Is this Kyle Busch after a speeding penalty or NASCAR fans who still think this year's Chase stinks?
So, Chase naysayers: Are you happy now?
If not, then just end your illusion of any allegiance to NASCAR. Just come clean: You’re not a NASCAR fan anymore.
Because if you didn’t find the AAA Texas 500 even the slightest bit entertaining, then you should just move on. Pass Go, collect $200 and move to your latest sport du jour or continue to long for the “glory days” that had no more glory than what was on track Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.
I’m far from a NASCAR apologist, as there are times I think reading toaster oven wiring manuals is more exciting than watching a Sprint Cup race. But this season has been solid, and no race has featured more drama, excitement and over-the-top entertainment than Sunday at Texas.
Let’s start recapping the plot lines. I bet we’ll need to move to a second hand to get a complete count.
One, Denny Hamlin uses a great inside-out move on Matt Kenseth to win the race. Denny could have sat back in second and taken the safe route, knowing he still would have left Fort Worth with the points lead. But Denny did what champions are supposed to do: Drove his ass off for a victory. (It’s a shame that NASCAR doesn’t reward winning drives like this with more points, but that’s a topic for another day.)
Two, Jimmie Johnson is out of the points lead with just two races remaining. Johnson entered the race 14 points ahead in his Drive for Five, yet he left Texas 33 points behind Hamlin, in second, after finishing ninth. Kevin Harvick remains third, 59 points out of the lead, in the closest three-man race this late in the Chase since the format started in 2004.
Three, Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knaus, benched his pit crew mid-race for poor performance, orchestrating a swap with teammate Jeff Gordon’s pit crew. It was about as stinging as a public rebuke can be, but it’s not surprising considering Knaus’ Texas-sized ego. Plus even though Knaus never has met a mirror or the pronoun “I” that he didn’t like, look at the man’s record: He delivers. Johnson didn’t seem that torn up about the divorce from his pit crew after the race.
Four, smack talk by Hamlin’s crew chief, Mike Ford. He said the mid-race Hendrick crew swap could be the tipping point toward Denny ending Jimmie’s run of four consecutive Sprint Cup titles. Brash, bold talk — you’ve got to love it.
Five, Gordon’s crew was available because Jeff Burton inexplicably took out Gordon, precipitating the Backstretch Bash. The Driver formerly known as Boy Wonder stomped toward Burton on the backstretch, gave him a strong two-handed shove and started to throw punches before being restrained by NASCAR officials.
It wasn’t exactly Cale vs. Donnie and Bobby on the backstretch at Daytona in 1979, but it was quite compelling. And because the combatants were Gordon and Burton, two of the more sage, even-tempered elder statesmen in the NASCAR garage, you know it was real.
Is it a winner's trophy from Dover or Carl Edwards in a rage?
Jimmie Johnson is giving new meaning to the words embossed on the passenger-side mirrors on vehicles: OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR. Johnson climbed to second place in the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup, just 35 points behind leader Denny Hamlin, after his victory from the pole in the AAA 400 last Sunday at Dover.
But does anyone think Johnson isn’t the favorite to win his fifth straight title after this victory? Raise your hand. I think I see one or two brave palms in the back of the room.
One of those hands belongs to Dustin Long, who thinks the Chase starts this weekend at Kansas. Sorry, Dustin, I disagree, because last weekend at Dover was a microcosm of why Johnson and the entire No. 48 team are the best and won’t be topped.
Johnson won from the pole and led the most laps in the race. Meanwhile, points leader Hamlin engaged in a war of words with fellow Chaser Clint Bowyer over NASCAR’s penalties for Bowyer’s illegal car that he drove to victory lane Sept. 19 in the Chase opener at New Hampshire.
Then Bowyer’s teammate, Kevin Harvick, defended the honor of Richard Childress Racing by bumping and sideswiping Hamlin in practice, which led to a shouting match in the garage between Harvick and Hamlin.
It was good theater and the kind of soap opera that NASCAR breeds every other week. Call it what you want, but it’s entertaining.
But the end result was that three Chase contenders — Hamlin, Bowyer and Harvick — were more concerned with Hatfield and McCoy shenanigans than 400 laps on the Monster Mile. Hamlin denied any distractions, but that’s bunk.
So the list of focused Chase drivers was down to nine before the race even started Sunday. Not a great strategy for trying to topple Johnson and Co. And a few of the Chasers had lousy races. Matt Kenseth finished 18th, Greg Biffle 19th and Tony Stewart 21st. Biffle is 140 points behind Hamlin, Stewart 162 and Kenseth 165.
Hamlin showed Friday that he doesn’t have the focus or maturity yet to lead a championship team when he spouted off about Bowyer’s penalties, which led to Harvick’s road rage during practice. Kyle Busch is third in points, just 45 behind Hamlin. But Rowdy’s mind is more erratic than Hamlin’s. Plus he still insists on running Nationwide and Truck races on event weekends, and I don’t care what anyone says: That distracts from and dilutes a Chase-winning effort.
Don’t believe me? How many Nationwide or Truck races has Johnson run down the Chase stretch in the last four seasons? You can probably count them on one hand.
The countdown is on for the Cafes do Brasil Indy 300 this Saturday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway, after which either points leader Will Power or Dario Franchitti will be crowned the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series champion. Power leads Franchitti by just 12 points.
It’s pretty safe to say these cats are ready for Saturday night at Homestead. It should be a hell of a duel to the finish, but dramatic title races decided at the season finale are nothing new for the IZOD IndyCar Series.
The Firestone Indy Lights season ends Saturday at Homestead, with the name of rookie J.K. Vernay all but engraved on the championship trophy. Vernay leads second place James Hinchcliffe by 48 points and only needs to start the 100-mile race to win the title.
While there’s not much air in the title chase balloon for Lights this Saturday in South Florida, it will be nice to see Lights veterans Ana Beatriz and Sebastian Saavedra step up to the IZOD IndyCar Series in the big show Saturday night for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and Conquest Racing, respectively.
It was all quiet on the MotoGP front last weekend, as the series is heading to Motegi for the Grand Prix of Japan this weekend. That race was postponed earlier this season when the Icelandic volcano forced the disruption of travel throughout Europe. Thanks to old Smoky Top, MotoGP now has three races in three consecutive weeks. Hell for the riders and teams, heaven for us MotoGP fans!
World Superbikes had a big weekend, though, as Max Biaggi clinched the 2010 championship at Imola. Meanwhile, Suzuki thanked Leon Haslam for chasing Biaggi all season by releasing him because the Alstare Suzuki team lacks sponsorship for 2011. Haslam, second in points this year, is expected to move to BMW.
This move also could have ramifications on MotoGP, as the fate of Suzuki’s MotoGP team apparently is under discussion at the home base in Japan. Suzuki has put a bucket of bolts on track in MotoGP for the last three seasons, but the championship still needs major manufacturers. Kawasaki left after 2008, and Suzuki could be gone soon. That would leave only Honda, Yamaha and Ducati in MotoGP, which is not good.
One thing that is very good right now is the Formula One championship race. Fernando Alonso won the night race Sunday at Singapore, pulling to within just 11 points of leader Mark Webber with his fourth victory of the season.
Webber and fellow title protagonist Lewis Hamilton made contact while fighting for third, and Hamilton was forced to the garage early for the second straight race. Webber survived to finish third behind Alonso and Sebastian Vettel.
Parking early for the second straight race put a dent into Lew’s title hopes, as he’s 20 points behind Webber. Vettel is 21 points back in fourth, and reigning World Champ Jenson Button is 25 points behind in fifth. It’s a hell of a struggle among superstars with just four races remaining.
Or are there just three races left?
The debut Korean Grand Prix looks to be on shaky ground as the final layer of asphalt hasn’t been laid on the circuit, and the race is scheduled for Oct. 24! Yeah, Oct. 24 of this year. Even F1 head honcho Bernie Ecclestone, who shrugs off criticism of the lunacy of putting F1 races in countries with no motorsports heritage or infrastructure, is a bit worried about whether the Korean race can be pulled off.
One of the tasks my wife and I assign to our kids is to set the table before dinner. It’s not glamorous work, but it’s important. The same could be said for the final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race before the Chase for the Sprint Cup last Saturday night — it was anticlimactic as hell, but it set the table for what could be a very interesting Chase.
Denny Hamlin won the race before a hometown crowd, earned his sixth victory of the season and the top seed in the Chase. Some media members and fans played the momentum card and christened Denny as the title favorite heading into the 10-race stretch run. And some rivals already think the trophy engraver should learn how to spell Denny’s name, even though I think that’s a coy ploy to deflect pressure and attention from them.
I’m with Monte: Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Lowe’s team have won four straight Cups, and they’re the favorite to complete the drive for five. Momentum, schmo-mentum. Someone else seemingly has been named as the contender to Jimmie’s throne each of the last three years, and they’ve ended up being pretenders.
And before the Chase starts this Sunday at New Hampshire, expect all sorts of analysis and permutations, dissecting this auto race as if it was the Federal budget proposal. If Hamlin wins the Cup, can he thank his teammate Rowdy Busch for pushing him to new heights this season and in the Chase? Then again, Shrub doesn’t plan on helping Denny much if both have a mathematical chance Nov. 21 in Homestead. Or can a driver without a teammate in the Chase win the whole enchilada, such as the steady Kurt Busch?
Of all the Chase analysis and crystal ball polishing I read over the weekend, I think Mike Mulhern sums it up the best. This Chase could be good, but don’t expect a 12-man battle to the end. It never has happened historically, and Hamlin, Johnson and Kevin Harvick have been too good and too steady all season to let too many other guys play consistently in their world.
There is one famous guy who’s not in the Chase, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and after a horrible race Saturday night at Richmond, Junior was left to pick up the pieces of another tattered year. This team’s lack of success — only making the Chase once in three seasons with Hendrick Motorsports, arguably the most powerful team in NASCAR — is a riddle wrapped in an enigma trapped in a mystery.
NASCAR already expanded the Chase from 10 to 12 drivers in an attempt to ensure megastars like Jeff Gordon and Junior make the postseason. Now there are rumors the Chase field could grow to 15, and Junior is feeling the pressure. He knows an expansion could basically be called “The Junior Rule.” I feel for the dude, as the margin between swimming and treading water is so thin in any form of motorsport. But right now, that cat needs some serious Red Cross swimming lessons or a life jacket.
With all the Chase talk, it’s interesting to see that Formula One — which often is criticized for processional, parade-like racing — has a very tight points battle brewing without a reset of the standings to tighten the field for the “postseason.” Fernando Alonso’s victory Sunday at Monza — in a Ferrari in front of the adoring homeland Tifosi, no less — put the top five drivers in the standings within 24 points of each other with five races left. Leader Mark Webber is just five points ahead of second place Lewis Hamilton.
Sure, the winning pass by Alonso over Jenson Button took place in the pits. But this was still a very good race since both Button and Alonso were at 10/10ths until their pit stops two-thirds of the way through the race. Button’s gap ahead of Alonso never wavered from six- to eight-tenths of a second, and it was captivating. One mistake, one bobble, and either Button was gone or Alonso was ahead.
But it never happened until the quick work of the Prancing Horses in the pits leapfrogged Alonso past Button. Still, it was fantastic, precise, on-the-edge driving between two cars with completely different aero packages. It was damn good motorsports theater, summed up well here by the brilliant Nigel Roebuck.
The race also was refreshing because Hamilton took full blame for an ill-timed attempt to pass Felipe Massa on the first lap. The resulting contact damaged the front right wheel of Hamilton’s McLaren and left him beached in the gravel before the end of Lap 1, his title hopes starting to smolder like touch paper in an ashtray. I can’t imagine the petulant, arrogant Alonso accepting blame for anything.
Speaking of Formula One and miscues, it’s time for six degrees of separation by shining the spotlight on Kimi Raikkonen. Remember him? The vodka-swilling, monosyllabic Finn who won the 2007 World Championship for Ferrari and then bolted for the World Rally Championship last year.
Kimi is still tearing it up on the stages. Well, tearing up some perfectly good Citroens, as seen in this video at WRC.com. Kimi crashed out of the rally Sunday. He seems to be having more fun in the more carefree, laid-back world of rallying, where there are no Ron Dennis sightings to torture him. Still, Kimi isn’t exactly gaining a ton of traction on the stages and was an immense talent in an F1 car when motivated. I’d love to see him back in Formula One, challenging Webber, Alonso, Button, Hamilton and Vettel every race.
MotoGP will be back this Friday at the new Grand Prix of Aragon in Spain after a weekend off. The big wrinkle this event will be a change to the time schedule which sees riders participating in four 45-minute sessions Friday and Saturday — two practices Friday, a practice and qualifying Saturday — instead of the three one-hour sessions.
I like the idea, as fans will get two sessions of MotoGP practice on Friday, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The shorter sessions also will compress more action into a tighter timeframe. That’s never a bad thing.
Loris Capirossi will not race this weekend on his Suzuki, recovering from surgery to rebuild a bone and attach a severed tendon in his finger after a crash with Nicky Hayden at Misano. No replacement rider was named, so Suzuki will field just one factory bike for rookie Alvaro Bautista at Aragon. I doubt there was a big line of riders banging on the factory door wanting to ride the worst factory bike on the grid.
A provisional 2011 MotoGP schedule has leaked, with the event lineup rumored to be confirmed this weekend at Aragon. No major shakeups other than Portugal moving to the spring and the season-opening night race in Qatar moving up a few weeks so the season begins in March. Plus, the only date you really need to memorize now on that schedule is Aug. 26-28 — the dates for the Red Bull Indianapolis GP at IMS!
One key aspect of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule announcement last Friday that may have been overlooked was significant — CEO Randy Bernard’s decision to eliminate Indy Racing League as the sanctioning body name and switch to IndyCar. It’s a VERY smart move, as the acronym IRL still is a symbol of 12 seasons of open-wheel strife in the U.S.
IndyCar is easier to market, easier to remember and creates a great image in everyone’s mind. Smart move.
On the surface, it would have appeared that two of the three major worldwide motor races last weekend were compelling as hell, and one was not.
The Le Mans 24 Hours featured its usual overload of drama and strategy, most of it coming when three of the four dominant Peugeot prototypes were forced from the second half of the 24-hour race with apparently the same engine problem. This let archrivals Audi claim a sweep of the podium positions in the premier P1 class and in the overall race.
Formula One put on its best dry-weather race of the year, with ease, at the Canadian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished 1-2 for McLaren in a race packed with action, passing and fascinating strategy.
Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin dominated the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan, leading 126 of 200 laps and pulling to 10-second lead late in the race before a late caution bunched the field.
There’s no doubt that Le Mans and Montreal were thrill shows. But I found Michigan to be quite interesting, too, because it was a rare sight of a team and driver in NASCAR simply crushing the competition.
Nobody wants to see races in any series decided by double-digit margins of victory every Sunday. Nobody wants to see winning drivers lead more than half the race every Sunday.
But what’s wrong with seeing it every once in a while? People appreciated the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, who won 72 of 82 regular-season games en route to the NBA title. People appreciated the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who won the Super Bowl as an unbeaten team. People appreciated the 1927 Yankees.
And I appreciate that Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing are on an incredible roll right now, winning two in a row and five races together since the end of March.
So one question must be asked: Why was there a debris caution with less than 20 laps to go, when Hamlin led by 10 seconds? Did that make the end result of the race, Hamlin pulling away to a comfortable victory over Kasey Kahne after the final restart, any more thrilling for the fans?
Sorry, but I don’t think a team or driver should be penalized for brilliance. If Hamlin won by 10 seconds without a debris caution that Hamlin even admitted was dubious during Victory Lane interviews, it’s because he and JGR kicked everyone’s ass, fair and square. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Speaking of brilliance, Audi must be commended for its 1-2-3 finish at Le Mans. The German marque’s top two finishers ran like diesel-powered metronomes for 24 hours at the La Sarthe circuit in France, and the crew working on its third finisher showed fantastic resolve to keep the car running after an early accident while trying to lap a crippled BMW GT car.
It took a special kind of discipline for Audi to stay calm while rivals Peugeot ran ahead into the distance with its fleet of bubble-top diesel prototypes, seemingly headed for another victory. But Audi and steely team boss Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich know the ebbs and flows of Le Mans better than any team. Ullrich is one of motor racing’s great tacticians and hard men. He rules that team with an iron fist. I know I wouldn’t cross him.
Peugeot lacks that tactical nous. There was no need for it to push its prototypes to the limit on every lap, gaining three or four seconds per lap over the Audis. An advantage of one second per lap is more than enough over the span of a 24-hour race, but Peugeot boss Olivier Quesnel doesn’t seem to get that. Even after flames belched from the right side of the first Peugeot to fall out of the race, the team’s other cars continued to blister around the French countryside.
It made no sense. Neither did the racecraft of Peugeot driver Anthony Davidson.
Davidson was on a tear in a Peugeot 908 late in the race, trying to catch the leading Audis after losing four laps due to an electrical problem. He approached the GT2 class-leading Corvette in the Porsche Curves and ran it off the road, forcing the Corvette to spin and back heavily into the wall. The American-based Corvette team did a remarkable job to replace the back half of the car in just 31 minutes, but an engine problem later in the race sidelined the car for good.
The incident was so unnecessary. And the diminutive Davidson couldn’t help show a Napoleon complex and a lot of “I’m a former F1 driver” attitude when he took absolutely no blame for the accident and even had the gall to say “I don’t care” about Corvette losing the GT2 lead during an live, in-race interview with SPEED.
Get over yourself, Ant. Yes, you were in a faster car. Yes, you were driving it like you stole it in an effort to catch the Audis. But you also were trying to overtake a much less nimble car with much less downforce at a part of the circuit where passing is tough even for two high-downforce prototypes.
You screwed up, Ant. Man up and at least share some blame.
Speaking of blame, it would be hard to blame Michael Schumacher if he hung up his helmet for good after this season. His comeback tour has been a disaster, with the Canadian Grand Prix last Sunday in Montreal a new low point.
Seven-time World Champion Schumacher never has been the most ethical driver in F1 history, mastering the chop block to hold rivals at bay, famously ramming Jacques Villeneuve off the road in 1997 at Jerez and parking his crippled Ferrari on the circuit in qualifying in 2006 at Monaco to prevent Fernando Alonso from winning pole.
But Schumacher’s weaving and blocking last Sunday at Montreal were different. They were the signs of a desperate driver with no answers for the speed of his younger rivals, starting with teammate Nico Rosberg. Mercedes changed the wheelbase of its car to better suit Schumacher, whose driving style is different than Rosberg’s. But Nico still is beating him.
It’s a sad sight, much like watching Willie Mays fall down in the outfield while fielding a routine fly ball during his final year with the New York Mets. Hang it up, Michael, before you become the butt of too many jokes that cause people to forget your brilliance.
•This weekend: All three series that compete at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway are in action this Sunday. So put down your World Cup vuvuzela and check out MotoGP at Silverstone (9:30 a.m. ET, SPEED), the IZOD IndyCar Series at Iowa (1:30 p.m. ET, VERSUS) and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Sonoma (3 p.m. ET, TNT).
•Song of the Week: Here’s a song I would love to see Peugeot’s Anthony Davidson sing karaoke-style in a tune-o-gram sent to Corvette Racing manager Doug Fehan and the entire team – the blistering “I Was Wrong” by the great Social Distortion. I don’t think Doug and his incredibly talented crew should hold their breath for a rendition by Ant, though.
Say what you will about the 2010 Indianapolis 500, but the right man won. Anyone who disagrees with that either had too many pops while watching the race on TV or sat in the Easy-Bake Oven otherwise known as a broiling Race Day at IMS for far too long.
Sure, there were moments you wondered who was going to win the fuel game. Sure, there were times over the last two laps where you thought maybe, just maybe, Dan Wheldon might finally put Panther Racing into Victory Lane at Indy after two straight years of near-misses.
But the right man won. Dario Franchitti drank milk and caressed the Borg-Warner Trophy for the second time. He clearly deserved it.
How could anyone say otherwise? Dario led 155 of the 200 laps. He catapulted to the lead on Lap 1 from the outside of the front row, putting a boot to the throat of the rest of the field.
It was the most dominant winning performance at Indy since that Juan Pablo Montoya kid crushed the field in 2000 to lead 167 laps and win as a rookie, also in a Target Chip Ganassi Racing car.
Despite Dario’s dominance, there still were plenty of drivers and teams who put on strong performances Sunday at Indy inside and outside of the spotlight.
The first tip of the Lexan visor must go to Andretti Autosport. Like most after Bump Day, I thought this team was out to lunch, gorging on the all-you-can eat special at the Old Country Buffet. When Tony Kanaan stuffs two cars into the wall, problems are much deeper than simple driver error.
AA started none of its five drivers in the first five rows but put three drivers in the top 11 at the finish. That’s not a bounce-back; that’s an atomic super ball dropped on a driveway from your sister’s bedroom on the second floor. Ba-BOING!
Kanaan’s charge from shotgun on the field – 33rd for those keeping score at home – to second, challenging and taunting Franchitti until a late pit stop, was breathtaking. TK passed EIGHT cars on the first lap in one of the most stirring displays of driving skill since Tomas Scheckter sliced through seven cars in Turn 3 alone after a restart in 2004.
Marco Andretti also proved again that he is a victory waiting to happen some year at Indy with his strong third-place finish, and Danica Patrick made amends for throwing her team under the bus on Pole Day by singing deserved hosannas for the GoDaddy crew after great stops and smart strategy vaulted her to sixth at the finish on Race Day.
Ryan Hunter-Reay also was competitive during the race for AA, and he showed serious stones by driving the second half of the race with torn ligaments in his thumb. He also must have taped four-leaf clovers throughout his cockpit or ate a water tower-sized bowl of Lucky Charms for breakfast on Race Morning after escaping without injury when Mike Conway’s destroyed car sailed overhead in the horrific accident on Lap 200.
Conway and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing teammate Justin Wilson also were unsung heroes on Race Day. Sure, Mike and Justin led 15 and 11 laps, respectively, late in the race because they were on a different fuel strategy than Franchitti. But they didn’t look out of place, and three-time winner and 2010 pole sitter Helio Castroneves couldn’t catch Conway or Wilson while running third behind them on a similar fuel strategy.
D&R also was the only team to put four cars into the show on Pole Day. If you had told me that before Opening Day, I would have asked you for your bottle of Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka. D&R just might be the “best of the rest” in the IZOD IndyCar Series right now behind Team Penske, Target Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Autosport.
Panther Racing also had a very strong Race Day by finishing second for the third consecutive year, the second time in a row with Wheldon. Danny Boy really does turn it on for Indy. And Ed Carpenter proved again that he’s one of the best oval racers in the series, as he was headed for a strong finish for Panther before an ill-timed late caution forced him to drop to 17th at the finish.
But my MVT (Most Valuable Team) for the month was the FAZZT Race Team. Alex Tagliani was quick all month, qualified fifth after making the Fast Nine and finished 10th. Bruno Junqueira turned about six laps for the month before becoming the fastest qualifier on Bump Day with a speed that would have put him into the Fast Nine a day earlier.
FAZZT has nowhere near the resources of a Penske, Ganassi or Andretti. It punches WAY above its weight, like 147-pound Manny Pacquiao trading shots and standing upright against a prime, 220-pound Mike Tyson.
Still, when it comes to North American motorsports teams, nobody can stand up to the Penske and Ganassi organizations right now. They’re both major league ass kickers.
Chip Ganassi might be smug. He might be irascible. He might be a demanding SOB. But he wins – a lot. And that’s the goal of any race team. With the last two IZOD IndyCar Series titles, two of the last three Indianapolis 500 victories and a Daytona 500 victory in February, Ganassi is the reigning Red Baron of internal combustion right now in America.
Roger Penske also had a month to remember, winning the Indianapolis 500 pole for a record 16th time and seeing his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kurt Busch double up by winning the Sprint All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600.
Both Ganassi and Penske also have won major North American sports car championships in the last three seasons.
Seriously, name me two stronger racing organizations in the world – across a variety of disciplines – right now than Penske and Ganassi. You can’t.
•Formula One: Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished 1-2 in the Grand Prix of Turkey on Sunday, which many people called yet another thrilling F1 race.
I call bull excrement.
This race was “exciting” only because drivers violated one of the cardinal rules of F1 – don’t race your teammate. Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel ran 1-2 when Vettel decided to – GASP! – pass his teammate for the lead. The two cars collided, knocking Vettel out of the race and Webber to third, where he finished.
And then Hamilton and Button had “confusion” about team orders – don’t kid yourself; team orders still occur in F1 despite regulations banning them – and ended up racing each other at the end, with Hamilton prevailing.
Sure, it may have looked good on TV. But the bleating by Steve Matchett of SPEED about Vettel making a critical mistake by not asking his team to tell the slower Webber to pull over illustrates exactly what’s wrong with F1.
Race drivers are paid to pass people. F1 drivers are paid millions of pounds, Euros or whatever to pass people. They NEVER should be forced to request from a team boss to pass someone, even if it’s their teammate.
Yes, this is another rant from me about the sad state of F1. And it’s not because I dislike the series or have a serious case of “Screw them furriners.” Au contraire. I love F1. But what disguises for excitement in the series these days is pathetic. Team orders and complaints about dirty air. Oh, joy.
At least there’s a MotoGP race this Sunday at Mugello to satisfy my proper international racing jones.
•Song of the Week: This week’s top tune is the obscure but cool “Faster” by the late, great George Harrison, who was a Formula One fanatic. There are two reasons why it came to mind immediately after Dario Franchitti’s victory Sunday at Indy. One, the video opens with a still shot of the great Jim Clark of Scotland, the 1965 Indianapolis 500 winner who is Franchitti’s racing hero. Plus it was an easy choice since Franchitti was just flat-out, ahem, faster than anyone else Sunday at Indy.
This week’s blog is all about deception: What you saw last weekend in racing may not be reality.
First, let’s start with the exciting IZOD IndyCar Series race at St. Petersburg. There were a few fans commenting on Facebook, Twitter and various Internet forums that the race should have been run Sunday despite the rain in the Tampa Bay area. These cars have rain tires – run! Stop being such wimps and weasels – run!
Get a grip, please. I was in St. Petersburg for the race, and there was no way in heaven or hell that the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg could have taken place Sunday afternoon. St. Petersburg received 4 inches of rain that afternoon and evening, and there were 6 inches of standing water on the exit of Turn 9. Last time I checked, Miss Budweiser and Chip Hanauer weren’t on the entry list.
RT @ZachVeach: Starting a research paper for one of my @K12Learn classes, writing about the history of my favorite place in the world, @ ... 2012/02/06
@Nascargirl24_2 A big Happy Birthday from all of us at IMS 2012/02/06
RT @Turn_One: The media needs to stop questioning Indy's ability to host #SB46 they host the biggest sorting event every year. @IMS @Ind ... 2012/02/06
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