Who Needs the Chase?/ Rolex Wraps Up in Utah/ California Fight/ Leffler Featured on BGN/ TV Listings

Who Needs the Chase?
Who needs the chase when the IRL has four drivers that could win the IndyCar Series Championship in a non chase format. Now you could argue that the whole IRL season is almost a chase with a 17 race schedule but four guys with a chance to win it in the last race is exciting.

Helio Castroneves is my pick for the 2006 champion. He leads his teammate Sam Hornish by only one point.

There is no driver out there more hungry than Dan Wheldon. Weldon and his teammate

Scott Dixon are close to beating Team Penske for the title. Dixon led the most laps last weekend but didn’t lead the last one. It is Chip Ganassi vs Roger Penske. Penske surprisingly has never won the IRL title. If either Helio or Hornish win Chicagoland, they win the title. Either Weldon or Dixon would to win and have Team Penske have an average to bad day to win the title.

Rolex Wraps Up in Utah
IndyCar Series title contender Scott Dixon is taking the off week to join with Scott Pruettand Luis Diaz to compete this weekend in the nine-hour Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series season finale at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. Panther Racing's Vitor Meira will join Lowe's Fernandez Racing regular drivers Adrian Fernandez and Mario Haberfeld in the No. 12 Daytona Prototype, while Buddy Rice will drive the No. 58 Red Bull Daytona Prototype with regular drivers Darren Law and David Donahue.

On another Open Wheeler related note, one of the best track PR guys in the business, Clark Curtis is now the head track PR guy at Miller Motorsports Park. USAC received first class treatment at Pikes Peak International Raceway, part of the reason why was Clark Curtis. If you live in Utah and are reading this, I highly encourage you to get the camper and go visit this track this weekend.

Win Mopar Thunder Tickets
Something I also encourage you to do is visit www.tjslideways.com to register to win tickets to the Mopar Thunder at the USAC 4-Crown Nationals event at Eldora Speedway. The Four Crown Nationals always prove pivotal in the final points races. This year will be no different. Mopar Thunder is scheduled for September 22 – 23 and coincides with the 25th anniversary of the historic 4-Crown Nationals.

California Fight













Paul Tracy is returning to California site of his last states side fight (San Jose). This time he will drive a car where he can do some “rubbin.” Tracy is scheduled to start his last Busch Series race Saturday night. Paul Tracy reportedly will be making an announcement on SPEED's Trackside Live as to his NASCAR plans for 2007 Friday.













I wonder if he will wear his wrestling mask?

Leffler Featured at BGN
Big Car Series driver, USAC Silver Crown driver and current Silver Crown team owner Jason Leffler is featured in an article by Amanda Brahler at BGNRacing.com.http://www.bgnracing.com/modules.php?name=Features&op=view&rid=292 Leffleris the only Busch only driver in the top 11 in points and has the best finishes of any Busch only driver.

Busch Series Entries for California
9 Kasey Kahne
10 John Andretti
11 Paul Menard
18 J.J. Yeley
30 Mike Bliss
33 Tony Stewart
34 Paul Tracy
38 Jason Leffler
42 Casey Mears
43 PJ Jones
60 Carl Edwards
77 Burney Lamar
88 Robby Gordon
99 David Reutimann

TV Listings
Sept 1
6:30 pm Nextel Cup Qualifying California (LIVE) SPEED
9:00 pm ARCA RE/MAX Series Toledo (LIVE) SPEED
Sept 2
12:00 pm Knoxville Nationals Highlights SPEED
5:00 pm USAC Silver Crown Series Springfield Outdoor Channel
6:30 pm NASCAR Busch Qualifying Fontana (LIVE) SPEED
10:00 pm NASCAR Busch Series Fontana (LIVE) TNT
Sept 3
7:00 pm Bank of America Countdown to Green - California NBC
8:00 pm Nextel Cup Racing from California NBC
8:00 pm The SPEED Report SPEED
9:00 pm Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain Rick Eckert, guest (LIVE) SPEED

Images appearing in this blog courtesy of ABC, ESPN, Indy Racing League, NBC and Champ Car World Series.

Not So Fast Week One

Not So Fast Week One
It is finally here, college football season. Time for the return of Not So Fast. Typically on opening week we see good programs take on great programs in what usually turns into a lopsided affair but you never know. On opening weekend, anything can happen.

Marshall at West Virginia. Marshall is supposed to be up this year. Some people are predicting West Virginia to be in the running for the national title. If WV is to be the champs, they must make it past their pesky instate rivals. West Virginia by 10 or less.

Cal at UTK. Give Phil Fulmer credit, unlike Minnesota who opens with Kent State, UTK is playing a good school. This will be a good test to see if the offense has shaken off their demons from a year ago. UTK will be better this season. Cal will play them close but UTK will win in the end by 7 or better.

Southern Miss at Florida. The questions as to how good these two teams are could be quickly answered this weekend. Southern Miss will bring a good defense, Florida... well they have the coach, players and the swamp. Advantage Florida but this will not be a blowout. Florida by 12 or less.

USC at Arkansas. This is the biggest game in Fayetteville in a long time. The Hogs look to rebound after a tough few years and USC plans to show that they haven’t stumbled. USC is not as good as they once where but Arkansas will not win the National Championship either. USC by 7ish.

Kentucky at Louisville. I love cross state rivalries. The Cardinals are the other favorite in the Big Least. A stumble here and a potential national title is gone. But not so fast! Louisville is not going to choke on opening weekend. Cards by 15.

Game of the Week
Florida State at Miami. Many college football gurus are convinced that either Miami or Florida State will win the national title. Miami looks strong and will probably have their way with their conference. Will they have their way in Tallahassee? Not So Fast! The coeds in the stands and Lee Corso’s college roommate Burt Reynolds will make sure that will not happen. No title for Miami this season as Bobby Bowden gets it done winning by 10ish.

The phrase Not So Fast is my tribute to Lee Corso of ESPN. It is not intended to infringe on any copyright laws or trademarks. For more on Lee Corso, visit his official website at www.leecorso.com.

Look for my rankings Monday night following the Miami/ Florida State game.

Taking a Wild Guess at the 2007 Silver Crown Schedule/ The SPEED Report to get Competition/ Hornish to Try NASCAR?/ Red Hot Roni to IPS

Taking a Wild Guess at the 2007 Silver Crown Schedule

USAC typically does not release their Silver Crown schedule for the next season until late fall or early winter. The series has to wait until companion series like NASCAR and the IRL announce their schedules before UASC can make their announcements. Only two dates have been officially announced for the 2007 Silver Crown season, Phoenix and ORP. NASCAR released their schedule for the NEXTEL Cup Series earlier this week. The IRL has released portions of their 2007 schedule. Our friends over at http://www.tracksideonline.com/ have come up with what the 2007 IRL schedule could look like so we decided it is time for us to do some speculating. The following information with the exception of the Phoenix and ORP races are speculative and the dates have NOT been announced. This report is just for fun. Do NOT plan your vacations around what is written in this article. When a track or USAC officially releases the date of a Silver Crown race, we will let you know. Until then, I hope you enjoy this glimpse of what could be the 2007 schedule.

February 25 Weekend California
It looks like the 2007 USAC Silver Crown season could open up at California Speedway. We are hearing that the series could visit the 1.5 mile oval in 2007. If that is the case then the series would most likely visit the speedway on the NEXTEL Cup weekend of February 25th since the fall Cup date conflicts with the potential DuQuoin 2007 date. It is important to note that while California has announced their Cup dates for 2007, no date has been announced for the Silver Crown Series at California.

March 23-24- Homestead Miami Speedway
No date has been announced for either the IndyCar Series or the USAC Silver Crown Series at Homestead. Our friends at http://www.tracksideonline.com/ are guessing that the IRL could run there on March 24th. If that is the case and Homestead elects to pair the Silver Crown cars with the IRL again then we could see the dates I listed above but again no date has been announced for either series.

May 25 Indiana State Fairgrounds
While no official date has been announced for the Hoosier Hundred, the event normally falls the Friday before the Indy 500. The 2007 Indy 500 is scheduled for May 27th.

June 2-3 Milwaukee Mile
The Milwaukee Mile announced that the IndyCar Series would run there on June 3rd in 2007. At the time of the announcement, they said they had not discussed a 2007 date with USAC. If the Milwaukee Mile elects to bring back the USAC Silver Crown Series to the mile oval and goes with the same race weekend format from 2006, we could see the Silver Crown Series at the historic oval on the morning of June 3rd. Just remember, no date has been announced for the Silver Crown Series at Milwaukee.

June 15 Kentucky Speedway

If Kentucky elects to pair the Silver Crown Series with the Busch Series and the Busch Series takes the same date as 2006, then the Silver Crown cars could run on the 15th. The 2007 NASCAR Busch Series schedule has not been released. The track announced that the IndyCar Series would run on August 11th in 2007 at the 1.5 mile oval. In the news release announcing the date, the track stated that the dates for the rest of the 2007 season would be announced at a later date.

June 29-30 Richmond

No date has been announced for either the IndyCar Series or the USAC Silver Crown Series at Richmond. Our friends at http://www.tracksideonline.com/ are guessing that the IRL could run there on June 30th. If that is the case and Richmond elects to pair the Silver Crown cars with the IRL again then we could see the dates I listed above but again no date has been announced for either series. May 5 and September 8 are the NASCAR weekends at RIR. No date has been announced for the Silver Crown Series at RIR.

July 13 Chicagoland Speedway

NASCAR announced that the NEXTEL Cup Series would race at Chicagoland on July 15 in 2007. If that is the case and the track elects to also pair the Silver Crown cars again with the Cup weekend, we could see the Silver Crown Series race on July 13th if the track sticks to their 2006 race weekend format. No date has been announced for the Silver Crown Series at Chicagoland.

May 16 or July 22 Weekends Michigan
We have heard that Michigan International Speedway may host a USAC Silver Crown race in 2007. NASCAR has schedule NEXTEL Cup races at Michigan on May 17th and August 19th. Our friends at http://www.tracksideonline.com/ are saying that July 22nd could be a likely date for the IndyCar Series to visit Michigan although no date has been announced by the IRL. The August 19th date looks out of the question because it would conflict with the potential Silver Crown race at Springfield. That leaves us with the May 16th weekend with NASCAR or the potential July 22nd weekend with the IRL. Once again the IRL date has not been announced and no 2007 date has been announced for the Silver Crown Series at Michigan.

Aug 3 O’Reilly Raceway Park

Officials at ORP announced that the track will host the JD ByRider 100 on Auguest 3rd as part of the Kroger Speedfest.

Aug 5 Terre Haute
Assuming that USAC returns to Terre Haute after the dustfest that was the 2006 Sumar Classic and assuming that they keep the same date, then we could see the Silver Crown cars on the historic dirt oval on August 5th. Just remember, no date has been announced for the Silver Crown Series at Terre Haute.

Aug 18 Illinois State Fairgrounds
The 2006 Silver Crown race at Springfield was a success. The 2007 Illinois State Fair is scheduled for August 10-19th. Assuming that the promoters go with the same format as 2006 then we could see the Silver Crown cars at Springfield on August 18th. Track Enterprises and USAC have not set an official date for the Silver Crown Series at Springfield.

Sept 2 DuQuoin State Fairgrounds
Smash Mouth will take the stage Saturday before the USAC Silver Crown Series rumbles into DuQuoin next weekend for one of my favorite stops on the schedule. Assuming that the promoters and USAC pick Sunday night before Labor Day for the 2007 date, then the USAC Silver Crown Series will run at DuQuoin on September 2nd in 2007. Track Enterprises and USAC have not set an official 2007 date for the Silver Crown Series at DuQuoin.

Sept 16 Iowa Speedway
Iowa Speedway has announced several dates for their 2007 schedule but has not announced a 2007 Silver Crown date. If the series returns to Iowa on the same date as 2006, then we could see the Silver Crown Series make its return to Iowa Speedway on September 16th. No 2007 date has been announced for the Silver Crown Series at Iowa.

Sept 21-22 Eldora Speedway
If Eldora Speedway keeps the same dates for the Four Crown Nationals for 2007, then we could see the race on September 21-22 at Eldora. No 2007 date has been announced for the Silver Crown Series at Eldora.

Sept 29 Kansas Speedway
NASCAR announced that the NEXTEL Cup Series will run at Kansas on September 30th in 2007. If Kansas Speedway pair the Silver Crown cars with the Cup weekend again and the schedule is the same at this season, then we could see the Silver Crown cars at Kansas on September 29th. No 2007 date has been announced for the Silver Crown Series at Kansas.

November 8 Phoenix International Raceway

PIR has moved the Copper World Classic to November pairing in up with one of the final NEXTEL Cup weekends of the season. The 2007 CWC will again feature the USAC National Midget and Silver Crown Series. The race will be run under the lights.

Note: The story above was just a wild guess of what the 2007 season could look like. The schedule is by no means official with the exception of the Phoenix and ORP dates.

Red Hot Roni in the IPS

Veronica McCann on the left in this photo is slated to make her first start in the Indy Pro Series on September 9 at Chicagoland Speedway. The 22 year old sprint car driver from Australia was recently at the USAC Silver Crown race at Springfield with Lyn St. James. She is looking at several possibilities for the 2007 season in the states. Red Hot Roni is scheduled to take her rookie test on Thursday at Kentucky with Brian Stewart Racing. She will do her rookie test on Aug 31st at Kentucky.

The SPEED Report to get Competition
JAYSKI.com is reporting that ESPN will produce a daily racing program called NASCAR Now. The popular website http://www.jayski.com/ reports that a program host has not been named.

Chase Future not to Bright for Open Wheelers
It doesn’t look good for Open Wheelers looking to get into the Chase. Only four Open Wheelers are mathematically eligible for the Chase. Of those four, half are currently in the top ten with two races to go. Jeff Gordon is in the best shape. The former USAC driver moved up one position in the points to 5th after a 5th place finish at Bristol. Tony Stewart slid to 8th after coming in 22nd at Bristol. Kasey Kahne is on the bubble in 11th just 90 points out of the Chase. Carl Edwards will have to have strong finishes and others will have to falter at California and Richmond for the Silver Crown owner to make the Chase. Edwards is 261 points out of the Chase in 13th.

Open Wheeler Cup Results Bristol
1. (17 Matt Kenseth)
5. 24 Jeff Gordon
7. 99 Carl Edwards
8. 12 Ryan Newman
12. 9 Kasey Kahne
13. 21 Ken Schrader
14. 22 Dave Blaney
17. 42 Casey Mears
22. 20 Tony Stewart
27. 7 Robby Gordon
31. 18 J.J. Yeley

Hornish to Try NASCAR?
Viv Bernstein of the New York Times reports that we could see Sam Hornish Jr. in the ARCA RE/MAX and Busch Series in 2007. Bernstein quotes Roger Penske saying it is not a done deal. The article does say Hornish will compete in the full season in the IndyCar Series in 2007 regardless of what will happen in the fendered cars. http://www.nytimes.com

IRL on Your Cell
The Indy Racing League will soon be coming to a cell phone near you. Michael Smith reports in today’s edition of the Sports Business Journal that the IRL will partner with Digital Orchid Inc. to create screensavers, wallpaper, and incar audio and video. Smith also reports that the IRL is building a special stage to crown the series champion at Chicagoland. The championship presentation will be held on a stage in the grandstand. The final IndyCar Series event of the 2006 season is the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 presented by Mr. Clean at 1:30pm on Sept. 10 at Chicagoland Speedway. The race will be telecast live by ABC.
http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article.main&articleId=51656

2006 Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma Results
1 Marco Andretti
2 Dario Franchitti
3 Vitor Meira
4 Scott Dixon
5 Helio Castroneves
6 Dan Wheldon
7 Jeff Simmons
8 Danica Patrick
9 Sam Hornish Jr.
10 Bryan Herta
11 Tony Kanaan
12 Ed Carpenter
13 Kosuke Matsuura
14 Scott Sharp
15 Buddy Rice
16 Ryan Briscoe
17 Tomas Scheckter
18 Jeff Bucknum

Images appearing in this blog courtesy of R.E. Technologies.

Bristol Update

Edwards Back in Second
Carl Edwards may not win the Busch Series title unless Kevin Harvick decides not to race the last few events of the season. Harvick has a over a 500 point lead and looks to be a lock to win the title. While Edwards will not catch Harvick, he did reclaim second place in the points standings with his eighth place finish last night at Bristol. Jason Leffler also had a good points night moving up to eleventh with his fifth place finish.

Busch Series Bristol Results
1. (17 Matt Kenseth)
4. 9 Kasey Kahne
5. 38 Jason Leffler
6. 39 Ryan Newman
8. 60 Carl Edwards
9. 99 David Reutiman
10. 11 Paul Menard
12. 18 JJ Yeley
14. 10 John Andretti
24. 77 Burney Lamar
25. 66 Ken Schrader

Open Wheelers will have to Dig Tonight
Open Wheel drivers will have to either be carefull or move up through the field quickly tonight if they hope to finish. The majority of the Open Wheelers start outside the top ten. Only Tony Stewart starts inside at 5th. You can easily get caught up in someone elses mess at the shortest track in NASCAR. It will take a little luck and a lot of patience to win tonight.

Open Wheeler Cup Qualifying Bristol
1. (2 Kurt Busch)
5. 20 Tony Stewart
11. 42 Casey Mears
13. 24 Jeff Gordon
17. 21 Ken Schrader
21. 12 Ryan Newman
22. 22 Dave Blaney
25. 18 J.J. Yeley
31. 9 Kasey Kahne
39. 99 Carl Edwards
42. 7 Robby Gordon

Brian Tyler Back on Top

Brian Tyler Back on Top

This season has had its ups and downs for Brian Tyler and his team. They won the second race of the year at Homestead in a great battle with Aaron Pierce. The team looked like it would win it’s second race of the season at Milwaukee but a tap from Aaron Pierce sent Tyler spinning out of first place. The points race has gone back and forth ever since with Bud Kaeding winning two races then Tyler defeating Carl Edwards to win at ORP. The next night Brian Tyler and his team were done early as a result of a multi car pileup while Kaeding went on to take the win. Saturday at Springfield, the ball bounced back into Tyler’s court. Kaeding came into Springfield with a 18 point lead over Tyler. This time it was Kaeding who was forced to retire early. Tyler went on to finish second taking a 26 point lead with him.

“You always want to win but we had a left rear tire vibrating real bad from about halfway in,” stated Tyler. “There at the end from halfway down the straightaway it was a big blur getting off the corner but we held on for second. It was a big points day. Bud had some bad luck like I did last week at Terre Haute. It is racing and you have to be consistent and look at the big picture and if second was as good as we were today we will take it and go to the next race and you know maybe we will be first there.”

Brian Tyler and his No. 21 Team Six R crew will take the points lead into DuQuoin a week from this Sunday. The USAC veteran is not worried about who has the points lead but is more concerned about finishing up front.

“It is too early to worry about points. I have never been a person that worries about points. You know I figure if I run hard and run upfront every race, the points will be there. I let my crew and the rest of the guys worry about the points that way I don’t have to think about it.”

Bud Kaeding looks to get back on Tyler’s heals at DuQuoin. With a strong contingent of drivers and cars this year, anything could happen. We will be there to cover it for you right here on Open Wheeler.

Rookie Open Wheelers Have Tough Night at Bristol
Only one Open Wheeler finished in the top 20 at Bristol Wednesday night. The lone driver was Mike Bliss. The team meetings did not help Erin Crocker as she finished second to last at the tough short track.

Trucks Results Bristol
1. (Mark Martin)
8. Mike Bliss
21. Terry Cook
24. Kraig Kinser
28. Boston Reid
29. Bobby East
35. Erin Crocker

Busch to Canada
Earlier this week we told you that the IRL jet was in Montreal over the weekend. According to Marty Smith of NASCAR.com, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve could be on the 2007 Busch Series calendar.

All images in this update courtesy of RE Technologies.

Crocker Talks about Meetings, Mayfield and Communications/ Where did the Flip Come From?/ Carl’s Response/ Should the NST Reunite with the WoO?

Crocker Talks about Meetings, Mayfield and Communications

Open Wheel driver Erin Crocker talks about team meetings, the Mayfield to Sadler switch and communications in her latest journal entry at NASCAR.com http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/headlines/truck/08/23/ecrocker.road.bristol/index.html that is co-written by David Newton. In the article, she does not make reference to the lawsuit between Jeremy Mayfield and Evernham Motorsports nor does she reference media reports (Sirius Speedway, Wind Tunnel and SPEED) that say Crocker and Evernham are dating.

Instead she talks about a team meeting with herself, her truck team and Ray Evernham. She stated that “Ray was at that meeting, and usually he's not here. It was a good time to throw everything out on the table.” She used the replacement of Jeremy Mayfield by Elliott Sadler as an example of how important communications is saying, “I knew Elliott has had success before and the team has had success before, but you never know how that relationship is going to go. It seemed the team's morale was really up. For whatever reason that 19 wasn't running well and something needed to change.” The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series runs Bristol tonight. We will have a full wrapup of how Crocker and the other Open Wheelers finished tomorrow on this website.

Where did the Flip Come From?
Carl Edwards won the 2004 Truck race at Bristol. Before the race he told a SPEED pit reporter that he does the back flip because he saw then WoO driver Tyler Walker do a back flip when he won and thought it was pretty cool.

On another Edwards note, the Missouri native will be featured on TNT’s prerace show Saturday night. The story will profile “Carl’s Thrill Ride” sweepstakes.

Carl’s Response
We like to pride ourselves on telling both sides of the story. Tuesday NASCAR announced their penalty for Carl Edward’s contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr. following last Saturday’s Busch race at Michigan. Roush Racing issued a response to the penalty but the response came after our deadline and did not make it into Tuesday’s update. Here is their response:

Roush Racing announced today (Tuesday) that Carl Edwards recognizes and accepts NASCAR's penalty and will not appeal.

“I put everything I can into winning races,” stated Edwards. “I was wrecked and I reacted. It was wrong on my part. NASCAR penalized me and I respect that. Most importantly I apologize if I upset any of my fans or sponsors.”

Edwards will drive in both the Busch and Cup races this weekend at Bristol.

Should the NST Reunite with the WoO?

There has been a lot of reunification talk by promoters and fans who would like to see the NST and the WoO become one series again. What do you think? Should the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and the National Sprint Tour become one series again? Vote now by scrolling to the bottom of this page and vote in the web poll.

TNT’s 2007 Broadcast Team Leaves Something to be Desired
Thank goodness that TNT only has six Cup races in 2007.

Their in booth broadcast team is less than perfect to me. Bill Webber always looks like he is bloated and sometimes I wish I could tell Wally Dallenbach to shut up. TNT has announced that both will be back in their broadcast booth for Cup races in 2007.

I can’t stand Bill Webber. He doesn’t hold a candle to Allen Bestwick. Dallenbach does do a pretty good job of providing the proper analysis at the proper time but he is no Benny Parsons. He did do a good job this past weekend while Parsons was out. Wally Dallenbach is better than Darrel Waltrip who shoots off at the handle too much. Unfortunately with Wally comes the worst segment in the history of race broadcasting, Wally’s World.

The segment consists of a celebrity riding in a car screaming while Wally is behind the wheel. Do away with this segment and I think I would give him a thumbs up.

Coming later this week, a conversation with USAC Silver Crown Series points leader Brian Tyler.

All images in this update courtesy of SPEED, NASCAR Images, TNT, NBC and RE Technologies.

I am Trying to Get The Why?/ IRL to Race Montreal in 2007?/ Edwards Receives Busch Probation and Fine/ Springfield Images Posted/ TV Lineup

I am Trying to Get The Why?

SPEED revamped their one hour news program with new anchors, a new set and a new name. The purpose was to draw more viewers in but it may have caused some loyal viewers to tune out.

The new and improved version of Speed News (Now The SPEED Report) claims to answer the “Why” but leaves out a large portion of racing. This week SPEED covered NASCAR Cup and Busch Series, WGP Motorcycle racing, ALMS, CCWS, AMA Superbike, World Rally, ARCA and Hooters Pro Cup. Left out in the video world were the NHRA, WoO, Late Models and USAC.

I like what SPEED did in the programming department tying NASCAR Victory Lane together to The SPEED Report (TSR) and TSR tying together with Wind Tunnel. It keeps the viewers attention and hooks them in to watch all three hours. The problem I saw in last week’s broadcasts was that TSR spent the first ten minutes of the broadcast pretty much talking about what we just saw NASCAR Victory Lane talk about for an hour. If you missed NVL then the recap is good but if you saw the race and saw NVL, then the first 10 minutes of the broadcast killed you. After 6 minutes of Cup highlights, they throw to Bob Dillner who babbles for 3 minutes.

Bob does a good job of getting the story but often talks slowly like he is talking to a child. He needs to “speed” it up. Isn’t that the name of the network?

From there Nicole Manske and Drew Johnson tease the web poll to push people to the website. Common TV practice. 1/6 of the show is now complete and we head to commercial.

Back with 5 minutes of motorcycle racing and then 3 and half minutes of the ALMS at Road America. I do like a little bit of quick commentary by the folks that called the races. It gives you more than just the highlights. To commercial again and 1/3 of the show is now over. Nicole and Drew return to talk more NASCAR.

This time they spend 5 minutes telling the story and getting analysis from Jeff Hammond who is in the studio. (Wait, didn’t we just see this during the NASCAR prerace show on SPEED, yep, same footage.) They need to find a way to do this segment faster. Unless you just turned on the tube, you probably are hearing this again for the umpteenth time. We are back again from break and only ¾ of the show left so let’s pick up the pace. A good quick wrap up of what is going on in CCWS with Paul Tracy (tease Wind Tunnel appearance) and Cristiano da Matta’s recovery.

It only takes 2 minutes and we are cooking with grease. The other big NASCAR story of the week was the bumping and grinding between Dale Earnhart Jr. and Carl Edwards in the Busch Series. That and highlights all in 3 minutes and this segment is done. Back from commercial and I am beginning to feel the air sucked out of the room. Time to get childish with the “Angry Minute” which features to commentators in this case Bootie Barker and Robin Miller taking pot shots at each other’s favorite form of racing. This is a waste of time. This WOT actually goes more than 1 minute, more like 3 by the time the intros and anchors are done babbling.

I am about to throw something at the TV when they finished the segment by playing a comment by Will Farrell who babbles something incoherent that someone thought was funny as SPEED but did not translate to me at home. Only 20 minutes left now in the broadcast. We are going to have to pick up the pace if we are going to ever see any USAC or WoO highlights.

To the AMA Super Bike Series (which airs on SPEED) for 3 minutes of highlights and analysis, then to commercial. Back for a short stretch of ARCA (which can be seen on SPEED) and Hooters Pro Cup (which can be seen on SPEED). I think I am seeing a trend here. This quick segment takes about 2 and ½ minutes to complete. Back from commercial and the horse can see the barn with 10 minutes left in the program.

To World Rally (which can be seen on SPEED) for 2 minutes of highlights then to the Fast Five Moments of the week. Hey check out the bottom of the screen. It’s USAC! USAC has made the SPEED Report!

Oh wait, I could have read this on the internet. Why do I need to read the bottom crawl cleverly titled “the Fast Lane” when all of that info can be viewed off the web? Commercial. Back for the last 5 minutes of the program and what do I see, not highlights but a graphic saying “Bobby Santos went from last to first to win $50,000 “Big Car” USAC midget race at Stafford Speedway.”

Ok now my intelligence has been insulted. If there are any SPEED employees reading this:
A. The PRA “Big Car Series” is not the same as USAC.
B. A midget is not the same as a “Big Car.”
C. USAC did not race at Stafford on the night in question, it was the PRA.

GET A CLUE PEOPLE!

Congratulations to Bobby Santos for getting it done twice in the same night at Stafford.
Nicole and Drew now end the show without showing a second of grass roots open wheel racing. I guess the 15 minutes rehashing the 1 hour NASCAR Victory Lane program took too much time away from the Open Wheel highlights. I guess if SPEED does not carry your race, you won’t get on.

A Better Way
I agree that there are more people out there that would like to see Cup highlights than USAC highlights but there is a better way. Why doesn’t SPEED take the unused highlights that didn’t make the show and put them on their website? You can promote that the highlights can only be seen at SPEEDtv.com and drive more viewers to your website. Just a thought.

Kudos also go out to Nicole Manske who shed that awful looking dress last week for something a little more nicer.

The SPEED Report has improved in some areas but needs work in others. There is not enough time to get to what folks like I want to see (USAC and WoO). Why not put unused highlights on the SPEED website? I think it could work.

A quick note on Wind Tunnel while we are still on the subject of SPEED. The funniest part of the Paul Tracy interview came when Paul told Robin Miller,

“You are safe because you are not French,” in reference to his two scuffles. He then added, “San Jose was my fault. The deal with Bourdais was just a racing incident. The only reason I was fined because I was on probation. Talladega nights was the story of myself and Bourdais. The film studio only used NASCAR to get more people to see it.” Tracy rightly pointed out that he caused the wrecks but did not start either of the fights.

Enough bitching, now on with the news...

IRL to Race Montreal in 2007?
Our friends over at TrackSideOnline.com have reported that the IRL is looking at staging a race at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal in 2007. Over the weekend the jet that is used to shuttle IRL personnel to and from races flew to Montreal International according to FlightAware.com http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N1RL. Champ Car World Series will race at that very same 2.709 mile road course this weekend.

Edwards Receives Busch Probation and Fine
Carl Edwards is now on probation in both the Cup and Busch Series. He was already on probation in the Cup Series for a incident at Pocono. Today NASCAR put him on probation in the Busch Series for hitting Dale Earnhardt’s car following the completion of last weeks Busch Series race. His Busch probation will last until Dec. 31 and he was also fined $20,000.

Springfield Images Posted
Images from Springfield have been posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/92448439@N00/sets/72057594134006261/ and in the photo section at www.retechracing.com.

Two Open Wheelers in ARCA Field
Two Silver Crown drivers will race this weekend at the Governor’s Cup ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Milwaukee Saturday. Justin Allgaier will drive the No. 16 Auto Xpress-Hoosier Tire Midwest-USAF Chevrolet entry and Peter Shepherd will attempt to race for a second time this season at the mile behind the wheel of the No. 39 Griddly Headz Gamez-Beavex-Logel's Auto Parts Ford. Shepherd raced in the Silver Crown event at Milwaukee earlier this season.

Open Wheeler Truck Entries Bristol
10 Terry Cook
16 Mike Bliss
17 David Reutiman
21 Bobby East
25 Boston Reid
46 Kraig Kinser
98 Erin Crocker

Busch Series Entries Bristol
9 Kasey Kahne
10 John Andretti
11 Paul Menard
18 JJ Yeley
38 Jason Leffler
39 Ryan Newman
60 Carl Edwards
77 Burney Lamar

TV Listings
August 23
8:30 pm NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Bristol (LIVE) SPEED
August 25
3:30 pm NASCAR Nextel Cup Qualifying Bristol (LIVE) SPEED
5:00 pm NASCAR Busch Qualifying Bristol (LIVE)
7:00 pm Nextel Cup Happy Hour Practice - Bristol(LIVE) TNT
7:45 pm Busch Series Racing from Bristol TNT
August 26
5:00 pm USAC Sprints from Salem Outdoor Channel
7:00 pm Bank of America Countdown to Green - Bristol TNT
7:30 pm Nextel Cup Racing from Bristol TNT
August 27
1:30 pm CCWS Montreal NBC
3:00 pm Rolex Sports Car Series Infineon Raceway SPEED
3:30 pm IRL Infineon Raceway ESPN
8:00 pm The SPEED Report SPEED
9:00 pm Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain (LIVE) SPEED


Images appearing in this blog courtesy of NASCAR Images, SPEED, NBC, Champ Car World Series and R.E. Technologies.

Silver Crown by the Numbers

Silver Crown by the Numbers
The following information was taken from results that I have archived from the 2005 and 2006 USAC Silver Crown seasons to date. Other information was pulled from USAC media guides from 2001 – 2006. The results of this study are property of Open Wheeler. Please contact the web master (see right side of the page) for permission if you would like to use the results in any form.

The USAC Silver Crown Series has taken a lot of heat this season. Some deserved and some that is unfair. I thought I would crunch some numbers for you to give you a big picture.

The 2006 season features 14 events up from the 10 of 2005. The last time the series ran 14 events was 2000. Like 2005, this season will see 5 dirt races. With 4 races to go, here is where we stand.

Driver Count
Right now, only 4 drivers have run every race this season. 2003 also saw only 4 drivers run every race. 2002 and 2001 saw 9 drivers run every race. So far, 9 teams have appeared at every event.

Car Count
In 2005 Phoenix and ORP tied for highest car count at 45 while Eldora had the lowest of 24. This season, the low point was in Phoenix with 12 cars but the dirt low was set at Terre Haute at 26, still higher than the 2005 low. USAC is down an average of 8 cars on dirt.

Finishing Races
There has been much talk about cars not finishing races this season. The highest percentage of cars to finish a pavement race in 2005 was 69% at Pikes Peak compared to the 71% at Homestead. The lowest amount to finish in 2005 was 39% at the Hoosier Hundred. This season the lowest average to finish was 36% at Chicago and ORP. The average number of cars to finish a race is down 6% on dirt and 10% on pavement from 2005 to this season.

Cars on the Lead Lap
Phoenix saw the most cars finish (57%) on the lead lap in 2005 while Homestead saw 64% finish on the lead lap in 2006. However the number of cars finishing on the lead lap is down 5% on dirt and 10% on pavement from 2005 to 2006.

There is still 2 dirt and 2 pavement races to go in the season. While we have seen cars not finish races this season, we have seen the same in 2005. The obvious difference from 2005 to this season is the smaller car count on pavement but that is to be expected with a change in the style of car. The key will be getting more car owners for 2006. I don’t have the answer and I just didn’t tell you anything you or USAC doesn’t know. They are working on it and I expect a larger car count in 2007. The results of my research are posted below.

There have been 7 teams/ cars that have run all of the races so far:
1. 21 Team Six-R (Tyler)
2. 29 BK Leffler
3. 199 Carl Edwards/ RE Tech
4. 26 Sam Pierce
5. 00 Reutiman
6. 1 Team Six-R (Steele)
7. 17 RW Motorsports

So far in 2006, 4 drivers have started 10 events.
In 2005, only 7 drivers started all 10 races that season.2004 also saw 7 drivers compete in all 13 events.2003 saw only 4 drivers start all 12 events.2002 saw 9 drivers start all 10 events.2001 had 9 drivers start all 13 events.2000 had 7 drivers start all 14 events.

Car count
2005
Phoenix 45
Hoosier Hundred 43
Terre Haute 32
Richmond 33
Pikes Peak 39
Milwaukee 36
IRP (now ORP) 45
Springfield 39
DuQuoin 33
Eldora 24
Average dirt (excluding DuQuoin and Eldora) 38
Average pavement 40

2006
Phoenix 12
Homestead 14
Hoosier Hundred 34
Kentucky 13
Richmond 14
Chicagoland 14
Milwaukee 13
ORP 14
Terre Haute 26
Springfield 31

Average dirt 30
Average pavement 13

Number of cars to finish the race
2005
Phoenix 24 out of 37 65%
Hoosier Hundred 13 out of 33 39%
Terre Haute 15 out of 27 56%
Richmond 19 out of 33 58%
Pikes Peak 22 out of 32 69%
Milwaukee 19 out of 33 58%
IRP (now ORP) 22 out of 32 69%
Springfield 19 out of 30 63%
DuQuoin 22 out of 33 67%
Eldora 12 out of 24 50%

Average dirt 55%
Average pavement 64%

2006
Phoenix 7 out of 12 58%
Homestead 10 out of 14 71%
Hoosier Hundred 17 out of 34 50%
Kentucky 8 out of 13 62%
Richmond 5 out of 14 36%
Chicagoland 6 out of 14 43%
Milwaukee 8 out of 13 62%
ORP 6 out of 14 43%
Terre Haute 12 out of 26 46%
Springfield 16 out of 31 52%

Average dirt 49%
Average pavement 54%

Number of cars to finish on the lead lap
2005
Phoenix 21 out of 37 57%
Hoosier Hundred 12 out of 33 36%
Terre Haute 13 out of 27 48%
Richmond 13 out of 33 39%
Pikes Peak 13 out of 32 41%
Milwaukee 13 out of 33 39%
IRP (now ORP) 5 out of 32 16%
Springfield 14 out of 30 47%
DuQuoin 10 out of 33 30%
Eldora 7 out of 24 29%

Average dirt 38%
Average pavement 38%

2006
Phoenix 7 out of 12 58%
Homestead 9 out of 14 64%
Hoosier Hundred 13 out of 34 38%
Kentucky 5 out of 13 38%
Richmond 3 out of 14 21%
Chicagoland 2 out of 1414%
Milwaukee 4 out of 13 31%
ORP 4 out of 14 29%
Terre Haute 6 out of 26 23%
Springfield 12 out of 31 39%

Average dirt 33%
Average pavement 28%

Number of cars to drop out of the race
2005
Phoenix 13 out of 37 35%
Hoosier Hundred 20 out of 33 61%
Terre Haute 12 out of 27 44%
Richmond 14 out of 33 42%
Pikes Peak 10 out of 32 31%
Milwaukee 14 out of 33 42%
IRP (now ORP) 10 out of 32 31%
Springfield 11 out of 30 37%
DuQuoin 11 out of 33 33%
Eldora 12 out of 24 50%

Average dirt 45%
Average pavement 36%

2006
Phoenix 5 out of 12 42%
Homestead 4 out of 14 29%
Hoosier Hundred 17 out of 34 50%
Kentucky 5 out of 13 38%
Richmond 9 out of 14 64%
Chicagoland 8 out of 14 57%
Milwaukee 5 out of 13 38%
ORP 8 out of 14 57%
Terre Haute14 out of 26 54%
Springfield 15 out of 31 48%

Average dirt 51%
Average pavement 46%

All statistics were researched by and are the property of the webmaster. To use these stats, please contact the webmaster or do the research yourself. DON’T STEAL.

Hines Wins Springfield after Dave Steele is Disqualified

Hines Wins Springfield after Dave Steele is Disqualified

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Tracy Hines was the man to beat Saturday afternoon at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois. Hines was in the top eight in practice times, set a new track record and led the most laps during the race. Only one driver stood in his way and that was pavement expert Dave Steele who took the lead from Hines on lap 65. Steele crossed the finish line first but failed post race technical inspection when his car did not make weight according to USAC rules. Tracy Hines was 12th quick early in the first practice session of the morning. At the end of practice Hines had improved to 8th quick. Brian Tyler was 6th quick in that session and Dave Darland paced the field. USAC utilized group qualifying Saturday. That resulted with Tracy Hines shattering the track record for the one mile Springfield oval at 29.305 at 122.846mph. Dave Darland timed in second quick at 29.766. Bryan Tyler would start 6th, Steele 15th and points leader Bud Kaeding 18th. The green flag dropped and immediately the red flag came out when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. flipped wildly in turn two after making contact with two other cars. Stenhouse was uninjured. Tire wear would be a factor in the race. Dave Darland blew a tire on lap 41. The same fate would find points leader Bud Kaeding on lap 67. Meanwhile Brian Tyler was moving forward looking to make it a three peat at Springfield. On the final restart Tyler chased Hines but could not pass him. The second place finish propelled Brian Tyler to the lead in the seesaw points chases. Tyler and Bud Kaeding have traded the points lead several times this season. The Michigan native now leads Kaeding by 26 points. Wayne Reutiman Jr. experienced mechanical problems sending him to 4th place in the drivers points and Aaron Pierce to 3rd. Carl Edwards/ R.E. Technologies Racing jumped from 5th to 3rd in the owner’s points with the 5th place finish by Jerry Coons Jr. The USAC Silver Crown Series now has two dirt and two pavement races left on the 2006 schedule. The series will be in action two weeks from this Sunday on September 3rd at DuQuoin, Illinois.

Dave Steele DQed at Springfield 3:50pm

Dave Steele DQed at Springfield 3:50pm
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Tracy Hines won the USAC Silver Crown race at Springfield after Dave Steele was QDed for being to light. Brian Tyler was second. Full story later today on this website.

Hines Sets New Track Record 11:45am

Hines Sets New Track Record 11:45am

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Tracy Hines set a new track record grabbing the pole today at Springfield with a time of 29.305 at 122.846mph. The old record was 29.776 set in 2005 by Josh Wise. Hines set the time on his last lap of the group qualifying session. Dave Darland was second quick followed by Jay Drake. Local driver Justin Allgaier is fourth quick. The Springfield native is scheduled to drive in the ARCA RE/MAX Series race here tomorrow. Full results are posted at www.retechracing.com in the Live Trackside portion of the website. DuQuoin remains the fastest dirt mile in the USAC Silver Crown schedule. Tyler Walker holds the track record there at 29.138. The ARCA trucks are now on the track. We will probably not see a non-qualifiers race today. The Silver Crown feature is schedules for 1:30pm.

Darland Leads Practice at Springfield 11am

Darland Leads Practice at Springfield 11am
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Dave Darland led the first practice session at the Tony Bettenhausen 100 today. Darland turned a time of 30.978 in the second practice session. A complete listing of times has been posted in the Live Trackside section at www.retechracing.com. Live qualifying will not work today because USAC is using the group qualifying style. I will post the results as soon as they are available.

Good Day for Racing 8am

Good Day for Racing 8am
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Hello again this time from the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Thirty-nine cars are on the pre-entry sheet for today’s race. Crews are currently working on their cars getting them ready for racing. Road crews are also working in the pit area to clear the main stage of equipment from last nights Big and Rich concert. Tonight the Goo Goo Dolls and Counting Crows take the stage. We are under cloudy skies and the temperature is climbing but should be more comfortable that past years. The track looks a little damp from last night’s rain but should be in good shape by the time to race. Below is the pre-entry list.

1 Dave Steele
4 Shane Cottle
7 Cole Carter
10 Josh Wise
12 Jeff Swindell
15 Teddy Beach
20 Ron Gregory
21 Brian Tyler
22 Levi Jones
26 Aaron Pierce
27 Mat Neely
29 Bud Kaeding
32 AJ Fike
33 Roger Rager
35 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
36 Chappy Knaack
37 Tracy Hines
43 Johnny Parsons
45 Donnie Beechler
48 Shane Hollingsworth
51 Russ Gamester
52 Jay Drake
55 Randy Bateman
56 Dave Darland
59 Dickie Gaines
62 Tim Siner
63 Ray Bull
77 Chris Urish
86 Justin Allgaier
90 John Heydenreich
91 Derreck King
96 Rodney Weesner
99 Paul White
114 Davey Ray
153 Tom Capie
155 Alex Shanks
156 Hud Cone
199 Jerry Coons Jr.
00 Wayne Reutiman Jr.

Good Morning from Springfield 5:30am

Good Morning from Springfield 5:30am
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Good morning from Springfield, Illinois where we are under partly cloudy skies and the temperature is 70F. The forecast for today has greatly improved overnight. The National Weather Service forecast http://www.crh.noaa.gov/forecast/MapClick.php?site=ILX&map.x=143&map.y=151 is a little behind as there is no rain on the radar headed to Springfield in the next two hours. All the precipitation is south of the area and moving east. The Weather Channel forecast http://www.weather.com/weather/local/USIL1114?from=search_city looks great. I am leaning more towards their forecast today.

It should be a great day of racing as fans will see both the USAC Silver Crown Series as well as the ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series run.

Shane Cottle was the top dog last night at Gas City winning the opener for Indiana Midget week. Points leader Jerry Coons Jr. was second and Tracy Hines was third. Jay Drake who is second in the points finished fifth.

It is time to head to the track. I will post an entry list when it becomes available. Check back for the next update around 8am.

Hello from Springfield/ Carl Edwards ORP Silver Crown Race Airs Saturday/ Big Mouth vs Big Mouth

Hello from Springfield
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – We are here in Springfield for Saturday’s USAC Silver Crown race. We will be doing updates beginning at 8am since the pit gate opens at 6am. Brian Tyler is the two time defending winner. He is only down 16 points to points leader Bud Kaeding in the points chase.

ORP Silver Crown Race Airs Saturday
The USAC Silver Crown race at O’Reilly Raceway Park airs Saturday at 4pm central time on the Outdoor Channel. The broadcast will feature Carl Edwards’ in car camera view of his slide and incredible recovery while chasing Brian Tyler for the win in the closing laps of the race.

Big Mouth vs Big Mouth
First it was Paul Tracy vs Alex Tagliani, then it was Paul Tracy vs Sebastien Bourdais. This weekend it will be Paul Tracy vs “I’m not French” Robin Miller. This will mark the first time Paul will not spar with a Frenchman in a few weeks. Miller will co-host Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain. Paul Tracy is the featured interview.

Gone in a Cloud of Dust/ Where did Bop Em Bob Come From?/ Double Duty/ Springfield Updates/ Racing Lawsuits of Note

Gone in a Cloud of Dust

How quick can someone go from being a champion to second place in the USAC Silver Crown Series? All in a cloud of dust.

That is all it took for Brian Tyler to go from having a good lead to trailing Bud Kaeding in the points. Thursday night at O’Reilly Raceway Park, Tyler was on top of the world. He has beaten NASCAR NEXTEL Cup star Carl Edwards to win the JD ByRider 100 and extend his points lead. It would all come crashing down on Saturday night. Bryan Tyler started in 16th and was looking to move forward.

He had won the event in past years starting from the back and this year looked like he would have the hot shoe again. Nine laps into the Sumar Classic 100, Tyler “got runover” when two cars aparently could not see where they were going because of the dusty conditions and one ran over the points leader’s right rear and the other ran over his left rear ending Tyler’s day. Bud Kaeding took advantage of Tyler’s misfortuines. The California driver was able to avoid incidents that brought out the 19 yellow flags and 2 red flags on the evening and win the race.

The victory was win number three on the season for BK. Kaeding now has an 18 point lead on Tyler going into Springfield. Bud Kaeding may have the points lead but Tyler has history on his side. Brian Tyler has won the last two Silver Crown races at Springfield coming from 16th to win in 2005 and 21st to win in 2004. Another interresting development from Terre Haute was the No. 26 car of Aaron Pierce. Pierce went into the infield during the multi car pileup that knocked Tyler out of the race. Pierce tried to get the No. 26 back on the track but flipped. That brought out the red flag. Remarkably, his crew was able to put the car back together, get back in the race and finish 11th, just 24 laps down. Aaron Pierce trails Wayne Reutiman Jr by 11 points for third. Fans may also want to keep their eye on Jerry Coons Jr. The Arizona native has been strong at Springfield finishing second three times and third once in the last five years.

Where Did Bop Em Bob Come From?

You have seen the saga of Bop Em Bob on this website but where did the punching doll come from? Wayne Reutiman Jr. told Rob Klepper on the USAC Racing Show Monday night that Bob was a gift from someone in the shop. It appears that from time to time Reutiman would get frustrated with some bad luck and someone in the shop got him a punching doll so he would have something to take out his frustrations on. Bob is scheduled to be in the Reutiman pits this weekend. Hopefully his services will not be needed.

Double Duty
I don’t have a list of the Silver Crown entries for Springfield but two Silver Crown drivers are entered for the ARCA RE/MAX Series race there on Sunday. AJ Fike is scheduled to drive the No. 12 on Sunday while Justin Allgaier is set to pilot the No. 16. Allgaier set the ARCA track record at Springfield last season. Springfield, Illinois is also his hometown. The ARCA Lincon Welders Truck Series will join the Silver Crown cars on the track Saturday.

Final Fact
While Brian Tyler won the last two races at Springfield, who won the races there from 2000-2003?
Answer: Dave Darland 2003, JJ Yeley 2002, Paul White 2001 and Jack Hewitt 2000.

Updates from Springfield

Please join us Saturday beginning at 8:30am for coverage of the Tony Bettenhousen 100 right here at http://www.openwheeler.blogspot.com/ and http://www.retechracing.com/. The RE site will have results in the Live Trackside portion of their website and will also have live qualifying coverage during the qualifying session. We hope you enjoy the coverage we have brought you this season and will look for you this Saturday.

Racing Lawsuits of Note
Two stories involving the courts have come to my attention. Since I have not seen the court doccuments personally, I am electing to just link to published stories that appeared on SceneDaily.com. One law suit involved Shane Hmiel vs Braun Racing. http://www.scenedaily.com/stories/2006/08/14/scene_daily27.html
The other involves a lawsuit between Jeremy Mayfield and Ray Evernham. http://www.scenedaily.com/stories/2006/08/14/scene_daily32.html

Programming Note: I am moving my story on “my take on the new SPEED Report” to next week. I thought it was not fair to judge the program only on one viewing. I will watch it again this Sunday and then have a story for you next week.

Images appearing in this blog courtesy of R.E. Technologies.

IRL Rain Beats CCWS Fight/ Pathetic Penalty/ Corn to Sponsor IRL Race, Guess Where?/ Kahne Races Open Wheel Car in Memphis

IRL Rain Beats CCWS Fight

The Indy Racing League’s rainout at Michigan beat Champ Car World Series fight at San Jose

in the latest sports rating in this week’s edition of the Sports Business Journal.
<http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article.main&arti
cleId=51492> On a rare non-NASCAR Sunday, the IRL and CCWS had the same time slots on two major broadcast networks, ABC and NBC respectively. The IRL suffered through a rain delay for the complete 2.5 hours of the broadcast. Still, the program drew about 1,118,000 households according to the SBJ.

Over on NBC, we were treated to a so so race with not a ton of passing but it was still better than rain. The CCWS broadcast only drew about 844,000 households according to the SBJ. It was the CCWS race on NBC that made news when Paul Tracy made an ill advised move on the racecourse.

Alex Tagliani, who Tracy ran over then wanted to fight Paul Tracy and let him know how he felt. Unfortunately not a lot of people saw it until it made Sports Center that night.

So ABC and the IRL had more viewers in the US and would have probably had more viewers if the rain never hit the track. The SBJ reports that the 1.1 million households that tuned in to ABC was actually down 19.4 percent from the audience for last year’s race. NASCAR Busch Series race the night before also was subject to rain. The IRL’s rain on ABC beat TNT’s rain by 234,000 households.

The actual Busch race did beat the IRL when it went green by 85,000. The IRL’s rain delay ranked fifth in the broadcast sports ratings according to the SBJ. CCWS did not make the top ten. I guess the moral of this story is that the IRL and CCWS should reunite. Both sides can offer something to the other. They just need to get together.

Pathetic Penalty
I guess probation in Camp Car World Series is worthless. The Indianapolis based open wheel series showed it’s teeth this week when it penalized Paul Tracy a whopping 3 points for fighting with series points leader Sebastien Bourdais after he took Bourdais out at the end of the race. The Frenchman has a chance for the championship while Tracy is 129 points back. Tracy was also fined $25,000. But CCWS unleashed their fury when they extended the Canadian’s probation one more race. The funniest thing about this is Forsythe Championship Racing’s reaction to the “harsh” penalty.

“I believe that the penalty imposed to Paul Tracy for the last lap incident is simply wrong and not appropriate, but we have to accept the decision of the Series even if we don't agree with it,” said Neil Micklewright, Vice President of Team Operations.

Micklewright then went on to ask for a penalty on Sebastien Bourdais for starting the fight. CCWS has got to get some teeth.

Pulling bonsai moves and taking other cars out two races in a row is uncalled for.

Starting a fight but not receiving any penalties is unacceptable.

Finally, probation should mean something. Violating probation and walking away with a slap on the wrist as we say here in the south, “just ain’t right.”

Corn to Sponsor IRL Race, Guess Where?
The Iowa Corn Promotion Board will sponsor the IndyCar Series event at Iowa on June 27, 2007. When the IRL takes the green flag at the new speedway, all of the series cars will run on Ethanol. A natural fit considering the amount of corn that grows in Iowa. Iowa as well as Minnesota sweet corn is a summer favorite of mine. If you have never tried it, you are missing out.

Kahne Races Open Wheel Car in Memphis

I guess you can consider a tricycle an Open Wheel vehicle right? My buddy Craig Wack
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/auto_racing/article/0,1426,MCA_462_4920272,00.html of the Commercial Appeal reports that Kasey Kahne raced a tricycle against kids who live at the Memphis Ronald McDonald House. He also talked about returning to Memphis for the Busch race later this year. Kahne has raced at Memphis before in USAC Silver Crown action. The Memphis track will see some action in the next week. The NHRA is here this weekend and Greg Biffle will test at the paved oval on Monday and Kurt Busch will test at the oval on Tuesday in preparation for the Cup race at Richmond. Memphis and Richmond have similar layouts.

Images appearing in this blog courtesy of TNT, NASCAR Images, SPEED, NBC, ABC, Champ Car World Series, the Indy Racing League, IMS Productions and R.E. Technologies.

My Top 25

My Top 25
It is time for the college football season to kick off and time of the return of My Top 25. I hope you enjoy this feature of the blog as well as the "Not so Fast" feature that will begin in September.

1. Texas 13-0
National Champions until someone knocks them off of their throne.
2. Louisville 9-3
The mighty Cardinals have earned the two spot by their play. Will they fall? Possibly, but they will finish in the top 25.
3. Iowa 7-5
The Hawkeyes could rule the roost in the Big Ten in 2006.
4. Virginia Tech 11-2
The Hokies have some holes to fill before deserving a top 5 but I gave it to them anyhow.
5. West Virginia 11-1
Will battle Louisville for the conference title. Coming of a great 2005 campaign. We will see how good they are against backyard rival Marshall.
6. Florida 9-3
I like Urban Meyer. The swamp is one of the toughest places to play in the country but so is the SEC. If the Gators can survive their schedule, they will be high on this list at the end of the season.
7. Oregon 10-2
Unless the Quack Attack gets shot down, the Ducks could be on top of the PAC 10 but they need to watch out for Oregon State. The Beavers may not win the PAC 10 but they will be more than happy to take down their cross state rivals when they meet in the Civil War later this season.
8. Auburn 9-3
The Tigers look to have a good season in one of the toughest football conferences in the nation. They will face LSU, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and a surprisingly good Arkansas team. They will earn their national championship if they can beat all four schools.
9. Alabama 10-2
The Tide has a chance to roll their way to the SEC title game if they can replace their quarterback.
10. Florida State 8-5

The Seminoles cracked the top 10 because of the babes at their home games. Not because they will win a National Championship. I think in the end they will have a better record that 2005 and be a contender for the ACC title.
11. Penn State 11-1
Joe Pa! Hopefully his team can keep their momentum going.
12. Georgia 10-3
If the Dogs can stay away from the choke soup that USC had for dinner, they might have a good season.
13. Utah 7-5
Can they work their magic without Urban?
14. South Carolina 7-5
It would be great to see Steve Spurrier beat up on the guys that thought he was too Cocky when he was at Florida.
15. Notre Dame 9-3
The Irish dropped three games last season but ended well. They should have a better year. That is why they are higher on the food chain that Ohio State
16. UTEP 8-4
Texas El Paso is the best team in C-USA until someone proves them wrong.
17. Texas Tech 9-3

Texas Tech is ranked this high partially because of their swim team. The Red Raiders should also have a good season on the football field.
18. LSU 8-5
The Tigers will pull at least one upset this season so keep an eye on them. The problem is that they will also be a victim of their schedule loosing key games.
19. TCU 11-1
TC Who? The Horned Frogs like their new conference. They may like it more if they can dominate it again.
20. Michigan 7-5
I have some reservations about ranking them this high in the polls so they need to prove me right.
21. Nebraska 8-4
The Huskers should be one of the best teams in the Big 12.
22. Cal 8-4
Cal will be tested early opening at UTK. They will also play USC late in the season with upset no their minds. Look for this team to turn a few heads.
23. USC 12-1
I believe this team needs medical attention because they choked big time against Texas. Chokers don’t make it too high on my list even with a impressive pre-bowl season.
24. Oklahoma 8-4
I bet Jim Ross is excited his Sooners have made the poll but there are a lot of questions to be answered. That is why this team is ranked low.
25. Clemson 8-4
If Clemson had won their close games last season, they would have started out in a higher position.

Knocking on the Door
26. Ohio 4-7
With a couple of upsets, Ohio could end up with a better record than Ohio State.
27. Arkansas 4-7
Its do or die time in Fayetteville for Houston Nutt. Coach Nutt is one of my all time favorite coaches to be around. I think the Hogs will rebound from their slump for a successful season.
28. Southern Mississippi 7-5
The Eagles will return with a challenging non-conference schedule with games at Florida and Virginia Tech. Win those two and the conference and you will be in the top ten by the end of the season.
29. UTK 5-6
No team with a loosing record makes my top 25. If they can become a team again and stop the head games, UTK has the talent to win
30. Ohio State 10-2
While the coaches rank them #1, I can’t. If they were #1 they wouldn’t have dropped the two games they did last season. They have a chance to prove me wrong against Texas early in the season.
32. Oregon State 5-6
The Beavers may not win the PAC 10 but they will be more than happy to take down their cross state rivals when they meet in the Civil War later this season.
33. Miami 9-3
The Hurricanes were 9-3 last season but will not improve their record this year. That is why they are knocking on the door. They need to show me something besides their arrest records before they crack my top 25.
34. Oregon State 5-6
The Beavers may not win the PAC 10 but they will be more than happy to take down their cross state rivals when they meet in the Civil War later this season.
35. Memphis 7-5
We should see how good the Tigers are early against Ole Miss. Will they fill the void left by DeAngelo Williams?
36. Minnesota 7-5
The Gophers will look good early in the season until they quit playing AA schools and start playing their Big 10 er 11 schedule.

Florida State gals courtesy of www.WarChant.com and the Texas Tech Swim Team courtesy of www.TexasTechHockey.com.

No WoO or NST at Knoxville in 2007?/ WoO at the Ditch/ Schatz on Wind Tunnel/ IRL Silly Season/ Red Hott Ronnie Indy Bound/ Nicole Manske

No WoO or NST at Knoxville in 2007?

According to SPEED, Knoxville Raceway Director of Racing Ralph Capitani said during the annual press luncheon that Knoxville Raceway that he told the leaders of the National Sprint Tour and the World of Outlaws that he will not book either series for 2007 unless they work to get back together. What Cappy says at Knoxville goes but will we see a full season of racing at Knoxville without the NST or WoO? Another member of the media that covers Knoxville on a regular basis told me today that he thinks it is political posturing. Yes Ralph Capitani would like to see the two series merge but there are others out there that would also like to see a merger.

SPEED’s Ralph Sheheen also reported that Eldora owner Tony Stewart feels the same way and will not have the two series back unless they get together. That report was busted when the World of Outlaws released their 2007 schedule which featured several visits to Eldora. Knoxville was not on the 2007 schedule but the journalist who covers Knoxville pointed out, there are several dates empty that will probably go to Knoxville. The WoO said that they will add more dates to their 2007 schedule in the coming days.

WoO Schedule
This is the earliest that the WoO has released their schedule. There is no bigger place to make a bang than Knoxville. The early release also makes a statement that the series is going full throttle into 2007. This should make it easier for teams to find sponsorship.

WoO at the Ditch
You can run through the names of some of the best drivers in the history of the World of Outlaws and chances are they are from the Memphis area and have at one time or another raced at Riverside more commonly known as the “Ditch.” Riverside International Speedway now has new owners and a new fresh coat of paint on the buildings. With the demise of the Memphis Motorsports Park dirt track, area racers have had to either drive a good distance or sit home. Saturday nights have been their refuge. Riverside’s new owners are working on more improvements and landing a World of Outlaws race is a sure sign that the track is headed in the right direction.

Schatz on Wind Tunnel

Donny Schatz was a guest on Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain Sunday night. The new Knoxville Nationals champ talked about why Knoxville is more of a challenge to win than any other date on his schedule.

He added that the easiest part is the feature race. Schatz said he is looking forward to the Minot, ND stop where he will race in the same town that he went to high school in but this time Schatz will be a Knoxville Nationals Champion.

Fisher at Chicagoland
Ryan Briscoe will return to the DRR car for Sonoma but Sarah Fisher will run the season finale at Chicago.

The IRL at Daytona?
Yes we could see IndyCars at Daytona International Raceway in the future but it will only be for off season testing on the infield road course.

Open Wheelers Gone NASCAR
Now to the silly season, two IRL drivers could bolt for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. SPEED reported over the weekend at Buddy Lazier as well as Buddy Rice could be in a truck in 2007.

I have not been able to confirm those two stories. Buddy Rice is scheduled to drive the Red Bull-sponsored Brumos Porsche entry at the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series race at Miller Motorsports Park in September.

New Home for Sharp?
Our friends at www.tracksideonline.com are reporting that Scott Sharp could race for Rahal Letterman Racing or Panther Racing. Track Side Online also reports that Arie Luyendyk Sr.’s team may run the full 2007 IndyCar Series season with Luyendyk Jr. behind the wheel. TSO has some news on USAC Western Midget Series driver Ben Petter but you will have to read their website for more. (Dude I can’t give all my friends stories away.)

Red Hott Ronnie Indy Bound

One of the hottest (as in beautifull) female drivers in Australia could be headed for the States. www.tracksideonline.com reports that Veronica McCann could drive in the Indy Pro Series as soon as Chicagoland.

I had the pleasure of meeting McCann in Indianapolis during Kroger Speedfest. The awesome Aussie was with Lynn St. James at ORP for the Silver Crown race meeting with folks. (Editors note: Veronica McCann did finish very high in the race babe poll that this website conducted this past spring.)

Nicole Manske Rants and Rumors

And finally today we wrapup with a story we brought you last week about Nicole Manske’s collumns on SPEED.com. It seems our story has gotten some attention at Fort Wayne Observed. http://indiana.typepad.com/fwob/2006/08/manske_spouts_o.html There was also some debate at FWO over rumors of who she has dated or is currently dated.

I have heard all of them but will not publish them unlike the Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Manske because I do not know (or care to know) if they are fact or not. The only thing I wrote was something that was published in the Indianapolis Star and I referenced the Star as my source for my information.

I am waiting for Manske’s next column to see if she goes after another female or makes solid commentary based on her experience she gained while covering the IRL for the two media oulets she worked for in Indy.

Coming Later this Week
My take on the recycled version of SPEED News. A preview to the USAC Silver Crown race at Springfield. CCWS vs the IRL in a TV street/water fight. My college football preview and anything else that falls out of my brain and onto the keypad.

For images related to these stories, please visit our sister website, http://openwheeler.blogspot.com

Images appearing in this blog courtesy of Veronica McCann’s website, SPEED, and R.E. Technologies.

Donny Schatz Wins Knoxville Nationals/ Knoxville National Recap with Photos

Donny Schatz Wins Knoxville Nationals/ Knoxville Nationals Recap with Photos

It is the biggest day in Sprint Car racing and SPEED is live in Knoxville to bring the coverage to fans live.

In the opening montage we see some great moments in Knoxville history. Hey wait! That’s me!

Back in the day when TNN televised the Nationals I worked on the RF crew. That is me in victory lane helping send the victory lane images back to the TNN truck. I finally made the Knoxville broadcast and I wasn’t even there. Cool. Sorry about being self absorbed. Now on with the show.

The program opens and they go to Brad Doty and Ralph Sheheen who are not in the normal broadcaster coat and tie but in Knoxville t-shirts. That is a nice touch. You go to Knoxville and that is all you see. Nice touch to make the viewers feel like they are there. Time for the C Main.

Green. Brooke Tatnell gets a jump on the field but Dennis Moore Jr. stalls between one and two bringing out the yellow. Green again and there is a good fight between Tatnell and Jac Haudenschild until a multi car accident brings out the red.

PJ Chesson spins and collects Jason Martin. PJ says he will return to the IRL in 2007. (an announcement could come this fall.) Green again but Dennis Moore Jr. brings out the yellow again.

Green once more and The Wild Child takes the lead from Tatnell. Haud holds off Tatnell for the C Main win. Both Brooke Tatnell and Jac Haudenschild will transfer to the B Main. I like that they showed us and talked the viewers through the hot laps.

Once again the broadcast team is doing a great job of bringing the flavor of the Nationals to the viewers. Time to go racing for the B. Lasoski jumped so we have a restart but caution when Jonathan Allard spins.

Restart, good battle between Shane Stewart and the leader Brian Brown. Brandon Wimmer brings out the next yellow. Danny Lasoski has been moving up through the field. The yellow is out for Skip Jackson. Green again and Stewart is pulling away with the lead. Lasoski needs a caution.

He gets into Kerry Madsen and creates his own caution.

Madsen flips wildly but walks away.

Green again and Lasoski tried to take away the transfer spot from his nephew Brian Brown.

Brown comes down on Lasoski

and the Dude spins.

The yellow comes out which should put Lasoski on the tail but Knoxville officials say that Lasoski kept going and the flag was inadvertent. So the field reverted to the lap before the caution and Lasoski restarted 5th. He got by Brown and got the last transfer spot into the A Main. The intensity of the event led to a heated verbal exchange between Danny Lasoski and his father who is also the grandfather of Brian Brown.

SPEED captured the moment on video tape and played it back for the viewers. Danny Lasoski could be heard saying “well go ahead and hit me then.” Father and son were restrained by Marion County Sheriff’s deputies. Steve Kinser broke the tension later during driver’s introductions telling SPEED. “I don’t know that the big deal is,” Kinser said smiling. “It’s only a race.”

Green. Saldana out front early but then Jason Solwold blows a right rear tire and is done. Green again and this time Schatz takes the lead but Tim Kaeding spins. Green again and Saldana takes the high side and goes to the lead. Schatz does not give up and is on Saldana’s tail.

Donny Schatz takes the lead and begins to drive away. Terry McCarl spins and brings out the yellow to bunch up the field with 19 of the 30 laps completed. We get one lap of green in before

Brian Paulus and Shane Stewart get together bringing out a red flag. All the cars then went to the work area giving teams a chance to reset their cars for the final ten laps. Joey Saldana’s team goes to a lower gear in hopes to go to the front. Steve Kinser is up to 6th and Lasoski is up to 7th. We are green.

Donny Schatz pulls away again to a straight away lead.

Checkered flag falls. Schatz reaches immortality and becomes a Knoxville Nationals champion!

Joey Saldana finishes second followed by Jason Johnson. Danny Lasoski comes from starting last to finish 4th. Full results can be viewed at the following link http://www.knoxvilleraceway.com/results.aspx
Wow, what a race. The broadcast was well produced and executed.

Congratulations to Donny Schatz. This is why he races; to finally win the Nationals is his ultimate goal.

If he can keep his points lead in the WoO Sprint Series he could be their champion this year as well. Full coverage of the Cup Series as well as the IRL at Kentucky tomorrow. That is all for now. Good night and congratulations to Donny Schatz, his family, Parker Stores, his other sponsors and the crew.

The incredible images that appear in this update of the blog were shot by the great men and women of SPEED. The images are courtesy of SPEED and Knoxville Raceway. The Knoxville Nationals will reair on SPEED on Tuesday, August 15th at 12pm eastern and an edited version will reair on Saturday September 2nd at 12pm eastern.

Kinser Enroute to Knoxville

Kinser Enroute to Knoxville
Kraig Kinser has left Tennessee (not Kentucky) for Knoxville. You can track his plane here. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N854C

Open Wheeler Truck Results Nashville
1. (Johnny Benson)
10. Terry Cook
13. Boston Reid
23. Kraig Kinser
29. Erin Crocker
30. Mike Bliss
31. Peter Shepherd
36. Bobby East

Busch Series Results Watkins Glen
1. (39 Kurt Busch)
2. 55 Robby Gordon
5. 10 John Andretti
8. 9 Boris Said
10. 1 Scott Pruett
11. 18 JJ Yeley
18. 11 Paul Menard
20. 77 Burney Lamar
27. 60 Carl Edwards
35. 38 Jason Leffler
41. 02 Ryan Newman
40. 32 Dave Blaney
43. 0 PJ Jones

For images related to these stories, please visit our sister website, http://openwheeler.blogspot.com

You Can’t Believe Everything You Read in a News Release/ Unser Story Update 8/11/06 8am

You Can’t Believe Everything You Read in a News Release
I am sure you have heard the phrase “you can’t believe everything you read.” This is sometimes true of a news release. It seems a news release erroneously reported that Kraig Kinser would race at both the Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Kentucky Speedway. Hmm, the schedule says the IRL is at Kentucky and the trucks are south at Nashville Superspeedway this weekend. Could the schedules be wrong? Nope, but two excellent sources for racing news are. SPEED TV is televising both the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the Knoxville Nationals Saturday but from reading this story on their website http://www.speedtv.com/programs/267 it appears that they are sending their Truck Series crew to Kentucky. One problem, their programming page http://www.speedtv.com/schedule/index.php?m=08&d=12&ts=1155355200&timezone=0&subcat=&program=&usecal=yes says the race is at Nashville. So which is right? Someone at SPEED is not paying attention. Not to be outdone, veteran NASCAR and IRL reporters Steve Ballard and Curt Calvin of the Indianapolis Star also reported Friday that the trucks race at Kentucky. I hope Curt Calvin notices his error when he shows up at Kentucky and finds no trucks this weekend.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060811/SPORTS01/608110455/1052 Yes people who write news releases as well as the people who use them for information make mistakes. You could shuffle through this website and find multiple mistakes made by me. As a writer and photographer, I need to do better for you but I also expect better from SPEED and veteran Indianapolis Star reporters.


Unser Story Update 8/11/06 8am
Thursday we brought you the story of the patriarch brothers of Indy Racing who were arrested on Wednesday near the property they own by Bernalillo Sheriffs Deputies for allegedly resisting or obstructing a police officer and failure to obey a police officer according to KOAT TV. Al Unser Sr. and Bobby Unser Sr. maintain they did nothing wrong. We heard from Bobby Unser Sr. on Thursday. In this interview both Bobby and Al Unser Sr. tell their story to KOAT. The interview can be viewed at http://www.koat.com/news/9657730/detail.html

Unser Sr. Brothers and the Law/ Silver Crown Schedule Comes to Life/ Change in the Wind at ABC/ESPN/ Nicole Manske Gets Catty/ Sarah Fisher on Danica

Unser Sr. Brothers and the Law
It appears that two of the most loved Open Wheelers had a little misunderstanding with Sheriff’s deputies in New Mexico Wednesday. According to reports from television stations KRQE and KOBV, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department was involved with a chase and shootout of a carjacking suspect. The situation then turned into a standoff with gunfire near or on Unser Boulevard. Both Al Unser Sr. and Bobby Unser Sr. were arrested in separate incidents while allegedly attempting to cross a roadblock to enter some property they owned. The roadblock was setup to keep civilians from entering the perimeter around the crime scene area. KRQE reports that Al Unser Sr. told an officer, “Don't you know who I am? I'm Al Unser.” According to the television stations, Bobby Unser Sr. showed up later and was arrested. Sheriff Darren White released a statement backing his deputies' action.

”It's not uncommon for officers to be riddled with insults from people we arrest,” he said. “It's deplorable when it comes from someone who is considered a respected member of our community.”

In a 12-minuite interview with television station KOBV, Bobby Unser Sr. alleged that the officers were “covering up for each other.” Bobby Unser Sr. continues saying if he knew what was going on and was in danger, he would have never attempted to cross the roadblock. The interview is quite interesting. You can watch the interview by clicking on the following link and clicking on the words video in this story. http://www.kobtv.com/snapshotskob/html/27226.html

Silver Crown Schedule Comes to Life

We now know at least two dates on the 2007 USAC Silver Crown schedule. O’Reilly Raceway Park announced that the USAC Silver Crown Series will run the J.D. ByRider 100 on Thursday July 26th during their annual Kroger Speedfest. Phoenix International Raceway announced in July that the Silver Crown Series would run the Thursday before PIR’s November 2007 Cup date.

The IRL IndyCar Series and Milwaukee Mile announced today that the ABC Supply / A.J. Foyt Indy 225 IndyCar Series will run in 2007 there on June 3rd. Milwaukee Mile President and CEO Andy Randall said in a teleconference today that the track has not approached USAC yet about a date for the USAC National Midget Series as well as the USAC Silver Crown Series in 2007 because the folks at the Milwaukee Mile are still trying to decide if the IRL weekend will be a two or three day show. Personally, I believe it will happen. The folks at the Milwaukee Mile have seemed pretty happy with USAC over the past few years. It probably will be just a matter of the actual date that they will run the event like the CEO said.

TV Schedule Update

Earlier this week we reported the TV schedule for this weekend. We failed to add the USAC Silver Crown Series from the Milwaukee Mile. That race including the controversial ending is slated to air on the Outdoor Channel Saturday at 5pm eastern.

Change in the Wind at ABC/ESPN

It appears that change is in the wind over at ABC/ESPN. In a teleconference discussing the 2007 IRL date for Milwaukee, IRL Vice President of League Development, John Lewis said that there will be changes in the way that Disney properties, ABC and ESPN work together. Lewis said that beginning on September 2nd, all sports airing on ABC will be produced by ESPN. ABC/ESPN televises all of the IRL’s races on their three networks ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.

In other ABC/ESPN related news, we have previously reported that the network’s NASCAR broadcast team for 2007 will include Dr. Jerry Punch and Rusty Wallace. NASCAR Scene is reporting that the networks will use the same announcers for both the Busch Series broadcasts and the NEXTEL Cup Series Broadcasts. ESPN2 will televise all but six Busch Races in 2007. Those six will be on ABC. ABC and ESPN will share the Cup broadcasts for the final ten races of the 2007 season.

Nicole Manske Gets Catty

New addition to SPEED News er The Speed Report (like a name change is going to make me watch it more) Nicole Manske has been given a spot to write commentary at SPEEDTV.com. In here first two colums she has gone after

Courtesy of Sports Illustrated
Danica Patrick http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/30635/ and then Sarah Fisher http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/30635/. While we are all intitled to our opinions and my opinions in this blog have yet to win any awards, it is her right to say and write anything thing she wants. I think it looks a little too catty for her first two colums to deal with the only two female racers in the IRL.

Image courtesy of pagent.com
It may not be a good idea for her to throw stones at the other girls in the pits considering she allegedly dated Dan Wheldon http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050805/COLUMNISTS04/50805025 while reporting on Weldon for a television station in Indianapolis. One viewer of this blog even wonders “how long til the Speed TV website takes away Nicole Manske’s computer?” Maybe Ms. Manske needs to go a little easier and stop attacking female drivers until she has developed a respected journalistic reputation at SPEED.

But then again a good old catfight like the one that almost happened in Texas is good for ratings.

Sarah Fisher on Kentucky and Danica

Sarah Fisher arrived early to get ready for this weekend’s race at Kentucky. The former USAC driver tested at the 1.5 mile oval this afternoon in preparation for the IndyCar Series race there Sunday. Fisher took the pole there in 2002.

“Kentucky has amazing memories for me, not only the track record, the pole, the podium, but the people. It's a personal goal of mine to at least run in the top-10. I want to be there at the end and racing as hard as I did before, and that in itself will achieve results.”
The race this weekend will be her first IndyCar Series start since May 2004. Her best finish at Kentucky was third 3rd in 2000. She still holds the track record there at 221.390 mph. Her 49th career start will be a little different as she will be compaired to Danica Patrick by virtually everyone.

“I'm here to race against everyone,”said Fisher. “I'm here to do the best that I can and ultimately get back to the level of IndyCars that put me up front. Every driver out there has the same goal and drive that I have and that is to win. Danica and I are two individuals out there competing in a man's world, whether it is in stock cars or IndyCars. I don't look at her any differently then all the other drivers. We are different people who want to achieve the same result. Danica has done a whole lot for the sport of IndyCar racing and I have to respect that as a fellow competitor. I’m not going to say anything about racing against her. I want to go race against Tony Kannan and Scott Dixon, the ones that I had great races against in the past. It’s not just one car I’m after.”

Complete Racing Coverage this Weekend

We will have complete coverage of the IRL Kentucky race as well as the Cup and Busch races at Watkins Glen, Truck Series at Nashville and if my clicker works fast enough, the Champ Car race. We will of course have a summery of the Knoxville Nationals so please check this website for updates throughout the weekend.

Images appearing in this blog courtesy of NASCAR Images, Sports Illustrated, www.pagent.com, FOX, SPEED, and R.E. Technologies.

Not a Tornado/ PJ Chesson at Knoxville/ Kinser to Defend Title and Race in Nashville/ Open Wheel Rookies Dot Nashville Lineup/ IRL TV Goes Live On the

Who Will Win Knoxville?













So, just who do you think will win the Knoxville Nationals? Scroll down to the bottom of this page after reading this update and vote.

Huge Race Weekend
This coming weekend can be considered one of the biggest race weekends of the year. Every series is running with championship titles on the line. Then there is the biggest grass roots Open Wheel race of the year, the Knoxville Nationals. We will give the Nationals the same treatment as we so our coverage of the IRL, CCWS and NASCAR with screen grabs and a summery so join up this weekend for our coverage of one of the biggest race weekends of the year.

Not a Tornado

We start out first tonight with a follow-up to a story we first brought you last week. David Tucek of the National Weather Service’s office located in Indianapolis confirmed today that there were no damage reports from the storm pictured here. There was also no know tornadic activity in the area. I have forwarded these photos to the Indy NWS office for more analysis.

After describing what I saw via the phone, Tucek said it was probably just updrafts associated with a building thunderstorm. If there is an official ruling, I will let you know.

Ralph Sheheen Chats it Up
From his newborn’s first Knoxville Nationals to Udders and dry ribs to an angry mob of swamp buggy drivers, Ralph Sheheen talks about it all in today’s SPEED chat session. Here is the link. http://www.speedtv.com/chat/index.php?action=viewarchivedchat&chat_id=49

PJ Chesson Returns to Knoxville
P.J. Chesson become the first driver to compete in both the Indy 500 and the Knoxville Nationals since Steve Kinser in 1997 this weekend. Chesson will drive the 55K fielded by 2005 Knoxville Raceway track champion VerMeer Motorsports.

“(The car) won a couple of races with (2005 track champions) Kerry Madsen this year, so it should be a good piece,” Chesson said. “We’ll see if rusty old P.J. can do anything with it tomorrow night.”

Apparently Dingus could be a favorite of Chesson this weekend.

“I’m not going to Knoxville to look for a ride,” he said. “I think I’ve found a home in Indy Cars. I just want to have some fun and raise a little hell in Iowa.”

Only 17 drivers have ever competed at both Knoxville and Indianapolis. According to an IRL news release, PJ would be No. 18.

Kinser to Defend Title and Race in Nashville
Reigning Knoxville Nationals Champion Kraig Kinser will be extremely busy this weekend attempting to defend his Knoxville title and at the same time trying to win his first truck race in his rookie season. Kinser will race at 5pm eastern in Nashville then board a plane for Knoxville to make what he hopes will be the A main of the Knoxville Nationals.

“It is going to be a busy weekend for us with me defending my title at the Knoxville Nationals,” said Kinser. “I really appreciate everyone at Morgan-Dollar Motorsports letting me go back and forth between the two tracks to run my sprint car and race the No. 46 CENTRIX Silverado.”

Just the double duty with both races on SPEED should be a good show. The Nationals will also mark the first real showdown between the National Sprint Tour and the World of Outlaws Sprint Series. Over 120 cars are entered for Knoxville But who will win?

Bridesmaid Donny Shatz has been the strongest Outlaw this season but Kraig Dolansky has recently had a hot car.

Steve Kinser is still the King but Danny Lasoski has won the title four times. Terry McCarl is one of the hometown favorites but don’t count out a Pennsylvania Posse member or someone with the last name of Swindell.

Is this the year that a new name will rise to dominance? Find out Saturday night at 10pm eastern on SPEED.

The race will be replayed on SPEED Tuesday August 14th at 12pm eastern and an edited version will air on SPEED at 12pm eastern on September 2nd. The truck race from Nashville airs at 5pm on SPEED.

Open Wheel Rookies Dot Nashville Lineup
Five Open Wheel rookies are in the lineup for this weekend’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway.

Current USAC Silver Crown driver Peter Shepherd is expected to make his second truck start. He will be joined by Bobby East, Erin Crocker, Boston Reid and Kraig Kinser. Kinser and East are coming off of career best finishes last weekend at ORP.

Open Wheeler Truck Entries for Nashville
10 Terry Cook
16 Mike Bliss
17 David Reutiman (Wayne Reutiman Jr.’s cousin)
21 Bobby East *
25 Boston Reid*
46 Kraig Kinser*
50 Peter Shepherd*
98 Erin Crocker*

Double Time
Both Erin Crocker and Peter Shepherd will get pleanty of track time this weekend at Nashville. Shepherd is scheduled to make his second ARCA ReMax Series start in the No. 39 Roulo Brothers Racing Ford.

Erin Crocker returns to Nashville after winning her first pork pole in her first ARCA race in March of 2005. Open Wheeler Justin Allgaier will make the shift from dirt Silver Crown to ARCA driving the No. 16 USAF-Hoosier Tire Midwest entry. The race airs at 3pm eastern Saturday on SPEED.

Hit the Road
The NASCAR Busch Series hits the road this weekend with the Cup guys at Watkins Glen. The Busch entry list looks more like a Cup entry list again.

Busch Series Entries for Watkins Glen
02 Ryan Newman
9 Boris Said
10 John Andretti
11 Paul Menard
18 J.J. Yeley
32 Dave Blaney
38 Jason Leffler
60 Carl Edwards
77 Burney Lamar

IRL TV Goes Live On the Web Again
I absolutely loved the live TV web coverage during the Indy 500.














The good people at the IRL and IndyCar.com are bringing the TV coverage online for this weekend’s Kentucky races. Live streaming video of all practice sessions, Marlboro Pole Qualifying (4:15pm eastern, Aug.12) and the in-car footage of the race also will be available at http://www.indycar.com/. The race goes live Sunday at 3:30pm eastern on ABC at the same time CCWS is live on SPEED.

TV Listings
Friday
3:00 pm NASCAR Nextel Cup Qualifying Watkins Glen (LIVE) SPEED
Saturday
10:00 am NASCAR Nextel Cup Final Practice Watkins Glen (LIVE) SPEED
11:00 am NASCAR Busch Qualifying Watkins Glen (LIVE) SPEED
2:00 pm Busch Series Watkins Glen NBC
3:00 pm ARCA RE/MAX Series Nashville (LIVE) SPEED
5:00 pm NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Nashville (LIVE) SPEED
10:00 pm Knoxville Nationals 46th Annual Event (LIVE) SPEED
Sunday
1:00 pm Bank of America Countdown to Green - Watkins Glen NBC
1:30 pm Nextel Cup Race Watkins Glen NBC (LIVE)
3:30pm IRL IndyCar Series ABC (LIVE)
3:30 pm Champ Car World Series Denver (LIVE) SPEED
8:00 pm The SPEED Report SPEED
9:00 pm Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain (LIVE) SPEED

Images appearing in this blog courtesy of R.E. Technologies and SPEED.

Kaeding Wins Dusty Sumar Classic/ Points Chase/ Final Thoughts from THAT/ Ralph Sheheen Talking Knoxville

Kaeding Wins Dusty Sumar Classic

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – USAC Silver Crown racing is often a game of who can survive the longest, such was Saturday night’s dust/crashfest at the Terre Haute Action Track. Twenty-five cars started the race, only twelve were on the track at the end. Of those twelve, only six were in the lead lap. When all of the dust settled, literally, Bud Kaeding was the winner and walked out of THAT the points leader. Brian Tyler won the J.D. ByRider 100 Thursday night. Kaeding trailed Tyler by 32 points heading into the Sumar Classic Saturday. In the first practice session Bud Kaeding was 3rd quick while Brian Tyler timed in 8th fastest. Dickie Gaines had the fastest time in practice followed by Jerry Coons Jr. Coons had a good opportunity to move the Carl Edwards/ R.E. Technologies Racing team up in the points. The team was tied in the owner’s points with the No. 1 driven by Dave Steele. The reigning USAC Silver Crown champ was unable to race according to a crewmember due to mechanical problems.

John “Hot Rod” Heydenreich had the heaviest foot during qualifications turning in a time of 20.658 at 87.133 mph. Bud Kaeding would start outside the pole

Points leader Brian Tyler would be forced to the non-qualifiers race starting third. A foreshadowing of what was to come was evident when rooster tails could be seen during the suitcase race.

Brian Tyler was able to get by Justin Allgaier to finish second in the race. Russ Gamester won from the pole. Tyler would now start 16th, a position he has won from before but Saturday night was different. No water truck on the track made for an extremely dusty event.

So dusty, that when the green flag fell on the feature, some of the drivers in the second row said they couldn’t even see the leaders from all of the dust.

Fans, drivers and teams were in for a long night. The first yellow flag flew before the field could make a full lap. USAC issued the first red flag of the evening for a multi car accident involving Brian Tyler and Jeff Swindell who was making his return to the series. The incident also produced the most bizarre moment of the evening when Aaron Pierce who was probably trying to avoid the accident slipped through a hole in the fence into the infield. The Indiana native flipped his car attempting to cross the guardrail to reenter the track. Most would have thought his day was done but the Sam Pierce Chevrolet/ Fat Head Sunglasses team was able to get their car back out on the track to finish 11th, only 24 laps down. Polesitter John Heydenreich tangled with Dave Darland ending both of their nights on lap 26. There would be more accidents to come, 19 yellow flags and 2 red flags before it was all over. In all eight of the 25 cars that started the race were listed as out of the race due to an accident. All of the yellow flags did bunch up the field, leading to a record number of lead changes for a USAC Silver Crown race on dirt. Bud Kaeding and Shane Cottle battled for 85 laps with Cottle leading at total of 40 and Kaeding 29. Heydenreich led the other 19. Most of the battle between Cottle and Kaeding came in the final laps. Bud Kaeding grabbed the lead back for the final time on lap 82. Levi Jones joined fight but in the end it was Bud Kaeding followed by Shane Cottle and Levi Jones. The win gave Kaeding a 16 point lead over Brian Tyler and an 18 point lead in the owner’s points chase. Wayne Reutiman Jr. remained in 3rd in both the driver’s and owner’s points. Aaron Pierce jumped to 4th in the drivers and owners points leaping past Dave Steele’s team and the No. 199 Carl Edwards/ R.E. Technologies Racing entry. Pierce leads the No. 199 by one point and Dave Steele by 20 headed into Springfield. The race was dusty and filled with accidents but no one can take away the excitement of watching the duels that we saw on the racetrack or Bud Kaeding’s third win of the season.

Points Chase

The points are still tight and it looks like we could see a fight to the finish between Bud Kaeding and Brian Tyler. Both are strong on the dirt as well as the pavement. Don’t count out Wayne Reutiman Jr. who has quietly been there all season. Aaron Pierce showed his fight when he got back out onto the track after his infield detour.

Final Thoughts from the THAT
Terre Haute was an exciting race but the Action Track is not the track it has been in past years. There was only one wrecker to cleanup the mayhem and the water truck was not seen on the track after the event started. I have no idea how to prepare a racetrack but if the drivers up front cannot see, then something is probably wrong.

Give a big had to the teams in the points chase. After driving through the infield and flipping, the No. 26 team got Aaron Pierce back out on the track to finish. The same can be said of the No. 00 team of Wayne Reutiman and the No. 199 team of Jerry Coons Jr. Reutiman finished 12th and Jerry Coons returned for the final 41 laps to gain 4 important positions in the owner’s points championship.

Wayne Reutiman’s crew members tell me the Bob em Bob’s look on his face this week is due to the dirt. Apparently he is not too fond of the dust.

Bob and the rest of the folks in the Silver Crown Series will visit dirt tracks at the next two events, the mile at Springfield and one of my favorite events of the season, DuQuoin. Both events are promoted by Track Enterprises which has a record of promoting first class events. DuQuoin is my favorite because the grandstands are literally at the doorstep of the fair. You can walk two feet to eat fair food and then step back into the racetrack. Mmm, I can taste it now.

We will once again provide updates from the Illinois State Fairgrounds at Springfield in less than two weeks. I hope you will join us then. A photo album from ORP as well as Terre Haute should be up sometime later this week.

Ralph Sheheen Talking Knoxville
SPEED TV’s Ralph Sheheen is scheduled to chat live on the network’s website SPEEDTV.com Tuesday at 10am eastern. No doubt the Open Wheel fan will be more than happy to discuss the Knoxville Nationals or Open Wheel racing. Here is the link http://www.speedtv.com/chat/

All images in this update courtesy of RE Technologies.

Russ Gamester Wins Non-Qualifier 8:26pm

Russ Gamester Wins Non-Qualifier 8:26pm
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Russ Gamester started on the pole and held off Brian Tyler to win the non-qualifier race tonight at Terre Haute. Complete results can be found in the Live Trackside portion of the www.retechracing.com website. The feature is next.

John Heydenreich on the Pole 7:45pm

John Heydenreich on the Pole 7:45pm
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – John Heydenreich is on the pole for tonight’s USAC Silver Crown race here at the Terre Haute Action Track. Heydenreich turned a top time of 20.658 seconds. Bud Kaeding will start outside the pole. Shane Cottle qualified 3rd quick and USAC Midget points leader Jerry Coons Jr. will start 4th. Points leader Brian Tyler will start 17th. Tyler is known for coming from the back to win at Terre Haute. The consolation race is next. This concludes the live portion of our webcast. We will update following the consolation and after the feature. You can view the results anytime by visiting www.retechracing.com and clicking on the Live Trackside icon.

Gaines Fastest in Practice 7:00pm

Gaines Fastest in Practice 7:00pm
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Dickie Gaines led the practice session today at Terre Haute. Complete times in the Live Trackside section of www.RETechRacing.com. Qualifying is underway. Follow it live in the Live Trackside section of our website.

Brian Tyler Hopes to Extend Points Lead 5:30pm

Brian Tyler Hopes to Extend Points Lead 5:30pm
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Brian Tyler is hoping a win tonight can extend his points lead in the USAC Silver Crown Series.

Bud Kaeding is hoping to pass Tyler back for the lead.

Josh Wise is here tonight with his teammate Levi Jones.













The track looks good and hot laps could happen around 6pm tonight.

So far twenty seven cars are here. Below is the entry list.

USAC Silver Crown Entries at Terre Haute
4 Shane Cottle
7 Cole Carter
10 Josh Wise
12 Jeff Swindell
20 Ron Gregory
21 Brian Tyler
22 Levi Jones
23 Mitch Wissmiller
26 Aaron Pierce
27 Mat Neely
29 Bud Kaeding
33 Jon Stanbrough
35 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
45 Donnie Beechler
48 Shane Hollingsworth
51 Russ Gamester
52 Jay Drake
56 Dave Darland
59 Dickie Gaines
65 Steven Buckwalter
77 Chris Urish
86 Justin Allgaier
90 John Heydenreich
97 Kevin Huntley
153 Tim Capie
199 Jerry Coons Jr.
00 Wayne Reutiman Jr.

Good Afternoon from Terre Haute 3pm

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Good afternoon from the Terre Haute Action Track and tonight’s coverage of the First Financial Bank Sumar Classic 100. The weather here is perfect for racing. Tonight begins a streak of three straight dirt Silver Crown races. A lot can change in the points in that time. Thursday night Brian Tyler took the points lead with his win at ORP. Tyler could add to his lead at the track he has had success at before. He came from 28th a few years ago to win at Terre Haute. Look for him to be one of the favorites tonight. Another team to watch out for is Tony Stewart Motorsports drivers Josh Wise and Levi Jones. The two drivers battled each other on the dirt at the Hoosier Hundred earlier this season with Wise winning. You can’s count out National Midget Series leader Jerry Coons Jr., Dave Darland or Jeff Swindell who is making his return to Silver Crown racing.

Burton on the Pole, Kahne 4th/ Busch Notes/ Crawford Wins, Bliss 6th at ORP/ Live Coverage from Terre Haute at 3pm

Burton on the Pole, Kahne 4th

Kasey Kahne has a good starting position to take care of some unfinished business. The Open Wheeler will start 4^th in the Brickyard 400, a race he could have won had it not have been for Tony Stewart’s strong run last year. JJ Yeley will start 6^th and Indiana native Ryan Newman will roll off 8^th. Indy 500 veteran Robby Gordon will start 8^th and Ken Schrader will start 11^th.

Open Wheeler Cup Qualifying Indy

1. (31 Jeff Burton)

4. 9 Kasey Kahne

6. 18 J.J. Yeley

8. 12 Ryan Newman

9. 7 Robby Gordon

11. 21 Ken Schrader

16. 24 Jeff Gordon

22. 99 Carl Edwards

32. 20 Tony Stewart

39. 42 Casey Mears

42. 22 Dave Blaney

43. 60 Boris Said

NASCAR.com reported today that Dave Blaney will be back with Bill Davis Racing for the 2007 season.

Jason Leffler was the fastest Open Wheeler in the first Busch Series practice today at ORP coming in fifth quick. Several Cup Series drivers missed the first practice because of qualifying over at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Busch Series Practice ORP
5. 38 Jason Leffler

12. 11 Paul Menard/ Matt Crafton

13. 60 Carl Edwards/ David Ragan

20. 18 J.J. Yeley/ Casey Attwood

25. 77 Burney Lamar

26. 10 John Andretti

34. 98 Erin Crocker

38. 43 PJ Jones

Crawford Wins, Bliss 6^th at ORP

The short track at O’Reilly Raceway Park has been good to Open Wheelers over the years but for the most part, when they transition to the heavier Truck and Busch Series cars trouble always comes. The first trouble of the evening came on lap 25 when David Ragan put a fender to Erin Crocker. Crocker bounced off the wall bringing out the first caution of the night. She had minimal damage from the accident and was able to get the free pass and get back on the lead lap. On lap 79 the yellow flag waved again for Cameron Dodson who was making his first start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series when he spun on the front stretch. The field made pit stops on lap 127 but Mike Bliss elected to stay out to lead. Later in the race on lap 181 Terry Cook took sixth from Todd Bodine while his brother in law, rookie Bobby East took eleventh from Matt Crafton.

“Our Silverado was really fast there in the middle of the race,” said Mike Bliss. “I think we drove up to fifth place. Then there was a yellow and everyone else came in and got tires. We kind of knew that was going to happen and it wasn't going to be good. I didn't think we could hold them off, but fifth, that isn't too bad.”

“We had a good run,” said Bobby East. “We had fun racing the 99, me and Kraig Kinser in the 46. We raced all 200 laps together. We were by each other the whole race and that was fun. I just had a blast tonight. I'm real proud of everybody. This is what we needed after a rough month-and-a-half, two months. Everybody is doing the right thing, we just haven't had stuff go our way. I would have liked to have run better. It's my hometown and got some friends in the stands but we'll take it.”

“We (East and the Erik Darnell) fought definitely the whole race,” said Kraig Kinser. “We raced each other pretty hard at the beginning and then we got settled in trying to follow each other for a while and then we raced each other there at the end. Bobby has had a lot of laps around here so he could get people where I couldn't and get them a lot easier. I tried racing him where I could. It was a real good night.”

For more coverage of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, please visit our friends over at www.truckseries.com.

ORP Open Wheeler Truck Results

1. (14. Rick Crawford)

5. 16 Mike Bliss

6. 10 Terry Cook

11. 21 Bobby East

13. 46 Kraig Kinser

24. 25 Boston Reid

27. 98 Erin Crocker

29. 63 Cameron Dodson

Live Coverage from Terre Haute at 3pm

We are enroute to the Terre Haute Action Track for tonight’s USAC Silver Crown Series race. We plan on beginning our updates at 3pm today so please join us here later today.

Brian Tyler Wins Exciting Silver Crown Race/ Final Notes From ORP/ Live Coverage from Terre Haute/ Wise Gone to NASCAR?/ Sarah Fisher Back in the IRL

Brian Tyler Wins Exciting Silver Crown Race
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – USAC veteran driver Brian Tyler bested NASCAR driver Carl Edwards and reigning series champion Dave Steele to claim his second win in the USAC Silver Crown series this season. The day began with rain during the lunch hour, a theme that would play into the race. USAC officials knew a second line of storms was on the way and quickly moved the program to accommodate Mother Nature. Josh Wise led the first practice session turning a time of 21.653 seconds at 114.053 mph. Wise’s top time was important as the second line hit right before qualifying drenching the track as well as the competitors. The downpour washed out qualifying which forced USAC to set the starting lineup via practice times. Bud Kaeding would start outside the pole and Brian Tyler would start third. A third small thin line of storms northwest of the track as the race started. Josh Wise was on the hammer immediately comfortably leading Kaeding and Tyler. Bud Kaeding, who was tied fir first with Tyler in the points coming into ORP suffered ignition problems and retired 34 laps into the event. Brian Tyler soldiered on and caught up with race leader Josh Wise. The two got together and touched wheels on lap 39 sending Wise spinning into the wall. When the green flag dropped again, Brian Tyler pulled away as second place

Dave Steele and third place Carl Edwards continued their dogfight. Edwards got by Steele for second on lap 57 but by that time Tyler had almost a front stretch lead on Edwards. Caution from light rain from the third and final line of storms bunched up the field one final time. Ominous clouds hung over ORP but the rain stopped and on lap 67 the race resumed. Edwards got around a lap car and began to close in on Tyler. On lap 87, Carl Edwards deviated from his fast high line for the low line in 3 and 4. Edwards ran side by side with Tyler but dropped back to try another run. The next lap Carl Edwards got his arm restraint hung up on the steering wheel causing him to slide sideways through four. He was headed straight for the infield wall but somehow managed to save the car driving through the grass and never lost a position. Brian Tyler never looked back and went on to win the race. The win was his second of the season and vaulted him and his team to the lead spot in both the drivers and owners points standings. Carl Edwards claimed his best finish in the Silver Crown Series and tied a team best finish. Dave Steele came in third keeping the fourth spot for himself and his team in both points standings. Edwards team is not tied with Steele’s team for fourth. Kaeding is second in owners and drivers points. The teams now have a quick turnaround for Saturday night USAC Silver Crown race at Terre Haute.

Top Ten in Owner’s Points
1. No. 21 Team 6R 552
2. No. 29 BK Leffler Motorsports 520
3. No. 00 Reutiman 479
4. No. 1 Team 6R 477
5. No. 199 Carl Edwards/ R.E. Technologies Racing 477
6. No. 26 Sam Pierce 466
7. No. 41 Jim Paternoster 392
8. No. 17 RW Motorsports 384
9. No. 8 Stauffer-Adams 375
10. No. 28 Ken Pierson 372

Final Notes From ORP

Carl Edwards flew his single engine aircraft over ORP on the way into Eagle Creek Airpark Thursday afternoon. A good crowd was on hand despite the less that great weather conditions. Carl Edwards, Dave Steele and Brian Tyler received loud shouts from the grandstands prior to, during and after driver introductions. Race fans were quite vocal throughout the event. Several had gifts for the drivers for good luck. World famous Bop em Bob returned to the track after suffering a minor race injury.

It seams Bob was helping out around the shop preparing for Saturday’s dirt race and became deflated. He was quickly stitched/glued up and was on hand for the J.D. ByRider 100.

Teammates of Bob tell me that he doesn’t say much but has a high tolerance for pain as he takes most of the abuse.

One final note on the weather. According to the National Weather Service, there were no tornado touchdowns in Indiana Thursday. What fans saw and what you see in this photo

is moisture moving up into the clouds as thunderstorms are building. The key to spotting a tornado is to look for a wall cloud and rotation in a storm. Also technically a tornado is only a tornado when it reaches from the sky to the ground.

J.D. ByRider 100 Results
21 Brian Tyler
199 Carl Edwards
1 Dave Steele
26 Aaron Pierce
8 Bryn Gohn
00 Wayne Reutiman Jr.
18 Tiago Medeiros
14 Josh Wise
17 Mat Neely
41 Jay Drake
29 Bud Kaeding
2 Bobby Santos III
28 Tim Barber
96 Rodney Weesner

Live Coverage from Terre Haute
Join us Saturday for live updates from the Terre Haute Action Track as the USAC Silver Crown Series heads into the dirt portion of their schedule. We will be at the track and updating as often as possible so joins us tomorrow right here at Open Wheeler.com.

Wise Gone to NASCAR?
Josh Wise is still in USAC but SPEEDTV.com reporter Tom Jenson says he is on his way to NASCAR with Ray Evernham guiding his way. Evernham has taken Open Wheelers Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne and Erin Crocker and brought them to NASCAR. Wise is currently a Mopar driver in USAC with Tony Stewart Motor Sports and AJ Foyt Racing. I believe he was on his way to NASCAR a long time ago. He is a talented driver and will do well at the next level. If you want to read the article, here is the link.
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/nascar/30283/

Sarah Fisher Back in the IRL
Sarah Fisher will return to the IRL to race at Kentucky for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Current driver Ryan Briscoe will be unable to run because he is driving an Australian V8 SuperCar.

All images in this update courtesy of RE Technologies.

Carl Edwards Post Race News Conference

Following the Silver Crown race Thursday night at ORP, Carl Edwards spoke to the media. The following is my transcription of the news conference. Race winner Brian Tyler also spoke to the media following the race but I was unable to record and transcribe that portion of the news conference. A full story and images will be posted later today. We will also have updates from Terre Haute Saturday.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Carl Edwards finished second Thursday at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis in the J.D. ByRider 100. Edwards second place finish driving the No. 199 Carl Edwards/ R.E. Technologies Racing Ford C&R Silver Crown car was his career best finish in the USAC Silver Crown Series. His previous best finish was third in 2003 at ORP. The following night, he won his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Race driving for Roush Racing. Edwards started fifth but had moved up to third by the halfway point. For the first half of the race, Carl Edwards battled with reigning Silver Crown champion Dave Steele for second. On lap 57, Edwards passed Steele and set his sights on race leader Brian Tyler. With ominous storm clouds looming overhead the Missouri native was on Tyler’s tail. Going into turn three Edwards’ arm restraint got caught on the steering wheel causing the No. 199 C&R Ford to slide sideways but the NEXTEL Cup driver quickly gathered up the car driving through the grass and back out onto the track never loosing a position. The Carl Edwards/ R.E. Technologies Racing team recorded their second podium finish of the season. Brian Tyler won the event.

The following is a transcript of the post race news conference from the ORP Media Center:

Carl: “I had a blast. It was really fun racing Brian (Tyler). He is such a good driver. I was just having fun and trying to race him. I got underneath him in three and got loose and I turned right to correct and my arm restraint was all hung up down around my wrists. It got hung up on the steering wheel so I couldn’t turn the wheel not as far as I wanted and I got sideways. It all worked out though as I ended up going the same direction. It is just a little frustrating. I knew that thing slid down my arm and I should have fixed it down the straightaway before that. Anyway it was fun racing. I am glad I got to race with Brian that much at a place like this. He is so good. I had a good time”

Q: You moved into second place down there looked like when you were going for the lead. Were you running a bit harder?

Carl: “Yea Brian was really fast. It was fun. I just couldn’t turn right far enough. We would have been all right. That’s all there is to it.”

Q: So it was your arm restraint that caused you to spin?

Carl: “It just kept me from turning was far right as I wanted. I have spun out a lot by myself without any excuses. This one I do have an excuse.”

Q: Carl that is not your first run through the grass. Do you ever think you are going to wreck or you are going to save it?

Carl: “I knew as soon as I hit the grass I would keep going the direction I was going at that time and it was going to work out. I felt pretty good about that. You can always lock it up and keep going the same direction that you are going currently. I saw the grass so I figured it would be all right.”

Q: Early in the race you seemed to have no problem getting low in the corners and getting bound down. Everyone else seemed to have a hard time early in the race trying to go down low and not being able to.

Carl: “The track is pretty neat with those cars. You could run about the same speed around the bottom but you had to... the high line off was better for my car. I was so loose. Mine was loose off so I had to, on the bottom it wouldn’t go forward. I was trying to come up with ways to pass people and still not be on the bottom coming off. I had to get them right in the middle. That’s fun. This is one of those tracks where you can think. It is like a chess game and you can work out where in the corners you can make up a little more ground and how you are going to set a guy up and that is fun man”

Q: The pass for second seemed it was a matter of getting underneath earlier.

Carl: “Right I had to wait for him to; he (Dave Steele) slipped up just a little. I had to wait. It was like I had a run on him and he had to slip up and it worked out you know what I mean. It was fun. Yea it worked out. I was trying to do the same thing over and over just waiting for that opportunity. It was kind of fun I mean. That is really the neat part of racing when you race against people like that.”

Q: Carl you took an opportunity to thank the fans for coming out here and at the same time acknowledge them. The field was a little thin tonight perhaps and you hope that more cars would show up in the future. What do you think about this division those cars and the future?

Carl: “Well I have raced both of those types of cars here. It seems like they are both really great racing. I think the idea that the series and what they are doing with it is really awesome. Running these cars in front of the NASCAR crowds at these bigger racetracks so what I guess I am saying is that I really hope more car owners get involved and I hope the fans enjoy it as much as we enjoy it. I look to this series to grow. That is why I am part of it. I really believe that it will grow. These types of cars, there will be thirty or forty of them each race. That is what I think will happen I hope.”

Q: Where do these cars rank on the fun meter?

Carl: “Oh these cars are a lot of fun. To be able to come to ORP and race cars like this and race against guys like Brian Tyler and Dave Steele and guys like that man it is spectacular. It is a lot of fun.”

Hemelgarn 91/ Johnson Motorsports Joins the Silver Crown Series/ ORP Silver Crown Clarification/ Iowa Speedway Welcomes the IRL/ Chat with Robin Mille

Hemelgarn 91/ Johnson Motorsports Joins the Silver Crown Series

Indy 500 winning and IRL IndyCar Series champion car owner Ron Hemelgarn and current Silver Crown car co-owner Roger Johnson have teamed up together again to field a car in the USAC Silver Crown Series. Hemelgarn and Johnson have fielded cars in the Indy Pro Series from 2002 to 2005 recording four wins, two of them coming with USAC standout Aaron Fike behind the wheel. Hemelgarn has fielded Indy cars for more than two decades. Johnson co-owns the No. 199 Silver Crown car with Carl Edwards. Roger Johnson has been a USAC Silver Crown car owner since 2000. The team has purchased a C&R Racing chassis for the No. 191 car. Chilean driver Pablo Donoso will pilot the car, with Cristal, Life Fitness and R.E. Technologies the main sponsors.

ORP Silver Crown Clarification
Tuesday we listed the preliminary entry lists for the Silver Crown, Busch and Truck races at ORP. The lists are subject to change. It is possible that more than the thirteen Silver Crown cars originally listed will enter the event.

Iowa Speedway Welcomes the IRL
The Indy Racing League is guaranteed to visit at least one new venue in the 2007 season. As we first reported Tuesday, the IRL confirmed to day that the series will visit the new Rusty Wallace designed track on June 22-24. The Indy Pro Series will run a 100 mile race there on the 23rd and the IndyCar Series will run 250 laps at the 7/8-mile tri-oval track. This is the first facility built that will feature the New-Age SAFER Barrier, which does not have a concrete wall behind the energy absorbing barrier. The new barrier will circle the whole track. Driver Scott Dixon and Wade Cunningham gave their approval of the facility following a compatibility test this morning.

“We thought it was similar to Richmond,” said Dixon. “It will be fast and provide good passing because it's so wide, and the transitions are smooth.”

“The midwest is home to the core IndyCar Series fan so we are thrilled to partner with Iowa Speedway to bring IndyCar Series racing to Iowa,” said Brian Barnhart, president and COO of the Indy Racing League. “The combination of the Iowa Speedway's 7/8-mile size with the speed and side-by-side action of the IndyCar Series promises to keep race fans on the edge of their seats.”Iowa Speedway is in Newton Iowa about 30 minutes east of Des Moines just off of Interstate 80 and just north of Knoxnille Raceway. The new 7/8-mile tri-oval has a track width of 60 feet with 12-14 degree compound banking in the turns. The front stretch features 10 degrees of banking and the backstretch has 4 degrees of banking. For TV junkies like me, Iowa Speedway will also be the first racetrack to have cameras and michrophones embedded in the racing surface. Iowa Speedway will open for its inaugural race event which includes all three USAC National divisions on the weekend of September 15-17.

The date Iowa Speedway takes what was the Richmond date which means Richmond may slide up or back a week. The complete 2007 IndyCar Series schedule will be announced later this Fall.

Chat with Robin Miller
Robin Miller will park himself behind the computer tomorrow at 1:30mp eastern for a one hour chat session at SpeedTV.com. Judging from the archives, it should be worth your wile.

TV Listings
Friday
3:30 pm NASCAR Nextel Cup Practice Indianapolis (LIVE) SPEED
5:30 pm NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying Indianapois (LIVE) SPEED
8:30 pm NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Indianapolis (SDD) SPEED
Saturday
10:00 am Nextel Cup Qualifying TNT
3:30 pm NASCAR Nextel Cup Final Practice Indianapolis (LIVE) SPEED
6:00 pm NASCAR Busch Qualifying Indianapolis (LIVE) SPEED
9:00 pm Busch Series Race Indianapolis (LIVE) TNT
Sunday
2:00 pm Pre-Race Show - Indianapolis NBC
2:30 pm Nextel Cup Race - Indianapolis NBC
8:00 pm Speed Report SPEED
9:00 pm Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain (LIVE) SPEED

Indiana Homecoming/ IRL Iowa Date Announcement/ Paul Tracy is a Bleeder

Indiana Homecoming
With the demise of major Open Wheel racing after the split, our Open Wheelers leave USACLand for NASCARLand. This weekend, they come home. The homecoming begins Thursday night with USAC Silver Crown action at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. Carl Edwards will drive in the event that kicks off a very busy weekend for him.

“Indy is always a big weekend,” stated Carl Edwards. “There is so much history and tradition. I will be running triple duty starting on Thursday in my USAC car, Saturday in my Busch No. 60 Ameriquest Ford and top it off Sunday in my No 99 Office Depot NEXTEL Cup car. O'Reilly Raceway Park and the Brickyard are so different, but the mission is the same. Tackle each lap like it's the last and gain points in both championship races.”

His team is currently fifth in owner points but at the top of the board, there is a big fight. Bryan Tyler and Bud Kaeding are tied for the points lead heading into a double race weekend. A pavement race at ORP followed by a dirt race two nights later at the Terre Haute Action Track could be the turning point either of the two veterans need on the road to the Silver Crown Series championship. Kaeding and Tyler each possess 369 points at the halfway point in the season. Neither has ever won a Silver Crown race at ORP but that cannot be said for Terre Haute. Brian Tyler won that event in 2004. A bad qualifying night at THAT may be a good omen for Tyler. He started in 22nd in 2004 when he won there. Wayne Reutiman Jr. is hoping to gain ground on the points leaders coming off his win at Milwaukee. Reutiman will have a cheering section at ORP as his uncle David Reutiman races in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Native Memphian, (my hometown) Jeff Swindell is set to return to the USAC Silver Crown series at Terre Haute. Swindell who was by the office today to say hi (he didn’t drop by only see me, he was there to see my boss) owns four career Silver Crown victories and five poles. If you are going to the races bring your scanner. Brian Tyler’s wife spots for him and the instructions she gives her driver/ husband makes for an entertaining night. I have never heard a spotter so animated. Jay Drake will have a new sponsor on his car this weekend. National Parts Peddler Newspaper and Trade Show is now the primary sponsor of the Jim Paternoster owned No. 41 Riley driven by Drake. There are thirteen entries in the prelim entry sheet posted by ORP.

USAC Silver Crown Entries O’Reilly Raceway Park
1 Dave Steele
8 Bryn Gohn
14 Josh Wise
17 Matt Neely
18 Thiago Medeiros
21 Brian Tyler
26 Aaron Pierce
28 Tim Barber
29 Bud Kaeding
41 Jay Drake
96 Rodney Weesner
00 Wayne Reutiman
199 Carl Edwards

Rookie Truckers Returning Home
Say the names Bobby East and Boston Reid and you think of O’Reilly Raceway Park and USAC. These two drivers have put in their time on the .686 mile oval and are now returning as NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series rookies. East win the USAC Silver Crown event there a year ago. Indiana native Kraig Kinser is also coming home but this weekend will mark his first start at ORP. Former Memphian and now Indiana native Cameron Dodson will attempt his first truck start at O'Reilly Raceway Park driving for MB Motorsports. USAC veteran Mike Bliss has never won a truck race at ORP. The 1993 Silver Crown champion say driving a Silver Crown car and driving a truck around the .686 mile oval are different animals.

“The only way I can describe it is to say that it is different,” said Bliss. “It is hard to take what you learn from driving a 1,000-1,500 pound Silver Crown car, and apply that to driving a 3,400 vehicle. Probably the biggest thing that I have taken away from the open wheel stuff is the time on the track. I really think that that helps a lot, especially at ORP. Since it is a little tricky track, having the extra track time can do nothing but help us.”

The USAC and NASCAR veteran had the following work of wisdom to the Indiana rookies competing in their first truck race at ORP.

“My advice to the young guys is to just not think too hard, I think that is what has happened to me in the past at ORP, and just get the truck to roll up through the center of the corners. Thinking about how you should be getting through the corners and where you need to turn was always something that messed me up. What I have to do is just let the truck show me what I need to do, and then adjust on things from there, and also just do what feels comfortable, without putting the truck in the wall of course. I also think that they need to treat it just like any other short track that we go to, and just be patient and save your stuff for the end of the race.”
Open Wheeler Truck Entries for Milwaukee10 Terry Cook16 Mike Bliss
17 David Reutiman (Wayne Reutiman Jr.’s cousin) 21 Bobby East
25 Boston Reid46 Kraig Kinser63 Cameron Dodson
98 Erin Crocker

Edwards is Hot Headed to Indy
Carl Edwards is on a hot streak headed into Indy. The Open Wheeler won at Gateway last weekedn and looks to make it two in a row in the Busch Series. He will have to battle several fellow Open Wheelers that want to win in front of their home crowd. PJ Jones and Erin Crocker look to make their mark this weekend.

Busch Series Entries for ORP
10 John Andretti
11 Paul Menard
18 J.J. Yeley
38 Jason Leffler
43 PJ Jones
60 Carl Edwards
77 Burney Lamar
98 Erin Crocker

IRL to Iowa Announcement Tomorrow?
The Indy Racing League has scheduled a teleconference with the media tomorrow, the same day the series is conducting compatibility tests at Iowa Speedway. The series is scheduled to announce a new component to its 2007 schedule. As we first reported on July 25th, Scott Dixon and Wade Cunningham will test drive the new 7/8 mile oval to see how IndyCar Series cars react to the racing surface and to determine what changes, if any, are needed for IndyCar Series or Indy Pro Series cars, engines, chassis or tires to race at the facility. The announcement is scheduled for 2pm eastern. We plan to have more on this story tomorrow.

In other Iowa Speedway news, tickets for individual race events for this season go on sale this Saturday. All three USAC national divisions are scheduled to race at Iowa Speedway on September 16-17 later this year.

Paul Tracy is a Bleeder
Apparently you really liked the photos of the fight between Paul Tracy and Alex Tagliani. Well fear not my friends, we have found additional images and video. SPEED has a great photo. http://www.speedtv.com/_assets/library/img/large/115094_tat.jpg
Then there is this angle from what looks to be the helicopter (NOTE LANGUAGE, NOT SUITABLE FOR KIDS, A Tag says the F word over and over) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNOyDe4ugrw&search=fight%20between%20Paul%20Tracy%20and%20Alex%20Tagliani.
And finally this video shot by the local CBS affiliate in the Bay area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTT_ujmIDDQ&mode=related&search=fight%20between%20Paul%20Tracy%20and%20Alex%20Tagliani.
That is all for now...