OT: Racing 2010 (Spoiler Alert)

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri May 21, 2010 8:05 am

226.4

And I'll be stunned if Alex Tagliani doesn't make the Fast Nine. The FAZZT Race Team has lived up to its name this week despite much lower resources than Penske, Ganassi or Andretti.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri May 21, 2010 8:06 am

Here's a note I wrote in yesterday's Daily Trackside Report for the media that might be illuminating:

No driver has been in the top five on the speed charts more than four of the five days of on-track activity so far this month. A rundown:
•Four days: #9 Dixon (May 15, 16, 18, 19)
•Three days: #10 Franchitti (May 15, 16, 19); #11/#43 Kanaan (May 15, 16, 20), #4 Wheldon (May 15, 18, 20)
•Two days: #3 Castroneves (May 15, 16); #77 Tagliani (May 18, 19), #26 M. Andretti (May 18, 20), #06 Mutoh (May 19, 20)

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Sat May 22, 2010 5:25 pm

pk500 wrote:226.4

And I'll be stunned if Alex Tagliani doesn't make the Fast Nine. The FAZZT Race Team has lived up to its name this week despite much lower resources than Penske, Ganassi or Andretti.

Clearly, I left out Tag on my list!

And wow, what a run by Helio. I never expected anyone to flash a 228 today. Should be interesting to see what happens during the final half hour today.

Horrible day for Andretti's team.

miget33 · Post by **miget33** » Sun May 23, 2010 6:04 pm

So Tracy and Howard pulled themselves out of the 500 in the final minutes.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Sun May 23, 2010 7:29 pm

Joint recipients of the Jigger Sirois award, then. Reading the reports on Bump Day without the benefit of being able to watch it unfold on TV, Howard and PT do look a bit daft. Hindsight's a wonderful thing, I guess. Pleased to see my beloved Taku make the show.

Tracy and Howard disposing of themselves will probably overshadow the job Bruno Junqueira did today - are the FAZZT cars dark horses for the win or should I not bother to look too far outside of the Penske and Ganassi stables?

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue May 25, 2010 2:21 pm

F1 is coming back to the US in 2012

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83873

The United States Grand Prix will return to the Formula 1 calendar in 2012 after a deal was struck for a race to be held in Austin, Texas.

Following weeks of speculation about the potential return of a race in America, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone announced on Tuesday night that the event will take place from 2012 to 2021 on a new purpose-built facility in Austin.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue May 25, 2010 2:50 pm

Hmm, that came out of nowhere. Best of luck to everyone involved, but I can easily see this one falling apart. I have absolutely no idea how anyone could make money on a venture like this.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Wed May 26, 2010 6:41 pm

I'm not sure it'd be possible without assistance from local government, would it? That or some mysterious benefactor. Whatever happens and whoever gets behind it, the event surely can't be any worse than the last time F1 went to Texas.

How will Austin fit in with Bernie's aim to have the races held at a time to suit the European audience? I think they're 6 hours behind me, so to have a race that works for us lot and isn't affected by ridiculous heat, I suppose it'll run at 5 am local time at the tail end of October.

While I'm here, Marky Mark's going to be doing what on Sunday?

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Wed May 26, 2010 7:56 pm

Austin? Not really a historic mecca of American racing is it?

Meanwhile we all look towards Road America and scratch our heads.

I gotta tell ya, I'm liking F1 less and less. I still haven't even watched my recording of Monaco yet. Gotta give Bernie credit though, he just keeps slapping lipstick on the pig.

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Thu May 27, 2010 1:15 am

Gurantsu wrote:Austin? Not really a historic mecca of American racing is it?

Meanwhile we all look towards Road America and scratch our heads.

I gotta tell ya, I'm liking F1 less and less. I still haven't even watched my recording of Monaco yet. Gotta give Bernie credit though, he just keeps slapping lipstick on the pig.

Totally agree its a bore fest.

F308GTB · Post by **F308GTB** » Thu May 27, 2010 6:53 am

It would be awesome for F1 to be in Austin as my in-laws live there and it's a short 3 hour drive from my house. But I'm not holding out hope. I don't ever see this thing getting done. A few years back there was supposed to be a 1 to 1.5 mile track built about 20 miles from my place to draw NASCAR and IRL. Acres were cleared and a nice sign planted. The months went on and the sign faded... This stuff ain't cheap. And getting it done in 2 years? Just don't see it.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Thu May 27, 2010 7:33 am

Tilke to design new Austin Circuit
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83891

Familiarity breeds boredom
http://blogs.espnf1.com/editor_blog/arc ... oredom.php

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Thu May 27, 2010 11:47 am

Tilke is going to design it? Now its a guaranteed snooze fest.

Last night I actually watched the end of the ALMS race from Long Beach again. What an exciting finish. Goes to show there's plenty of good racing if you look away from the big boys.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Thu May 27, 2010 2:00 pm

Gurantsu wrote:Tilke is going to design it? Now its a guaranteed snooze fest.

Last night I actually watched the end of the ALMS race from Long Beach again. What an exciting finish. Goes to show there's plenty of good racing if you look away from the big boys.

Yes sir he's the one so get ready for these types of races at the Austin GP.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Thu May 27, 2010 5:37 pm

There must be something more to these Tilke designs. I mean, the guy's a racing driver too - he must have some idea of the kind of track that promotes overtaking. In fact, he clearly does. You can overtake at Istanbul Park, for example, and the new Hockenheim, and Sepang...

It's probably only because Silverstone wasn't really a Grand Prix circuit when they started to redevelop it, but the new Arena layout was put together without his input. If that ends up sucking too, we might need to start looking elsewhere for the reasons behind F1's tendency towards snooze fests.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Thu May 27, 2010 8:39 pm

OK, time to enter the wayback machine. Here are some pics from NASCAR the way I used to love it. This isn't the first race I ever went to, but it's close, within a couple of years. This was at Dover in '76. Excuse the quality, they are old pictures and I took photos of them with my phone.

First off, this is the winners crcle:

This is how they carted the cars around. Yes, thats the race winner Richard Pettys car behind the trailer:

And here I could use some help. I can't remember who this driver is. I do remember my pop saying that he was killed driving later that year in another form of racing, but I just can't place him. I'll let the collective knowledge of this group help out:

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Fri May 28, 2010 5:03 am

Cool pictures Grant. To me that last picture looks like one of my first racing heroes, 1972 Indy 500 winner Mark Donohue. However, Mark was killed practicing for the Austrian Grand Prix F1 race in 1975, so if these pictures were Dover 76, that could not be him.

Edit: Upon further research, I think these pictures may be from 1975 Dover, as according to Nascar stats the winners of Dover in 75 and 76 are as follows:

1976 Cale Yarborough Chevrolet
1976 Benny Parsons Chevrolet
1975 Richard Petty Dodge
1975 David Pearson Mercury

So I could conclude that this is a picture of Mark Donohue. But, the 75 Dover race that Petty won was on Sept. 14, 1975. Mark Donohue died on August 19, 1975. So again, may not be him if these pics are from the 1975 Dover race that Petty won.

Pretty cool either way as it brings back fond memories of my first Indy 500 practice watching the car in the picture below! Among many accomplishments, Mark got Roger Penske his first Indy 500 win and first Nascar win. He also co-wrote one of my favorite racing books, The Unfair Advantage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Donohue
http://www.jayski.com/donohue/donohue.htm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 693/jayski
http://www.unfairadvantageracing.com/

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Fri May 28, 2010 9:13 am

You could be right, as in my scrapbook which I inhereted from my brother, there is a picture of Pearson's car, and also a blurry one of Cale Yarborough where my brother must have shoved the camera a foot from his face. We went all the time back then, so the pictures are probably mixed up a bit. So the years may be off, I was going by the labels in the scrapbook. Plus, I was only 7 or 8 at the time!

I think your right about it being Mark Donohue, it sure looks like him.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Fri May 28, 2010 9:20 am

I'm asking this as a curious person as I'm not really into racing (except that Rally is growing on me big time). The Indy 500 just doesn't seem as big nationally as it used to. I can remember as a kid that Sportscenter would dedicate swaths of time to covering the qualiyfing and the race. Just doesn't seem like that anymore. Is the Indy500 losing its king of auto racing title or am I just unaware?

I'll hang up and listen.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Fri May 28, 2010 10:43 am

Simply put, you are right. The Indy 500's popularity has been steadily dropping, ratings and attendance numbers don't lie. The split drug the sport through the mud and then put it in a big hole.

I will say this though--I'm loving Randy Bernard and am more optimistic about the future of IndyCar racing than I have been in a very, very long time.

Let's throw some picks out there for the 500. I'll be very, very boring and say that Castroneves dominates and joins one of the most elite groups in all of motor racing by winning his 4th Indy 500. My sleeper is Justin Wilson, if he counts...don't think he has the speed to win it but feel like he'll put in a solid drive and could end up in the top 5.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Fri May 28, 2010 11:01 am

Looking at my scrapbook now, and I think the pictures I posted are from the 1974 Delaware 500. I found an entry list, but Mark Donohue's name isn't on it. The mystery continues...

I need to find when he raced at Dover and try to match up the pictures.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Fri May 28, 2010 12:45 pm

Dave wrote: I will say this though--I'm loving Randy Bernard and am more optimistic about the future of IndyCar racing than I have been in a very, very long time.

IMO, Randy Bernard is what AOWR has needed for a long time. An outsider to the sport with fresh ideas. If he fails so does AOWR.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Fri May 28, 2010 4:11 pm

Gurantsu wrote:Looking at my scrapbook now, and I think the pictures I posted are from the 1974 Delaware 500. I found an entry list, but Mark Donohue's name isn't on it. The mystery continues...

I need to find when he raced at Dover and try to match up the pictures.

According to Jayski's, I don't think Mark ever raced there. However, during the time period you mentioned, he actually had a brief retirement from racing where I believe he was serving for Roger Penske in team management/consulting capacity, so he could have been at Dover for that. He actually came out of retirement to compete in Penske's F1 program which ultimately led to the accident that took his life.

Mark Donohue's Winston Cup Stats
Date Track Start Finish Laps Winnings
1 1/23/72 Riverside 3 39 13/149 $1,515
2 2/20/72 Daytona 10 35 18/200 $1,375
3 3/5/72 Ontario 7 44 45/200 $1,615
4 3/26/72 Atlanta 11 15 314/328 $1,325
5 1/21/73 Riverside 4 1 191/191 $15,170
6 4/1/73 Atlanta 12 30 202/328 $950
Totals 3 1 783/1396 $21,700

F308GTB · Post by **F308GTB** » Fri May 28, 2010 4:27 pm

fsquid wrote:I'm asking this as a curious person as I'm not really into racing (except that Rally is growing on me big time). The Indy 500 just doesn't seem as big nationally as it used to. I can remember as a kid that Sportscenter would dedicate swaths of time to covering the qualiyfing and the race. Just doesn't seem like that anymore. Is the Indy500 losing its king of auto racing title or am I just unaware?

I'll hang up and listen.

I think it's merely a sign of the times and the overall diluting of television via cable/satellite. I remember growing up and the only way you'd be able to see the race live was go to it. If not, the best you had was radio coverage. I can't remember when it started going on live TV, but before then it was either same day coverage or maybe the day after. To me that just bred more excitement. Other sports were live but here was a race that was so special only a few hundred thousand fans who paid could see it live. Once it became a live event and auto racing in general became a weekly broadcast event, it's special place waned a bit.

But the same thing goes for the Olympics, baseball (I remember the old days when the only game in town would be your home team on a local channel and Monday Night Baseball in the summer). Now both saturate the television market and cause a reduction in appeal.

The one sport which bucks the trend is football.

F308GTB · Post by **F308GTB** » Sun May 30, 2010 12:00 pm

Who says F1 is boring! Vettel proved to be a huge goat today. Webber was completely in the right and Vettel was a complete moron. And then Lewis and Jenson almost doing the exact same thing? Lots of passing today and the most exciting race I've seen in a few years.