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

playthrough, that was one of the first things I noticed with the new car -- the curved wings made the numbers much smaller. Fans have to have something to identify with, and open-wheel racing finally figured that out and kept consistent numbers (which wasn't really the case in the 1980s -- numbers changed almost year-by-year). At 230 mph, it's difficult to tell the two Target cars apart (I can, but only because I know Dixon's car has more white paint and Franchitti's has more red) without being able to see the numbers. The old Dallara, for all its flaws, had big, easy-to-read numbers on the wing flaps.

 

Preach it. There's something wrong about the fact that Road America, the Glen and Portland, among them, sit empty while we have to endure a Sunday parade around Belle Isle.

I'd be happy for a few temp courses (Long Beach is iconic and usually a good race, Edmonton & St. Pete are usually solid, and I'd trade Mid-Ohio for Cleveland in a heartbeat), but there are too many streets and not enough natural-terrain roadies. After Barber, I'm a bit more geeked about what kind of show they could put on at RA or the Glen or even Laguna (which blows away its cousin in wine country, Infineyawn).

 

It kills me that they go to Infineon instead of Laguna Seca. Laguna Seca is spectacular. Infineon looks like they're staging a race in a landfill. It seems impossible that they could go into California's wine country and still end up with a track that ugly.

 

I have to say, the Indy crowd this year outdid itself in the wildly inappropriate T-shirt department. My "favorites":

-- "Down to Fuck" (in enormous letters)
-- "Higher Than a Giraffe's Pussy" (along with a drawing of a giraffe with meat curtains, in case you couldn't figure out the scale)
-- "Nothing Says Love Like Fisting" (with a big fist, in case you couldn't figure out. Thankfully, it didn't also include the depiction from the giraffe T-shirt for effect as well.)

 

Randy Bernard, on his Twitter, confirmed Robin Miller's report that at least one owner is leading charge to fire him. Word is it's one of Chevy owners.

 

Jenna Fryer on Twitter said the count is apparently "3 owners, 1 former CEO, 2 team managers and a former champion."

Let's figure things out:
Chevy owners: Roger Penske, Michael Andretti, John Barnes (Panther), Jay Penske (Dragon Racing, switched from Lotus after turbogate), Dennis Reinbold (D&R, also Lotus defectors), Ed Carpenter, Kevin Kalkhoven/Jimmy Vasser (KV). 7 possibilities there, and both Bernard and Penske have confirmed that Roger's not one of the malcontents, even though they had a rough patch after the initial Turbogate decision. That narrows it down a little. Andretti, Barnes, Carpenter and the KV guys are the 5 others who have been with Chevy all year. Jay Penske & Reinbold defected from Lotus.

Ed Carpenter said on his Twitter account: "I am not the one talking and creating the story. Who is? Just because Robin says it's so?"

The only former CEO on the IRL/IndyCar side is Tony George, and I can understand why he'd be unhappy. This series is his baby, and he's been tossed out of the picture. Kevin Kalkhoven is the former leader of Champ Car, but I don't know if he'd count or not (he & George are also pretty good friends), and he's also a team owner, but I don't think KK was actually the CEO of CCWS. I'm certain it's not Chris Pook .

Former champion: The only living, active IRL/IndyCar Series champions all drive Hondas EXCEPT Tony Kanaan. Michal Andretti, Bobby Rahal and Jimmy Vassar are all former CART champs, but none are active drivers and all are team owners. Sebastien Bourdais (CCWS champ) has obviously been frustrated driving Lotuses the first four races, but I can't see him in this mix.

This is a mess. I understand turbogate didn't go their way, but it's not exactly like the Chevy cars weren't competitive at Indianapolis. It's the first year of a car/engine formula that's what the manufacturers wanted -- a little bit of freedom. The series has a lot of positive momentum right now. The best Indy 500 in recent memory just happened, with a three-time winner crowned. There is a nice core of veteran drivers to build the series around (yeah, they're all non-Americans, but I don't think the crowd that was going bonkers on Sunday when Kanaan took the lead cared if he was from Brazil). This is a crossroads moment. If Bernard & the sisters stand up to the owners (much like Bill France did at Talladega), there's not really a place they can go. Go form your own series? That happened in 1979. The infighting that took place eventually created the conditions that spawned the IRL and CART/Champ Car went bankrupt twice. Survive without Indy? Good luck doing that without sponsors. If the sisters back down and remove Bernard, the inmates will truly be running the asylum and who knows what's going to happen. Whatever it is, it'll create some negative momentum that IndyCar doesn't need right now when it's starting to really get a lot going for it.

Anyone who watched the 500 on Sunday, then watched the four-hour parade at 180mph that night, has to be thinking "you know, if I like racing, I need to watch more IndyCar." It's a pretty good time to strike (of course, they didn't exactly help themselves by staging what is usually their dullest race on the Sunday right after Indy: Belle Isle).

 

Dysfunctional IndyCar. Set your watch to it.

 

How will this affect the sprawling Clabber Girl empire?

 

It's been a constant power struggle between IMS/USAC and the owners since Dan Gurney's power trip in 1978 (and really, before then). That's really where the 1996 "split" began, and the two warring camps have been in conflict ever since.

Wondering what would've been if not for the plane crash that killed most of the USAC brass shortly after Tony Hulman passed away in 1978. Would there have been a CART, or would there have been enough leadership to bury the hatchet? Bernard seems to be pretty solid with diplomacy, but he needs to pull a Bill France and stand tall here.

 

Penske - if he wanted anyone out or in, I'd call him a big enough heavyweight not to need a ton of backing
Andretti - they aren't winning, so it has to be someone's fault and let's fire them
Tony George - I'm sure he's been working behind the scenes since the day he was ousted to get back in

 

And, indeed, Tony George IS involved in the rebellion, according to Robin Miller:

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/miller-the-most-repulsive-revolt/

The lead actor is identified as Panther's John Barnes, who was fined $25,000 for tweet-bitching about IndyCar over the dreaded Turbogate. Kevin Kahlkoven is apparently involved, too.