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Danica Melt Down, The Replay

Huge and sustained props to Meesh Beer over at "So .. this is what I'm thinking .." for posting this classic clip. Please note both the superior commentary AND the much better camera angles that showed us WTF was going on with the "car park."

Notes Taken during the 2008 IndyCar Race at Surfers Paradise

Notes taken during the ESPN Classic (The Ocho!) broadcast of the Nikon Indy in the Streets of Surfers Paradise on Oct. 26, 2008.

Australian animal intro -- koala, kangaroo (or is it a wallaby?), crocodile (Dundee).

Word, homeys, and welcome to the final race of the IndyCar season (insert about a zillion asterisks right here). Doesn't count for jack, of course, so it's basically an exhibition with this huge "Will IndyCar Come Back in 2009?" cloud hanging over it.

Also the swan song for ESPN broadcasting the entire season. (Interesting note: the origin of the term swan song -- Swans are mute, but when they die they let out a big hanging bellow, HENCE the term "swan song" as the last of something. No charge for that!)

Surfers Viewer Advisory

Since it's been roughly 6 months since the last IndyCar race (ok, seemingly 6 months), I had to look up the actual viewing time for Surfers Paradise:

10:30 p.m. (ET) Oct. 25, on ESPN Classic (The Ocho!). Don't get The Ocho? Then the race is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.

Props to my boy Will Power, he of the underrated sense of humor, for getting jiggy in early practice.

I profoundly hope Power stays in the league next year. If the IRL dumps Surfers Paradise, there goes Aussie Vineyards, and that may be curtains for Power. He was freaked about the prospects when I talked to him in Chicago.

One can only hope the Ocho's lame-duck coverage of the race includes tons and tons and tons of shots of ASHLEY and her super-floppy hat. Expect them to be peeing themsleves over the return of Dario.

Announcers for the race are Scotty Dixon (HAR. I'm an idiot. It's actually Scotty GOODYEAR. See note below), Bob Jenkins (I bet they'll be doing the race by watching it on monitors somewhere in the states) and Jan Beekhuis on the ground in Australia.

Not to everyone. Stop calling it "OZ." It's making me insane for some reason.

Update: My homey Meesh Beer has posted the times when practice sessions air on IndyCar.com over at her most excellent blog. Check her comments about the practice web casts below and eyeball the times HERE.

F1 Tries to Get a Grip on Goofy-Ass Team Budgets

When you spend $300 to $400 MILLION PER TEAM to run in F1, that's just goofy-ass. Dan Knutson writes for rpm.espn.com that even F1 thinks that's too much cash. Read about cost reduction proposals and the reactions HERE. (I'm dying to know what the Oracle -- FLAVIO -- thinks.)

Notes Taken During the 2008 Chinese F1 Race

Notes taken during the SPEED broadcast of the 2008 Formula 1 Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, China, Oct. 19, 2008.

Holy tardy posting! Sorry for posting this so many days after the event but I kept falling asleep while watching the DVR replay.

pressdog beer of the race is Hacker-Pschorr Original Oktoberfest Amber Märzen brewed in München (Munich).

Jeff Olson on the Fun-Tastic One

Jeff Olson gets his "innocent-until-proven-guilty" schwerve on in defense of the Fun-Tastic Helio Castroneves. I'm not completely swilling Jeff's Kool-Aide, but I do agree that people should simmer a littel bit until the facts of the case are determined. Read it HERE.

Danica Down Under

Apparently Danicker Patrick is keeping it on the down low down under, which inspired this headline from Goldcoast.com.au: Shy Danica keeps chassis covered. Those clever Aussies! Real phrase-turners.

Everyone is super-juiced for the Surfers Paradise Race!!!!! Or not.

Read about Danica's pool-side exploits and thrill to the accompanying Danica Photo Gallery here.

Oreo Wonks out on Points Systems

Our boy John Oreovicz over at ESPN.com got is calculator out and indulged the inner point wonk to look at how the IndyCar points race would have played out under other scoring systems. Personally, I prefer the IndyCar system to the F1 system for sure. F1 only plays points through P8. P9 might as well be P17, so there's no points motivation to race back in the pack.

Check out the Oreo examination here.

IndyCar Title Sponsor Backs Out

Or so they say over at Autoweek. Read it HERE.

Oreo Double Dips on the Season

Enjoy a double dip of Oreo -- John Oreovicz -- an open-wheel-racing wonk and quality guy ...

2008 campaign offered the best of times, the worst of times

Champ Car-IndyCar merger beefed up car numbers, series credibility