don’t get Sirius radio so I have to rely on their word regarding the shows. What these fans want is someone to tell the truth about what’s going on in the garage area. We as fans know everything isn’t beautiful. And we’d actually like to hear the truth and some unedited, uncensored news that hasn’t been run through the vetting process to purge it of anything that might even resemble something that doesn’t carry on with the party line. What they’re wanting, if I understand them right, is a NA$CAR equivalent to somebody like Rush Limbaugh or someone who actually gives an opposing or different view than what’s being currently broadcast by Sirius. Somebody who’s willing to tell the truth, tell fans what’s really going on and cover more than the normal hum-drum stuff that they’re currently hearing. So if somebody at Sirius is reading this, you might want to give it some consideration.
Despite the earlier information about the ratings being up for the Danica Fontana 300, it turns out they were actually down about 9% from last year’s race. Yep. The “new” has worn off and it’s looking like the QoH has lost her luster. You have to wonder how much lower the ratings for the Danica Vegas 300 will be.
And speaking of the QoH, looks like she’s proven old Jabber Jaws wrong again. Remember his tirade about how driving in NA$CAR was going to improve her driving skills? Well, at a recent IRL practice at Barber Motorsports Park, she was the 17th fastest out of a 20 car field. For somebody who is supposedly a road racer, you have to wonder what the excuse is for her performance? If NA$CAR is improving her skills this much, she better be looking for a new daytime job.
Rank, Car #, Name, Best Lap Time
1 12 Power, Will D/H/F 01:09.8724
2 3 Castroneves, Helio D/H/F 01:10.0084
3 6 Briscoe, Ryan D/H/F 01:10.0459
4 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/F 01:10.0594
5 22 Wilson, Justin D/H/F 01:10.0869
6 5 Sato, Takuma (R) D/H/F 01:10.2070
7 24 Conway, Mike D/H/F 01:10.2497
8 26 Andretti, Marco D/H/F 01:10.3956
9 06 Mutoh, Hideki D/H/F 01:10.4451
10 34 Romancini, Mario (R) D/H/F 01:10.5487
11 32 Rossiter, James (R) D/H/F 01:10.5700
12 11 Kanaan, Tony D/H/F 01:10.6704
13 14 Meira, Vitor D/H/F 01:10.6963
14 37 Hunter-Reay, Ryan D/H/F 01:10.7123
15 8 Viso, EJ D/H/F 01:11.3140
16 78 de Silvestro, Simona (R) D/H/F 01:11.3351
17 7 Patrick, Danica D/H/F 01:11.5112
18 2 Matos, Raphael D/H/F 01:11.5484
19 10 Franchitti, Dario D/H/F 01:12.9810
20 67 Howard, Jay (R) D/H/F 01:14.1883
And while Jabber Jaws wasn’t totally wrong on this, he wasn’t totally right either. It seems that the QoH and several other IRL drivers are using a power assisted steering device in their cars. It’s not like the power steering in a regular passenger car or a Cup car, but does make it a lot easier to steer than does not having it. Plus when you consider how light an Indy car is and the greater down force which makes it easier to steer, you have to wonder. Jabber Jaws needs to bone up his bone head on Indy cars before he inserts his foot in his mouth again. As often as he puts his foot in his mouth, you’d think he was a centipede.
Another IRL driver, who’s currently out of work, Graham Rahal, son of famed Indy car driver and co-owner of Rahal-Letterman Racing Bobby Rahal, will be talking with NA$CAR about moving over. Thanks for the info Frank.
For you Robby Gordon fans, here are a few things Robby will be doing related to his expanded racing efforts. You can expect to see him running two Busch series road course races; Montreal and Watkins Glen. He’ll skip the Road America race since that’s the same weekend as Sears Point. Robby will be running the full SCORE series schedule. Although he hadn’t planned to, with his dad’s back problems, Robby will be filling in for his dad and running those races. Robby will also be running 3 TORC series events and 3 Monster Truck events, depending on the level of damage. He’s going to be all over the place this season.
As to Robby’s Indy 500 efforts, he’s hired F1, Indy, and long time former Penske Racing team manager Derrick Walker. Derrick has quite a resume in open wheel racing. Chief Mechanic for Brabham, worked on Penske’s F1 team, and made the transition to Penske’s IRL team. As the head of Penske’s Indy operation, he’s got 6 Indy 500 wins and 4 championships under his belt. This isn’t some half-baked effort on Robby’s part. He’s going to be a serious contender for winning the Indy 500. Providing a certain IRL driver doesn’t get in his way and slows him down as happened to Joey Logano during the Fontana Danica 300 race.
Terry, fellow race fan and observer of the NBC Toilet Seat graphic, and I have been discussing the “fly by wire” deal and he mentioned that there can be some economic benefits to this too. By using readily available production line parts, the teams won’t have to develop any special pieces and parts or have to buy them from a sole source provider (i.e. NA$CAR). This would result in a big savings for the teams. And with the way things are right now, they could use some real savings instead of the supposed savings that His Majesty promises that always end up costing them through the nose. The Camry of Today hasn’t saved them a penny as there’s only one provider for it; NA$CAR. The mandated rental parts come from one place also. So this “fly by wire” system could result in some modest savings. The more parts that they can get from the regular production line, the more savings they’ll have and the fewer bucks that’ll go into the Royal Coffers. Maybe that’s why the Noble Nincompoop has been resisting the efforts of the manufacturers to have stock looking cars on the track and using current production based technology.
Some trivia here. Rex is the Latin word for “King”. So that means NA$CAR actually has 2 kings. The King, Richard Petty, and Rex White, 1960 Grand National Champion. Guess that bumps Faux King Brian down another notch or two in the royal lineage.
Was Shrubbery lonely in the media center after his winning the Danica Fontana 300 since the media parked themselves outside the QoH’s motor home?
I had to chuckle about something on Jayski about Bill Weber being a magician. Actually, TNT is the magician. They made Weber disappear.
I’ve asked several of my compatriots who aren’t drinking the Kool Aid what they’ve heard about the franchising and nobody has heard anything. Of course, you know the lamestream media isn’t going to bother asking. This is the type of thing they need to be asking about.
Congrats to Cousin Carl and family. For anyone
wanting to send flowers or gifts, Carl and Kate
have requested that instead donations be made
to the following charity:
Back 2 Back Ministries
c/o Anne Katherine Edwards
P.O. Box 70
Mason, Ohio 45040
Donations will be used for an orphanage in
Monterrey, Mexico.
of financial assistance so they can continue
doing the paintings of our fallen heroes and sending the painting to the families. So for anyone who can help them out, please do. They’re doing a great job and providing some comfort and remembrances to the families of the fallen heroes who have given everything for us.
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