Caffeinated Beverage Of the Race: #2, Barber Motorsports Park

Barber.  A track motorcycles barely pass on.   That’s Indycar’s 2nd race and the second chance for the DW 12 to bring about some type of change to the status quo.  I wouldn’t hold my breath.  Rain is in the forecast but doesn’t look likely to hit on Sunday, which is unfortunate because that could improve the race. Except for the fact that unlike most other road/street racing series Indycar has a rain phobia so we’d have to see if that’s changed, the rain tires have improved, and Barfield is less scared than Barnhardt about rain racing. Anyways, I have very few positive things to say about this track.  It’s too short, potentially too narrow (there is some debate on that subject based on someone’s Google Earth testing) and has less passing zones than St. Petersburg.  It also has dedicated fans who are willing to forgive all of these flaws because it’s a “Gorgeous facility” and has a great atmosphere.  Which appear to be true, unless you happen to be a member of the media who get stuffed into a tent.

Anyways, onto the point of this article.  The caffeniated beverage of the race.  Good news on this front, I’ve found the perfect drink for this occasion.  Found it Thursday night.  The 2nd caffeinated beverage of the race is Rockstar Energy Iced Tea.  Rockstar energy drinks are strong (seriously, those who are easily affected by caffeine be careful) and should be strong enough to keep you awake no matter what the on track action looks like, or rather doesn’t.  Iced tea is popular in the South and so this drink is perfect.  Culturally sensitive, effective, and in my opinion it tastes great too!

Oh, and one more thing.  A PSA of sorts.  Remember when going through Alabama do not attempt to live out your Top Gear fantasies.  Go watch their original American Special when they got chased across the state for more.  Safe to say don’t try and imitate Jeremy and friends during your trip to Barber, no matter how tempting it may be.

I Support Nothing About Delta Wing

Delta Wing finally got some good news as Nissan announced a partnership that will see Nissan branding and engines in the failed Indycar concept as it runs unclassified at Le Mans. This news is a positive development for a project that looked in danger of failing due to lack of money.  Delta Wing has some high profile and committed fans in the racing world, but I can honestly say I like and support NOTHING about this car, or rather, this trike. Support or lack there of for Delta Wing speaks to the most basic views on racing a person can hold.  People who support Delta Wing point to it’s inovation and potential relevance on production cars and may see it as a way back to the era when race cars and production cars were much closer to each other.  On the other hand Delta Wing haters like myself point out that a trike that looks like a sex toy is not the best way to represent a sport and that a 300HP engine in a premier auto racing  league is kind of lame.  I’m for innovation in some situations (Tyrell 6 wheeler) but I honestly can say that nothing about the Delta Wing excites me or interests me.  This, rather unsurprisingly, is a controversial opinion.

Delta Wing is ugly.  Whether or not looks should matter is controversial, as many “purists” feel that this is a very ignorant and uniformed view of racing.  In their view, form should follow function.  Yet I would counter by saying looks do matter.  Car companies spend a lot of money on styling.  Watch Top Gear and look at the most popular supercars.  Those are styled to look exciting and cool as well as be fast.  A Gumpert Apollo or Atom V8 may be faster (around a track) than a Bugatti Veyron or Lamborghini Reventon but which one would 99% of people rather own?  Which ones get more airtime and attention?  On the more practical level for a racing series the car is what fans will be looking at every time there’s a race for a majority of the time.  When a casual fan flips through the channels the first thing they’ll notice is the car.  The look of the car makes one of the first impressions on the viewer; first impressions matter and I’d hate to have a Delta Wing be that first impression.  Besides, on broadcast TV in the US Delta Wing could get the networks cause some major FCC fines.

Relevance is great but does it really increase the number of fans watching and even the automaker involvement?  After all, the 24 Hours of Le Mans only has 1 full factory effort in LPM1 (Audi), one growing effort (Toyota, will likely be bigger in the future), and Nissan with the D-wang non classified project.  Some argue Honda is also a semi-factory effort but this is not the place for that discussion. NASCAR, with no relevance at all, has 4 major automakers fully involved.  Fan wise relevance doesn’t matter to a majority of people.  Again, look at Top Gear, look at the TV ratings for NASCAR versus ALMS.  Speed records could potentially matter more but that’s a very different situation.  When people tune into Top Gear are they looking for relevant automotive information or are they looking for an exciting and entertaining show?  Further shows like Top Gear allow people to see cars they’re unlikely to ever get to drive or even see in person on the road. They’re showing off aspirational products.  I would argue much the same thing in racing.  There are plenty of 300 HP cars (and in America trucks) out on the road. When I watch racing I’m looking to see something a bit bigger and better than that.

Besides how much relevant road development really comes out of Delta Wing?  Delta Wing achieves high efficiency through low weight and aerodynamics.  Road cars certainly use those things to achieve better fuel economy, but will Delta Wing help develop that?  I don’t see how.  Carbon fiber is way too expensive to use in an everyday production car.  If you can afford a carbon fiber car then you can afford gas at just about any price it’s sold at.  Aerodynamics in a road car are dictated by style, as well as by functions of things like safety, passengers, luggage, and all the other things that go into a street car. Oh, and the front tires have to be very different on the D-wang from a normal car.  I’m not involved in the auto industry but I struggle to see what lessons from Delta Wing are applicable to a road car.  A super car could use it, but that’s a different situation.   On the engine front some relevant development might happen.  However a 300 HP engine in a premier racing series is lame and I don’t see it being a very appealing sell to fans.  Definitely not in the US.  Who’s going to want to watch racing when there are cars in the parking lot with more power than the cars on track?  Using a small production engine in a big league series risk damaging the wow factor of that series, it risks the prestige, excitement, and coolness factor of the racing series in question.

Is Delta Wing really the future of racing?  God, I hope not.  And truthfully I don’t think it will be the future of most major series.  Le Mans may head in that direction but I don’t believe overall that NASCAR will and F1 may move halfway there but high horsepower should remain.  Indycar… well, they’re too conventional to ever try something like that. It’ll be a sad day if Delta Wang’s take over  Le Mans. The last generation of open top Audi’s were some of the best looking racing cars I’ve ever seen and there still are a number of very interesting LMP1 cars out there.  Replacing them with Delta Wing would be a tragedy.  Adding the Delta Wing in as a separate class is an idea and I suppose better than LMPC but not be much.  I personally hope the D-wang dies a quick death and is never heard from again.  Nothing about it is good.  300 HP racing is not a good thing. Vibrator shaped cars are not a positive.  A car that reliant on aerodynamics could be a problem if it got even a tiny bit of damage during a race.  The car could dramatically slow down. I would also question the quality of racing a Delta Wing series might produce.  I dislike the current (new) Indycar a lot, but at least Indycar wasn’t stuck with Delta Wing.  I feel bad for any parents who have to have awkward conversations with their young children after seeing the Delta Wing in person or on track.  I imagine that Rick Santorum would try and ban the D-wang and not let video of it be shown in schools.  Indycar’s ICONIC panel failed miserably but at least they didn’t pick the Delta Wing.  We have that to be thankful for.

Team Meeting Weekend in Review; Ben Spies Edition

MotoGP:  Ben Spies has won his first MotoGP race in the Assen TT, becoming the first American to win since 2006 (Nicky Hayden) and the first rider outside of the “Aliens” (Stoner, Pedrossa, Rossi, Lorenzo) to win a dry race since the 800cc era started.  Ben Spies and Marco Simoncelli were strong all weekend and out qualified Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo.  In the wet practice sessions Rossi led, while in the dry he was off the pace.  Simoncelli started on pole, but quickly crashed out, taking Lorenzo with him.  This ruined a potentially great race between Simoncelli and Spies, and allowed Spies to lead every lap on his way to his first career win.  Considering how fast Stoner has been this year, that’s impressive.

Thank god Spies won, because otherwise, it would have been a pointless GP.  Assen is one of the better tracks on the schedule, yet this weekends racing was as processional as it get’s.  Had Simoncelli not wrecked he and Spies might have had an epic race, but Simoncelli did, and so Spies was able to win easily. Stoner just seemed off this weekend, he was fast, but not as fast as he has been.  Because of that, Lorenzo was even more angry with Simoncelli about their wreck, as he lost points to Stoner on a day he should have picked some up.

There are some interesting parallel’s between the MotoGP and Indycar race.  In both series the pole winner was a sophomore driver/rider known for both speed and crashing.  In both races, they lined up next to an American driver/rider who needed to turn their season around, and in both series, the pole winner crashed.  The two main differences were that there was passing in the Indycar race, and the American who won it wasn’t the 2nd place starter, but Marco Andretti, who came from 17th.  Still, just like Spies, he needed to turn a rough season around.

Valentino Rossi was given a 2012 Ducati MotoGP bike that was outfitted with a 2011 engine to try and find some speed before the Italian GP this week at Mugello where the pressure on them will be enormous.   The results were mixed.  Rossi still had problems and still wasn’t as fast as the top riders, but in the wet, he led both sessions.  The 2012 bike has already been tested by Rossi at Mugello, so he may be more competitive here.

Indycar:  For the first time since 2006, Marco Andretti won an Indycar race!  And unlike his teammate assisted win at Infineon, he won this race by moving up through the field and passing Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan on the track!  Sato started on pole with Danica beside him, but the Scottish Douche (new nickname for Dario) passed them for the lead early.  The Least Interesting Driver in the World then went on to lead a bunch of laps until Marco Andretti caught and passed him.  After another restart Kanaan, Marco, Hildebrand and Dixon passed Dario and relegated him to 5th.  Kanaan and Marco fought for the lead until the very end of the race, when Marco came out on top.  And it was nice to see a winner who didn’t whine in victory lane!

Sadly, concussions marred the weekend.  Simona De Silvestro was not cleared to race due to concussion like symptoms from her wreck at Milwaukee.  Will Power had an awful race where he first was hit by Charlie Kimball on pit road and then crashed, likely due to lingering damage from the first incident.  He suffered a mild concussion.  He needs to be healed by Toronto, because Indycar cannot afford the Scottish Douche lucking into another championship.  Seriously, if Dario wins this championship because Power has a concussion and misses races, he needs a MASSIVE asterisk by his name in the record books.  1 Indy 500 due to rain, 1 due to fuel, 2 championships by fuel, 1 by a wreck, and 1 by an injury.  That’s not a sign of a great driver, that’s the sign of someone with a massive golden horseshoe shoved up his….

As expected, Sato crashed.  It was unfortunate he didn’t pull the Full Simoncelli and take Dario out with him.  For Sato haters (and I proudly include myself in that group) it showed why we think he’s a waste of a good seat in Indycar.  Sure, he’s got speed, and he hasn’t wrecked as much this year as before, but he still tears cars up about half of the races he enters.  This was Danica’s best shot to win a race on speed in years (as her teammate proved) but she struggled in the race.  She fell back on the start and never was a factor (or led a single lap) and finished 10th, one spot ahead of Ed Carpenter.

According to Graham Rahal, he get’s the same equipment as Dixon and Dario.  If that’s the case, what’s wrong with him and Kimball?  Rahal’s had some good moments, but Kimball has sucked.  Yes, Kimball is very new and not very experienced, but with a Red Car, it doesn’t take much talent to run up front.  Also, Kimball’s raced in A1GP, where he drove a car with similar power to an Indycar.  Yet he has been a slightly faster James Jakes, crashing or making contact in almost every race.  Indycar desperately needs Americans, so I’m not advocating throwing him out like Viso, Sato, Saadevra and Jakes should be, but someone needs to give him some pointers so he doesn’t crash every race.  Hildebrand and Hinchcliffe are both rookies with worse equipment and yet have had much better results.  It looks like the relationship between “the Quitter” Sebastian Saadevra and Conquest Racing is starting to turn sour.  He didn’t make a lap in qualifying because he felt the car was so slow he would have started last anyways.  This is the same guy who left Herta’s team because he didn’t have equipment up to his standards.  Funny thing happened; Herta won the 500, will be the 2012 test team, and will likely run full time in 2012 and have a leg up on the competition.

In some disturbing news, a website called Pit Pass has this story.   The story basically says 17 F1 tracks will switch to Indycar if F1 goes through with the “green” engines.  Obviously, this story is posturing and BS mixed together but I still find it disturbing.  I can’t think of anything more boring than an Indycar race around Monaco, Valencia, Singapore, and 15 random Tilke tracks.  I understand this story is 99.999% likely to not come true, but if it did, I would have a “who gives a monkey’s” moment.  It would mean the end of oval racing in Indycar and I don’t think there are many people here who would enjoy watching Indycar turn into F1.  I certainly wouldn’t.  It would also kill the Indy 500. Again, I don’t believe this story, but it does make me a little uncomfortable.  I’d like to see a retraction from Pit Pass to put my mind fully at ease.

F1:  Formula One paraded around Valencia in a race even most diehard fans found dull.  Vettel won pole and the race again.  This is getting pretty boring.  For more thoughtful F1 analysis here, look to Triple League Racing blogger Eric Hall, who is an F1 fan and is putting out quality F1 material.

An observation.  For being the “biggest/greatest/largest racing series in the world” F1 is also one of the least stable.  Every year there is a threat of a “split” erupting, cheating scandals like crazy, track not being built in time, and other random disasters.  So far F1 has managed to avoid a complete meltdown, but how long until one occurs?

NASCAR:  NASCAR went road racing this weekend, with Cup at Infineon and Nationwide at Road America.  There are two views on NASCAR road racing, some love it, others (including me) feel that it’s a slow, drawn out crashfest.  The cars are too slow and not built for road racing, with the 4 speed gear box completely wrong for that type of racing!  Since many  NASCAR drivers have almost no road racing experience the amount of wrecks and cautions is so high, almost every race goes past the planned TV window.  Nationwide is even worse, the last cars in qualifying often are over 30 seconds slower than the pole winner!

At Infineon, Kurt Busch put on a Will Power style domination to win his first road race.   Maybe Power gave him and Keselowski pointers?  Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer and Marcos Ambrose all finished in the top 5.  For Gordon that’s not surprising, but Edwards and Bowyer don’t have much road racing experience, though Edwards has won Nationwide road races.  Juan Montoya managed to crash out about half the field and piss everyone off at him.   His reign of terror was ended by Brad Keselowski, who took Montoya out before Montoya could take him out, in one of the most entertaining moves of the race.

The fact that Kurt Busch won is a bit surprising until you think about this fact.  In 2004, he tested a Champcar for Derrick Walker at Sebring and laid down times faster than Walker’s Ride Buying driver.   It’s also worth noting how many drivers in the NASCAR field should be in Indycar, and how much better off Indycar would be with them.  Jeff Gordon, Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, AJ Allmindinger, Marcos Ambrose, Juan Montoya, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Max Pappis and Micheal McDowell, not to mention Villenuve and Ranger, should all be in open wheel.  And if you had them, you’d truly have the “Best drivers in the world” instead of 15 of the best+ 10 ride buyers.  I guarantee Gordon, Stewart, Busch, and Kahne would bring in more interest in 1 race than Sato, Viso, Saadevra, and Jakes bring in in 10 years.

As for Nationwide at Road America… it was even more of a crash fest.  Villenuve was wrecking everyone (what is it with former F1 drivers this week?) and took out Max Pappis in a move that had “Mad Max” and his team owner Kevin Harvick fuming.  In the end the race finished under controversy as it ended under yellow.  Justin Allgier ran out of fuel under the caution while leading.  Ron Fellows then passed him and Reed Sorenson under yellow.  Obviously, that’s not allowed and Sorenson was declared the winner.

Top Gear:  Top Gear has returned, at least for British fans.   In this weeks episode, Clarkson reviewed a BMW and celebrated the E-Type Jaguar, as well as interviewed Alice Cooper.  May raced a skeleton luge champion with a Mini Countrymen Rally Car.  Hammond drove a massive SUV through the streets of South Africa and caused a fair amount of destruction, as expected.  From what I’ve heard, it’s been a fairly well received episode.   Hopefully BBC America shows them soon so I can see for myself.

Team Meeting; Weekend in Review: Lone Audi Edition

NASCAR:  For the second time this year, Jeff Gordon has won a Sprint Cup race!  Pocono is not a great NASCAR track and the race is way too long.  This year they have changed the gear rules which allows teams to set their cars up to downshift to 3rd gear (NASCAR has four gears, for non fans who’re used to the more modern 5-7 geared race car).  It definitely improved the racing but that does not change the fact that the race is at least 100 miles (and possibly 200 miles) too long.  Here’s a track were a twin 175 race would work.

Jeff Gordon now has 84 Sprint Cup victories.  That ties him for 3rd with Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip.  He should easily get past 85 and be the sole owner of that posistion.  Sadly, getting to 2nd (105 wins) and 1st (200 wins) seems impossible.  On the plus side no active driver is anywhere near Gordon.  Jimmie Johnson has 54 wins, Tony Stewart has 39, Kurt Busch has 22, Kyle Busch has 21,  Carl Edwards has 19, Kevin Harvick has 17, and Denny Hamlin has 16.  Out of all of these drivers only Johnson and Kyle Busch (who’s fairly young) have even a faint hope of catching Gordon and neither is particularly likely.

The only downside about Gordon winning was the amount of questions focusing on his age.  Yes, he turned 40.  And if this were F1 or MotoGP that would be a problem.  But it’s not; NASCAR has had champions in their mid 40′s and championship contenders in their mid 50′s.

Kyle Busch got a 6 point fine for having his car slightly too low after the race.

Tony Stewart and Lewis Hamilton will swap cars and drive around Watkins Glen this week.  We can only hope this will re-ignite Tony Stewart’s passion for open wheel racing.  He’s a driver/owner, so if he want’s to come out to Vegas, no one can stop him.  The passion has died (read any quote about him doing Indy or Vegas) but Tony’s the kind of guy who’ll change his mind if his passions change.  Driving an F1 car at Watkins Glen could be just what he needs.

Kyle Petty and Wally Dallanbach Jr did a good job on the TNT broadcast.  Nice to see some good broadcasters covering NASCAR.  Too bad they also brought in Adam Alexander.  He was his usual self, which is to say, not very good.

Indycar: I already gave my initial impressions on Texas.  Overall it was disappointing.  While the random draw was a bit gimmicky and it was unfair, there are a lot of unfair things in racing.  Like… Dario’s Target Chip Ganassi car, just to pick an example.  Ask Simona De Silvestro or Justin Wilson how fair that is.  And let’s not forget, Dario won the first freaking race with his teammate right behind him protecting him from Will Power in third!!!  Another example of an unfair circumstance affecting a race!!! We’re talking about a guy who’s benefited from great luck to win 3 titles and 2 500′s, so if luck turned sour for one race (a short one at that) he needs to suck it up!

Power got his first oval win and extended his points lead.  Considering there is now an extra road race, this is truly Will Power’s title to lose.

All of that said, I’m not really in favor of the twin race format for Indycar.  Mainly because Indycar teams do not travel with backup cars that have engines in them.  That is because they lease engines instead of buy them as NASCAR does.  NASCAR would be a better place to use this as every team has an engine loaded backup ready for use.  Indycar races tend to be between 200 and 300 miles so there’s no real reason to need shorter races.

The break in the middle seemed to go well for fans in attendance of the race but for those of us who watch on TV it’s not a lot of fun.  The break in the middle did not do anything positive to the TV broadcast.  On twitter it was clear that a majority of fans on TV, however they felt about the draw, were not entertained.  Go look at NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski’s twitter feed for proof.

Twin Ring Motegi has started a World War in MotoGP and Indycar.  Danica made a comment that she doesn’t love the direction Indycar is going, with it’s increased focus on road and street racing.  It’s something many fans (I’ll raise my hand here) have also said.  It caused a firestorm on twitter as Danica fans and haters went to war.  The Twin Ring Motegi issue also came into play as certain people tried to attack Danica (and anyone who does not unquestionably support Motegi as an evil, selfish, idiot).  Some believe we should not be able to talk about it at all.  It’s like it’s become the Race that Shall Not Be Named or something.  I was under the impression we live in a free country but… maybe Canada’s different? The only thing that worries me about Danica’s comments is it suggest if she leaves for NASCAR she may do so while throwing Indycar under the bus.  That would suck as much as a 2AM parade.

JR Hildebrand injured his knee.  Denny Hamlin did this last year and went on to finish 2nd in points so it may end up not being a big deal.  It will all depend on if he’s a left foot braker on the road courses.

Le Mans:  Le Mans was tough on Audi.  Both the #1 and #3 got taken out in a wreck with a GT car that happened to be a Ferrari.  These were wrecks so big they made the sports reels in America.  Seriously, when ESPN Sport Center is covering Le Mans, that means it was a BIG wreck.  All was not lost for Audi however as one of their three prototypes survived.  Not only did it survive it managed to win the 24 Hours Of Le Mans in a very close finish with the Peugeot’s.  As the clock started to get closer to 24 rain hit the track and then there were some issues with a lapped Peugeot getting in the Audi’s way.  This was definitely one of the best 24 Hours of Le Mans in recent history.

Corvette also won in the GT2 (GT Pro) class.  The GT2 Le Mans Corvette has had serious growing pains but despite this it has won both the Petit Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Now all they need to do is take this speed and convert it into the ALMS.  Robertson Racing’s Ford GT got onto the podium in the GT Am (non professional) class.

The NAPPA Idiot (Micheal Waltrip) and his team attempted to run the 24 Hours of Le Mans but his co driver took out the 2nd Audi.

MotoGP:  The MotoGP was a victim of being run at the same time as the finish of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  As such it was on tape delay throughout the world, including in the US, where it was not seen until 3PM Eastern Time.  Rain struck the race and did provide some excitement but it was not enough to keep Casey Stoner from winning the race by a mile or two.  Andrea Dovizioso finished 2nd and the injured Colin Edwards finished 3rd.  Seriously, this guy is owed a win bad.  Nicky Hayden finished 4th and was consistently the best Ducati.  The race lost a lot of it’s potential excitement because Pedrossa sat the race out while Lorenzo, Spies and Simoncelli all wrecked out!

The 2012 MotoGP plans were going well until the last few weeks.  They have now entered an Indycar-esque limbo where we have no idea what’s going on.  The hold up appears to be some last minute issues between the potential CRT and the current factory teams over the claiming of engines for a team that is leasing engines.  A solution should come out in the next few weeks.

Valentino Rossi had a horrible weekend and had almost no speed.  He was at one point behind Karl Abraham, MotoGP’s lone ride buyer.  He improved some during the race but still finished behind Hayden.  Ducati’s 2012 bike appears to have fixed many of the issues Rossi is facing but it’s parts cannot all be directly grafted onto the 2011 bike.

F1:  The F1 raced featured a last lap pass for the lead!  I wasn’t even sure that was allowed in F1!  If only it hadn’t seen the race red flagged for rain.  Things got so crazy in the end Micheal Schumacker appeared to have a shot at winning!  Vettel took the white flag in the lead but slid and Button took advantage of this to get his first win of the season.

The Bahrain Grand Prix has thankfully been canceled.  The nation of Bahrain itself pulled the plug as the wonderful people who ran F1 seemed intent on ignoring almost everyone else who understood a race in the middle of a revolution was not a good idea.  For once the team owners had the right idea.   Even Pirelli were not thrilled with the idea of a race in Bahrain!

WSBK:  The World Superbikes were an even bigger victim of a crowded race weekend.  I have to admit I didn’t catch either race (seriously, why did everyone except Indycar have to conflict with each other?) but Checa won both races in a close battle against Biaggi.

Top Gear:  Top Gear returns at the end of this month!  Even better, BBC America has started to re-broadcast shows within a few week from their BBC air date!

Team Meeting; Weekend in Review: Rossi Vs Stoner Edition

MotoGP:

Rain struck the first Spanish GP this year.  The rain slowed down the Honda’s and allowed the Ducati’s to get closer to the top of the field.  At least until Rossi attempted to make a pass on Stoner that caused them both to wreck.  Casey DNF’d but Rossi was able to get the bike going again.  Simoncelli took the lead only to crash out, which allowed Lorenzo to assume the lead and eventually win the race.  The battle for second was between Pedrossa and Spies.  Spies prevailed only to crash out.  In third, Colin Edwards and Cal Cruchlow both looked in contention but had issues, allowing Nicky Hayden to score Ducati’s first podium of the year.  Hiroshi Aoyama finished 4th and Rossi managed to fight his way up to 5th.

The Rossi/Stoner crash has dominated the headlines after the race at Jerez, with Stoner fans calling for penalties on Rossi and Rossi fans calling Stoner a whiner.  What happened on track was that Rossi tried to dive under Stoner despite a huge gap between them, lost control of the bike and took both of them out.  Rossi was able to be restarted, Stoner was not.  The Honda’s are difficult to start due to how they’re set up (possibly their special clutch) and that hurt Stoner.  Stoner was, unsurprisingly, less than thrilled with Rossi in his post race comments.  It was a really dumb move by Rossi, but at the same time, it’s just a racing incident.  I don’t see the need to penalize Rossi.  Most fans want close racing, and when there’s close racing, sometimes accidents happen.  That’s part of racing.  As for the people accusing Stoner of being a whiner, what type of reaction do you expect after being wrecked like that?

The new 2012 regulations bikes are about to take the track.  Honda, Ducati, and Yamaha all are planning on making their first tests within the next few months.  None of the CRT teams, engines, or bikes have been officially announced…

NASCAR:

Kevin Harvick won the Sprint Cup race at Martinsville, passing Dale Earnhardt Jr in the last ten laps of the race.  Kyle Busch came in 3rd while Montoya was 4th and Jeff Gordon 5th.  For Junior, it was his best race in years although it was not quite enough to beat Harvick.  Just like last week Harvick only led at the end and won the race in a dramatic way.  The race went past the scheduled TV window because of a long Red Flag due to a major wreck between Martin Truex Jr and Kasey Kahne.

Johnny Sauter won the Camping World Truck series race, becoming the first non Cup driver to win a race in either Camping World Truck or NASCAR Nationwide this season.  He even passed Kyle Busch!  That’s a pretty good way for a struggling NASCAR driver to rejuvenate their career.

Speaking of Kyle Busch and Truck Series, Kimi Riakkonen will be making his NASCAR debut with them at Charlotte this May. The Kimi story is real, but thankfully Foster Gillett is not involved.  Kimi will run between 3-5 Truck races for KBM and could run some Nationwide or ARCA races depending on what happens.  His 2012 plans are unknown, but many have speculated he’d join Red Bull.  Kimi will come with a sponsor that is TBA; it may or may not be Red Bull.  Kimi tested Monday at Gresham Speedway in Georgia in a private test where no fans or media were allowed.

F1 (and it’s Feeder series):

Conor Daly participated in the GP3 test at Silverstone.  On Friday he was the highest finishing Carlin driver in 5th.  As he’s shown repeatedly in his career (including a couple weeks ago at St. Pete) he’s got the talent to succeed, but it’s critical he find a quality team.  In other American development driver news, Alexander Rossi will run Formula Renault and has joined the Team Lotus (RE: Fake Lotus) development team.

Indycar:

Tomas Sheckter was confirmed for the KV/Redline car that’s going to attempt to make the Indy 500.  In other 500 news, AJ Foyt racing has confirmed Bruno Junquiera as their second driver at Indy.

Jay Penske has saved his team and will run Paul Tracy in at least 5 races.  However, for the Indy 500, Dragon Racing may attempt with another driver, possibly Hornish or Rice, as Tracy has already signed with DDR for that race.

Robin Miller said on the SpeedTV.com Chat Friday that Houston is a done deal *puke*.  The only plus side to that is that almost certainly rules out Austin (which may or may not actually be built).  Of course, the 2nd Brazilian race looked like a “done deal” and that’s gone quite for the last few months… so these things can change.  If Houston’s added and if they want to keep it 50-50, then almost certianly one of the current street courses is gone, and I’d guess St. Pete, Toronto, or Baltimore.

Rumors are flowing that Baltimore is in financial trouble.  Despite this, they also announced additional sponsors last week.  I’m not concerned about the Labor Day Parade’s chances for this season… but they may not return next year.

Top Gear:

Tesla cars is suing Top Gear (UK) over a test that was done over two years ago.  Tesla is claiming that Top Gear was unfair to their cars and want to do the Soviet thing and try and erase that test from ever being shown again.  It looks like a sad attempt for a struggling automaker to get back in the news, as that test was OVER TWO YEARS AGO and while it upset Tesla at the time, there was no lawsuit!

Team Meeting Weekend in Review: Disaster in Daytona Edition

This weekend saw NASCAR Sprint Cup take a rare off weekend and because of the Bahrain GP issues no F1 race.  With the “big name” series both in America and internationally off the AMA Pro Racing and Camping World Truck series had a chance to shine.  While actual racing was rare there was plenty of news and testing.  On the upcoming weekend we can expect both the American Le Mans Series and the MotoGP to begin and next weekend Indycar and F1; and of course, the Never-ending Series (NASCAR Sprint Cup) will continue on with Bristol and Martinsville.  Hope you enjoyed your break, because the racing season back even stronger than before.

Indycar:

Firestone was gone and now it’s back.  Everyone involved in Indycar is part of the Cult of Firestone except me it appears.  Potentially the Firestone news is good but I worry that the series will see a serious lack in marketing from Firestone next year and that Goodyear or Michelin would be able to have done just as good of job.  Of course after the disaster Dunlop (owned by Goodyear) had in the Daytona 200 this weekend maybe I’m wrong and maybe Goodyear/Dunlop really are unsafe… not sure.  Again, I don’t know the inside information on the tire deal so it may have been the best possible outcome… but I’m not 100% sold either.  Judging by what I’ve read Bernard isn’t expecting them to stay past 2013 and is still looking for a new supplier but now has more time to do so.

The Lucky Dog rule may or may not be in place this season, but double file restarts will be everywhere, not just on ovals.  Fans overwhelmingly dislike the rule while teams are for it.  I’m not a fan of it but it doesn’t upset me as much as most people.

Lot’s of announcements and rumors on who’s driving where with the first test at Barber today.

Robin Miller is reporting Tony Kanaan to KV racing but nothing has been officially announced.  Rumors are also flying that Luzo Dragon will sign Paul Tracy for the full season.  No news on Dan Wheldon.  Sebastien Bourdais isn’t officially signed but things are looking good for him to be all road courses this season.  We don’t know whether Milka Duno will be allowed to race or not… Cavin says no and Pruett says yes.  John Andretti and Richard Petty Motorsports will continue their association with Andretti Autosport for the Indy 500.

In surprise news, AFS has announced they’ve bought two chassis and have an engine lease and plan on running the full season.  No news on who’s driving but Adam Carroll, Dan Wheldon, Alex Lloyd, and potentially Ralfa Matos are all possibilities, as is Tony Kanaan.

In some sad news… Sebastien Saadevra has been confirmed for Conquest and another F1 reject, James Jakes is testing with Coyne.  It almost makes me in favor of the 26 car limit… because it’ll make their lives very unpleasant.  Saadevra left Bryan Herta’s Indy Lights team because they didn’t give him enough of a chance to win (even though he won a race last season) and so he goes to Conquests Indycar team??? Yeah, that makes sense.  Saadevra might just get the Dani Pedrossa treatment by the fans at Indy.  I’d love to see Herta give Saadevra the Kevin Conway Treatment.

Numerous drivers have expressed interest in the Vegas race.  They include Supercross rider James Stewart, former CART and F1 champion Jacques Villenuve and AJ Allmindinger.  I’d love to see Stewart and Allmindinger is a good driver, but I can’t say I’d want to see Villenuve.  Sure, he’s a former CART and F1 champion but he’s done nothing of note in the last 10 years and has really hurt his image with his repeated failures in NASCAR and F1.  Plus, outside of the French Canadians does he have any fans??? I don’t think so.

Bernard is not budging on the 26 car field limits.  I’m still not a fan of it but the announcements of James Jake (or is it Jake James??? Who cares???) and Saadevra not to mention the rumors of Dunothing being allowed in makes me slightly more in favor of it.  I still don’t like it… but it does mean if there are 27 or 28 cars a talentless ride buyer’s going to struggle to make the field and it will make Indy Lights experience a bit more important as those drivers have seen these tracks where as random GP2 and F3 drivers haven’t.

Indycar has lost it’s live streaming video for 2011.  Thoughts range on this from apathy to rage, largely depending on whether or not a person has Versus on their cable package or is a Canadian/Austrillian/Brit.  However the rumored TV crew for Versus sounds good with Wally Dallenbach Jr and Kevin Lee joining; replacing Jack Arute and Robby Buhl.  Sounds good to me as it takes the idiot (Arute) and the conflict of interest (Buhl being an owner of DDR) out of the equation.  To Buhl’s credit he did a much better job of managing said conflict than Micheal Waltrip, Darrell Waltrip or Rusty Wallace have ever done.

Indycar testing began today with two sessions at Barber Motorsports Park, also known as one of the worst race track in America for passing, competing with Infineon and the hypothetical track in Austin.  Anyways onto testing Power set the fastest lap of the day. There were a few interesting developments including Hinchcliffe in 6th and Wilson in 3rd.  Simona and Hildebrand were a bit disappointing as both were stuck in the late teens; Hildebrand also was involved in a wreck.  Considering Indycar’s a spec series the testing’s not that interesting as no one’s debuting new equipment.  Compared to either the ALMS test or the MotoGP test the Indycar tests feels kind of pointless.  It’s important that they have the test to work on setup and get drivers seat time… but it’s not that exciting.  In MotoGP for example we’re seeing the first indications of how good Spies may be and on whether or not Rossi can make the transition to Ducati not to mention the Stoner&Honda parring’s potential for winning.  In Indycar we already know that the Red cars will be fast and as will Justin Wilson and Sebastien Bourdais.  Nothing that surprising… Next year on the other hand… then testing will be interesting.

NASCAR:

Not much happened with the rare off week.  Brian France held a press conference just to say how well things are going (only 3 races Brian, you’ve got plenty of time to ruin it) and Kurt Busch had a very successful race in the NHRA Pro Stock class, qualifying for the main race.  Sure he was eliminated round 1, but for his first NHRA race in one of the top 2 classes that’s pretty good.

???? A Top level driver wins in the 3rd tier series??? How impressive...

Kasey Kahne won the Truck race from Darlington.  How impressive!!!  A Top tier driver wins in the third tier series!  In related news Casey Stoner has asked to be allowed to race in 125cc MotoGP races and Mark Webber want’s to race in the F3 series.  (note the sarcasm)

Top Gear is sponsoring a NASCAR Nationwide series race at Charlotte this May!?!?!?!  Sadly it’s not the real Top Gear, but Top Gear USA…

F1:

Testing continues.  The Red Bull is still incredibly fast, the Ferrari is also competitive, the Mclaren may be in trouble and Mercedes may or may not have some speed depending on who you ask.  Oh… and HRT is still completely pointless.

MotoGP:

The final pre-season test for MotoGP is underway in Qatar, with day 1 and 2 completed.  Honda continues to lead with the Yamaha’s a close second.  One of the main advantages the Honda’s have had so far is their gearbox, which appears to have seamless shift technology.  Yamaha is unsurprisingly attempting to build their own version of it.  David Emmet on MotoMatters broke down day one times and what they mean.  Lorenzo and Stoner appear to have the most true speed followed by Pedrossa and Spies.

Ducati continues to struggle.  Both Rossi and Hayden have struggled to produce competitive times.  Many, myself included had expected good things out of Hayden this year and it’s a bit concerning to see them both struggle.  The bike isn’t turning well… it truly does look like the bike only Casey Stoner can ride.  Stoner led pre season testing last year and the team still struggled… now they can’t even get in the top 5!

Hiroshi Aoyama has been doing well in this test on his satellite Honda.  He had a miserable season last year that was made worse by his mid season injury; but he may be this year’s Ben Spies (best of the non factory riders).  To do that he’ll have to overcome teammate Marco Simoncelli who’s also been strong.

American Le Mans Series/International Le Mans Series Challange:

Highcroft Racing debut their new LMP1 car that will compete in the 12 Hours of Sebring this year… although isn’t likely to be full time in ALMS competition.   All the teams planning to compete in the 12 Hours of Sebring have arrived and are participating in pre season testing today.  Remember that there is no live TV so if you want to watch hope you’re able to view ESPN3 online… otherwise its’ Radio Le Mans for you.

AMA Pro Racing:

The Daytona 200 was a complete nightmare.  Dunlop tire issues forced the race to be red flagged for over two hours.  That caused the only live televised AMA Pro race of the year to get bumped off TV for the Camping World Truck series.  When the race restarted another major wreck caused another Red Flag to be thrown.  The race did have an exciting finish which saw Jason DiSalvo win on a Ducati; the first time that manufacter has won a Daytona 200 (or Daytona 140).

In AMA Superbike Blake Young won both races.  Neither race saw tire issues like the 200 and had pretty exciting finishes.  Young also won the season finale at Barber last year.  I didn’t list him as a darkhorse for the title… but… he made a pretty convincing case to be included.

Team Meeting; Weekend in Review: Simona De Silvestro Edition

Indycar:

The HVM sponsorship announcement for Simona De Silvestro took place today in Baltimore.  Nuclear Clean Energy has agreed to a 3 year sponsorship deal with HVM and Simona De Silvestro as a full time sponsor.  While the time was announced, the amount of money involved was not.  Judging by Keith Wiggin’s comments, and the fact that it’s a full time 3 year deal, it probably is for a significant amount of money… I’d assume 3-6 million dollars.  It’s not like Nuclear Clean Energy doesn’t have any money.  I’m excited for Simona and HVM, as they’ll be getting new cars this year and will have a decent amount of funding going into 2012, which should give them a chance at being even more competitive.  That said… for both Nuclear Energy and Simona… 3 years is a long time at HVM.  Granted, they were competitive in Champcar, leading the points for a while in 07, and seem to have a good core group of people… but still, they’ve not been that great since Unification.  In the end though… this deal gives them the potential to be very successful in 2012, as the Red Car’s gap on the field will close up, and HVM will hopefully have some funding to keep from getting left in the dust by the Red Cars.

Turns out my speculation on the sponsor being either Under Armor or Fila sports wear was wrong.  TDS Telecommunications an BRM watches are both secondary sponsors for HVM that also were announced.  As well, Randy Bernard showed up at the announcement, just another difference between himself, Brian, and Bernie.

The Centennial Indy 500 pace car was auctioned off at the Barrett Jackson Autoshow (alongside a questionable ambulance that supposedly transported an injured President Kennedy after his assassination).  As expected, it’s a Camero, which is a little sad as a Corvette fan.  That said, it’s a great looking car and should take a trip to England to appear on Top Gear.  Thankfully, despite a few people’s speculation, the Chevy Volt was not chosen as the pace car, as that would have killed the “cool” factor around the 500.

With the NBC/Comcast merger, rumors continue to build that Versus will be re-branded NBC Sportsnet, a move that will get them more mainstream attention, and should help Indycar’s ratings.

Andretti Autosport is expected to announce their 4th driver this week, likely Andy Sourek.  On Trackside last Thursday, and in various different interviews, Marco and Micheal Andretti have been pretty confident in their outlook for next year, and have pretty much thrown Tony Kanaan under the bus.  Despite their confidence, I fail to see how adding a pay driver and removing one of the top drivers in the series is going to help the team…   If I were AA, I’d be concerned that Panther, HVM, KV, and possibly even Newman Haas (sponsor dependent) and D&R (same) could all surpass them next season.

NASCAR:

The Daytona Pre Season Thunder took place last year, with most of the teams expecting to run the Daytona 500 attending.  Despite the attempts at hyping this event, the fact is, a pre season restrictor plate test is nearly useless in detirming anything about a teams performance or off season changes, as plate races are all about the draft… and as the list of winners at the 4 races prove, the car’s not that big of deal.  Although for the 500, most of the top teams have spent a fair amount of time preparing their plate cars.  Still… nothing really that important happened in the testing.

Has anyone seen America’s Race Team?  Someone on twitter over the summer complained about how harsh I was on them.  Uh huh… well… you see… maybe I know a thing or two about racing?

In pseudo-NASCAR news, the 24 Hours of Daytona takes place this weekend.

The “Competition Update” on Friday was a complete waste of time, as there were no major new announcements, despite the fact it was originally believed the “new” points system would be unveiled.  The restriction to earning points in only one series was confirmed, and it was announced that despite earlier reports, Fuel Injection, that mythical and futuristic technology, will not be making it’s debut in NASCAR during any points races this season.

Finally, the “media week” begins today, which sadly is just a bunch of pr spin and sponsor plugs, except for the State of the Sport (didn’t NASCAR just do that in the fall?) were Brian France is expected to announce a new points system.  In fact, according to multiple quotes on twitter, at the Ganassi team shop, over 40 minutes were spent simply listing off sponsors…  sounds like fun….

At the Ganassi shop, Larry McReynolds attacked the NASCAR media as being “too negative” and lectured them on how they should “be more positive”.  This has been an ongoing issue for a while, especially as NASCAR has started to hit some hard times, because NASCAR apparently believes that if everyone (drivers and media especially) were just more positive ratings would magically rise back to where they were a couple years ago.  This message has been repeated for a while, and I’ve got two things to say about it.  First off, in what way is the NASCAR media critical?  I’m serious, between the broadcasters, mainstream sports sites, and newspapers, who’s actually critical?  Who writes anything negative or against the “company line?”  If anything, the “Real” NASCAR media is too positive, and way to willing to go along with the Kool Aid.  Look at the disconnect between the NASCAR writers and fans, on every subject from the Chase, to COT, to Jimmie Johnson, to Plate Racing, and on almost any other subject!  Please tell me how they’re too critical???  Imagine if Robin Miller or Marshall Pruett were involved in NASCAR!  They need someone like that, they NEED someone who’s actually is capable of independent thought, but there’s none of that.  Let’s drop the line that the NASCAR media is “too critical” because it’s completely untrue.

Secondly, and I’ll give fair warning that this is a bit of a rant, WHY IS IT THE MEDIA’s JOB TO MAKE NASCAR LOOK GOOD?!?!?!  It’s not.  If things aren’t going well for NASCAR, perhaps there is a problem with something NASCAR’s doing?  Maybe, just maybe, the COT, Chase, Johnson Domination, 50 year old technology, being 2nd or 3rd most expensive racing series in the world, the horrible TV announcers and coverage, the complete lack of personality, the phantom cautions, and every other misstep NASCAR’s made have something to do with it.  Since the real NASCAR media’s so softball, I can only imagine that all of these calls for “positive coverage” are being directed at the bloggers and other independent writers who cover the sport, which would include me.  I don’t really consider myself part of the media…but since the real media’s so softball…   Guess what, it’s not my job to promote NASCAR, or any form of racing.  Want to pay me to write press releases, then sure, I’ll do it, and I’ll make it look golden… but that’s the job of PR people, not bloggers, and definitely not the media.  Want to get “positive” coverage?  Do something to deserve it!  I’ve experienced some of this in the Indycar world, where some people confuse Bloggers with PR people… and I’ve just got to repeat, it’s not the job of anyone covering the sport to give positive spin on the series, and if that’s what you are looking for, go read the press releases.  Get off the blogs, and stop going to Indystar/SpeedTV/ESPN.  As for Larry McRenoylds and everyone else who want’s all positive coverage out of the blogging world, GO FUCK YOURSELF.

F1:

The Lotus Civil War continues… with a trial set for March.  As I’ve made clear, my support is behind Lotus cars (RE: Group Lotus)… although this whole thing is getting ridiculous.

American Le Mans Series:

BMW will contest the full 7 race ILMC, with Rahal Letterman running the BMW GT cars in the US, and BMW Team Schnitzer running all the other races

Audi will use the same driver lineup in 2011 that they did in 2010 for all of their prototype races.  Which for American fans, primarily means Sebring, Road Atlanta, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Corvette also confirmed their 2 car team, and the main change is Tommy Miller replacing Johnny O’Connell.

Top  Gear:

The Top Gear USA season ended this weekend with a “look behind the scenes”.  I watch it, the show was okay… but not that great… and the idea of listening to Rutlage Wood talk for 45 minutes about Top Gear USA just wasn’t appealing.

But… Real Top Gear’s back!   Better yet, the episodes will be played on BBC America starting in February!  Of course… it’s entirely possible to have seen them earlier than that, even for those of us who live in America… But I would never do that.

The Stig is back!  Speculation on who it is includes, Antony Davidson (Corvette Killer), Tiff Needel (who replaced the Stig for the Pre Christmas show), Sabine Schmitz, and (my thought) Tanner Faust, who is a presenter on Top Gear USA, and is a racing driver.  Or maybe it’s whoever plays the Stig on Top Gear USA (which could be Faust).  If it is indeed Davidson, then that could be a problem if any Peugeot or Corvette’s (or really any GM product) are involved in the show.

Poll of the Week: Who is the Stig?

In the end, I’m going with Tanner Faust.  It just makes too much sense to use him… He does a fair amount of TV stuff and I don’t believe he races full time anywhere, or has any major racing commitments even.  Davidson isn’t full time anywhere, but he’s doing the enduro stuff for Peugeot, so he’s rather busy.  Sabine would be cool, but honestly, she’d be better off as a fourth presenter than as the Stig.

Team Meeting: Weekend in Review: The Pre-2nd Annual Triple League Racing Awards Edition!

Blog Stuff:

Don’t forget, Triple League Racing Awards Tuesday and Wednesday, and Thursday Thoughts on, wait for it, Thursday!  Even though it’s Thanksgiving here… the British don’t really celebrate that holiday, so I’ll try to get my submission in anyways.

NASCAR:

RIP: 2011 NASCAR Chase Ratings… because the feelings of Jimmie Johnson’s inevitability are growing… and the season hasn’t even started (in fact, it just ended)!  How disappointing… two great storylines were possible Sunday… and they both failed and instead, a NASCAR Lapdog won!

Enough about boring topics… RPM is about to announce what’s been rumored for months, a reduction to a 2 car team for Allmindigner and Ambrose next season.  So dreams of AJ’s return to Indycar will have to wait… Which is too bad, because he’s likely one of the two best American Open Wheelers who are not in their 50’s, the other being Tony Stewart, but hey, we’ll probably see Tony soon at the 500!  For someone who’s only oval experience before coming to NASCAR was a couple Champcar races at Milwaukee he’s adapted well to NASCAR, and has become one of the more sought after drivers in NASCAR, and makes Red Bull’s decision to dump him for Scott Speed look pretty poor.

Speaking of Speed, he’s in trouble.  He was Dieters favorite boy, but sadly, lost that to someone who’s actually won a title, in fact, someone who’s won a world title, Sebastian Vettel!  So what now?  Well, there are a couple theories.  My pet theory is he’ll go to Kyle Busch Motorsports, possibly with Red Bull backing.  Of course, NOS Energy drink is a major personal service sponsor for Kyle, so that may not happen.  The other guess is that Red Bull will fund a two car Nationwide team, for Scott Speed and Cole Whitt.  Seeing how Whitt preformed in his few Nationwide starts this season, that won’t be a positive experience for Speed.  Will he return to Indycar?  Who knows… but he may not have much of a choice soon, perhaps Dieter will give him the five million needed for Indycar?

Homestead was a good weekend for the female drivers in NASCAR, as in the Truck race, both Johanna Long and Jennifer Jo Cobb finished on the lead lap, as did Danica in the Nationwide race.

Those penalties Kevin Harvick kept getting during the Chase were… suspicious.  Just saying.

Looks like Earnhardt Junior will be getting a crew chief change, cause there’s zero chemistry there right now.

Indycar:

Robin Miller is reporting that Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball will both get full time rides with a Ganassi Satellite Team.

Not only that, but rumors are building about the Hildebrand/Panther combination, and since Justin Wilson was the other driver believed to be in line for that seat, it’s looking pretty good.  Which means… if Kimball, Hildebrand, and Rahal get full time rides… suddenly, the lack of American’s isn’t so noticeable… especially because Rahal or Kimball could win the title, if it’s a true Ganassi Satellite!

Proving the International Ride Buyers Association won’t go away without a fight, Ho-Ping Tung is looking good for the second FAZZT ride.  It’s kinda disappointing, because at one point that ride looked good for Hincliffe.  What are Ho-Pings accomplishments?  1 win in  2009 Superleague Formula and that’s about it…  a couple podiums in GP2… he’s the true definition of F1 reject.  Still… if he brings funding to FAZZT and doesn’t end up taking away from Tag’s, then hopefully it’ll boost his chance of getting a win.   Also, we need to get the Hoping jiggle from Mid Week Motorsports!

Firestone Indy Lights schedule was released, and it was pretty underwhelming.  12 races, 5 street courses, 1 road course (well, really an American Tilke Track), and 6 ovals.  One stand alone race, Trios Rivers.  I don’t really care about FIL enough to really have much of an opinion on this, to be honest.

Edmonton is looking like it will be saved, and Vegas seems pretty certain as well.

F1:

Pirelli tire tests went on last week, and some drivers enjoyed them, some hated them, but since they’ll build the 2011 car around those tires, it should improve.  Some did say that the new tires had an old school look.

Seriously, if Rome replaces Monza, that would be insane and ridiculous and a good way to ruin F1…. So I guess I’d put money on it happening…

Adrian Sutil, long rumored to want to leave Force India, is likely to re-signed with Force India anyways, because it was probably his best option.  I mean, they’re no longer one of the worst teams in F1!

How sad were the new teams?  None scored points.  Of course, when your budget is 50 million and some of the frontrunners have 500 million… well, that’s what happens.  There are concerns over HRT’s future, and Team Lotus and Virgin may undergo changes over the off season. Hopefully, one of those changes involves the ability to score points.

Top Gear: USA

Top Gear USA’s first episode hit the History Channel last night… to decidedly lukewarm reception.  My take is that it isn’t a bad idea… but would make a lot more sense if it were on SpeedTV and not called Top Gear USA; because it is better than most of the SpeedTV “Car” shows at least.  But they seem to really struggle with a lack of chemistry and trying too hard in places to mimic Top Gear, and then they’ll veer off and mess up something that should be easy to copy.

The show itself included a battle between a Cobra Attack Helicopter and Dodge Viper, which was similar to the Lotus Vs Apache challenge Top Gear did, and a comparison between three Lamborghini’s that ended with a drag race.  In between, they did Star in a Fast car with Buzz Aldren.

The Stig was a complete failure.  They didn’t do anything to make him interesting, or make anyone wonder who he was.   Not only that, but they used the same White Stig outfit with no changes to it… even the one off Stigs, who’ve appeared in Botswana, Germany, and even the US were more interesting, and more different from the UK Stig.  I mean, when the first Stig left, they changed from a black suit to a white suit… why not have the American Stig draped in Red, White, and Blue… or I don’t know… just do something…

The people they had were serviceable, but not very interesting.  Rutledge Wood… just no.   He’s awful on the various SpeedTV NASCAR shows, and he’s not a whole lot better on Top Gear USA.  Here’s a suggestion, Paul Tracy, Dave Despain, the guy who did 101 Cars You Must Own on SpeedTV, or Ricky Ratchmen.  I know of someone who’s a blogger/podcaster that does video/audio, car reviews, and general car blogging/podcasting who’d be good as well.   Tanner Faust is an interesting choice.  He differentiates it from the UK Top Gear, but he also makes the Stig feel redundant.  And the final guy is a comedian I’ve never heard of…  They just lack chemistry, and at time try too hard to be like Clarkson and it doesn’t work well. It’s not even funny like a parody; it’s just kinda sad.

The Test Track was… different.  Not sure what to make of it… it’s VERY different from Top Gear’s… and whether that’s good or not is hard to tell.

That said, it’s not a bad diversion for an hour, (45 minutes plus commercials… actually) and it does LOOK better than most of the SpeedTV car shows, I’ll give them that.  Plus, the Lamborghini’s and Dodge Vipers did look cool, so that’s good.  History Channel… that just makes no sense from a marketing perspective.  SpeedTV, Versus, USA Network, even the Discovery Channel would have fit it better.  And please… please fire Rutledge Wood!!!  It’s fun, and it’s better than most other car shows in America (damning with faint praise?) but… it’s no Top Gear…  It’s not even close.