Tomaso on Autosport Radio

Thanks to Don Kay, the affable host of Autosport Radio, I spent Tuesday evening at McGilvery’s in Speedway, IN listening to the weeks guests: Jack Spurney of Honda Performance Development, along with first and second place Firestone Indy Lights Freedom 100 finishers Wade Cunningham and J.R. Hildebrand; before your humble scribe was invited to approach the stage, sit in the bright glare of the white lights behind a microphone and be interviewed by Mr. Kay about various aspects of my Blogging career and thoughts upon the just completed Indy 500. So if you’re interested in seeing “Yours Trulli” making his internets debut, then check out this weeks show, albeit Tomaso is P4 in the rotation and thus at the end of the hour segment... Click here and then click upon the word Video below the Listen live tab.

Also mentioned in the interview was the continuing saga of Don trying to procure my Gil De Ferran autograph I’d asked him for a few months ago... Thus I was pleasantly surprised to have a De Ferran Motorsports envelope in my mailbox yesterday with four De Ferran Motorsports cards enclosed, including one autographed by both Gil and co-driver Simon Pagenaud...

Kudos, Don!

F1 Teams to remain in 2010?

As Y’all know by now, I’ve just returned from Indy and therefore am a bit behind on my scribbling’s, especially from Across the Pond, as I only caught fleeting images of the Monaco Grand Prix while hangin’ out in Speedway, IN and therefore have only briefly read that it now appears that the remaining nine current Formula 1 Constructors are set to file their applications for the 2010 season sometime today, while Williams had previously broken ranks when filing its 2010 application earlier this week and then being temporarily suspended from the FOTA. With the deadline for 2010 Team applications deadline being today and now apparently only three new grid slots up for grabs, who’ll be joining USGPE at the rear of the grid; could it be David Richards and Lola? Stay tuned to the never ending paint shaker hi-jinx of the Max ‘N Bernie show...

Indy Car Fodder

, Just a few quick tidbits here... As some of you may be pondering Tomas “Rockem Sockem” Scheckter’s decision to drive for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing this weekend instead of continuing with Dale Coyne Racing... When arriving back at my Hotel Danny noticed that two gleaming white DCR Semi-haulers were parked discretely at the rear of the parking lot... So of course we sauntered over and one of the Truck Driver’s informed us that one of the four Dallara/Honda chassis was to be returned to the IRL upon their return to Chicago, as it was actually an HVM Racing steed and hence I suspect this is partially responsible for Scheckter seeking employment elsewhere?

Meanwhile, conveniently lost in all of the George-Gate hi-steria... Was the fact that this year’s Indy 500’s television ratings dropped. (And I don’t think you can blame Versus since it was on some other channel, eh?) And although it was claimed that ratings were up in the local market for the tape delayed re-run, I can tell yuh that even though we had the Telescreen turned on, Dave, Rob and I saw nary a lick of it as we sat outside after a tremendous barbeque dinner prepared by Dave discussing other topics including the current plight of Formula 1 and when in the HELL will Max ‘N Bernie be given their walking papers...

Indy 500 TV Ratings decline

Back from Indy

And I tell Yuhs... It ain’t no fun to be back home again... As I had a most enjoyable time hangin’ out in Speedway, Indiana, getting treated like a V.I.P. at the race track... Can I get that door for you Mr. Tomaso? Of course now comes the hard part, where’ I’ve gotta try scribblin’ furiously to put my massive collection of hopefully somewhat legible notes into words of a somewhat entertaining fashion... Uh, you know Tomaso, there’s these high tech gadget thingy’s called tape recorders... Why yes, Jeffrey, I managed to leave mine at home along with my business cards...

Thus after a leisurely brunch prior to Danny taking me to Indianapolis International Airport, which what a massive improvement the new Airport is over the old one, that my Visually Impaired (Blind) Assist at the Airport informed me It was 50 years old and they’d broken ground for the new Airport in 1975... But first had to move Interstate 70!

Thus we dropped by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) Administration building to thank the fine folks who’d been so helpful to me during my first ever INDY 500, as although Krabitz of AM1070’s The Fan has taken to calling them the overly Officious “Yellow Jackets,” I found everyone on the Speedway grounds to be overly courteous to Mwah...

And thus as we arrived, Danny noticed a “live” News truck crew on the grounds, which happened to be from WRTV6, the local ABC affiliate. Hmm? What’s going’ on? As on the opposite side of the parking lot was the similar News van from WISH TV 8, to which Danny said; “Something Big is going on here. They don’t send two News crews out for a follow-up story on Race attendance, etc.”

So sarcastically I said; perhaps the league is announcing its new title sponsor? NO! Danny retorted. Thus next I quipped; whale may be the Mayor is presenting Tony George with a key to the city for doing such an outstanding job this year then? Ahh yeah, right?

So we went inside and met our party we’d wished to say Thanks to and Danny asked her what’s going on out there? And she categorically said “I’ve got NOTHING!” (I KNOW NOTHING! I SEE NOTHING! ROUST, ROUST!) So we said our goodbyes and left the building and Danny stopped to ask one of the Cameramen what’s going On? Well we’ve got an UNCONFIRMED report that Tony George has been ousted as the CEO of IMS by the Board in a meeting held Tuesday night... HOLY SHIT BATMAN! Where’d the report come from? It’s from SPEED TV. Oh? Was it written by Robin Miller? Why yes it was but we cannot confirm anything at the moment... We’ve tried contacting (Attorney) Jack Snider but he’s not answering his phone. Nobody’s answering their phone at the moment and we can’t run a story until we’ve confirmed it... So I told the reporter standing by that it was SHOCKING! And I’m probably one of Liddul T’s biggest critic’s... Whale Otay, there’s probably harsher, but I’m NOT exactly a fan of his... So would you like to go on the record and do an interview with us? Uhm, NO Thanks... Yeah I know, I missed my 15 Mine-nutes ‘O Fame... But I’d just had the good fortune of being interviewed on Autosport Radio with Don Kay the night before and really didn’t know what exactly was going on with the whole Tony G. situation, nor have I read Robin Miller’s breaking story which certainly set the town abuzz before I hopped upon that big ‘Ol Jetliner to Seattle as Stevie “Gee-tar” Miller once sang many Moons ago. And thus it was certainly interesting to puruse the Indiana AP Newswire and IndyStar this morning to hear the latest developments...

To read Robin Miller’s breaking story see; Transition coming at IMS

INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY STATEMENT

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

At a regular meeting of the board of directors of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday, May 26, board members asked Tony George, chief executive officer of the IMS companies, to devise a plan for management of Hulman & Company, the Indy Racing League, Clabber Girl and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that would allow him to focus on the business which requires the greatest attention. This plan is to be presented to the board at a meeting later this year.

Tony George said: “Contrary to published reports, I continue to serve as CEO of IMS. Our board of directors met yesterday, and we did discuss how to best confront challenges and exploit opportunities facing our businesses. This is nothing new and is something that we continually do as a board. But no changes in leadership or responsibility have been made. We don’t normally comment on board deliberations concerning our family business. However, the widespread, inaccurate reports and rumors caused my mother and me to conclude that it was necessary to set the record straight. If changes are made in the management of the company that are newsworthy, we will announce them when they are made.”
(Source: IMS2009)

For more on Tony George’s response to Miller’s report, see; George: I'm still IMS CEO

Now time to check around the Blogosphere Horn, eh?

Getter-done!

Whale this is a bit dated... But at least Gentleman John did finally make the show... Along with Milka, Ernesto, Tomas, The IZOD Dude, Bruno, Err TAG and Nelson P. as we’re all set for another entertaining race between the Red ‘N White Carz, eh?

Revving up for Indy

Off to Indy!
As previously noted, you may want to check out the Twitterz’ Holic’s list of links for this Month ‘O May’s festiva, as the “DAWG” (nee Press Dog) has come up with a most impressive list of various Indy Teams, Drivers, Bloggers, Personalities and the IMS who’ve all jumped aboard the Tweeter Nation Bandwagon...

Festival of Tweeting

As Operation Information Overload, Err Ladies and Gentlemen “Start your Tweets!” Kicks into sixth gear, as the concofiny of Dueling “Tweets” is certain to go ballistic over Memorial Day weekend...

Alas, your humble scribe will be incommunicado for the next week as I try to navigate successfully about Speedway, IN... As I DON’T HAVE NO STINKIN’ GRUNTER ACCOUNT! (Tweet-tweet, TWIT-er...) Nor any of the other High Tech gadgets my fellow Bloggers will be slogging’ around the Speedway... (Laptop, etc.)

Thus Tweeter Nation members frothing at the mouth for the latest developments; you’re recommended to drop-in to: 16th and Georgetown, Is it May yet, My Name is IRL, and Press Dog to see what riveting morsel of caveats they’ve dispensed!

Milka, Sarah and Anna

Yeah, Y’all read that correctly... As in Milka Duno, Sarah Fisher and Anna Chatten and NOT Dan-Dan-Danicker Patrick...

As in Anna will potentially be making history this weekend as the first over-the-wall Female? Whale the first in over a decade and first for a Female race driver, when serving as the Air Jacker for Milka’s No. 23 CITGO Special. And Anna’s NO “Newbie,” having previously spent six years working for Derrick Walker’s shoestring Champ Car operation as a Gearbox Specialist, which she’s also doing for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. So this is a pretty good story worth checking’ out...

Another Woman making Race History

Meanwhile, Sarah Fisher has certainly been making the most of her own media blitz, as she was not only on The Daily Show with John Stewart Monday night, but this past Sunday, Sarah dropped into the Speed Freaks which you can listen to at:

Fisher on Speed Freaks

And also taking the brunt of the FREAKS, was Ryan “the DUDE” Hunter-Reay, who’s interview appears to not be available? Whale at least I didn’t see it on their website…

And now I’ really should get kracking, eh? And what’s up with the weather here? Thunder ‘N Lightning after raining ALL day and mid-50’s… Sheesh! You’d be hard pressed to believe it’s almost summer here, eh?

Another enlightening Word Butcher’s question

Please forgive my delay in answering this question, but I’ve been a tad bit busy, eh? Most notably trying to put to bed my long awaited Blue Crown Spark Plug Specials Saga... Which morphed into a six part melody, as I became totally engrossed in this long forgotten era, not to mention going overboard on I500 qualifying news...

The Blue Crown Spark Plug Specials

And thus, without further ado, as I madly scramble to prepare for tripping the Light Fantastic in Speedway, IN, here’s the latest United Open Wheel Word Butcher’s Association question.

Weekly questione (5/03/09)
Whale there’s nothing’ likes a trips to the Doctor’s Office on Cinco de Mayo, as sadly “Mey-ic-coe” is getting HAMMERED (Virtually!) over some sorta influenza... HEY! Just like Bob Varsha said on Wind Tunnel bout Robin Miller’s cold... NO Swine flu jokes, please! But I digress...

"You have just started your own privateer Formula One team. You can pick any drivers and supplier's you want. Who do you pick?"

Answer:
Without going into my really LONG rant over the current Machiavellian maneuverings of Sir MAXXUM and Emperor Bernardo, which I’ll save for a further day’s scribbling, so here’s my somewhat quick thought’s upon the possibility of becoming an F1 Privateer Constructor. (Move over Kenny & Peter!)

Since I’m a “Privateer,” I assume this means I’m running in the Budget Cap Formulae Ranks... And although the Cosworth looks likely to be the highest revving “Lump” for 2010, I’ll go elsewhere and not the obvious pick at the moment. (Mercedes Benz) No, I’ll take a Ferrari 057 V-8 Lump please, along with the assorted running gear, but NO Thanks on Maranello’s KERS hardware; I’ll take the Reggie’s version instead.

For Driver’s this is an even harder decision... As there’s too many to choose from, i.e.; World Champions, Up ‘N Comer’s or Mid-packers; as my first pick is simple, it’s who his teammate is that’s the tough part! As Piloto Numero Uno Hands Down is the young German “Vunderkin” ‘Zebb, a.k.a.Sebastian Vettel, but who shall I pick next?

Obviously you’d have to think Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Robert Kubica, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen would be at the top of your shopping list, eh? While Sebastian Boomi, Nico Rosberg and Adrian Sutil would be Dark horses and Louise JAGUAR” Hamilton would be a great fit, but I’m NOT impressed by the recent “Ly-Gate” Shenanigan’s. Which Ferdi the Putz (F. Alonso) has also had his share of maliciousness previously and The Iceman (K. Raikkonen) has recently confessed that the Scuderia will be his final racing team. And I’m a huge fan of BLOODY ‘JENE’s (J. Button) but he’s getting a bit up there, which leaves me choosing between The Krakow Kid (R. Kubica) and the not so Cool Hand Luc Felipe Massa, as I really enjoy Kubica’s frankness and outright speed when he’s matched with a decent chassis, but since I’m sporting Italian powerplants I’ll go with the Hearts on his sleeves Brazilian, Messer Phil, (Massa) although I’m having second thoughts after his apparent meltdowns over the radio this season when under pressure and perhaps one Mister Button wouldn’t be such a terrible choice either? C’mon Phil, get a grip...

“Immer Ferrari!”

As I’d like to tell MAD Max to stick a fork in it, Mate. Saying such outrageous things like Formula 1 doesn’t need Ferrari; Ha! Get a clue Sir MAXXUM! And when are you & Emperor Bernardo gonna take a Pay Cut, eh?