Bring Back Mears?

Alright, anyone who frequents this site will probably be terribly surprised by seeing me talk about a Nascab driver, especially when that Nascab driver is the main feature of the article. I know, I know, I thought twice about it but figure that his background in AOWR means it isn't as bad as if I was talking about Martin Truex Jr. or Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Hear me out here.

Mr. Mears only has a drive for the first 6 races of the 2010 Spint Cup Series, which brings him to Bristol Motor Speedway on March 21. Unless he gets some good results and his new team is able to find sponsorship to compete past Bristol, Casey will be looking for a ride.

Now I'm not going to suggest Casey returns to Indycars, because the odds are that no one would have the budget to run him. But Casey does have history in Indycars, and he has a relation to some old timer by the name of Rick Mears, who happened to be a decent driver back in the day for a certain Mr. Penske.

Casey has won in the old Indy Lights at Houston in October of 2000 and has run 8 races between the Indycar Series and the old CART so he has plenty of experience in open wheel cars.

He's an American and Nascrap has made him popular with the masses. People know who he is, and between his name and 92 Winston, Nextel, and Sprint Series starts make him a valuable asset to any race team.

And the best part is, come May, there is a good possibility he will be a free agent.

Casey Mears is a man who knows what Indianapolis means and I'm sure he would appreciate having a chance to win the Indy 500.

Come May, if someone can get Casey Mears into a Dallara for the Indianapolis 500, it would be a win-win for both the Izod Indycar Series, the Indianapolis 500, and Casey Mears.

Let's hope Casey realizes this possibility is too good to pass up, and let's hope maybe Roger Penske could field a fourth car at Indy (perhaps as a favor to Rick Mears) or atleast someone with a decent car can field a car for the American talent.

Danica Patrick, Danica Patrick, Danica Patrick!

Well, whether you like her or not, you are going to be seeing alot of Danica Patrick over the next few weeks.

If you follow CSI:NY, you'll be seeing Danica playing the role of along side Antonia Sabato Jr. making his first TV appearance since appearing on his own reality TV show My Antonio.

Satabo Jr. will be playing Davi Santos alongside Danica Patrick who will be playing Liza Gray. I guess they will be "Formula car drivers" and will get into a fiery crash while driving an "expedition race" through New York City.

That episode will air February 10th on CBS.

On top of that, some sexy photos of the princess have been leaked ahead of her GoDaddy.com commercial that will air during the Super Bowl on February 7th. Apparently she'll be spoofing various "classics" like Flashdance and Wierd Science.

I haven't seen any of these movies, well I've seen part of Flashdance, but I was watching TV with my mom, and once they started talking about strippers and the language got bad, it got a slightly awkward.

As much as I could live with or without Danica, I realize her value to the IRL and the Izod Indycar Series. Her sex appeal and her uniqueness appeals to the masses. Even though she hasn't been shown on television in 2009 as the face of the IRL, she still is the face of the Izod Indycar Series in the public eye. Seeing her on television, especially networks that don't show IICS races, can only be a good thing. It has the possibility of getting a couple new faces following Danica and following the IICS.

Now, with the Izod sponsorship, I hope they have some pull with NBC and ABC and CBS and FOX to get some Indycar talent onto some of their shows.

Why not have Danica Patrick guest star on Two and a Half Men? She could catch the eye of Charlie Sheens on screen brother, simply for him to find that he can't keep up with the speed at which she lives?

How about getting Tony Kanaan and Hideki Mutoh into an episode of Desperate Housewives? He might not be able to get a girlfriend, but TK can set Hideki up with some one night stands.

What about getting Graham Rahal, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Justin Wilson, Dario Franchitti, Will Power, and Ed Carpenter to join Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in demolishing a house. Then the IRL can donate a few thousand bucks to the family and the new house.

Milka Duno could play a depressed Indycar Driver who needs to be treated by Dr. House.

What about having Graham Rahal making an appearance on the Young & The Restless or having him host SNL? Hell, if Wayne Gretzky could do it, why can't a handsome, articulate Graham Rahal do it?

Point is that seeing these drivers on various network TV shows would help grow the Indycar brand, as well as getting the drivers known to the public. Instead of solely doing it on air, let other people take advantage of the drivers in a way that helps the series grow.

Positive growth of the drivers means a positive growth for the Izod Indycar Series.

Nay-Nay Indycar

Today came news from Curt Cavin in his pit pass column that the IRL was going to require Simona de Silvestro to run both and Indycar test on an oval, as well as a few FIL races on an oval before she is allowed to run in the Izod Indycar Series on ovals.

Seriously Indycar? Your going to keep a world class talent off your race course in 2010 simply because she doesn't have the experience on ovals?

Perhaps you can recall a certain Mario Moraes who entered the Izod Indycar Series straight out of British Formula 3, a series that as far back as I can remember, has not run ovals.

How about E.J. Viso? Have you heard of him? A quick look at his statistics prove his first oval race was at Homestead in 2008.

Enrique Bernoldi of Conquest in 2008 had never run on an oval before Homestead in 2008.

Graham Rahal had a high finish of 10th on an oval in his first season in Izod Indycars, which also happened to be his first season racing on ovals. How'd that kid turn out?

She can't be worse then Stanton Barrett.

She can't be worse then Marty Roth.

And Milka Duno.......... I love the lady, but I understand she doesn't deserve to be on an IRL racetrack, and hey, she came in without an oval experience.

Now, I understand the majority of these drivers (if not all) joined the series in 2008 during the merger season, and the IRL had no real choice but to allow the new drivers sans oval experience to join with the CCWS teams. However, a precedent has been set.

So what is this all about then? Is the IRL afraid the Swiss Miss will be too much for their princess to handle? Maybe they are protecting Danica Patrick. Probably not, Danica can stand on her own two feet, and I think they know that now. In fact, having two women battling for position on track, a meaningful position on track that is, would be a great story line, and one I think the IRL would be stupid to pass up.

Do they feel de Silvestro is not adequately prepared to run ovals? Perhaps, and this is the most likely scenario. My only beef is that the IRL brass have previously allowed drivers with arguably less experience then Simona de Silvestro to run ovals (namely Mario Moraes and Milka Duno) who had only oval testing on their resume prior to running Homestead in 2008. Even then, Mario Moraes has turned into a hell of a shoe piloting his Dallara around both road courses and ovals.

But maybe, just maybe, the IRL brass is punishing de Silvestro and Team Stargate Worlds/US Racetronics for competing in a series outside of the IRL's new ladder system. Could they be sending a message to all Indycar aspiring drivers, telling them they need to run Firestone Indy Lights if they ever plan on running the Indianapolis 500?

The reasons could be one of the above, or maybe even a little bit of all three. Simona brings the best minor open wheel resume to the IRL when thinking about the women of Indycar. She is not the type of person, along with Shane Seneviratne and Team Stargate Worlds, that the IRL should be refusing.

Oh, and by the way, is the IRL really in the position right now to turn down cars to the grid? Yea, I didn't think so either.

Edmonton Rexall Indy 2010

The city of Edmonton has confirmed that it will run the 2010 Rexall Edmonton Indy despite large financial losses in the first two years of the event under IRL sanctioning.

Edmonton City Council has voted unanimously to run the race in 2010 to fulfill it's contractual obligation to the Indy Racing League. Mayor of Edmonton Stephen Mandel has even gone so far as to say that losses are expected to be less then 2009 citing poor sponsorship and luxury box sales that will be remedied in 2010.

"Every councillor realizes that we can't be a city that doesn't honour our commitments," said Coun. Kim Krushell. "Yes, we're moving forward with 2010. Are we happy about losing dollars? No."

Will Power won the 2009 version of the race for Penske Racing, leading from start to finish.

I'm happy to see the race return. Seeing Edmonton pay the fees to cancel the race would leave a blackeye on the IRL and would hurt all the good vibes we have going on right now. On top of that, I think we do not have enough races north of the border (ahem, Montreal or Vancouver, Vancouver would fill in the Northwest nicely).

Team Stargate Worlds to Indycar?

According to Autoracing1.com Simona de Silvestro will be testing with HVM this week at Sebring.

Team Stargate Worlds of the Atlantics Championship is apparently taking a look at running Izod Indycars in 2010 and is keeping a close eye on this test to see if Simona can handle the Dallara-Honda.

Team Stargate Worlds ran both Simona de Silvestro and Frankie Muniz in the Atlantic series in '09. Simona was leading the series until the final event where she was knocked out of the race by Marcus Niemela ('08 Atlantics Champion).

With Frankie Muniz' looking to move to up (as he thinks he is ready, but let's face it, he isn't) maybe he moves up to the ICS with Simona and helps fund a two car effort with Team Stargate Worlds in 2010.

Either way, if Simona enters the ICS in 2010 with either HVM beside Robert Doornbos, or with Team Stargate Worlds, it would be an added car and another beautiful female driver which can't hurt the series.

Edit: I've just gotten confirmation that HVM is testing Simona de Silvestro at Sebring on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Many people don't trust AR1 so take it from me instead.

What's Next?

Yesterday we saw the marvelous unveiling of Izod as the "first legitimate title sponsor" the league has seen. The now branded Izod Indycar Series (has a nice ring to it I think) got a big boost yesterday and is now in a much better position in the minds of fans and anyone related to the IRL and ICS, as well as financially. Obviously this isn't the thing that means the IRL will suddenly rise to the top of the motorsports scene, but it's a start. It's a partner who believes in the Indycar Series and is willing to put major dough behind it to increase it's profile in North America.

Izod sees the IICS as "an amazing sport with so many different stories and we see it as an under-developed asset and brand." I have not heard sponsors speak so highly (while at the same time, demeaning) of the series, and referring to it as an asset. Of course, company's that throw money around to sponsor the IRL or their teams obviously regard it as an asset, or they wouldn't do it, but I think this is the first time I've actually seen a company refer to the IRL as an asset in public.

That's one announcement down, but what is next in the "Hey, look! The sun is out everyone!" Izod Indycar Series? I mean, we've been strung along for a while now in regards to the Title Sponsorship, while there are obviously more announcements that need to be made.

So, first of all, Brazil needs to be announced. Whether that means that we are announcing the cancellation of the race, or the location of the confirmed race, fans and sponsors need to hear something, positive or negative, soon. This race is spinning out of control, and it is making the IRL look bad right now, and they are hurting other peoples plans for the race and 2010 season. Right now, anyone in North America is most likely holding off to book their flights down to Rio, or wherever this race might occur, simply so they don't get stuck with a plane ticket for the trip down for a nice 3 day vacation with no racing. Aside from that, De Ferran Motorsports is waiting word regarding the Brazil race to determine their 2010 plans. When Curt Cavin said that Gil de Ferran was bringing his team to Indycars in 2010, it would be with APEX-Brazil money for one car and possibly Formula Dream for the other. I would think that APEX-Brazil wants to make sure they have a race in Brazil before they dish out the money to support a full year effort with de Ferran.

Next on the list of announcements is the future of the Dallara and Honda engines. It's been a while since this has seen the mainstream on Indycar news, simply because of the Brazil and Title Sponsor/Izod rumors and news, but this is still obviously a big concern for Indycar fans. People are getting antsy, and simply want to know the deadline for a new car to hit ovals and road courses in North America. It's such a long and drawn out process that seemed like it was going well when the IRL held those engine discussion groups a while back, but since then, not much has happened. Just rumors of people not being interested, except the Audi/VW/Porsche group. Hey, IRL, atleast give us the feeling you're still working on this. Leak some rumors out to Curt Cavin or something, just get this back in the news, please. We want more manufacturers of both engines and chassis', and I'd think Izod does too.

Another announcement that needs to be looked at is the US-F2000 series and the FIL series. A schedule has been announced for the US-F2000 series which is good, however, not much else. But I'm more concerned with how this fits into the future ladder of North America's open wheel scene. There were rumors that Mazda would be involved with the US-F2000 series, and that they would also badge the Firestone Indy Lights series engines as a way to re-structure their ladder system to the AOWR big leagues (ie: IRL). Getting Mazda into the FIL series would be a big plus money wise and promotion wise. They were big in Champ Car during it's final season, even though they weren't the engine manufacturers. They provided money to advertising, and ran commercials at most, if not all races. They are currently the Atlantic Series engine badger, but they must be realizing, as we all are now (unfortunately) that the Atlantic Series is on it's last legs. If they want to continue providing a path to the Indy 500, they need to be in the US-F2000 series and the Firestone Indy Lights series. And simply put, the Firestone Indy Lights need an automotive giant to provide the engines. They've been nameless too long.

And the last announcement I am hoping for, and is almost nessicary based on the TV Ratings this year, is the NBC/Comcast deal. It's rumored the takeover of NBC by Comcast is imminent, and TV experts see a new Comcast NBC with Versus by it's side as a potential terror for ESPN and ESPN2. If we can get involved with NBC somehow, instead of ABC who could care less about us, we would be in much better shape then we are right now, and people would be a lot more willing to invest in the IRL knowing about a connection to network television.

Hopefully we hear about all this stuff soon, as we are on a wave of momentum right now. The IRL needs to ride this as best they can and approach all opportunities positively, and with an open mind. If they do that, we'll be good for a while, and will have the opportunity to grow back to what AOWR used to be.