OT: Racing 2009 (Spoiler Alert)

fletcher21 · Post by **fletcher21** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 12:19 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyvsmQOY ... re=related

tempers will flare at the Glen

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 4:58 pm

Dale f*cking Coyne now has a victory!

Awesome race at The Glen today, by far the most exciting IndyCar race I've watched this year. Found it hard not to smile when Wilson drove away from Briscoe like a man on fire after that last caution, very cool for him and Coyne.

But man, I was furious at ABC for their predictably clueless coverage following the last sets of pitstops. The camera was following the wrong cars, the announcers weren't pointing out anything, and when they spoke, they were clueless.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 5:58 pm

Excellent race today at The Glen. I worked the race for the IRL, and the goodwill for Dale Coyne from rival owners and drivers was sincere and widespread.

The Glen is a magnificent place to race. Gorgeous setting, fantastic track. I love coming to this place, and I'm spoiled because it's only one hour, 40 minutes from my front door.

Take care,
PK

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 5:58 pm

Fantastic win by Dani Pedrosa and an even better result for our boy Nicky Hayden who just keeps getting better and more comfortable on the Ducati finishing 5th.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 6:12 pm

pk500 wrote:The Glen is a magnificent place to race. Gorgeous setting, fantastic track. I love coming to this place, and I'm spoiled because it's only one hour, 40 minutes from my front door.

It looks like an awesome track, I hope to make it there to watch this race sometime in the next few years. I saw the track management wants the race off the July 4th weekend, that'd help my cause too!

Thought Paul Tracy's blog about The Glen was interesting:

Whoa! This track is a lot tougher than I thought it was gonna be, having never driven here and just seen it on TV.

fletcher21 · Post by **fletcher21** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:31 pm

2 Honda victories today. Life is good

That was my 1st Moto Gp race this year. For some reason it was shown on Fox. They're usually on Speed aren't they? It was a nice race. I'm shocked they don't fall off their bikes in those tight turns. At the end of the race they showed a guy pulling into the pits and they were commenting that he has been having health issues. His wife was a knockout it appeared in the 2 seconds they showed her

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 9:11 pm

fletcher21 wrote:At the end of the race they showed a guy pulling into the pits and they were commenting that he has been having health issues. His wife was a knockout it appeared in the 2 seconds they showed her

That would be former MotoGP Champ, Casey Stoner. Supposedly Casey is getting tested here in the States to figure out his illness. And yes his wife is quite the babe/hottie. I present to you Adriana Stoner.

Kruza · Post by **Kruza** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:12 am

fletcher21 wrote:2 Honda victories today. Life is good That was my 1st Moto Gp race this year. For some reason it was shown on Fox. They're usually on Speed aren't they?

Don't forget that the second U.S. Grand Prix at Indy later this year will be shown on FOX too.

Anyway, the U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca was shown on CBS last couple years prior to it being shown on FOX this year. But yeah, all other MotoGP races throughout the year are shown on Speed.

Kruza

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:44 am

SPEED shows MotoGP on a same-day delay basis, usually around 5 or 6 p.m. (ET). The MotoGP broadcast usually is preceded by a one-hour 250cc race broadcast.

SPEED's coverage is far superior to FOX. Sorry, but Leigh Diffey and Scott Russell had zero chemistry in the booth yesterday.

Lorenzo has VERY large attachments. What a ballsy ride, with a dislocated right shoulder and severely bruised right foot.

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 1:45 pm

Oh, boy: The sh*tstorm is kicking up again in F1. This press release from FOTA landed in my Inbox about 10 minutes ago:

PRESS RELEASE 8 July 2009 Representatives of all FOTA teams attended a meeting of the Sporting Working Group at the Nürburgring today. During the course of this meeting, the team managers were informed by Mr Charlie Whiting of the FIA that, contrary to previous agreements, the eight FOTA teams are not currently entered into the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship and have no voting rights in relation to the technical and sporting regulations thereof. It will be remembered that all eight active FOTA members were included on the “accepted” entry list as endorsed by the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) and communicated by FIA press statement on June 24. In light of these claims, the FOTA representatives requested a postponement of today’s meetings. This was rejected on the grounds that no new Concorde Agreement would be permitted before a unanimous approval of the 2010 regulations was achieved. However, it is clear to the FOTA teams that the basis of the 2010 technical and sporting regulations was already established in Paris. As endorsed by the WMSC and clearly stated in the FIA press statement of 24 June “the rules for 2010 onwards will be the 2009 regulations as well as further regulations agreed prior to 29 April 2009”. At no point in the Paris discussions was any requirement for unanimous agreement on regulations change expressed. To subsequently go against the will of the WMSC and the detail of the Paris agreement puts the future of Formula 1 in jeopardy. As a result of these statements, the FOTA representatives at the subsequent Technical Working Group were not able to exercise their rights and therefore had no option other than to terminate their participation. The FOTA members undertook the Paris agreement and the subsequent discussions in good faith and with a desire to engage with all new and existing teams on the future of Formula One.

Take care,
PK

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:45 pm

Idiots and that refers to both sides and you can add Hitler loving Bernie to the mix.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 5:47 pm

I don't see what I can say in several paragraphs that can't be expressed just as well like this:

Oh, for f*ck's sake!

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 8:23 pm

F*ck politics.

Here, watch a video of Mansell at Road America instead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7PCLSUKou8

Or watch Montoya at Portland. I always enjoyed Montoya's onboard shots, no one in CART could drive like he did:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIy0oz_XmIE

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 8:26 pm

This one's even better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05vLC_zjPpY

Damn, I loved watching Montoya during qualifying on a street course.

And I want these cars back!

Smurfy · Post by **Smurfy** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 12:18 am

Dave wrote:This one's even better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05vLC_zjPpY

Damn, I loved watching Montoya during qualifying on a street course.

And I want these cars back!

Thanks Dave! I remember this one. I think both Montoya and Tracy brushed their rear left wheels against that wall over the weekend.

I still think Montoya's runs at Road America were his most memorable. But that footage from Detroit is amazing.

I believe I posted somewhere in this forum that the 1999 CART (or was it Champ Car) season was the best season of racing I've ever watched. But remember, I haven't watched nearly as much racing as many of these guys at DSP.

Too bad Montoya was also a macho bonehead. He was such a pleasure to watch on track. Even on the ovals he had his car twitching while going wheel-to-wheel with other guys. His presence forced Franchitti to race better than he ever did before in CART.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 1:16 am

Smurfy wrote:Thanks Dave! I remember this one. I think both Montoya and Tracy brushed their rear left wheels against that wall over the weekend.

I still think Montoya's runs at Road America were his most memorable. But that footage from Detroit is amazing.

I wish I could find the footage comparing a Montoya lap to a Mark Blundell lap from an old ESPN Detroit broadcast. I sat through a viewing at PacWest where the guys, well, um, avoided the subject about why Montoya was obviously so much faster.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:43 am

LOL, I didn't comment on the last batch of news because I knew it wouldn't be over. All this bull will not end until both Bernie and Max are gone. They can come to any agreements they want. F1 will be a total mess until those 2 idiots are out. Only then will the FOTA boys be free to fight amongst themselves.

Although honestly, its so screwed up do the FOTA teams think they can fix it?

I'll take A1GP any day over the mess F1 has become.

toonarmy · Post by **toonarmy** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 12:14 pm

Gurantsu wrote:LOL, I didn't comment on the last batch of news because I knew it wouldn't be over. All this bull will not end until both Bernie and Max are gone. They can come to any agreements they want. F1 will be a total mess until those 2 idiots are out. Only then will the FOTA boys be free to fight amongst themselves.

Although honestly, its so screwed up do the FOTA teams think they can fix it?

I'll take A1GP any day over the mess F1 has become.

I tend to agree about Bernie and Max being gone. They have dug themselves into a hole over the years and lost the respect of too many people to be able to govern effectively. There's too many little games they play to be able to have any kind of stability any more. I for one am happy that FOTA is asserting itself.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 2:47 pm

Junior: Indy 500 'definitely interests me'
http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cu ... id=4316746

It would certainly spice up the Indy 500 if many of the stars of NASCAR were to descend on the Indy 500 and bring the NASCAR fan hordes with them. The NASCAR guys certainly know the track, but I would worry about safety issues if several NASCAR guys decided to moonlight as Indy drivers for a day and weren't that familiar with the cars and the other drivers.

toonarmy · Post by **toonarmy** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 3:05 pm

Naples39 wrote:Junior: Indy 500 'definitely interests me'
http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cu ... id=4316746

It would certainly spice up the Indy 500 if many of the stars of NASCAR were to descend on the Indy 500 and bring the NASCAR fan hordes with them. The NASCAR guys certainly know the track, but I would worry about safety issues if several NASCAR guys decided to moonlight as Indy drivers for a day and weren't that familiar with the cars and the other drivers.

That would be very unsafe. I cannot imagine the IndyCar drivers feeling very safe out there with several NASCAR drivers on the track at the same time. Obviously there are a few guys in NASCAR who have a good deal of open-wheel experience, but most do not. There is world of difference between driving a stock car and an IndyCar. And even if you can learn to hot lap an IndyCar around the IMS, driving in traffic is a whole other beast.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 3:15 pm

toonarmy wrote:
Gurantsu wrote:LOL, I didn't comment on the last batch of news because I knew it wouldn't be over. All this bull will not end until both Bernie and Max are gone. They can come to any agreements they want. F1 will be a total mess until those 2 idiots are out. Only then will the FOTA boys be free to fight amongst themselves.

Although honestly, its so screwed up do the FOTA teams think they can fix it?

I'll take A1GP any day over the mess F1 has become.
I tend to agree about Bernie and Max being gone. They have dug themselves into a hole over the years and lost the respect of too many people to be able to govern effectively. There's too many little games they play to be able to have any kind of stability any more. I for one am happy that FOTA is asserting itself.

If only it was so simple for FOTA to flex its muscles to make Max and Bernie disappear. It's not. Not remotely close.

Max Mosley has IMMENSE power, more than his lofty title of FIA president infers. He has complete support from the vast majority of national federations that comprise the FIA, with the U.S. AAA and German federation as notable exceptions.

Still, votes in the FIA Council aren't weighted on the size of the nation or federation, or that nation's importance in the automotive or racing world. So if Max gets 75 federations from banana republics to support him, it's almost impossible for him to lose an FIA vote of confidence. That's how he easily survived the Nazi dungeon scandal last year.

Same with Bernie. The manufacturers can claim they can run a series better than Bernie's FOM, but they've never DONE it. Bernie Ecclestone, for all of his warts, is the only guy in the world who has proven that he can turn F1 into a thriving, billion-dollar business. That's why CVC did business with him, and that's why CVC probably is leery of doing business with anyone but him, Hitler-loving comments or not.

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 3:20 pm

toonarmy wrote:That would be very unsafe. I cannot imagine the IndyCar drivers feeling very safe out there with several NASCAR drivers on the track at the same time. Obviously there are a few guys in NASCAR who have a good deal of open-wheel experience, but most do not. There is world of difference between driving a stock car and an IndyCar. And even if you can learn to hot lap an IndyCar around the IMS, driving in traffic is a whole other beast.

I beg to differ. There are drivers who come to Indianapolis every year for rookie tests with much less close-quarters, high-speed oval experience, pass ROP and participate in the race successfully.

Cup cars move around a LOT more than IndyCars due to their weight and aerodynamics. If you can show the kind of car control that's needed to avoid accidents in restrictor plate racing at Talladega or Daytona, you have the skills to drive an IndyCar -- with its lower power and much greater downforce -- at a place like Indy.

Once the Cup drivers had a day or two to learn the difference in physics between a front- and rear-engine car, they'd be fine. The mental fear factor of driving inches away from rotating open wheels and not being encircled by a cocoon-like roof would be a tougher adjustment for the Cup guys than the actual driving.

Take care,
PK

toonarmy · Post by **toonarmy** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 3:21 pm

pk500 wrote:
toonarmy wrote:
Gurantsu wrote:LOL, I didn't comment on the last batch of news because I knew it wouldn't be over. All this bull will not end until both Bernie and Max are gone. They can come to any agreements they want. F1 will be a total mess until those 2 idiots are out. Only then will the FOTA boys be free to fight amongst themselves.

Although honestly, its so screwed up do the FOTA teams think they can fix it?

I'll take A1GP any day over the mess F1 has become.
I tend to agree about Bernie and Max being gone. They have dug themselves into a hole over the years and lost the respect of too many people to be able to govern effectively. There's too many little games they play to be able to have any kind of stability any more. I for one am happy that FOTA is asserting itself.
If only it was so simple for FOTA to flex its muscles to make Max and Bernie disappear. It's not. Not remotely close.

Max Mosley has IMMENSE power, more than his lofty title of FIA president infers. He has complete support from the vast majority of national federations that comprise the FIA, with the U.S. AAA and German federation as notable exceptions.

Still, votes in the FIA Council aren't weighted on the size of the nation or federation, or that nation's importance in the automotive or racing world. So if Max gets 75 federations from banana republics to support him, it's almost impossible for him to lose an FIA vote of confidence. That's how he easily survived the Nazi dungeon scandal last year.

No arguments there. And that is why I think so many fans are glad that at least someone is standing up to these guys in a real way. How many people honestly thought when this mess was just getting under way months ago that FOTA would take it this far? Not many. Bernie and Max have immense power, and there are a good many people that feel they are abusing it in a number of ways that is detrimental to the sport and its fans.

toonarmy · Post by **toonarmy** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 3:25 pm

pk500 wrote:
toonarmy wrote:
Naples39 wrote:That would be very unsafe. I cannot imagine the IndyCar drivers feeling very safe out there with several NASCAR drivers on the track at the same time. Obviously there are a few guys in NASCAR who have a good deal of open-wheel experience, but most do not. There is world of difference between driving a stock car and an IndyCar. And even if you can learn to hot lap an IndyCar around the IMS, driving in traffic is a whole other beast.
I beg to differ. There are drivers who come to Indianapolis every year for rookie tests with much less close-quarters, high-speed oval experience, pass ROP and participate in the race successfully.

Cup cars move around a LOT more than IndyCars due to their weight and aerodynamics. If you can show the kind of car control that's needed to avoid accidents in restrictor plate racing at Talladega or Daytona, you have the skills to drive an IndyCar -- with its lower power and much greater downforce -- at a place like Indy.

Once the Cup drivers had a day or two to learn the difference in physics between a front- and rear-engine car, they'd be fine. The mental fear factor of driving inches away from rotating open wheels and not being encircled by a cocoon-like roof would be a tougher adjustment for the Cup guys than the actual driving.

Take care,
PK

Well, you would obviously know better than I do about that. It comes as a surprise to me if that is the case. I guess the thing I would worry about is that in NASCAR when you touch cars/wheels sightly you usually recover, but in IndyCar a slight touch can mean a devastating wreck. It seems to me that the NASCAR guys at a big event like the Indy 500 would not be steady or experienced enough to go 200+ mph wheel to wheel in a car they have little experience in.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 3:26 pm

toonarmy wrote:No arguments there. And that is why I think so many fans are glad that at least someone is standing up to these guys in a real way. How many people honestly thought when this mess was just getting under way months ago that FOTA would take it this far? Not many. Bernie and Max have immense power, and there are a good many people that feel they are abusing it in a number of ways that is detrimental to the sport and its fans.

Agree 100 percent, man.

Take care,
PK