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

Wait, they want to bring in Brian Barnhart to replace him?

L. FRICKIN. O. L.

 

Hey, guys, where do you think is the best place on the Internet to follow news in the series? Robin Miller, I assume, is the best reporter on the IndyCar beat? How else do you guys follow the ups and downs of the series? I'd like to get into it a little bit more year-round than I have in the past.

 

Brian Barnhart, the guy whose negligence led to Dan Wheldon's death?

 

Curt Cavin in the Indy Star. In addition to his regular coverage in the paper, he does a daily blog answering readers' questions.

I don't put a lot of stock in Robin Miller. He's willing to run with just about anything, and has slipped into that ugly position where he clearly views himself as the only journalist that matters. Plus, his TV work is just painfully amateurish, which aggravates me during the broadcasts.

 

Just kills me. Hey, maybe they could set up two series -- one for ovals and one for road courses!

Honestly, what beef could they have with Bernard that could possibly justify this? I think the series is screwed up in any number of ways, but none that is his fault, and I think it's moving in the right direction under his stewardship. Just absurd.

 

This is pretty much spot on. I rely primarily on Cavin, take Miller with a huge grain of salt and also read John Oreovicz and Marshall Pruett. No one source that I've found provides the IndyCar coverage I'd like to get, but Cavin's coverage at the Star is closest.

 

What, no love for Bruce Martin?
Seriously though, I rely mostly on Cavin as well. Used to be quite the team when he and Ballard were together.
Miller probably knows more than anyone else in the media about the sport, but as PC mentioned he is quite full of himself. I saw it firsthand at Indy four years ago, quite sickening.
I also read Jeff Olson's stuff here and there.

 

IndyCar shoots itself in the foot, yet again.

Belle Isle race currently red-flagged because the track is coming apart. Huge pieces of sealant coming up.

 

Oh come on, I drive on roads worse than that every day.

 

What an embarrassing end to a bad week for IndyCar. Just a week ago there was an Indy 500 considered one of the best ever. Then infighting takes center stage (helped by Bernard tweeting about it) and then the track falling apart, during an ABC race. One step forward, two steps (or more) back.

 

Tell Mr. Penske that if the Detroit market is that important to his sponsors, they can drive to Brooklyn and watch a good race at a real racetrack (which, of course, Roger used to own) instead of forcing the rest of us to endure the annual snoozefest that is Belle Isle, possibly the worst track on the docket for any North American racing series, and that was before it started coming apart.