Caution on the race track...

Caution was the name of the game for the past two IRL races. Unfortunately, for all involved, except for winners Ryan Briscoe and Scott Dixon, both races ended under caution. Both race ending cautions involved Marco Andretti, who now has DNFs in all but 3 of the 7 races this season. This is not very good news for Marco nor the team as a whole, especially with tension between he and Tony Kanaan. Kanaan, frustrated after the close racing incident at Indy, commented to the team over the radio that he would put the Blockbuster car (Marco’s car sponsor) into the wall, as Kanaan was being raced hard by his teammate Marco. Kanaan, is in his last year of his contract at Andretti Green Racing, and many are doubting that he will be back with the team next year. Kanaan, who already has one IRL championship and many wins with AGR, would be a valuable asset to any team, especially the transition teams from CART. With the right sponsorship and money, Kanaan maybe looking elsewhere for next year, if nothing more than to be considered and treated as the number 1 driver on the team. Teams with deep pockets like Newman Haas Lanigan Racing and Vision Racing or others who have reputations of being a strong, Panther Racing, could lure Kanaan away. One thing is for sure, Marco isn’t going anywhere. Even Danica is going to get a test with Honda’s F1 team in the Fall, to evaluate her pace, according to Nick Fry. I honestly don’t believe she is deserving of anything more than a test, yet anyway. She may be talented enough, but at this point, it’s no more than a marketing / PR presentation. If she does prove to be fast, then allow her to finish logging laps in the IRL for one more season or support her in GP2 and as a test driver for at least a year. If I were Honda, or any other F1 team considering an American driver, I would look to Graham Rahal first. He is talented, mature, and young enough to still start a driver development program. Honda is going to need new talent in at least one of their cars in a couple of years or so to replace Rubens Barrichello, who will possibly practice his craft in IRL or at least the Indy 500 with Honda’s backing. Well, the silly season is just beginning, so there is a lot more speculation to be had, so stay tuned. Oh yea, and as for the ending the race under caution, absolutely not. IRL needs to come up with their own version of a “green-white-checker” finish to late race cautions, preferably implemented before season’s end. They owe that much to the fans and the teams.

Until next time, enjoy all your motorsports viewing and participation!!!

Congratulations Kubica & BMW Sauber!!!

It’s been an interesting and exciting couple of weeks in motorsports, both on and off the track. Not to mention the automobile industry as well. So, here I am again. I know its been a’lil while since I’ve gave my opinion and analysis about all the recent issues, but it’s been a busy month all around. First off, I’d like to share in all the congratulations towards Robert Kubica, and BMW Sauber on both their maiden wins and first 1, 2 finish as driver and constructor in F1. Kubica was followed by teammate Nick Heidfeld in 2nd, and now Kubica sets precedence as the first Polish driver to ever win in F1 and lead the F1 drivers’ world championship by 4 points. Although, some may say it was a gifted victory, since championship point leader Lewis Hamilton made a very costly mistake of slamming Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari in the rear because of not paying attention to the red light at pit lane exit while under caution. He was not the only one who suffered from his mistake, since Kimi also retired. I still believe Kubica had a strong enough car to win outright against the likes of McLaren and Ferrari. Hamilton should have been more cautious of such “rookie” type mistakes, especially at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, which always provides unpredictable race results. Ironically, Hamilton’s first win came at this track last year, after Ferrari rival Felipe Massa was forced to withdraw from the race after he failed to acknowledge the red light under caution, as well. So it’s fitting that a track giveth and taketh away. In Massa’s defense of last year’s incident, a team member should’ve been aware and notified Massa of the closed pit lane exit. However, in Hamilton’s case, he should’ve clearly seen that there were two cars stopped side by side at the end of pit road, even if no one alerted him of the red light. He had no reason to be in such a hurry, since he obviously had no place to go further forward. Hamilton is now being rightfully assessed a 10 grid spot penalty at the next race in France. I guess senseless wrecks were just part of the Hamilton trait, as his father also wrecked a borrowed half million dollar Porsche GT into a school yard. Oh well, as they would say in Montreal and France, “se la vie!” Congratulations are also in order for David Coulthard and Red Bull on their first podium finish together as a team, and his first points of the season. His podium finish may just be the catalyst Coulthard needs to provide his team better points paying results to secure his seat for at least the rest of the season. Rumors are abound that Sebastian Vettel is in-line to replace Coulthard as early as mid-season or next year. We have a lot to look forward to next week, at what could very well possibly be that last F1 race at France’s Magny-Cours. Please join Speed TV’s commentator team on your local FOX affiliate.

Memorial Weekend Sunday Race Recaps & Analysis

Happy Memorial Monday race fans! I hope all of you enjoyed all the racing action, whether or not your favorite driver won the race, got on the podium, or in some cases even finished the race. In any event, the purpose of this blog is to provide a brief recap, analysis, and opinions on the racing weekends various series' races; as well as, other commentaries on motorsports, the auto industry, and the outside world that influences our love of motorsports and automobiles. As this past weekend being the biggest auto racing weekend of the year, I find it fitting to finally "go green" with this site. So, please enjoy and check back often for any new "blow hard" entries.

We will start with Sunday's eventful F1 Monaco GP, and as predicted it was a wet one. If you saw the race, then you know exactly what an entertaining race it was. To begin with, the teams were burdened with choosing what tires to start on. Most teams, if not all, went with the wise choice of wet weather tires (intermediate wets), as it was only raining lightly at the start, but the racing circuit, already slick as most temporary street circuits are, was already wet from morning rain. To start with, on the pace lap, Heikki's car stalled and he had to start from the pit lane, but he came home to finish in 8th, the last points paying position. As to be expected, the 1st lap of the race saw several cars get into each other, as they navigated their way thru the narrow streets of Monaco. Front nose wings and punctured tires had to be replaced all thru the race, but most cars stayed in the race for more laps than I would've guessed. Even the Ferrari of Massa spun while leading, allowing Kubica to take the lead for several laps.

You've heard the expression "like a bull in a China store", well how about two bulls on a wet narrow street circuit? The first two cars out due to crashes just happened to be the Red Bull of two time Monaco winner, David Coulthard, immediately followed by Bourdais in the Toro Rosso, who must have braked too hard and lost it trying to avoid hitting David. The end result was still the same. They where followed by Fisichella, and Nelsin Piquet, after his Renault team put dry weather tires on, with the hopes it might give the under performing Brazilian an advantage as the track dried out, just as it was doing for Alonso. However, as we all know, Piquet is no Alonso, and I think the team is well aware of this and should not have put dry tires on Piquet's car at that point, no matter how much faster Alonso was going, since the track was still very wet in some parts and damp in most other places. Renault should've thought wiser, but this unfortunate result may just give them more of a reason to look at other drivers to replace Piquet by mid season if not before. Well, good luck to all involved.

Nico Rosberg's promising day went from bad to worse, also ending in the armco. The last car out of the race came just several laps from the end of a time shortened race after a late restart. The Force India car of Adrian Sutil was running 5th at the time when his car was grossly punted from behind by none other than defending champion Kimi Raikkonen, who lost the car under braking coming out of the tunnel just as David did the day before. It was unclear at that time whether Kimi broke late to get a run on Sutil and just made a mistake, or if he just made a mistake. Both cars made it back to the pits, but only Kimi continued. This ended what was going to be a very successful and talented drive by Sutil and Force India. Rain is the ultimate equalizer, and Sutil showed why he deserves to be in F1, making no obvious mistakes all day, as he aimed for a top five finish. Even much praised Lewis Hamilton tapped the guardrail very early in the race and needed to replace a flat tire and broken rim, but he did come back to finish and ultimately win the race in dramatic fashion. This is Hamilton's first win at Monaco in only his 2nd F1 start there; however, he has won all the lower feeder series races he participated in at Monaco. Lewis now takes the point lead over Kimi and Massa.

Webber also had another good race day, finishing just off the podium in 4th. If Webber and Red Bull keep this progression up, we could see more competition from the best of the rest teams, as they aim to at least get podium finishes by the end of the season. There is still more than half a season to go and it appears the level of competition by all teams is increasing and possibly equalizing! Well, at least among some of them. In any case, this still promises to be as exciting, if not more, of a race season as any other in recent F1 history, with the prospects of first time winner(s) as well. Canada is up next in just two weeks, and always provides for an exciting and entertaining show. Enjoy the rest of the F1 Championship season! I know I will.


Please check back later for Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 posts.

Biggest Motorsports Racing Weekend!

It’s Saturday, May 24, 2008, on the eve of arguably the biggest motorsports racing day of the year, Sunday, Memorial Day Weekend. It’s just one of several weekends during the racing season where fans will spend hours and days fulfilling their part as spectators, or for the lucky few as participants. Either way, we will all be enjoying the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco in Monte Carlo, the 92nd Indy 500, and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600. If you’re as big of a fan as most of us are, we will spend the entire day watching all three of the spectacles lap to lap. If you’re as big of a fan as most of us are, we will spend the entire day watching all three of the spectacles lap to lap. There is a lot to be thankful for as a motorsports fan this year and Memorial Day Weekend, especially for fans of American open wheel racing, as there is finally now only one pinnacle series competing in the first Indy 500 since unification just a few months ago. This seasons already provided amazing and historical races and finishes, with Graham Rahal winning his 1st race in his 1st start since unification, becoming the youngest ever driver to win in the IRL. Not to be out done, Danica Patrick finally won her first major open wheel series race at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, making her the 1st women to ever win in any premier American open wheel series.

For F1 fans, we are witnessing an increasingly competitive season from race to race, and tomorrow’s street race in Monaco promises to deliver just as much excitement as every other Monaco race has provided in the past. Today’s qualifying was no exception, as we witnessed further evidence of Ferrari’s increasing dominance over the field by sweeping the front row starting positions, with Felipe Massa on pole. This came as a surprise to most, since the McLaren’s of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen posted strong times during all the practice sessions, including Saturday’s morning and final free practice session where Kovalainen wrecked a lap after posting the fastest lap of that session. However, both McLaren’s will start from the second row, but they may yet have another two strong competitors to hold off at the first turn, with Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) and Nico Rosberg (Williams Toyota) starting in row three. Both Kubica and especially Rosberg showed quick pace throughout practice and qualifying, which could net them a possible podium finish but unless fuel and pit stop strategy works in their favor, don’t expect to see either one of them claiming their first F1 career wins at the famed Monaco GP. To top it all off, rain is expected at some point during Sunday’s race, which will definitely equalize the competition, making for a much more exciting and heart-pounding event!

Speaking of exciting, NASCAR’s equivalent of an endurance race, the Coca-Cola 600, also appears to be gearing-up for a very enjoyable and entertaining race, especially with Kyle Bush on the pole. I know I have a lot to look forward to in the 600, with six of my eight fantasy driver roster starting in the top 6 and 7 in the top 10! Not to be overlooked is Toyota’s remarkable 2nd season as they lead the Sprint Cup championship with Kyle Bush. Unfortunately, for Jr. nation, Lil’E has yet to win a point’s race for his new team owner, Rick Hendrick, or for his own Nationwide owned team. Speaking of Team Hendrick, they have not shown their dominance from just a year ago, claiming only one win this season with Jimmie Johnson. However, Sunday’s race could be the turning point for a lot of teams as they head into the Summer racing season and getting ever closer to mid-season.


So, whether it be in front of your own or another’s home theater, at a sports bar, or even lucky enough to be at anyone of the three events watching live from the grandstands, I wish all of you have a great Sunday race day! May the best driver win!!!