Things We Learned On An Airport Runway In Central Florida

Ahhh, Sebring, the 2nd race of the triple crown of endurance racing. It taught us some things this week. One obviously how brutal it can be. Just before the start the Luxury Racing Pro-AM 458, driven by former ESM driver Dominic Farenbacher got  together with the #45 Flying Lizard 911 GT3 RSR of Joerg Bergmeister. Who knew that would set the tone for the 60th 12 hours of Sebring. During morning warm-up the Falken Tire 911 had thier race motor go up in flames. The crew worked like mad to get the car back on track. They would start from pit lane.

Audi jumped out to a commanding lead with the next two spots taken up by the other two Audis. This though wasn’t a surprise. The surprise was actually sitting in the 4 th spot with the Team Cytosport Muscle Milk HPD ARX-03a of Klaus Graf, Lucas Luhr, and probably the fastest guy in a non Audi prototype Simon Pagenaud.

As the race wore on, Audi 2 of McNish, Capello, and Mr. Lemans Tom Kristensen were going to be the ones to beat. The race would see several lengthy yellow flag safety car sessions through out the race. Including one that had the Dempsey Racing PC (formely LMPC) getting airbourne, into the catch fence going into the hairpin. The Audi’s proved that under the Florida sun and pounding race course that they weren’t invincible. The pole sitting car of 2011 lemans champs Lotterer, Tréluyer, and Fässler had shifting issues half way through the race. After repairs were made they finished 16th overall 15 laps down.

The ALMS favorite Muscle Milk Honda, were poised to be the spolier of the Audi party. Due to a speeding penalty, replacing body work on the back, and a rare issue with the fuel buckeye late in the race. They tumbled all the way back to 28 from 3rd. Absolutely heartbreaking for Klaus Graf, Lucas Luhr, and Simon Pagenaud, after a hard fought race to were they kept the mighty Audi’s at bay till the last hour.

With Muscle milks issues that propeled the Starworks Motorsport entry, yes that Starworks that finished second at Daytona with Mcnish, Ryan Dalziel, Lucas Luhr, and Enzo Potolicchio. Into third overall. Former Peugoet driver Stéphane Sarrazin, with Dalziel, and Potolicchio, put the brand new HPD ARX-03b on the podium. Neat factoid this is the 2nd year in a row a HPD that showed up the week of the race has made the podium. Last year Highcroft almost ran down the Oreca-Matmut Peugeot 908HDi-FAp.

In GT it came down to the wire with the sleeper of the week Joey Hand and the Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan BMW taking top honors. But it wasn’t without some controversy. On the last lap Gimmi Bruni moved into the inside of Hand going into 5, nearly spinning Hand. Behind that Olivier Beretta who was in 2 nd place at the time, also spun to avoid the sliding BMW. That put the #71 AF Corse 458 into third and the #03 Corvette into 2nd. Coming into 17 Hand caught up to what was thought to Beretta. Hand out brakes him in the ever so bumpy last turn. It actually ends up that Hand has got back up with Bruni! Joey Hand, who is doing a full season of ALMS and DTM, wins the GT Class in a wild finish.

PC was won by the Core Autosport Oreca FLM of E.J. Viso, Alex Popow, and Bury Friselle. GTC was won by Alex Job Racing with Townsend Bell, Bill Sweedler, and Dion Von Moltke. What a momentum builder for AJR as they step up to GTE with the Lotus Evora starting at Long Beach.

Some notes and stuff.
John Dagys reported that the FIA/ACO’s intention was to not have a combined event ALMS/WEC, when the WEC was formed. So what does this mean? The same that it did for the Petit Lemans. Is it a downer yes. But if I was a betting man a 6 hours of Austin doesn’t seem to far off. When the 2 Audis and the Rebellion crashed in night practice, I predicted that, that would be the nail in the coffin for the WEC at Sebring. Do I want it to happen? Eff no I’m planning my honeymoon around the 2013 12 hours of Sebring. I want to see some WEC cars. But, if it does happen Sebring will be just fine. They went from the 70′s till 2011 without a world championship.

Do I think a 6 hour race in Austin would be successful? Who knows. All depends on promotion. Sebring has tradition to help it, Austin is new. From the little I’ve seen of the track it looks like a neat track.  I kicked around the idea of Road America getting a WEC date, but that’s because I’m very biased. We’ll see though I’m sure.

Ecoboost isn’t just a sponsor on a stock car hood anymore. Libra racing will debut thier Radical-Ford at Long Beach or Laguna. The power plant is a turbocharged V6 built by some guy in Nascar country named Roush-Yates. Word on the street is they make some wicked Ford engines for them roundy round cars.

Dempsey Racing on the heels of there high-flying ALMS debut in PC. Announced they will be running a Lola-Mazda starting at Laguna Seca. John Dagys also tweeted he’s not the only Grand-am owner wanting to join ALMS and a deal could be done in a couple weeks.

Derek Bell was on Wind Tunnel discussing how thier should be only ONE sports car series in the USA. Do you hear that you two, fans want it, legendary drivers want it….let’s make it happen.

Race Fans Are Uneducated (well no not really but others think this malarkey)

For now the tears I shed have dried, until Sunday when I watch the memorial. It’s so weird that its been a week since Wheldons passing it still doesn’t seem real. It seems any moment we will all awaken from this dream, and he’ll be there smiling. But now, in this moment, racing is obviously under attack. The sudden self ordained experts of motorsports have come out of the woodwork. Like distant cousins when you win the lotto. Some have stated racing is ridiculous and that cars going round and round is entertainment for the uneducated masses. Others have said racers only do it for the money. Me personally I have huge issues with those statements. Taking a cue from Daniel Tosh, “let’s take a look at this in this weeks ‘Blog Breakdown’”

Money. Ehhh have you seen the prize money from ALMS? Ya not to much to brag about. I work with several aspiring dirt track guys, and I can tell ya its not about money. It’s about going out in a car and having fun. Granted winnings great, but nothing beats battling somebody cleanly lap after lap. Trying to out smart him corner upon corner. I did it in a go kart this summer and let me tell ya its a rush. After I finally put enough pressure on him to screw up he did. He wasn’t happy I got the better of him. He even bitched about it all the way out to his vehicle, to me that’s winning.

Back to the money topic, some people have said Dan Wheldons accident was a product of the $5 million dollar prize. The only thing the prize money did was get him in the car. He didn’t race any harder then he usually did. If some of these “experts” would do some research they would see that well here’s a shock Wheldon was a damn good racer, and what happened was an accident. Not an overzealous narcsist that a commentor on the LA times wrote.

Race fans being uneducated is something that bothers me greatly. Neat how people who really don’t know why racing exists and what advancements it has given the auto industry, are saying we are uneducated. Motorsports is farther reaching then anyone on the outside could ever begin to comprehend. Passenger safety compartments, safety glass, turbo charging, crumple zones, all came from racing. The cars we lust for were born from racing, the 911, the Corvette ZR-1, any Ferrari. All made in the name of racing. If not for racing we would be driving some horrible crap wagons. If we took racing away then what would the stick and ball guys pimp out? Civics? Oh wait those were perfected through racing too. Ehhh I’m done with that rant.

Should racing be banned…..
Football in between ’91-’06 averaged 4.3 deaths a year. Yet, stadiums fill up 6 days a week. Do I think racing should be banned. NO! When Eric Medlen died in one of John Force’s funny cars. Tire deflated causing the car to shake violently down the strip. Essentialy he was shaken to death. What came of that? John Force made it his mission to make a safer car with the Eric Medlen Project. Now the roll cages are heavly padded and covered by nomex among other safety features. This is exactly what REAL race fans are talking about. Don’t stop make it better, make it safer.

Jimmie Johnsons quote about ovals was taken more out of context than the Danica Patrick Brazil quote. Give me a break folks. “Ehhhhhhh he’s never been in an indycar blah blah blah” Atleast he had the cajones to say something. He’s a racer that doesn’t want to see more drivers hurt or worse killed. Can’t say I blame him.

So what’s next for IndyCar. Well……alot. The ball is in the court with the investigation group. There’s a lot of questions that need to be answered, of not only why, but how can we prevent such an accident from happening again. Several actual race fans not the ones seeking fifteen minutes of fame and internet clicks, and drivers have suggested closed cockpit cars. I’m a firm beleaver in this idea. If done right the cars will look not only bad ass, but fast sitting still. I’m sure two Audi drivers wake up everyday thanking the engineers they went to a closed cockpit car. One concern is the obvious what if the cars upside down, or on fire. I’m sure there’s an easy solution maybe a three piece top with doors. I can envision I just suck at PhotoShop.  Thought of the minute, see how the H1 Unlimited Hydroplanes build thier cockpits. Better catch fences, is another area of improvement. One that doesn’t involve the cars ripping apart. Ballistic glass is one I heard, I say make it close to (I’m sure Tony Johns will like this) what a hockey rink looks like. I’m sure there’s more that can be done in the name of safety, like grass at road courses, tire barriers, and others.

Let’s be honest all that can start Monday. Let’s get through Sunday together first.

Team Meeting Weekend in Review; Free Paul Tracy/O2RT Edition:

Indycar:  Free Paul Tracy and Free O2RT.  It’s all been said already, but I would just like to repeat, how can it be okay for Dario to do the “win and whine” and Ganassi and Penske to attempt to kill aero kits, but O2RT and Paul Tracy get crucified?   That’s insane.  If that’s how Indycar’s officiated, no wonder O2RT and PT don’t trust their race day officiating!

Toronto was a disaster, but what’s the solution?  A lot of people want to see more officiating, but all that’s going to do is turn the race into a parade with no contact, but also no passing.  In what way is that better?  In all honesty, if I’ve got to pick between a crashfest and a parade, I’m picking crashfest every time; at least there is the potential of an interesting winner (which we did not get a Toronto).  Besides, Cotman, Unser Jr., and Barnahrdt have proven they are not capable in any way, shape, or form, so giving them more rules to (selectively) enforce is counter productive.

The solution is two fold.  The new car might help.  The biggest thing to change is the length/width of the tracks.  As has been discussed many times, the tracks are too short, too narrow, and have too few passing zones.  As such, they will turn either into a parade  or a wreckfest.  To fix it, get better tracks or improve the current ones.  Funny thing is, there are tracks in Florida, Georgia, and Wisconsin that are longer and have actual passing zones…

Could be great, could be another Indy Failure League moment

In some positive news, Edmonton might be a good race.  The new track map looks interesting and has a nice straight section.  I’ve been saying all year this might be the best road race of the year, as it’s the only one (outside of Sao Paolo) being held at a track that’s got a bit of length to it and may have some passing zones.  I like the long straight a lot, but there is some risk that the way it cut’s the runway in half could be both a safety hazard and cut down on room to pass.  Still, at least it has potential.

The lone positive about Toronto was Simona’s return to the top 10.  She got her third top 10 finish of the season and managed to avoid the large amounts of wrecks.

Schedule Watch 2011:  Bad news, according to the IBJ, Indycar is considering a European leg of the season, although thankfully, this would not be next season.  However combined with a possible 2nd race in Brazil and new rumors of a Mexico City race (cause Mexico is really safe right now…) and it’s feeling very Champcar esque.  Bernard also has an un-natural fascination with Houston… Laguna Seca has come up as well; becuase Indycar needs more too narrow/short road courses.  In happier news, Road America, Watkins Glen, and Chicagoland are in play with Fontana already being confirmed.  Sadly, Road Atlanta and Sebring are not.

I like Bernard and have a lot of confidence in him.  I also support his double file restart decision and Vegas 5 million challenge.  Yet I can’t help but feel a little less postively about him with the recent Tracy/O2RT issue, as well as his love for a European, Chinese, Brazilian, and Houston race.   We’ll see how the schedule works out; I honestly have no idea what it’s going to end up like because there are so many different rumors/reports.  I like Bernard a lot, but depending on how this goes, it may be time for a reevaluation.

NASCAR:  Another race, another fuel finish.  This has been a better season than I expected and has had a varied group of winners, but the fuel finishes are getting old.  Almost every other race it seems has come down to fuel!   NASCAR has got to find a way to improve the racing on their 1.5-2 mile ovals.  The solution is obvious; cut down on the “dirty air” the current cars produce and add some adjustablity.  Sadly, this isn’t happening, and so the fuel finished continue.

The rumors of Carl Edwards going to Gibbs continue to build.  Despite the fact that Edwards is leading the points with Roush.  Edwards at Gibbs would give him 3 of the best drivers in NASCAR, with Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Busch.  The only problem is, Busch and Edwards don’t get along well and having both in one team might create too much conflict.

The NASCAR hype men are trying to convince everyone that Kyle Busch’s “100th” win is a monumental and historic moment.  Just one problem, a majority of those wins are in the Nationwide and Truck series where he, as a Cup driver, has a massive advantage against his opponents.  In Cup competition he has 22 wins.  That’s good but it’s not historic.  Another non story in NASCAR to cover up the problems.

And the biggest problem of all is sponsorship.  Red Bull and Crown Royal have left the teams they sponsored (or ran, in the case of Red Bull).  When two companies that are still fairly profitable and still plan on being involved in various other forms of sponsorship leave that suggests a serious lack of Return on Investment.

Kyle Busch also made an interesting comment with regards to Indycar, saying he has a sponsor ready to support him should he ever want to run an Indycar race; Vegas or the 500.  Getting Busch into the Vegas race would be a major victory for Indycar, and the combination of Kahne and Busch would instantly raise the ratings by a fairly large amount.

Sprint has come up with a new Sprint Summer Showdown.  The winners of the 5 races before Atlanta will be eligible to win a million dollars for themselves, a charity, and a fan if they also win Atlanta.  That actually makes it likely that Sprint will have to pay out this bonus; that’s a lot of races to give a driver a shot at qualifying for the bonus at Atlanta.

MotoGP:  After producing some F1 style races, MotoGP was back in good form with Mugello and Germany.  Lorenzo and Pedrossa have twice upset the Casey Stoner domination and for Lorenzo, it keeps his title hopes alive.   Pedrossa’s win was a major confidence boost after recovering from his second injury in the last year. Good racing and a lot of passing have been returned to the series.  Next up is Laguna Seca, the first of 2 US rounds of MotoGP.  Better yet, these two races are good tracks for both Hayden and Spies.

Valentino Rossi’s struggles have continued as he tries to figure out how to get the Ducati to race well.  The plan to bring the 2012 bike into 2011 has failed miserably.  The bike is still hard to handle and Hayden is considering keeping the 2011 bike instead of moving up to the 2012 converted bike at Laguna Seca.

The first test for the Claims Rule Team bikes did not go well.  The BMW powered machine couldn’t outrun the 800cc bikes testing with it.  The BMW was using BMW’s very difficult electronics package so that has to be taken into account.  Still the outlook is not good for CRT teams next year.

WSBK:  The World Superbike Championship ran a race at Bruno that was televised a week ago at the same time as the Indycar race at Toronto.  That didn’t do much to help my enjoyment of the Indycar race.  In one there was a 3 way fight for the lead, and in the other, there wasn’t, to put it nicely.  Marco Melandri and Max Biaggi each won a race and closed some of the gap between themselves and Checa.  Carlos Checa held onto 3rd in both races and thus avoided giving up too much ground.

ALMS/Le Mans:  The ALMS ran a non televised race at Lime Rock with 3 prototypes and no LMP2 cars.  The 24 Hours of Le Mans has had Jaguar and Porsche express an interest but none of that suggest either plans on joining the ALMS.   For ALMS fans the news continues to be bad.  Will there even be prototypes next year?  I have no idea.

If only NASCAR would make such a good looking car

DTM:  I’ve been accused of not being positive enough.  To answer all I have to say is this; look at the BMW DTM car.  I have nothing negative to say about it.  It looks awesome.

2nd Annual Triple League Racing Awards Coming Soon: Viewer Participation Requested

I’ve been busy, and haven’t been updating as regularly as I’ve wanted to, but I do have some things coming up.  Foremost, the second annual Triple League Racing Awards.  The First Year’s awards can be viewed here. Catagories will include Driver of the Year, Team of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Race of the Year, Worst Driver, Disappointment of the Year, Best New Track of the Year (note, new to a series, not necessarily brand new), Storyline of the year, and possibly more.  This year, though, the awards will be split up into multiple posts, because it’s too big to be one post.

The Awards cover all racing series, especially NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide, NASCAR Camping World Trucks, Izod Indycar, MotoGP, WSBK, F1, ALMS, although I’ll consider other series (Moto2, AMA Superbikes, Grand Am).  The awards are planned for the end of November/beginning of December, because I cannot finish the awards until NASCAR and F1 finish.  Some categories(rookie of the year) are closer to completion than others (driver of the year).

Also this year, I’d like to request input from the readers on who/what to nominate and in the end win.  This goes for categories as well, you can request another category, and if I like it, I’ll add it in.  So PLEASE comment and give your nominations!  These awards cover a ton of series, and I may forget something important, plus I haven’t seen every single race in all of these series, so reader input is appreciated.  That said, the final decision on winners is mine.  I’ll also include a fan vote on all categories with the awards.

Breaking News: NASCAR DTM Will Happen in 2013!

Marshal Pruett on Speed TV.com confirms, DTM and NASCAR/Grand Am will partner for a new USA based DTM series.  My thoughts on this are here.   This is part of a push to expand DTM internationally, as there are also plans to bring DTM to Japan, and DTM is running this year at Shanghai.   I’ll admit right here, as a fan of Indycar and ALMS, not to mention someone who’d like to see AMA Superbikes succeed, I worry this will hurt those series, take away sponsorship and divide interest, and in AMA’s case take away even more attention of the NASCAR/Grand AM/DMG group away from them, although this could be considered a good thing.  However, DTM NASCAR could turn into a very interesting series to follow;  Many road racing fans consider DTM one of the best road racing series around, and the format does seem like something that could potentially catch a lot of interest.  We’ll just have to see how this works out, we’ve got over two years until this happens.