News for March 10th 2010
Q & A: Franchitti Set To Defend
- Dario Franchitti begins defense of his IndyCar Series championship this weekend in Brazil
They don’t hand out an official “Comeback Driver of the Year Award” in the IZOD IndyCar Series, so Dario Franchitti’s second championship trophy in three years was all-encompassing.Franchitti marked his return from an aborted foray into NASCAR by winning the 2009 Indy Racing League driver’s championship for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Franchitti – who, ironically, spent 2008 driving for Ganassi’s Sprint Cup team – celebrated an open-wheel season during which he posted career-highs for wins and poles with five each. Franchitti finished ahead of teammate Scott Dixon by 11 points, the third-closest margin in series history.
Franchitti left IndyCar at the top of his game after the 2007 season, when he won four races –including the 91st annual Indianapolis 500 – and scored 13 top-five finishes for Andretti Green Racing. Franchitti’s championship margin of victory, again over Dixon, was 13 points. With his Indy 500 victory, Franchitti joined Formula One hero Jim Clark (1965) as the only Scottish-born drivers to win “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (more…)
Edited: March 10th, 2010
Edwards got off very easy
It doesn’t sound very good now.
Carl Edwards intentionally wrecked Brad Keselowski at Atlanta on Sunday and got off with a slap on the wrist Tuesday. Yes, Edwards received a three-race probation, but he gets to keep racing. Yes, he got parked right after he wrecked Keselowski, but Edwards was more than 150 laps down at the time.
I would have given Edwards a one-race suspension and docked the No.99 team some driver and owner points, too.
This is the dark side of “Boys, have at it.” Those four words make economic sense – adding more excitement and selling more tickets. But sometimes, when emotions are boiling, it’s a philosophy that is tantamount to letting the inmates run the asylum.
As Keselowski himself pointed out Sunday, his No.12 car could have killed somebody in the grandstands. Keselowski’s car went airborne after Edwards hit him from behind before flipping and returning to earth.
“It’s not cool to wreck someone intentionally at 195 mph,” Keselowski said.
Now I know these drivers have a checkered history. Keselowski and Edwards had banged into each other earlier in the race. And Keselowski helped send Edwards airborne at Talladega (Ala.) last year, which resulted in one of the scariest wrecks in the history of the sport.
“At least when I did it, it wasn’t intentional,” Keselowski said.
Edwards, of course, didn’t mean to punt Keselowski’s car into the sky Sunday. “I wish that it wouldn’t have gone like it did,” Edwards said shortly after the wreck.
I believe that. But it happened.
NASCAR is trying to spin this by separating Edwards’ retaliatory nudge and Keselowski’s resulting flip, but the fact is one doesn’t happen without the other. Work on the cars all you want, NASCAR, but don’t pretend this is simply an engineering issue.
Edwards was at fault, and he should have been punished more severely.
If you drive 90 mph on a road with a 55-mph speed limit and a policeman catches you, then you get a nasty speeding ticket and pay higher insurance rates. But if you run into another car while you’re doing it and hurt or kill somebody, you’re in a lot more trouble.
Edwards had bad intentions. Think about what would happen if a similar incident occurred in another sport and was obviously intentional. A pitcher beans a batter. A hockey player high-sticks an opponent. An NBA player throws a punch.
Would they be suspended? I think so.
Edwards only seems to have received a stern talking-to and a three-race, double-secret, don’t-do-it-again-and-you’re-OK probation. That’s just not enough.
So what would it take for a driver to actually get suspended for a race under the “boys, have at it” rules?
I have two guesses. Either you seriously maim or kill somebody. Or else you punt Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car into the air instead of Brad Keselowski’s.
Edited: March 10th, 2010
NASCAR Puts Carl Edwards On Probation
After taking out some of his pent up aggression on fellow NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski during Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500, resulting in the No. 12 car taking wing and slamming into the retaining wall and track surface with its roof, NASCAR has put Carl Edwards on probation for three races.
The controversial incident happened after Edwards was put into the wall earlier in the race after contact with Keselowski. The two had tangled previously during last year’s race at Talladega when Edwards went airborne into the catch fence injuring fans.
Edited: March 10th, 2010
Irvan Rocked, Rolled And Swerved
Ernie Irvan was Brad Keselowski before Brad Keselowski was Brad Keselowski.
A driver in the Cup Series from 1987 to 1999 (and eventually named as one of the top 50 drivers of NASCAR’s first 50 years), Irvan’s fierce, take-no-prisoners style of racing earned him the nickname Swervin’ Irvan. Unfortunately, some of the wrecks Irvan caused on the way to establishing himself at stock car racing’s top level also brought along a darker nickname: Gurney Ernie. (more…)
Edited: March 10th, 2010