IROC at Eldora?/ Kasey Kahne Wins Texas/ Cat Fight/ PRA Big Car Series Update/ Sea Bass, Paul Newman go Sprint Car Racing/ Reunification Update
IROC at Eldora?
Tony Stewart is using his latest IROC win and the signing of Crown Royal as sponsor of the King’s Royal as leverage to try to get an IROC race to Eldora Speedway.
SPEED is reporting that Eldora owner Tony Stewart and IROC sponsor Crown Royal both would like to see the series run on the ½ mile Ohio dirt track some time in the near future. Maybe we could do this in a Silver Crown dirt car? Although I know many readers of this site would also be happy to see the drivers in a winged or non-winged sprint car or a midget.
Kasey Kahne Wins Texas, Other Open Wheelers Not So Lucky
Kasey Kahne won from the pole today at Texas Motor Speedway. The win was his first at Texas
And second on the young season propelling him to third in the points behind Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth.
Tony Stewart finished third. The day was not so bright for Kahne’s fellow Open Wheelers
Ryan Newman wrecked in turns 1&2 by himself.
Carl Edwards slid up, struck another car and spun barely missing Tony Stewart. Edwards struck the inside wall hard but he was ok
J.J. Yeley also wrecked by himself in turns 3&4.
The big story of the day involved Greg Biffle and The always volitile Kurt Busch. Biffle was on a run down the backstretch when he went high in front of Busch. The elder of the firey Busch brothers did not back off the gas
And sent Biffle hard into the wall.
So hard that the race had to be red flagged and the SAFER Barrier had to be repaired.
Cat Fight
But that is not the meat of the story. Much lake Saturday night at the “Ditch,” (old dirt track in West Memphis)
Greg Biffle’s girlfriend went over to chat with Kurt Busch’s girlfriend. No punches were thrown and there was no hair pulling (Kurt’s girlfriend was smart enough to stay on the pit box) but it did make for interresting TV.
To no one’s surprise, Busch claimed it was not his fault.
CORRECTION: In last night's edition, I referred to the woman who confronted Kurt Busch's girl friend as Matt Kenseth’s girlfriend. That was incorrect, it was Greg Biffle's girlfriend. We regret the error.
FOX Improves Broadcast
On the subject of TV, FOX redeemed themselves after two straight weeks of audio problems. The network unveiled their “Crank it Up” feature for pit road, where you could hear all of the action clearly.
The network that delivered the S-word two weeks ago delivered great images this week with their cable cam.
Cup Results Texas
1. 9 Kasey Kahne
3. 20 Tony Stewart
14. 42 Casey Mears
16. 21 Ken Schrader
20. 7 Robby Gordon
22. 24 Jeff Gordon
29. 22 Dave Blaney
35. 18 J.J. Yeley
36. 99 Carl Edwards
39. 12 Ryan Newman
PRA Big Car Series Finds a Home
The Premiere Racing Association has settled into its new offices in Anderson Indiana. In a recent story in The Herald Bulletin written by Ken de la Bastide, Jason McCord and Jason Smith talk about the new Big Car Series and why they located to Anderson instead of Indianapolis. Here is the link to the story. http://www.heraldbulletin.com/local/local_story_097212109.html
Sea Bass and Paul Newman go Sprint Car Racing
Dave Despain uncovered tonight on Wind Tunnel the fact that Paul Newman still likes dirt racing.
Champ Car World Series Team Owner and one of racing’s best friends, Paul Newman (plus star of the greatest hockey movie ever made, Slapshot) took his driver Sebastien Bourdais to Perris Auto Speedway
to go sprint car racing earlier this week. You can see the complete Wind Tunnel interview when it reairs Monday at 2 and 10am eastern.
Sea Bass Wins CCWS Opener
Sebastien Bourdais easily won the Champ Car World Series opener at Long Beach today beating Justin Wilson to the line by 14.096 seconds. Why was it so easy?
A little accident took out a little over one fourth of the field.
The field came down to take the green flag when Bourdais rival Paul Tracy was taken out on the first lap in turn one by his teammate.
Needless to say PT was not in a good mood, ending the season opener too early. The accident shortened the field from 18 to 13.
When the race got going again, veteran driver Jimmy Vasser suffered a loss of power.
Later, rookie Katherine Legge spun in the same place where Paul Tracy spun Saturday. She recovered to finish at the end of the lead lap.
Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach results: (from CCWS)
1. S. Bourdais
2. J. Wilson 14.096
3. A. Tagliani 20.484
4. M. Dominguez 22.611
5. C. da Matta 36.799
6. A. Ranger 54.923
7. J. Heylen 1:01.648
8. K. Legge 1:02.207
9. W. Power 1 Lap
10. A. Pizzonia 1 Lap
11. D. Clarke 2 Laps
12. C. Zwolsman, Contact
13. N. Philippe, Mechanical
14. J. Vasser, Mechanical
15. B. Junqueira, Contact
16. A. Allmendinger, Contact
17. P. Tracy, Contact
18. O. Servia, Contact
Reunification Update
Open Wheel journalist Robin Miller reported on the Sunday edition of SPEED News that
CCWS Lead man, Kevin Kalkhoven and Tony George are still working on reunification efforts. Miller said that several folks you would normally find in an IRL garage were in Long Beach for the weekend.
He added that the potential reunified series could be centered around the Indy 500. Miller is expected to have more in his column on SPEEDTV.com.
Champ Car World Series on NBC
I think the broadcast of the CCWS Long Beach race went well on NBC. I must admit to missing the first lap of the race and prerace, (if there was one).
The production was good. The helicopter shots really made a difference. The announcers selected were solid.
But I did have a problem with “waste of time” reporter Michelle Beisner. The term “waste of time” is not directed at Beisner but to the concept. I like the reports on the atmosphere at the race but I would rather watch the close racing. The network buy only allows for a certain amount of time. Certainly we can do without reports from a Ferris wheel. I watched the race and it was pretty exciting. My problem with the race again this year was the lack of buildup for the end of the race. I was also following Kahne and his quest to win Texas and missed the end of the CCWS race. I got up for a moment to put laundry in the dryer and the CCWS race was over. It has to be tough for race fans when both events end at the same time. It is difficult for both the IRL and CCWS to compete with NASCAR when their event runs approximately and an Open Wheel event runs about 2.5 hours and usually is required to be run during some part of the NASCAR broadcast.
Images courtesy of FOX, NASCAR Digital Entertainment, SPEED, Wind Tunnel, NBC, Champ Car World Series and SPEED News.
Tony Stewart is using his latest IROC win and the signing of Crown Royal as sponsor of the King’s Royal as leverage to try to get an IROC race to Eldora Speedway.
SPEED is reporting that Eldora owner Tony Stewart and IROC sponsor Crown Royal both would like to see the series run on the ½ mile Ohio dirt track some time in the near future. Maybe we could do this in a Silver Crown dirt car? Although I know many readers of this site would also be happy to see the drivers in a winged or non-winged sprint car or a midget.
Kasey Kahne Wins Texas, Other Open Wheelers Not So Lucky
Kasey Kahne won from the pole today at Texas Motor Speedway. The win was his first at Texas
And second on the young season propelling him to third in the points behind Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth.
Tony Stewart finished third. The day was not so bright for Kahne’s fellow Open Wheelers
Ryan Newman wrecked in turns 1&2 by himself.
Carl Edwards slid up, struck another car and spun barely missing Tony Stewart. Edwards struck the inside wall hard but he was ok
J.J. Yeley also wrecked by himself in turns 3&4.
The big story of the day involved Greg Biffle and The always volitile Kurt Busch. Biffle was on a run down the backstretch when he went high in front of Busch. The elder of the firey Busch brothers did not back off the gas
And sent Biffle hard into the wall.
So hard that the race had to be red flagged and the SAFER Barrier had to be repaired.
Cat Fight
But that is not the meat of the story. Much lake Saturday night at the “Ditch,” (old dirt track in West Memphis)
Greg Biffle’s girlfriend went over to chat with Kurt Busch’s girlfriend. No punches were thrown and there was no hair pulling (Kurt’s girlfriend was smart enough to stay on the pit box) but it did make for interresting TV.
To no one’s surprise, Busch claimed it was not his fault.
CORRECTION: In last night's edition, I referred to the woman who confronted Kurt Busch's girl friend as Matt Kenseth’s girlfriend. That was incorrect, it was Greg Biffle's girlfriend. We regret the error.
FOX Improves Broadcast
On the subject of TV, FOX redeemed themselves after two straight weeks of audio problems. The network unveiled their “Crank it Up” feature for pit road, where you could hear all of the action clearly.
The network that delivered the S-word two weeks ago delivered great images this week with their cable cam.
Cup Results Texas
1. 9 Kasey Kahne
3. 20 Tony Stewart
14. 42 Casey Mears
16. 21 Ken Schrader
20. 7 Robby Gordon
22. 24 Jeff Gordon
29. 22 Dave Blaney
35. 18 J.J. Yeley
36. 99 Carl Edwards
39. 12 Ryan Newman
PRA Big Car Series Finds a Home
The Premiere Racing Association has settled into its new offices in Anderson Indiana. In a recent story in The Herald Bulletin written by Ken de la Bastide, Jason McCord and Jason Smith talk about the new Big Car Series and why they located to Anderson instead of Indianapolis. Here is the link to the story. http://www.heraldbulletin.com/local/local_story_097212109.html
Sea Bass and Paul Newman go Sprint Car Racing
Dave Despain uncovered tonight on Wind Tunnel the fact that Paul Newman still likes dirt racing.
Champ Car World Series Team Owner and one of racing’s best friends, Paul Newman (plus star of the greatest hockey movie ever made, Slapshot) took his driver Sebastien Bourdais to Perris Auto Speedway
to go sprint car racing earlier this week. You can see the complete Wind Tunnel interview when it reairs Monday at 2 and 10am eastern.
Sea Bass Wins CCWS Opener
Sebastien Bourdais easily won the Champ Car World Series opener at Long Beach today beating Justin Wilson to the line by 14.096 seconds. Why was it so easy?
A little accident took out a little over one fourth of the field.
The field came down to take the green flag when Bourdais rival Paul Tracy was taken out on the first lap in turn one by his teammate.
Needless to say PT was not in a good mood, ending the season opener too early. The accident shortened the field from 18 to 13.
When the race got going again, veteran driver Jimmy Vasser suffered a loss of power.
Later, rookie Katherine Legge spun in the same place where Paul Tracy spun Saturday. She recovered to finish at the end of the lead lap.
Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach results: (from CCWS)
1. S. Bourdais
2. J. Wilson 14.096
3. A. Tagliani 20.484
4. M. Dominguez 22.611
5. C. da Matta 36.799
6. A. Ranger 54.923
7. J. Heylen 1:01.648
8. K. Legge 1:02.207
9. W. Power 1 Lap
10. A. Pizzonia 1 Lap
11. D. Clarke 2 Laps
12. C. Zwolsman, Contact
13. N. Philippe, Mechanical
14. J. Vasser, Mechanical
15. B. Junqueira, Contact
16. A. Allmendinger, Contact
17. P. Tracy, Contact
18. O. Servia, Contact
Reunification Update
Open Wheel journalist Robin Miller reported on the Sunday edition of SPEED News that
CCWS Lead man, Kevin Kalkhoven and Tony George are still working on reunification efforts. Miller said that several folks you would normally find in an IRL garage were in Long Beach for the weekend.
He added that the potential reunified series could be centered around the Indy 500. Miller is expected to have more in his column on SPEEDTV.com.
Champ Car World Series on NBC
I think the broadcast of the CCWS Long Beach race went well on NBC. I must admit to missing the first lap of the race and prerace, (if there was one).
The production was good. The helicopter shots really made a difference. The announcers selected were solid.
But I did have a problem with “waste of time” reporter Michelle Beisner. The term “waste of time” is not directed at Beisner but to the concept. I like the reports on the atmosphere at the race but I would rather watch the close racing. The network buy only allows for a certain amount of time. Certainly we can do without reports from a Ferris wheel. I watched the race and it was pretty exciting. My problem with the race again this year was the lack of buildup for the end of the race. I was also following Kahne and his quest to win Texas and missed the end of the CCWS race. I got up for a moment to put laundry in the dryer and the CCWS race was over. It has to be tough for race fans when both events end at the same time. It is difficult for both the IRL and CCWS to compete with NASCAR when their event runs approximately and an Open Wheel event runs about 2.5 hours and usually is required to be run during some part of the NASCAR broadcast.
Images courtesy of FOX, NASCAR Digital Entertainment, SPEED, Wind Tunnel, NBC, Champ Car World Series and SPEED News.
posted by Blake Johnson at 5:18 PM
<< Home