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Robin was Right

Again. Deal with it.

RACER: Tony George out as president and CEO of IMS

MILLER: A Tough Week At 16th And Georgetown

Trouble at the German Rings for F1

Looks like Bernie Ecclestone's campaign to price his Formula One circus out of as many tracks as possible may claim Germany.

According to reports, the Hockenheim City Council -- a 94 per cent shareholder in the Hockenheimring track -- has voted unanimously to drop the race. Why? Because it's a giant cash sippy hole.

Last year's race at Hockenheimring lost an estimated 6 MEEYUN Euros ($8.4 million). Yikers. Taxpayers wear the frowny face at those kinds of losses to host racing by trillionaires. (Is there actually an F1 race that makes money? Not that I know of.)

Germany actually has two F1 "ring" tracks -- the other being Nurburing -- which take turns hosting their annual race.

Hockenheimring pulling out has Nurburing in a bit of a tizzy at the prospect of delivering a truckload of money to Bernie EVERY year, as opposed to just every other.

Germany is only marginally important to F1, what with Mercedes-Benz and BMW based in Germany AND five German drivers in the series, including the rising star Sebastian Vettel.

Shockingly, faced with the loss of Germany, Bernie says he's willing to talk.

Robbie Buhl Goes on Record with pressdog

Former IndyCar driver, current IndyCar team co-owner and VERSUS color dude Robbie “Incredi” Buhl made me a most excellent Dad’s Root Beer/Blue Bunny Ice Cream float at Iowa and talked about his VERSUS life so far.

pressdog: You seem to be having a good time doing the VERSUS broadcast. How’s that going for you?

Big Announcement at IMS Today?

The irascible Robin Miller reported on Sunday that "the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's board of directors is meeting again Tuesday and expected to make an announcement concerning Tony George's position." (It's at the end of his Richmond Notebook report HERE.)

In May, Robin famously reported that George (right) had been booted from his job as CEO of IMS by his three sisters (Josie, Nancy and Kathy) who, Robin said, were tired of seeing an estimated $600 million family dollars disappear down the IndyCar money pit.

Arni in the Rear View

I suck for not posting this before the Richmond race, but I dig Arni the Indy Insider's work so much I'm posting it now. Just because I can, and because Arni is wearing something from the stylin' IZOD Indy PR collection. Click HERE to witness the wonderment.

Some Ideas for Improving IndyCar Immediately

Props to Ronnie Larsen who commented on my Richmond notes and first brought this link to my attention. I thought it was worthy of sharing immediately.

In it, RACER editor David Malsher first goes off on the Richmond debacle but second offers some interesting ideas for improvement before all (not just most) the IRL's customers are gone.

Check it out: IndyCar’s racing must improve immediately

The Latest Danica to N-word Swirl

I was alerted to this post re: the War for Danica in N-word on a site I had never heard of before.

So -- disclaimer -- it could all be made up. But maybe it's not. Read it for what it's worth.

After Saturday night's Festival of Stench at Richmond, Danica may be thinking ARCA is a better way to spend her time. Jussayin'.

Notes from the 2009 IndyCar Race at Richmond

Notes taken during the VERSUS broadcast of the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway on 6/27/09.

Lead in to the broadcast is bull riding. Bull riders are insane. It's dangerous, like IndyCar, but an IndyCar car's mission in life is not to buck you off an then stomp your brains in.

pressdog beer of the race is Point Nude Beach, a summer wheat brewed by Stevens Point Brewing, Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

Richmond -- How Bad Was It?

Number of passes for the lead on the track: zero

Number of laps with Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Graham Rahal in 1-2-3 lock step: the final 158 (of 300).

Number of fans who felt they got value out of this product: an estimated 7.

IndyCar Denies Rumor that AGR May be Stripped of Big Three Status

IndyCar officials Saturday denied rumors that Andretti Green Racing's status as a member of the "Big Three'" was undergoing double-secret probationary review.

After AGR cars qualified 8th (Hideki Mutoh), 10th (Danica Patrick), 16th (Marco Andretti) and 17th (Tony Kanaan) many observers wondered if AGR's membership in the Big 3 was in question.

"Just because two AGR cars qualified behind traditional back-packers like Dale Coyne, Dreyer & Reinbold and HVM racing is no cause for alarm" said an IndyCar official. "Certainly we're concerned. We were hoping that a team like Newman Haas Lanigan would have made it a 'Big Four' by now. Going down to a 'Big Two' (Target Chip Ganassi and Penske) would be a step backwards. We have contingency plans to do what we can to make that sound exciting, but we'd rather not go there. So we're taking a measured approach and trying to work with AGR to keep them in the Big Three."