Could Panther be looking for a new sponsor in 2012? (All views expressed are those of Spike Rogan, and not that of OpenPaddock.net) If Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minnesota has her way, YES! Representative McCollum has proposed cutting the Department of Defense (DoD) spending on sponsorships. Mainly on auto racing. We learned last year that Panther has received about $30 million (over three seasons) of U.S. Tax Dollars from the DoD. We also learned that well over a million dollars was paid in salary to British Citizen, Dan Wheldon. Now the…
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WRC – Raikkonen/Monster Switch Imminent?
Rumors out of the Finnish press are indicating that talks between Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull/Citroen are failing. They are also quick to point out that the 2007 Formula 1 champion may be on his way to the Monster World Rally Team as we and some others have speculated. The wild card out of this potential deal is the fact we may even see Kimi in NASCAR! We have known for sometime that Citroen was probably only fielding four cars in the 2011 championship. Sebastien Loeb and Ogier occupy two…
Read MoreINDY Hump Day Report, On the bubble: HIV/AIDS
Normally the Indy Hump Day Report is very humorous. Filled with insight and sarcasm. Today however is World AIDS day 2010. Having grown up in the shadows of Pocono Raceway, I became a massive racing fan watching the late Tim Richmond. Richmond while better known for his amazing talent behind the primitive wheel of a NASCAR stock car in the 1980’s got his big break in Open Wheel racing. Richmond was born into wealth, and in the mid 1970’s was given a chance to hop in a friends Sprint car.…
Read MoreIndy Hump Day Report: On the bubble Spec Engine Racing
Proper attire at Penske Racing requires Bow Ties Well my predictions for who would be the first teams on the new Chevy party boat was wrong. (in that Ganassi & Dreyer Reinbold were not part of the Friday announcement, yet many agree Chip is still very likely between his NASCAR success with Chevy, and the monkey see, monkey do mentality of Ganassi/Penske.) When I was a guest the other night on The Inside Line, I addressed the issue of how great this is for American fans. Yes, obviously it is…
Read MoreIndyCar – Chicagoland: That’s a Wrap, Folks.
Saturday night, we saw an epic Firestone Indy Lights race and equally epic IZOD IndyCar Series race. The racing action was top notch and we saw some people running at the front that we haven’t seen there in a long time. Sarah Fisher even had a good run up front for a while, leading several laps and holding off some of the best drivers in the league. Shaun was there and will have some thoughts for us later in the week including an interview with Takuma Sato of KV Racing…
Read MoreIndyCar – Kansas Gets 2nd Cup Date, IndyCar Certainly Out
Well, its officially official. The Kansas Speedway has been approved for a second NASCAR Sprint Cup race for 2011. In addition to their early October date, the Kansas Speedway will also feature a race the first week of June. Its not official that Kansas is off the 2011 IndyCar schedule, but this announcement really makes it unlikely that open-wheel racing will return to Kansas City any time soon. Kansas Speedway and International Speedway Corporation (ISC) announced today that NASCAR has approved ISC’s request for realignment and beginning in 2011, Kansas…
Read MoreIndyCar – Danica Goes Tintoppin’
An ESPN article posted today stated that Danica was close to a two-year deal with JR Motorsports, Dale Earnhart Jr’s Nationwide team. While I don’t think this is a good move for Danica, especially not committing to a two-year deal, at least she’s with a quality team. …as quality as you can get in a car that still uses a carburetor. The only thing that I own that still uses a carburetor is my lawnmower! hmmm…. Danica to Lawn Mower Racing? That could be highly entertaining. I digress, though. She…
Read MoreIndyCar – Danica May Do Double Duty
According to an article on ESPN.com, Danica to try NASCAR in ’10, Ms. Patrick will attempt to follow in Tony Stewart’s shoes by running a full-time IndyCar schedule while also running a significant number of NASCAR Nationwide and ARCA Series races for Tony Stewart’s team. In fact, it looks like she’s be running more races in the taxis than in proper race cars. As I see it, this is very unfortunate. The additional workload will certainly not help her racecraft in an open-wheel car, rather I’d say it will hurt…
Read MoreIndyCar – On Danica Patrick
Whether you love Danica or not, she has been good for the IndyCar series in many ways. She has brought media attention, sponsorship interest and scores of fans into following her exploits in the series. But now, she may become one of the most hotly contested assets in all of motorsport. With parties as varied as IndyCar, NASCAR and eve USF1 expressing interest in cashing in on her popularity, she is in a wonderful position to negotiate her next contract. Per her contract with AGR, she is now able to…
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