Big Week For IICS

This upcoming week is going to be filled with a lot of suspense, news, and excitement for the Izod Indycar Series and it's IRL family.

It is safe to say that the future landscape of Indycar will be determined on Wednesday, July 14th when the ICONIC committee releases it's chassis plans for 2012 and beyond. However, no one is quite sure exactly what is going to be announced, and Randy Bernard has done a good job of keeping this as hush hush as possible to create a big splash in the marketplace.

I think it is hard not to be excited by the upcoming announcement as it will possibly mean the end to the current Dallara (Curt Cavin believes the current machine will be grand-fathered in somehow while some others believe it will move to the FIL series). No matter what is announced, we can all take pride in knowing there will be something different than the current Dallara on track sometime after 2012.

To be honest, I think it's safe to say we will see multiple chassis manufacturer's involved with this announcement. Whether company names are dropped on Wednesday or not, Randy Bernard and his entire ICONIC committee understand the importance of multiple chassis' as well as multiple engines. The main question is how will they police the various options, and that is something we'll have to wait for as I don't think anyone outside of that group of 7 have any clue.

Then a couple of days after the announcement, the Izod Indycar Series hits the streets of Toronto for my home race, and boy, am I excited. What I considered one of the most exciting races last season on television is a race that this year it finally looks like my schedule will allow me to get to the event for race day (providing we sweep our second round playoff series in 3 games).

There looks to be a good car count, and PT is back in the fold again for this event with KVRT, the team that gave him a potentially winning setup last year until he was punted into the wall by an unnamed driver in these parts.

Promotion for the event has been upped this year which can mean only good things. More butts in the seats and means more attention for Izod and the series.

Add in the fact we have a pretty good title chase brewing in the overall standings (you can just hand Will Power the Mario Andretti Trophy right now for the road courses), and you get a pretty good vibe heading into the Honda Indy Toronto weekend which is shaping up to be a blast.

It's a good week to be a fan of Izod and the Izod Indycar Series, time to embrace it.

More Street Circuits... Sigh

According to a report in the Baltimore Sun, it seems like Terry Angstadt thinks running in Baltimore in 2011 is a good idea. He has sent a letter to the mayor of Baltimore, indicating that the IRL would like to sanction an event alongside Camden Yards in 2 years time.

"I am taking this opportunity to convey to you, collectively, how interested the Indy Racing League is in the possibility that our organization would sanction an IndyCar Series event in Baltimore starting in 2011," said the letter received by city officials July 20 from Terry Angstadt, president of IRL's commercial division.

"I respectfully ask the City of Baltimore and the State of Maryland to partner with [Baltimore Racing Development] to make the Baltimore Grand Prix a reality," said the letter to Mayor Sheila Dixon and City Council members.

A race in the north-east appeals to the IRL, and it is an unserved market with a historically decent fan base. And the layout doesn't look bad, and Al Unser Jr. has a hand in designing it so it should be alright and it's another course with right turns.

On top of all that, it seems like this thing is ready to go. City Council members can't find any issues in regards to not staging the event. They all seem to think that it is a nice way to bring money into the area and promote the city. Hell, Mayor Sheila Dixon might even be a long lost relative of Scott Dixon which must be a sign.

But this is another twisty course on a road circuit. Why? We have plenty of tracks that we can go to that must be better then this. If Terry wants to grab a hold of the north-eastern market, Loudon is sitting un-used by Indycars, Pocono is sitting there un-used by Indycars, and a permanent road course facility in New Jersey is sitting there un-used by Indycars. It bothers me that the IRL seems to want to push these street circuits (don't forget this supposed New England/Gillette Stadium street course for 2011).

Why the sudden addiction to street circuits by the IRL? I'm all for the twisties, but, at some point, why waste the good permanent ovals and road courses for these temporary circuits that usually end up in a lack of action and excitement.

Luckily, St. Pete and Toronto usually put on a good show, and Long Beach can do it sometimes, and atleast Long Beach has the heritage to fall back on. But all these new street circuits like the proposed Baltimore and New Hamshire and Nashville tracks seem more likely to go the way of Denver, Las Vegas, and the non-existant Pheonix race then of the great street circuits on the ICS schedule right now.

It almost seems, asides from St. Petes, that street events need some history behind them to make them work, and the time where street racing was a niche event is over I think.

It just bugs me when we could see a schedule filled with a 50/50 oval/street-road mix with awesome historic Road America, Cleveland, Michigan, Loudon, Laguna Seca, Milwaukee, and Fontana instead of these temporary street circuits in Baltimore, Nashville, and New England.

Street circuits can be fun, but there isn't a whole lot of room for a bunch of room on the schedule for them when they take away other tracks spots. And I realize that a whole lot of people are getting mad that we are dumping ovals for street circuits and road courses. So, let's keep the small group of IRL fans happy and keep some ovals on the schedule.

Bartender Rumors #5

Well, last night I made a quick trip to the Gryphon and The Other Side's favorite bartender was working. No beers for me last night, but, plenty of rumors. He was quite upset with me not showing up for a while. Said he didn't have anyone to talk Indycars with and joked that he thought the blog went under. Anyways, he sent along some juicy ones this week. Here we go.

• To back up all the rumors about ALMS teams coming over to the IRL next season, he said de Ferran is already a done deal. Says it will be Pagenaud and a second driver, most likely F1 veteran Takuma Sato.
• On top of de Ferran, he says all the Acura teams are likely to bolt to the IRL if the Prototype classes don't grow. This goes right along with various rumors, summed up well by Mr. Estrada over at IRR.
• He says he can't figure out which other team Marco would drive for next year, unless it's one of the new ALMS teams that come over. He says he expects Marco to stay at AGR because there just aren't any other seats open that Marco would consider, unless, Panther is able to find sponsorship for a second car.
• Apparently one of his old teams is already planning for two Brazil races next year even though nothing has been announced.
• He says Milwaukee won't be on the schedule when it is released in a couple of weeks.

Well, that's what I got out of him last night. He said he was at the Toronto race and was not pleased with the off-track atmosphere and lack of ammenities compared to usual. He said that it was so far off of what it used to be that he was embarrassed about his home race.

Anyways, that is it. I'll make a trip back out there soon, and probably stay a bit longer for a drink or two.

Oh, let me know what you guys think about his stuff on the comment section.

What A Miserable Week It's Been

In a year where it's been pretty constant between between good news, bad news, and any news, this past week has seen none of the above. The Indycars put on a good show this past Sunday in Toronto, and that was after a nice race at Watkins Glen a week earlier. That's two good non-ovals in a row. Hell, if that isn't momentum for the series, I don't know what is. Just the fact that neither of these two races were ovals and provided more passing then most of the ovals so far this season says alot, and it is something good for the series to run with right now.

There were plenty of feel good stories dating back to Watkins Glen including Justin Wilson and Dale Coyne (finally) winning, the slight hiccup of the Penske/Ganassi domination, PT getting into a car for 3 races in a row, Will Power getting back into a car at Toronto and Edmonton, and add another Canadian in Tags for the Toronto and Edmonton. Fans were happy to see these things happen. I was so happy to see Dale Coyne get his first 'W', I haven't been so excited for a long time watching an IC race. Then you follow that up seeing a nice field in Toronto with strong showings from the Canadian boys, and just an overall excellent race with a little controversy involving PT (who would had thought?), and you've got two good weeks of Indycar racing heading into the second half of the season.

Of course, there were still some negatives like Milwaukee and the lack of passing that could or could not be fixed right now, how do we know? Throw in diminishing Indy Lights car counts and you've got yourself some news.

Basically, the point I'm trying to make is that it hasn't been all rosy the last couple of weeks, but atleast there has been news about the league and things to talk about. It seems like the IRL PR department took their summer vacation this week as all we really have of newsworthiness is Brian Barnhart talking about the radical new cars on Indycar.com. That wasn't even really that big a deal because he hardly even talked about it.

Come on, give us something to talk about. Give us a hint about the schedule so we have something to overtalk about. Or do an episode of 'Up to Speed' with E.J. Viso or Mario Moraes and get some dirt on them for the demolition derby they had after the Toronto race, get that mini-feud heated up a bit. Imagine Mario Moraes calling Viso a snake or Viso calling Moraes a... umm... he already called him a "Monkey with a bag full of money", so think of something else he could call him. Hell, put out a sex tape with the AGR drivers, it should get some news, and don't worry, they won't see eachother often after this season so it won't be too awkward.

Point is this, the IRL had a boatload of momentum with these last two races on ABC which had decent ratings (in comparison with the rest of the season) and this week, they are laying dormant and doing nothing to maintain that momentum. They have to do something to stay in the minds of the fans. Take a look at the blog roll, even us bloggers are having difficulty finding things to talk about. This silence from the league isn't going to help grow the league back to where it should be, it's only going to hurt.

I guess somethings might never change though.

Toronto Race Review

Well, I didn't get to catch the race live, but, thanks to the channel I moaned and groaned about not getting, which made many IRL races unavailable to me, I was able to watch most of the replayed race as soon as I got out from my lacrosse game.

And thank the Lord I was able to see most of it. I'm a road/street course fan, and I make no secret of that amongst many oval enthusiasts who read this blog. But even at the beginning of the season, I would had told you that atleast one of the two most exciting and best races this year would be an oval.

Now, I haven't seen every race myself, but, so far, among all the races I've seen, Watkins Glen and Toronto are both at the top of the list (Iowa is a close third). These races included passing! What a novel concept, one car going past another, for position, out side of the pits. There has been drama at both races, racers have put on some great driving, decent car counts, and no sense of knowing who would win.

Of course, Toronto, being my home track and seeing two Canadians running 1-2 part way through the race, it was special. And seeing PT picking off car after car at turn 3 was priceless. It's too bad Helio and PT got together, because they were both having a good run. I don't think there is anyone to blame, but Helio should had known PT wasn't going to give Helio the spot. PT isn't racing for points or a championship, he was racing for a win. I recall PT running down the inside of Bourdais at Denver in '06 with the same mentality.

And what a treat to see Tags run up front most of the race. You've got to feel good about seeing Alex Tagliani and Eric Bachelart having a good day. They scrapped everything they had together just to get out to the track for Toronto and Edmonton, and they are probably done after that. Hopefully they can have another good run and woo some sponsors for 2010. Only bad part about today was Tags taking out Scheckter on a dumb move. It sure did get Mona-Vie some airtime though.

Anyone have any objection to calling turn 3 in Toronto one of the most exciting right turns of the circuit? Did you see Dixon pass Wilson on the outside of turn 3? That takes balls to put your car out that close to the wall on the exit of turn 3.

Big day for Ryan Hunter-Reay who finally got a full race under his belt and came home with a 7th place finish. I'm sure that 7th place feels like a win after all he has been through this year.

At the end of the day though, I'm happy with the way things shaped up. Sure, the top five included 4 Penske and TCGR cars, and there was no PT or Tags involved in the podium ceremony, but, one of those Penske's was Will Power, and it was nice to see him run well. Also, seeing "Bad Ass" Justin Wilson run in the top 5 again was wonderful. DCR was running some Canadian sponsorship this weekend as well, with Leon's on both wings.

I enjoyed the race, and it seemed like a pretty good crowd was on hand, you could tell from all the boo's Helio got after the Tracy incident. But, it felt good to have the race back in Toronto and seeing the Indycars running down Lake Shore Boulevard again. I might had missed it this year, but I made a promise to my girlfriend that we'd do our best to keep next year's race weekend open so we could make it out there. I can't wait.

I'm Back

Well, it's been about a month now I believe since I've written on here. There were many reasons, some of which were due to the IRL, some of which were personal. I've been working through a bit of sickness, and the latest is Strep Throat which I'm getting over right now. And all of this is on top of our lacrosse playoff schedule where we are working hard, so time has been slim.

This weekend is my home race, and, as usual, I won't be able to go. Not exactly pleased I won't be attending, probably more upset I couldn't get my media pass for the event. Either way, I wouldn't be able to get to the race on sunday. Another lacrosse game is scheduled perfectly to ruin my race watching ability.

Mind you, I was able to watch the last half of the Richmond procession after a lacrosse game in a hotel in Ottawa, and was able to watch the Watkins Glen race on Sunday sick as a dog. That was a hell of a race. This was all on top of the Iowa race, which gives me three races in a row. That streak will be snapped this sunday.

I thought about buying a ticket simply for saturday for my girlfriend and I, but, there just isn't much happening tomorrow to make it worth while I think. I still might depending on what she is interested in doing.

Anyways, I made my Indycar.com debut today, sending in a couple of comments during the second ICS practice. Got lacrosse a big mention regarding BMO Field inside the track, asked about Seabass, and then mentioned the Standing Start comments one of their pit reporters butchered (last year of CCWS ONLY).

Looks like a good crowd though, for a friday anyways. I'm very impressed with how many fans are there for practice. Lots of people must have called in sick, or maybe all the garbage workers (Toronto garbage workers are on strike) are attending the race.

I'm happy to see qualifying 2 finished with 4 former CCWS guys on top. I'm really getting my hopes up that Justin Wilson (P2 - Q2) can do it all over again and take this race win too. If not Justin, then I'd love to see Matos (P1 - Q2), Doornbos (P4 - Q2), or Power (P3 - Q2) take it. It is just such a good feeling to see someone finish ahead of those red cars.

I'm hoping PT jumps up the charts a bit tomorrow and pulls something out. It'd be nice to see him do something. Hoping for good things from Tags tomorrow too. On the Indycar.com coverage, not sure who it was, but one of the commentators mentioned something about PT having something lined up for a few more races. Hoping that comes together.

Anyone impressed with Richard Antinucci? He is stickin' with Team 3G for now, and has found a touch of speed. I say that, in comparison to Stanton Barrett who is thankfully out of that car now. And it's a younger American kid, which is good for the series. Hopefully he can teach those guys how to set a car up better and get them some decent times. Hope he sticks around.

The more I think of it, the more I think I might make an appearence tomorrow, if I can get the cash together. Drop me a comment if you are there.

A Little Canadian Content

After countless emails and complaints, I must have finally gotten through to someone in the IRL. I've been hounding them constantly telling them "less Americans, more Canadians". Finally they have answered my pleas.

Turns out James Hinchcliffe of Hinchtown, Canada will be running the lucky number 7 (better then Viso's idea of luck) for Sam Schmidt Motorsports in the Firestone Indy Lights series.

Some of you might have heard of James, he has quite the Open-Wheel resumé.

• Rookie of the Year, Formula BMW USA - 2004


• Star Mazda, Series 3rd, 3 Wins - 2005


• Atlantics, Best Series Finish of 4th, multiple wins and pole positions - 2006 to 2008


• A1GP, Multiple Podiums - 2007-2008

James is one of the most personable characters you'll meet and quite possibly one of the funniest as well. In 2006 and 2007 he did work on the International CCWS race feeds doing commentary and I'd say he was better then the American CCWS commentary on most weeks.

Hopefully James will be kicking ass in the FIL series as he definately has the experience on road courses, and he seemed to enjoy his first experience on ovals.

"Ovals are obviously a new thing for me, but I have enjoyed them more than I
thought I would. It is a completely different skill set, and I know I have
a ton to learn, but with the experience of guys like (team owner) Sam Schmidt,
(engineer) Tim Neff, and (team manager) Chris Griffis behind me, I know that my
oval education is in great hands." - Firestone Indy
Lights Site

I'm sure Hinch will have some good times this season and will be a joy for the media to follow around now and then. Also, make sure you check out Hinchtown.com throughout the year as I'm sure he'll have some video blogs on there and some funny stuff as well. I know I will do my best to bump into him at the Honda Indy Toronto.

Forget Obama, Danica is in Canada!

Air Force 1 flew into Canada earlier today dropping President Obama off to speak to Prime Minister Harper today. Crowds gathered around the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario of fans hoping to get a glimpse of who my mother calls, "The First President with some rhythm".

But in Toronto, crowds were gathering and gasping at the Canadian International Autoshow. The appearance of Danica Patrick to promote the Honda Indy Toronto stunned the crowds in attendance, possibly even stealing one or two people from the usually heavily populated Nascar Pavilion. She posed for photos in front of a current Dallara in Honda Indy Toronto colors, which actually looked decent, and signed autographs for members of the crowd.

Danica also put some time aside for Canada's top sports talk show host Michael Landsberg of "Off The Record". Landsberg asked her about various things from USF1 to the much talked about tattoo. She does manage to sneak some good sexual innuendo into the conversation though, I'll let you guys check it out for yourselves.

Danica Patrick on Off The Record

I think some of Danica's sponsors might be upset with her appearance. She had some difficulty naming off sponsors (as usual). But all in all, it's a good little piece and some good promotion for the Honda Indy Toronto, and it's nice to see AOWR represented at the Canadian International Autoshow.

And for those of you looking for more information on the Honda Indy Toronto booth at the Canadian International Autoshow, or just the Autoshow in general, IRL blogger Meesh is attending and I'm sure her blog (So... Here's What I'm Thinking) and her website, which is a good read by the way (OpenWheelWorld.net) will have some news on it.