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.

Tony George doesn’t run the IRL anymore, he’s not on the Board of the Hulman-George Companies, and he’s shuddered Vision Racing. Newman-Haas-Lanigan appears to be a ride buying prep shop for 2010 which leaves Graham Rahal in the dirt (A recent Tweet from Graham mentioned that he was still working out regularly in case an opportunity were to arise). Penske and Ganassi are still around with their powerhouse drivers. Penske is actually expanding to a three car effort with Will Power which is excellent news. Danica is staying with AGR as is ever popular Tony Kanaan. So there is some good with the bad.

Overall though I’m having a hard time not just staring straight at the bad. Tony G has been ousted or removed himself from all contacts to the series and The Speedway. This appears to be directly related to his family getting tired of how much money he’s spent propping up the IRL since 1996. So now if he’s gone and the family members left in charge aren’t interested in pumping money into the series any longer what is going to happen? I’m going out on a limb here and saying, Nothing Good!

No one has made any specific statements of course and no public goals have been set for the series but it seems that unification in itself didn’t heal the wounds of open wheel racing in America. Many of us were naive enough to think that two series with more than 10 or so teams would merge to result in a series with 20 teams and 30+ cars for each event. That didn’t happen.

We also thought that merging the two groups together would allow for sponsors to finally see a single series that was more easily recognizable by the American public. That doesn’t really appear to have happened either.

What about new and interested folks wanting to start IndyCar teams? Not so much. Although some new teams pop up hear and there they usually fade into the woodwork pretty quickly.

I love Indy Car and will continue to watch. I’ll go to races and recommend others do as well, but you gotta be concerned at the state of affairs as we await the start of the 2010 Indy Car season.

Well she definitely got a lot of attention that is for damned sure!  After the past couple weeks at Daytona I’d say that its now just a matter of time before the girl wonder makes a permanent move from Indy Car to NASCAR.  Obviously she’s not ready to run a full cup schedule tomorrow and obviously it isn’t a given that she’ll do well.  What is a given is that she can bring a whole new group of fans to the sport, more sponsors, etc, etc.  And in through out all that she can make a boat load of dough!

All that aside Danica is a racer.  I don’t think she has much interest in being a showpiece and not a contender.  I also think she has unfinished business in IndyCar that she wants to take care of before going anywhere.  Winning at Motegi last year is great and all but if she wants to win in NASCAR first she must win in Indy Car on a more regular basis.  As Franchitti proved last year one does not easily beget the other.  Montoya is proof positive that switching between disciplines with success is absolutely possible but you have to be a good driver to do so.  She is a good driver but she’s not JPM.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no NASCAR honk.  When I say it’s hard to switch racing disciplines  I mean that in all directions.  I don’t think Jimmie Johnson could switch to Indy Cars and be competitive tomorrow.  It’s just different.  DW was quoted during the elongated coverage of the Daytona 500 as saying that (and I summarize) “racing here will help her when she goes back to Indy Cars.  Look what happened to Dario Franchitti… He went back and he won the championship.”  Now I don’t think for a minute that Dario won the Indy Car championship last year because of his short stint in NASCAR.  He was going to win that anyway.  But does it teach some things to race different types of cars?  I’m sure it does.

Either way you look at it this foray into NASCAR will be interesting to watch.  Fans will watch, nay-sayers will watch, lots of people will watch.  We’ll see what she can pull off.

ESPN is reporting that Danica Patrick is nearing the completion of a deal to drive a partial schedule for JR Motorsports in the Nationwide series next year.  According to their sources she’ll be running 12-13 Nationwide races for the team in 2010 and may start as early as the ARCA race during Daytona Speedweeks.

Photo Credit: Phot Mojo

This has been talked about for some time and most have been aware that some sort of talks were going on.  Prior to her resigning with AGR there was wild speculation that she was looking to move to NASCAR full time.  I, much like others, figured this was just a stunt to get some attention and probably pump up her power at the AGR bargaining table.  But I totally missed the Go Daddy tie in with JR Motorsports.  This sponsor could only gain by moving one of their Go Daddy Girls into a more visible series.  Keselowski’s a great driver and all but whose a better fit for the Go Daddy car than Danica?

But…  I think this sucks.  I like Dale Jr, I like JR Motorsports, and I’m down with Danica.  I just don’t think this is the right move for her.  Dipping your toe in the waters of NASCAR isn’t really going to get you anywhere.  We’ve seen this with Paul Tracy in the past. He made some runs in the NASCAR feeder series and it didn’t get him anywhere.  Danica will need a full time ride most likely in ARCA to be brutally honest to have any chance at making it to a competitive position in Cup.  Scott Speed did that and he’s still not competitive (my money says he will be someday though).

I’ll be interested to see how this all pans out.  She’ll probably have the biggest merchandise trailer of any of the part timers that aren’t BushWhackers. What do you call them now that it’s the Nationwide Series?  NationWhackers?

You can check out the full story from ESPN here: 

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/news/story?id=4622687

Vintage Izod (Photo Credit: SwanDiamondRose)

Indycar just announced their first title sponsor since 2002, and it is none other than…Izod.  Yep, the aged clothing brand of Phillips Van-Heusen more associated with golf than motorsports.  Most everyone in tune with the sport, figured this is where things were headed with the title sponsor announcement, but it is just such a letdown now that it is official.  Believe me I hope this column makes me look foolish one day and it is a successful partnership.  I love Indycars as much as I love being right, but this is just another example of horrible marketing by the Indianapolis based series.  It is going to flame out for both the sponsor and the series. 

I agree Izod is probably better than nothing, but is that what they were faced with, nothing?  Supposedly the series is excited that it isn’t an oil, tire, fuel, or automotive company because those companies would not expand the fan base.  Plans are for Izod to market the speed of the cars.  Good, they should, and they should market the interesting non-cookie cutter driver personalities as well.  I just don’t the see the marketing power.  Indycar isn’t strong enough to renew the Izod brand, and Izod brand isn’t strong to draw an audience to TV or track turnstiles.  They will just collaborate on some hip commercials that no one is going to see.  They will also crank out some clothing designs that are not as racing redneck chic as NASCAR, and that is a very good thing.  They were doing that already though. 

Fashion is too fickle to produce a title sponsor.  Especially considering the 10 million per year for five year figure that is being tossed around for the deal.  To quote Heidi Klum, errr…Heidi Samuel now, “in fashion, one day you’re in, and the other, YOU’RE OUT!”  Yeah, I log some Project Runway time, what of it?  I think the only fashion brand that is pop culture enough to pull this off would be Levi’s.  Otherwise, you maintain quiet steady sales with a respectable brand, or you go Bugle Boy, Jordache, and Z. Cavaricci.  It just isn’t a good fit.

Obviously I can preach from a blog, and the marketing folks certainly knocked on all the Pepsi, Coke, and McDonald’s of the world’s doors.  It is just sad that after they did all that, they still only came up with a marginal clothing brand.  Indycar needs to figure this out quick and get a decent marketing strategy.  They need accentuate the differences between their form of racing and NASCAR.  The personalities in the Indycar garage are far less corporate and far more entertaining than in NASCAR.  Remind people that Indycars are waaayyyy faster than those shoeboxes.  Let people know that there is a lot more technology in Indycar than NASCAR.  Fuel injection, carbon fiber, aluminum, computers, engine management systems, female drivers, even ethanol; these are selling points.  I can see getting away from automotive companies for sponsors, but it needs to be a pop culture or technology tie in.  It’s about the kids.  You need to hook the 16 to 30 year olds.  I would have personally been very happy with an Xbox 360 Indycar Series.

The only thing I know for certain is the locks in Indy better have been changed so Gene Simmons never gets in again, and they need to develop some homegrown driving talent.  Plus while we’re at it they need a new car a.s.a.p.  The current car is so dated and more engine manufacturers would help too.  All of that in the current economy is a pretty tall order, but that is what they are faced with.  One weekend in May doesn’t pay all the bills for the entire year anymore, and neither does a title sponsor.  Just hunch but I think we’ll be able to address that title sponsor issue in less than five years.

Penske Racing DHL RS Spyder 2007 ALMS Photo Credit: kptyson

Autoweek is reporting that Penske racing will campaign three Indycar entries, two NASCAR Nationwide series cars, and three Sprint Cup cars in 2010. Noticeably absent from that list is any sports car series entrants. Drivers Sam Hornish Jr. and Kurt Busch will return, with the addition of Brad Keselowski for Cup. Justin Allgaier will be joined by Keselowski for Nationwide. The Indycar drivers will be Ryan Briscoe, Helio Castroneves, and full time next year, Will Power.

It was enjoyable to see Penske campaigning sports cars the last few years under the Porsche banner. The successful organization brings credibility to any series they run. Plus Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas are top notch sports car racers and deserve to be in elite cars. Surely they will land somewhere if The Captain can’t put something together last minute to keep them in the stable. Hopefully Penske will be back in road racing in the near future.

It appears that the A1GP series has pulled out of their season opener at Surfer’s Paradise this weekend.  A Racer.com article attributes the pull out to “that series ongoing financial problems”.  This is very bad for A1GP but could prove to be excellent for the Australian V8 SuperCars as they are now the headliners.

First CART, then Champ Car, then Indy Car, and now A1GP. V8 Supercars will headline the show at Surfer's this weekend. Photo Credit: kevgibbo

I’ve always liked the Tin Tops from down under.  I really think its what NASCAR should hope to be someday.  Well at least in so much as the cars should resemble actual production based cars and use technology more modern than that of the Cub Cadet in your garage.  I know that ovals are NASCAR’s thing and I’m cool with that to some extent, but to have real cars that represent actual makes and models with production based power plants would be awesome.  But enough about that for now.

Photo Credit: Jon Ovington

The leadership of the V8 Supercar Series and a number of Australians have said for some time that the true draw of the weekend on the Gold Coast were the V8s and not the open wheelers.  It make perfect sense to me.  It is the local series, it is stocked with Australian drivers.  It has been the mainstay at the event while numerous open wheel series came and went. 

Racer.com also quotes John Griffin, IndyCar VP of Public Relations as stating that IndyCar is still interested in Surfer’s but would need to agree with the promoters on schedule (IRL wants to end their championship on home soil) and a reasonable sanctioning fee.  Griffin states in reference to the sanctioning fee that, “…it would take around $20 million for an IndyCar return to be viable, whereas North American-based races can be run for between $3m-$5m.”. 

Don’t get me wrong I love IndyCar and have enjoyed the open wheel races at Surfer’s in the past.  But in my opinion this tight circuit which always seems to have  surprise winner just isn’t cutout for Indy Cars.  I wish the V8s the best of luck this weekend and am throwing out the prediction that the Surfer’s SuperGP will have a long and successful future with Tin Tops getting top billing from this day forward!

IndyCar.com is reporting that Dan Anderson has announced an agreement between his company Anderson Promotions, LLC and the Indy Racing League that will not only bring back the famed open wheel feeder series but will have it sanctioned by the IRL. 

Anderson is quoted as stating that he invisions a 12 event schedule in 2010 with some double header weekends, an emphasis on road and street courses, but also mentions the possibility of 2 ovals being on the schedule is out there.

I think this is excellent news.  The open wheel feeder system has been a bit lacking as of late.  The USF2000 Championship should fit nicely in that niche that falls just below Atlantics and Indy Lights.  Although Star Mazda exists there now I believe a 2nd tier feeder series with a solid affiliation to IndyCar is critical to grooming talent for the future of the series.  Not to mention that it could foster the creation of development programs at even early stages for young drivers. 

If the majority of the 10 races coincide with IndyCar weekends not only would it promote IndyCar teams participation in the feeder series it would make for more track events during those weekends.

You can check out the full story here:  http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=15341

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.