Notes & Bolts, Vol 1
Written by Douglas Brown · April 24, 2008
My (weekly?) observations, random reads, leads and stream-of-consciousness ramblings from around the open car world.
- Let me be the last writer to congratulate Danica Patrick on her win. I’ve been a supporter all along of Guthrie, St. James, Fisher, Patrick and Duno. I watched them all run at Indy and cheered when Danica led in 2005. Glad to see she got the monkey off her back and expect more wins in her career, for sure.
- Her win plays right into Gene and Tony’s marketing plan as she IS the face and, thanks to Sports Illustrated, the body of the IRL. I’m checking London bookie odds on her Indy 500 victory as we speak.
- Good to see the fuel strategy play out as she’s been bitten by that more than once but I am getting a little tired of that story line. More often that not, races are decided sitting still rather than lapping the track (and not just in the IRL either).
- Did anyone else notice how much the Motgei 300 trophy looks like the Indy 500 Borg Warner award?
- Kansas is this week – if Danica can repeat, she’ll be the eighth different winner in eight events held there.
- The series re-merges this weekend as the former Champ Car guys return to ovals. Must be odd driving two different cars, two different weeks but it’s good to have them all in one race again.
- Rumors have it the IRL has 44 engines for the Indy 500. That’s one per team as the entry list is now at 39. Don’t break anything.
- My Open-Wheel-to-Nascar Stat Tracker is below. Seems Montoya’s improving in his second season but Dario and Sam are suffering. Wonder why? (Please, don’t’ tell me it’s the “learning curve.” These guys have been racing cars since they were like five).
| Driver | Starts | Avg Start | Avg Finish |
| Allendinger | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carpentier | 5 | 26.8 | 33 |
| Franchitti | 7 | 31 | 31.2 |
| Hornish | 8 | 22.8 | 26.8 |
| Montoya | 8 | 19 | 15.8 |
| Villeneuve | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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“What’s Dario doing this weekend? Is he still in Nascar? What about Sam? Why do they suck so much “over there”? (Please, don’t’ tell me it’s the “learning curve.” These guys have been racing cars since they were like 5. ”
Well, you can lose and still have a fairly significant income…it’s kind of like a retirement orf sorts. You don’t need to be #1 or even close to it.
I shouldn’t say “lose” but rather “finish at the back of the pack”.
Ha Ha, I too noticed the trophy & the similarity to the BW.