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.

Reports from around the web are stating that the operations of the fledgling USF1 team have ground to a halt. The brainchild of Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson which had the backing of YouTube Founder Chad Hurley apparently has informed their recently signed driver that they are going to miss at least the first 3 races of this season and as a result will not make the remaining races either.

Rumors now abound that Hurley has pulled his support for the team due to lack of progress and may likely be taking his money elsewhere to a more established team and even that the US team’s entry in the 2010 championship may be taken over by the Serbian based team Stefan GP.

So this is what the web is saying. Here’s to hoping that its all a bunch of crap and that they really will be pulling things together and all will be well. There have been many skeptics since the beginning. At this point I’m going to stay on the happy train and not necessarily go with what a European News Paper is saying. At this point it appears they are the only ones reporting it directly and everyone else is just using them as their source. It seems like an awful lot of work and money has been thrown into this to have it all fall apart this close to the start of the season. Now saying that this stuff happens in racing all the time. My fingers are crossed that it’s all bullshit. Perhaps its just a well timed publicity stunt to make their debut that much cooler.

Signed,
Delusional USF1 Fan

Word came out of Tokyo on November 4th that confirmed what many were expected.  Toyota will be withdrawing from Formula 1 competition.  The Toyota news release cited “… the current severe economic realities” as the reason for their exit from the pinnacle of open wheel motorsports.

Photo Credit: Sumisso

As far as the Japanese automakers future the release also reads, “In motor sports, it will not only race in various categories, but will also actively contribute to further development of motor sports by supporting grassroots races and planning events in which it is easy for people to participate.”  I found this quote very interesting.  To me it basically says that they’re pulling out of the most high profile and expensive form of motorsport world wide but we’re going to stay involved in other series and at the very bottom of the motorsports food chain, grassroots racing.  What an excellent kick to the Formula 1 snobs out there!

The world’s largest automaker is saying it’s going to focus on other series (i.e. NASCAR, Grand Am, NHRA, etc.) and what I consider the heart and soul of motorsports, johnny weekend racer.  They would rather spend their diminishing racing budgets in those places then at the “pinnacle” of motorsport.  That is saying a lot and I think it’s saying exactly the right thing.

Formula 1 is awesome, there is no question about that.  But is it about selling cars?  In the end to an automaker motorsports are about 3 things; marketing to your consumer, beating your competitors, and developing new technologies that can be used in passenger cars in the future.  So, lets break this down.

Marketing:

Are Toyota drivers really in the F1 demographic?  Yes, but it’s more likely Lexus drivers.

Does F1 get much attention in the US?  Not nearly as much as the tin tops.

Beat your competitors:

Was Toyota beating their competitors?  This year they finished 5th in the points having bested BMW Sauber, William – Toyota (not much help), Renault,  Force Inda – Mercedes, and Torro Rosso – Ferrari.  Renault is a competitor in some markets but not one I believe Toyota fears and BMW is a competitor of note for Lexus.  Ok, so a little help here but is spending as much as an estimated $445 Million a year to run a Formula 1 team?  Hello NO!  Hop up a Camry or an IS F10 and go at it with BWM in ALMS GT2.  That would save you, oh I don’t know about $444.5 Million!

 Were they even racing against competitors?  For argument sake lets say they won the constructor’s championship this season.  In addition to the teams above who would they have beaten?  Mercedes, Renault, and Ferrari.  If they were called Panasonic Lexus Racing instead of Toyota I could see Mercedes, but they just aren’t competing with these guys for car sales.

Developing New Technologies

Were new technologies culled from their 8 seasons in F1?  I dunno.  Probably, but couldn’t you do the same thing in ALMS?  If you were running in GT2 you’d even have a chassis that was similar to a production car.  Hell, if it was Koni Challenge you could actual make money by selling race ready cars to teams.  Imagine that?  Whatever they learned must not have been worth the extra cost.

Thanks for humoring me as I ran through that.  I never like to see any OEM pull out of any racing series, but if they truly focus more on grass roots racing (ala Mazda) then I think this is great news for the motorsports community.  If a company the size of Toyota put its might behind a plan to build a ladder system similar to what Mazda has done this could open up doors to many wanna be drivers that never existed before.  You have to appreciate that.

Now, I know I referred to “Formula 1 snobs” earlier in the post.  I want F1 to do well, but I really want them to just get over themselves.  Yep, they race in some of the coolest places in the world (less and less now) and they have some of the premier manufacturers participating, that is all true.  But, the races are high speed parades, the budgets are out of control, and now that Toyota has withdrawn only 1 of the Top 10 automakers (by 2008 production) participated in the series, Fiat (Ferrari).

Seriously?  How can you be the premiere series if the 9 biggest auto makers don’t participate?  Major changes need to be made to preserve the good name and future of F1.  I hope they do it and soon.

You can read Toyota’s full press release here: 

http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota-to-withdraw-from-f1-112039.aspx?ncid=12036

I’m callin’ it TacoGate!

For those of you that live under a rock I’ll cover the basics of this story first.  During last Saturday’s ESPN coverage of the Ohio State – Minnesota game Chris Spielman asked Bob Griese “where Montoya was?” a reference to his position in The Chase.  Griese doing his best impersonation of a completely uninformed xenophobe responded, “He’s out having a taco.”

OK, now that we’re all caught up we can move on to all the reasons this incident and the coverage of it piss me off.  After that we’ll get to the part that reaffirms why Juan Pablo is so friggin’ awesome in my book.

So this isn’t the first time a sportscaster has said something stupid, it definitely won’t be the last.  It should also be noted that this probably isn’t the worse offense ever committed by someone in this position.  I think the worst was probably Jimmy The Greek, but that’s just my opinion.  Immediately after the broadcast where Griese committed the offense he issued and apology.  I think he’s issued a bunch more since.  Who hasn’t said something completely stupid before?  We all have.  Who hasn’t offended someone with said stupid remark?  Yep, same group.  I think I  may have more than most.  (Don’t think so?  Keep reading dumb ass!)  The problem with this is that it had obvious ethnic overtones and what made it even more worse was that the ethnic overtones were completely wrong.

That’s what makes the whole thing so ridiculously drop on the flow, get a cramp in your gut, piss your pants funny.  It’s like Griese told a Jewish joke with a Polish Joke punch line.  It’s too bad that the rest of America seems to be equally uninformed because they all quickly picked up on it as offensive.

I guess I don’t have much more to say about this one.  Just same random angry ramblings.  I’ll close with two points.

Come on America, we can do better than this.  Our time on the top of the heap is limited so we’d better get off our asses and not only drop our prejudices about other cultures but maybe it wouldn’t hurt to learn a thing or two about them.  For Christ’s sake there is a guy from Colombia gunning for the 2009 Sprint Cup Championship, if that doesn’t tell you things are changing I don’t know what will.

And finally, throw up some devil horns for JPM.  When asked for a comment on the matter earlier in the week JPM simply stated that he had no comment and that, “I don’t even know who he is” of Griese.  Bad ass!  Add to that the tweet that he sent out around lunch time today, “Guess what I’m having for lunch…..TACOS!!!!!….and I’m serious about it!!!!”

Touche JPM, Touche!

Could he go to F1? Should he go? Photo Credit: Big Ed's Photos

According to the article USF1 has had conversations with Kyle’s business people and Kyle has publicly said he would consider such a move, if only for a few years.  His contract with Gibbs goes through next year so nothing would happen prior to 2011.

I don’t know what to think about all this.  Bush is a good driver, you can’t deny that no matter how much we’d all like to.  His persona leaves a great deal to be desired but he’s made a great villain for NASCAR.  That in itself makes him an interesting choice for F1 where robot drivers reign supreme.  They thought JPM was outspoken and reckless just wait till they get a load of Rowdy!  An American in F1 would be great, a loud one would be good too, but it probably wouldn’t help our national image of the Ugly American.

Bush Lover!!!! Photo Credit: ph-stop

I watch both NASCAR and F1 so either way he’ll be popping up on my tube.  We’ll see how this one shakes out.

See the full article here:  http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/formula1/2009-10-21-us-f1-wants-kyle-busch_N.htm

After meeting in Paris the FIA has released a new provisional Formula 1 schedule for 2010.  Of special note is the move of Monaco from May 23rd to May 16th and that the Abu Dabi and Brazilian GPs will most likely switch dates if it’s cool with the promoters of those events.

Although not finalized yet the coolest thing on the schedule is Canada on June 13th.  It has a big fat asterisk next to it right now because contracts are still in negotiations on this one.  Lets all keep our fingers crossed that F1 makes its return to North America in 2010. 

I’ll admit I have a love / hate relationship with Formula 1, but that is mostly with its leadership and the general superiority complex that surrounds the sport.  (Seriously you can have an alleged Nazi Themed Orgy and just be asked to sit out a race?  Seriously?)

Anyway, provisional schedule is below.  Stay tuned for future updates!
2010 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar
14 March – Bahrain
28 March – Australia
4 April – Malaysia
18 April – China
9 May – Spain
16 May – Monaco
30 May – Turkey
13 June – Canada**
27 June – Europe (Valencia)
11 July – Great Britain*
25 July – Germany
1 August – Hungary
29 August – Belgium
12 September – Italy
26 September – Singapore
3 October – Japan*
17 October – Korea*
31 October – Abu Dhabi��
14 November – Brazil†

*Subject to the homologation of the circuit.
**Subject to the completion of contract negotiations with Formula One Management.
†The FIA has approved in principle a proposal to swap the dates of the Abu Dhabi and Brazil Grands Prix, pending agreement with the promoters of both events.

It might be a hassle some times but memories are made at the track. Photo Credit: TequilaMike

I was presented with a dilemma recently.  I received my annual renewal for my Nationwide and Sprint Cup tickets for the August Michigan race.  My family has had four tickets together for both races and we have attended for at least 10 years now.  As time goes by interest wanes with all parties involved; everybody seems so busy these days.  Michigan isn’t exactly an excitement track like Bristol either.  Plus it really is a chore to go to a NASCAR race.  All the traffic, the people, the long walks, and 90+ degree humid Michigan summer day, just doesn’t appeal anymore.  The tickets are getting ridiculously priced too.  So we are reluctantly going to let them go.  Nationwide in the shadow of the pressbox, and turn 1 grandstand aisle seats for Sprint Cup.  Even selling our extra tickets if someone doesn’t want to go hasn’t been possible for the last couple years given my region’s economy.  It just wasn’t worth it.  Or is it? 

Why do we go to races?  It’s easier, cheaper, and you seemingly get to see more up close action with today’s television coverage.  I can even listen to Dale Jr.’s radio through the computer at home better than I can on my old Radio Shack scanner in the stands.   Why do we go?  Yeah, we aren’t down on the track like we all wish we were.  But we have skin in the game when we are at the track.  Well at least sunburnt skin, and lots of sweat.  We are invested in the sport we love.  We are connected to the point we think we are participants.  You don’t get that through the TV.  Not even in hi-def.  You can’t smell or hear the cars. 

Seriously! How awesome is this shot! We took this picture! Photo Credit: Angry Race Fan

I go to races so that when I’m BSing with my buddies, I can say, “yeah, but I was in Cleveland when Danica and AJ were running Barber Dodge cars.”  Some of the races you remember clear as day.  Some are forgettable, either because they are boring (MIS stock car), or because you drank so many oil cans of Fosters at an F1 race at Indy and you don’t even remember getting home six hours away (I wasn’t driving).  It is the most fun when you can stay on site for the weekend.  Jimmy Vasser played football with his buddies next to our camp site at Road America.  Paul Newman practically drove through said campsite on his scooter staring at the sky. 

I feel as though I was truly a part of the IRL/CART split. I sat in the stands at the US500; people with portable black and white TVs sitting behind us were watching Indy and giving us updates.  I watched a buddy almost get killed by Chip Ganassi driving like an idiot on his scooter, or same friend almost run down by AJ Foyt on a golf cart.  Since we don’t have the talent to drive side by side with Juan Pablo, and we can’t call a race like Tim Cindric; we accept our role as fans.  As a race fan, you truly need to put your butt in the seat at a racetrack as often as you can.  That is where you truly connect with the sport.  It also makes watching those races on TV more enjoyable.  You subconsciously recall it all, and you truly know what it would be like if you were there. 

OK, so I’ve waxed ecstatic and gotten a little too romantic.  You still need to vote with your wallet first and foremost.    Babies still need shoes, and you need to take your lady or man out for dinner.  Those dance class and gymnastics for the kids don’t pay for themselves.  Whenever you can pull it off though; take in a race.  It’s worth it. 

Now I hope I didn’t already recycle that ticket renewal slip.

Indy Car:

Vitor Returns to Indy – After his crash in this year’s 500 Vitor Meira returned to IMS for a test this week.

Grand Am: 

Bosch Engineering Octoberfest Preview – Koni Challenge drivers talk about the upcoming race at VIR coming up on Sunday October 4th.

Formula 1:

Renault Penalty Verdict - So these two guys from Australia Max & Pep do an F1 Podcast and its pretty much awesome.  If for nothing else I like the intro stuff they do with the montage of pics and music.  This video is part 1 of a 2 part series.  If you’re down with part 1 you should be able to find your way to part 2 here.

NASCAR:

Joey Logano’s Nasty Ass Crash – Joey had a real rough one last weekend.  Definitely just an unfortunate racing incident with Tony Stewart but the young man definitely earned some stripes on this one.

Oh wait, the Managing Director just quit after their ex-driver alleged that the former asked him to CRASH ON PURPOSE!   Why would a multi-national financial institution have issues with that?

The official release from ING stated that they made their decision, “in light of the verdict of the World Motor Sport Council of 21 September 2009 concerning the events that occurred at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix”.  They also stated that they were “disappointed”.

Earlier today Mutua Madrilena a Spanish Insurance backer also ended their sponsorship relationship with the team.  Two high level folks are out, marquee sponsors are gone, seems like this story might be about over.

Hey ING!  Your logo prettys up a car real nice.  You have any interest in winning a few races?  I know just the guy you should talk to. 

So at the time of this posting first practice for the Singapore GP is in just under 6 hours.  What are the cars and crew for Renault F1 going to look like tomorrow?  They just going to wear Dickies work shirts?  Dig up some old Mild Seven garb?  (I think SpeedGear still has some of that stuff on clearance).

Well I’m signing off and setting my alarm for bright and early so I can see first hand.  If you Renault guys are reading this I vote for plane white unis that say “Crew” and a plane white car that says “Chassis”.  Just a thought.

My relatively random thoughts on this past race weekend 9/18 – 9/20/2009:

The Good

• Mark Martin won another race.  That is always cool.
• Juan Pablo Montoya won the pole and  finished 3rd in the race.

It was a great weekend for JPM and his team.  A win would have been great but you can’t complain about being on the pole, leading some laps, nailing a 3rd, and moving up 7 positions in the points.  JPM is my pick to win the Chase this year. 

• Graham Rahal scored a podium finish @ Motegi and Castroneves was the only Penske car in the top 10.  Good work young Rahal and NHL!  Now don’t get me wrong.  I’m a big Roger Penske fan and his team is in no doubt superior to the remainder of the field save Ganassi, but I’m very bored with his team doing so well.

• The Grand Am race in Utah was exciting and the points race between Gainsco, Suntrust, and Ganassi continues with only 10 points separating all 3 teams.

• Briatore and Symonds leave Renault F1.  In the midst of the “Crashgate” scandal Renault F1’s Managing Director (Briatore) and Director of Engineering (Symonds).  I guess that should open up Briatore’s calendar for scoping super models.  Both have since been banned from FIA sanctioned events Symonds for 5 years and Briatore indefinitely.  Wild to think that people operating at the highest level of motorsport would not think asking a driver to crash deliberately would get out after he was released from his contract.  Seems as likely as Peter Windsor getting brushed off by a driver on the pre-race grid.

Bad News

• JPM got a solid 3rd but didnt’ win @ New Hampshire.  It was his Birthday this weekend so a solid win for the man would have been nice.  I suppose the pole was pretty good though.
• Scott Dixon won @ Motegi and Dario Franchitti finished 2nd.  Now don’t get me wrong, these are two of my favorite IndyCar drivers.  But come on, aren’t we all getting a little tired of the same guys up on the podium.  As I said above about Penske I want to see these guys do well but the dominance currently on display is about as interesting as listening to Robin Miller talk about Spring Cars.

The Ugly

• I didn’t get to watch the IndyCar race @ Motegi because I DirecTV dropped VS.  I have a dog in this fight but I’m not getting involved.  I wouldn’t dare to say that they just need to figure it out and maybe even the IRL should drop by the VS office and put in a good word for DirecTV.  Not that it would probably help but we all know in the battle of DirecTV vs. VS. the loser is IndyCar.  No question.