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…
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OP-Ed – RE: Miller, Chicago, and Scariness
Robin Miller has long been known as an antagonist and rabble-rouser in American Open-Wheel Racing, but now he’s gone too far. In his article, Miller’s Post-Chicago Notebook at SpeedTV.com, he calls the current oval-racing product from the IndyCar Series “suicidal.” Personally, that inescapable pack racing scares the hell out of me because of the reality of what can happen. … Indy car racing should be challenging and dangerous, just not suicidal. — Robin Miller Are you serious, Robin? This isn’t some soapbox derby. This is IndyCar Racing! This top level…
Read MoreIndyCar – Post-Sonoma Soap Opera
If you missed the Sonoma race this weekend, you missed a lot. For the first time in many seasons, I remained conscious for the entirety of the race at Infineon. Now before the haters start digging into me, let me say (and if you read my Mid-Ohio post you’ll know this to be true) I love road courses. In fact, the circuit at Sears Point, aka Sonoma, aka Infineon, is a heck of a lot of fun to drive. Sadly, its not a heck of a lot of fun, typically,…
Read MoreIndyCar – Mid-Ohio Review
The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a beautiful race track, and the morning sun on Race Day made it look even more fantastic. Even at 7:30 in the morning, the hills along the Esses were filling up fast. Qualification on Saturday was amazing to watch, especially with Justin Wilson doing so well. Briscoe earned the pole, but Wilson was right along side him qualifying P2 for Sunday’s race. In the previous road race at Watkins Glen, Wilson scored Dale Coyne Racing’s first ever win in any major open-wheel series. It…
Read MoreIndyCar – Thoughts on Push-to-Pass
Curt Cavin let the cat out of the bag in an article today on IndyStar.com: Push-To-Pass will make its IndyCar Series debut in Kentucky. (As an aside, if you don’t already read Mr. Cavin’s Q&A, you should! Its great stuff.) Personally, I’m skeptical of the move. The push-to-pass button so often becomes a push-not-to-be-passed button, take a look at how KERS is used in F1 for example. On a restart everyone will mash their Go-Fast buttons and there will be no difference. Some drivers will use the button for offense,…
Read MoreIndyCar – Aerodynamic Changes Debut at Kentucky
In an effort to improve the oval-racing product, the Indy Racing League, sanctioning body for the IndyCar Series, will loosen up some of the aerodynamic rules that it had previously tightened in the name of cost-savings and parity. The problem with tightening the engineering rules in oval racing is that the large teams still spend just as much as they would have before, but now they spend it on the minutiae rather than on more substantial engineering. For the Meijer Indy 300 at the Kentucky Speedway on August 1st, team…
Read MoreIndyCar – Tracy To Drive at The Glen
Things keep looking better and better for Paul Tracy. KV Racing Technologies announced today that veteran driver Paul Tracy would return to the team, and the Geico sponsorship, for the Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen over the July 4th holiday weekend at the historic Watkins Glen International Raceway. “I am pleased to announce that Paul Tracy and GEICO Insurance will be joining KV Racing Technology for the race at Watkins Glen,” said KVRT co-owner Jimmy Vasser. “Running Paul at The Glen with Mario gives us the opportunity to…
Read MoreIndyCar – Teammates Tussle at Texas
The IndyCars under the lights at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, TX always look spectacular, and this year was no exception. The weather was excellent and so was the crowd. Attendance at this week’s event was strong, something that the series desperately needed for a 1.5-mile oval after the anemic showing at Kansas. As usual this year, the start’s and the restarts were fantastic with lots of jockeying for position all through the grid. After a few laps, however, the ability for drivers to pass lapped traffic, let…
Read MoreIndyCars – Kansas Quali Update
The rain stayed away just long enough on Saturday for the 22 IndyCar drivers and the 24 Firestone Indy Lights drivers to have a couple rounds of practice and qualify their machines for the two races on Sunday. Getting the races in might be a challenge. Severe weather moved into the area not long after the qualification and the same front will still be in the area on race day. Expectations are for dry, but windy weather until mid to late afternoon. The Indy Lights race will likely be run,…
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