Ever wonder where ex-Champ Car drivers go, who aren’t lucky enough to graduate to the new unified Indy Car World Series? As it seems that the newly created Super League has become a haven for many of the displaced foreign drivers...
What’s that? You say you’ve never heard of the Super League? Well, it’s a somewhat novel idea, very loosely framed upon the principle of the A1 GP, which bills itself as the Motorsports equivalent of World Cup Soccer, Err, Foosball... As the Super League is the cross pollination of worldwide Foosball clubs and Motorsports, with 17 Soccer Clubs racing against each other in identically prepared racecar’s...
And talk about your “Spec” racecar, as all of the single seaters are produced by Elan Motorsports Technologies and powered by Menard Competition Technologies (4.2 liter) V-12 lump’s producing 750+ bhp.
“While the chassis and components are constructed at Elan's base in Atlanta, Georgia in the USA, the final assembly is taking place at the headquarters of Norfolk headquarters for renowned Formula Ford constructor, Van Diemen - also an Elan owned company.”
The driver roll call sheet seems to be a combination of A1 GP, GP2 and ex-Champ Car stars, piloting such notable Soccer clubs machinery as Liverpool, Olympiacos and PSV Eindhoven.
While such notables as Ryan Dalziel, (Rangers) Robert Doornbos, (AC Milan) Tristan Gommendy (FC Porto) and Nelson Philippe, (Borussia Dortmund) which equates to approximately ¼ of the old Champ Car grid… OUCh!
The first round of the six race series was run at Donnington on August 31st, with victory going to Davide Rigon, driving for Beijing Guoan, with Enrico Toccacelo (AS Roma) runner-up and Duncan Tappy (Tottenham Hotspur) finishing third…
Correction
A very astute reader has caught me making another blunder… As I’d incorrectly assumed that the Rangers noted above equated to the Queens Parks Rangers of London, in which “Flavour Flav,” a.k.a. Flavio Briatore is part owner of. But, you know what happens when you ASS-Sume things, eh? And thus Open Wheel star Ryan Dalziel, was indeed behind the wheel of his Scottish Football Club’s entry, the Glasgow Rangers of Scotland and NOT driving for Briatore’s London based club…
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Gopher Huntin’
Whale, just returned from a very brief visit to “The Gopher State,” a.k.a. Minn-uh-sota; Yeah, sure, Yuh-betcha! As this stately moniker was derived from its population of the ‘lil striped critter way back when...
Although I didn’t see any of the cute critters, I did learn that the “Mighty Mississippi River originates in the state while doing a very brief search on Open Wheel talent to come from “The Land of 10,000 Lakes,” in which I discovered that Flinstone Indy Lites driver Leilani Munter was originally from Rochester, MN before moving to Mooresville, NC to bask in the glow of the Stock Car capitol...
So, it was a timely coincidence that I spotted “Press Dawg’s” glowing commentary upon the Easy on the Eyes Leilani... Who’s apparently having’ some sorta trouble with her new britches, just prior to leaving for Minneapolis, which was a short, but sweet trip, as once again Jefford shoehorned the Motley Crue of aspiring Motocross riders into the Team Shasta motor home, this time setting off for the wide open fields of Meadow Valley, MN for the weekend.
And Team Shasta, Jefford’s trusty 1984 Ford 460 (24’) RV was pulling an impressive armada of dirt bikes behind it, with six of the nasty beasts wedged precariously upon the little open trailer, as the two young boys Dundee and Jonathan were sent to the rear of the motor home several times to check upon the precious cargo...
Thus, we had two “Thumpers” aboard, as Jefford and Mike had brought their brand new Honda CRF450 four strokes along with Mike’s brother Jeffery bringing his recently acquired Honda CR250 two stroke with us, while Dundee and Jonathan’s matching KTM SX 50’s (two stroke/automatic’s) were present as well as Dundee’s Suzuki 65 (two stroke/manual trans.) was along just-in-case Dundee wanted to ride it also? As this “Scooter” has quite the pedigree, having previously been a Suzuki “Works” bike for rising AMA 250 Pro Star Ryan Dungey...
With the weather having been crisp and clear, but cold the previous two nights, we set off for Meadow Valley Saturday morning and were met that afternoon at the facility by Brian and his support crew Anna and Debbie... And we watched Brian bouncing about the gravel road upon his go-kart, which would shortly meet its demise with a broken clutch mechanism from the excessive road travel, prior to Brian joining the rest of the “Boyzs” upon the big track aboard his Kawasaki KX250. Meanwhile the two young boys had the “Kid’s” track all to their selves and I joined Anna and Debbie in the brilliant sunlight grass covered field with the various shrieks of two and four stroke motorcycles assaulting us from all sides of the wide open expanses...
Later that evening, as night fell upon us and the temperature got decidedly chilly, we congregated around a much needed bonfire as tales ‘O yore were swapped about the days riding activities… Before it was finally time for Smore’s… Which of course Jonathan and Dundee were particularly fond of; while much later, as we all tried to catch our “40 winks,” unfortunately around 3AM the skies began to deluge us with rainfall, which always sounds much worse upon a vehicles metal roof… And thus I still cannot get over Jeffery’s less than obvious pronouncement in the wee hours that “It’s Raining!” Uh duh, dude! We already know and thanks for waking us up!
Thus any hopes of getting a little more riding in Sunday morning were completely scrubbed as the drizzle still persisted and we were unwilling to pay the daily $25 per rider fee to go slog about in the mud, and hence, after a leisurely breakfast and returning of the allotted motor bikes to the trailer, along with packing up, we headed back for the big city of Hopkins.
Thus it was of stark contrast to me to spend Monday hanging’ out in Hopkins in peaceful tranquility listening to the tails of Sherlock Holms, while Jefford was busy at work, before returning home with Dundee, who wanted to surprise me… And then Dune Buggy Bill dropped by to take us out for all you can eat Chinese buffet, before that dreaded precipitation returned early Tuesday morning, just-in-time for my return to Seattle Tuesday evening…
Although I didn’t see any of the cute critters, I did learn that the “Mighty Mississippi River originates in the state while doing a very brief search on Open Wheel talent to come from “The Land of 10,000 Lakes,” in which I discovered that Flinstone Indy Lites driver Leilani Munter was originally from Rochester, MN before moving to Mooresville, NC to bask in the glow of the Stock Car capitol...
So, it was a timely coincidence that I spotted “Press Dawg’s” glowing commentary upon the Easy on the Eyes Leilani... Who’s apparently having’ some sorta trouble with her new britches, just prior to leaving for Minneapolis, which was a short, but sweet trip, as once again Jefford shoehorned the Motley Crue of aspiring Motocross riders into the Team Shasta motor home, this time setting off for the wide open fields of Meadow Valley, MN for the weekend.
And Team Shasta, Jefford’s trusty 1984 Ford 460 (24’) RV was pulling an impressive armada of dirt bikes behind it, with six of the nasty beasts wedged precariously upon the little open trailer, as the two young boys Dundee and Jonathan were sent to the rear of the motor home several times to check upon the precious cargo...
Thus, we had two “Thumpers” aboard, as Jefford and Mike had brought their brand new Honda CRF450 four strokes along with Mike’s brother Jeffery bringing his recently acquired Honda CR250 two stroke with us, while Dundee and Jonathan’s matching KTM SX 50’s (two stroke/automatic’s) were present as well as Dundee’s Suzuki 65 (two stroke/manual trans.) was along just-in-case Dundee wanted to ride it also? As this “Scooter” has quite the pedigree, having previously been a Suzuki “Works” bike for rising AMA 250 Pro Star Ryan Dungey...
With the weather having been crisp and clear, but cold the previous two nights, we set off for Meadow Valley Saturday morning and were met that afternoon at the facility by Brian and his support crew Anna and Debbie... And we watched Brian bouncing about the gravel road upon his go-kart, which would shortly meet its demise with a broken clutch mechanism from the excessive road travel, prior to Brian joining the rest of the “Boyzs” upon the big track aboard his Kawasaki KX250. Meanwhile the two young boys had the “Kid’s” track all to their selves and I joined Anna and Debbie in the brilliant sunlight grass covered field with the various shrieks of two and four stroke motorcycles assaulting us from all sides of the wide open expanses...
Later that evening, as night fell upon us and the temperature got decidedly chilly, we congregated around a much needed bonfire as tales ‘O yore were swapped about the days riding activities… Before it was finally time for Smore’s… Which of course Jonathan and Dundee were particularly fond of; while much later, as we all tried to catch our “40 winks,” unfortunately around 3AM the skies began to deluge us with rainfall, which always sounds much worse upon a vehicles metal roof… And thus I still cannot get over Jeffery’s less than obvious pronouncement in the wee hours that “It’s Raining!” Uh duh, dude! We already know and thanks for waking us up!
Thus any hopes of getting a little more riding in Sunday morning were completely scrubbed as the drizzle still persisted and we were unwilling to pay the daily $25 per rider fee to go slog about in the mud, and hence, after a leisurely breakfast and returning of the allotted motor bikes to the trailer, along with packing up, we headed back for the big city of Hopkins.
Thus it was of stark contrast to me to spend Monday hanging’ out in Hopkins in peaceful tranquility listening to the tails of Sherlock Holms, while Jefford was busy at work, before returning home with Dundee, who wanted to surprise me… And then Dune Buggy Bill dropped by to take us out for all you can eat Chinese buffet, before that dreaded precipitation returned early Tuesday morning, just-in-time for my return to Seattle Tuesday evening…
Racing Fodder
See what happens when you go on Holiday for a few days? All Hell seemingly breaks loose in the “Vurld der Motorsporten,” Ja-Ja!
Castroneves freed on $10m bail
This by far was the most shocking news of the past week, of which I was totally unaware of until returning from Minnesota last evening. As thanks to Indiana Bureau Chief Danny B, the news was awaiting my return...
As apparently Penske Racing’s Helio Castroneves has been charged with several counts of Fraud and Tax Evasion by the Internal Revenue Service and was seen putting on another of his Hollywood cameos in the courtroom, when breaking down in tears...
Obviously, this isn’t the type of publicity that the Indy Car series is seeking, as this could potentially leave a very black mark upon one of the leagues two Prima Dona’s, Err, “Top Stars.”
To read more, see; Castroneves pleads not guilty in tax case
Canada loses Grand Prix
And while I find the Castroneves business quite alarming, I find the cancellation of the 2009 Canadian Grand Prix even more disturbing, as the FIA (nee Emperor Bernardo) has just dropped the longtime Montreal event from its latest 2009 calendar, which will see the North American shores totally devoid of any Formula 1 races next year, which seems certain to cause some rancor with the worlds leading Auto manufacturers, eh?
Apparently the Canadian Grand Prix has ran into the dreaded effects of the ever increasing Global economic crisis, of which is being spearheaded by the United States, yet Montreal’s loss will have a major economic fallout upon the city, which reportedly benefits by the massive $100 million the event pumps into the local economy.
Turkey will now take Canada’s place upon the F1 calendar and allow the Formula One circus a month long break during the summer, of which the teams employees rightfully deserve, but will do little to inspire Canadian fans... Hey, I know! Why can’t Emperor Bernardo give his friend and long time “Kuhnuck” whipping boy Normand Legault, (NOT to be confused with Sir Maxxum...) the event promoter since 1981, a monetary handout, Err, I meant bailout? Oh yeah, that’s right. Bernie NEVER spends any of his money...
“Rafa” called up to the Majors
Interestingly, reigning Indy Lights Champion Rafael Matos has been announced as Luczo Dragon’s chauffer of its #12 Dallara Honda Indy Car for the 2009 season. Matos has been on a quite impressive streak of late, having previously won the 2007 Champ Car Atlantics Championship, along with taking the GT class victory at this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, Overall victory aboard a Daytona Prototype for Michael Shank Racing at the Gran d Am’s season finale at Miller Motorsport Park and winning the Skip Barber and Star Mazda Championships previously.
Although there’s no word upon Tomas Scheckter’s future with the team, presumably Matos signing leaves the South African driver as a free agent upon the Indy Car driver market, as I’m wondering how this arrangement came about, since I thought that Matos was a contracted Andretti Green Racing driver? Yet, this is certainly good news for aspiring Indy Lights contestants, as yet, none have been able to be given legitimate shots in the Indy Car World Series...
Castroneves freed on $10m bail
This by far was the most shocking news of the past week, of which I was totally unaware of until returning from Minnesota last evening. As thanks to Indiana Bureau Chief Danny B, the news was awaiting my return...
As apparently Penske Racing’s Helio Castroneves has been charged with several counts of Fraud and Tax Evasion by the Internal Revenue Service and was seen putting on another of his Hollywood cameos in the courtroom, when breaking down in tears...
Obviously, this isn’t the type of publicity that the Indy Car series is seeking, as this could potentially leave a very black mark upon one of the leagues two Prima Dona’s, Err, “Top Stars.”
To read more, see; Castroneves pleads not guilty in tax case
Canada loses Grand Prix
And while I find the Castroneves business quite alarming, I find the cancellation of the 2009 Canadian Grand Prix even more disturbing, as the FIA (nee Emperor Bernardo) has just dropped the longtime Montreal event from its latest 2009 calendar, which will see the North American shores totally devoid of any Formula 1 races next year, which seems certain to cause some rancor with the worlds leading Auto manufacturers, eh?
Apparently the Canadian Grand Prix has ran into the dreaded effects of the ever increasing Global economic crisis, of which is being spearheaded by the United States, yet Montreal’s loss will have a major economic fallout upon the city, which reportedly benefits by the massive $100 million the event pumps into the local economy.
Turkey will now take Canada’s place upon the F1 calendar and allow the Formula One circus a month long break during the summer, of which the teams employees rightfully deserve, but will do little to inspire Canadian fans... Hey, I know! Why can’t Emperor Bernardo give his friend and long time “Kuhnuck” whipping boy Normand Legault, (NOT to be confused with Sir Maxxum...) the event promoter since 1981, a monetary handout, Err, I meant bailout? Oh yeah, that’s right. Bernie NEVER spends any of his money...
“Rafa” called up to the Majors
Interestingly, reigning Indy Lights Champion Rafael Matos has been announced as Luczo Dragon’s chauffer of its #12 Dallara Honda Indy Car for the 2009 season. Matos has been on a quite impressive streak of late, having previously won the 2007 Champ Car Atlantics Championship, along with taking the GT class victory at this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, Overall victory aboard a Daytona Prototype for Michael Shank Racing at the Gran d Am’s season finale at Miller Motorsport Park and winning the Skip Barber and Star Mazda Championships previously.
Although there’s no word upon Tomas Scheckter’s future with the team, presumably Matos signing leaves the South African driver as a free agent upon the Indy Car driver market, as I’m wondering how this arrangement came about, since I thought that Matos was a contracted Andretti Green Racing driver? Yet, this is certainly good news for aspiring Indy Lights contestants, as yet, none have been able to be given legitimate shots in the Indy Car World Series...
Friday, October 3, 2008
More Open Wheel stars at Petit Le Mans
Not to be outdone by the recent plethora of Open Wheel Racing “Stars” competing in the recently held Grand Am season finale at Miller Motorsport Park, the series rival; ALMS *American Le Mans Series) will have its own gala of celebrity drivers...
Thus, the list of drivers joining 2008 Indy Car Champion Scott Dixon, who’ll be co-driving with Gil De Ferran and Simon Pagenaud in De Ferran’s Acura LMP2 entry at this year’s Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta on October 4th, will include:
Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti will co-drive with Frank Montagny aboard Andretti Green Racing’s LMP2 Acura entry, while Kanaan will also drive with Montagny at the season finale at Laguna Seca.
Roger Penske will enter a third LMP2 Porsche RS Spyder for his two Indy Car stars Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe, with the Indy Car team members as the crew for this extra entry designed to help Penske’s regular ALMS drivers retain their American Le Mans Series driver’s and team crowns in a hotly contested battle against their Acura brethren.
And speaking of Acura based LMP2 contestants, Highcroft Racing’s David Brabham and Scott Sharp who are battling to defeat Penske for the driver’s and manufacturer’s titles, have enlisted the services of Dario Franchitti for the event, who’ll now be racing against his brother Marino, who drives one of Rob Dyson’s LMP2 Porsche RS Spyders, with five Porsche Spyders racing at Road Atlanta.
Meanwhile, according to Indy Racing Revolution, 2008 Firestone Indy Lights Champion Rafael Matos will also be competing, but I’ve yet to discover who or what he’ll be racing in.
And while all of the media attention seemingly is focused upon the heated LMP2 category, don’t forget that there’s two significant changes in the Big Brother LMP1 category, as Peugeot will be bringing two of its extremely fast LMP1 908 APHFI turbo diesel coupes to challenge the Audi R10’s for overall victory, while Corsa Motorsports will debut its brand new Hybrid Prototype...
Thus, the list of drivers joining 2008 Indy Car Champion Scott Dixon, who’ll be co-driving with Gil De Ferran and Simon Pagenaud in De Ferran’s Acura LMP2 entry at this year’s Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta on October 4th, will include:
Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti will co-drive with Frank Montagny aboard Andretti Green Racing’s LMP2 Acura entry, while Kanaan will also drive with Montagny at the season finale at Laguna Seca.
Roger Penske will enter a third LMP2 Porsche RS Spyder for his two Indy Car stars Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe, with the Indy Car team members as the crew for this extra entry designed to help Penske’s regular ALMS drivers retain their American Le Mans Series driver’s and team crowns in a hotly contested battle against their Acura brethren.
And speaking of Acura based LMP2 contestants, Highcroft Racing’s David Brabham and Scott Sharp who are battling to defeat Penske for the driver’s and manufacturer’s titles, have enlisted the services of Dario Franchitti for the event, who’ll now be racing against his brother Marino, who drives one of Rob Dyson’s LMP2 Porsche RS Spyders, with five Porsche Spyders racing at Road Atlanta.
Meanwhile, according to Indy Racing Revolution, 2008 Firestone Indy Lights Champion Rafael Matos will also be competing, but I’ve yet to discover who or what he’ll be racing in.
And while all of the media attention seemingly is focused upon the heated LMP2 category, don’t forget that there’s two significant changes in the Big Brother LMP1 category, as Peugeot will be bringing two of its extremely fast LMP1 908 APHFI turbo diesel coupes to challenge the Audi R10’s for overall victory, while Corsa Motorsports will debut its brand new Hybrid Prototype...
World’s Fastest Mustang?
“Dag-nab it! Can it already be a month since another Labour Day weekend Done blown by?”
As I’d hoped to scribble about this prior to frolicking about the Seattle Center grounds, see: Bumbershoot, which was once home of the Seattle Supersonics for an amazing 41 seasons... Yet, may Clay Bennett & Howard Schulz both LOSE considerable coin over the massive bungling regarding ownership of our be-LUV-ed NBA Franchise, but once again I digress...
As several weeks ago on Wind Tunnel, Dave Despain interviewed Danny Thompson, son of the late Mickey Thompson, who was a true pioneer and icon of Motorsports... And I’m not even gonna try to list all of his accomplishments! Yet, recall that it was Mickey Thompson who entered a tall, lanky Californian rookie racecar driver by the name of Dan Gurney at Indianapolis...
Danny Thompson, with the impetus of a collector owning one of the three 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1’s used for setting nearly 300 land speed records at Bonneville in 1968, wanted to do a special 40th Anniversary retrospective, with Danny simply being lucky enough to get the call for chauffeuring duties of the trick 2008 production based ‘Stang.
Danny claimed on Wind Tunnel that they’d done a “Out the Back Door” pass of 254mph and that the Pony car was running on E85 and that they didn’t even know which class to put him in, since there’s currently no class for Ethanol vehicles, eventually placing him in the Nitro-class. And Danny’s ultimate goal is to recapture the top speed record of “Piston” driven vehicles by going 500mph, as his father had once gone over 400mph in his Challenger 1 slipstreamer, powered by four Oldsmobile V-8’s and constructed in a garage, outlined in chalk on the concrete floor!
As I’d hoped to scribble about this prior to frolicking about the Seattle Center grounds, see: Bumbershoot, which was once home of the Seattle Supersonics for an amazing 41 seasons... Yet, may Clay Bennett & Howard Schulz both LOSE considerable coin over the massive bungling regarding ownership of our be-LUV-ed NBA Franchise, but once again I digress...
As several weeks ago on Wind Tunnel, Dave Despain interviewed Danny Thompson, son of the late Mickey Thompson, who was a true pioneer and icon of Motorsports... And I’m not even gonna try to list all of his accomplishments! Yet, recall that it was Mickey Thompson who entered a tall, lanky Californian rookie racecar driver by the name of Dan Gurney at Indianapolis...
Danny Thompson, with the impetus of a collector owning one of the three 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1’s used for setting nearly 300 land speed records at Bonneville in 1968, wanted to do a special 40th Anniversary retrospective, with Danny simply being lucky enough to get the call for chauffeuring duties of the trick 2008 production based ‘Stang.
Danny claimed on Wind Tunnel that they’d done a “Out the Back Door” pass of 254mph and that the Pony car was running on E85 and that they didn’t even know which class to put him in, since there’s currently no class for Ethanol vehicles, eventually placing him in the Nitro-class. And Danny’s ultimate goal is to recapture the top speed record of “Piston” driven vehicles by going 500mph, as his father had once gone over 400mph in his Challenger 1 slipstreamer, powered by four Oldsmobile V-8’s and constructed in a garage, outlined in chalk on the concrete floor!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Eye Rock 500
I first learned about the Eye Rock 500 sometime last year... And was very excited about it! As Clyde had even promised to help me participate... By surreptitiously donating the vehicle, a flamboyant purple Pontiac Grand Prix; You know? The ones made famous by the Pontiac marketing wide track jingle; “Wider is Better!”
As you see, (Pun intended!) today marks a very significant milestone for Mwah; your humble scribe... Of one I’m not exactly fond of, but nevertheless occurred a decade ago when it was best decided that I NO longer be allowed to operate a motor vehicle...
And as one of the band members of Death Cab for Cutie said during the Bumbershoot performance; NOT to get too heavy, but... My milestone PAILS MISERABBLY in contrast to so many others, as the likes of Alex Zanardi, Davey Hamilton and Wayne Rainey come to mind for starters... As I’m quite certain that those are just the tip of the iceberg, eh?
Yet, while I assume we all marveled at the triumphs of Olympic superstars Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, I myself was much more intrigued by the story of this year’s Paralympics, which were also held in China.
As winning bidder NBC relentlessly pummeled us around the clock with this year’s Olympics, I’m totally unaware of any such Television coverage of the corresponding Paralympics, I mean HELL! Couldn’t they have been hosted on some Basic Cable channel?
And perhaps you’ve heard about South African double amputee Oscar Pistorius, along with all of the swirling controversy of whether or not he could compete in Beijing this summer? Of which he ultimately won his legal battle to compete, but unfortunately was unable to qualify due to his time being too slow...
Thus, I found myself compelled to listen daily to the New York Times for any stories about various American athletes, marveling at such examples as; Nick Scandone, Barbara Buchan and Marlon Shirley.
Along with other less heralded names competing. As in just one typically touching story, consider the plight of Nick Scandone, who at age 43 is intent to go out in a blaze of glory vs. his impending death from Lou Gehrig’s disease,
Meanwhile, after spending awhile scouring le internets... With NO luck, I’ve failed to come up with any further results in regards to whether or not the Eye Rock 500 was contested this year, as I simply sit behind the glow of the computer’s monitor as another “Armchair Quarterback” on Monday morning...
And as typical news reporting goes, there was NO follow-up reports that I’m aware of in regards to Scandone and co-sailor Maureen McKinnon-Tucker’s two person Sailboat competition... But I have managed to find out the results in which the duo were victorious...
Scandone and McKinnon-Tucker grab Gold in China
More Vettel-speak
o it appears that young German hot-schue Sebastian Vettel’s star is definitely growing brighter... Having recently spotted the following short interview with Sebastian Vettel on Grid Crasher... (Along with the cheeky Schumacher bros. video)
Vettel interview
And yet, just what does Germany’s top motor racing Ace Herr Schumacher think about all of the buzz surrounding the young German protégé?
Schumi; Vettel is his own star...
Vettel interview
And yet, just what does Germany’s top motor racing Ace Herr Schumacher think about all of the buzz surrounding the young German protégé?
Schumi; Vettel is his own star...
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