The big stories in the world of motorsports have been coming at such a high rate of speed, it’s been difficult to keep up.
The long weekend kicked off with Tony Stewart getting into an altercation with a U.S. Auto Club official at O’Reilly Raceway Park Thursday night. The incident was caught by a WTHR-TV Channel 13 FanCam, and aired repeatedly by ESPN over the weekend. Friday, an apologetic Stewart emerged at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Stewart was there to unveil his new No. 14 Chevrolet, which he will drive next year. I’m sure his sponsors loved the mixed message.
A strong contingent of fans gathered in Edmonton to watch the Indy Racing League race there Saturday. It looks like a solid IRL market going forward. Scott Dixon won, but fans likely found several sub-plots more interesting. First, Marco Andretti took out his Andretti Green Racing teammate Danica Patrick, who was waving her fist even before she exited the car. After the race, Michael Andretti called a behind-closed-doors meeting for his drivers and team principals. Rumors have begun to circulate that AGR driver Tony Kanaan may look to go elsewhere next year. Meanwhile, Canada’s favorite son, Paul Tracy, shocked much of the racing world by emerging from a long hibernation to take fourth at Edmonton. Fans at the track, not surprisingly, went crazy, sparking speculation that a sponsorship package could come together to put Tracy on the track for the remainder of the IRL season, or at least for some of the races.
IRL and Indianapolis Motor Speedway Chairman Tony George was having a pretty good weekend until Sunday, when the Brickyard 400 nightmare unfolded. Last minute and walk-up ticket sales weren’t what IMS officials hoped for, and the crowd at the Speedway for the annual NASCAR race was noticeably down from years past. And the disjointed race with numerous yellow flags due to tire problems fans witnessed yesterday won’t help sell tickets for next year. Naturally, IMS officials deflected criticism to NASCAR and its tire supplier, Goodyear. And certainly, NASCAR’s new, heavier car is partly to blame. But motorsports insiders said with two serious tire issues—including the Formula One fiasco of 2005—in recent years, it’s time for Speedway officials to re-examine their track surface.
So tell us, do you think Tony George should be smiling or frowning today? And which of this weekend’s developments will have the biggest, long-term impact on the local racing scene?
The long weekend kicked off with Tony Stewart getting into an altercation with a U.S. Auto Club official at O’Reilly Raceway Park Thursday night. The incident was caught by a WTHR-TV Channel 13 FanCam, and aired repeatedly by ESPN over the weekend. Friday, an apologetic Stewart emerged at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Stewart was there to unveil his new No. 14 Chevrolet, which he will drive next year. I’m sure his sponsors loved the mixed message.
A strong contingent of fans gathered in Edmonton to watch the Indy Racing League race there Saturday. It looks like a solid IRL market going forward. Scott Dixon won, but fans likely found several sub-plots more interesting. First, Marco Andretti took out his Andretti Green Racing teammate Danica Patrick, who was waving her fist even before she exited the car. After the race, Michael Andretti called a behind-closed-doors meeting for his drivers and team principals. Rumors have begun to circulate that AGR driver Tony Kanaan may look to go elsewhere next year. Meanwhile, Canada’s favorite son, Paul Tracy, shocked much of the racing world by emerging from a long hibernation to take fourth at Edmonton. Fans at the track, not surprisingly, went crazy, sparking speculation that a sponsorship package could come together to put Tracy on the track for the remainder of the IRL season, or at least for some of the races.
IRL and Indianapolis Motor Speedway Chairman Tony George was having a pretty good weekend until Sunday, when the Brickyard 400 nightmare unfolded. Last minute and walk-up ticket sales weren’t what IMS officials hoped for, and the crowd at the Speedway for the annual NASCAR race was noticeably down from years past. And the disjointed race with numerous yellow flags due to tire problems fans witnessed yesterday won’t help sell tickets for next year. Naturally, IMS officials deflected criticism to NASCAR and its tire supplier, Goodyear. And certainly, NASCAR’s new, heavier car is partly to blame. But motorsports insiders said with two serious tire issues—including the Formula One fiasco of 2005—in recent years, it’s time for Speedway officials to re-examine their track surface.
So tell us, do you think Tony George should be smiling or frowning today? And which of this weekend’s developments will have the biggest, long-term impact on the local racing scene?
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What he should do - fold the 'league' immediately, and concentrate on facility management, which was the only thing he has been good at. Now even that is questionable. Of course, he won't do that. Maybe he will start a stock car 'league'. Ha.
The CoT sled is not heavier than the previous cab.
Maybe the France family will finally get their hands on IMS and put up steeper banking. It would be worth it to see the wailing from the gomerati.
Ideally, FTG and Nascar will blame each other over this to the point that there is no more Nascar race at IMS. That would be truly hysterical.
What I'm getting at, is it is definitely the tire and the car that are the issue, and not the track surface. The track surface is maintained, but other than modification of the track for NASCAR several years back, it's not much different than in the past recent history.
You prepare for and race at the track, which is almost always the same. A car/tire engineering oversight in your next-gen vehicle is not the responsibility of IMS. I don't follow NASCAR, but I recall hearing on the news this morning that this isn't the first issue with NASCAR Goodyear tires this year, just the first of this magnitude.
Tony shouldn't sweat this at all, IMS is fine.
Let's not kid ourselves, the Brickyard 400 is not the 2nd biggest race of the year, in the eyes of NASCAR and it's fans, for the NASCAR season. It may be in the eyes of Indianapolis racing fans, but not the rest of NASCAR and it's fans across the nation. Daytona 500 first (obviously), Talladega, Bristol, and more... these can be argued what order they should go in... but Indianapolis is not even up there for NASCAR. 14 races and just because of a legacy with IndyCar, doesn't automatically pop it to the top of NASCAR.
I do agree with you on everything else though. This is not IMS' fault... this is the fault of Goodyear and NASCAR. The IMS does not need to worry about this.
What in the world are you thinking? Besides Daytona the two largest and most influential races are Indy and Charlotte, both in the eyes of the drivers, the league and the racing community. Where else can they go to attract a quarter of a million fans for one day? The answer is: none of their tracks, even Daytona. Indy put NASCAR on the national map of acceptance, not Daytona nor anywhere else for that matter.
And I hate to break it to you, Indy is not what put NASCAR in the limelight of racing on a national level. Great marketing of NASCAR is what did that.
I will applaud NASCAR and Goodyear for fighting to put on the show with what was available rather than take the Michelin approach of giving up!
Choke.........
You have no idea what you are talking about other than NASCAR should have tested more. Goodyear has been trying to get IMS to do something about the abrasiveness of the surface since they ground it - they say it is the most abrasive paved surface in professional racing.
Nice sarcasm; that seems to be the way of the old CHAMP CAR guard. But in the stead of professionalism and with all due respect, consider this: Firestone has never had a problem with the IMS surface and, more importantly, Goodyear has raced on that same, unchanged surface three times.
You can try to lay the blame on IMS all you want. But, it won't stick. As I said before, look at Goodyear and then NASCAR's decision to tighten up on testing. Would those same drivers that experienced the problems on Sunday have preferred to test here prior to the race? Of course, but they didn't get the chance because of NASCAR's boneheaded decisions.
While you have a hissy fit over Tony George and the IMS, just remember that what helped bring open wheel racing to its knees is money, and that same thing is beginning to happen with NASCAR.
If true, then why has NASCAR not made an ultimatum to IMS to repave? The cars have run the last couple of years with no problems, why do you think the problems have popped up in the first year of the CofT and the first year Goodyear did not run tire tests here? If Goodyear really thought Indy's track is an issue, wouldn't they have made sure they ran test to make sure they did not have problems?
If you feel Berwickguy is looking for a yellow shirt, then you surely are living in an old c<rt/owrs/ccws car hauler watching vhs tapes of the US 500. You know, the cars and the stars.
Goodyear and NASCAR are not innocent, NASCAR should have mandated more testing at IMS and they should have required the teams to use straight axles instead of the crab walk set up on the COT. NASCAR talked about it on Friday after practice but didn't have the cajones to follow through.
I would watch the US 500 or any CART race at Michigan before I would walk across the street to see rev limited crap wagons playing follow the leader....
I guess I missed the announcement on the Firestone NASCAR tire. The COT is twice as heavy and has a ton less downforce than the crapwagon. That's why you won't see Danica in NASCAR and why Sam the Sham Hornish is 34th in points, the COT actually has to be driven, it's not stuck to the track.
The only thing that brought OW to it's knees was the actions of a spoiled little brat, Anton George and greedy owners like Penske and Ganassi along with the dullards that follow the Hulman- George cabal like lemmings off a cliff...
Yeah, Matt Kenseth's quote is like asking a rock band on tour, while they're in the city, where they like to play the most... any PR response will be this... I love [insert city name here] and [insert city name here] is the best place to play and perform. Same for drivers... most have PR people and most drivers know the PR responses... sometimes they use them and sometimes they don't, but most of the time they do.
Ask Matt Kenseth an open-ended question of, What races are the most important during the NASCAR season?... and ask him this question at the end of the season or the beginning of the season when he is not in Indianapolis... and you won't get Indianapolis in his responset.
So, the quote of Matt Kenseth giving a typical PR answer to the local media when he is in the host city means nothing to me... and shouldn't to anyone who has any common sense.
Choke...
That Indy is the second most important NASCAR event is fact in the eyes of many, not conjecture. Apparently, I struck a nerve or two. However, you two, especially Brett, seem to take your discussions to the lowest common denominator, name calling and cheap shots.
I only attempted to offer an opinion as this format encourages. To continue to offer counter points is productive, but to revert to your brand of discussion is inappropriate and unprofessional. We should all try to debate or discuss in an uplifting manner.
Give it a try sometime.
A quote from today's news:
I can't say how sorry we are. There's nothing wrong with the (track) surface, NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said in a national teleconference. Obviously, we didn't go there with the right car and tire combination. I wouldn't ask them to change that surface. It's up to us to do a better job when we get there next year.
I suppose you'll excuse this as pandering. Oh, well......
I think something stinks about this deal all the way around if you ask me.
Don't lump me in with Brett... if you re-read my posts, I never insulted you directly. The Choke... comment was copying what you put on your previous post to me. Unless you take my last comment of common sense and assumed I directed it at you, I didn't do any name calling and cheap shots... but, if you thought it was directed at you, then you must feel it applies to you if you're taking it personally. What I'm trying say is, quit crying, it's just a blog... I didn't call you stupid or curse at you... so, get over it. And obviously from you trying to say we're going to the lowest common denominator ... it's not mine or Brett's nerve that was struck, seems to be your nerve that was struck.
I'm done posting about this... anyone that's into NASCAR (and not just into NASCAR during the last weekend of July) knows Indy isn't up there in the important race category for NASCAR.
But I do like the Carl Edwards quote posted by Merv... seems Carl is saying what I've been trying to tell you... kind of proves you wrong, berwickguy, since you like to take everything that someone says on camera (or to the newspaper) to heart.