A new day has dawned at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Alabama, and fog has blanketed the lush, green hills for hours since the rain abated. Not much to see until the IndyCars roll out for yet another practice, at 8:00. Stay tuned. . . . . . .
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IndyCar – Rain, rain, go away …
After noon at Barber Motorsports Park, I returned trackside to photograph the Star Mazda Series qualifying session for Open Paddock’s coverage of the Mazda Road to Indy. Five minutes after that qualifying, the IndyCars were due to practice again. I could’ve resumed photographing from the ‘outside’ of Turn 2 or Turn 3, where I’d been yesterday and today for quite long enough, or try a new vantage. So I went to the inside of Turns 2 and 3, onto a landscaped (pruned trees, flowering shrubs) hill around which the race…
Read MoreOpEd – Lessons Learned: Attending a Race at Mid-Ohio
This year was my third year attending the ALMS and IndyCar races at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and for the third year in a row I had a blast. Each year, I’ve picked up a little bit more insight about how to attend, what to avoid and what to enjoy. This year, it was a little different for me in that in addition to a spectator ticket I also had a photo badge which gave me great access to the track and the pits, but it also limited my…
Read MoreIndyCar – IZOD Dumps Cash on Advertising
I was pleasantly surprised this weekend to see IZOD IndyCar Series commercials air during both the AFC and NFC league championship games this weekend. Short of the Superbowl, there is hardly any other advertising buy that would attract the attention of more eyes. The commercial used was the same bit that IndyCar fans were treated to all season last year (‘everything gonna be all right’) but ended with an advertisement for the Sao Paulo race and the phrase ‘The Fastest Race on Earth’. While this is the first time I…
Read MoreOP-Ed – Rebuilding the 500 – Part 4 of 5 – Speed
Rebuilding the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race Getting Up To Speed One thing that drew people not only to the track on race day, but on pole day and every qualifying day thereafter was the thrill of seeing those incredible speeds! People came to see blazingly fast cars, the brave superhuman drivers that piloted them, and to hear track announcers like Tom Carnegie announce, “And it’s a NEEEEWWWW TRAAAACK RECOOORD!” Some of you know what I’m talking about! For those that don’t, please check out this video from IndyCar’s YouTube page:…
Read MoreOP-Ed – The Role of a Series
The Indianapolis 500 made good gains this year in both attendance and viewership, but the rest of the season hasn’t been as rosey. This got me thinking, what makes for a successful series? What standards should we use? When I think of various series throughout motorsports that are perceived to be successful, Le Mans and ALMS come to mind, as does Formula 1, SCORE, IndyCar (in its various forms AAA/USAC/CART/IRL), and NASCAR. However, what makes those series memorable isn’t the whole sequence of races that make up the series, but…
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 MoreOP-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 – 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,…
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