Helio & Tax Woes; Hybrids at Road Atlanta

Helio Castroneves of Team Penske has been indicted on Federal income tax evasion charges. The Miami Herald has more here:

We mentioned in our Race-Talk program this week, that we'd do some explaining on how the Zytek racing hybrid that will be racing in the American LeMans' Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta (Braselton, GA) works. Here goes:

The vehicle is powered by a 4 cam 4.5 liter racing V8 engine. The hybrid system converts energy generated by braking into electricity. When braking, the generator sends back DC electricity to charge the battery pack that runs the motor. The hope is to generate enough electricity to run the car at low speeds (similar to those on pit roads), then have the V8 kick in...and when needed for some extra power...the motor can add electric power to the V8 (just like what happens with Toyota's Prius/Camry/Highlander hybrids; Ford's Escape; Saturn's Vue and Aura and Chevy's Tahoe/GMC Yukon/Cadillac Escalade hybrids. With all of the spot gas shortages going on in that area (and a little bit west of there around Talladega); you'd wish for one of those on the road as well. The ALMS has most of its cars run on E10 (10 percent ethanol--safe for all cars); E85 (up to 85 percent ethanol, in practice more like 70%; those cars need special injectors and plumbing) and clean diesel (The Audi R10s and Peugeots). With hybrids...they have all ends of the energy saving spectrum covered in ALMS.

For the record, Formula One Grand Prix racing may see some version of kinetic energy recovery in 2009, be it through a flywheel that stores energy, or like the electric hybrids (BMW & Red Bull).

We're about to load up for bear with our trip to Lowe's Motor Speedway next weekend...so we're kicking back--hoping the gas shortage will ease around the "Queen City".

"The Lash of NASCAR Justice--Car of Tomorrow Style"

• Both of Rick Hendrick's top teams (24--Jeff Gordon/Steve Letarte; 48--Jimmie Johnson/Chad Knaus) were whacked 100 owner/100 driver points...and hit up for a $100,000 fine. Mr. Letarte and Mr. Knaus won't have to fight traffic at a Nextel Cup event until August 15th when they return to work at Michigan.
• The rules that they violated are NASCAR rules, and not easily available for inspection by observers such as yourselves. Mike Helton, NASCAR President told me one time at Daytona at a public news conference, that the rule book was a proprietary document and wasn't made available (like the National Football League, Major League Baseball, NCAA Sports, etc. It makes John Darby's job (Nextel Cup series director) even more difficult--I give Darby style points for trying.
• This business fosters an attitude that the "rules are what we say they are", even though they are in print somewhere. Another famous "sporting" organization has a rule book, too.
• So I guess that the Car of Tomorrow rules are like "Wrestlemania" and the standard car rules are like "Friday Night Smackdown".
• Again, when you have an organization with some sporting elements and more entertainment elements, the entertainment elements will win out, because they bring in the most money and can be manipulated to produce drama. What would have been dramatic about Jeff Gordon winning at Infineon Raceway at Sears Point?

Saturday, 3/31/2007, from St. Petersburg

Dan Wheldon crashed his car in practice for IndyCar qualifying later this afternoon...it's the second hard whack he has taken in successive weeks. Wheldon's OK, not so the car. Dario Franchitti hit in Turn 8...he's also OK.

The GT American LeMans series cars are louder than the LeMans, Sebring and 2006 LeMans Prototype 1 championship winning 12 cylinder Audi R10 TDi diesel powered LMP1 car. No diesel clatter, smoke or anything like the stereotypical truck diesel from the tailpipe of either Audi.

We'll add a picture or two from our travels later on.

Paul Kaminski

11:34 am

Add Tony Kanaan to the crashers...he was the fastest IndyCar qualifier, crashed in the Fast Six session to decide the pole. Kanaan's time was scratched because he brought out the yellow; defending winner Helio Castroneves from Team Penske (above, after post qualifying news conference) sets a track record of 105.052 miles an hour to win the pole. Marco Andretti starts 2nd.

3:44 pm

"Room of Doom"

Each year, NASCAR finds a way to stir up controversy with its Daytona 500 inspection process. The garage area wags call it the "Room of Doom". Last year, it was championship winning crew chief Chad Knaus' troubles. This year, drivers and crew chiefs from Roush and Evernham have felt the lash of NASCAR Justice in the "Room" (another word for the inspection area).

Just an aside: Each Car of Tomorrow (CoT) chassis has nine (9) radio frequency ID devices so NASCAR can sniff (by radio) whether approved cars/chassis are actually on track, and supposedly make the insepction process less arbitrary. The ID stuff I buy...as for the inspection...as long as the entertainment aspect is wagging this dog, there will STILL be areas where an arbitrary interpretation will still be possible, and more than likely probable.

And another thing: If TV gets all the GPS data for their tracking, and if NASCAR uses RFID to identify cars, then why can't the teams use transmit only telemetry in competition? Case in point: Indy style cars have automatic tire pressure monitors, which can alert a team if a tire is going down, so it can be changed. On Thursday, Friday, Saturday and of course Sunday, there will be a likely "big one" (multi car wreck) in any or all of the events. It's possible and probable that one of those wrecks could be tire related. The Luddites of NASCAR could care less about all the torn up sheet metal by their rules which do not allow at least tire pressure telemetry to be transmitted real time. I think team fab shops would like that as well.

We're stuck in probable 30 inch snow for the moment...we'll rejoin you from the corner of Bill France and International Speedway Boulevards if at all possible.

Another sign of the apocalypse: John Henry and the Boston Red Sox group are purchasing a significant stake in the Jack Roush racing operation...that announcement will come later. Roush says he makes 3-5 percent profit with his racing operations right now, and was hacked off when Toyota teams started hiring the "best and brightest" for more money. Roush says he needs more resources to compete.

How long do you think John Henry will stand for a 3-5 percent return on a multi-million dollar investment/purchase? Is Roush's racing operation worth more to stockholders in operation, or in liquidation? When you introduce stockholders (even in privately held companies), you also introduce the expectation that they will receive a return on investment. Expenditures in racing sometimes mean that you throw short term money at a solution or situation. It is easier to do this with sole ownership or partnership.

Or is the Red Sox group making SO much money that they need a tax loss to reduce their corporate tax liability? Judge Learned Hand said in his opinion on tax evasion and avoidance, says that arranging your affairs to avoid paying a lot of money in taxes is legal, but evading the payment altogether is not.

Paul Kaminski

2/14/2007