Reflecting on 2011

2011 was an up and down for me personally and in the blogging world. I started the year at Triple League Racing. I was highly critiqued there. I was predominately an IndyCar and Formula One blogger. I have gotten great support from the following people.

• Dylan Tilbury- Triple League Racing
• Ross Fujibayashi- Triple League Racing and Racing Mania
• Eric Hall- Another IndyCar Blog
• Zachary Houghton- IndyCar Advocate
• Tony Johns- Pop Off Valve
• John Hull- 500 Miles Now
• George Phillips- Oil Pressure
• Bill Zahren- Pressdog
• Leigh O’Gorman- The F1 and Motorsport Archive
• Matt Hickey- IndyCar Minnesota
• Johnny Montana- And He’s On It
• Paul Dalbey and Stephanie Wallcraft- More Front Wing
• Bash Beard- IndyRacePlace
• James Beavers- Triple League Racing
• Tony DiZinno- Racer
• James Black- 16th and Georgetown
• Marshall Pruett- SpeedTV
• Jerry Cruz- IndyCar PuertoRico

There are a lot more people but these are the people that are at the top of my mind. Thank you and have a happy new year

Why Is the 1998 Daytona 500 Special to Me?

On February 5th, 1998 this writer was born. Ten days later was the 40th Daytona 500. Also this is when Dale Earnhardt finally won the Daytona 500 for the first time in his previous nineteen years of trying.

When I first started to watch racing… I heard a lot a stories about Earnhardt. I thought to myself wow. 7 championships! That’s really cool (at the time I was maybe 5 years old.)

Even though I never got to watch this legend race live, he is my favorite driver of all time. So almost every year before Speedweeks kicks off in February.  I watch old Daytona 500′s. The first one I can remember watching is the 1990 Daytona 500. At the time I was probably 7 or 8.  I thought to myself wow, its amazing how he can fit into these small holes and make it work. Like almost every race in the 80s and 90s, Earnhardt dominated that race. He ran with Derrike Cope all day long from the Whitcomb Racing team. It was the Dale and Derrike show all day. From what I can remember their was a late caution. Earnhardt pitted and Cope stayed out on the track. On the restart Earnhardt passed Cope. It looks like his bad luck would go away but NO he hit a piece of debris going into turn 3 on lap 200. Cope goes passed him and wins.

A few hours later a watched the 1998 race. Earnhardt started fourth. He was up to the lead by lap 20 or so. I thought to myself  how special would this be if he won the race he’s been trying to win for years in the same year I was born. Earnhardt’s car was the car to beat he led over 100 laps. The CBS announcers would constantly say some quote about Earnhardt. The race only had three cautions but the last one was important. On Lap 199 John Andretti and Lake Speed got tangled up. Race over because that’s when they raced back to the flag. Dale had Bobby Labonte and Jeremy Mayfield on his heels. So he was lucky to get that caution but he proved that he had the best car. All Dale had to do was make one lap around under caution and he wins. After he took the checkered, he pulled down pit road and every crew member from every team congratulated him. I thought that was special. Then he did a donut in the middle of the grass. When he pulled into victory lane he said ”The Daytona 500 is ours. We won it, we won it, we won it!” I was really happy for him.

That is why this race is so special to me.

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What Track Should Replace Baltimore

According to the Baltimore Sun, IndyCar and American LeMans look like the won’t be returning there in 2012 for the Labor Day weekend street event. This event was a success other than the track problems on opening day. The city is looking for a new group to run the race but its looking bleak before tomorrow’s deadline. Here is the announcement from the Baltimore Sun.

City officials have terminated the contract of the troubled group that organized the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix race and are seeking a new group to run the open-wheeled racing festival in the coming year, the mayor’s office announced Friday.

The city ended Baltimore Racing Development’s five-year contract because the company failed to meet the terms of the agreement, including paying a race fee and admissions and amusement taxes, officials said. The racing group owes the city more than $1.5 million in taxes and fees — a fraction of the group’s $12 million in debts.

“BRD hasn’t come up with a plan to demonstrate that they have the capacity to have a successful event next year,” said Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Kaliope Parthemos. “They haven’t come up with a plan to reorganize. They haven’t come up with a plan to pay their debts.”

Baltimore Racing Development officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment Friday.

Parthemos said city officials hope to find another group to organize the three-day festival, which is scheduled for Labor Day weekend. About 110,000 tickets were sold for this year’s event and a report commissioned by the city showed that the race generated $47 million in economic impact.

“This event had a great economic impact on the city, and it was an event the citizens of Baltimore were excited about,” Parthemos said. “It should continue.”

The city’s decision comes as the racing group’s managers signed off on a deal that would award control of the company to Felix Dawson, a former Constellation Energy executive, according to sources close to the racing group. But city officials said that the change in leadership was too little, too late.

The racing group has been the target of at least half a dozen lawsuits from former employees and vendors demanding payment. The state comptroller’s office has placed liens against the homes of the group’s five managers and two executives in an effort to collect back taxes.

Parthemos issued an ultimatum to the group nearly two months ago, demanding both new leadership and a plan to repay the debts to the city.

Parthemos said that officials have been approached by “two or three” groups that are interested in organizing the race and have the funds and background to plan a major race.

“The circle of people who have the expertise and experience is very small, and we will only be having discussions with that group of people,” Parthemos said.

Sources close to the racing group say that one of those companies is headed by Dale Dillon, a Indiana-based construction company owner who became the Baltimore group’s general manager weeks before the race. City officials credit Dillon, who previously had organized Indycar races in other cities, with pulling together the event.

Dillon declined to comment when reached by phone Friday.

Parthemos said the city would be able to avoid the time-consuming process of seeking bidders on the contract through the Board of Estimates and could directly award the contract to another company. The contract is considered a “professional service” and the city does not pay any money directly to the racing group.

A new group would need the approval of both the city and Indycar to proceed. Indycar executives were not immediately available for comment Friday.

So what tracks could replace this event. This is my thought. You take that scheduled weekend off because of the rough travel schedule from August to September, with 5 races in 6 weeks especially with a trip overseas.  Instead go early to Phoenix is a trial type of race on the eighth of September and see if its worthy or not to come back for a full return on future schedules.

The other thing they could do is add Homestead or Milwaukee as a season finale. Milwaukee could work because last year they ran it Father’s Day Weekend and the Brewers were playing in Milwaukee so you knew that would be a major struggle. Or they could run Homestead two weeks after the Fontana race and run Milwaukee a week after that.

Remember, this is only if it goes off. The have until tomorrow to fix this issue. In someways, I want it back on because the fans, racing, and geographical location of that race is remarkable. But we do need ovals.

DALE: Review

 

He was a legend behind the wheel, he won 7 championships (6 with Richard Childress). He was loved and hated at the same time. The smirk, and character. The man was Dale Earnhardt, Senior.

DALE is a documentary film (6 disc set) on Earnhardt’s life and racing career. Its narrated by the late Paul Newman. Disc 1 is the movie. It covers his first and only win in the Daytona 500. In transition of scenes it goes to a point in the 1998 Daytona 500. Disc 1 is about 90 minutes long.

Disc 2 is Bonus Features; alternate scenes, alternate openings, bloopers, interviews with Jeff Gordon, Rusty Wallace, and Kevin Harvick to name a few.

Disc 3 is Dale’s final win in 2000 at Talladega. See the historic race with newly recorded commentary by Richard Childress his team owner and closest friend.

Disc 4 is called Dale-Tona its all the bad luck in the 500 for Dale. The years are 1986, 1990, 1997, and the year he won it (1998).

Disc 5 is a photo gallery.

Disc 6 is 2-way audio from the 1998 Daytona 500- Ride along with Dale and hear everything he heard as he communicates with the Richard Childress Racing team.

Overall, I would recommend watching this documentary film. If you are a NASCAR fan you will enjoy it.

Creating the Balance for 2013

The 2012 IndyCar schedule is a complete disaster. You have 11 road and street courses and only 4 confirmed ovals! Fans/Writers want a 50-50 split and a diverse schedule. To be honest this is like CART of 2003 but without all the things that made CART successful. CART had great ovals; Pocono, Michigan, Fontana, and Milwaukee. Only one of those ovals are on the 2012 schedule and that is Fontana (which is making a return after a 7 year absence). Michigan was held from 02-07 (fairly successful). Milwaukee has been off and on. Pocono hasn’t been on a open wheel schedule since 1989.

Randy is Trying to Change the Sport

The point I’m trying to make is we need ovals because its the heritage of IndyCar Racing. All of this isn’t Randy Bernard’s fault. Plus, Terry wants street courses. Luckily for us as fans Randy got rid of him and Brian Barnhart. Look at Vegas. He promoted that race like crazy and no crowd or T.V. viewership really. Loudon was a disaster. Milwaukee was a great race but no fan support. Randy wants ovals, we as fans have to do a few things. A. Watch the races and get friends that are sports fans just to turn it on for maybe 5 minutes. If we do that the ratings could go up. B. The next thing is get more than a .7-1.2 rating on the ABC races (even though the announcers are terrible). The ABC races are huge because its a local channel and everybody has local TV. If we do this the series would be a major success. Another argument is that Versus/NBC Sports Network isn’t getting watched enough so that’s why we need ABC’s races to come out big. Even just mute the T.V., it still counts as watching!

Ignore these guys listen to IMS radio instead! But watch the pictures to help our Ratings

Randy is getting screwed because of this guy

Also write to Randy Bernard, he is willing to answer any fan questions. I’ve wrote to him about a good plan for the schedule. He responded by saying “If the sanctioning fees are there, it would work well. That schedule included Sebring, Road America, Michigan, Chicagoland, Road Atlanta, Watkins Glen and Portland to name a few. Those tracks provide great races.

Another thing Randy could do is at the ovals run your two practice sessions in the morning, qualify at about noon or one o’clock and race at like 7 or 8 at night. This would work well at Iowa, Texas, Fontana, Milwaukee, Richmond, and Phoenix. It would cut down on the sanctioning fees and have racing all day long for the fans. On the road and street events you could have it spread out because there’s a lot of things to do at a street circuit. The concessions are right there at the track (at street circuits). This would be a bang for your buck type of deal. It would help cut some of the money that goes into promoting a race at an oval.

I have no problem with adding new events to schedule but they need to be in North or South America not in Asia. I’m all for Watkins Glen and Phoenix returning but in order for that to happen IndyCar needs to dump Barber, Mid Ohio, and Infineon first plus Belle Isle, and China. No fan is going to want to watch those races because they aren’t entertaining. No passing. Look at Barber, Will Power lead every lap. Snoozing during that race. Mid Ohio isn’t that bad but still hardly any passing and that track is too narrow for open wheel cars. Infineon is like Barber on steroids. Belle Isle was a fail in 07 and 08. Do I have to say anything more about China and Asia? Ask Dylan Tilbury about his feelings about those tracks. He’s from Michigan and would rather see Michigan twice a year than one lap at Belle Isle. As for the rumored Fort Lauderdale race, it could work if its similar to St. Pete or Surfers Paradise but IndyCar’s best option is go to Sebring and St. Pete back to back. Surfer’s Paradise could be an exception to my no races in Asia rule because that race is entertaining especially in 2008. Cleveland, Portland, Road America and Road Atlanta need to be on. Those tracks equal great racing.

Baltimore is a different situation because yes its a street course and we have too many of those but it could work if they figure out their money problems and get rid of the god awful chicane down the front-stretch. I wouldn’t have any problem with this race going off or staying on.

So, how can we bring the success CART had in the 90′s to IndyCar Racing? Well, its simple. Bring back the historic events, promote the races, start the season after the Daytona 500. End the season before Labor Day. Run all races on Friday’s or Saturdays. Run with ALMS, Grand Am and NASCAR.  To promote events we need all the engine providers to sponsor at least 3 races.

We Need To Replace her With an American

Another thing we need is more American drivers right now we have Marco Andretti, Charlie Kimball, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Graham Rahal, Ed Carpenter, and Josef Newgarden. We need more Americans to promote the American races. The loss of Danica is huge in my mind because she did all the commercials. Who will step up?

Here’s my plan. This would be if they ran it in 2013. *=Night Race.

1. Phoenix International Raceway- 1 mile oval- Feb. 23rd, 2013. Sponsor-Chevy *
2. St. Petersburg, Florida- 1.8 mile street circuit- Mar. 9, 2013. Sponsor-Honda
3. Sebring, Florida- 3.7 mile road course- Mar. 16,2013. Sponsor-Mobil 1. (With ALMS)
4. Fort Lauderdale, Florida- TBA mile street course- Mar 23, 2013. Sponsor-Honda.
5. Long Beach, California- 2 mile street course- Apr. 6, 2013. Sponsor-Toyota (With ALMS)
6. Sao Paulo, Brazil- 2.6 mile street circuit- Apr. 20, 2013.  Sponsor-Itaipava.
7. Chicago, Illinois- 1.5 mile oval- May 4, 2013. Sponsor-Chevy. *
8. Speedway, Indiana- 2.5 mile oval- May 26, 2013. Sponsor-GoDaddy.
9. West Allis, Wisconsin- 1 mile oval- June 1, 2013. Sponsor-David Hobbs Honda. *
10. Fort Worth, Texas- 1.5 mile oval- June 8, 2013. Sponsor-Firestone. *
11. Newton, Iowa- 0.875 mile oval- June 14, 2013. Sponsor- Iowa Corn/Lotus. *
12. Brooklyn, Michigan- 2 mile oval- June 22, 2013. Sponsor-Chevy.
13. Watkins Glen, New York- 3.3 mile road course- June 29, 2013. Sponsor-Lotus (With ALMS)
14. Cleveland, Ohio- 2.36 mile street course- July 6, 2013. Sponsor- Budweiser.
15. Long Pond, Pennsylvania- 2.5 mile oval- July 20, 2013. Sponsor-Lotus.
16. Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin- 4 mile road course- July 27, 2013. Sponsor-Chevy (With ALMS)
17. Toronto, Canada- 1.75 mile street course- Aug. 3, 2013. Sponsor-Honda.
18. Edmonton, Canada- 2.25 mile street course- Aug. 10, 2013. Sponsor-Honda.
19. Portland, Oregon- 1.96 mile road course- Aug. 17, 2013.
20. Loudon, New Hampshire- 1 mile oval- Aug 23, 2013. Sponsor- Move that Block/Lotus *
21. Fort Erie, Canada- 1 mile oval- Aug. 30, 2013. Sponsor-Jeff Gordon Foundation
22. Braselton, Georgia- 2.5 mile road course- Sep. 14, 2013. Sponsor-Lotus.
23. Fontana, California- 2 mile oval- Sep 21, 2013. Sponsor-AAA
24. Las Vegas, Nevada- 1.5 mile oval- Sep. 28, 2013. Sponsor- IndyCar World Championships presented by Chevy, Lotus, and Honda.

This kind of racing needs to return ASAP!

This is the perfect amount of races for IndyCar-24. With a 50-50 split, I see this as the most diverse schedule that we could possibly come up with. Its up to you fans. Are you going to support the series and these ideas? The benefit is running most of the races on Saturday (except Indy). This is huge because in the beginning of the season you go up against the NBA on ABC, NASCAR, NHL and Golf. In the summer its still NASCAR. And by early September you have the NFL. This will avoid the competition of NASCAR and NFL on Sundays. Plus, the one day weekend package for ovals that saves us a ton of money. The combination races with ALMS (Long Beach, Sebring, Road Atlanta, Road America and Watkins Glen are huge). Say that the ALMS races in the early morning(11am) their race ends at 1:30ish and then BAM another race for fans to see at 2 or 2:15 with the IndyCars. Sebring and Road Atlanta are exceptions because those races are more than 2 hours long. It could still work though if you start those endurance races later than normal and race the open wheel cars in the morning. I could see support races coming into play at all the twisties except Sao Paulo. As for the support races on the ovals I see Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Texas, Loudon, Phoenix, Iowa, Canadian and maybe Fontana and Vegas. This could be huge for IndyLights, Star Mazda and USF2000 because they don’t run that many ovals and it gets them prepared for the IndyCar Series.

This Schedule Could Help the Support Series

Think of what we had in 2008 and 2009. We had unification in 2008 and a halfway decent schedule and a great championship battle. In 2009, same story. 2010 and 2011 are the complete opposite. 2012 looks bleak but hopefully a year and a few days from now we will be looking at a way different story.

Predicting Ayrton Senna’s Future

What if Ayrton Senna survived in Imola in 1994?

Well, I am going to explore this situation in this blog post. I am going to determine what were his options and what would have happened with those options.

Choice 1: Re-Sign with McLaren:  If Senna re-signed for the 1994 season with McLaren; he would have been teammates with Martin Brundle. I think if he would have been successful with the team’s Puegeot engine and the team’s new MP 4/9 chassis. I also believe he could have still won the 3 opening races’ pole positions. The next scenario is what would have happened if he was with McLaren and never crashed. If he wouldn’t have crashed he would have kept up his success and scored a ton of points in the last 3/4 of the season. He could have challenge Benetton youngester Michael Schumacher for the 1994 title. With him re-signing with McLaren, how long would it have been for? Remember, Ayrton Senna stated that he was retiring in 2000. You’d think it would be for 5 years but maybe not. How many world titles would he have won with McLaren? I think he could have had the most World Driver’s titles by a single driver.

Choice 2: Stay with Williams: I believe that the Williams team loved Senna as their main driver and Senna loved the team and car that Mr. Adrian Newey designed. Would he been successful? Of course, because he won the first 3 pole positions. You knew something would have came together after his DNF’s in Brazil and Japan. He could have won Imola. Would he have won any world championships with Sir Frank Williams’ team? I say maybe 1 or possibly 2 because their equipment was as good as Ferrari’s or McLaren’s.

Choice 3: Go to CART:  Senna tested an Indy Car in December of 1992 with Penske Racing. Senna was considering taking a year off from F1 because of Williams’ dominance at the time. They tested fellow Brazilian Emerson Fittapaldi’s Penske Racing car at Firebird Raceway. What if Senna would have made it to Penske’s team? Would he have been successful? How’d he do on the ovals? How’d the battles between Andretti, Unser, Rahal, and Mansell go. First off, “The Captain” (Roger Penske) probably would have went to a 4 car team with drivers Ayrton Senna, Emerson Fittapaldi, Al Unser, Jr and Paul Tracy. Think of this team as Hendrick Motorsports of 2012 but 25 times better. Next I am going to give my predictions on his results in the series and why?

1993 Season:

1. Surfers Paradise- I think Senna would have kicked off his debut with a bang at the Streets of Surfers Paradise in Australia. It would have been a battle between Penske’s drivers, Newman Haas’ drivers, and Bobby Rahal all day. I think Senna would have prevailed in the mixed conditions. He would have won on pit strategy because of being stuck behind faster cars. Knowing his determination he would have done anything to win his opening race. The true battle would have been between him and F1 driver Nigel Mansell. They would have been going back in forth at it all day in the middle of the field.
2. Phoenix- Senna’s first oval experience. Hmm… Interesting. Phoenix is a lot like a F1 road course, on the gas and back on the gas. Senna would have qualified about fifth or sixth. He would have ran around the top five all day long, battling Mario and Michael Andretti, his teammates and of course Bobby Rahal. He ends up finishing eighth after a late pit stop for fuel.
3. Long Beach- Senna would have been lighting quick this weekend. He would have got the pole and pulled out an amazing second victory for Mr. Penske. He dominated the race with a total of 65 laps lead, a constant battle between him and Mansell all day long.
4. Indianapolis- Senna would have been quick for the whole Month of May. He would have been running pretty fast because he is a flat out type of guy. I believe Penske would have swept the first row with Emerson taking pole, Little Al taking the second grid spot and Senna taking third. As the race went on the Penske team dominated. The four cars rotated the lead through out the day. I think they would have potentially lapped the whole field. Overall, Emerson would have taken the victory. Senna would have been placed third.
5. Milwaukee- Same story as Phoenix.
6. Belle Isle- This track would have been tricky for the legend. He would have quailified in the back and he would have struggled with the car all day. I think he’d manage a top 5 but a very tough day.
7. Portland- Portland= Senna with equals fast! Senna would have had the triple crown that day.
8. Cleveland- His first trip to the airport circuit would have been a great one to see in person, him battling with the top drivers all day long. Senna ends up second behind Nigel Mansell by 0.001 seconds.
9. Toronto- Toronto would have been a huge struggle for Senna. He still manages fastest lap and a top 5.
10. Michigan- The first high banked oval for Senna would have been great. He’s leading with two laps to go and blows an engine, teammate Paul Tracy winds up winning. Senna finished 11th.
11. New Hampshire- Senna would have done better than his experiences at Phoenix and Milwaukee. He wins.
12. Road America- America’s fastest road course was a thrill for Senna that day. He won the pole and never looked back from there.
13. Vancouver- B.C. Place would have been interesting. Ayrton would have handled in a mixed conditions race. Manages a top 5.
14. Mid Ohio- In his second trip to Ohio, Senna crashs on the first lap. Finished last. Emerson Fittapaldi closes the gap on Senna for the championship.
15. Nazareth- The last oval of the year would have been a bad one for Senna with the pressure of clinching the championship he spins out and slams the wall. Ends up 15th.
16. Laguna Seca- It was a true fight between six drivers for the championship. Senna controlled his own destiny. Win the race and your champ. It was a different story for him that day. Senna gets up to the lead and gets pushed off the track by Nigel. He comes back on in second. He hasn’t clinched yet, even though Emerson has finished fourth, one lap down. Little Al sixth -1 lap. Michael Andretti third. So it’s down to those two. On the final corner Nigel’s brakes fail. He goes off Senna closes in and takes the victory and the championship!

I think racing IndyCars would have been the best choice for Senna’s career. He would have won an Indy 500 eventually. He would still be racing today probably, who knows thats a major question to be answered.

2012 Schedule is Out; Better Things for 2013

Today Randy Bernard announced the 2012 IndyCar Schedule. It has fifteen events, mostly filled with road and street courses. Randy told racer.com in an interview yesterday.

I love the ovals. But it’s sickening when you hear people say, ‘Oh, Randy wants to take it back to CART/Champ Car with all street and road courses.’ I know how important having ovals is – we want to define our sport as that. The ideal scenario was last year. But it’s not there. They don’t show up or watch on TV. We’re up on our attendance, but down on ovals. We just had an extensive demographics and research study. We asked a question, as to what our fans would want to see more of, and only 15.7 percent responded more ovals. That correlated very well with the live attendance and TV levels. We need to focus on more ovals, but at the same time, position ourselves to do it. We’ll take a small step back, and in 2013, you’ll see more thought out and planned. It costs about $3 million to put on our events.

Not all of the schedule situation is his fault. Look at what Terry did to screw this series up. Race in China= Terrible. Barber= Disaster. Terry didn’t want ovals. Now I am going to grade each race.

1. St Petersburg B
2. Barber F
3. Long Beach A-
4. Sao Paulo B
5. Indianapolis A+
6. Belle Isle D-
7. Texas A-
8. Iowa A
9. Toronto A
10. Edmonton B+
11. Mid Ohio C
12. China MAJOR F
13. Sonoma D
14. Baltimore B-
15. Fontana A

Better things are on the horizon for 2013. Maybe a return to Michigan, Pocono, Richmond and Phoenix, all ovals! Watkins Glen is in the mix. And also a street race in Fort Lauderdale, Florida aimed for September of 2013. Also I would like to see Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Laguna Seca, and Cleveland back on the schedule.  More later on the dissecting of my schedule.

 

Introducing the i1 SuperSeries

 

What? The i1 Super Series, what is that? The series is new for 2012. This is a sports car series that is based in Asia. That has nine teams, eighteen drivers and and five venues. This is how I view it. F1 but Sports Cars. They are eventually working on bringing superbikes and superhatch in addition to the sports cars. Some things you need to know. All information is from their website.

Car:

• Powertec 1500cc RPE engine with twin battery,24V starting/charging system.
• Engine Performance:260 bhp,RPE Suzuki 1500cc K8.
• Stainless steel manifold and silencer.
• 260mm dia. 25mm, 30-vane ventilated discs in front and rear

Engine and Gearbox:

• Powertec 1500cc RPE engine with twin battery,24V starting/charging system.
• Six Speed Manual
• Overdrive Gear System

Chassis:

• Length: 4.10 Meters
• Height: 1.04 Meters
• Width: 1.79 Meters
• Min. Weight: 570 KG
• Max Speed: 250 Km/h
• Braking G’s: 2.0
• Cornering G’s 3.5

Now to the driver lineups.

International Drivers		Indian International		Indian Drivers
Jacques Villeneuve Giancarlo Fisichella Vitantonio Liuzzi Karun Chandhok Jean Alesi Heinz-Harald Frentzen Alex Yoong Sakon Yamamoto Mika Salo Pippa Mann		Neel Jani Armaan Ebrahim Parthiva Sureswaren Zaamin Jaffer Mathias Lauda Aditya Patel Akhil Khushlani Phiroze Billmoria Cyndie Allemann		Gaurav Dalal Ashwin Sundar Vishnu Prasad Chirag Malhotra Abdul Ahmed Raj Bharath Ameya Walavalkar Sahil Shelar Amittrajit Ghosh Sailesh Bolisetti Parth Ghorpade

The lineup looks interesting. Personally, I really hope that Jacques Villenueve, Giancarlo Fisichella, Viantonio Luizzi, Jean Alesi, and Pippa Mann really dominate the series on the International Driver side. This could be a tune up for Alesi and Mann for the Indianapolis 500 in May.

Race Calendar

1. Sepang Super  Prix at Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia
2. Bahrain Super Prix at Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain
3. Qatar Super Prix at Losail International Circuit, Qatar
4. New Delhi Super Prix at Budduh International Circuit, India
5. Abu Dhabi Super Prix at Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi.

Overall, I think this could be a great series eventually. It could turn into ALMS of Asia. The driver lineups are looking good. Season kicks off January 22nd! More then!

 

 

Interview with Martin Plowman

Martin Plowman? Not to many people heard of him until he made is debut in the Indy Lights in 2009 with Panther Racing. So once again I have pulled that rabbit out of my hat again. I interviewed him over the weekend thanks to Nicole Pollard who got me setup to interview him. Some things we are going to discuss are, his racing journey, what it was like coming to America and the 2012 issues in IndyCar.

Q: What is your favorite road course to race at? Your favorite street course, and favorite oval and why (for all 3)?
MP: My favorite road course has to be Mid-Ohio. It’s a tricky place to pass, but it has a very nice flow to it.
My favorite street track would have to be…all of them. Each street course has a lot of character. I love picking up all of the details on track walks. They are all about who can adapt to the conditions the fastest and who dares to push the hardest, because you know full well that a tiny mistake will put you into the wall.
My favorite oval? Indianapolis, of course

Q: Who was your favorite driver as a kid watching racing? What was your favorite series to watch and why?
MP: Growing up, my racing idol was Ayrton Senna. He was simply a genius and wore his emotions on his sleeve. Watching an on-board lap with him is spell binding.

Q: What is your favorite racing simulator game?
MP: iRacing. Without a doubt! It is easily the closest thing out there to reality. Since real track time is almost non-existant, you have the make the most our of every resource you have, whether that be iRacing, go-karting or whatever keeps you sharp.

Q: What was making your racing debut in the Formula 3 Euro Series? What was your favorite moment in that series?
MP: At the time, the Formula 3 Euroseries was an extremely competitive series. We signed a deal with the Factory Volkwagen team very late in the off-season with an under-funded team who was making a comeback. Needless to say my team-mates and I endured a rough season, in a series where you could develop the cars more than an IndyCar. We quickly fell behind the well-funded teams with aerodynamic development. There were a couple of flashes, where I tried to make something happen with what I had. For instance, on the Streets of Pau, I managed to fight my way from 19th to 7th in wet conditions, before I was taken out with two laps to go. That was a bittersweet day!
Clearly that year was one I wish I could forget, but at the same time, looking back it made me a much stronger driver technically, as I was never “given” a fast car. The engineers and I pretty much had to roll our sleeves up every weekend and work hard.

Q: Speaking of debuts, what was it like when you first came to America to race Indy Lights with Panther Racing? Was it hard for you to come to a different country?
MP: Moving to America was more than just a career shift; it was a complete lifestyle shift. I always knew that I wanted to race in America since I was in karts. Alex Zanardi, who was a mentor to me in karts, had a lot of success over here, and of course, Dan Wheldon was a great influence in my decision to come here.

Q: Are you a fan of Randy Bernard’s Road to Indy program?
MP: I think the INDYCAR Road to Indy program is great. In fact, I’m a little bit jealous, as it would have made my early career much easier to know what to do. In Europe, there are so many different classes to choose from. One year, one parallel series will be stronger than the other and vice versa the following year. Over here there is a clear-cut formula of how to get from karts to IndyCar.
Q: What was your best moment in the three races you raced in this year with AFS Racing/Sam Schmidt Motorsports?
MP: One of the best moments, has to be sitting in the car ready to take the command for the first time at Mid-Ohio. It felt surreal as that moment was 15 years in the making and was what I have always strived for. I just thanked God for the opportunity.
I think my whole race at Sonoma was a good memory. We were pretty strong all weekend. Even though it was only my second race, I was really upset that I missed out on advancing to group 2 in qualifying, as I missed the cut-off by 0.03.
In the race, I was happy at how I was able to pass people and hold my own. I spent the whole race fighting with Hunter-Reay and Servia and only lost out to them in the pitstops. I could take heart from that as they are two of the best road-racers out there.

Q: How did you get involved with Snowball Express? And what have you learned with being a part of it?
MP: A good friend of mine, Joe Petersen, is friends with several of the board members for Snowball Express. They approached me and Team Plowey about partnering together to help them raise awareness about SBE and to host select families at the race events. I fell in love with the program and what it stood for. It really was a no-brainer. Spending just 15 minutes with anyone of the Snowball families, you will be inspired at their strength and willpower to overcome the unthinkable.

Q: What do you think of IndyCar’s new races in China, Detroit, and Fontana?
MP: I’m all for expansion. It’s what sponsors want, and I like traveling to new places. I’ve never been to China, but I would like to check it out. I wish we could do a race in Europe again, but I doubt that will happen in the foreseeable future. In the mean time, I would love to see a return to some of the great tracks like Road America and Laguna Seca.

Q: What do you think of IndyCar’s oval dilemma? In your mind what ovals should be dropped/added?
MP: The oval situation is a tricky one. Some of the best races have come on ovals. I like them, but I believe that they have become easier for less skilled drivers to excel on because they rely more on having in a good car than being a good driver. Now it’s true that a good oval driver can help engineer a fast car, but I believe more should be done to put the outcome of the race in the driver’s hands.

Q: What rules/safety changes do you think need to be made for the bigger oval racing to continue?
MP: I can’t speak on what changes should be made. But I trust that INDYCAR has the knowledge and resources to make whatever changes they see fit.

Q: Do we see you back in 2012 in an IndyCar? Is the second Sam Schmidt car an option?
MP: In a perfect world I would love to be in a full-time ride. Right now I have no idea what the outcome will be. We are working hard on a lot of different angles for a deal. It’s all in God’s hands for now.

Q: What do you think of the DW12 chassis?
MP: Change is good. Some people love the new design, some people hate it. I think as soon as we get to the first race, everyone will have gotten used to it. Besides, once aero-kits become open in 2013 we will see a lot of variation on the current spec body-work.

Q: Speaking of the DW12 chassis, what was your reaction to the Dan Wheldon Crash Investigation Results and his death in general?
MP: I felt that the crash investigation was handled very well. I know that we will all learn from the crash, but motorsport is and always will be dangerous. It’s a simple fact that every driver accepts he or she may be killed once we get strapped into our cars. We just bury those thoughts at the back of our minds. My opinion is this: You can die crossing the street or spend an entire lifetime being careful and regretting years worth of ‘what-ifs’.
I personally lost a friend and someone who I looked up to. He was more like a big-brother who took me under his wing when I first moved over to America. I’m glad that I got to know him and spend time with him. I promise that I will be keeping an eye out for Sebastian and Oliver, I owe him that.

 

Big Things are Coming, Ryan Briscoe and Mike Conway News

I hope you all have enjoyed my interviews lately. I think they are being very successful. In regards to that, I am lining up some pretty big people to interview. I’m lining one up with Martin Plowman, Graham Rahal, Randy Bernard and the 3 Andretti’s. To see more of the interviews go here.

In some IndyCar news Ryan Briscoe has gotten a new engineer and a new number in 2. I personally think Roger is thinking the number 2 is successful for all his racinrg career. Emmo won two 500′s in it. Gil de Ferran won his first CART championship in it. Brad Keselowski finished 5th in it for NASCAR this year.

Mike Conway has signed with AJ Foyt Racing! I was shocked when I saw this. I thought Oriol Servia would have got that spot.

Anyways tomorrow I will have a post on a new series in racing.