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.

Multiple Notes

Bunch of news broke today. I go out with the lady friend for a few hours and return to see multiple emails and news reports having to do with the IRL. Scrolling through all the blogs, I see a whole bunch of new things and my mind hits IRL-overload. Let's see what I can talk about this time around.

Probably the most important thing is that Vitor Meira will be going home tomorrow. To go along with that, probably the most exciting news is that Paul Tracy will be in Milwaukee running in his place. The 40 year old former CCWS Champion will run this weekend for A.J. Foyt Enterprises in the number 14 car. No news if this will continue until the Canadian events where KVRT have agreed to run him already. As for now, take it as a one race deal. Personally, on a track like Milwaukee, I think Paul Tracy can compete and finish near the front. Aero doesn't matter as much here, and PT get's two extra hours of track time to get back to speed on the Milwaukee Mile. Instead of using that time to get reacclimated to a car, he'll be able to use that time to set his car up, giving him a big advantage over the other veterans. Score one for the guys in the blue masks.

It seems like Conquest is bailing from Milwaukee. They are no where to be seen on the entry list for this weekends race. Maybe this is the team that won't be competing after Indy like the bartender was talking about back in early May. You would have to assume they are atleast guarenteed for the two Canadian races if not more of the road courses.

One of the emails I got was from the Luczo Dragon Racing. Luczo Dragon hasn't won any races yet, and they may never win a race in the IRL for all I know, but damn, they have some sexy lookin' race cars. This weekend they will run the Marines car, and it just looks hot. If you thought the Air Force car was nice, add about 3 Megan Fox's to that and you've got this beautiful Marines livery.

LDR will run the USMC livery at Iowa, Richmond, Watkins Glen, Toronto, Edmonton, Ohio and Infineon on top of the Milwaukee race.

Over at Planet-IRL, Kohl found an article about Duncan Dayton's likely entrance to the IRL with Highcroft in either 2010 or 2011, depending when the new rules come out. He basically says it makes more sense to be in the IRL right now then the ALMS, and then pretty much confirms to the author the article that he'll be in the Indycar Series at some point somehow. I guess Patron and Scott Sharp like it here, either that, or ALMS fans drink more wine and champagne then Tequila. I could get used to Patron if they moved over to the IRL.

I stopped by the Gryphon tonight, spoke to the barkeeper again. I'll have that post up tomorrow morning. He did confirm that PT would be in the car at Milwaukee, but it was so sudden he didn't know about the other races. A couple nice tidbits so make sure you stop by at some point tomorrow folks.