May be Indy Car should stay away from the Northwest After all…
Thus we entered the Sportsbar promptly at 6-BLEEPIN Oclock on the Dot to a completely empty establishment except for three elderly Gentlemen chewin the fat over cups O coffee… Yet I have to give them credit as the one man said to us Deadpan; Oh, didnt Yall here? The games been cancelled due to Rain! And he said it so eloquently that you were hard pressed NOT to believe him… Before he pronounced; Just Kidding! Good one Dude… As we sat there laughing to ourselves and pondering now just why in the HELL did we need to be here at 6AM? Although there was a reserved table for eight behind us and by 6:30AM the crowd of Football (Soccer) Fans began filtering in, as by Kickoff at 7AM it was standing room only and later on there would be even more people sitting on the floor everywhere around us… As we were simply locked into our seats!
The Fans were quite attentive, good natured and very vocal about what was occurring on every attack to wards our opponents goal… Even encouraging OLD Slick Willie to have a chat with FIFAs President after our second disallowed goal due to questionable officiating…
And then in the 91st minute of the match, as wed gone into the extra 4-minutes of stoppage time, Landon Donovan scored a zinger from six yards out and the Sportsbar simply ERUPTED! As the Big Screen TV we were directly situated in front of that had been blaring at me for 120+ minutes was completely drowned out by the Oblivious Fans for several minutes as everybody was simply DELIRIOUS with Joy; Jumping, Hooting N Hollering over the improvable win once again by the Cardiac Kids of Team USA, who would advance to the second round of Sixteen in South Africas 2010 World Cup Tournament.
Meanwhile during the TV Pre-game build-up they showed crazed Soccer Fans at Seattles Atlantic City Pub whilst what I like to call George and The Dragon, a.k.a. George and Dragon, a British Pub also in Seattle was hosting another Mega viewing, showing the Simulcast matches of England vs. Slovenia and USA vs. Algeria, while our sleepy lil Island Sportsbar also had a single Tellie tuned into England, which a lone voice yelled out in glee upon His Teams score, as both England and USA won their decisive final Group D matches One-Nil. (1-0)
Couple this with the fact that the Seattle Sounders FC, co-owned by Drew The Prices Right Carry are leading the Major League Soccer (MLS) in Attendance for the second year in-a-row, regularly selling-out with 36,000+ Spectators, while the three Exhibition matches see crowds swelling towards 65,000+ at Qwest Field where the Seattle Seahawks are in quest of a winning season; YOUCH!
Then factor in that two Cats named Steve N Steve, as in Steve Nash and Steve Luczo of some entity now known as De Ferran Dragon Racing are co-owners of the 2011 MLS expansion Vancouver Whitecaps, with Drew Carrys Triangle O Death being completed by the MLS expansion Franchise Portland Timbers and Holy FOOTE-BALLS Batman! Youve got quite the Sports base of Hungry Spectators to draw upon, or in Promoter lingo Butts-in-Seats!
So why all of the Hubbub over Soccer, eh? Whale as Yall may be aware of by now, Im simply Cornfuzed over why Indy Car continues to ignore the Pacific Northwest market, and more importantly why they seemingly refuse to return to Portland International Raceway… to which I recently asked Kevin Lee bout on Trackside with Kevin N Cavin, to which I was pleasantly surprised to hear Kevin read my email On Air…
And I admit Im hard pressed to not become emotional over this quandary and perhaps dont present my Argument correctly, as I find myself continuously trying to take-away the most over abused Talking Point of Low Attendance… To which I tried pointing out that Iowa is all snap-happy over drawing 40,000 Spectators… Of which Milwaukee sees a similar number I believe, while Ill leave Homestead outta the mix…
As Ive tried pointing out to Mr. Randy Bernard, the states of Washington and Oregon reportedly contain nearly 11 million bodies, as Washington alone reputedly ranks two places higher then Indiana in population numbers…
Obviously I cannot predict the regions buying habits, Demographics, etc, but Id hazard a guess that being the home of Starbucks would seemingly fall into the target audience IZODs looking for? And if Mr. Bernard is true to his word about Tradition; AHEM! Portlands certainly got that as youve seen my story title Portlands Centennial several times now…
Yeah, I get-it, that theres something called the Economy going on right now and Portland Intl Raceway potentially doesnt have a Promoter… Although Id assume that the past Joes 200 presented by Budweiser race event Promoter Global Events Group is still situated in Oregon? And even if I cant say they did a fantastic job, they werent horrible either…
As for loyal Fans, I can only relate to my Groups experience, as we had a yearly gathering of 8-12 people who went almost every year; most of us in the 20+ consecutive years category with our Cub attendee Randal joining us for somewhere between 12-15 events, as the CART race was traditionally Portlands largest Single Day event for many years!
So Ill say it again, if Indy Car can put on a good event, have more then a Quiltwork patch group O 17 competitors running in the Big Show, decent support races or even better yet an American Le Mans Series Indy Car Double Header! Along with giving the event sometime to grow, you could have another potential winner on your hands… Then again, Nah; may be the Indy Racing League is just holding a grudge against the Pacific Northwest for being ultimately loyal to CART and Champ Car for nearly 25yrs and Fans being upset over the IRL possibly taking away our event when bidding for another three year contract was under way during the Tony George era; which I seriously vowed to NOT renew my yearly 3-Day ticket for!
Now Ive gotta go catch a bus to George N The Dragon to see those amazing Cardiac Kids BEAT Ghana!
An iconically named leader?
Whale Im really surprised that NOBODY has latched onto the fact that the man tabbed to oversee the Indy Cars ICONIC Board slated to select the leagues new 2012 chassis is some retired General Named Looney… As in LOONEY TUNES! Or is that just me? Hmm? Perhaps everybody is afraid of having to drop N do twenty push-ups, eh?
And the rest of the selection committee, after General William R. Looney III and Gil De Ferran had been named are a most interesting bunch, especially the ex-Ford/Jaguar connection… As Brian Braveheart, a.k.a. THE I.H.J. nee Brian Barnhart was added, along with Tony Purnell, Neil Ressler, Tony Cotman, Eddie The Goose Gossage and Rick Long. To read more about each of these participants, click here.
Meanwhile I suppose Id better drop N give Ol Gen. Looney III 20 push-ups on the double, eh?
More Lotus fodder
Just finished watching last nights Shanghai Formula 1 Practice 2 TV coverage where SPEEDs Bob Varsha decided to bust out the trivial info of having seen it somewhere… (On le internets?) That this weekends Long Beach Grand Prix Indy Car action just happens to coincide with the 33rd Anniversary of some Cat named Mario Andretti winning the Formula Ones 77 USGP West held at Long Beach, CA aboard his Lotus 78-Ford.
David Hobbs noted how a Juan Mr. Rufus Parnelli Jones will be the man O honour this year in some sorta celebratory occasion of which Dan Gurney was the honoree last year and that others such as Brian Redman and Bobby Rahal amongst others should be on hand participating.
Actually the date was April 3, 1977 when Mario took the chequered flag ahead of that years title winner Niki Lauda, as Andrettis victory would be the first of his four that year: Long Beach, Spain, France and Monza, Italy, while his lesser known teammate, the late Swede Gunnar Nilsson scored his lone F1 victory at the rain soaked Belgian GP at Zolder…
RO-RO! Another Fenderlandz rant
Yeah, and I AINT even guzzlin Nyquil… But, Im still fighting this FREAKIN Cold, although Im going on Holiday next week NO matter what; Yuhs hears FRILLIN Cold…
So todays rant includes just a very fast look at a few Tin top developments of note, even if Ive never been exactly enamoured by Ol DC who I used to call SquareJaw. Amongst other not so PG rated thingys… As I suppose its silly to need to have villains in motor racing, eh?
Coulthard to DTM
In case you havent heard, Scottish ex-Formula 1 Piloto David Coulthard has agreed to compete in this years Deutch Touren Meisters (DTM) series as a Mercedes Benz competitor. Ol DC will begin his Tin Top adventure at the upcoming Hockenheimring event behind the wheel of a 2008 Spec Merc along with keeping his day job as an F1 Commentator for the BBC as his racing wont interfere with this.
Grand Am to Hookup with DTM?
Interestingly during the Last Lap segment of the Speed Report, (TSR) it noted that reportedly the Grand Am Officials had flown Across-the-Pond to discuss a possible rules sharing package with the DTM? Which Im guessing would be sorta like how the American le Mans Series runs off of the ACOs rules for the 24 Heurs du Mans. As wouldnt that be entertaining to see those silhouette Merc Door Bangers bouncing around Day-Toner…
Thunder Down Under
Marc of Full Throttle has been covering the Mega SuperStarz gala entry list for the upcoming SuperCarnivul race at Surfers Paradise later this year, as the V8 Supercars take over the abruptly dropped Indy Car event which is a real fan favourite… (Not to mention how much the Sheilas like it, eh?) Thus in order to spice up the show, Organizers have made it into a SuperStarz showdown with the likes of Chip Ganassis IndyCar Boyz, Team Penskes Aussie Twins, etc. Check it out here; SuperCarnivul update
WARNING: nofenders.net to Blackout?
Without going into the long winded rant I wrote about this story for future posting, It has been brought to my attention upon spending the morning discussing the travails of my current Vurd Butchering… That perhaps Id better warn my loyal No Fenders.net readers of a massive change that is most likely set to impact my site in the very near future…
Since beginning this blog in ZeppTember (September) of Twenty-Oh-Six, (2006) I have been publishing my racing stories thru the Blogger.Com blog platform which is owned by Google. Unfortunately it is an OLD style FTP blog which Google/Blogger.Com will NO longer be supporting as of Saturday, May 1, 2010.
Thus at the moment, I do NOT know how my dedicated Blogmeister Miguel will be able to rectify this matter? Or what the final impact outcome will be? As were hoping to continue on bringing you the latest happenings of the Motorsports Vurld via the internet Custom Domain of nofenders.net…
You can follow-up the latest developments at my other temporary address: www.nofenders.wordpress.com
If you wish to read some of the Techno-babble over what this FTP NIGHTMARE is all about, click here. And fear not, I will continue to scribble bout Motorsports until the impending Blackout deadline and beyond.
Thank you for your continued interest and support… And now back to my latest Motorsports scribblings, with more to follow; obviously!
Tomaso
Virgin comes up short
Sitting down to watch my recorded Thursday nights SPEED TV coverage of Formula 1 practice Down Under, in Melbourne, Australia Friday morning, it was entertaining to hear Westminster Newberry, Err Westberry Gillette; sorry bout Dat – Inside Joke! As Ol Wes actually rung me up during SPEEDs replay of the Bahrain Qualie session… Telling me I needed to put meeze ears ups tooze duh phone cause its really LOUD in the Pit lane and he didnt want me to be sleeping thru the Time change! But I digress…
As Wes Gillette claimed that the buzz in the F1 Paddock was over the comments that the Virgin Racing VR01s fuel tank was 12 liters too SMALL! And that the drivers were gonna need to Pussy-foot about the circuit in order to stroke it home… Although Professor (Steve) Matchett was fairly blunt over the matter saying I DONT think they really need to worry bout it, as reliability is more of a problem for them at the moment, scoffing; if I was Virgin Id simply filler-up with 60 liters and tell the drivers to go like HELL til it darn Blown Up! To which Bob Varsha chortled in; or runs outta petrol…
And Professor Matchett quickly said; theres NO dimensional requirements to the fuel tanks size, albeit the Kevlar/rubber bladders are exactly the size of the tank and thus to increase it means youd need to redesign the chassis!
Yet a USF1 Blog post on 2010 Fuel Tank design sheds a little further light on their design criteria. As it appears that there is indeed a maximum width dimension along with strick locations of the fuel tanks placement behind the driver and ahead of the engine, therefore causing the chassis wheel length to grow approx. 20-22cm, with the McLaren MP4-25 thought to be the longest?
And Westberry Gillette noted that it seemed that the F1 Teams were thought to be carrying approx. 170 liters of fuel for the event at a usage (Burn) consumption rate of 2.8 liters per lap… Why Oh Why does this all seem like a blur now? As AInT it SWELL how time flies…
So afterwards I sat down to try doing some writh-muh-ticken… Which is always a dangerous proposition and Im certain some sharp Mathematician will prove my numbers to be horribly wrong, eh?
Yet I just cannot simply conceive how Nick Wirth N Co. could get their numbers so WRONG? I mean the other three Cossie (Cosworth) runners have managed to run their numbers correctly and include a proper size fuel cell in their respective chassis… As the Virgin AINT gonna be a Virgin NO More, eh?
Virgin to redesign car because fuel tank is too small
Fernando’s Rotten Egg
Whale I must say that I joyously shouted out loud when Fredrico Suave, a.k.a. Fernando Alonso DONE BLOWN UP! With just two laps remaining in todays overly intense Malaysian GP… As he was doing a masterful job of driving around a muddled Gearbox which I must say sounded quite nasty…
And although I mused to myself how this seemingly put Ferdi into the annals of Schumacher lore; recall Michaels amazing drive in the Benetton way back in 1994 at the Spanish Grand Prix, when being stuck in 5th gear for the majority of the event, nevertheless the German brought his stricken ride home runner-up behind Arch-nemesis Damon Hill…
And thats the difference folks, as Michael preserved his equipment and finished the race, whilst Alonso thrashed his unnecessarily trying to beat JENSE in his rivals Team McLaren over a lowly eighth place… Hmm? Is Alonso still reeling over his troubles of driving at McLaren? Hence Alonso was classified 13th and Ill be most intrigued to see if Fredrico loses the Crown by a scant two points, which he would have scored by finishing in P9…
Winging it in KL
So Im feeling a bit like being in Kuala Lumpur this weekend, albeit not quite the downpour, but very windy nonetheless… As I find it somewhat bemusing how everybody; including the FIA knows that it RAINS every day in Malaysia at almost exactly the same time every afternoon, when guess what? Thats right in the midst of Qualifying plus the Race!
So youd think that all of the Heavy Hitters would indeed go out early in Q1 and put a Flyer in the Bank… As Hobbo, a.k.a. David Hobbs likes to say, but NO! Most amazingly the Scuderia, nee Ferrari sat contently in the Garage, with perennial arch rival McLaren following along, hoping for the WET stuff which had shown up right on Que to dissipate before the end of the 20min session… While we were witness to first Lewis Hamilton doing a snap spin before his teammate Jenson Button simply Aquaplaned into the Kitty litter where he sat with his Mercedes lump idling in hopes of getting pulled out of the gravel trap while in P13… But to NO avail! As if to show just how rough the conditions were, Michael Schumacher ended up in 14th even after having pitted to put full WETs on his racecar… Although it was the trio of Heavy Hitters that I must confess I was rooting against.
As with less then 6mins remaining both Ferraris and the lone McLaren were ALL outside of P17 and in danger of not making it thru the Q1 Qualie session as I cheered mightily against JAGUAR (Hamilton) N Fredrico (Alonso) making it! As theyd simply messed-up their respective strategies… Albeit I had a good chuckle over Bosom Buddies Alonso snatching P19 away from Hamilton in the waning moments, as shockingly Fernando will start in Row 10 alongside his good friend Louise (Hamilton; 20th) with Felipe Massa directly behind rolling off in P21. As its the very first time ever since Knock-out Qualifying began that both Ferraris have FAILED to advance out of Q1!
And although JENSE did survive Q1 in 13th, he was unable to return his beached MP4-25 to the Pit lane in time to proceed into Q2 and therefore will line up 17th alongside The Scrumptious Juan, a.k.a. Jarno Trulli in his Hometown Lotus affair, while all four of the mighty McLarens & Ferraris start behind KOVYs (H. Kovalainen) Lotus in P15 and Virgin Racings Timo Glock in P16, both drivers having made it into Q2 for the first time in their respective Teams short historys, as only the second Virgin and Both Hispania Cars start further back then those mighty Big bucks Constructors…
And Q2 was another entertaining session as I found myself rooting for The Old Man, DER TERMINATOR better known as M. Schumacher who scraped his way into Q3 by finishing on the bubble in P10.
And then the RAIN came again with Q3 being Red flagged with 7+ minutes remaining as the circuit had become a veritable Lake Sepang with standing water everywhere apparently NOT being conducive to surfing the Formula 1 LandSharks with their mandatory FIA Legality Planks underneath their ultra low ride heights… As the Final Session featured an interesting cast of Grand Prix Animals going in 2-by-2 fashion…
As both Red Bulls, Mercedes, Williams and Force Indias made the Top 10, with The Krakow Kid, nee Robert Kubica in the Frey, plus first time Debutant Kamui Kobayashi for the somewhat maligned Sauber concern… Although it possibly would have been better to lose his front wing this weekend instead, as the Team has now reinforced the C29s Front Wing pylons…
And it was the Red Bull on top again, but not who Yall are guessing, as it was Mark Webber instead, as Ive just realized that the lone Aussie has Four Germans behind him… With Nico Rosberg claiming his first Front Row start with ZEBB (Vettel) in P3 and Adrian Sutil alongside in P4.
Schuey will roll off a disappointing 8th, while Rubino (Barrichello) was finally out qualified by his younger teammate Nico Hulkenberg (5th) and the ageless Brazilian will start alongside his Chum Michael in 7th. Kubica was a fine 6th, while New Boy Kobayashi will start from 9th with Vitantonio Liuzzi next to him in P10.
And there was some idle(?) speculation made about how perhaps the Teams with both cars in Q3 had put their Drivers on different set-ups to cover the range of possible weather? Although I think its supposed to Rain again tomorrow, about halfway thru the Race, as apparently Uncle Bernaughty wants to insure there will be another Spectale du Jour!
Fans groove Bernard
This past Tuesday Don Kays guest on the Autosport Radio Show was none other then somebody named Randy Bernard… Yep, as in the newly appointed CEO of the Indy Racing League, as this was the third time Ive heard Mr. Bernard speak. First on Trackside with Kevin N Cavin and then on wind Tunnel with Robin Miller guest hosting… And all I can say is WOW! The more I listen to Randy Andy, apparently an inside joke according to Jeff of My Name is IRL… Something to do with some TV show Ive never seen, but I digress… Im just overly impressed by Mr. Bernards charisma, as hes just a breath of fresh air and seems like a really good fit to lead the league into the future… As could you imagine Tony George not only taking an hour plus out of his schedule to go on some little webcast program… And then saying hed like to stay afterwards and talk, and Meet N Mingle with everybody! Not to mention wanting to potentially establish an email correspondence with Fans; Aye Karumba! So you may want to listen to the Archived show by clicking here… And yep, that was my question that don asked about (when in the HELL) will Indy Car return to Portland?
While there was NO word on what Mr. Bernard plans to do to mesmerize jaundiced Old Timers over The Speedways infamous Powder Rooms… While hopefully hell leave the Tenderloin Sandwiches alone, eh?
Good Luck Mr. Bernard!
Swift 66 get’s it’s Kicks!
