All-purpose open-wheel (F1, IRL) racing thread

I'd like to remind everyone that this is a working press thread, and you should keep your conversations to a minimum, or take them to the third floor. Thank you.

 

And the line between a pay driver and a non-pay driver is a very thin one. Vitaly Petrov is at Renault largely because of the sponsorship money he brings, but he has a podium this season and is faster than Nick Heidfeld, who has no significant backing.

Fernando Alonso is one of the top 3 drivers in the world, and his sponsorship from Santander probably allowed him to go to Ferrari earlier than he would have otherwise. It was the Santander money that paid off Kimi's contract, as I recall.

 

By the way, just to emphasize that Justin Timberlake can do no wrong, his clothing line was Wheldon's sponsor:

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2011/05/31/justin-timberlakes-car-wins-indy-500.html

 

There's a reason the Conseco Fieldhouse media room is named for the guy. Bill York has taken care of us for years at every major venue in Indy, even if he has to remind us about taking our conversations to the third floor or his horrible timing for making announcements on guys being released from the infield hospital right when someone's about to give a money quote through the TV feed that's being piped through the PA.

Bill also enjoys working with the people he sees on a regular basis. He probably wouldn't want me to tell this story, but I'm going to anyway . A couple of weeks ago, I'm walking out of the media center, ready to embark on the long walk back to the parking lot. I hear a honk -- it's York, waving me over to his car and telling me to hop in. That's the kind of guy he is. There was a near-revolt among the regulars when the IMS brass briefly sacked him a couple years ago, and he was quickly brought back.

 

Nice.

 

Bill still does the hand-lettered qualifying cards, lined up on the wall of the press center in 11 rows of three. I don't know that many people even know they're there, but I like 'em.

 

While the Speedway has gone out of its way to clean out a lot of the nuttiness and drunken revelry & debauchery that it once had a reputation for (the Snake Pit is now a few turns of a road course), Carb Day is notoriously the day the cops and everyone else looks the other way. It's also the day all of the party animals tend to skip school.

 

Indy would do better to look the other way at the Snake Pit activities on race day and open more of the infield to fans instead of doing idiotic Hot Wheels stunts, etc.

Like it or not, the Snake Pit was a part of the track's tradition for at least 25 years. If Churchill Downs can put up with it (I know its smaller, but still), than Indy can too.

It could even have a slogan, "Show me your tits or show me death!"

 

The track had a Snake Pit promotion on race day, complete with logo. Held in Turn 3. Have no idea how successful it was, as it was a half-mile from the press center.

 

Motegi race being moved to the road course due to earthquake damage to the oval. Race set for 9/18. Was already going to be the last race in Japan.

 

And Bahrain is back on the F1 schedule near the end of the season, with India bumping later in the year. Teams are going to be pissed.

Provisional F1 2012 calendar is out, with Austin in June -- a week after Montreal.