News for March 12th 2010

Top 10 hotels to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day, which will be celebrated next week, has become a worldwide phenomenon with festivities that occur not only in the United States and Ireland, but also in the Caribbean, New Zealand and Japan.

1. La Stampa Hotel and Spa, Dublin, Ireland

Centrally located in the heart of Dublin, this luxurious boutique style townhouse offers Irish enthusiasts a chance to experience firsthand the world’s premier St. Patrick’s Day Festival, Ireland’s largest national celebration.

2. Fitzpatrick Grand Central Hotel, New York City, New York

Located within the hotel, the Wheeltapper Pub invites parade-watchers to unwind after the largest U.S. St. Patrick’s Day parade in this intimate venue decorated with authentic turn-of-the-century memorabilia from Ireland’s railroad system.

3. The Drake Hotel, Chicago, Illinois

A Chicago icon for more than 80 years, The Drake combines tradition and elegance to create a perfect complement to the city’s historic St. Patrick’s Day celebration, which begins with the world-famous dyeing green of the Chicago River.

Travelers commemorate one of the oldest American St. Patrick’s Day celebrations with a new spin on “green” in Boston’s premier environmentally innovative hotel, which was chosen as one of the five greenest luxury hotels in America by U.S. News & World Report.

5. Hotel Le Crystal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

At the onset of Canada’s oldest St. Patrick’s Day parade, a giant replica of St. Patrick greets parade-watchers and signals the official start of the festival. Afterwards, visitors enjoy a peaceful and cozy stay at Hotel Le Crystal, located just blocks from the parade route.

6. The Bohemian Hotel Riverfront, Savannah, Georgia

Savannah’s foremost luxury hotel blends vintage allure with modern style to create a storied hotel experience. The city’s weeklong St. Patrick’s Day celebration, which draws more than 400,000 visitors, peaks with a grand parade just one block from the hotel.

7. Tropical Mansion Suites, Montserrat, Caribbean

Considered the “Emerald Isle of the Caribbean,” Montserrat has a unique Afro-Irish culture and an impressive weeklong celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Travelers partake in Montserrat’s natural beauty with a relaxing stay at the Tropical Mansion Suites.

8. The Arlington Resort, Hot Springs, Arkansas

Nicknamed the “World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade,” this celebration is truly one-of-a-kind with Irish belly dancers and the Irish Order of Elvis impersonators. After experiencing this quirky parade, visitors relax at the Arlington Resort in historic downtown.

9. Heritage Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand

Located underneath the Heritage Hotel, the distinctive Muddy Farmer Pub contains genuine Irish relics and memorabilia, brought to New Zealand from real Irish pubs, which perfectly enhance Auckland’s exceptional St. Patrick’s Day festivities.

10. Hotel Metropolitan, Tokyo, Japan

While Japan may seem like an unlikely destination for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, Tokyo’s parade is one of the city’s most beloved international events. The Hotel Metropolitan provides travelers with a peaceful urban oasis to unwind in after the parade festivities.

Last but certainly not least is Treasure Island Bed and Breakfast in Alabama near Barber Motorsports and Talladega Superspeedway. For a memorablelodging experience while attending on of the many racing events at one of the two world class racing tracks in the world, this Alabama Bed and Breakfast is centrally located.

Edited: March 12th, 2010

Triple Stint Races

If you were fortunate enough to be trackside at Homestead-Miami last Saturday night, or perched in front of your TV watching SPEED’s GRAND-AM broadcast of the Grand Prix of Miami, you likely witnessed one of the most impressive last-to-first drives we’ve seen in quite some time.

After a hellish sequence of events leading up to the race, Bill Auberlen, and Joey Hand (subbing for an ill Paul Dalla Lana) erased the mounting frustrations experienced within the Turner Motorsports team and a Rolex GT BMW M6 that refused to turn.

Speaking with Auberlen, I asked him to tell you the crazy story of their harrowing weekend and his amazing march from last to the head of the field:

“We came out of Daytona thinking, ‘Man, we have a really good platform.’ And everybody was happy. So all we were going to do was make the improvements of exactly what we wanted: the handling, the power, and all aspects we wanted to. And it was a big list and Will was going to accomplish everything. And he pretty much did everything on the list. We show up at Homestead, we go for the first lap and the load in Homestead on the steering is much more high than it is at Daytona, on the oval, and immediately it blew up the power steering motor. It was a different unit. It was sort of a prototype unit and we were trying because it was a little less expensive, actually, and we were trying it at Daytona and we got it to work; Homestead, bam, it exploded. And I think the units are $15,000 each.

“So then we had one spare, we stick it in, it does one lap and it blows up in the exact same place. And so now you can imagine, we’ve done almost two laps, we haven’t even gotten the stickers off our tires yet and we’ve gone through $30,000 worth of power steering units and this is a disaster, right? There was talk of we don’t have any more powering steering units, we are out. You can’t even turn the car without power steering. It will not steer. So we were really wondering what the heck we were going to do. So there was talk of quitting. But Will [Turner] is not a quitter so he somehow found Allegra Motorsport in Miami. They went to his car, they took his wiring harness out, they went to Riley, they bought a Daytona prototype steering rack. And the crew guys worked all night. They had to modify the entire chassis, a new steering rack, make all the brackets, the mounts. And then they had to weld the steering shafts together in order to make the right length steering shafts, then they had to wire a new harness, the new ECU. All this stuff, nobody knew if it would work.

“Then they bolted it in, it was flawless, absolutely the best it’s ever been. But then the motor misfired so I did 1 – 1 1/2 more laps and the motor was missing quite badly. So now we’re past everything, past warm-up, past qualifying, we haven’t qualified, we haven’t run more than two laps in practices. So they do a shotgun approach. Replace coils – it’s a new motor – replace coils, replace injectors, you name it, it’s everything that would cause a spark problem. So on the grid I do a reconnaissance lap that you do before the race and everything seems good. We put a new set of tires on, fill it up with gas and cross our fingers. And it’s one of those times when the setup out of the box was almost spot-on and the thing was a rocket. And I just love running from the back of the field to the front because it’s entertaining and fun and it puts you in a very specific mindset, and all-attack mindset. And I just went after them, one after another, after another. And we got that thing to the lead. Joey [Hand] got it and he was leading and then we had the only thing that happened to us at the very end, which was a pit stop that went awry and it hurt our race. And that was it.”

Auberlen’s carnivorous style of driving is tough to deal with during a normal event, but with the planets aligning perfectly for the Southern Californian, his appetite was bigger than usual.

“It was. It’s really nice to come on to somebody and your car is working so well, you see their struggle, you’ve already seen them struggling from the straightaway, and it’s like a shark hunting down a fish. By the time you get to them you know their eyes are wide like, ‘Man, where did this guy come from?’ So he’s already in a very defensive state, you’re in a very offensive state, and when you catch them you make quick work of them. A lot of times when you catch people at that fast of a rate they don’t bother putting up a big fight. And for the most part it was very, it was really fun. The funny thing was, Joey wanted to get in and I didn’t want to get out! That’s what Will said on the TV too. When a car’s that good, even though the pedal box is still very hot and our feet were still melting to the floorboards, other than that you just gritted your teeth and you wanted to be part of it.”

Auberlen’s reputation for being a meticulous note taker and for getting involved with every aspect of the team’s performance is legendary. With decades of experience, simply driving the car during the race weekends doesn’t fit his style, and thankfully, his team owner encourages Auberlen to be a part of the planning and development process at all times.

“Well, you know Will. Will is pretty smart when it comes to picking packages and arranging everything. And then in the background I make list after list after list and push and push – they always make fun of me for pushing so hard but I think it’s me pushing and him doing everything that it takes to win and this combination works out very well. We’ve won a lot of races. We’ve won championships. He’s won a lot of stuff. And there’s a big history now with BMW and Turner and it’s definitely a worthwhile relationship, that’s for sure.”

If Auberlen’s Homestead-Miami masterpiece was anything to go by, he and the Turner Motorsports team aren’t far away from their first win with the BMW M6 in their debut Rolex Series season. Rather than bask in their performance from last weekend, Auberlen says everyone is full speed ahead in their preparations for Round 3 at Barber Motorsports Park next month.

“We’re starting to already have conversations about Barber and try to get the car as good as we can. We want to improve on some traction so we’re going to actually modify the back of the car to start improving on that. This car has already done two races but it’s on the third version of front end already since Turner’s owned it. We’re on our third different front suspension geometry configuration. And we’ve moved it and moved it and moved it because right when we got it there was a front steering issue and we addressed it and changed it and fixed it and now we’re already heading to the back on the car. We want more and know we can achieve it.”

Ring of Fire

I don’t remember the age my father imparted the following bit of wisdom, nor do I recall the exact words he used, but it went something like this: Don’t do things on purpose that might kill people.

This has nothing to do with Edwards, Keselowski, their history, NASCAR or any specific series, frankly. We’ve seen sportscar and tin-top drivers try to launch each other into outer space throughout the years, and often at speed approaching what we saw at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Two weeks after the NHRA saw one of its fans suffer a gruesome, horrific death from being smashed by the weight of a 56-pound rear wheel/tire cast from Top Fuel car at over 200 miles per hour, I would have expected the fallout from Carl Edwards making Brad Keselowski’s Dodge look like Shawn White on the half-pipe at the Winter Olympics to have been more, um, serious.

Instead, we’ve seen far too many people excuse Edwards’ behavior, writing it off as an accepted form of vigilante justice. “That’ll teach that snot-nosed kid a lesson” seems to be the popular opinion. I’d agree, if it took place outside of a moving racing car.

When a driver shows his willingness to send a racing car into the stands, it trivializes the loss that the drag racing community suffered and all those who’ve seen the terror that mixing cars or cars part at high rates of speed and fans will produce.

We understand that racing is inherently dangerous – and that’s when everything is going according to plan…when every driver is focused solely on NOT trying to cause an accident. When a driver goes ‘rogue’ and elects to use his or her car to wreck someone, we stray into areas that the sport likely can’t bear to withstand.

Grabbing headlines in the national media due to a spectacular crash is one thing, provided that crash doesn’t hurt any spectators. Imagine the outrage at fan fatalities from a driver intentionally causing a wreck. With the fear mongering wave America is currently subjected to, how long does it take for every cable news channel to run headlines of ‘Is (insert series) the new Bloodsport?’ or ‘Killing its fans for entertainment’s sake?’

The Nancy Grace’s of the world – and her millions of followers – live for this kind of wrongful death story to whip people into a frenzy. And with the cast of jokers we have in congress, how many of you doubt one guy will seize the opportunity to turn a fan’s death from an intentional wreck into his chance to grab the national spotlight and call for auto racing to be banned? It’s a slippery slope to follow.

At a time when dollars are short and sponsors are the most elusive catch in our sport, the last thing we need is to bring the weight of the non-racing media down on us. We can’t afford to scare away the roster of sponsors that are already nervous. Images of the XYZ International-sponsored car upside down in the grandstands will not only cause XYZ to leave the sport permanently, the sponsors of the driver who sent the XYZ-mobile into the stands will also be gone. And then we have years of lawsuits, possible manslaughter charges, the involvement of district attorneys, and the spectacle of an O.J.-esque trial.

All of this simply because one driver wasn’t smart enough to pause for a moment, to ignore the guy in the car ahead of him that he wanted to wreck, and instead, look out into the tens of thousands of people in the grandstands that could have a car sitting in their laps if he opts to use his car as a weapon.

Nelson Piquet Jr. steered himself into a wall at low speed on purpose in F1 – the only person he could hurt was himself – and look at all the negative headlines, bans, and the black cloud it caused. His self-inflicted misery might not have risked any lives, but it did risk his sport. The thought of a driver killing fans — even unintentionally — because he felt the need to mete out justice like he saw it done on the Jerry Springer Show simply isn’t acceptable.

We’ve never really had our judicial system cast its eye on our sport and I don’t want to give them any reason to peel back the covers and begin investigating. I don’t want to see our sport on trial, for laws to be enacted to police how and what drivers do on the racetrack. This is something we’ve self-policed – sanctioning bodies and track owners are always in fear of the big wreck that brings their series into disrepute and forces them into bankruptcy. It’s a precarious situation, and one I don’t want to see jeopardized in the heat of battle.

Carl Edwards never intended for Keselowski to get upside down. I believe him when he says that. But had Brad’s car gotten into the stands and killed a few people, the footage of Edwards’s hands steering his car to the right to wreck Keselowski would be rather damning if played in front of a jury. It would also tarnish the sport like nothing else before.

This is a door we don’t want to open.

Fendered cars foster a level of boldness when it comes to hitting one another that you won’t find elsewhere. I think there’s a feeling of invulnerability – one that possibly allows drivers to turn their brains off from time to time.

There’s a reason why IndyCar drivers don’t retaliate on ovals. I’ve witnessed the effects of wheels going into the stands, seen a row of fans obliterated, and watched as every newspaper and sports-related magazine ran ‘Is racing too dangerous’ stories. And that was sparked by deaths from a genuine, ‘I really didn’t plan for this to happen’ accident.

Letting a driver with a rage-filled myopic view of the world – one where he only sees the car in front of him and not the families that could face the brunt of his actions – isn’t something to be cavalier about. It isn’t about letting a time-honored code be played out. It isn’t about a veteran teaching a rookie a lesson. It isn’t cool.

Like my old man said: Don’t do things on purpose that might kill people. Don’t drag the fans into your own mindless vendettas.

Amidst all of the conjecture, I’m surprised a showman like Humpy Wheeler hasn’t announced something catching like the ‘Ring of Fire.’ Drivers with a beef like Edwards and Keselowski are ushered from their cars after the race, but into a boxing ring, are given headgear and gloves, and are forced to go at it until one of them cries ‘Uncle’ or gets knocked out.

Let the winning driver do his donuts and then pull the boxing ring in on a trailer right in the middle of the grass on the front stretch. Rather than put the fans at risk, they are given even more bang, or in this case, more punch for their buck. Tell me a slow-mo replay of Keselowski hitting the canvas like Brad Pitt in Snatch with his eyes rolled into the back of his head and slobber flying out of his mouth wouldn’t be replayed for years on every channel on the planet.

I’m serious. Tapping another guy’s bumper at 195 mph isn’t a man’s act. That’s the easy way out. I say ‘lace ‘em up boys’ and take it to the ring. Let’s get you out from inside that roll cage, let’s take off the helmet and HANS device, and let’s also remove the fans from being unwilling participants in any on-track madness that might cross your minds.

Maybe a few punches to the head in the Ring of Fire will shake some sense loose.

Hire Ed Carpenter!

Yes, I’m serious about this one.

I’ve taken Ed Carpenter to task for being an incomplete driver in the road course-laden IndyCar Series we have these days, but when it comes to having a highly valuable skill and nowhere to practice it, I’d say the good folks at KV Racing would be smart to hire Ed as an oval coach for Takuma Sato, Mario Moraes, James Rossiter (provided he materializes) and even EJ Viso.

Viso’s growth as a driver was somewhat stunted as HVM doe to the I can barely run an Indy Lights car with this budget he brought, which limited the team’s R&D and had the popular Venezuelan often driving simply to avoid having an expensive crash. His strings of oval accidents scuppered that plan, and cut short his education on the ovals. Carpenter would be a perfect candidate to help get Viso back on track.

For Sato, a talented veteran with no oval experience whatsoever, Carpenter could help bring him along at a much faster pace. I don’t expect Taku to take long to get the hang of oval racing, but with Ed’s help he could be a consistent challenger at more than just the road courses this year.

Oval-only specialists like Ed Carpenter have a limited shelf life these days as the IndyCar Series is in favor of road courses 9/8 for 2010. Looking back at how strong he was last year – almost taking the win at Kentucky – he could become a well-paid professor if he chooses to teach the new drivers his craft.

An Oddy for Audi

In the latest saga of intrigue, gamesmanship and sending of messages through odd actions, we will indeed see Audi and Peugeot go head-to-head at Sebring next week in LMP1, albeit not during any of the official track sessions.

Audi’s new R15s, in its new ‘Plus’ configuration, will wrap up a test a Homestead-Miami this Saturday, then head to Sebring to prepare for a two-day test at Sebring on Monday and Tuesday.

The Mon-Tues test, organized by the Sebring track, rather than ALMS/IMSA, will see the R15s run in anger in full 2010 specification for the first time against many of their 24 Hours of Le Mans rivals, and particularly, the two Peugeot 908 HDi FAPs.

We should be able to draw comparisons between the two diesel titans as both are expected to be on full 2010 ACO specification for the test days. The R15s have already tested at Sebring this year, albeit dressed in their 2009 bodywork. Some changes were made to the drivetrain – most notably within the gearbox – but its aerodynamics, the biggest area of development for the new year, will be revealed on Monday.

The R15 Plus, with a major reworking to the nose ‘chimney’ outlet, and heavy revisions to the ‘through body’ airflow that previously ducted large channels of air between the rear wheels and out the back of the car, will also be seen.

With the ACO calling for the rear of the LMP cars to be enclosed for 2010 – a significant change from previous years – Audi’s through body aero architecture, one they adopted from their DTM cars, has been mostly stifled by the rule change.

The sight of Audi’s on track and in the paddock will be somewhat surreal, knowing they’ve opted not to race. A well-publicized rift with Peugeot where Audi asked to race at Sebring in 2009 specification (only to have the French team block that request) led to the German team’s move to skip the 12-hour classic, and it has now evolved into an even stranger place.

With Audi set to test in 2010 trim, there would be no issue from Peugeot if Audi Sport chose to enter the race, but my guess is that after the decisive ‘Non!’ Peugeot gave Audi’s earlier request, the Ingolstadt-based team is choosing to keep their cars off the track as much as possible prior to Le Mans in order to limit Peugeot’s ability to benchmark their performance.

IMSA’s full timing and data loops – what teams used to monitor each other’s sector times and speeds through numerous sections of the 17-turn track – won’t go live until Wednesday…

Just how the fans react to this intra-diesel soap opera remains to be seen, and I’m sure I won’t be the only one who’s saddened at the thought of Peugeot racing by themselves while the R15’s are on the grounds.

I can’t guarantee what the 12-hour race will be like, but it’s safe to say the Audi vs. Peugeot battle early next week will probably feel like a separate event of its own.

The Belle of the Ball

It’s amazing how in the span of one year, KV Racing has become the team everyone wants to drive for, and the attention is well deserved. Jimmy Vasser, 1996 CART champion and the ‘V’ in KV Racing, told me it was nice to be on the receiving end of so many calls and inquiries by talented (and funded) drivers, and pointed to the efforts of his crew members for their heightened stature.

“It’s just all about the people. I’ve got Mark Johnson, who’s very accomplished, does a great job in teambuilding efforts, so it’s from Mark on down through the line with everybody in the shop and them putting the quality product on the track. And really it’s just that simple really. It’s just about their hard work and the dedication and everybody pulling together and working hard to build the program and put a lot of time and effort and caring into the machines. It’s not a mystery how to succeed. The right people, the right attitudes, and a lot – a whole bunch of really hard work. I think people are really starting to see what KV is made of.”

Mario Moraes had a breakthrough year with KV in 2009, Townsend Bell took fourth for the team at Indy, and part-timer Paul Tracy nearly stole the show at Toronto, all of which has drawn the interest of talents like Takuma Sato and James Rossiter for 2010. While Rossiter is still unconfirmed, Sato made a big splash at the recent series test at the Barber road course, and Vasser thinks they could have the makings of a strong multi-car effort this season.

“Just seeing [Sato’s] work ethic at Barber and the professionalism, everybody was really impressed with his feedback, very clear and precise about the car and engineering and very methodical in his approach. I think that certainly with numerous guys running and E.J. with his experience on the circuit for two years, I think it’s really going to give the engineers a little bit more to work with. It was difficult with one car last year and with Mario’s lack of experience in him being young but he showed great speed and learned a lot from the season. But I think this year we’ll be able to take it to the next level in that respect.”

KV lost engineer David Faustino to Penske Racing for 2010, but wasted little time in replacing him with Bill Pappas. With Pappas lending his considerable knowledge to KV’s expanded team, Vasser says his team is ready to move up the pecking order in the paddock.

“We’re glad to have Bill and his experience. For the most part the program has been intact over the years under the leadership of John Dick as technical director. And I think, again, with more cars and more bright minds in the engineering truck it’s going to allow us to take the next step. And we pride ourselves on having made gains every year forward with the Dallara IRL car. I think we’ve done the same thing over the winter this year. It takes, particularly with all the body kit and all rolling resistance and all the little things that it takes revving on these cars to get the last little bit out of them. We’re really excited to get the season going. And also to have Paul Tracy with us at a handful of events like we did last year at Indianapolis in the Canadian rounds, it will give us a four car attack.

Now with three full-time entries, Vasser said he doesn’t want to take on more than the team can handle. After proving KV was capable of putting their cars amongst the Ganassis and Penskes, expanding to four or five cars isn’t an impossibility, but it would take away from what he sees the trio of Sato/Viso/Moraes being able to accomplish.

“Frankly, I think we’re pretty much at our limit! Last year we had the one car and the year before that too but started really pushing the pencil around and looking at the lack of testing and that multi-car teams are at a bit of an advantage. I’m not surprised Team Penske runs three cars, and Ganassi is looking to expand to three if he can. It’s just advantageous from a financial standpoint and from an engineering one. If and when we’re ready to grow again, we’ll consider it, but for now, we’re at the best place the team has ever been.”

Can I Borrow Your Ladder?

My apologies in advance for disturbing the rotting corpse of open-wheel racing’s ladder system (the hilariously-titled ‘Road to Indy’), but after asking myself why sportscar racing lacks the same kind of step-by-step ladder system for closed-wheel drivers, the answer was obvious: Why create your own ladder when the one IndyCar has works so well?

I’m saying nothing new here, but I couldn’t help but laugh as I’ve seen the three winners of the top open-wheel feeder series from 2009, Star Mazda champ Adam Christodoulou, Atlantic series champ John Edwards, and Indy Lights champ J.R. Hildebrand all find themselves driving sportscars in 2010.

In the irony of ironies, Christodoulou and Edwards are now teammates in a Mazda-supported GRAND-AM Rolex GT RX-8, and Hildebrand has been testing and will possibly race in the ALMS in the Genoa Racing LMPC prototype.

To be fair, Atlantics aren’t, sorry, still getting used to using past tense, Atlantics weren’t part of the Road to Indy, but if I’m looking at the complete failure of open-wheel to hold onto its champions, I can’t help but applaud the manufacturers and teams in GRAND-AM and the ALMS who are willing to recognize talent and put them to work when the Road to Indy has turned into the Road to Unemployment.

Imagine how crazy it would be if the top college baseball prospects were forced to play professional football or basketball because Major League Baseball’s farm system was fundamentally flawed? Now only would it cause young athletes to abandon any hopes of playing in MLB, it would also cause them to skip baseball and begin practicing the other two sports. It would also rob MLB of exciting new stars for the fans to follow.

I’m a big fan of the veterans in most of the popular sports, but I’m equally as interested in how the next generation develops and works their way into rotation. With all three of the 2009 open-wheel feeder series champions landing in sportscars, the IndyCar Series drivers get another year older while their top prospects bring their respective fans to the world of fendered motorsports.

If I’m GRAND-AM or the ALMS, it doesn’t get any better. I get crossover fans, the brightest young stars, and a message to trumpet that parents and sponsors are better served to use the Road to Indy for a limited period before sending their drivers over to establish a career in endurance racing.

And it doesn’t cost me a penny. Open-wheel does all the work and then drops their champions off at my doorstep for free.

How’s that for living in a bizarro world?

Mind you, I can’t blame the open-wheel ladder teams for any of this. They do just what they are supposed to do, and groom young talent as each respective level. Where things fall apart is when the Indy Racing League has turned into the No Hope League for junior drivers.

People are more selective than ever with their sponsorship dollars these days. Any rational person with a dollar to spend can do the math and work backwards – if Hildebrand can’t get an IndyCar ride, why spend money in Indy Lights? If the Atlantic champion can’t get a ride in Lights, why spend money in Atlantics? If the Lights and Atlantic champs can’t get a ride, why spend money in Star Mazda?

If you look at each rung of the ladder and notice the current champion on each step has been forced to jump off it, why bother to send anyone else up the dang thing, except to prepare them to eventually drive a prototype or a GT car?

We’ve seen open-wheelers prove to be some of the fastest sportscar drivers alive, so if the IndyCar Series doesn’t mind that their Road to Indy is really the Road to Daytona or the Road to Braselton, let’s sit back and watch as the sportscar ranks continue to swell at IndyCar’s expense.

Great Grates

A few Daytona Prototypes suffered either partial or complete blowouts of their front louvers at Homestead-Miami, littering the track with carbon fiber shards. The issue of debris on the track grew throughout the race and it made me think that mandating the use of mesh steel liners sandwiched between the louvers and the nose section they mount to would be a fast and inexpensive solution to the problem.

As tire rubber builds up on-track and in the wheel wells, those pieces can grow in size like a snowball rolling down a hill, and eventually, they fall, wedge between the tire and the louver, and get shot out through the louver, sending the rubber and the carbon piece flying.

GAINSCO’s Alex Gurney shared a tale in the post-race press conference about spending a portion of the race with a broken louver limiting his vision. “All of the louvers were breaking off of everybody’s cars, I think, because they were getting a lot of tire pick-up. It would build up underneath in the front tires and hit the louvers and eventually rip them apart. The left front louver came up and stuck in my windshield right in my line of sight, like a perfect square, right in front of my line of sight, and just stayed there until I pitted. I don’t see well at night anyway so that made it a little bit harder too. Definitely lost some time there but we made it to the stop so it was OK.”

The use of steel mesh screens to prevent louver destruction (and the corresponding track debris) isn’t new, and with under 50 dollars in materials and about 90 minutes of work, a nose can be outfitted with them.

For the sake of the show and to cut down the likelihood of tires being punctured by louver shards, it might be a smart and cheap upgrade to implement.

You’re Kidding, Right?

I like Dale Coyne. I really do. He’s a good guy whose commitment to IndyCar racing isn’t hailed often enough. Those are my personal feelings about Dale as an individual. Those were also my feelings about Dale as an Entrant. And then the predictable happened.

This is becoming like a Monty Python sketch. No matter what American institution – something that’s intrinsically and unmistakably ‘us’ – becomes involved in IndyCar racing these days, there’s an absolute mortal lock that an American driver will NOT be hired.

Marines? Brazilian driver. National Guard? Englishman. Boys Scouts of America? Englishman again.

I’m thouroughly convinced that if I started the ‘Americans for America Foundation’ and brought 5 million dollars to an IndyCar team and failed to stipulate an American driver must be signed, we’d have someone from Belgium, Russia or Cuba in the driver’s seat.

It’s guaranteed, right?

Back to Coyne, reader Pat Kleibor echoed the sentiment I’ve seen expressed over and over again since the Alex Lloyd/Boy Scouts of America announcement.

“I know there’s a lot of b.s. & politics involved, but how in the hell can Dale Coyne have The Boy Scouts of America as a sponsor, and not hire an American driver!!!!!!!!! Totally insane—then they wonder why no one is following the series anymore. Pat Kleibor/Franklin, Wisconsin”

Here’s where I take issue with the whole situation. We sang DCR’s praises last year after Coyne made the move to spend his own money and hire a proper driver in Justin Wilson. After amassing the most comical list of ride buyers ever assembled over the past few decades, Dale wised up and realized it was better to spend his own money and succeed than to take a paying driver and have no hope of winning.

Like many of you, I was all over that bandwagon, cheered loudly when Wilson and Coyne won at Watkins Glen, and praised DCR’s rededicated approach.

And then, after one year of doing things the right way, DCR has reverted back to its pre-2009 form. To cap things off, this generation’s biggest no hope ride buyer, Milka Duno, was signed as the full-season entry – the car Wilson drove last year.

I don’t want to sound like I’m harping on Dale unnecessarily – there are some serious financial realities the team has been forced to swallow. Plans unraveled when Justin Wilson refused to sign a long-term contract, and with Z-Line Designs realizing their best chances of being seen on TV was tied to Wilson driving a car with their name on the side, they followed the lanky Brit to Robbie Buhl’s team.

With his ace driver gone, the incredibly sharp engineer Bill Pappas bolted the stable and signed on at KV. In a short span, Coyne lost his best driver, biggest sponsor and the engineer that had the team running up front all year.

Those are the parts of the story everybody already knows. In light of these three pieces falling out of place, signing Duno and taking her sizeable check from the Venezuelan government made sense. But here’s where I still have a major issue with the Boy Scouts program and Dale’s choice of driver.

The original plan was to have Z-Line’s funding for the #18 car, for Coyne to run the #19 Boy Scouts car out of his own pocket, but as any smart team owner would do, he’d use the full funding for the #18 to offset the costs of what he was spending on the #19 until he found new backers to help with the Boy Scouts mobile.

Things looked iffy until Duno and CITGO came along, but now that he has the fully paid #18, there’s no reason not to continue with the #19 as planned, and to put an American in the car.

The heartbreaking part of this entire affair is that Coyne has been saved by CITGO, has been able to keep the Boy Scouts car alive, is still spending his own money on it, but has chosen to look outside the shores.

Alex Lloyd is a damn fine driver; no one doubts that. Dale owns the car and has the right to put anyone behind the wheel he desires to. Alex Lloyd comes with a bit of money, which obviously made the choice an easy one, but we’re faced with the same dilemma.

When given the choice, and even when an owner states he’s going to spend his own money to bankroll the Boy Scouts of America car (as Coyne told me he’d be doing in an interview last January), we’re left with delivering NASCAR, F1 and sportscar another gift wrapped punch line.

“Hey, did you hear who’s driving the Boy Scouts of America IndyCar? He sure as heck ain’t American! Hahahahaha…”

If Coyne wasn’t spending his own money and was forced to take a paying driver to stay alive, I don’t think anyone would mind.

But that’s not what we have here.

I used to get mad when IndyCar drivers wanted to leave for NASCAR, but after this latest episode of an American owner with a uniquely American sponsor choosing to hire yet another non-American driver, I’m giving my full support to any young American driver who chooses to avoid IndyCar racing at all costs

Edited: March 12th, 2010

Rahal to drive Fisher’s car for two races

Is Graham Rahal Heading To NASCAR?

What to make of the surprising news that Graham Rahal will contest two upcoming Izod IndyCar Series races for Sarah Fisher Racing? 

My first reaction is: At least Rahal is in a car and will be able to bank some points and buy some time until he can hopefully put together a program for the rest of the season.

(more…)

Edited: March 12th, 2010

Porsche 250 a Daytona Prototype Championship Indicator

While a victory in the April 10 Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park will not guarantee the Daytona Prototype championship, the winners of  the next event on the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 certainly have history on their side.

The last five winners at the Birmingham, Ala., road circuit have gone on to capture the Daytona Prototype title. Six of the seven winners at Barber have also taken the title in GRAND-AM’s top division. Treasure Island Bed and Breakfast

The Porsche 250, Round 3 on the 2010 schedule, takes the green flag at 1:50 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 10 (SPEED, live). (more…)

Edited: March 12th, 2010

Mann Tests at Barber Motorsports Park

This week Pippa Mann continued her preparations for the upcoming Firestone Indy Lights season, when she and the Sam Schmidt Motorsports Team arrived at the Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama for a one day road course test.

14 cars and drivers participated in Friday’s test, with just one month to go before the season opener at St Petersburg. Mann was tenth quickest in the morning session, ninth fastest in the afternoon, placing her ninth overall.

Speaking about the test, Mann said: “Although there is still some way to go to close the gap to the fastest cars, I’m pleased that I was able to improve significantly on my new tyre runs. Checking the data confirms that I have made good progress since my last outing here, and it is encouraging that, even with a mistake on my fastest lap, we are still running in the top ten.”

Mann will be back in action early next week as the team heads to Sebring for their next pre-season test.

Edited: March 12th, 2010

BMW Signs on as GRAND-AM Rolex Series Official Promotional Partner

When Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas won the second leg of the Rolex Series, the Grand Prix of Miami, last weekend on their No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW Riley, it marked the first-ever overall victory for BMW. This prompted the manufacturing company to sign on in GRAND-AM’s 2010 Manufacturers Official Promotional Partner Program. This grants BMW the rights to use any image, video, logo, or any promotional material produced by GRAND-AM in any of BMW’s relevant campaigns. Additionally, BMW has been granting an additional prize money to BMW teams who carry the BMW decals in GRAND-AM Rolex Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge events.

GRAND-AM Vice President for Marketing and Communcations Kevin Hindson was glad that BMW decided to become one of GRAND-AM’s Official Promotional Partners. He believes that manufacturer support has been significant and essential in making GRAND-AM events the most successful and well-respected in the international motorsports community. With this partnership, BMW has acquired a solid and wide-reaching platform to promote their vision and ideals in providing nothing but the best for the motorsports community.

The third leg for this season’s GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 will be the Porsche 250, which will be held at Barber Motorsports Park on April 8th to 10th. SPEEDTV will be covering the entire event live, and MRN will be broadcasting live on select MRN affiliates.

Edited: March 12th, 2010

NASCAR spoiler tests set for Talladega and Charlotte

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will assemble on Tuesday, March 16 for an important early-season test at Talladega Superspeedway. Approximately 24 teams are expected to participate in the one-day session, which will target a number of mechanical options in advance of the Aaron’s 499 at the track on Sunday, April 25.NASCAR officials will analyze the data gleaned – along with teams’ input – and later make several key decisions for the race. Teams also will test spoilers, which are slated to replace the current wings on the backs of cars. No timetable has been set for the wing-to-spoiler move. (more…)

Edited: March 12th, 2010