Friday, July 31, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Alan Gustafson, crew chief for Mark Martin and the pole winning Chevy Impala SS outside "Gasoline Alley" at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He was briefing reporters before sliding into the garage to supervise final preparations for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.
Ryan Newman won the final happy hour and a half practice with the fastest speed of 176.706 miles an hour. Martin clocked in 5th in the final on-track activity before today's race.
Last year, there was a tension convention around the Goodyear corner of Gasoline Alley. This morning, Greg Stucker, Goodyear's NASCAR Tire marketing director, was most relaxed--unlike last year, the Pocono tires are en route to Long Pond, PA and not 4790 W 16th St, 46224.
Until the first few laps are run, the tires will still be a factor in most minds. Once that first run is made--that storyline goes away.
The two oldsters (Martin and 2002 Brickyard Winner Bill Elliott, who starts 4th) with a legitimate shot to win is another storyline. Juan Pablo Montoya (2000 Indianapolis 500 winner) starts 2nd, and could make Brickyard history as the first and only driver to win both the 500 and the 400--yet another storyline.
The Hoosier Connection--Ryan Newman, David Stremme, some guy named Jeff Gordon (the event's only four time winner) and the current Sprint Cup Series point leader--Columbus Indiana's Tony Stewart is strong.
The weather looks OK for a complete 160 lap race. Weather Underground calls for a 20 per cent chance of showers--a look at the radar shows spotty green well away from the corner of 16th Street and Georgetown Road.
We'll blog you a photo of the winner and Tweet on Twitter (twitter.com/MSRnet) throughout the race.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
A familiar picture in the American LeMans Series this year, with Adrian Fernandez (left) the LMP2 fastest qualifier, and Simon Pagenaud (right) the LMP1 fast qualifier and overall polesitter for the Northeast Grand Prix tomorrow at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut. Pagenaud lapped the mile and a half natural road course at 114.965 miles an hour. Both drivers are in Acura prototypes; Fernandez, the Lowe's Acura ARX-01B; Pagenaud, the XM/Panasonic deFerran Motorsports Acura ARX 02a. Both Pagenaud and deFerran suggest that the much slower GT3 Challenge cars will pose some issues for the much faster prototypes. Pagenaud also says drivers must exercise good judgement when overtaking that traffic, and sometimes suppress the normal racing instincts to bunt and move traffic out of the way--not easy to do on this very tight road course.
ALMS point leaders David Brabham and Scott Sharp (the home team, Patron Highcroft Racing based in nearby Danbury) will start the race second in their Acura LMP1 prototype.
The next fastest LMP1 car was the Corsa Zytek Hybrid Prototype, driven by Johnny Mowlem and Stefan Johansson. With the wiring harness problems solved, the history making hybrid will start from the outside of the third row in 6th.
National Weather Service forecasts call for some big-time thundershowers later this evening and rain through tomorrow morning.
We'll rejoin you tomorrow from Lakeville, CT.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
- Would NASCAR have been so quick to release details of a passed test?
- Is Mayfield's stepmother (see Jenna Fryer's article)a reliable source?
- Could there have been some collusion to make sure any test of Mayfield would be positive--since that was what NASCAR has been saying about Mayfield since the Mullen injunction on July 1, and the second test followed the protocols of the first test?
- Were there any indications of aberrant behavior when Mayfield drove for Carl Haas, Roger Penske and Ray Evernham?
- Is this Mayfield's flameout, and exit from the scene? Reports suggest the team is all but done in name only--and that Mayfield and his wife want to sell the cars.
- Who can you believe, and who do you believe?