Notes taken during the ESPN broadcast of the Optima Batteries IndyCar Grand Prix of Sonoma on August 26, 2007.
pressdog beer of the race is Millstone Black Onyx organic coffee. Kidding. I had to drink that this morning at 7 a.m. as I watched the Champ Car race from Belgium. pressdog's real beer of the race is Guinness. Brilliant!
Welcome to some of the most beautiful countryside in the Sonoma Valley (where it looks to be mainly brown to me). Championship montage. Dario Franchitti gets airborne at Michigan. And Kentucky.
Three races to go. Three drivers with a shot to win the title.
Marty -- Picture Perfect Day (Todd Harris throws popcorn at a TV in a bar somewhere). Dario has seen his 65 point advantage dwindle to 8. Two wins for Tony Kanaan have put him back in the hunt. TK survives the carnage at Michigan to win.
Brienne Pedigo, IndyCar Pit Hotty (ICPH) with Tony. Tony hasn't shaved since sometime in 1999. He has permastubble. Tony says he spun in every session, including his single-lap qualifying. Tony Spinning Montage.
Arute -- With Scott "The Iceman" Dixon. Arute -- on a scale of 1 to 10, how urgent is it that you win this? Dixon (so not going to answer that question) -- Most important to finish in front of Dario. Unfortunately qualified fifth. Going to have to pass people in the pits because it's hard to pass on the actual track.
Pretty much the reason that American's are clamoring for More Road Courses! No passing on the actual track! Woooo-hooooo. The pit crews are the stars of the road course show. Word to the wheel gun posse.
Three man race for points. Another Airborne Dario montage. Dario wins the Indy 500. Wet Ashley gets air. Dario: "Won at Indy things just took off." (Literally.) Michigan -- I went up there and literally felt "this isn't going to be good" then took so long to happen." KY was my screw up. Pit lane thing. I remember hearing 5 to go and that was it. (Ah HA. Could have been the radio guy's fault. I KNEW it.) When the thing landed and I got stopped I thought I got to stop doing this. Knew I screwed up.
Bre with Danica Patrick, P2 Tack Hotty. Careful, don't stand too close together, with all the dead brown stuff around that track you might set off a California brush fire via combined hotness. Bre -- how can you improve on your P5 at Watkin's? Danica -- if we can make it through the first turn that would help. (Props to Danica for having some humor. Seriously. Even though she refused to call me or to answer my Burning Written Questions. Twice. But still ...) Get out of the pits fast. Be good on cold tires. Get up to speed quickly. Have a little strategy. Really a 2 1/2 stop race, so lots of strategy involved.
(I'm going to interrupt these notes to give Danica props here for answering media questions directly. Seriously. She answers questions. Sometimes it's kind of blunt, but she doesn't dance around or overthink her answers, and isn't afraid to smack down with some smart ass on stupid questions. We're not tight, but I give mad props where mad props are due.)
Marty Reid and Scott Goodyear, Booth Hotties (That's for the ladies!) on camera. Goodyear -- Pressure on Dario and pit crew. Fined for avoidable contact $20,000 to $25,000 is the rumor (fine amounts are basically announced via rumor in the IRL. Because fines are none of the fans' business.) and on probation for the rest of the year. (Of course he was on probation before the KY brain lock. So this must be -- say it with me -- DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION. Hope Dean Wormer doesn't revoke our charter!)
Down to Kathleen Finato, who is the grand marshal of this deal for some reason, for "Driver's, start your engines."
Cars on the track. 2.26 miles of a passing-free excitement. Goodyear -- Very difficult race track due to elevation changes. Pit window is about 21 to 23 laps.
Roll the hat (running order at the top). What up to my boys and girls in the B-unit? Yeah, boooooooyyyyyyz. Probably all hung over from a big wine bender the night before. Big partiers in the B Unit. (Kidding. I kid. Cue up that If Christ Re-appears Right Now graphic, because I'm pretty sure we'll see it 8 to 10 times today.)
Starting lineup: Dario Franchitti, Danica Patrick, Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Sam Hornish Jr., Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti, Buddy Rice, Dan Wheldon, Tomas Scheckter, Kosuke Matsuura, Vitor Meira, Ed Carpenter, A.J. Foyt I Darren Manning, Scott Sharp, Sarah Fisher.
Bre -- Two tenths of a second kept Ryan Hunter Reay out of the Fast Six. He was pissed about it. Team thrilled with being seventh.
Vince. Marco won last year by conserving fuel the last 32 (and a timely spin from Team-player Bryan Herta). Now with no fuel settings knob, he'll have to actually race (I'm paraphrasing here).
Let's light this candle. We are GREEN-GREEN-GREEN. WTF? Single-file start? Kanaan is clearly passed Danica by the line. The IRL continues it's fine tradition of ugly-ass starts. Dude, seriously, the starts are a joke. Just line them up single file and stop the charade.
RHR hip checks Marco! Holy Dirt track! Smacking tires. Marco off onto the shoulder but keeps it going. Loses some spots.
Castroneves throws a Block Party! Illegal in the Indy Racing League (I'm guessing, since the rule book is none of my business). I'm sure that will get a stern look of disappointment from Brian Barnhart, the Iron Hand of Justice, who is cracking down in an undisclosed location for an undisclosed amount, as far as you know.
Replays. RHR slides out and hip checks Marco out of his way. Why I oughta ...
Vince -- Because of contact, Marco may have a bad toe link that causes his steering to be shitty.
About seven replays of the contact. When you cover a street/road race, any contact that's replayable, and I do mean ANY, is like anti-lock-step manna from God.
Lap 2 -- Marco will need a toe link. Tony ordered to give Danica back the position he got by jumping the start. Goodyear says correctly that that's a pretty light penalty. Forget the fact that by jumping the start Kanaan removed any possibility that he might get passed on the start. Jump it every time if you just have to give the position back. Weak.
Lap 3 -- Jack, "Yeah, Marty, you might want to take out a paper and pencil because this gets a little complicated ..." Raise your hand if you tuned out right here. Hearing Jack say that is super scary. Actually, it wasn't that complicated. The league gave every team 82 gallons of fuel. The cars get 1 lap per gallon. The race is 80 laps long. So they have two to spare if we go green the whole time. The cars get four laps per gallon when yellow. Don't even need the Canadian abacus (Todd Harris! SHOT!)
Doesn't appear to be a ton of people at the race. Hard to say. Pretty sparse. Our Boy Jeff of MyNameIsIRL.com is there. Better check his most excellent coverage.
RHR has nose damage. Bre - he also has no brakes. Soft break pedal has turned into no brakes. Going to come in.
Sharp puts Quattro into the gravel. Get used to it. RHR now has zero pedal. Better get the tail hook out in the pits. Not sure how he's going to stop. Slap it in first and engine brake it, I guess. It would have been interesting to see how he pulled into the pit, but ESPN cut away to show us cars in lock step.
Lap 8 -- Tony needs to win this race to have a shot at the title.
Vince -- Tony has an issue with the car bottoming out. RHR is on pit road. In-car shows he's done. BLOWN UP, Sir!
Jack -- On the super speedways, ethanol gets better mileage than methanol. On the road courses and short ovals, it doesn't get as much better as methanol as they supposed it would. So people have to bust out the calculators to get the strategy.
Lap 11 -- Side by side. Seriously: Go have a beer, mow the lawn, paint a room, whatever. First stint of a road race is a Lock Step-a-thon unless someone gets mental. We can only hope. Mostly the strategy is to hold station until the final the second stint, then get mentally ready and then after the THIRD pit stop, it's time to race. So you got some time to strip wall paper or whatever.
Coverage will now resemble that of a rain delay, talking to everyone off the track because the race on the track will put you to sleep in a hurry.
Lap 14 -- Dario up by 1.5 seconds. Sammy Hagar is in the house hanging with AJ Foyt's posse. Bre with Sammy. Sammy says he only does stuff he's into, and he's into racing. The song I Can't Drive 55 has opened a lot of racing doors. Darren Manning's crew has their favorite Hagar song on the backs of their pit suits.
Lap 15 -- Dario, Danica, Kanaan, Helio, Dixon, Hornish, Wheldon, Marco, Scheckter, Matsuura.
Buddy Rice is dropping like a rock on the timing and scoring. No clue why.
Pitting coming up. AGR has hired some physical trainers from St. Vincent in Indy to help their pit crew. Also a sports psychologist.
Vince (possibly Jack) also shows us that AGR has some tweaked up wheel guns that are designed to cut precious seconds milliseconds off reversing the direction of the gun. My viewing is enhanced. Like I said, rain-delay stuff. I think AGR has enough money to pay to have the earth stop rotating during their pit stops, therefore freezing time entirely.
Danica Patrick Heartbreak montage. KY. Tire down. Brooke Patrick gets air. Worst moment of Danica's apparently highly sheltered life.
Lap 20. Wheldon pits early. Danica pits. Franchitti stays out. Danica 7.7-second stop. Not that bad.
Lap 21 Dario pits. 8.2 seconds. TK stays out. Dixon stays out.
Lap 23 -- Dixon and Tony pit. Dixon gets a full fill. Danica went into the pits in second and came out in sixth. Marty says she's going to have to be aggressive and take some action on the course since the pit stop was bad. (Gotta race on the track for a position? The horrors.)
Bre with RHR -- lost the brakes. Ran side by side with Marco. I gave him all the room he should have given me room. He squeezed me. Touched. Wing severed brake line. Only a matter of time after that. Trying to get it fixed, may come back out.
Lap 25 -- Dario is back up by 1.3. Sam does a Spin-O-Rama and loses a spot to Danica. Keeps it running, though.
Lap 27 -- Replays. Sam goes ass-around.
Lap 28 -- Dario -- Last two races really changed the way he goes forward. Now it's back to business as normal. Gotta get out there and win. Can't be so worried about finishing in front of whoever. Just go out and win.
TK is all over Franchitti. I'll be shocked if Tony actually goes for the pass.
Lap 30 --Dario, Tony, Dixon, Helio, Danica, Hornish, Young Marco, Wheldon, Scheckter, Vitor
Now that all the stops are done, you can go get another beer, finish the lawn, change oil in your car, whatever until the next pit stops.
Goodyear -- Sat with Hornish pit boss Tim Cindric about maybe Sam going to NASCAR. Said it was 50-50 go to NASCAR. He and Roger had not talked bout it for months. Crystal (Sam's wife) expecting a baby in Feb. (News to me. Congrats to the Hornishes.)
Arute pipes up and says Sam weighs about 170. Stays thin by eating a bunch of lettuce and celery. "When you get married, you enjoy your wife's cooking, it gets hard to push away from the table." I swear he said that. Since NASCAR sets car weight maximums WITH driver and the IRL does it without driver, Sam may be tempted to go over there so he doesn't have to compete with Danica who weighs in at 100 and gets an advantage due to her smallness.
I think Jack just advanced the theory that Sam may go to NASCAR so he can eat all he wants of Crystal's cooking. Seriously. This may be the craziest Sam May Go to NASCAR theory yet. So he doesn't have to push away from the table. I think I just went insane.
Dario may also go to NASCAR. Not ruling it out. Keeping his options open. Marty -- maybe a negotiating ploy. Goodyear says at 34 Dario is a little old to look at a NASCAR career. May give him some LEEVERage with AGR though.
About here I'm glad NASCAR is giving the IRL posse something to talk about. Thank God for NASCAR! Without NASCAR, what would we talk about during this Lock Step Segment? NASCAR has now gotten 10 times more air in this IRL race than the back half of the field.
Lap 37 -- Tony passes someone. I missed who. Took me by surprise. I was dozing a bit.
Lap 39 -- Wheldon pits. Arute says Wheldon is pitting so he can pass people. Welcome to road racing.
The right front tire changer, Rick Rennamen (spelling) for a team, I think it's a Penske team, possibly Target or AGR, gets more air. He now has a bad shoulder. Had to have a shot before the race. Was working with a blown Achilles. Regardless, he has now gotten more air than the back third of the field. For some reason ESPN cannot love this guy more. I'm sure he's a fine fellow, but seriously. Not sure why he gets major air all the time.
Dario clinched three points for leading most laps. Up by 2.6 on Kanaan who is pushing his hardest, I'm sure. Danica in and out for pit stop number 2. Out laps are key. In and out laps are key for Danica.
Timing and scoring says Sarah is 16 laps down. Why? NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! You'll get nothing and like it. Timing and scoring tells me her gearbox is fried.
Lap 45 -- Dario pits. Danica is in sixth. Dixon stays out again. Two more laps than Dario. Sharp goes under Danica and gets spun. Taste of his own medicine, I'm thinking. Danica may have hip checked him! Sha. Danica bringing the smack on her FAVORITE competitor? Naaaaaa.
Dixon is pitting. Finally. He's kicking serious ass on the mileage front. Arute deployed. 6.5 seconds. Short fill! Out in second. Tony can't get passed him. Wait a second, DREADED COLD TIRES. Dixon gets passed by Tony for second. Dixon totally could have "driven defensively" and probably not heard from the IHJ.
Castronevez takes a look under Dixon. A little smacking going on there.
Lap 49 -- I think Sharp went around again. Not sure. My notes just say "turn 9, ass around." Sharp Head Cam. There's Scott. Got the visor cracked. Catching some air on his cruise. Very casual. I could not be shocked to see a cigarette sticking out the cracked visor.
Arute -- says something about an Indy Pro test here. I have to admit I spaced out for a second. Testing at this track with this other guy because it may help them at some other track. I hit myself in the foot with a hammer here, because the pain keeps me awake (kidding).
Dixon on camera -- one of the most physical tracks they drive. Very tough. No power steering. Elevation is killer. Goodyear says lots of drivers want a paddle shifter next year like on Formula 1 (and CHAMP CAR, Scott. Come on. A little love for the rival series. Would it kill ya? Besides, that's about the only thing on the DP01 which hasn't taken a dump at one point or another this season.)
Jack -- Target Chip Ganassi, one of its engineers (Travis [I missed the last name, sorry]) died of a stroke recently. Much sorrow. He was an organ donor so 85 different people benefited from Travis' donations. One of them was one of Travis' coworkers who needed a kidney, so Travis' wife made the call. Huge props. Extended shout outs for being an organ donor. I'm an organ donor. Have been forever. You can be too. It's hyper easy. Go here for info.
Obligatory Andretti winery video. Very nearby. ESPN goes through the field here. Lap 58 Helio pits. LAP 59 Wheldon in. Speculation they won't make it to the finish. Marty -- why pit now if you won't make it? Goodyear -- good question. Maybe short filled. (Short fill to get track position since everyone has to pit again anyway. Maybe.)
Lap 60 -- Dario, Kanaan, Dixon, Marco, Danica (that's a AGR sammich with Dixon in the middle), Helio, Sam, Scheckter, Wheldon, Matsuura.
Lap 63 -- Danica pitting. STALLED IT. Insert obscenities here. Danica is smacking the steering wheel. Bev patrick gets air. Danica is back out. Authorities momentarily concerned over a small explosion in the infield, but then they figured out it was TJ Patrick.
Lap 64 -- Dario pits. Dixon needs to BUST IT to put in a couple of speedy laps and get enough of a lead on Dario to maintain his lead when he pits and comes back out. Right on cue, Dixon gets the wings back in a delta and goes super sonic, putting down his fast lap of the race EXACTLY when he needed it most. This is the drama for this race, right here.
Dixon is going to to two laps farther than Dario before he pits. Could be The Ballgame Right Here.
Dixon in. Tires and fuel. 6.9. Rockin' stop. Dixon out in front of DARIO. HFS, he's out in front of Dario but Dario is all up on his ass. The DREADED COLD TIRES. Dixon can't grip it and rip it like Dario can. Dario gets under and around Dixon. Dixon could have totally made himself wide there. Seriously. I doubt very seriously the IHJ calls anything there since it would definitely affect the outcome of the race and Brian is loathe to do that, God knows. TK takes a look under Dixon too, but that ain't happening. A guy can only be so generous.
Goodyear -- That's a sportsmanlike driver in the number 9. Most driers would have blocked and forced Dario into the dirt. Amen, Scott. Extended props to the Iceman for not hip checking Dario. Very sidepod-worthy move there.
Lap 68 -- Marco is pitting. In. 7.0 seconds. Marco out. Here comes the leader, Dario.
CONTACT. WTF? Dario coming around Marco and we got contact. HFS. Marco into the tires. Shades of Watkins Glen 2007 when Cheever, coming out of the pits on cold tires hit Marco and put him off, getting the fist shake. Dario may need to give Marco the fist shake here. Mike Andretti said after that one that Cheever was a "waste." This is different .... how? Uh huh. Yeah. OK.
Yellow yellow yellow for Marco in the tires. Replay. Mike turns around in the pit and smacks the awning causing it to fall. Reports that Dario's left front wing is mangled. Close ups. Definite flapping there.
Lap 70 -- One to go until we're green. You can almost see Dixon back there in second like a great white following a bleeding swimmer (Dario). Red dorsal fin going back and forth in the water. Jaws theme music breaks out over the loudspeakers.
Vince -- AGR is relieved. The league won't make Dario come in for a new nose. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Like that would happen. Pretty sure Dario could be dragging his back wing and the league wouldn't make him do anything. Goodyear -- if this was an oval they would have to bring it in because if it comes off you go into the wall. On a road course consequences aren't that dire. Right, Scott. Sure. The fact that it's Dario and AGR and the championship contender has zero to do with the decision there. Hold up. I have to stand up to let these monkeys fly out of my ass.
Lap 71 -- GREEN. Dixon's car grows Great White Nostrils. Dario is chum in the water. Goodyear says Dario running a blocking line. Ain't going to matter with a damaged front wing and the Iceman behind ya. Dixon got him. Dixon is P1. Tony and Helio banging wheels. Helio under Tony! WTF? Dogs and cats living together. A little NASCAR-ish on the ass, but Helio is into third. Pretty sure Dario is cooked. Yep, Helio gets passed Dario for second.
Tony on the radio -- do I stay behind or do I go? Answer -- Go. Go.
Yellow yellow yellow. Quattro spun around. Replay. Sharp. What a shocker. Sharp is having his own personal Festival of Carbon Fiber today. Quattro is back wingless. This may get Sharp Put on Probation. Oh, wait ...
That flurry put Dario from 21 points up if everything stayed lock step to four points down to Dixon if Christ Re-appears This Second. Could be more if someone else manages to get around Dario.
Lap 74 -- Quattro's car getting tow. He's out. Dixon is about two inches behind the pace car. Replay shows him going up along side the pace car like "Judas, can we hurry this up?"
Five to go. Still under yellow. Dixon, Helio, Dario, Kanaan, Hornish, Danica, Wheldon, Scheckter, Vitor, Matsuura.
Arute -- Dixon's telemetry is saying he may have a tire issue.
We'll find out directly because we're GREEN on Lap 76. Helio is about a foot behind Dixon. Taking a look. Arute -- they haven't' told Dixon anything about the telemetry on the tire, so it may be a telemetry problem. They would have told him by now if it's real, or he would have felt it by now. Goodyear-- you drive it even if it is a real problem. No dire consequences as on a speedway and you're in the championship hunt. Hammer down.
Lap 76 -- Dario is clearly getting help from Kanaan. Tony is not "going" like his pit told him. Bre -- Tony is pretty much doing nothing but backing up Dario and protecting him. Marty -- Will the Indy Racing League consider this team tactics?
Will monkeys stop flying out of my butt, Marty? Will the sun freeze and fall into the Sonoma $12 beer stand? Um, no. I'm sure the IHJ don't see a thing.
Lap 78 -- Having trouble seeing Tony's car because of all the bullshit flying off his wheels.
Lap 79 -- White. Wingman Tony. Marty -- Tony has sacrificed his championship hopes for Dario. Also sacrificed any sort of sportsmanship that might be associated with this race.
Dixon's radio -- Come on, champ bring it home, baby.
Checkered. Dixon wins. Helio second. Tony carries Dario across the line in third. Merry Christmas, Dario. Hornish, Danica, Wheldon, Scheckter, Meira, Matsuura, Rice, Manning, Carpenter, Sharp, Foyt, Marco, Fisher, Hunter-Reay. Dixon does Zanardis (donuts).
I personally cannot wait to hear from Mike Andretti and Tony.
Vince with Mike -- When the two collide, what was that like for ya? Mike -- Dario should have had a little more patience. He knew he could get him on the next corner. Then it was a beautiful situation. Marco falls into second and the race is won.
Arute with Dixon -- Lot of team tactics out there. Very very tough. TK being a right pain to us to help Dario.
Dario and Ashley get air.
Dixon -- our team would have probably done the same thing in there position.
Vince with Dario -- One of those situations. With Marco. Came out right at the wrong spot. I really want to look at the tape and talk to Marco before I comment on it. Did almost everything right today. Apart from the problem with Marco late sort of ruined it. Got to say thanks to TK had my back all day.
Vince with Tony -- Vince -- why stay behind Dario? Tony -- For me to stay in the points championship race I have to win. Not going to pass three cars in five laps, so stay behind Dario. "If anybody has a problem with that, they should come see me about it."
Brian?
Tune in at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on Sept. 3 to watch AGR block for each other Belle Isle! You got a problem with that?
AGR is a Desperately Needed CART Team. Make them mad and they may threaten to leave. Ray-Hall has already made just such a threat, though his team doesn't have the teeth (wins) right now to make it a fearsome notion. AGR would be different; they block, so no threats can be taken against them, just like the race at Belle Isle Will Happen Annually, Because Roger Wants To Race There.
Politics. No different from CART.
"My enthusiasm lasted roughly two races."
Anthony Joseph Foyt, Jr., in the aftermath of CART's creation in the late '70s.
Posted by: Firefox | August 26, 2007 at 10:22 PM
You forgot to mention that after letting Dario by Dixon did in fact hip check Tony twice. What kind of ass bitches in the winners circle? Just sayin'.
Posted by: The American Mutt | August 26, 2007 at 10:47 PM
Only knuckleheads think road races are boring. Sam Hornish Jr. will soon be a traitor. Sam Sr will start fights with rednecks in the Nascab pits. Franchitti will be in ALMS in 2008 after his 2007 championship season.
Posted by: FireGeneSimmons | August 27, 2007 at 04:37 AM
I saw a herd of cattle stampeding late Sunday afternoon. Hopefully, Air Tony got the IHJ back home to round them up.
Put another way, there's a credibility gap in race control.
Posted by: Joe | August 27, 2007 at 07:49 AM
Unbelievable "team" tactics from AGR.
Last year Herta takes one for the team in the closing laps of the Sonoma GP to create a yellow to get Marco his first (and so far only) IRL win.
This year at the same track Marco comes out in front of his CHAMPIONSHIP LEADING teammate on cold tires late in the race and not only does he not yield, he makes contact with him.
I guess at AGR, you can't spell "team" without "Marco".
Posted by: OneCylinderDown | August 27, 2007 at 01:24 PM
Awesome coverage of a right wee boring race. Belle Ilse next, the horrors! I spewed my coffee several times over this blog. AGR pays to have the Earth stop rotating, Christ Re-apears Right Now, Hornish finds it hard on getting up from the table, AGR throws away the Championship, and plenty of time to mow the yard! Something for everyone.
Oh yeah, I just heard that Dean Wormer called the IHJ and rather than putting the pressdog on Double Secret Probation, they'll throw you in the doghouse with the rest of the animals. Could just be the second worst nightmare in the sheltered life of you-know-who.
At least Chicagoland will be real.
Posted by: ramblinman | August 27, 2007 at 03:06 PM
So did you people have this kind of an uproar last year when Helio stayed out on three tires keeping the last seven laps yellow, keeping his seventh place locked for those points, keeping Sam locked in first without a restart battle? He probably would have won the battle, but just the same. THat was on an oval too. Tony didn't block according to the rules--blocking is two moves--no one tried to pass him. Theres no rule against NOT PASSING. Was it shady? Yeah. Would he have done it for his other two teammates? Probably not. Did any of you get this upset last year for something far worse? Probably not.
Posted by: terata | August 27, 2007 at 04:38 PM
Solid work, P-Dog. Buddy dropped on the charts because he spun off camera, Sarah toasted her gearbox, and the brown stuff at the track was mostly dirt. Maybe they should let fans have a live Q&A with Jack Arute to answer these questions during these road course lock-step festivals.
If lifting off the throttle when there is no passing lane and intentionally slowing the traffic behind you is not against the rules then I'm convinced there are in fact no rules.
I can't blame Tony for doing it, though. If Barnhart isn't going to penalize him then why not help a teammate try to win the championship? (Dario should buy him some nice pies in the off season.)
Put it this way: I saw lots of cows in Sonoma, but none of them were branded "IHJ". There was no rule book, no black flag, no cattle.
Posted by: My Name Is IRL | August 28, 2007 at 03:31 PM
"Sam may be tempted to go over there so he doesn't have to compete with Danica who weighs in at 100 and gets an advantage due to her smallness."
Hmm, isn't that the reason Robby Gordon gave for not driving Indycars anymore? He caught a lot of shit for saying that, IIRC.
Posted by: Thlayli | August 28, 2007 at 05:11 PM
"If lifting off the throttle when there is no passing lane and intentionally slowing the traffic behind you is not against the rules then I'm convinced there are in fact no rules...I can't blame Tony for doing it, though. If Barnhart isn't going to penalize him then why not help a teammate try to win the championship?"
----
I agree completely, I don't like what Kanaan did but he if he can't win, he is taking one for the team. For all those complaining about Kanaan's end-of-race actions, ask yourself who's really at fault - Tony for being a team player or Barnhart for not backing up his words for 4000th time?
Posted by: OneCylinderDown | August 29, 2007 at 01:43 PM
Typical of the "Worst Broadcast Team Ever" to steal a nickname from an F1 driver for a hack Crapwagon boi.
Those idiots should be tarred and feathered especially Goodyear.
That stupid Canuck should be slapped just for being him.
As for Arute please keep showing the cheese grater.
That one never gets old.
Marty used to be good but had to dumb himself down for the leeg broadcasts.
Posted by: LARRY CRAIG | September 01, 2007 at 11:01 AM
Take it easy, Larry. I was going to delete ya for being over the line re: the personal stuff, but I decided against it, 'cause I'm big like that.
Posted by: pressdog | September 01, 2007 at 11:15 AM
Sorry Pdog. I really like your take on things.
The booth guys just get me going. Maybe they need more Rusty.
Just kidding.
Thanks for all your good work.
Posted by: LARRY CRAIG | September 01, 2007 at 11:40 AM