In a year where Penske is running two teams with no Sponsors, the long time owner of the IRL doesn’t have a team or job anymore, and Newman-Haas has been relegated to a prep shop for ride buyers we welcome any signs of hope or good news.

Today we got some. Young Rahal will be driving for Rahal Letterman Racing at Indy this May.  I’m sure working for your dad will have the some challenges as it would for anybody but they’re a stellar team and having the two team up for the month of May is sure it make it more interesting to watch.

In honor of this announcement and as I’m sure his tweets will get more interesting as this month unfolds we are now make Graham following Grahams Tweets on our Twitter widget on all pages of ARF.  Enjoy!

The full press release from Rahal’s site can be found here.

As it appears that airspace in the UK might be closing down again soon and perhaps even a new volcano may erupt and cause even greater disturbance than the first did, I thought I’d share some positives to my recent experience with being stranded in the UK.

Now what the hell do I do?

1. You can talk to just about anybody about F1 - In the U.S. I consume racing news throughout all my waking hours and can only discuss on this blog and via email with friends who have an interest. Unfortunately for my wife from time to time I must vent my opinions and she is nice enough to listen (or least make an attempt at pretending she’s listening). But in Europe I could bring up complex questions related to rules, drivers, or Bernie’s plans for the future to any random dude on the street and they’d have an opinion and time to talk about it. You can’t beat that with a stick!

2. Racing is on TV - Not just on some random motorsports channel but its on regular TV. Sky News covers the results from Practice and Qualifying and shows race highlights. Sky Sports, well they cover more. Can you imagine CNN reporting race results? Even NASCAR doesn’t get coverage unless Cousin Carl hits the fence at Talledega and nearly kills himself and a fan or two. They cover more than just race results too. I couldn’t sleep one night so I flipped through the channels to find a documentary about Aston Martin’s most recent attempt at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. I almost forgot I was stranded for an hour while I was completely sucked into this show.

3. Top Gear – That’s almost all I need to say. It’s on an it’s on all the time.

4. Top Gear – Yup, I’m putting it on twice.

5. Merchandise in Department Stores - SpeedGear is a great shop. Online and at the track they are the go to spot in the states for getting your Non-NASCAR motorsports stuff. Love ‘em! But, they’re pretty much it. So one of the days I was stranded I went shopping thinking I’d get something for my family back home that was feeling the effects of my absence just as much as I was. When you go shopping somewhere else you realize quickly that the world is a very small place. I wanted something uniquely London without going to the extremes of a shirt with Big Ben on it or that said, “My Husband Got Stuck in London and All I Got was this Lousy T Shirt”. This is a taller order than I thought. The shelves and racks of a department store are interchangeable pretty much no matter where you are (in the developed world as least). But what did I come across much to my suprise? The motorsports section on the SportsWear floor! Yup, right there they had kids-sized McLaren Fire Suits, Ferrari Helmet Key Chains, Aston Martin Racing hats. It was like standing in the middle of an inappropriate teen age race fan’s dream, except I was competely clothed and not surrounding by random people from my past.

Kurt Busch (photo cred: duane.schoon)

Jimmie Johnson is single handedly ruining NASCAR.  You know how I know?  Because I’m writing something positive about Kurt Busch.  A driver that I have hated from the first time I heard him speak.  I actually boycotted Miller Lite when he replaced Rusty Wallace.  That was tough, Miller Lite and I had been through a lot together.  Miller was guilty by association though, and we just couldn’t play together anymore. 

How do these things relate? I want so bad for someone to stop Jimmie Johnson from winning one more race, much less one more consecutive championship, that I have instituted an “anyone but Jimmie” mantra for this year.  Kurt Busch happens to not be Jimmie Johnson.  Therefore, I am now pulling for Kurt, his even more despised brother Kyle, and the 40 other drivers each Sunday that are not Jimmie. 

NASCAR can spin their ratings plateau on the economy.  I’m not buying it.  We all still have TVs and I’m guessing we’re watching them even more now that our discretionary income has dwindled and all we can afford to do is sit on the couch.  Now that may not help put behinds in the stands on race day, but that is only one part of the juggernaut that was NASCAR.  There are three things working against NASCAR on TV.  First is their vanilla, milk-toast four consecutive time champion, Jimmie Johnson.  Followed by the FOX networks hokie coverage.  Lastly is the rise of mixed martial arts(MMA). 

Someday I’ll write my ramblings on Larry Mac, DW, and MMA.  But today is reserved for Kurt Busch.  I still don’t like him.  I still wish I was courtside to see Jimmy Spencer try to punch him through the driver’s window at Michigan.  I was at the race, just not close enough to see the fear in Kurt’s eyes.  My anti-Jimmie tinted spectacles have opened my eyes to the decent qualities of other drivers though. 

Today I caught an interview with Kurt Busch on the Jim Rome Show.  Kurt didn’t mix in some contrived, premeditated analogy as he usually does.  The guy is generally just a total dork in interviews, for lack of a better word.  He just gave a pretty straightforward interview, dropped in his sponsor a couple times, and spoke honestly of Carl Edwards joke of a punishment.  What actually intrigued me about the whole thing, was that during this off weekend for NASCAR Sprint Cup racing, Busch is going NHRA sanctioned drag racing with a buddy in a 1970 Challenger they built.  Maybe there is hope for the guy yet.  He has a dream job, and he is spending his free time just like so many of us say we would, if we were in the same position.  He didn’t make me like him, but he made me want to be him.  And that is something I never would have thought I would ever say about Kurt Busch.  To celebrate I’ll have to go pick up a sixer of Lite.  Now just don’t go back to full goober mode Kurt, and beat Jimmie.