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Peter Windsor Goes on Record with pressdog

Holy FLAVIO! Peter Windsor, who famously does the "grid walk" to start every SPEED F1 broadcast, has gone on record with pressdog.com.

Not only do Peter and cameraman, the Unseen John Michel, stalk the exotic streets and tracks of F1, but Windsor is also sporting director for the US-based Formula 1 team, USF1.

Windsor and team principal Ken Anderson have said they're good to go to have two American drivers in F1 cars on the grid in 2010. For more on the team, pick up the May copy of Racer magazine.

Teaser ... Windor says "Andretti" (!) below.

Now let's go down to the Q&A grid and Peter Windsor ...

Varsha, Hobbs and Matchett Represent on the Aussie F1

The F1 Posse has representing on the Australian F1 race. Check out Bob Varsha's column here.

Check a 7:39 bit of the conversation between Varsha and booth mates Steve Matchett and David Hobbs below. Let me know if you can see Hobbs' scotch-on-the-rocks in any of these shots.

KIDDING. I kid Hobbs. I'm a kidder.

TSO Has Some Scoop on Conquest, Scheckter and St. Pete Car Count

And if you subscribed to Trackside Online, you'd know what it is. But ya don't. Not sure why, but ya don't. It's a pity, really.

If you were a subscriber, like me, you'd get the scoop in your email and wouldn't have to wait for a blogger to cut and paste it.

So subscribe TODAY.

Notes Taken During the 2009 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix

Notes taken during the SPEED TV broadcast of the 2009 Formula 1 ING Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne.

Welcome to the new, up-is-down 2009 season of F1. This is the 14th year for the F1 race here. The most excellent TV crew, Bob Varsha, David Hobbs and Steve Matchett, are back in the booth in Charlotte, N.C. while Peter "Grid Walk" Windsor and his cameraman, the Unseen Jon-Meeshell, are on the ground in Australia.

Brawn Flexes Up in Australia

Everyone is checking for dogs cats living together ( ... mass hysteria! ..) after Brawn-Mercedes teammates Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello qualified one-two for the 2009 Formula 1 ING Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Button threw down a 1:20.202 on the last lap of qualifying to bump Barrichello to second. Rubens put up a 1:20.505.

Vaunted F1 Superpower Ferrari could only manage 6th (Felipe Massa) and 7th (Kimi Räikkönen). Defending champion Lewis Hamilton qualified in 13th.

This may be a sign of the apocalypse.

USF1 Says the F-word ("Fans") in Racer Magazine

Rush out now and buy a copy of the May edition of Racer Magazine. Better yet, join me and subscribe (1 year [12 issues] -- $29.95, 2 years [24 issues] -- $49.95). Original content is worth paying for. (See semi-rant at the end of this.)

In the May issue, I was astonished (and, frankly, stimulated) to see the principals behind USF1 -- the Formula One team being created in the US -- use the F-word multiple times!

Not THAT F-word, of course, but the F-word ("fans") that racing seems to hold in lower regard and use less often than the better-known F-word.

RHR to Vision

Robin Miller reports that Ryan Hunter-Reay will drive for Vision in 2009. Read it HERE.

Angstadt and Barnhart Speak

Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee had IndyCar's presidents Terry Angstadt and Brian "Iron Hand of Justice" Barnhart on their radio talk show Thursday night.

Props to Cavin and Lee for getting the big dogs on the air and for giving customers (fans) a chance to email in questions. I thought Kevin did a nice job of hitting the most frequently emailed questions, and Curt followed up with some pretty real questions (no lobbed softballs like "Isn't the league just extra great?") as well.

Big props to the Angstadt and the IHJ for taking the fan-generated questions and giving some pretty forthright answers. Whether you agree with their answers or not, Angstadt and Barnhart deserve mad credit for answering to the customers (fans) without much dodging at all. They should do more of it. An "Ask the IHJ" feature on IndyCar.com would be a very welcome addition.

Check it out the replay, which ends with a Ryan McGee update on the Helio trial, HERE. I think it's also available through iTunes as a podcast.

Journalist Comb News Releases for Missed Information

Racing journalists Friday were desperately combing stacks of news releases to find out how they missed part of the story on Barber Motorsports Park.

The frantic search was set off when Jeff Iannucci of MyNameIsIRL.com published background on the Barber track that questioned the park's commitment to following through on promises in the past.

MyNameIsIRL.com Blows the Lid off the Barber Love Fest

My homey Jeff Iannucci over at MyNameIsIRL.com has done us all a huge service by doing some research to find out that all is not sweetness and light with the Barber Motorsports Park.

Rushing in where "real" journalists apparently feared to tread, Jeff gives us a much needed, balanced look at some of the history of Barber to counterbalance all the fawning, we-gotta-go-there chorus from the "real" journalists.

Jeff represents thusly: 

"Well, it turns out there should be considerable reason to doubt Mr Barber, because 'everything the man has done to date' includes a very astonishing series of actions that includes the loss of an almost certain MotoGP event a few years ago. As you'll see, Barber's 'whatever it takes' isn't as all-inclusive as it sounds.

RUSH over and read it all HERE. NOW.