France Targets Washington
February 27, 2004
No, we are not talking about the country attacking our capitol. We are refering to the France family enterprise expanding into Washington state. International Speedway Corporation, which owns 12 tracks and is controled by the France family are in negotiations to build an 80,000 seat facility in the pacific northwest.
Has there been a major atmospheric change in the weather patterns over Washington state that I havn’t heard about? Am I mistaken in my recollection of that area of the country as being extremely wet? How are we gonna race in the wet, Brian, strap on rain tires like Formula 1? Or suffer the disappointments of rainouts and Monday racing. Somebody tell me what I’m missing here.
espn.com: ISC has eye on Pacific Northwest
Rookie Still On Top After Friday
February 27, 2004
Rookie Eric Medlen continued to impress as action resumed at Pomona Raceway today. The conclusion of the 2004 NHRA K&N Filters Winternationals was postponed from last weekend due to rain and resumes this weekend. Medlen posted the only 4.7-second pass of the day, a 4.79, to retake the lead in the nitro-burning class from team owner John Force, who had leapfrogged his protégé earlier in the session. (Friday Funny Car Results)
The top four positions in Top Fuel remained unchanged with the majority of the movement in the field coming mid-pack. Therefore, Schumacher and his U.S. Army squad remain the provisional No. 1 qualifiers with their previously posted 4.514 at 326.32 mph. (Friday Top Fuel Results)
Window Of Opportunity For TV Ratings Open?
February 27, 2004
If you are an open wheel racing fan (I am) you can only hope all those NASCAR junkies looking for their racing fix will stumble upon the IRL event this weekend.
NASCAR isn’t on the tube, and the IRL is the only game in town, for racing anyway. Why won’t too many new fans discover the joys of open wheel oval racing? Because it’s being broadcast on ESPN, which doesn’t have a huge viewership potential. Both the IRL and Champ Cars need main stream TV exposure if they are to build any fan base. Ho hum, ANOTHER pointless discussion about why they should merge. Not me, I’m done flapping my jaw over unity in the sport, time to kick back and try to enjoy some good racing.
miami.com: Time is now for IRL to regain its popularity
St. Pete Down The Tube, Officially
February 27, 2004
Principal members of OWRS, the city of St. Petersberg, and Dover Motorsports, could not come to agreement on the race, preliminarily re-scheduled for mid-May. The apparent snag is a gentlemen named Tom Begley, who is described as a former rights holder. What the hang-up is, I would love to know. This is where my Machiavellian instincts come into play; is Mr. Begley in the pocket of Tony George and conniving to bring in the IRL in 2005, when the IRL intends to go road racing? Or is it a straight up business disagreement that won’t allow the sides to come together. The published story (or spin put on the story) is that Mr. Begley is the hold up. Does anyone out there know the inside scoop?
motorsport.com: Champ Car exits St. Pete event
Should NASCAR realign schedule for 2005?
February 27, 2004
The announcement of the point system overhaul several weeks ago began the inevitable conversation of schedule realignment in 2005. As it stands now the last ten events are New Hampshire, Dover, Talladega, Kansas, Charlotte, Martinsville, Atlanta, Phoenix, Darlington and Miami. A nice round division of tracks, but no real crown jewel event.
2004 Season Preview
February 27, 2004
Formula 1 is not a sport in decline; it’s actually in a full-fledged plummet. Addicted to tobacco money, scouting race locations in such dynamic and interesting places as Bahrain and Hyderabad, trying to be a fan of Formula 1 nowadays is like trying to give emotional support to your crack-addicted second cousin who is constantly scaring young girls in the supermarket parking lot but somehow still manages to think that they’re just intimidated by his great looks.
What do we have to look forward to this year? Fewer European races. More stupid rules. Drivers that can’t wait to escape from the teams they are driving for. Where to begin?
Carl Long Rides Again!
February 27, 2004
Carl Long’s 15 minutes of fame will now stretch several more minutes. Carl was the unfortunate un-funded “field filler” who showed up last week at Rockingham. He was unfortunate because he got his 15 minutes of fame by taking a painful looking barrel-roll down the back stretch. Carl was ok, but his one-and-only race car was minced meat, thus ending his season for the time being. However, Busch driver Hermie Sadler’s operation has given Carl another chance. It was announced Wednesday that Long will drive the SCORE Motorsports Pontiac in Las Vegas, and possibly the next week at Atlanta.
Keep in mind that Pontiac no longer officially supports a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup racing program. From that we can extrapolate that this is still a penny pinching deal in what has to be at least a year-old car. But for a guy like Long, who is just trying to make it any way he can, this deal is no doubt a breath of fresh air. But I don’t understand why he doesn’t go after a Busch or Truck ride and keep things relatively affordable…
RPM.ESPN: After barrel roll, Long will run in Vegas
Actor Barry Pepper To Play Earnhardt In ESPN Movie
February 27, 2004
Actor Barry Pepper, who played the role of Roger Maris in the HBO feature “61″ and also appeared in “Saving Private Ryan,” “Knockaround Guys” and “25th Hour,” will play the role of the legendary Dale Earnhardt in ESPN’s made for TV movie titled “3.” The movie is scheduled to air in Decemember.
I hope Mr. Pepper knows what he’s in for. In the eyes of Dale Sr. fans he’s playing a role of similar importance to that which James Caviezel and Mel Gibson are currenlty in the hot seat for. Do a good job Barry!
springfieldnewssun.com: ESPN to Make Film of Earnhardt Story
PepperFans.com: Barry Pepper’s Personal Web Site
IMDb.com: Barry Pepper
Patrick Won’t Run IRL
February 27, 2004
Legendary Champ Car team owner U.E. “Pat” Patrick’s team will not be running the IRL with Al Unser, Jr. at the wheel as originally hoped. Patrick may reappear later this season in a bid for Indy 500 with Robby Gordon, but I doubt it…
IndyStar.com: Patrick’s team deals with IRL bad news
GrandPrix.com: Patrick Racing calls off IRL programme
Prerace Drivers Quotes
February 25, 2004
Don’t worry folks, you can breeze right through all the drivers quotes as there are only 19 of them. Thanks again, Tony! The big fascination for me will be to see how competitive the back half of the grid will be. In a large field you can expect half the cars to be mid pack to back of the pack. With only 19 cars, will we only see 5-8 cars running close to each other? I think many of the back markers will be just cruising as they get lapped by the Penske-Ganassi-Panther cars.
That, and the answer to the question everyone is asking: Will Helio and Sam get along? More to the point, how will they race against each other as team mates?
crash.net: Toyota Indy 300 - pre-race quotes.