Bleacher Report - Articles by Richard Deveau

Streets of Monaco Ready for Formula One

Richard Deveau — Sat, 23 May 2009 20:20:46 -0400

The beautiful city of Monte Carlo, nestled on the mountainside right next to the gleaming ocean, is usually a quiet place to live. Where wealthy people live to get away from it all, simply paradise.

But this weekend will not be quiet, because Formula One makes it's annual trip to the country of Monaco. The streets that buses, sports cars and limos usually drive on, are being replaced by the fast V8 open wheel cars of the FIA Formula One World Championship.

The streets of Monte Carlo prove to be a major challenge to F1 drivers, perhaps the greatest one of the year. Miss your apex by a couple of inches, and you could end up in the barriers. There is absolutely no room for error, as paved runoffs and grass are inexistent. There is nothing but sharp corners and barriers, lots and lots of barriers.

Overtaking opportunities are rare, patience is the key. To pass, you must mainly wait for your opponents to make errors, other than forcing your way by. But with the challenge of this circuit, errors can often be found.

On Saturday, qualifying took place with Jenson Button putting his Brawn GP car on top of the grid for the fourth time in six races. After the two first sessions of knockout qualifying, Button did not seem to be a threat for the pole.

But the Brit returned to familiar territory in the third and final session, posting a time of 1 minute 14.902 seconds to receive the pole position.

"It's so important to qualify well in Monaco and I am really happy to have achieved pole position here today," said an ecstatic Button after qualifying. "It means a lot to me, they all do, but this one is so important for the race tomorrow."

"I struggled on Thursday to find a good balance and we had a few issues that needed to be worked on, however we made some changes since then. I really have to thank everyone at the factory in Brackley and at Mercedes-Benz for producing such a strong and responsive car which allows us to make progress quickly."

Team mate Rubens Barichello was fast all weekend and managed to qualify in third to put both Brawn GP cars near the front. The brazilian veteran posted a time of 1 minute 15.077 seconds.

"Well I had a great lap today at the end of the final qualifying session so Jenson's lap must have been fantastic!" said Barrichello. "I'm very happy with my position for the race tomorrow and really got everything possible out of the car today."

Owner of the Brawn GP team, was satisfied after qualifying:

"A very good day's work from the team with great laps right at the end of the final qualifying session from Jenson and Rubens. To achieve pole and third position on the grid in the most important qualifying hour of the season is a real achievement and puts us in a strong position for the race tomorrow."

Ferrari were finally able to turn their horrible luck around, with Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa posting the second and fifth fastest times of the day respectively.

“Second place is a nice result but I’m disappointed that I missed out on pole by a few hundredths." said former world champion Kimi Raikkonen.

"Here, there is a much bigger difference between starting from first or second place. The car has improved and that can be seen from the performance level. Today, we felt ever more comfortable as the track’s grip level improved bit by bit.

Tomorrow’s race will be long and tough. The start will be very important and on the short straight here, the KERS will definitely be a help, but not as much as elsewhere."

It was an extremely disappointing day for defending champion Lewis Hamilton. The Brit was definitely a pre race favourite but a wreck in the first session will make him start in the 16th position.

"I made a mistake. I just braked too late—it's unfortunate, but these things happen. It's not been a good day: I had been going well all weekend and had the possibility of being on the front row.

It's a shame for the team, because they have done such a fantastic job all weekend and the car has felt really strong—as Heikki's grid position shows. Starting 16th is frustrating, but I'll learn from this, drive my heart out tomorrow and see what happens."

One of the most historic races on the Formula One calendar, dating back to 1929, is set to start once again, and it should be another good one with drama, excitement and frustration; what would motorsport be without those?

Indianapolis Opening Day Report- Andretti Tops Practice Charts

Richard Deveau — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:29:39 -0400

After much criticism from fans and reporters, Marco Andretti's Venom/Andretti-Green Racing Dallara-Honda topped the charts with a blistering lap of 225.478 mph.

Andretti's fast time came due to a multi-car tow, where a car coming from behind gets caught in the draft (or slipstream) and gets sucked like a vacuum, causing him to go faster.

The checkered flag waved at 6 p.m. ET after 31 drivers and 32 cars combined for a total of 2199 laps. Team Penske driver Ryan Briscoe was the only one to run his spare car.

Speaking of Team Penske, the three car team proved they are more than ready to win another Indy 500 title, posting the second and third fastest times. Helio Castroneves took second with a speed of 225.237 mph and Ryan Briscoe was third with a speed of 224.904.

The next two spots were occupied by Chip Ganassi Racing drivers. Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti finished fourth and fifth respectively on the leaderboard, as Dixon defends his Indy 500 win of 2008. It's Franchitti's first visit to the speedway since he won in 2007, missing the race because he decided to give NASCAR a try.

Dan Wheldon came back to his old self, posting the sixth fastest time in his National Guard/Panther Racing Dallara-Honda.

The self-proclaimed winner of the 2002 Indy 500 Paul Tracy made his return to the speedway in fine fashion, posting a time good enough for 12th. That's good considering his Geico/KV Racing Technologies entry is a new team with not much experience. This is also only Tracy's second start in the Dallara-Honda in nearly a year.

The fastest rookie of the day was Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing driver Robert Doornbos, ending the day in seventh.

The ever-so-popular Danica Patrick finished the day in 8th place in her Boost Mobile/Andretti-Green Racing entry.

Nearly seven-and-a-half hours of practice was run today, with only one stoppage after Ryan Hunter-Reay brushed the wall in his Vision Racing car.

Many teams today had race setups on their cars and will probably start to focus their setups toward qualifying on Friday's open practice. Although the capturing the pole position is attractive, teams seem to be focusing much more on the race.

Leaderboard for Thursday's open practice:

1 Marco Andretti 39.9152, 225.478
2 Helio Castroneves 39.9579, 225.237
3 Ryan Briscoe 40.0171, 224.904
4 Scott Dixon 40.0983, 224.448
5 Dario Franchitti 40.1499, 224.16
6 Dan Wheldon 40.1747, 224.022
7 Robert Doornbos 40.2518, 223.592
8 Danica Patrick 40.313, 223.253
9 Graham Rahal 40.3594, 222.996
10 Will Power 40.3776, 222.896
11 Hideki Mutoh 40.4049, 222.745
12 Paul Tracy 40.4184, 222.671
13 Tony Kanaan 40.4321, 222.595
14 Ed Carpenter 40.4364, 222.572
15 Scott Sharp 40.4609, 222.437
16 Mario Moraes 40.5132, 222.15
17 John Andretti 40.5569, 221.91
18 Sarah Fisher 40.6037, 221.655
19 Davey Hamilton 40.6094, 221.624
20 Alex Lloyd 40.6833, 221.221
21 Justin Wilson 40.6872, 221.2
22 Vitor Meira 40.6979, 221.142
23 AJ Foyt IV 40.7165, 221.041
24 EJ Viso 40.7347, 220.942
25 Mike Conway 40.7894, 220.646
26 Raphael Matos 40.8669, 220.227
27 Ryan Briscoe 40.8943, 220.08
28 Milka Duno 40.9566, 219.745
29 Alex Tagliani 41.0051, 219.485
30 Nelson Philippe 41.011, 219.453
31 Ryan Hunter-Reay 41.2221, 218.329
32 Stanton Barrett 41.2676, 218.089

Paul Tracy Tops All Rookies at Indy

Richard Deveau — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:14:48 -0400

The month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is officially under way as the rookies of the Indycar Series hit the track today for rookie orientation.

Though racing here seven years ago, Paul Tracy was given the track time today to shake out the cobwebs. It didn't take the 40-year-old Canadian long as he tops the practice charts in his No. 15 GEICO/KV Racing entry, posting a time of 40.3426 seconds (223.069mph).

"Obviously, I've been doing this for so long, have a lot of experience at it," he said. "It's not like I'm going there as a rookie, never seen the place, never been on a track like that. I've raced there a bunch of times, done lots of miles."

"I'm pretty happy with where we're at right now."

The last time we saw Tracy race was in last year's Rexall Edmonton Indy, where he advanced 11 positions from his starting position to finish fourth.

"I just want to race. It's all I've ever done," said Tracy, who was declared the runner-up to Helio Castroneves in the controversial 500-Mile Race in 2002. "I've been racing since I was six years old and I didn't want my career to just come to an abrupt stop after racing Indy cars for 16 or 17 years. When the merge happened, my team owner decided to stop and when the music stopped, it kind of left me without any seats to sit in.

"It's been very frustrating thinking after all this time my career's just going to end like that. That's not the way I wanted it to end. I realize I'm not going to race another 10 years, but I'd like to run a couple more years. I feel I'm competitive. I feel I've got the drive. And hopefully something will open up."

"I know I'm not going to run forever, but I want to have a couple more years and have a shot at it and have something for my fans to remember."

Coming second on the charts was Scott Sharp, posting a time of 40.5628 (221.878mph) in his No. 16 Tequila Patron Panther Racing entry. Rounding out the top three was 2007 Firestone Indy Lights champion, Alex Lloyd, who had a quick lap of 213.032mph in his No. 99 Sam Schmidt Motorsports car.

"There was obviously a lot of anticipation and a lot of excitement surrounding the whole opportunity with Patron and Panther Racing," Sharp said. "To get out here and finally start doing it today, it was great. It feels so good to be back. By lap one, it felt like I was back in the old shoe again."

Rookie orientation practice continues May 6, from 9am-2pm ET, followed by practice for all cars entered in the Indianapolis 500.

Alex Tagliani Will Race The Indianapolis 500

Richard Deveau — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:58:55 -0400

As the Indianapolis Motor Speedway prepares for the month of May activities, the Indianapolis 500 entry list becomes clearer.

Alex Tagliani will drive the No. 34 Dallara Honda, one of Conquest Racing's two entries. The Rexall Edmonton Indy event in July will hop on board as primary sponsor with secondary sponsorship from the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.

"It's every driver's dream to be at the Indianapolis 500," said the 36-year-old Canadian from the province of Québec. "As a kid, I never thought I would make it here and even later on in my career because of the split, so it has always remained a dream of mine. It's the one race that has always sat atop my list.

"Finally, more than nine years after my first start in a major open-wheel series race, I will get to experience all that surrounds the famous Month of May and get to experience it during the kickoff of the Centennial Era Celebrations, which makes it even more memorable."

Tagliani will be the fourth Québec-born driver to start the Indianapolis 500 and the first since Jacques Villeneuve, who won the event in 1995.

"No matter how much experience you have behind the wheel, when you race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time I think it's easy to feel like a rookie," Tagliani said. "It's such a unique track, there's nothing else like it."

The French Canadian driver joined the Conquest Racing operation in 2008, replacing Enrique Bernoldi in the final two races in Detroit and Chicagoland. He really impressed the team in Australia, finishing third in the exhibition race.

Tagliani ran the first two races of the 2009 season for Conquest Racing, at St. Petersburg and Long Beach, finishing 10th at both.

The No. 36 Conquest Racing entry is still vacant, and we await the announcement of who will be driving it. This is just a rumour, but some people believe it will be American Buddy Rice.

Rice was supposedly hired by Rubicon Racing, a team that ended up never showing at the track. But Rubicon Racing has become partners with Conquest this year, which is where the Buddy Rice rumour comes from.

Tagliani's first time on track will be May 5 for rookie orientation.

Danica Patrick Getting a Boost for Indy 500

Richard Deveau — Sat, 02 May 2009 00:01:24 -0400

The same old Danica Patrick will be present at Indy; I'm talking about the intense and absolutely hates to lose attitude of the female driver.

But the look of her car will not be familiar however, as she will trade in her black and blue Motorola-sponsored car for a black and orange car, sponsored by Boost Mobile.

The Andretti-Green Racing team introduced the new livery to the media Friday at the Indianapolis International Airport, taking it out for a small test run.

"I keep thinking (Dario) Franchitti won (2007) in an orange and black car," Patrick said after unveiling the new livery for the month of May and remainder of the IndyCar Series season. "I think the colors are really sporty and very cool. It sort of reflects how I am. Edgy and fun."

"Solid and generous support from sponsors like Boost Mobile and Motorola keep me on the fast track to victory," said Danica Patrick. "Boost Mobile's signature live-on-the-edge spirit is definitely in tune with my competitive fire, and it will help take Andretti Green Racing up a few notches with a new attitude."

Boost Mobile is a prepaid division of Sprint Nextel, in partnership with Motorola.

"At Motorola, partners like Boost Mobile and sponsorships such as Danica Patrick/Andretti Green Racing are key to our brand success," said Jean-Pierre Le Cannellier, senior director of North America marketing, Motorola Mobile Devices.

"We are thrilled to kick off this joint sponsorship as Danica prepares to race in the Indianapolis 500 and as we introduce our latest Push-To-Talk device."

The company is celebrating by announcing the "Pop Your Clutch" sweepstakes at www.popyourclutch.com. Fans can enter to win the grand prize of a free trip to the Sonoma, Calif., Indycar race on Aug. 23.

Additional prizes include one of 10 Motorola Clutch i465 handsets, plus $150 of Boost Mobile service, which will be given away after each of the 14 IndyCar Series events, starting with the Indianapolis 500.

If Patrick wins the Indianapolis 500, five-hundred Motorola Clutch i465 handsets will be given away with $300 of Boost Mobile service.

Indy 500: Lazier, Duno, and Philippe Confirmed to Entry List

Richard Deveau — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:20:14 -0400

As the month of May comes closer and closer, question marks on the Indianapolis 500 entry list are starting to disappear.

Three new drivers have been confirmed: American Buddy Lazier, Venezuelan Milka Duno, and Frenchman Nelson Phillippe.

Lazier, who will drive the No. 91 Hemelgarn Johnson entry, becomes the fifth former Indy winner after drinking the milk in 1996. He joins a list including Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, and Dan Wheldon.

The Vail, Colo. native will attempt to make his 17th career start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Last year, the 2000 Indycar Series champion finished 17th.

Duno, driving the No. 23 CITGO/Dreyer and Reinbold entry, will be attempting her third Indy start. Her best Indy finish was recorded last year, finishing 19th.

Nelson Philippe, the former Champcar driver, will be joining EJ Viso at HVM Racing for his first career Indycar start.

Scott Dixon Cruises to Kansas Victory

Richard Deveau — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 22:41:36 -0400

The Indycar Series returns to ovals, and Scott Dixon returns to his winning ways as the defending champion dominates the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at the Kansas Speedway.

After struggling in the first two races, both street circuits, it didn't take long for Dixon to pass pole sitter Graham Rahal. Dixon would lead most of the race until losing the lead to Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe in the pits.

Luck would turn on Dixon's side as the caution came out while leader Briscoe was pitting. This caused Briscoe to lose lots of track position and to hand over the lead to Dixon and the Ganassi Racing team.

"It's a solid result, but it's really disappointing," said Briscoe, who rallied back to finish fourth. "We had the car to win and we had the track position until we got caught out with that yellow, so it's really unfortunate. But I'm happy to be disappointed for that reason, that's for sure."

But Helio Castroneves, who made a hard charge from the rear of the field, was hot on Dixon's tail.

Dixon showed his experience and did not bite under pressure, holding off the Brazilian Penske driver to claim his 17th career victory (11th on an oval), leading 134 of 200 laps for a dominating performance.

"I think we were trimmed to win as they say," said Dixon, who started fourth in his 99th IndyCar Series event. "It's still very tight and we're still within a shot to win this championship. We're definitely looking strong going into Indy."

Castroneves' return to ovals was not an easy one, after race officials made him start at the rear of the field for driving under the white line during qualifying. Things then became worse when on lap 15, he made contact with No. 14 Vitor Meira, forcing him to change the front wing.

But the two-time Indy winner put his working boots on and charged to the front for a second place finish.

"Yes, you want to win, but Scott did a hell of a job," said Castroneves. "I know this track is totally different than Indianapolis, but at least you knew who you racing against and what teams are promising are going to be competitive and quick.

"So today was a very good day in both ways: championship points and also preparing for the big race, which is Indy."

After many criticism towards Andretti Green Racing, the team put on a great performance at Kansas, having all four of their car come away with a top ten finish.

Tony Kanaan came in third, putting him in the points lead only one point ahead of Ryan Briscoe.

"Consistency is definitely the key," said Kanaan, who recorded his third top 5 in as many starts this season and the 69th in his career. "But we need to work a lot harder to get this car to win races. But in the meantime, we keep finishing where we need to be. Obviously, it feels good, but it's so early in the season. It's good momentum going to Indy."

Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti rebounded from rough starts to their season by finishing fifth and sixth respectively and Hideki Mutoh crossed the finish line in eight; it's the first time that all four AGR cars posted top ten finishes in one race since Milwaukee in 2006.

Now the Indycar Series sets off into the month of May and all you race fans know what that means: it's time to go to Indy!

Brad Keselowski Gets the Upset Win at Talladega

Richard Deveau — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:05:21 -0400

Anyone watching today's NASCAR race at Talladega Superspeedway, the Aaron's 499, witnessed one of the most memorable and greatest finishes in NASCAR history. To top it all off, it was a major upset!

Brad Keselowski wins his first career race for James Finch's team, beating Carl Edwards in the tri-oval. Keselowski and Edwards were mid pack but with two laps to go, the duo pulled to the outside and pushed each other all the way to the front.

It was now a four car battle, with Keselowski pushing Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr. pushing Ryan Newman.

Coming out of turn four, Keselowski and Edwards had the better run and they ran away. Everyone expected Keselowski to keep pushing, but the 25-year old rookie would not settle for second.

Just like Regan Smith did at Talladega last year on Tony Stewart, Keselowski dove to the inside. Edwards came down to block but the Hendrick protegé was already there, causing Edwards to turn sideways and lift the rear wheels.

Ryan Newman had nowhere to go and slammed into Edwards, throwing the No. 99 car upside down and into the fence; a very scary crash that had everyone concerned for not only Edwards, but the fans sitting in the front rows. Luckily, no injuries were reported.

Keselowski crossed the finish line first with Nationwide Series boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr., in second.

Edwards then made us all laugh by coming out of his car and running to the finish line, to make sure he finished the race. He got a standing ovation and a loud cheer from the fans as he reminded us of Ricky Bobby in the famous movie, Talladega Nights.

What makes this victory such an upset, is that Keselowski is not even a full time racer. The young driver currently runs a full schedule in the Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports, a team owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Keselowski is only scheduled to run seven races this year, as he prepares to replace Mark Martin at Hendrick Motorsports in the coming years, as Martin plans to retire.

This also is the first win for James Finch, the car owner. This car is currently not even in the top thirty-five in owner points and has different drivers scheduled all year. Keselowski attempted to qualify this same car at Daytona last February, but failed to do so.

There is a topic though that NASCAR has to open their eyes to, and that is the yellow line rule.

On restrictor plate tracks (Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway), drivers are not permitted to drive below the yellow line to improve their position.

Today, we saw that rule backfire, big time!

Not only could Carl Edwards have gotten seriously hurt, but fans could have been seriously injured or even killed. Keselowski did not go below the yellow line while passing because he knew he would get penalized if so; and Keselowski did absolutely nothing wrong.

“We’ll race like this until they kill somebody and they’ll change it,” said Edwards, after flipping his car in the fence.

But if it wasn't for this rule, Keselowski would have used the extra room on the apron and this very dangerous crash could have been avoided.

NASCAR needs to take a second look at this rule, because it has caused other crashes in the past where a driver will spin a guy out instead of going on the apron to avoid the wreck.

The rule has also caused confusion, like last year when Regan Smith passed Tony Stewart under the line to win, after Stewart forced him down there. But if Regan didn't go below the line, the same wreck we saw today could have happened last October, putting more people at risk.

We also remember Dale Earnhardt Jr. once passing Matt Kenseth below the line and going for the win, but to everyone's surprise, Earnhardt wasn't penalized.

In my opinion, let's end this confusion and let's scrap this rule altogether.

And speaking of this yellow line rule, why wasn't Brian Vickers, driver of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota, penalized today?

In the driver's meeting, drivers were clearly told that if any passing was made under the yellow line, they would get penalized, even if they were forced down there. But when Vickers made a pass below the line, NASCAR gave him a warning.

Wake up NASCAR!

I will give a big thumbs up to Carl Edwards, who was a real class act at the end, handling the situation very professionally.

So to all you NASCAR fans out there, see you next week in Richmond!

Dan Wheldon Looks To Complete Hat Trick in Kansas

Richard Deveau — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:07:25 -0400

After racing on the bumpy city streets, the IndyCar Series returns to the speedier ovals this weekend at the Kansas Speedway.

Dan Wheldon, driver of the No. 4 National Guard Dallara for Panther Racing, will look to win his third consecutive race at Kansas; but this time, it will be tougher, not being part of the "big three" anymore.

For those of you unfamiliar with the "big three," they are IndyCar's three most dominating teams: Penske Racing, Target Chip Ganassi Racing, and Andretti Green Racing.

Wheldon took his two Kansas victories (2007 & 2008) with Ganassi, also finishing second twice in the race with Andretti Green (2005 & 2006). But he believes Panther Racing can carry him to victory once again.

"Obviously, I like Kansas City and I'm very confident about this weekend," Wheldon said. "Panther has had a lot success on the mile-and-a-halfs and we had a good test there last week so I'm ready to go."

With 15 career victories, 13 of those came on ovals for Wheldon.

"I'd never seen an oval, other than on television, when I came here 10 years ago but I really took a liking to racing on them," Wheldon said, who will be making his 100th career start this weekend.

"Kansas being our first oval race of the season and leading us into Indy is fine by me. I'd like to have some momentum going to my favorite place on the circuit next month," he went on.

Wheldon could look good at Indy also, winning the big race in 2005.

"Our National Guard team has done a great job in the pits and calling the races but I thought we were pretty competitive all weekend," he said. "It was good to score points heading into Kansas. We've got six ovals in a row and I think we're going to get stronger and stronger."

Even though he is currently second in IndyCar Series points, Will Power will unfortunately not be racing this weekend in Kansas.

The Australian was driving the No. 3 for Penske Racing, until Helio Castroneves was declared not guilty in tax evasion charges. Castroneves is now returning, leaving Power with no ride.

Castroneves did race in the No. 3 last week in Long Beach, while Power ran a third Penske entry for the first time since 1996, driving the No. 12 sponsored by Verizon Wireless.

Power will be back in the No. 12 in a month from now, at the prestigious Indianapolis 500. Roger Penske says he is looking to run Power in more races afterwards.

"I talked to Will and told him he's done a great job and we'll have a good car for him at Indianapolis," Roger Penske said Wednesday afternoon. "What I'd like to do is go to Indy and then try to keep it going with him so we'll see how it plays out.

"He could have been done when Helio came back, according to our contract, but that's not the way we treat people. He's a great kid and a very talented driver."

Power proved he should have a full-time ride last week in Long Beach, being quickest in Penske's No. 3 car. On Saturday, he stepped aside for Castroneves and moved to the No. 12 car, grabbing the pole with it.

Power led 16 laps in the race and finished second, giving a great performance to a new car and a pit crew who were only used to Grand-Am cars.

"It's going to be the first race I've missed in nine years," Power said. "It's going to be different just watching but I know I'll have a great car at Indy and I have to thank Roger for this opportunity."

The first two races this year, both street courses, saw some new faces running up front.

Justin Wilson is familiar with the position, but the team he drives for, Dale Coyne Racing, isn't. The team seemed to be on their way to victory in the season opener at St. Pete, until getting passed by Ryan Briscoe and Ryan Hunter-Reay to finish third.

Speaking of Hunter-Reay, he was able to bring the Vision Racing team to a second place finish, something the team has heavily struggled to do over the years.

But this weekend, it is expected these teams will once again find their way in the middle of the pack. Allow me to explain.

On road/street courses, it takes driver talent and a good engineer to find success. But when it comes to ovals, success relies more on aero development. For aero development, it takes big bucks.

And who has the big bucks? The aforementioned "big three". The "big three" has dominated the ovals over the years and that is not expected to change. Last year, not once has a smaller team beaten the "big three" on ovals.

As I always do, I will now make my predictions for this weekend's race at the Kansas Speedway.

As I close my eyes and use my psychic powers, I see Scott Dixon, driver of the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, on top of the podium.

The defending IndyCar Series champion definitely has no problems winning on ovals, with five of his six wins last year on them, including the Indianapolis 500.

Practice at Kansas starts Saturday at 10 a.m. ET, with qualifying later in the day. The race is set for Sunday at 4 p.m. ET, with the Firestone Indy Lights race at Noon ET.

So enjoy the race, and I'll be back in a month, previewing the biggest race in the world, the Indianapolis 500.

Ready To Hit the Beach, Indycar Style!

Richard Deveau — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 13:24:02 -0400

Palm trees swaying, waves rolling and fast cars making loud noise. Add pretty girls in tank tops, celebrities, fans and a party atmosphere, and you will get this weekend's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The peaceful beaches will become vibrant with the sound of naturally aspirated V8 engines as the Indycar Series heads to town.

The famous street circuit is celebrating it's 35th anniversary of American open wheel racing, and it's as good as it's ever been. It all started as a Formula 5000 event, then becoming Formula One's US Grand Prix. CART took over the event in 1984 and in 2009, the race is sanctioned by the Indycar Series.

Big storylines surround us heading into this race, including the return of Helio Castroneves, after nearly facing jail time.

Castroneves was second in last year's championship standings with two wins. The Brazilian will be returning to his familiar Penske Racing No. 3 and there is probably no driver hungrier to get in the race car and give us a good show.

The race will also finally see the return of former CART drivers to the event, including Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, who last raced at Long Beach in 2002.

"I had this date circled on my calendar ever since I decided to come back to Indy cars," said Franchitti, who despite his street racing prowess, never won here during his CART days from 1997-2002. "Long Beach has always been one of my favorite tracks and I've really missed running there. It's one of those great American events."

Ryan Hunter-Reay has also been here in his Champcar days (2003-2004) along with Darren Manning who made his lone start in 2003. Danica Patrick raced a couple times here in the Toyota Atlantic series.

There is also a large group of former Champcar drivers who raced at last year's Champcar finale in Long Beach, including Graham Rahal, Will Power, Robert Doornbos, Justin Wilson and Alex Tagliani.

Back in the day, father and son Mario and Michael Andretti won plenty of races in Long Beach. Mario had five wins, in both CART and F1.

An Andretti hasn't participated in the event since 2003, when Michael won his final race; but that is all about to change as third generation driver, Marco Andretti, is set to make his debut at Long Beach.

"It's obviously a special place for my family and I just want to carry on that tradition," said young Andretti, who had a disastrous opener at St. Pete.

Some guys absolutely can't wait to get the event going:

"Wonderful memories for me. My first Indy Lights race in 1996, my first CART race in 1999 and my first pole position in '99," said Kanaan, who was leading Juan Montoya that April before collecting the tire wall.

"When the two series finally got back together this was the one race I wanted to come back to the most."

"I think it's pretty obvious I enjoy all the street races but Long Beach has that great tradition," said Will Power, who absolutely smoked the field in last year's Champcar finale at Long Beach.

"It's my biggest victory and I just want to repeat this weekend."

Power will be moved from his Penske No. 3 to the Penske No. 12 this weekend as Castroneves returns with the team. He will have sponsorship from Verizon.

Justin Wilson is always fast on the street circuits, winning last year in Detroit and leading many laps two weeks ago in St. Petersburg, until Ryan Briscoe ruined the party.

"We had the car to win at St. Pete, led the most laps and I just want to keep the momentum going," said Wilson, now driving for Dale Coyne.

Scott Dixon, last year's champion and Indy 500 winner, has proved us he can win on any type of track, may it be oval, road course, street circuit or even an airport; he could be a threat this weekend, as always.

"I know things have changed drastically since I last ran there," he said. "But it was always a challenging place and I'm excited about going back."

Of course, before every race, people make predictions; so do I! I messed up at St. Pete, predicting Scott Dixon the winner, who crashed out of the event.

But this week, I will be right, as I believe Graham Rahal will be the victor!

The Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing driver raced twice before at Long Beach, with not much success. But he was young, and with more experience, Graham will be a threat, as he was two weeks ago in St. Petersburg.

To all you race fans, I hope you enjoy the event, as I know I will.

The Indycar Series will be returning to ovals next week at the Kansas Speedway, and I will once again preview the race for you!

Helio Castroneves Acquited! Paul Tracy Coming Back!

Richard Deveau — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:17:48 -0400

Helio Castroneves, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, was found not guilty on tax-evasion charges today along with sister Kati and agent Alan Miller; this means he's back on track this weekend at Long Beach.

Castroneves was indicted last November for tax evasion, allegedly not paying taxes on salary earned from Penske Racing from 1999 to 2003.

The jury found the three not guilty on six of seven counts. Count one, conspiracy to deadlock the government, was deadlocked for all parties, and a mistrial was declared. The three are now free and Helio is prepared to jump in the familiar Penske Racing No. 3 car in this weekend's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

"It's a great outcome, it was a long race, and it was unfortunate his family had to go through it all, but we're moving ahead with Helio in No. 3 car on Saturday morning," said Roger Penske, owner of Penske Racing.

Will Power, who was hired to replace Castroneves, will be moved to a third Penske entry.

"Obviously, this has been the longest seven weeks of my life, but I have to thank God, the judge, and the jury for treating me fairly," said an ecstatic Castroneves. "I love this country, I love making a living driving race cars, and I love the fact I'm going to continue to make my living this way. I'm so thankful for my lawyers and my family and all the fans who've been rooting for me the last seven weeks."

"I can't wait to get to Long Beach and get back to my job."

Will Power is now in a rough situation where he won't be racing in Kansas on April 25th. Power will be at Indy in a third car and nothing is confirmed on whether he will continue the season in a third entry.

Penkse says he is seriously considering it though.

Paul Tracy is back!

Today had plenty of good news for the Indycar Series, as KV Racing Technologies announced that Canadian Paul Tracy will be racing at Indy, teaming up with regular KV driver, Mario Moraes.

Major insurance compay, GEICO, will be jumping on board as sponsor, thanks to agent Doug Barnette.

Barnette already had a partnership with GEICO, initially introducing the sponsor to NASCAR drivers Mike Wallace and Max Papis.

Tracy is back and looking for revenge after thinking he had won the event in 2002, but a late caution caused major confusion between drivers and officials. Helio Castroneves was declared the winner.

"I got cheated out of that victory at Indy in '02 because I know where my car was in relationship to [Helio] Castroneves' when the caution came out," said the 2003 CART champion.

"Indy is the one thing missing from the top shelf of my trophy room and I'm going there to win the race, not to just make the field or drive around all day. If we don't win, I'll be disappointed."

The 40-year-old Toronto, Ontario native was a regular in the now defunct Champcar World Series, but lost his ride when team owner Gerry Forsythe shut down operations of his race team after open wheel unification.

Tracy ran one race in 2008 at Edmonton, driving a Derrick Walker entry fielded by Vision Racing. The Canadian veteran proved to everyone that day he could still run a car up front, finishing fourth in his home country.

"I've been working on this for a long time and I'm glad to see everything come together," said Vasser, who co-owns KV Racing with Kevin Kalkhoven. "Having GEICO with us is huge and I can't thank Doug enough for putting this deal together.

"What's kind of cool is that I introduced Doug to [Paul Tracy] a few years ago when Doug helped me get a sponsor for my Busch ride."

His big popularity and exciting style of driving is exactly what the Indycar Series needs to sell tickets, but yet he is having a very tough time finding a full-time ride.

After losing sponsorship, KV Racing Technologies were forced to minimize to a one-car operation with Mario Moraes as driver. Last year's drivers, Oriol Servia and Will Power, were released from the team. Power has since been picked up by Penske, but nothing for Servia.

"We're still working on stuff for Oriol and we want to run three cars at Indy if possible," said 1996 CART champion, Jimmy Vasser. "But we're running out of time."

Asked if Tracy's deal could blossom into a full-time deal, Vasser replied: "We hope so if we can do a good job and we plan to do just that. Just getting GEICO involved in Indy-car racing is a good deal and we want to put on a good show for them."

Thanks to speedtv.com for info.

Graham Rahal, IndyCar Series Ready to Hit the Streets of St. Pete

Richard Deveau — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:32:40 -0400

American open-wheel racing fans, teams, and drivers have long awaited the start of the 2009 IndyCar Series; it's finally here!

After a very long winter, team haulers have pulled into the paddock in St. Petersburg and cars have hit the track for Friday practice.

Graham Rahal, driving the No. 02 McDonald's car for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, was fastest in practice with a time of 1:03.4078 seconds.

Justin Wilson clocked a time of 1:03.5881 seconds to come in second, while Dario Franchitti, EJ Viso, and Tony Kanaan rounded out the top five.

"For the whole McDonald’s crew it’s been a pretty good day," said Rahal, defending winner of the St. Petersburg Grand Prix. "This morning we came out of the box and we were 10th and I think some of the guys were a little worked up, but we knew that the car was quick."

"There’s still a little bit left on the table, but overall for the McDonald’s team it's been a good day."

Rahal is ready to make his second appearance at St. Pete, where last year he got his first career victory, making him the youngest race winner in American open-wheel racing. He was 19 years and 93 days old.

Rahal's win also made him the first "transition driver" coming over from the former Champ Car World Series to win an IndyCar Series race.

The only other Champ Car driver to do this was his former teammate at N/H/L Racing, Justin Wilson, who won at Detroit later in the season.

Wilson, now driving for Dale Coyne Racing, was also optimistic about this weekend: "I think we had a pretty good day. The Sonny's Bar-B-Q car was working well and we were able to keep working on it. We were trying to get the ride quality even better to absorb some bumps out here, because that's a pretty big part of it."

"I'm very pleased with the progress," added Wilson. "I think this afternoon is not a true reflection of what we can do or of what everyone else can do because it was pretty messy out there at the end."

"With 22 cars, everyone is eager to get the season started. So there were lots of little incidents going on out there, but I think we are in good shape and hopefully we can stick it in the top six tomorrow and challenge for that pole position."

2004 IndyCar champion Tony Kanaan, who was fifth on the practice charts, was also positive, saying "It was a good day for Team 7-Eleven. We didn't run this morning in the first session, but we have a decent car, so I am pleased and looking forward to qualifying tomorrow."

Numerous drivers are running for the "rookie of the year" award and will be making their first IndyCar Series starts this weekend, including Mike Conway, Robert Doornbos and Raphael Matos.

"This is a great circuit," said British native Conway. "It's all coming back to me now. I ran here in 2003, so I'm just getting back into the swing of it again. We improved quite a lot from the last session to this one, so we are headed in the right direction for tomorrow."

"It's nice to be on a street course; I always enjoy it," said former Champ Car driver Robert Doornbos, who missed out on IndyCar competition last year. "We are just struggling a bit with the setup. Graham tried something with his setup that was really good, so we are going to try it tomorrow."

"It's great for the team to be fast and show that the car can do it. I need to adjust my driving style a little bit for these cars as well. I'm a bit too aggressive maybe, but we will learn. Tomorrow we will be stronger."

Doornbos impressed many in his rookie season in Champ Car, scoring a victory and leading the standings at a certain point. After unification, Doornbos lost his ride, instead racing internationally in A1GP.

Doornbos is definitely a favourite to win this year's rookie title, but has never run an oval race in his career, which will be a huge learning curve for the Dutchman.

Raphael Matos had a bit of a rough day: "Today has been quite difficult. We're just starting together with very little testing and are learning everything as we go. We need to make a lot of adjustments and find some speed in the car. Hopefully we will find the sweet spot."

"I know that team will do everything they can to find it. They are working very hard and will do everything possible to make it right."

Matos has the potential to be competitive after winning the Firestone Indy Lights championship last season.

Speaking of the Firestone Indy Lights Series, young American J.R. Hildebrand took his first pole for race one of two this weekend at St. Petersburg, posting a lap of 1:07.7704 seconds.

Junior Strous, one of 16 rookies in the 27-car Indy Lights field, will start second.

The Indy Lights cars will be on track tomorrow once again for race two qualifying and their inaugural race of the season later in the afternoon. Race two is scheduled for Sunday prior to the IndyCar race.

Of course, it's the beginning of a new season, and all fantasy pool players are making their predictions. So I will make some predictions of my own:

I look into my crystal ball and I see the 2009 IndyCar finale at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, and a champion is being crowned. The silhouette of the car is starting to appear and I see the familiar red and white colors of the Penske Racing cars. And there he is, holding the trophy in his arms. I see Ryan Briscoe!

The Aussie had a rough start to the 2008 season, having some very good runs go bad. Luck was just not on his side and fans were beginning to wonder if Penske should keep him.

But all good stories have a turning point, and it was no different for Briscoe's season. The turning point came a week after the Indianapolis 500, with Briscoe winning at the Milwaukee Mile in Wisconsin. Briscoe's season turned right-side up as he finished the season with six consecutive top-10 finishes, including a second win at Mid-Ohio.

Briscoe then capped off 2008 with a win in his home country of Australia at the Nikon Indy 300, an exhibition race on the Streets of Surfer's Paradise course.

As for this weekend's St. Petersburg Grand Prix in Florida, I once again look into my crystal ball, and this time I see Scott Dixon celebrating on top of the podium.

The Ganassi Racing driver grabbed the championship title last year after a close points battle with Penske driver Helio Castroneves, scoring six wins, including one at Edmonton, which like St. Pete is an airport circuit. I know, only a small portion of the St. Pete circuit is an airport runway, but I pick Dixon anyway!

I hope come Sunday, all your TVs are tuned on to Versus, as they will be broadcasting their first IndyCar race this weekend. For my fellow Canadian fans, let's all hope you subscribed to TSN2, because it's the only way you will be able to watch the race live.

This should no doubt be an exciting season and I am definitely looking forward to it. So get the Lazyboy ready, hang on and strap the ol' television to the floor, 'cause it's going to be a wild ride!

What Lies Ahead for McLaren and Lewis Hamilton?

Richard Deveau — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:46:13 -0400

As the 2009 Formula One season looms over the horizon, fans have a lot to look forward to heading into this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.

Many questions abound for the start of this season, more so than ever maybe. New cars and new technologies make this one of the most unpredictable seasons in F1 history.

New aerodynamic packages are supposedly going to allow for more overtaking, along with the re-introduction of slick tyres. The new KERS system should help also, if it's being used.

This year, race fans will be watching young defending champion Lewis Hamilton as his McLaren team attempts to be world champion for a second consecutive season.

The British driver fought against Brazilian driver Felipe Massa last year, claiming the championship by overtaking the Toyota of Timo Glock on the last turn of the last lap.

Hamilton has shown many skills behind the wheel of his McLaren, such as dominating in the rain at Silverstone or pulling off some amazing passes at Hockenheim.

His aggressive style of driving has impressed and excited fans all over the world, sometimes causing a spark between himself and other drivers.

So does he have what it takes to be a two-time champ in this sport? It's definitely possible and it could happen this season.

But Hamilton and the McLaren team have struggled very much this winter in testing, being on the bottom of the charts for many sessions. The team also admitted that they were slower than expected.

Of course, with these new rules, other teams could improve.

Jarno Trulli reports that the new Toyota is the best he's ever driven and he believes Toyota could finally appear on top of the podium.

The new Brawn GP (the old Honda team), with engines supplied by McLaren, weren't expected to be strong. but they had some very strong runs in testing.

Brawn once even beat the field by an entire second. Watch out for these guys, who could be a dark horse no doubt.

BMW had some strong runs last year, including a win with Robert Kubica at the Canadian Grand Prix. It will be interesting to see if this team improves.

Ferrari is of course a threat for McLaren, as the biggest rivalry in all of motorsports is set to begin.

The Ferrari boys, driven by Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, seem as strong as they've always been and should have another championship potential season.

Then we have Williams, who could unexpectedly return to their winning ways. Not a lot of experience behind the wheel with Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima, but you never know.

The Renault team seems to be struggling in testing also with their new car, but they do have two-time champ Fernando Alonso. Having a slow car did not stop Alonso from winning twice last year.

The Red Bull team will be one to watch and could possibly be McLaren's biggest challenge. Mark Webber brings experience to the team, and they have young sensation Sebastian Vettel, who wowed us last year winning at Monza, in the rain, in one of the slowest cars in the field.

Red Bull seemed strong in winter testing and we should expect to see a win from these boys.

Toro Rosso, Red Bull's sister team, is not expected to be very strong, despite winning a race last year. Sebastien Buemi will participate in his rookie year, and he still has a lot to prove.

Sebastien Bourdais struggled in his rookie season last year, but these new cars have less downforce. This means the new cars will drive more similar to a Champcar, a series that Bourdais dominated, winning five consecutive championships.

That leaves Force India, with engines powered by McLaren. I wouldn't expect much from this team this season, but you never know.

So does Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren team have what it takes to win a second straight championship? Well it's hard to tell, but it will be challenging as this new car opens up the opportunity for other teams to improve.

I believe Hamilton will have his work cut out for himself and it will be harder than ever to complete his goal, but it's possible.

Can McLaren win the constructor's championship? Possibly, but it's definitely no easy task to knock Ferrari off the top. If Heikki Kovalainen has a stronger, more consistent season, it's a high possibility.

But Kovalainen and Hamilton need to get along better, as this has been a problem in the past.

So this weekend, I hope you all watch the Australian Grand Prix, should be a great one.

For those watching in America, the race will be at a funny hour, starting at 2 a.m. ET, but it's worth it. Or you can catch the re-runs later in the morning at a more reasonable hour.

So this year, sit back, relax, and enjoy some good 'ol Formula One racing; should be a great season!

French Grand Prix Gets New Home

Richard Deveau — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:02:30 -0400

This winter, Formula One race fans were informed that the French Grand Prix at the Circuit de Nevers at Magny-Cours was removed from the calendar.

French officials have now made their choice as to where the next French Grand Prix will take place in the future.

Forty kilometres north-west of Paris, a 95 hectare site in Flin-les Mureaux has been chosen as the site to build a brand new circuit. The circuit is expected to be 4.5 kilometres in length.

Along with a conference center that can be used year round, the circuit will cost approximately $144-million US. It was the cheapest of four possible locations.

French architect Jean-Michelle Wilmotte will join British circuit designer Apex, who will be in charge of designing a technically challenging track which will still allow for easy overtaking.

If the circuit gets the go-ahead, it should be ready for the 2011 season.

However, it is still up to Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone to decide if the circuit joins the schedule or not.

In the next few years, races in South Korea, India, and Russia are expected to join the F1 calendar.

The French Grand Prix was run at the Circuit de Nevers from 1992 to 2008. The circuit will not return in 2009 due to financial problems.

JR Fitzpatrick: From Canada's Short Tracks to NASCAR

Richard Deveau — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:47:06 -0400

Not many drivers in NASCAR can say that a whole country is cheering for them, but that's the case for young 20-year-old JR Fitzpatrick.

Canadian race fans have enjoyed watching the Cambridge, Ont., native race in the former CASCAR Super Series as a teenage boy.

Fitzpatrick began his racing career at a very young age.

"I started when I was six," Fitzpatrick said. "My dad sponsored a car and there was a class being developed called the Late Model Junior division. I started running that. Basically I started in go-karts and worked all the way up to Late Models, Super Late Models, and NASCAR Canada, and then to here."

At only 19 years of age, Fitzpatrick was CASCAR's National champ and voted Canadian Racer of the year by Inside Track magazine in 2006.

Fitzpatrick kept racing in Canada when NASCAR bought CASCAR in 2007 to form the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, getting three wins between '07 and '08.

Two attempts at the NASCAR Nationwide Series were unsuccessful in 2007 at the Montreal and Mexico road course races, with the racing cars fielded by his father, John.

"We tried to do a couple of races but had some really bad luck," Fitzpatrick said. "A lot of people don't know that you can't just roll a car into the garage and be competitive. We have a good setup at our place. We have eight cars for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series and everything like that, but these guys are serious about what they do and they find out new things every day.”

"You might see me in some Nationwide stuff this year but nothing's been announced so far."

Last year, Fitzpatrick got his big break, as the TRG Motorsports Camping World Truck Series team invited him to test their truck.

The tests were successful and his first race came at Martinsville, where he managed a 20th place finish. The young racer later impressed his new team by qualifying sixth at Phoenix, but got collected in Ron Hornaday's wreck in the opening laps.

Fitzpatrick remains with the TRG camp for 2009 to attempt a full Truck Series schedule, looking to become Raybestos Rookie of the Year, battling against guys like Ricky Carmichael, Tayler Malsam, and James Buescher, among others.

"We're really going to try," Fitzpatrick said. "I'm with a really good team, and I think we have a good chance of winning rookie of the year. Some of these guys have been to all these tracks before, maybe not in a truck, but they've been in this size tracks.”

Fitzpatrick had Canada on their feet and made every race fan in the country proud as he was leading the Truck race at Daytona last February in the closing laps.

Because of his older tires, Fitzpatrick was eventually passed and he later pitted during a caution. With fresh tires, he made a very impressive run to the front to claim the fourth position.

"I'm still trying to learn the tracks so they have a small edge, but we're just going to do what we do," Fitzpatrick said.

"I had been running in NASCAR Canada back at home and am always looking for a new challenge," Fitzpatrick went on. "Obviously, my goal is to become a full-time race car driver. As of now in Canada, that's not possible. So I'm looking to step up. The competition's great at home but the competition's even more fierce here."

"I'm just trying to learn how forgiving these trucks are," Fitzpatrick also said. "You can really drive them hard. There's a lot of downforce on the front of them so they handle really well. I guess I'm just trying to learn how easy they are.

"It's just how big these tracks are, finding the line, your throttle points, your braking points, if you use brake at all," Fitzpatrick said. "That's the biggest thing I'm trying to learn."

Not only does Fitzpatrick have to deal with driving a truck, but he's also competing at places he's seeing for the first time.

"I'm still trying to learn all these tracks," Fitzpatrick said. "We just couldn't get the push out of the truck [at Fontana]. I had to roll way out of the gas. If I didn't get caught speeding on pit road, we probably would have ended up around 15th, and I would have been happy about that."

Now that the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will not be racing until the last weekend of March in Martinsville, Fitzpatrick is in North Carolina looking for a house. This will stop him from flying back to Canada after every race.

Even though he's moving south of the border, Fitzpatrick is still Cambridge's favorite son.

"They're all very supportive and very pumped up," Fitzpatrick said. "I went into the local Short Stop store and there's a paper with the Daytona race on it and everything like that, so I have a lot of support back home and I appreciate all that."

Goodyear Takes Advantage of Off Weekend in Nascar

Richard Deveau — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:34:50 -0400

Most drivers in the NASCAR garage enjoy kicking back on a rare off weekend from the Sprint Cup Series, whether it's hittin' the dirt track or hittin' the beach.

But some drivers still have to go to work, as Goodyear does some more tire tests at the historic egg-shaped Darlington Raceway in Darlington, SC.

Denny Hamlin, Elliott Sadler, Kevin Harvick, and Bobby Labonte were at Darlington Wednesday to help Goodyear prepare for the race at Darlington in May.

Though this track is NASCAR's oldest speedway, this year will only be the second event at the 1.3 mile track with the new pavement laid out last winter. This should result in better racing and more of the traditional excitement of Darlington.

Tires tend to wear quickly at this track, and managing the wear is key to winning this race.

So even though these drivers would have enjoyed their time off, they realize that it's crucial to give Goodyear the right information about their tires so that they can optimize tire selection for the event.

With NASCAR's test ban, it also gives these drivers a slight advantage.

"They repaved the track last year and you hated to see it in one way but they did a great job and it’s still the same Darlington," said 2000 Southern 500 winner Bobby Labonte, who has shown surprising pace in his first season behind the wheel of the No. 96 Hall of Fame Racing Ford Fusion.

"Speeds have picked up, the surface is smoother but the racing is still great and it still means the same thing to win here."

"Well obviously this is a very historic race track that we go to," said Kevin Harvick, who is yet to win at the historic track. "It still has a lot of the characteristics that it’s had for a number of years so to come here and race as a driver in NASCAR, I think that’s something special to everyone in the garage.

"This is an exciting place for us to race at and to win would be really cool. We’ve been close a couple of times and it would be nice to finally win one here."

"This is a place I got to come to as a kid and watch races because it is not far from where I grew up so to come here and have a chance to win this race is a dream come true," added Sadler, driver of the No. 19 Dodge for Richard Petty Motorsports.

"I love that we race here, I’m glad it’s a night race, it’s a great event for us and since we only come here once a year we put a lot of effort into running well here because Darlington is still a huge cornerstone in our sport and represents where we’ve been and how far we’ve come."

Hamlin has won here twice, in the Nationwide Series, and is hoping that his success rubs off on his Sprint Cup Series No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team to win the big Southern 500.

"Darlington is a great race track for me, I always run well here," he said. "It’s a great race track, I love running here and it’s got so much history. You hated to see it get paved but they did a great job doing it and it still promotes great racing. It’s a great track with great history and you love to win here no matter what car you are in."

Tickets for the 2009 Southern 500, as well as the Nationwide Series event, are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased by calling the track at 866-459-RACE or online at darlingtonraceway.com/tickets/.

FOTA To Propose Big Changes in Formula One

Richard Deveau — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:32:23 -0500

The Formula One Teams Association is prepared to announce radical changes to Formula One in a press conference Thursday.

According to British Web site autosport.com, FOTA will recommend changes to the qualifying format, the current point system, the introduction of mandatory tire changes, and a more open attitude to sharing information with race fans watching races at home and attending the race.

Those changes are believed to be some changes that will be announced at a press conference in Geneva by the FOTA.

Autosport.com also reports that Luca di Montezemolo will give the opening address, prior to a technical presentation from Ross Brawn, a sporting lecture from Martin Whitmarsh, and a commercial address from Flavio Briatore.

In other news, all teams will allow radio transmissions to fans in 2009.

McLaren and Ferrari have finally agreed with the other F1 teams to allow all their radio communications from pit-to-driver to be broadcast on TV.

The top teams have always been against allowing fans to listen to all their radio communications. TV broadcasters were only allowed to use the radios on the cool down laps when the driver was being congratulated on his victory or podium finish.

In the interest of making the sport more accessible to viewers the teams agreed at last week’s meeting of the FIA’s Sporting Working Group in Nice that all broadcasts will open.

Teams have always been forced to share radio messages with race control so that race director Charlie Whiting and his assistant Herbie Blash can make sure nothing illegal, such as team orders, happens.

This is expected to be one of the topics mentioned in the FOTA's press conference in Geneva Thursday, which would fall in the category of making the sport more accessible to fans.

It’s also been agreed that during practice and qualifying teams will share tyre information electronically, so that they no longer have to post a "spy" on the pit wall whose role is to gather such information manually.

Felipe Massa: Races Need to be Shorter

Richard Deveau — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:56:46 -0500

After watching races for years, I have learned that drivers love to share their opinion.

Anxiously waiting for the start of the 2009 Formula One season, one driver has already started.

Felipe Massa, driver for Ferrari, says F1 races need to be shorter.

Massa wishes each Grand Prix would be shorten down by 15 laps from the tail of the 300 kilometre-plus races. He says this before the FOTA alliance's vision for the future of the sport this week, where the topic could possibly be mentioned.

"Too often nothing happens in the last 15 laps," he told the Roman daily La Repubblica.

The Formula One Teams Alliance will announce its plans at a Geneva press conference on Thursday. Present will be all team bosses, including Flavio Briatore.

"We want to see more spectacular Grands Prix and reduce the costs," said the Renault boss by European Publications.

"We want to reduce costs by 40 to 50 percent, and we want teams of 200 people, not two thousand."

IRL Has No Concerns on Cut Tires

Richard Deveau — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:30:25 -0500

After seeing many cut tires during Indycar Series testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Brian Barnhart, president of Indy Racing League's competition division, said Friday he isn't concerned about it.

Twenty-one entries tested this week with no on-track incidents.

"We seem to cut tires each year at the open test, but it doesn't seem to be as bad during race weekends there," he said.

"I think some of them are done on pit road, as there are a few places where the concrete boxes and the asphalt pit lane are a little rough and exposed.

"Because of the long track times, we go yellow for each reported cut, but during the ensuing track inspection, we rarely find anything significant on the track surface.

"Sometimes during race weekends, because the sessions are so much shorter, we don't always go yellow for a cut unless the observers see an object."

Firestone, the tire supplier for the Indycar Series, has had a good reputation with their tires through the years, with very few wrecks caused by tire blowouts.

The Indycar Series season begins on April 5 on the streets of St. Petersburg, FL.

Thanks to indystar.com for information and comments.

Danica Patrick Shows Interest in American Formula 1 Team

Richard Deveau — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:06:52 -0500

Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson officially announced on Tuesday that their new American based race team, USF1, will be joining the Formula 1 grid in 2010.

Since first hearing about this new team, many rumours about who would be drivers have been floating around. Anderson and Windsor have declared that they are hoping to hire American drivers.

One of the names to pop up in the rumour mill was female Indycar star Danica Patrick. The young lady's contract with Andretti-Green Racing is expiring at the end of the '09 season, opening up the opportunity to give Formula 1 a shot.

Patrick says that she's showing small interest.

"F1 is not No. 1 on my list, but a conversation never killed anyone," she said today.

Anderson and Windsor mentioned Patrick today in their list of potential drivers, which included Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal, Alex Rossi, Jonathan Summerton, Kyle Busch, and Scott Speed.

Mario Andretti, who was the latest American driver to win the Formula 1 World Championship in 1978, supports his grandson for the job.

"If I were designing a Formula 1 driver today, I would design Marco," he said.

Like Patrick, Andretti's contract with Andretti-Green Racing expires at the end of the '09 season.

Thanks to indystar.com for information and comments.

Sprint Cup Series at Kentucky Doubtful for 2010

Richard Deveau — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:21:26 -0500

After rumours of Kentucky Speedway joining the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule in 2010 were floating around, a court schedule released Monday appears to be another blow to the track's chances of having NASCAR's premier series.

The antitrust lawsuit between the track founders and NASCAR most likely will not be resolved until at least late May.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Monday released its oral argument calendar for the week of Mar. 9, and the case was not on the docket. The earliest the Kentucky-NASCAR case can now get on the calendar is the two-week session that begins April 20.

It takes at least a month, and typically longer, for the appeals court to render a decision.

NASCAR officials have repeatedly said that the Sprint Cup Series will not be racing at Kentucky as long as the case is unresolved.

New owners of the circuit, Speedway Motorsports Inc., have requested a spot on the 2010 schedule. When SMI bought the track, the former owners retained the rights to the lawsuit.

This means unless the founders of this track do not drop the lawsuit, we will not witness Kentucky Speedway on the 2010 Sprint Cup Series schedule.

Kentucky Speedway is suing NASCAR and sister company International Speedway Corp. on antitrust grounds.

It claims that NASCAR, a sanctioning body owned by the France family, and the publicly traded track-operator ISC, whose majority of voting stock is owned by the France family, illegally conspire to keep tracks such as Kentucky from obtaining Cup dates. SMI is considered a co-conspirator in the case.

NASCAR and ISC deny those claims.

In January 2008, a U.S. District Court judge ruled there was not enough evidence to go to trial. The appeal centers on the validity of the evidence, and if the Kentucky Speedway founders win the appeal, the case would then go back to district court for a trial.

The appeals court could make a decision without a hearing, but it is not expected to do so.

“I wouldn’t speculate as to when the court would hear the case, but I can say that a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series date will not be considered while the litigation against NASCAR, ISC, SMI and others remains,” NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said in a statement Monday.

Thanks to scenedaily.com for information and comments.

Yasukawa Joins Indy Japan 300 Field

Richard Deveau — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:59:30 -0500

Japanese driver Roger Yasukawa will be joining the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing operation for one race in 2009: the Indy Japan 300 in September at Twin Ring Motegi.

Yasukawa will join the team alongside full-time driver Mike Conway.

"I am very excited that I will be racing again at the Indy Japan this year," Yasukawa said. "I ended my Indy 500 last year with results that I did not expect, but I feel confident about this year racing with a solid team."

In his Indycar career, Yasukawa has raced 18 of 36 races with the Dreyer & Reinbold team with the most recent being the 2007 Indianapolis 500. He's been awarded with nine, top-10 finishes, with a best finish of seventh (twice).

"I started talking with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing right after the Indy 500 last year and finally came to an agreement" he said.

"The team has geared up their engineering staff this year, and I am very confident that we are going to be competitive in the race."

The Sept. 19 event will mark Yawukawa's fifth IndyCar Series start at Twin Ring Motegi.

"We love going to race in Japan every year," team co-owner Dennis Reinbold said. "To be a part of a program to put Roger on the grid in front of his home crowd makes us excited.

"The Japanese fans are very enthusiastic, and that energy is infectious. We couldn't be happier to be a part of that pride when we race in the Indy Japan 300 in September with Mike [Conway] and Roger."

Justin Wilson at Dale Coyne Racing for 2009

Richard Deveau — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:57:17 -0500

Dale Coyne Racing has been involved in American open wheel racing for 25 years, competing in CART/Champcar before moving to the Indycar Series after American open wheel unification last year.

Coyne has hired some talented drivers in the past, such as: Bruno Junqueira, Oriol Servia, Michel Jourdain and Alex Barron; but he is yet to make the trip to victory lane.

That could be about to change this year.

Justin Wilson, former Formula 1 driver and winner in both the Champcar World Series and the Indycar Series, is supposedly close to signing a deal with Coyne's team.

Nothing is certain yet, but sources say that Wilson has been in talks with the team for three weeks and they are very close to making a deal.

"I haven't signed a contract yet, and we're still working on some things but it's looking good," said Wilson, who lost his ride with Newman/Haas/Lanigan when no sponsorship could be found.

"I met Bill Pappas (Dale Coyne Racing engineer) yesterday and Dale seems very intent on being competitive, so I intend to make the most it."

Coyne admitted that sponsorship was on the horizon, but that the funding may come from his own pocket.

"I am committed to make it happen because I've got unfinished business in this sport," he said. "Bill is a great fit for this team and obviously Justin is one of the best drivers out there so we're going after it."

Wilson scored five victories in Champcar's final season, finishing second in points behind his teammate at Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, Sebastien Bourdais.

Wilson then made the transition to the Indycar Series, where the road was initially bumpy. But he was able to finish the season well with a victory on the streets of Belle Isle Park in Detroit.

Wilson lost his ride at N/H/L Racing this off-season after Robert Doornbos and Milka Duno were able to bring more sponsorship dollars to the team.

"Is Bruno [Junqueira] out of the picture for 2009? No, we're working on several things," said Coyne. "He's been good for us and I think we were good for him, and we want to run a second car if we can pull things together."

In Tough Economic Times, IRL Cuts Cash Aid to Teams

Richard Deveau — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:30:23 -0500

This strained economy is once again affecting motorsports, with the Indycar Series as it's latest victim.

The Indy Racing League announced Wednesday they will no longer subsidize Indycar teams like they have done in the past.

"It will be 'what you see is what you get,'" said Terry Angstadt, the league's president of competition. "We are working real hard to help secure sponsorship for teams...but writing checks we just can't do."

Last year, teams transitioning from the former Champcar World Series received free engines and cars. Other assorted subsidies have been frequent in the IRL's history.

Angstadt is "relatively secure" in having 22 full time cars this season, and a possibility there could be up to 26, equalling last year's average.

NASCAR Penalizes Teams in All Three Series

Richard Deveau — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:09:33 -0500

NASCAR announced on Thursday penalties in all three of its top series: the Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series, and the Camping World Truck.

Paul Chodora, a licensed crew member in the Sprint Cup Series, has been indefinitely suspended from NASCAR for violating the sanctioning body's substance abuse policy.

Chodora was found to have violated sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and 7-5 (violation of the NASCAR substance abuse policy) of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rulebook.

Moving on to the Nationwide Series, three teams have been penalized for violations after the Camping World 300 at Daytona International Speedway last Saturday.

Blake Bainbridge, crew chief for the No. 09 Ford driven by John Wes Townley, has been fined $15,000 and placed on probation until June 30.

Bainbridge violated sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing), 12-4-I (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules), and 20A-18A (once constructed and installed, the roll cage must be acceptable to NASCAR officials; main roll bar (No. 1) was not round; was altered for clearance) of the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series rulebook.

Jay Robinson was penalized with the loss of 100 championship owner points while Townley was docked 100 championship driver points.

George Bartlett, crew chief of the No. 84 Chevrolet driven by Mike Harmon, has been fined $10,000 and placed on probation until June 30, due to rule violations discovered during post-race inspections.

Bartlett was found to be in violation of sections 12-1, 12-4-I, 20A-2.3A (weight containers welded to the outside of the main frame rails must not contain added weight in any form; added weight to the outside frame rail), and 20A-13E (invalid SFI label).

Team owner/driver Harmon was penalized with the loss of 25 championship owner points and 25 championship driver points for each infraction—totaling 50 points in each category.

Additionally Michael Hobson, crew chief for the No. 0 Chevrolet driven by Danny O’Quinn, Jr., was fined $5,000 and placed on probation until June 30 for violation of 12-1, 12-4-I, and 20A-12.1A(8) (combined spring rate was less than specified; the left front spring rate was less than specified).

Johnny Davis was penalized with the loss of 25 championship owner points and O’Quinn forfeited 25 championship driver points due to the violations, which also were found during post-race inspection.

The penalties handed out weren't over, as there was one more in the Camping World Truck Series.

The No. 33 Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc., driven by Ron Hornaday, Jr., was penalized for violations after the NextEra Energy Sources 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

The team was penalized for using unapproved parts in the shock absorbers.

The No. 33 truck was found to be in violation of 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-1 (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20B-12.3B (all approved shock absorbers must be of nitrogen-gas pressurized mono-tube, deflective disc valve type with an integral gas reservoir with all components as displayed on each manufacturer’s display board: unapproved shock absorber piston) of the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series rulebook.

The violations were found during post-race inspection on Feb. 13.

Hornaday was penalized with the loss of 25 championship driver points and truck owner DeLana Harvick was penalized 25 championship owner points.

Crew chief Rick Ren was fined $5,000 and placed on probation until June 30.

Tony Stewart Not Happy With Goodyear, Again

Richard Deveau — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:00:47 -0500

Surprise, surprise!

Stewart is once again not happy with Goodyear tires, and who could blame him.

During Saturday practice at Daytona International Speedway in anticipation for Sunday's Daytona 500, Stewart, co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, had both his cars damaged.

Teammate Ryan Newman blew a Goodyear tire and spun right in front of his boss, who collected Newman to wreck both cars in turn 2.

After already bad-mouthing Goodyear at last year's Atlanta and Indianapolis races, Stewart seemed even hotter than usual this time.

"It's just a Goodyear right-rear tire," Stewart said. "So it's the same thing everybody has been talking about all week. It's the same stuff that we always talk about every year; the failures that Goodyear has.

"I think that's part of their marketing campaign. The more we talk about it, the more press they get. I think they forget that it's supposed to be in a good way, not a bad way."

Both cars will no doubt be parked for the weekend as the back-up race cars will be rolling out of the haulers for Sunday's big race, meaning both Stewart and Newman will have to start from the rear of the field.

"This one is junk," said Newman, nodding toward his wrecked machine. "The right-rear tire exploded in the middle of [Turns] 1 and 2 there. It gave me maybe 100 yards of a sign that it might. It started with the very, very slightest vibration. I was getting ready to come in and it was too late.

"It was just unfortunate. We took out my teammate. I don't even know who else was caught up in it. I'm just disappointed in the situation Goodyear has put us in... It's ridiculous the situation we are in with these tires."

Stewart, who will use his Budweiser Shootout car in the Daytona 500, was even madder about Goodyear tires.

"It's just frustrating because the gold-and-blue down there [where Goodyear is located in the Daytona garage] are the cause of another deal," Stewart said. "I'm just so tired of talking about Goodyear, it's ridiculous. I'm just over it."

"Apparently this is their marketing strategy to get press. I'm just tired of talking about them, tired of them being an issue. And us talking about them right now isn't going to change anything because it falls on deaf ears and won't change."

Stewart added that he wasn't throwing any blame to Ryan Newman for the incident.

Stewart also said he took no comfort from the fact that his Shootout car was good enough to finish third in that event, reminding reporters that "we haven't really gotten any time in it except when it was really cold and in the dark." Sunday's race will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET, in full daylight.

Asked if he still has a chance to win the 500, Stewart bristled and replied: "I don't know, rocket scientist. I'm sitting here with a backup car. What do you think?"

Stu Grant, Goodyear's director of worldwide racing, said that his company definitely brought a competent tire to Daytona and that Newman's blowout was a result of running over debris.

"The tread is intact on the tire that failed [Saturday]. You can see a clear puncture through the tread and the belt package. The tread is still intact and this incident bears no resemblance to the one that happened on Thursday [on Newman's car during the duels]."

Grant strongly defended the tire Saturday.

"I honestly feel really good about our tire performance. I'm very happy with the tire we brought here," he said. "It's a good-performing tire, a good-wearing tire.

"It allows the drivers to adjust the car and improve the handling. I think they've got a few tools now to set the car up. And honestly, overall, I'm very pleased.

"Don't get them anywhere near me," Stewart said when asked if he had spoken to any Goodyear officials. "Don't bring them anywhere close; don't let them come close. I don't want anything to do with them."

Martin Truex Jr. Sits on Pole For Daytona 500

Richard Deveau — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 17:32:20 -0500

After a long day of qualifying for the Great American Race, the field is set for Thursday's Gatorade Duels at Daytona.

No matter what happens in Thursday's race, the top two qualifiers locked their positions for Sunday's Daytona 500.

Mark Martin, NASCAR veteran qualifying for his first race with Hendrick Motorsports, qualified on the outside of the front row.

Martin drove most of his career with Roush Fenway Racing in the No. 6 Ford. The past two seasons, he drove for Ginn Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc., being a mentor to young rookies Regan Smith and Aric Almirola.

This year, Martin is returning to full time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition as he joins Hendrick Motorsports to drive the No. 5 Kelloggs/Carquest Chevrolet.

Sitting on the pole for the great American race is young Martin Truex Jr., from Mayetta, N.J.

Truex, driving for the newly merged Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, burned up the 2.5 mile superspeedway with a lap of 188.001 mph.

This was no doubt a big relief to the Earnhardt-Ganassi camp, as they have been through a very tough winter.

Last year, due to the economy, Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Chip Ganassi Racing had no choice but to join forces to become Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing. This pole was no doubt a huge load off their shoulders.

“We had a tough winter, you know?” said Truex, who in seven prior attempts at Daytona had qualified higher than 10th just once.

“Everybody read about what was going on and there was a lot of uncertainty throughout part of the winter. I’m just proud of all my guys for all their hard work, for sticking with it.”

Probably the greatest story of qualifying was the performance of Stewart Haas Racing.

Tony Stewart left Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of the '08 season to become co-owner of the struggling Haas CNC organization.

During the off-season, Stewart seemed to turn this team around, hiring Ryan Newman, former Daytona 500 winner, and getting new sponsorship to the team.

It seemed like a big challenge to turn this team around, but Stewart finished third in Saturday's Bud Shootout, impressing many.

The newfound success continued in qualifying as Newman qualified third, and Stewart in 10th.

The Gatorade Duels at Daytona, the two races that will determine the starting lineup for the Daytona 500, will air live on SPEED, starting at 2pm EST.

Michael Waltrip Racing Secures Sponsors for Both Cars

Richard Deveau — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:07:48 -0500

Michael Waltrip, owner and driver of the No. 55 Toyota Camry for Michael Waltrip Racing, does not have to worry about sponsors anymore.

Long-time sponsor NAPA has signed on with the team to be on Waltrip's car.

Waltrip also announced Thursday that he has secured sponsorship for the No. 00, driven by David Reutimann.

Aaron's previously announced they would only sponsor Reutimann for half the season. But after talks with Michael Waltrip and representatives for Michael Waltrip Racing, Aaron's has agreed to sponsor the No. 00 for the full season.

“There’s two reasons why it’s huge,” Waltrip said during NASCAR’s annual Media Day prior to the opening of Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway. "Aaron’s has been a great partner.

The Aaron’s Dream Machine has been the roots for what MWR is today. We raced that car (in the Nationwide Series) from behind my house. Toyota noticed what we did. They said, ‘Hey, we want you to be an owner at the Cup level.' So it’s the reason I’m here today.

“Secondly, they [Aaron’s] stepped up to half season of Cup and I was talking to [Ken] Butler, the CEO, and I said, ‘Reutimann’s going to win. You watch.’ And I said, ‘If he wins in somebody else’s car, that’s going to really get on my nerves, because you guys have put us here. We want him to win in your car.’

"And we were going to leave Daytona and go to California either without a sponsor or a different sponsor. I just couldn’t handle that, so we talked and we worked it out.”

Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Hires Two New Drivers

Richard Deveau — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:08:48 -0500

Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing is the winningest team in American open wheel racing of the past 20 years.

A team known to hire some of the best drivers in the business, they no doubt have had their fair share of success, hiring drivers such as Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Paul Tracy, Bruno Junqueira, Sebastien Bourdais, Christian Fittipaldi, Cristiano Da Matta, Justin Wilson, Oriol Servia, and Graham Rahal.

Two new drivers can be added to the list; one of them fits in perfect, the other one, not so much.

As was expected, Robert Doornbos is now officially a part of the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing operation.

He is expected to be bringing ING as a sponsor, but nothing confirmed yet.

Doornbos raced for Keith Wiggins in the former Champcar World Series, winning two races in 2007, his rookie season. Doornbos was unable to find a ride last year due to the Champcar/Indycar unification, and only made a few appearances in A1GP.

Here's the surprising new hire: Milka Duno!

The female driver from Caracas, Venezuela, has moved away from her former team, Dreyer and Reinbold Racing, to be teammates with Doornbos and Graham Rahal.

Duno began racing Indycars with SAMAX Racing in 2007, after several years of sports car racing. She only ran seven races before joining Dreyer and Reinbold Racing in 2008.

Duno has been sponsored by CITGO for a rumoured $5 million but is thought to have another big sponsor on board for '09.

Sources say that Brian Lisles, team manager at N/H/L Racing, called the Indy Racing League office on Tuesday afternoon to reveal that young Rahal will have two new team mates for the upcoming season.

"I can't tell you anything right now because we have no signatures or contracts signed but we're working on doing the best we can," said Lisles. "We do hope to have some good news for ourselves and the series by the end of the week."

The news came as a surprise to Dennis Reinbold, Milka Duno's former boss. "I don't know anything about that and, if it's true, I didn't see it coming," said Reinbold, who along with partner Robbie Buhl has fielded an Indycar team since 2000.

"We've been talking with her a lot about this season and I'm kind of surprised she didn't let us know. But I guess that's her prerogative."

Reinbold, who signed Mike Conway earlier this year, added that he is still in talks with Townsend Bell and some other drivers about '09. "I don't know what we'll end up as, one or two cars, and we're also working on some single-race deals like Indy and a couple other tracks."

No doubt some great news that through these tough economic times, N/H/L Racing will still be able to field three cars with strong sponsorship.

10 Things You Must Do When Attending a NASCAR Race

Richard Deveau — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:30:10 -0500

Last September, I attended my very first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, NH.

This was no doubt the most exciting and all-time best weekend of my life, and hopefully I'll get to go again next year.

Other than just sitting down in your assigned seat in the grandstands and watching the Sprint Cup race, there are so many other things to do during the weekend.

So I am going to share the ten things you must do when attending a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, to make your weekend just that better. If you've never been to a race before, I suggest you try the things on my list if you ever get the chance to go some day.

10. Shop 'til you drop!

When you first arrive at the race track, you will be absolutely amazed at the amount of souvenir stands; I don't think I had even seen them all.

In every parking lot or camping area, you'll easily find these white tents with tons of NASCAR gear to please any race fan. Though they are pricey, there is some pretty cool stuff you can find.

You will also be astonished by the amount of big eighteen wheelers parked outside the grandstands, all souvenir shops. There is literally a souvenir shop for every single driver in the field.

And the prices are actually cheap; I bought myself a wonderful Jeff Gordon hat for $15, where I would have paid $30 to $40 for the same hat at Wal-Mart.

Everything they sell is high quality, so spend your money like a crazy fool and buy enough gear to make you look like the biggest NASCAR fan on the planet!

9. It's party time!

I guess it's because everyone is at the same place for the same reason, but everyone seems so nice at a NASCAR race.

So as you walk in the parking lot or through the camping lots and you see some tailgaters, don't be scared to stop by and begin a conversation. You'll then realize that you're in their little party, drinking beer and having a good time.

We actually started talking to these tailgaters who were parked beside our rental van.

The races on Saturday were over so we decided to drink a few cold ones before heading to the hotel.

As we spoke to the tailgaters, we realized that more of their friends and girlfriends had arrived and that we were kind of in their little party.

They didn't mind that we hung out with them, they actually cooked us a few hot dogs on the grill, which by the way saved us some good cash that we would have spent at a restaurant.

So when you're at the race track, try mingling with the other fans and you could end up having a great time you weren't even expecting to have. Just remember that everyone around you are NASCAR fans, so that's the perfect way to start a conversation and make some new friends.

8. Check out the cool cars on display.

At some place around the race track, you should find the area where all the show cars are on display.

This is a really neat thing to check out. Get to see some NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars up close, you might even get to sit in one and dream that you're driving at 200mph.

Not only stock cars are on display, but drag racers, sportscars(racing machines and the real street cars), sprint cars, and so many more.

7. Autographs anyone?

Don't you sometimes wish that you could just go up to your favourite driver and have a short chat with him, then get his autograph afterwards. This is possible when attending a NASCAR race.

If you are associated to any sponsors that are involved in NASCAR, try getting your tickets through the company.

Usually, the sponsors have pre-race parties, where drivers make appearances and sign autographs. If you are in some way associated with the sponsor, you should get invited.

If the aforementioned is not possible, get to the track very early on Sunday morning. The previous day, check at your favourite driver's souvenir truck for the time he will be present to sign autographs.

Get in line and you should have no problem getting an autograph.

6. "Clear, clear all around."

If you don't understand what the title for No. 6 is, it is a phrase used very often by spotters to tell their drivers that there are no cars beside them.

To listen to these spotters, along with crew chiefs and drivers, buy or rent a scanner.

Scanners can be bought or rented conveniently at the race track.

When you attend a NASCAR race, there's one luxury you lose from the television, and that's knowing what's going on with the drivers.

On TV, the play-by-play analysts will tell you everything you need to know about all drivers. The way to find out at a live race, is by using the scanner.

Listen to every single driver complain about his awful handling race car, and the crew chiefs telling them what to do.

You can also use your scanner to listen to the radio broadcast, so it's like sitting in your living room again with analysts guiding you through the race.

Here's a small tip, if you plan on buying or renting a scanner, check the Internet at home before leaving for frequencies of each driver and copy them down. It seriously cost me five dollars at the race track for a small piece of paper that had a list of radio frequencies.

5. Oh, the pretty girls.

This one is pretty much for the men.

Not only are the cars beautiful, but the girls aren't too shabby either.

Remember those show cars I mentioned earlier, they usually have hot models (the type you find in car magazines in their bikinis) standing next to the cars, just looking pretty so the boys can stare.

So have fun guys, there's a lot to look at!

4. We now gladly present...

If you didn't have the chance to get an autograph and meet your favourite driver, then be sure to stick around for the driver introductions.

You won't get to meet the drivers and talk to them, but they are standing right in front of your eyes. The same drivers you idolize every weekend through the television screen, are right there in front of you!

Driver intros always happen on the finish line, on a big, fancy looking stage.

It's also the perfect way to get you revved up for another awesome race!

3. The SPEED Stage

For anyone who is familiar with the SPEED channel, this is you absolutely cannot miss.

Get to watch great, live talk shows in person, such as NASCAR Trackside, NASCAR Live, Tradin' Paint, NASCAR Performance and NASCAR Raceday.

This is another good chance to get to see your favourite drivers up close. Drivers get interviewed by the SPEED crew all the time.

It's also a great way to keep you posted on what's going on in the garage area, such as who was good and bad in practice, who got penalized for something, or any kind of news that could happen throughout the weekend.

The great thing about it, is that it doesn't take a VIP pass to visit the SPEED stage. You don't have to pay to be there. You just walk up and enjoy the show!

And who knows, you could get spotted by the camera so all your friends can see you from home!

2. Support the support races!

At every NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event, there are other races that lead up to the big show.

Other races include the NASCAR Nationwide Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, ARCA Re/Max Series, NASCAR Camping World Series (East or West), etc., depending on which race you attend.

I am definitely happy I got to see the support races at New Hampshire, because they were all great.

The day started off with the NASCAR Camping World East Series putting on a great show, with Eddie MacDonald pulling a last lap pass on former Winston Cup driver Steve Park to win!

Then the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour put on the best show of the weekend. Watching them go around a one-mile track was like watching Talladega, and I'm not kidding. Three or two wide racing everywhere, lead swapping each lap, lots of wrecks and some intense battles.

Finally the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series gave us something to cheer about as Ron Hornaday would win as he battled with Johnny Benson.

But the real fun began after the race when the crews of Todd Bodine and David Starr began to brawl in the pit lane, which made the fans cheer louder!

It was funny how no one paid attention to Ron Hornaday doing burnouts; I still wonder why we would rather see a shoving match than a race truck burning out as much as he can.

1. Feel the rush!

If you want to feel the ultimate rush, a feeling so great you will never be able to experience it anywhere else, then follow these simple instructions.

Find the fastest spot on the race track, which is usually the entrance to turn one right before the braking point.

Stand as you close to the fence as you possibly can and wait for a car to come towards you at full speed.

When that car goes by, the big rush I was talking about will be realized.

There is no better feeling in this world than a car going by at high speeds, with the sound of the engine like thunder, only a few feet away from you.

It's very hard to explain, but once you try it, you will immediately know what I'm talking about.

If you don't want to miss some racing action while doing this, try doing it during practice or qualifying.

So if you do these ten things when attending a NASCAR race, you should be in for the weekend of your life.

For all of you race fans attending your first race in 2009, I hope you have an awesome time!

If you're not sure about going, I say you should go because it will be the most awesome weekend of your life!