Randy Bernard gets what no one else is the sport has for decades. To paraphrase James Carvalhal’s famous 1992 campaign slogan, “Its the fans, stupid!” For so long, the league participants and its leadership have been focused so much on pleasing sponsors and team owners, that fans and the on-track product has suffered. One great thing about having new blood in the leadership of the league is the lack of respect for how things have been done in the past. Seriously, let’s look at where the way things have been…
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Op-Ed – Indy Downforce
Back in 2007, I became a card-carrying member of Indy Downforce, the official fan club of the IZOD IndyCar Series. Ever since, I’ve been more involved with the league than I ever thought possible. Downforce originally came about by a group of fans who followed the series from oval to oval and decided to form up a fan club. Eventually, the league took note and now the fan club is official and offers members fantastic access to drivers, officials, gear, and even the occasional race ticket! Indy Downforce has grown…
Read MoreIndyCar – Pole Speed Predictions: We Set the Line
For the past three years, the race at the Kansas Speedway has preceded the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. I started to notice a trend, and thought I’d explore it further. Yes, I hear you statisticians out there, three data points does not make a statistically significant sample. Well, I’m running with it anyway. I thought I’d look back at the races since 2001 and see if there was a relationship between the speeds we see at Kansas and the speeds we see at Indianapolis. Sure enough, after deftly applying various…
Read MoreOp-Ed – The Rules Are Clear! …clear as the Muddy Mo.
The crown jewel of Formula 1, the historic Monaco Grand Prix, took place this past weekend and as usual the race was filled with lots of interesting happenings except for actual racing. …ok, there was Alonzo who was simply brilliant, but that’s only a single data point, not a trend. You can hear Shaun and Mike dissect the race later this week in Podcast Ep 39, but I want to take some time to analyze the mayhem that happened at the end of the race. With just a handful of…
Read MoreOp-Ed – Making a Case for the World Engine
The recent concept from Lola of using the same tub for both the IZOD IndyCar Series and the Firestone Indy Lights series got me thinking. Why stop there? One of the most often used reasons for why multiple chassis and engine manufacturers are impractical for the IZOD IndyCar Series is that the loss of the economy of scale would drive up the costs too much for participation to be either attractive or profitable. Its a powerful and very well founded argument. If a manufacturer can spread the costs of development…
Read MoreOp-Ed – Through The Viewfinder: A Different Way Of Enjoying Rally Racing
Shaun and Mike will share with you all of the events and details of last weekend’s 100 Acre Wood Rally, the 2nd stop for the Rally America National Championship, throughout the coming week. What I’d like to do is try to convince you why the sport of rallying is so incredible from a spectator’s point-of-view, and why you should NEVER forget to bring a camera even if its just the camera on your cell phone. You don’t always need the $8k camera with the yard long lens to come back…
Read MoreOP-Ed – Ferrari the Crusader
There are times when Ferrari releases some crazy PR statements, and then there are times where the completely fall off the wagon with what can only be called ridiculous. Yesterday the team released one of those ridiculous statements. The troubles faced by the new teams on the grid have been well documented by openpaddock and many motorsport publications. Campos Meta’s near collapse teamed with the bloody and ugly falling of USF1 have driven traffic on internet sites through the roof as people search for any bit of news they can…
Read MoreOP-Ed – USF1 Denies; Stefan Delivers
The soap opera that is the new teams and the potential 14th grid slot has seen two updates the last 24 hours that doesn’t make the situation any easier. As of the middle of this week we all thought the USF1 project was in a serious state of collapse. This very well may be true but it has not stopped the boys based in Charlotte from refuting the rumors. According to USF1’s twitter account, the team is “not gone” and we are to “have news soon”. Are you serious? Less…
Read MoreOpEd – Beauty Pageant or Racing Series?
The interwebs have been all a buzz over the release of the chassis concepts for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series from Dallara, Swift, and especially the much anticipated Delta Wing. There’s been much commentary offered for and against all of the designs, but none has received more discussion and more scorn than the extremely radical concept car from Delta Wing, LLC that was revealed last Wednesday at the Chicago Auto Show. We’ve gone over various aspects of the proposed concepts here, as have many others, and there are certainly a…
Read MoreOP-Ed – Openpaddock Gear Now Available
Its what everyone has been clamoring for, and now its here just in time for Christmas! Openpaddock.net gear is now available through our Cafepress store. Just click on the “Swag Store” tab at the top of the page to see all the great stuff. Be the envy of the office when you show off your stylish new Open Paddock coffee mug. Look like a pro when you walk around the paddock in your new OP Media polo shirt. Stay warm and stylish on those cold weather rally stages in your…
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