Eddie Cheever vs Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti/ IRL and CCWS Timed Races Have to Stop/ Hornish on Letterman Tonight
Eddie Cheever vs Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti
If Indy didn’t get your juices flowing, the renewed Cheever vs Danica and Cheever vs the Andrettis should provide excitement. Sunday at Watkins Glen, former Indy 500 winner, Eddie Cheever was involved in two separate accidents. Cheever and Danica Patrick tangled on a restart and Marco Andretti tangled with the veteran driver. Both Patrick and the Andrettis accused Eddie Cheever of taking them out. Now race tracks that are up next on the IRL schedule are taking advantage of the war of words. Richmond International Raceway used this title for their news release today:
CHEEVER BLASTS ANDRETTI FAMILY, DANICA PATRICK AS INDYCAR SERIES PREPS FOR RETURN TO RICHMOND JUNE 24
“Cheever, who once said racing at Richmond International Raceway is like “flying fighter jets in a gymnasium” might have a couple MiG’s on his tail on June 24,” the news release quipped.
Ding, ding, ding.. “Lets get ready to rumble..” Oh yea tickets are still available for the SunTrust Indy Challenge Presented by XM Satellite Radio “under the lights” Saturday, June 24 at Richmond International Raceway.
Yes some controversy is good for the sport. I am now hooked on Grand Am after watching JC France duke it out in Mexico. The 30-year career of Cheever was called into question Sunday when he was called an “idiot” twice on national TV.
“Cheever took me out on the restart, and that was what put us a lap down,” said Danica Patrick. “It is unfortunate and it is silly. There was no point in doing something so desperate on a restart, but he did it. I don’t know why he was trying to pass there.”
In a news release produced by Cheever Racing, today Eddie Cheever countered, “She did that all by herself.“
Michael Andretti, son of Mario and father and team owner to Marco said on ABC that Cheever "absolutely, on purpose" crashed into him.
The news release from Cheever Racing called the incidents “unexpected bad luck.” Eddie Cheever countered in the team news release: "To think I would intentionally take anyone out is just ludicrous," Cheever said. "It's beyond words. It was a racing accident, pure and simple. There certainly wasn't any intent, so I find the accusations incomprehensible." The soft spoken 1998 Indy 500 winner continued, "No single team is the center of the racing universe, no matter how much they seem to think they are," Cheever said. "Nobody took them out intentionally, so their accusations look a bit ridiculous." The news release then defends Cheever with a little history lesson: ”The feud between Cheever and the Andretti family dates back to 1992, when Mario Andretti crashed into Cheever at Long Beach. It resumed in April, when the Andrettis verbally trashed Cheever after an incident between Marco Andretti and Cheever during practice for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.”
Cheever ended the team news release with the following quotes. ”Let there be no mistake, I would never let any feelings I might have carry over to the race course, where lives are at stake,” Cheever said. “I have lost too many friends to this sport to be so shallow. It was a racing accident, pure and simple. The last I looked, I earned the label of Indy 500 champion; those lobbing unfounded accusations at me have not. I'm not perfect, and neither are my accusers. Let's get back to racing.”
Something tells me this story is not over yet. As I look to the southwest of me, I can see the king of all promoters, Eddie Gossage of Texas Motor Speedway, grinning ear to ear.
IRL and CCWS Timed TV Races Have to Stop
Unless you are NASCAR, getting a race on broadcast over the air national TV these days isn’t going to happen unless you are willing to give a little.
The Indy Racing League has a deal with ABC for x amount of races on ABC this season, the rest are on ESPN. To get that deal, the series obviously had to give a little in the area of time Sunday. With cars sliding all over the track, the IRL shortened the race from 60 to 55 laps so viewers on ABC could see the end of the race. While the shrinking amount of laps, tire and pit strategy did make for exciting racing in the end, it would have been nice to see all 60 laps. But that is the price you pay when you aren’t drawing in the viewers like the NFL or NASCAR Cup. If the IRL can increase viewership and fan base to warrant ABC and all of its affiliates rearranging their broadcast schedules (and this is a big money problem) then we will never see what we saw Sunday. But right now, that is not the case. The best way to gain viewers is expose your self to the biggest audience with a broadcast partner who wants to see you grow. ABC, FOX, NBC and CBS are the best vehicles for this. ABC/ESPN increased their efforts this season to work with the IRL to produce a better product and they are succeeding. Unfortunately that means we lost 5 laps of a great race. The IRL isn’t the only ones out there with this problem. Champ Car purchases broadcast time from NBC and CBS (I am not sure if this is true for the SPEED portion of their schedule).
That means if they purchased 2 hours and 30 minuites, the prerace, race and post race show must all fall in that window. That is why Sunday’s CCWS race ended way too early. Even Kevin Kalkhoven will admit that the split caused NASCAR to gain popularity and pass Open Wheel. The only way to gain back what was lost is to reunify and work with your broadcast partners. Furtunately, we are on the road to reunification. It is bumpy now but hopefully will lead to races that run the full number of laps instead of the mess we saw Sunday in both series.
Dixon Back in the Hunt
With his win Sunday, Scott Dixon propelled himself to second place in the points behind Helio Castroneves (182-170).
Hornish on Letterman Tonight
Sam Hornish was in Richmond today promoting the upcoming race there and probably answering Cheever questions. He is scheduled to appear on the “Late Show with David Letterman” tonight.
TMS offers challenge to Andretti, Unser
King of the promoters, Eddie Gossage is offering a $100,000 sponsorship fee if Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. will “un-retire” one more time and participate with the rest of the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series field in the Bombardier Learjet 500k at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. Unfortunately, Michael Andretti said at Indy that he is done for the season. I wonder if he is reconsidering after last weekend at Watkins Glen?
Champ Car Does Not Need the IRL to Survive
In an article in today’s Toronto Sun, www.torontosun.com/Sports/OtherSports/2006/06/06/1616714-sun.htmlDean McNulty reports that Kevin Kalkhoven wants reunification but does not see the situation as urgent.
Speaking with McNulty at Milwaukee, Kalkhoven said, “I would describe the progress of the talks with Tony on a merger of the two series as slow but steady. I think everyone agrees that open wheel racing would be better off with only one series. Does Champ Car need unity to survive? I can tell you right now that the answer is no.”
Yes Kevin Kalkhoven and Tony George need to take their time to do this reunification thing right. On the other hand, timed races (see above story) will not cut the cheese.
All-Star Challenge Numbers Slip
On the subject of falling numbers, the ratings for NASCAR’s All-Star Challenge on FX are down from 2005, this according to the Sports Business Journal. The 2005 edition pulled a 4.28.
The 2006 version pulled a 3.32. By comparison, Indy 500 Bump Day Coverage on ABC on Sunday the 21st pulled a 1.0. That number was good for the 10 highest sports program on broadcast television for that week. (Research by Katherine Johnson-Reid, SportsBusiness Daily)
Open Wheelers Test at Chicago and Kentucky
Fiver USAC Silver Crown teams tested at Chicagoland Speedway today. Expect a full report on www.usacracing.com tomorrow. Ken Schrader and Dave Blaney also went testing today, the pair took to the track at Kentucky Speedway.
Kraig Kinser and Sam Hornish go Bowling
Kraig Kinser is scheduled to lace up his bowling shoes in Texas for the Sam Hornish Charity Bowling Tournament Wednesday night.
“Bowling isn't exactly my sport,” said Kinser. “But the event is for a good cause and I am proud to do what I can to help raise money for Speedway Children's Charities.”
Kinser is in town for the Sam's Town 400 which is scheduled to go green Friday night at 8:15pm central on SPEED.
Lucas Oil to Indy
The Sports Business Journal reports that Forrest Lucas is moving his company’s headquarters from California to the Indianapolis area.
Open Wheeler Brain Freeze
A combination of operator error and technical issues blocked updates of this website. Due to an error on my part, I was unable to use the wireless internet option on my computer and update this website. The folks at Blogger apparently were also having issues. If you can read this update you know both of these issues have been resolved. I would like to apologize for the interruption in the updates. Thank you for viewing this website.
Indy Star Website Unchanged?
What is going on with the Indianapolis Star’s website. The racing portion of the site, http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=SPORTS01 has not been updated since before the IRL’s race at Watkins Glen. Oh whell I don’t feel too bad.
Chris Economaki on Taped Wind Tunnel
The Dean of Motorsports Journalism, Chris Economaki will be the featured interview on Wind Tunnel on Sunday.
The program will air at its regularly scheduled time of 9pm eastern but will be taped and will not take calls.
Images appearing in this blog courtesy of FX, NASCAR Images, Indy Racing League, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IMS Productions, ABC, SPEED, R.E. Technologies and Champ Car World Series.
If Indy didn’t get your juices flowing, the renewed Cheever vs Danica and Cheever vs the Andrettis should provide excitement. Sunday at Watkins Glen, former Indy 500 winner, Eddie Cheever was involved in two separate accidents. Cheever and Danica Patrick tangled on a restart and Marco Andretti tangled with the veteran driver. Both Patrick and the Andrettis accused Eddie Cheever of taking them out. Now race tracks that are up next on the IRL schedule are taking advantage of the war of words. Richmond International Raceway used this title for their news release today:
CHEEVER BLASTS ANDRETTI FAMILY, DANICA PATRICK AS INDYCAR SERIES PREPS FOR RETURN TO RICHMOND JUNE 24
“Cheever, who once said racing at Richmond International Raceway is like “flying fighter jets in a gymnasium” might have a couple MiG’s on his tail on June 24,” the news release quipped.
Ding, ding, ding.. “Lets get ready to rumble..” Oh yea tickets are still available for the SunTrust Indy Challenge Presented by XM Satellite Radio “under the lights” Saturday, June 24 at Richmond International Raceway.
Yes some controversy is good for the sport. I am now hooked on Grand Am after watching JC France duke it out in Mexico. The 30-year career of Cheever was called into question Sunday when he was called an “idiot” twice on national TV.
“Cheever took me out on the restart, and that was what put us a lap down,” said Danica Patrick. “It is unfortunate and it is silly. There was no point in doing something so desperate on a restart, but he did it. I don’t know why he was trying to pass there.”
In a news release produced by Cheever Racing, today Eddie Cheever countered, “She did that all by herself.“
Michael Andretti, son of Mario and father and team owner to Marco said on ABC that Cheever "absolutely, on purpose" crashed into him.
The news release from Cheever Racing called the incidents “unexpected bad luck.” Eddie Cheever countered in the team news release: "To think I would intentionally take anyone out is just ludicrous," Cheever said. "It's beyond words. It was a racing accident, pure and simple. There certainly wasn't any intent, so I find the accusations incomprehensible." The soft spoken 1998 Indy 500 winner continued, "No single team is the center of the racing universe, no matter how much they seem to think they are," Cheever said. "Nobody took them out intentionally, so their accusations look a bit ridiculous." The news release then defends Cheever with a little history lesson: ”The feud between Cheever and the Andretti family dates back to 1992, when Mario Andretti crashed into Cheever at Long Beach. It resumed in April, when the Andrettis verbally trashed Cheever after an incident between Marco Andretti and Cheever during practice for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.”
Cheever ended the team news release with the following quotes. ”Let there be no mistake, I would never let any feelings I might have carry over to the race course, where lives are at stake,” Cheever said. “I have lost too many friends to this sport to be so shallow. It was a racing accident, pure and simple. The last I looked, I earned the label of Indy 500 champion; those lobbing unfounded accusations at me have not. I'm not perfect, and neither are my accusers. Let's get back to racing.”
Something tells me this story is not over yet. As I look to the southwest of me, I can see the king of all promoters, Eddie Gossage of Texas Motor Speedway, grinning ear to ear.
IRL and CCWS Timed TV Races Have to Stop
Unless you are NASCAR, getting a race on broadcast over the air national TV these days isn’t going to happen unless you are willing to give a little.
The Indy Racing League has a deal with ABC for x amount of races on ABC this season, the rest are on ESPN. To get that deal, the series obviously had to give a little in the area of time Sunday. With cars sliding all over the track, the IRL shortened the race from 60 to 55 laps so viewers on ABC could see the end of the race. While the shrinking amount of laps, tire and pit strategy did make for exciting racing in the end, it would have been nice to see all 60 laps. But that is the price you pay when you aren’t drawing in the viewers like the NFL or NASCAR Cup. If the IRL can increase viewership and fan base to warrant ABC and all of its affiliates rearranging their broadcast schedules (and this is a big money problem) then we will never see what we saw Sunday. But right now, that is not the case. The best way to gain viewers is expose your self to the biggest audience with a broadcast partner who wants to see you grow. ABC, FOX, NBC and CBS are the best vehicles for this. ABC/ESPN increased their efforts this season to work with the IRL to produce a better product and they are succeeding. Unfortunately that means we lost 5 laps of a great race. The IRL isn’t the only ones out there with this problem. Champ Car purchases broadcast time from NBC and CBS (I am not sure if this is true for the SPEED portion of their schedule).
That means if they purchased 2 hours and 30 minuites, the prerace, race and post race show must all fall in that window. That is why Sunday’s CCWS race ended way too early. Even Kevin Kalkhoven will admit that the split caused NASCAR to gain popularity and pass Open Wheel. The only way to gain back what was lost is to reunify and work with your broadcast partners. Furtunately, we are on the road to reunification. It is bumpy now but hopefully will lead to races that run the full number of laps instead of the mess we saw Sunday in both series.
Dixon Back in the Hunt
With his win Sunday, Scott Dixon propelled himself to second place in the points behind Helio Castroneves (182-170).
Hornish on Letterman Tonight
Sam Hornish was in Richmond today promoting the upcoming race there and probably answering Cheever questions. He is scheduled to appear on the “Late Show with David Letterman” tonight.
TMS offers challenge to Andretti, Unser
King of the promoters, Eddie Gossage is offering a $100,000 sponsorship fee if Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. will “un-retire” one more time and participate with the rest of the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series field in the Bombardier Learjet 500k at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. Unfortunately, Michael Andretti said at Indy that he is done for the season. I wonder if he is reconsidering after last weekend at Watkins Glen?
Champ Car Does Not Need the IRL to Survive
In an article in today’s Toronto Sun, www.torontosun.com/Sports/OtherSports/2006/06/06/1616714-sun.htmlDean McNulty reports that Kevin Kalkhoven wants reunification but does not see the situation as urgent.
Speaking with McNulty at Milwaukee, Kalkhoven said, “I would describe the progress of the talks with Tony on a merger of the two series as slow but steady. I think everyone agrees that open wheel racing would be better off with only one series. Does Champ Car need unity to survive? I can tell you right now that the answer is no.”
Yes Kevin Kalkhoven and Tony George need to take their time to do this reunification thing right. On the other hand, timed races (see above story) will not cut the cheese.
All-Star Challenge Numbers Slip
On the subject of falling numbers, the ratings for NASCAR’s All-Star Challenge on FX are down from 2005, this according to the Sports Business Journal. The 2005 edition pulled a 4.28.
The 2006 version pulled a 3.32. By comparison, Indy 500 Bump Day Coverage on ABC on Sunday the 21st pulled a 1.0. That number was good for the 10 highest sports program on broadcast television for that week. (Research by Katherine Johnson-Reid, SportsBusiness Daily)
Open Wheelers Test at Chicago and Kentucky
Fiver USAC Silver Crown teams tested at Chicagoland Speedway today. Expect a full report on www.usacracing.com tomorrow. Ken Schrader and Dave Blaney also went testing today, the pair took to the track at Kentucky Speedway.
Kraig Kinser and Sam Hornish go Bowling
Kraig Kinser is scheduled to lace up his bowling shoes in Texas for the Sam Hornish Charity Bowling Tournament Wednesday night.
“Bowling isn't exactly my sport,” said Kinser. “But the event is for a good cause and I am proud to do what I can to help raise money for Speedway Children's Charities.”
Kinser is in town for the Sam's Town 400 which is scheduled to go green Friday night at 8:15pm central on SPEED.
Lucas Oil to Indy
The Sports Business Journal reports that Forrest Lucas is moving his company’s headquarters from California to the Indianapolis area.
Open Wheeler Brain Freeze
A combination of operator error and technical issues blocked updates of this website. Due to an error on my part, I was unable to use the wireless internet option on my computer and update this website. The folks at Blogger apparently were also having issues. If you can read this update you know both of these issues have been resolved. I would like to apologize for the interruption in the updates. Thank you for viewing this website.
Indy Star Website Unchanged?
What is going on with the Indianapolis Star’s website. The racing portion of the site, http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=SPORTS01 has not been updated since before the IRL’s race at Watkins Glen. Oh whell I don’t feel too bad.
Chris Economaki on Taped Wind Tunnel
The Dean of Motorsports Journalism, Chris Economaki will be the featured interview on Wind Tunnel on Sunday.
The program will air at its regularly scheduled time of 9pm eastern but will be taped and will not take calls.
Images appearing in this blog courtesy of FX, NASCAR Images, Indy Racing League, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IMS Productions, ABC, SPEED, R.E. Technologies and Champ Car World Series.
posted by Blake Johnson at 7:23 PM
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