Open Wheel Rants: Not the OWR you're used to.

Hey everyone-

I've had midterms and exams the past few days, that's the reason for the delay on Homestead.

That being said, I enjoyed the race. It was a straight up fight between three drivers, and the smartest racer won. No cautions meant no carnage, which was good because more carnage means more bills for the teams to pay.  I wish Briscoe could have gotten the title though.

That being said, I wish the series could have been in Surfer's Paradise this year, but disagreements caused it to not happen this year, which is a shame.

More news: Rio has been selected for the 2010 starting venue for the Indycar season. Tony Kanaan leaked the story on his twitter, and Indycar.com quickly pulled the story, but here are the screenshots of the story to prove it:

I was surprised to see on my cable guide on TV that the Motegi race was on Friday night.  I didn't like the fact that Penske and Ganassi had a stranglehold on the race, but Moraes has shown that his team is getting very good on the ovals.  I'm thinking that the technical assistance given by Ganassi really helped them.  Newman/Haas/Lanigan also has shown that they have pace.  I think Servia has done wonders for them, and if Haas and Lanigan could find some sponsorship, they would be a powerhouse next year if they could run 3 cars with Lloyd, Rahal, and Servia.  Servia's shown that the team has pace and has elevate Rahal's game better than Doornbos did.  This coming from a guy that supported Doornbos coming over to Indy car racing.

Well, I've been busy with college, that explains the bad updating schedule. My DVR issues were fixed, so I didn't have any issues watching the race.

As for my opinion about the race, I thought that the race was an ok one, lots of action, but we're still back to momentum racing. Passes can't be completed unless there's a huge head of steam behind the passer. That's got to change, and I hope that with the introduction of turbocharged engines, that will change.

If anyone saw Marshall Pruett's speedtv.com column Triple Stint from September 2nd, My Will Power story made it on the second page with the youtube video accompanying it. I was quite excited to see that the video got coverage.

I also want to mention F1Weekly.com. They've given my blog a few plugs in the past few weeks, and those guy provide good commentary on the world of motorsports. Thanks for mentioning me, guys.

email: openwheelrants@gmail.com

This weekend's race in Sonoma brought back some memories from last year with being there, and I have to say that I was distraught when I saw Will Power's accident with Nelson Phillipe. Conquest Racing did not need that to happen, especially with a new driver to the team like Phillipe. I at least know that Power's awake and alert, which is a very good thing, and I wish him the best. (Don't forget Nelson everybody, but I'm biased towards Will.)

My DVR box from Cox Cable clunked out on me 4-5 times during the race, so I had to watch from the Indycar.com live streaming. Pretty good deal there, and at least I'm getting a new DVR box tomorrow. As for the race, a lot of midpack action, which is good. Shame there wasn't a change for the lead, but at least the midfield kept us entertained.

Good runs for Conway, Moraes, and Wilson. Wilson made the best of his strategy, shame he had the slight spin in the last corner.

email: openwheelrants@gmail.com

On the 14th, Robin Miller wrote a great piece about Al Unser Jr. and his induction into the Motorsports Hall of Fame. Having read this piece, I feel obligated to share my best moment with Little Al, as he is sometimes called.

The Thursday before 9/11, Little Al was scheduled to be at a Chevrolet dealership in New Orleans. I was in 7th grade and in in Language Arts at the time I was called to the office. Apparently my parents had a talk and since Little Al was my motorsports hero growing up, they thought it would be okay for me to play hooky just once. Well, I was called to the office and had to conceal my excitement (you can't be excited about a "doctor's appointment", can you?) and when we were in the car, he already had stuff for him to sign in the car, including:

-1992 and 1994 Carl Hungness Indy 500 yearbooks
-1993 and 1995 Indy 500 ticket stubs with his picture and car on it from the previous 500s
-2 trading cards, one of them a special edition card
-Picture of his 1992 Indy 500 winner on the yard of bricks with the borg warner trophy at its nose
-Shirt I was wearing at the time (had Al Unser Jr. on the front with his 2001 (maybe it was 2000) Indy car on it, and when he saw me wearing it earlier he gave me a bit of a smile/wave when he was walking towards the bathroom
-Indianapolis Star picture of the 1992 Indy 500 finish (the only one that had the flags in the picture, not even SI got it, and Scott Goodyear signed that same picture at Sonoma in 2008 after we managed to hunt him down).

I had met my hero and was so happy that day. I was crushed a few years later when I heard he was arrested the first time, and after hearing about what he said at the induction and in a magazine interview he did recently, it seems as though he's on the right path. I just wish he got serious about training and that Roger Penske gave him another shot at Indy to make up for 1995, but I must get out of my fantasy world right now.

Robin Miller also had an interesting rumor about AGR breaking up after this season. My question is, given Micro's sub-standard results in 60 races and 21 of them being retirements, only one win, four seconds, and three third place finishes,  who will pony up money to have "the kid" (as he's known to me and my dad for his crass remarks about Mario Moraes) in IndyCar racing for next year? Has he got talent? I think so, but Andretti, translated from Italian, means "can't finish many races." Seriously, Mario only did the full 500 miles at Indy five times (1965, 1969, 1981, 1985, and 1993), made it to the finish of the 500 three times more as flagged (1970, 1978 and 1989) out of 29 runnings, while Michael only finished the full 500 miles four times (1991, 2001, 2002, and 2006) and five more times as running at the finish (1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, and 1994). Rain shortened races with an Andretti (1976 and 2007) are not counted because we don't know what could have happened if the full 500 miles had been run.

I also wish Alex Tagliani luck in his attempt to become a team owner. He has good equipment to work with, so I hope he can utilize it to the max.

email: openwheelrants@gmail.com

Well, Mid Ohio came and went, and it was painfully obvious that Milka Duno should no longer be in an Indy car. I'm glad she was finally parked. Anyway, Scott Dixon got his 20th win in the IndyCar series, but that still places him 47 behind Foyt's all time mark of 67. I'm glad that Versus decided to put the all time mark on after they showed the IndyCar Series record book.

It came to light that Franck Montagny will be driving an Indy car for AGR, and I think this would be good for Franck, but Paul Tracy thought otherwise on his twitter. He had done a lot of work for Andretti-Green Promotions for the Toronto race, and for someone who hadn't raced in Indycar racing to get a seat over him after he got a 7th at Mid Ohio and a 6th at Edmonton really must have ticked him off.

In other news, Michael Schumacher had to call off his Formula One comeback because of a bad neck from a motorcycle crash he had in February. All the best to him on his recovery.

Well, having thought about Kentucky for the past few days, I decided to come up with a good and bad things list about the race.

The good:
Side by side racing
Ed Carpenter nearly winning
Newer people at the front for a while
Will Power leading the race for a bit
Graham Rahal finishing 5th
Tony Kanaan finishing at all

The bad:
Sparse crowd in turn 4
Start of the race wasn't good
Momentum racing, couldn't get many passes complete for the lead
Penske/Ganassi/AGR oval streak continues
Mario Moraes pit incident

I enjoyed the close racing, but I still think they need to tune the engines up quite a bit and get rid of a lot of the downforce that the cars produce. Make the cars harder to drive, sounds like a winner.

Also I read that Robert Doornbos is out at Newman/Haas/Lanigan racing. Shame, because he was good to talk to at Indianapolis. As for his replacement, I'm hoping Carl Haas can give Paul Tracy a call, seeing as how PT drove for Newman/Haas racing in 1995 (before Mike Lanigan got involved in the team). Tracy did a good job at Edmonton, being the best of the rest after Penske and Ganassi.

For anyone interested in motorsports podcasting, F1Weekly.com recently aired a podcast with a favorite motorsports legend of mine, Henri Pescarolo. Please take a look at their recent podcast.

email: openwheelrants@gmail.com

Well, Will Power finally won an IndyCar Series race (Don't forget his 3 wins in Champ Car) at Edmonton today. Many people are knocking off this race as boring, but I had a different perspective on this race. I give it a 10/10 for the following reasons:

1. Heads up driving by everyone saw the only full course caution being displayed on the penultimate lap.
2. Replace the word driving with officiating in previous statement.
3. Good use of PT's on board during the race, and it was good seeing highlights during the race that ABC might not have shown us that we missed because of a commercial.
4. Will Power won.
5. First time winner.
6. Will Power won.
7. Did I mention Will Power winning?
8. PT kept it off the barriers and finished in the top 10.
9. Excellent sportsmanship by Penske's team helping out Kanaan and giving him water after the fire.
10. Not much equipment torn up compared to other races. A toe link here, maybe a suspsension piece here Hunter-Reay's rear wing, and Scheckter's front/rear of the car.
11. Showing the podium afterwards and talking to/crediting people that wouldn't normally be seen by the cameras.
12. Will Power won.
13. Bonzai move by Helio to get second.

I don't look at races the same way most others do. If a lot of equipment's torn up, that's just more money being spent and more time at the Dallara parts trailer, and that's not good in the economy.

I hope Will Power can get more of a full time ride next season. This race shows why Penske hired him, and now we know he's got the drive for victory to back up the talent he's got.

Will Power's got the will power.

email: openwheelrants@gmail.com

I had originally wanted to do an entry after Edmonton to cover all three races, but that's just longer between entries, so I guess I'll put in a preview of Edmonton with this entry.

I was thrilled watching Justin Wilson win at Watkins Glen. Dale Coyne's team thoroughly dominated, showing that they're now a force to be reckoned with on the road/street courses. Leading 49 of 60 laps was certainly a good showing, and that last restart he took off like a rocket. It was a great scene seeing those crewmembers jumping up and down in the pit lane at the Glen, and thoroughly deserved by them.

As for Toronto, I think that race was the best of the season. It's just too bad that the idiots at ABC didn't put a camera on Paul Tracy's car so we could see all the amazing passes he did. It's also a shame he had his accident with Helio, but it was funny hearing the fans booing Helio. I think it's the first time I've heard that on TV.

As for Edmonton, I'm predicting a top 5 finish for PT and for Will Power. I might go as far as saying that Will Power is going to win. I'm also thinking that Dixon will be in the top 10 and Danica will be the highest AGR car, provided of course that Marco doesn't hit her.

July 1, 2009 saw someone other than a member of the Hulman-George family running the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since Joe Cloutier died in 1989. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway had a press release that detailed what Tony George has decided to do, and I think the time was right for a change at the Speedway.

For the record: I'm not in favor of what Tony did with creating the IRL. I am, however, grateful that he worked with the development of the SAFER barrier and how it's gotten to the vast majority of the paved oval tracks in the country.

Since Tony George has stepped down from his position at IMS, I got to thinking how this could affect the 500. Well, I think that the 500 should change in that instead of being under IRL sanctioning, it should be a stand-alone event, sanctioned by IMS itself and calling for new rules where teams could build their own cars, similar to how Indy was pre-split. To satisfy those that are whining about spending so much to make a car for one race, increase the purse by a lot, say 350,000 to start, 8,000,000 to win the race, with different awards for different things, such as gaining the most positions from where you started and such. That's what I think would make the racing go better.

Before I forget, good on Roger Penske for running Will Power for 5 more races. He's a great driver and very friendly with fans. For proof, check this video out. It's from the 2008 Indy 500 festival parade, and yours truly is involved:

email: openwheelrants@gmail.com