomas Enge, were making hay with co-drivers Chapman Ducote and Carlos de Quesada, behind the wheel of their Alegra Motorsports BMW Riley.

Showing up fashionably late was three time RASSCAR Champ-pee-on Jimmy Johnson, who’ll once again be contesting the Rolex 24 alongside Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty and Jimmy VASSER, ABOARD THE No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley.

And wait! We cannot forget to mention Princess, who having just paid the $196 Arizona speeding ticket has apparently decided to seek some compensation by deciding to be part of the new Childress-Howard Pontiac/Crawford DP line-up, which lead driver Andy Wallace had a tire let go at 194mph during the day’s first testing session.

No word on whether or not Dan-Dan-Danicker was issued any further citations on her way to Florida...

In the GT ranks, Kevin Buckler’s TRG effort will field an armada of five Porsche 911GT3 Cup race cars, with five Porsche factory drivers including Patrick Long as part of the driving strength, while reigning GT champions Banner Engineering returns with its potent Pontiac GPXR’s and the always quick Mazda RX-8’s will be seeking a repeat GT class victory.

So who will win this year’s Rolex 24? Tune into FOX/SPEED TV on January 24th, as the race kicks off on FOX at 3PM Eastern time before switching over to SPEED for the remainder of TV coverage beginning at 4:30PM Eastern, with the Rolex’s being doled out on Jan. 25...

Sports Car competition not immune either

Roger Penske, who’d previously announced his intentions to compete in the upcoming 2009 Rolex 24 with a brace of Porsche powered Riley Daytona Prototype chassis, has now decided to contest the entire season.

Penske previously was the Porsche “Works” team in the rival American Le Mans Series, having won the LMP2 Championship the past two seasons with the RS Spyder, before deciding to move over to the Grand Am series, with the team’s announcement stating that Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas, will be the primary driving duo of Penske’s single car entry. Thus, I’m not sure what will happen to American Porsche factory driver Patrick Long, who I’d hope to listen to his interview on the Speed Freaks show Sunday night, but I had to bail after listening to 25+ minutes of bathroom humour(?) literally... As Kenny Sergeant wanted to know the most vile place you’d ever been forced to piss, while stalling for Patrick’s interview, who was supposedly calling in from Der Fatherland at 5:20AM GMT.

On the heels of NASCAR’s announcement of banning all testing next season, the ACO has cancelled the 24 Heurs du Mans test day in order to help teams save money.

And you may already have heard, that Audi has decided to forgo full season campaigns in the ALMS and LMS racing series in 2009. And thus, Audi’s only planning to race at Sebring and Le Mans with its new R15 turbo diesel next year.

Thus, with Audi’s bailout and Porsche seemingly having left the ALMS, one must ponder whether Honda will indeed step up to the LMP1 category which it currently intends to, as they’ll be in a similar position as Audi, whom has had virtually zero competition in the class the past several years, a la Corvette in the GT1 category. So, will Gil De Ferran and Adrian Fernandez be forced to fall back to LMP2 instead?

Petit Le Mans postscript

Well it only took me a fortnight to finally sit down and watch the videotape I’d recorded of this year’s American Le Mans Series race at Road Atlanta while I’d been busy on Holiday in Hopkins, MN.

And I have to say it was a pretty enjoyable event, although I was rooting for the lone French Bleu Peugeot 908 HDI turbo diesel to beat the mighty Audi R10 turbo diesel’s... Although two of the Peugeot’s were expected, one was heavily damaged in a previous European Le Mans Series event and thus the team only shipped one racecar to Georgia.

Yet, it was a momentous scrum towards the final stages of the race, when former Formula One ace Allan McNish showed off his massive Sports Car experience by hunting down the leading Peugeot of Christian Klien, whom apparently got quite a scare when trying to repass McNish in the dark of night at 194mph and not realizing that there was a kink in the piece of tarmac they were hurtling towards.

Yet, it was indeed ironic that McNish had the buffer of ex-Toyota Formula 1 teammate Mika Salo in the GT2 Risi Competizione Ferrari 430 as a buffer between BMW Sauber F1 test driver Klien as they set about the races final restart, in which McNish drove masterfully and scored a very impressive victory for Audi after having crashed his car on the warm-up lap and beginning the race two laps down...

Race Report

Toyota 7

Although I’ve briefly written about this car, which alas does indeed have fenders. I was most fascinated by the discovery of the Toyota 7, which I experienced in Japan in 2007 while visiting the Toyota Automobile Museum.

Having only read about the Can Am championship along with witnessing them barking loudly at various Historics events stateside, I had absolutely no knowledge of this amazing vehicle, which as my Japanese friend Yutaka would say; “Looks Super!”

Toyota 7

Grand Am Champions

Recently, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas made history in Endurance racing, as teammates of the #01 Telmex/Lexus/Riley Daytona Prototype, became winners of the 2008 Grand Am Team and Driver Championships, along with giving TCGR team owner Chip Ganassi another racing crown, as “The Cheepster” now has a total of eleven Championship trophies on display... Six Open Wheel titles; Four CART, (1996-99) two IRL, (2003, ’08) to complement his two (2004, ’08) Grand Am Driver’s and three Team titles,

With Pruett claiming this year’s Driver’s and Team titles,, these achievements see the Californian collecting his eighth major road racing Championship, which surpasses the tally of the late Peter Gregg’s record seven titles, as “Scooter” has a long, diverse and distinguished career in Sports Car racing. Pruett captured three titles for Jack Roush behind the wheel of a then dominant Lincoln Mercury product known as the Merkur XR4T , Collecting two IMSA GTO crown’s,(1986, ‘88) with his first Trans Am title sandwiched in-between, (1987) also in the wicked XR4T(i), which I’m assuming utilized Roush Racing’s tube frame Mustang engineering... (Pruett also collected the ’86 IMSA Endurance championship with co-driver Bruce Jennings, behind the wheel of a Ford Mustang)

Pruett then collected a further two Trans Am Championships in 1994 and 2003, first behind the wheel of a Pratt & Miller(?) Chevrolet “Works” Camaro and then later for Rocketsports Racing in a Jaguar, before graduating to the Grand American Road Racing series and becoming the series first repeat Driver’s Champion..

Meanwhile, Memo Rojas, although perhaps not as accomplished as his mercurial co-driver Scott Pruett, nevertheless, has just become the very first Mexican to win a major racing championship in the United States.

Now I've gotta start watching my 5+ hours of Petit Le Mans tape delayed coverage...

Rafa”wins again

With a smattering of the wet stuff outside, I decided to attempt watching this year’s Grand Am season finale on the SPEED Channel, as the action was taking place at Miller Motorsport Park in Tooele, Utah. (The nation’s longest racing circuit)

Yet, my attention waned, as somehow I cannot get overly excited about the “Racin’ is Rubbin’” mentality of the Grand Am series...

Yet, for this season ending “Enduro,” there were a plethora of Open Wheel “Starzs” on hand to split time behind the wheel with series regulars in the 6 ¾ hour event, with big names such as: Da Matta, Dalziel, Gregoire, Hunter-Reay, Lloyd, Matos, Rice and Vasser to name a few... As all of these “Big” names split time behind the wheel of the Ugly Duckling Daytona Prototypes...

And as always, Cristiano Da Matta was the class of the OWR “Ringers” to me, as the microphone was stuck in front of his face, asking; what technical expertise does he bring to the team and its young drivers? As Da Matta was co-driving with AIM Motorsports this weekend and the diminutive Brazilians said: Actually I don’t bring any experience to them, as you have to remember I’m the Rookie, as it’s only my third race ever in a Grand am car... This coming from the lips of an ex-CART Champion and ex-Formula 1 piloto was a breath of fresh air...

But in the end, it was “Rafa,” who was the star of the show... As I was going crazy at the Telescreen, growling; C’mon you morons! It’s Matos... NOT Mate-oh’s... And Thus I erupted in laughter when Michael Shank Racing teammate Mark Paterson appropriately SLAMMED the SPEED TV commentators over the correct pronunciation, as the reigning Indy Lights Champion put on a driving clinique during the races final stint by handily pulling away from series regular Max “The Ax” Angelelli, with a string of scintillatingly fast laps in the 2:37+ per lap range over the 4.47 mile, 23 turn circuit in somewhat inclement weather...

Way to go Rafael!

Race Results

Racin’ round the clock

Well actually I should be saving that title for this weekend’s upcoming 76th; Did somebody say 76? As Ain’t ‘dare some song ‘bout 76 Zambonies, err trombones? Oh yeah, I meant the 76th running of the 24 Heurs du Mans, which by far is my all time favourite endurance race…

And speakin’ of endurance, that’s exactly what was needed last weekend in order to watch the plethora of motor racing going on in Norte Americano… As I think I watched too much racing… If there’s such a thing as TOO MUCHOE RACING?

Six Hours at the Glen
Its funny how parts of the country are apparently having a HEAT wave, while others are flooding and here in the Pacific Northwest we’re still in the midst of a COLD Front, as there’s actually SNOW advisories for all of our Mountain passes, with up to 5’ of SNOW expected! As we’re just 11 days away from Summer Solstice, but as one former well known Northwest weather prognosticator once said; “Summer in Seattle DOESN’T Start until July 12th” As we’re two degrees under the 1917 Record temperatures for this time of year which were 10 deg f below our normal 68+ deg f, and that’s all of the weather chatter for now… As you may be wondering what the Frill’ that has to do with the Six Hours at the Glen?

Well unbeknownst to me, portions of the East Coast were broilin’ HOT, including the Upstate Region of New York, where Watkins Glen is located, as the Gran Am road racing series was contesting the Salem 6hrs of the Glen and the drivers were literally suffocating in the extreme temperatures of their enclosed cockpits…

I only found out about this race since I was tuning into SPEED for the F1 qualifying session from the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal and having tuned in a wee bit early got to hear Memo Gidley being interviewed after having made a driver switch and having to compete WITHOUT a COOL-Suit in the sweltering heat… Alluding to something ‘bout frying an egg on the dashboard came to mind here…

So, I’m game and I decided to watch the final portion of the Salem 6hr race which perhaps would have been more appropriately named Salem’s Lot… Of which the original movie with David Soul was a terrific horror flick, but I digress once again! Any-hoo, I decided to go outside in order to beat the RAIN and managed to get back in time to catch the final hours coverage, where Scott “Juicyfruit” Pruett was compared to the Incredible Hulk as he was doing his best “He-man” (Ironman) impersonation by driving the final three hours of the event… And this was apparently WITHOUT a COOL-Suit! As ex-Trans Am sparring’ pardoner Dorsey Schroder was awed by Pruett’s physical stamina… As Pruett won the race along with co-driver Memo Rojas, their fourth victory in six races…

Even better yet, was Max “The Ax” Angelelli’s last minute barging his way forwards to secure the third and final step upon the podium, as it was simply amazing that the SunTrust team was racing at all… As its transporter had burned to the ground on the way home from the preceding race, (In Texas?) thus, the Wayne Taylor Racing team was forced to pull back its older racecar that was currently for sale and hurriedly prepare it for the event, albeit with major assistance from fellow competitor Chip Ganassi…

Psst, Mikey A. perhaps you should do the right thing and throw Sarah Fisher a bone…