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Indy 500 Bump Day 2010 - Highs and lows

Every year at the Indy 500 time trials, bump day usually provides plenty of drama as the field gets set for the Greatest Spectacle In Racing. And not only did this year’s bump day live up to the hype, but the closing hour left viewers and fans catching their breath with everything that unfolded.

Lead Story - Kanaan’s conundrum
The story that dominated the day was that of Tony Kanaan’s troubles in getting into the field. An annual favorite to win the race and take the pole in recent years, Kanaan found himself on the outside looking in today after a qualifying crash on Saturday that caused heavy damage to the 7-Eleven car.

To make things worse, Kanaan took out his repaired car in morning practice, and crashed again in turn one in an episode of the worst kind of déjà vu. Kanaan’s team picked up the pieces (pun intended), pawned off some parts from other Andretti Autosport cars, and put Kanaan back ont he track. And Kanaan responded by firmly putting his car in the field. The man earned his paycheck today and showed just what he’s made of, that is for sure.
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Tony Fernandes Of Lotus F1: Call Me Mr. Blue; Rural New York F1 Track?

Some of you may recall the old Fleetwoods’ tune “Call Me Mr. Blue”? Anyone, anyone, Buehler? Didn’t think so. Regardless, me thinks Tony Fernandes should adopt it as his team/personal theme song. Read more

Monaco GP: Webber, Vettel, Kubica Too; Williams And Schumy Cry Boo-Hoo-Hoo.

Yeah my poetry (if you can call it that) might suck, but it’s an accurate short version of the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix results.

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Spanish GP: A Perfect Day For Red Bull, Almost

Mark Webber used his pole position for an easy romp of 66 laps in the Spanish sunshine of Cataluña and secured his first win of 2010. Not so exciting a day for teammate Sebastian Vettel . Read more

F-Duct or not Red Bull demolished the field in F1 Spanish GP qualifying

Formula 1 has returned to Europe this weekend for the Spanish Grand Prix at Catalunya, and the talk in the garages is of the major upgrades that the teams have made on their machines in the recent off weeks. The buzzword in F1 continues to be “F-Duct”, a term for the aerodynamic device that modifies airflow over the rear wing on high speed straights.

The ironic thing about the results for today’s qualifying session is that the top two qualifiers didn’t even have an F-Duct on their cars. So despite the buzz, and the talk of it’s advantages, the F-Duct just might really be voodoo aerodynamics.

F-Duct or not, the Red Bull team destroyed the field today. Webber captured the pole by winning a fierce battle with his teammmate, Sebastian Vettel, by a mere tenth-of-a-second. But while this intra-team battle was firece, the other drivers were effectively running for ‘best in class’ of the non-Red Bull machines.

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Red Bull given chase by Schumacher in F1 Spanish GP practice

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Saturday practice for the Spanish GP kicked off the weekend for Formula 1 and, as expected, Red Bull grabbed the two top spots on speed chart. But much to the surprise of many, Michael Schumacher put his Mercedes machine on the charts at P3, finally outpacing Nico Rosberg (who is quietly having a great season and currently stands second in points).

The updates to the 2010 Mercedes seem to be suitable to Schumacher. Either that, or he was “running extra light”, as David Coulthard suggested.
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Paul Tracy and Barry Green reunite for 2010 Indy 500

Paul Tracy tweeted some news news today revolving around 2010 Indy 500 effort that Barry Green is going to wire up the ol’ headset and call race strategy for Mr. Chrome Horn in the duo’s attempt at winning the Indy 500 for a second time. Ok…. In reality Paul is still vying for a first win at the Brickyard, while Green seeks to put an exclamation point on the 1995 Indy win he captured with with Jacques Villeneuve. Speaking of 1995, that race finish was nearly as controversial as the 2002 race, so Green has gotten both ends of the proverbial stick when it comes to winning and losing the Greatest Spectacle In Racing.

This reunion puts Tracy with his former team owner from the FedEx Championship Series (a.k.a. CART) when he drove for Team KOOL Green. Tracy said that the two have “unfinished” business to tend to at the Brickyard. But can Tracy pull the rabbit out of the hat, beat the likes of Ganassi and Penske, and exorcise the ghosts of the 2002 race? Doubtful, of course. I wonder, though, what kind of celebratory exhibition Paul Tracy might put on if he were to somehow win the 500 mile race.

He’s had a long time to think about it.

USA Today also has a real news story about these developments: Barry Green to work with Paul Tracy in Indy 500

MotoGP Spanish GP an instant classic as Lorenzo charges to victory

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If you saw the MotoGP race this morning on SPEED, you probably won’t need coffee to get amped up for your Sunday activities. Jorge Lorenzo came out of nowhere in an adrenalin-pumping ride to win the Spanish Grand Prix with a thrilling last-lap pass on fellow countryman Dani Pedrosa.

The buzz around this race was huge, with over 120,000 fans packing into the Jerez circuit. This race is the Super Bowl of motorcycle racing for Spain, and it was an instant classic. As the field took the green light, Dani Pedrosa defended his pole position starting spot to take the early lead. He was followed by Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, and Jorge Lorenzo as the field accelerated out of turn one. Ben Spies also had a good start as he improved from his eighth starting position to sixth with some brilliant moves.
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Hayden happy to be in one piece after a big tumble in Spain

Earlier today I joked in a post that the Ducati boys are getting familiar with the gravel in the early part of the 2010 season after Nicky Hayden took a spill in Saturday morning practice. What I didn’t realize until late in the day (due to lack of coverage available here in the United States), is the accident was pretty major, and Hayden was very fortunate to have walked away with just abrasions and bruises.

It is remarkable that after taking a fall at 130 mph that Hayden got up and rode again to a fifth place grid position only two hours later.

Hayden talked about his crash with SpeedTV.com. “I was bouncing and rolling and thinking man, stay awake, stay awake with every tumble,” Hayden said. “I hit my head pretty hard and my helmet is trashed. Every time I hit my head I thought OK, I’m awake.”

That comment really brings a reality to the dangers these guys face every time they get on the bike.

More on Hayden’s take on the accident: Hayden Talks About Terrifying 132-mph Crash

Scott Dixon is again the king of Kansas

The fans at Kansas Speedway today experienced an episode of Déjà vu as they watched Scott Dixon run away with the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 for the second year in a row. Dixon led the most laps in a race that started out with a tight and competitive run at the front, and ended with a total blowout by the New Zealander.

The only thing that made the latter part of the race interesting were a string of yellows that kept the field in touch with the leader. But as the race came to a close, Dixon had 18 Honda push-to-pass “shots” with only 15 laps to go, and it was his race to lose. And for a guy with ice-water in his veins, it was a walk in the park.

The field took the green at about 2 p.m. ET, and I was amazed to see a nicely formed field of 2-by-two race cars. That’s how a race start is supposed to look, and a huge improvement over the sloppy starts of the past few races.
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