OK - The 2002 Indy 500 winner did not make the race so now I'll have to come up with something else.
The winner - Will Power. You can't bet against Penske at Indy and Will Power is the driver to beat this season.
I am cheering for Dario Franchitti. He has been racing hard all season and is due for a win. GO Dario GO.
Surprise feel good story - Sarah Fisher. If she finishes ahead of Danica there will be no surprise. But look for Sarah Fisher Racing to get he car into the - top 10? No. Top 5. Wouldn't it be great she broke through and won?
If you are an Arrested Development fan you will be rooting for Ana Beatriz. Steve Holt!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Indy Is Back!
Indy Qualifying
Wow. Seriously. Wow. The new format works.
Part of me misses the whole Month-Of-May build up, the tradition. But most of that was gone years ago. There are still some that miss the front engine roadsteers. We need to move on. When I first heard that the top 24 would be locked in on Pole Day and that the top 9 would then have another Race For The Pole. I thought, "NO!!!!!" But I settled down and thought for about 5 minutes and realized SOMETHING needed to change and heck if IndyCar found sponsor for this format all the better.
There was still all the drama of Pole Day. There were teams posting times. Waiting in line only to decide to keep their time and get back in line. There were teams that crashed during practice. There were teams that had a car safely in the race that decided to withdraw their time and try again. Sometimes that worked - Helio Castroneves. Sometimes it was a ticket to Sunday's Bump Day - Paul Tracy.
The Top 9 Race To The Pole was dramatic with Chip Gannasi declaring on live TV that Penske's stall tactics were "Bull shit and you know it!" Once a car is in the top 9 the team can continuously re-try for a better time without the worry of giving up the already scored fast time. This allowed Penske's pole sitting Castroneves to run absurdly slow warmup laps before his retry. This was eating up time for the other pole wanna-bes. The only rule preventing this was a mushy directive that if they were short on time and the next in line was already on the pole the pole sitter would not be allowed to retry. Huh? What is "short on time"? Why should the pole sitter be denied an attempt at a better time?
There was an obvious hole in the rules and Penske drove a truck through that hole. Don't tell me that Chip wouldn't have done the same with his drivers. In the end Penske's move didn't matter. How do we patch the hole for 2011? The pole sitter must be allowed to defend the pole by being allowed to run faster and faster just like everyone else. I would allow the current Race To The Pole rules for the first part but then for the last 30 minutes (or 15 minutes - I'm flexible) a team would have to withdraw that car's time to re-qualify. Withdrawing would mean that the car is now in 9th position, not out of the race, until a new time is posted and the car is positioned accordingly.
Bump Day provided us with some real excitement. There was a very real chance that Tony Kannan was not going to make the race. Did those crashes get in his head? Was there something wrong with the car? KV Racing's Paul Tracy was in the race - again - but continued to fall closer and closer to the bubble. Time was running out but the KV Racing took a chance and decided to withdraw PT's car. He sat in line as time for his Indy return ticked away.
There is still a lot of room to improve in IndyCar. But, Indy is back!
Wow. Seriously. Wow. The new format works.
Part of me misses the whole Month-Of-May build up, the tradition. But most of that was gone years ago. There are still some that miss the front engine roadsteers. We need to move on. When I first heard that the top 24 would be locked in on Pole Day and that the top 9 would then have another Race For The Pole. I thought, "NO!!!!!" But I settled down and thought for about 5 minutes and realized SOMETHING needed to change and heck if IndyCar found sponsor for this format all the better.
There was still all the drama of Pole Day. There were teams posting times. Waiting in line only to decide to keep their time and get back in line. There were teams that crashed during practice. There were teams that had a car safely in the race that decided to withdraw their time and try again. Sometimes that worked - Helio Castroneves. Sometimes it was a ticket to Sunday's Bump Day - Paul Tracy.
The Top 9 Race To The Pole was dramatic with Chip Gannasi declaring on live TV that Penske's stall tactics were "Bull shit and you know it!" Once a car is in the top 9 the team can continuously re-try for a better time without the worry of giving up the already scored fast time. This allowed Penske's pole sitting Castroneves to run absurdly slow warmup laps before his retry. This was eating up time for the other pole wanna-bes. The only rule preventing this was a mushy directive that if they were short on time and the next in line was already on the pole the pole sitter would not be allowed to retry. Huh? What is "short on time"? Why should the pole sitter be denied an attempt at a better time?
There was an obvious hole in the rules and Penske drove a truck through that hole. Don't tell me that Chip wouldn't have done the same with his drivers. In the end Penske's move didn't matter. How do we patch the hole for 2011? The pole sitter must be allowed to defend the pole by being allowed to run faster and faster just like everyone else. I would allow the current Race To The Pole rules for the first part but then for the last 30 minutes (or 15 minutes - I'm flexible) a team would have to withdraw that car's time to re-qualify. Withdrawing would mean that the car is now in 9th position, not out of the race, until a new time is posted and the car is positioned accordingly.
Bump Day provided us with some real excitement. There was a very real chance that Tony Kannan was not going to make the race. Did those crashes get in his head? Was there something wrong with the car? KV Racing's Paul Tracy was in the race - again - but continued to fall closer and closer to the bubble. Time was running out but the KV Racing took a chance and decided to withdraw PT's car. He sat in line as time for his Indy return ticked away.
There is still a lot of room to improve in IndyCar. But, Indy is back!
Monday, April 19, 2010
of Penelope Pitstop, a DBR9, & SCXd pix
Son #1's first SCXd car was the green #28 Aston Martin DBR9. He drove it a bit hard and soon the 'lips' and driver's side A post needed repairs. I had a repaint project in mind, so I bought a second hand #28 and traded bodies with him and set to work.
At first the boys were not happy anytime that I suggested pink. So naturally, the car had to be repainted pink. Penelope Pitstop's Compact Pussycat seemed to be the perfect concept. At first I considered making an open top version of the DBR9. But I would have needed to fit the A posts anyway. I decided to keep the roof. The car is obviously not a line for line copy of the Compact Pussycat. It was never intended to be. This car is my vision of what a real race car would look like if Boomerang/Cartoon Network sponsored a car as the Compact Pussycat.
First the car was painted white, masked, painted pink, masked again, then painted yellow.
The drivers A post needed rebuilding and painting after it became obvious that the glass would not fit. The lips needed to be redone when the grill was reinserted. I decided to Krazy Glue the grill in place to support the rebuilt lips.
I gave the Compact Pussycat to my resident Pit Babe. She can't wait to hit the track. A big crowd is coming for Mother's Day. The boys are coming around to appreciating pink - in the right context of course.
For more pictures please visit Slot Car Illustrated or SCX Worldwide.
At first the boys were not happy anytime that I suggested pink. So naturally, the car had to be repainted pink. Penelope Pitstop's Compact Pussycat seemed to be the perfect concept. At first I considered making an open top version of the DBR9. But I would have needed to fit the A posts anyway. I decided to keep the roof. The car is obviously not a line for line copy of the Compact Pussycat. It was never intended to be. This car is my vision of what a real race car would look like if Boomerang/Cartoon Network sponsored a car as the Compact Pussycat.
First the car was painted white, masked, painted pink, masked again, then painted yellow.
The drivers A post needed rebuilding and painting after it became obvious that the glass would not fit. The lips needed to be redone when the grill was reinserted. I decided to Krazy Glue the grill in place to support the rebuilt lips.
I gave the Compact Pussycat to my resident Pit Babe. She can't wait to hit the track. A big crowd is coming for Mother's Day. The boys are coming around to appreciating pink - in the right context of course.
For more pictures please visit Slot Car Illustrated or SCX Worldwide.
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