Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II (Montreal, Turkey, IRL to RACE Daytona?!?)

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II (Paul Tracy, 2007, IRL test at Daytona?!?)

Agreed on Turn 8... until Spa returns, bringing Eau Rouge with it.

That was a fun race today.

I'm not entirely convinced Kimi will be faster than Massa, assuming he's going to Ferrari. I think the team is making a big mistake if they make that switch.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II (Paul Tracy, 2007, IRL test at Daytona?!

Who won the Champ Car race? Oh, yeah. The weatherman. How often does it rain so hard that the track is too wet for rain tires?

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II (Paul Tracy, 2007, IRL test at Daytona?!?)

At least it wasn't like that embarassing mess at Surfer's a few years back.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II (Montreal, Turkey, IRL to RACE Daytona?!

Sebastian Bourdais won Montreal.

And this just in from Sonoma ... forget that test. How about an IRL race on the motorcycle road course (it's different from the sports-car road course) at Daytona International Speedway?

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Speed/Headlines/racHEAD04SPEED082806.htm

That date would put the winter test date smack in the middle of Speed Weeks, during the Super Bowl-week lull between the 24 Hours of Daytona and the Busch Clash Budweiser Shootout.

 

The Montreal CCWS race appears to live on.....in Ottawa.

http://www.autonet.ca/Motorsports/Champ/2006/08/28/1781193-sun.html

 

German newspaper reports what a lot have thought ... that MSchumacher is retiring at the end of the year.

http://www.mediafax.ro/english/articole-free/Schumacher-To-Retire-At-End-Of-Season-541657-9.html

 

Today's Toronto Sun reports that Molson's is no longer the title sponsor of the Toronto CCWS race. All the race people say this is no problem, they'd seen it coming all along but I can't see this as a good thing. No word on who might step in as the title sposnor.

I was a Molson Indy regular when the grid was littered with stars but when the massive defection to IRL started I was done. There was no way I was paying the same or more to watch lousy, largely unknown drivers in tiny fields. Toronto has always been one of the mosts successful and best-run races on the CCWS sked but I talked to a guy who worked it this year who said that despite the talk that the race was as well attended as ever there were plenty of empty seats.

http://www.torontosun.com/Sports/OtherSports/2006/09/08/1814050-sun.html

 

Losing Molson is a big deal. Was Molson still sponsoring the Canadian Triple Crown race series?

 

And now, it's official.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/5953112?FSO1&ATT=HMA

 

I saw Foyt, Mears, Rahal, every Andretti, every Unser save Bobby (including the shitty ones), Earnhardt, Gordon, Labonte, Jarrett, Smoke (God I hate that nickname), etc. All produced memorable moments of either skill, bravery or both.

Schumacher was the best driver I ever saw. Probably the most prominent athlete I've ever interviewed and was better than the sum of his parts.

Even though he was like rooting for Darth Vader at times (and just as ruthless, conniving and, admittedly, a cheater when he needed to be), he was undeniably great to watch -- one of those people who demanded your attention, like him or lump him.

This year's USGP demonstrated his excellence to me and I focused my race story on it. It looked routine on TV -- Schumacher once again beats the leader from the pits and cruised the rest of the way. But I checked the lap-by-lap times to see what drivers' times were on their "out laps" -- the lap immediately after the pit stop.

Schumacher was two seconds quicker than anyone else. That margin goes beyond equipment, that is flat-out talent. That kind of performance was routine for Schumacher, who also shined in on-track passes, wet races, pretty much everything.

He will be missed.

 

Bubbler, I always thought Jim Clark was the best I ever saw. Schumaker's got him beat, though.

 

Can't argue with that. Drivers of all kinds in the gasoline coffins they drove into the 70s were a different breed. Tracks were death traps back then too.

As Clark unfortunately found when he crashed into the forest and died at Hockenheim.