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

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

Who beat?

 

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

F1: Fernando Alonso, giving McLaren its first win in ages.
CCWS: Will Power, thanks to the fact that Paul Tracy's car couldn't get the fuel hose connected properly (Tracy finished third, despite all of the problems ... then again, there were only nine cars on the track at the end). First career CC win for Power, who easily has the best name in motorsports.

 

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

Power can't hold a candle to Dick Trickle. Name-wise, anyway.

 

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

Obviously, but Keith Olbermann's favorite driver is retired (unless he's still test-driving IROC cars). I was going for current drivers, which also eliminates former IRL stalwart Racin Gardner.

(... types crimsonace, with his No. 90 Heilig-Meyers diecast stock car in plain view).

 

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

BYH will be here anytime to extoll the virtues of Will To Power.

 

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

I know we have a full thread about the "relevancy" of the I500 elsewhere, but ...

Indy quals ...
Helio & Kanaan end up in a helluva battle for the pole in the last 5 minutes. Kravitz had the day's best line ... it was like an NBA game, where all of the drama happens in the last 2 minutes.

10 of the 11 first-day qualifiers were from AGR, Penske (counting Briscoe) and Ganassi. Someone is finally challenging the red cars, but AGR doing it is like saying Kansas is finally challenging Duke in college basketball.

Among the well-known, Al Unser Jr. still isn't in the field ... it appears there *will* be a little bit of bumping (or bump attempts) next week for the first time in a while.

Nice drama at the end of Pole Day ... even though it was extremely manufactured thanks to a really bizarre (although interesting) new qualifying format.

The Kanaan-Castroneves rivalry (or even the Penske-AGR rivalry, which goes back to the days when the Andrettis were driving for Newman-Haas) would have been played up *huge* 15 years ago, but nowdays, the IRL only chooses to market four drivers, and those two (who are two of the most talented drivers and engaging personalities in open-wheel racing) aren't among them.

 

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

Helio did make the SportsJournalists.com women's list of hottest male athletes, proving that the chicas on this site would make better marketing choices than the IRL

 

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

When I was growing up attending a nice, suburban evangelical church, they'd often pass out the "comparison charts," so you knew which obscure Christian artists sounded like your favorite rock bands (so, presumably, you'd buy the "wholesome" Christian music, which never was as good, but I digress ...).

Anyway, the idea was to tie the unfamiliar to the familiar, although -- and any fellow young-30-something evangelicals can probably vouch for me here -- the comparisons were usually weak at best.

So, in the spirit of the "comparison charts" and to tie the unfamiliar to the familiar, I'll provide a public service to help SportsJournalists.commers who want follow the "irrelevant" Indy 500, or for that matter, Southerners who like racing, but just don't know anything beyond NASCAR because they don't know the drivers. Not only that, but I need an excuse to avoid working.

IndyCar driver ... NASCAR equivalent
Helio Castroneves/Darrell Waltrip in his prime. (Helio has a personality, 2 Indy 500s and can talk a thousand miles an hour ... but he's not *the* celebrity of the series quite yet).
Sam Hornish Jr./Dale Jarrett in his prime (all-around nice guys who win tons of races & win championships).
Dan Wheldon/Jeff Gordon (heartthrob, furriner who attempts to embrace the sport's traditions and then beats the regulars ... Gordon hooked up with a Miss Winston, Wheldon hooked up with an, ahem, attractive TV reporter ... neither relationship seemed to last, but they still are the best drivers on the track and the guys to beat on most days ... so if the NASCAR folks trying to get into open-wheel need a number to have Calvin pee on, it's "10").
Tony Kanaan/Mark Martin (minus all of the complaining, of course ... good driver, well-respected, usually up there to win the big one. Lots of wins here, lots of Indy/Daytona close calls, but no victories at the big tracks).
Scott Dixon/Kevin Harvick (the guys win their share of races, but they seem to fly under the radar and don't get a ton of attention).
Marco Andretti/Carl Edwards (a "marketable" future star who shone bright with some big moves early, but has gone through a bit of a struggle in Year 2).
Dario Franchitti/Matt Kenseth (trying to find a NASCAR driver whose wife is more well-known than he is ... couldn't, but both are guys who are solidly consistent, but fly under the radar).
Danica Patrick/Dale Earnhardt Jr. (both are superstars more for their off-track personalities than their on-track exploits. Both are talented, but their inability to get into the winner's circle doesn't hinder their popularity ... also, each has jumped from the team that "gave them their start" to a better outfit -- or soon will).
Ryan Briscoe/Buckshot Jones (lots of promise as young'uns, but they know the ins and outs of the SAFER barrier, too, and that means the end of them as full-time drivers).
Tomas Scheckter/Kurt Busch (tons of talent, aggressive drivers, occasionally tear up equipment in their pursuit of aggressiveness).
Ed Carpenter & AJ Foyt IV/Kyle Petty (does this need explanation?)
Davey Hamilton/Ernie Irvan (notable comeback from horrible crash to race again).
Sarah Fisher/Dick Trickle (once a novelty who has some ability, but lousy equipment).
Scott Sharp/Bobby Labonte (veteran driver who wins occasionally and once was a solid -- if not spectacular -- driver, but is in really lousy equipment now).
Al Unser Jr./Darrell Waltrip in the late 1990s (a shadow of their former selves ... time to hang them up).

Teams:
Penske/Hendrick ... the team that has the best drivers & always seems to win, but also the one that everyone hates because of it.
Ganassi/Roush ... when they have the right equipment (not this year, because Ford really, really sucks in NASCAR), they're often the top dog.
AGR/Childress ... can be a champion team, has a ton of drivers, just isn't right now.
Rahal-Letterman/Wood Brothers ... they were a champion team once, now they're a mid-packer on a good day.
Foyt/Junior Johnson ... big-time name owns the team, but they usually put up finishes that are a big-time way down the pylon.
Panther/Yates ... established teams that have really good crews, but suddenly isn't competitive anymore.
D&R/Michael Waltrip Racing ... too small to be competitive.
Vision/Bill France Racing ... OK, there is no Bill France racing, but imagine what would happen if there was?

Jump in if you think I'm off ...

 

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

crimsonace: Given that nobody pays attention to the IRL's marketing -- is Gene Simmons still in the house? -- their talking points don't matter. Castroneves and Kannan starting 1-2 in a second 500 (the first was four years ago, and they finished 2-3 behind Gil deFerran, a third Brazilian) will provide plenty of fodder for the run-up to the race.

 

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

Given that Marlboro is no longer sponsoring the Penske cars, how long is Roger going to cling to an outdated paint job?

 

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

Marlboro is no longer "sponsoring" Penske because of the tobacco lawsuit regs, but obviously, there's the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.

IIRC, even though Marlboro isn't on the side of the cars, Penske is still getting some cash from Philip Morris. You can't paint "Marlboro" on the side of the cars, but if that paint scheme makes you want to smoke a pack, well, you're just extrapolating .

If the checks quit coming from Philip Morris, you'd see a different color scheme *really* quickly ... the Ryan Briscoe car (a sort-of Penske car technically owned by Jay Penske) looks an awful lot like the Pennzoil/Cummins cars that Mears and Unser Sr. drove for Roger in the mid-1980s.