North Texas Nonconformist

Anna Beatriz "Bia" Figueiredo, who has been trying to move out of Brazilian open wheel racing for a year or so, has signed to race in IPS for Sam Schmidt Motorsports in 2008. The press release seems to totally downplay her family name, which is either dumb PR writing or part of an idea to park the family name, which is not the easiest to pronounce if you do not know Portugese.
I have no idea if this is a good move or not - the IPS is not exactly a picture of health, but then hardly any US open-wheel series is in any sort of healthy state right now. I hope that Bia does well - we need to see a talented female driver actually win races in a top-flight series competing against talented men in order to dispel the "babes who are lookers but cannot race" mindset that currently seems to encumber female race drivers.

...I wrote a posting on autoracing1.com where I picked up on Robby Gordon's weekend comment that most ovals are unsafe for OW race cars. He is right, and it is largely due to the pre-eminence of NASCAR. Here is what I posted:

In the spirit of trying to move thinking forward, in the aftermath of a death at an open wheel oval track, I'm going to make a statement.
I read somewhere that Jeff Gordon has stated that oval tracks are unsuitable for open-wheel race cars.
I'm going to take that statement one step further.

The current generation and configuration of american oval race tracks are largely unsuitable and dangerous for open-wheel race cars.

The reason for this is that when a North American oval track is being built or updated, the #1 concern of the ownership is getting NASCAR dates. The holy grail is a Nextel Cup date, but a second-tier (Busch) or third-tier date (ARCA etc.) is also highly desirable. These dates usually sell-out. Open-wheel events are a long way down the pecking order of consideration.
As a result, oval tracks are optimized for non-aero closed-wheel race cars. The #1 concern is good "Stock" car racing.
Therein lies the problem, for a race track that is suitable for stock cars is usually not suitable for aero wing cars, which are capable of much higher cornering forces.
There are a number of oval tracks in the USA that have always been unsuitable for open-wheel winged cars. Talledega and Daytona are two examples. With wings and current horsepower levels, I shudder to think that sort of speeds a properly-sorted OW car would achieve at those two tracks. The speeds would probably be at the limit of human endeavour, and the insurers would have a fit.
Other superspeedway tracks are marginal. Indianapolis is a track where OW drivers are almost flat all of the way round in qualifying, with little or no lift in race trim. California Speedway is currently flat all of the way round, with the race set-up mainly consisting of seeing how much drag can be removed from the car.
Texas Motor Speedway is flat all of the way round if the car is well set-up. The IRL can race there because of its horsepower range; CART infamously tried and failed to race there because their horsepower range took cornering forces into the "Death Zone" where drivers were starting to experience symptoms of G-Loc.
Homestead is an example of an oval track that was originally OK for open-wheel cars, with lap speeds in the 185-190 mph range. The cars would have to lift for corners, because the track was almost flat. However, when NASCAR raced there, it was found that there was only one racing line for stock cars, which limited overtaking and racing opportunities. So...they increased the bank angles on the corners.
The result is that NASCAR drivers have two racing lines at Homestead, and the NASCAR fans are happy. However, the increased bank angle has resulted in the open wheel cars being essentially flat-out all of the way round, with speeds having rised to 215-220 mph. In the race on Sunday, the leading cars seemed to be flat all of the way round, with the only drop in rpm coming from tire scrub on corner entry.
This is an underlying trend...with a few exceptions, modern american oval tracks are optimized for stock cars, not winged racing cars, and as a result many of those ovals are unsuitable for open-wheel race cars.
It is my belief that any combined OW series (when it emerges and whatever it is called) should seriously trim the number of oval tracks on the schedule, and only race on oval tracks where speeds are controllable and where driver skill (other than eyes-shut throttle-stuck-to-the-floor bravery) is part of the overall winning equation. Unless this is made a strategic goal of the series, I forsee two outcomes:

1. Future serious accidents and possible deaths as the high speeds result in mechanical failures or human errors
2. Continuance of a policy of optimizing oval tracks for stock cars at the expense of open wheel cars

In the long-term, (2) will not change until open wheel racing recovers enough market share to have influence over racing venues. However, making a decision to not race on unsuitable tracks in the short-term puts down a marker for the long-term.

However, it seems that some folks have to be fighting the IRL vs. CCWS war 24x7. Within a short period of time, this gem appeared in the thread:

This is always such a transparent argument.
Eliminate ovals, and you eliminate the IRL. What could be easier?
It gets couched in different words, as gshelvin has here, but it is the same old tired argument.
No one makes these guys race on ovals. If there is no one to race, there are no races. Let market forces dictate what it necessary. It always has in the past; it will in the future.

So I responded thusly:

I just knew that somebody would barge into this discussion and attempt to throw strawman arguments on the table about people attempting to abolish the IRL...tbyars, you win the award. Time to grow up and engage in a discussion on its merits instead of inventing straw men.

my response was followed by the following two:
(from tbyars)

Truth hurts, huh, gshelvin. Your agenda has always been clear. You knew someone would say it because you KNOW it is the truth. Very obvious. Simply a troll.

(Note that he can't even spell my name correctly)
(from indycool)

gshev, I agree with tb on this one. You are using the tragedy at Homestead to promote an anti-oval (read: anti-IRL) agenda. I hate it when people play political "safety cards." Because it always seems like when they do, it comes around and bites someplace else (sadly and tragically, as it did with Scott Brayton, Jeff Krosnoff and Gary Avrin in 1996). And THAT's scary.

Given that the responses have done nothing other than bring up a bogus strawman argument that I never made, I decided to up the ante:

indycool and tbyars, I regard the suggestion that I am promoting some sort of agenda to neuter the IRL to be an insult to my intelligence and the intelligence of other folks on this board.
Go back and read my starting post again, and see if you can improve your comprehension of the English language. Then come back here and kindly stop dropping strawman drivel and lowering the standard of debate. If you are that concerned about my "agenda", please feel free to complain to the moderators. I am prepared to defend my posting to them at any time.

Watch for the next exciting instalment. If the mods want to ban me, then that is their perogative. However, I hope that they can understand that there are some folks who cannot consider an argument on its merits, and instead resort to tired paranoid claptrap. (The rest of the discussion, by the way, has been pretty good, with folks making some good points).

Here is a note that I drafted for a discussion forum in May 2005 about the prospects for an OW merger. I pulled it out and read it this evening. Sadly, the situation has not changed very much, despite the optimistic noises and suggestions that occasionally emanate from commentators such as Robin Miller. Here goes:

One idea that I have seen floated on a message board in the last few days is for a merger between the two competing OW series along the lines of the F1 arrangement where the FIA controls the regulatory and safety side, and the F1 teams (via Bernie Ecclestone’s corporate structure) control the commercial and operational side.
In F1 that arrangement evolved over time because Bernie Ecclestone proved that he could take a raggle-taggle collection of poorly-structured races contested by enthusiastic semi-amateurs, and convert it into a highly-organized, highly lucrative, high-profile series. The FIA ended up with the regulatory side because (a) they had no real competence in the commercial side, and (b) both sides, after the infamous 1980-81 battle over regulations, realized that a working peace was better than consistent skirmishing, and made peace (a peace largely regulated in the Concorde Agreement).
Unfortunately, the situation here in American OW is not quite the same. Currently we have a battle between a venue owner, (who, infuriated by what he saw as a lack of respect, started his own race series using his inherited family businesses as collateral), and a group of self-made entrepreneurs who bought the remains of a rival series.
Whichever way you look at it, Tony George, in terms of his motor racing track record, is not fit to shine Bernie Ecclestone's shoes. He has spent a godawful sum of money over the last 10 years on the IRL, and does not have a series in any meaningful sense of the word. One great race doth not a series make. In the meantime, OW racing has been split from top to bottom at all levels - drivers, teams, sponsors, and (dare I mention it because we need to be yelling this from the rooftops), THE FANS.
I am reserving judgement on the OWRS principals, except to note that KK and GF do seem to be trying to adhere to the Roger Penske principle of keeping fairly quiet, working to a well-structured plan, and putting their money down to show that they are serious.
Of course, while all of this is going on, NASCAR continues to consolidate its position as the #1 form of top-line autoracing in the USA...
One other thing. At the moment people are focussing on the possibilities of a merger (of some sort) between the IRL and OWRS. What we need to realize is that it's not just the top flight of American OW racing that is broken. The whole ladder series system is also broken. At the second level, we have Toyota Atlantic, which has been sliding towards life support, and IPS, which, bluntly, is a joke right now. If there is no clearly-defined ladder series through which talented young drivers can progress, then fixing the top-flight will not address one of the major complaints of OW racing fans; namely that the OW series are currently dominated by foreign drivers. They are, but that is because racing in a European or South American OW feeder series will equip you far better for OWRS and the IRL than racing in the US feeder series.
So...it's all fine and dandy for folks to be burbling about a merger of the top OW racing series, but here are some conditions that must be met for this to have any chance of success:

1. The merger must result in a durable peace. It will be worthless if, as soon as an issue arises, the two sides start battling again. Sponsors, business partners and the fan base will not stand for it.
2. Any merger must not result in one party having veto control over any strategic aspect of the system (which means that TG's demand for 51% is a deal-breaker. Does he think that OWRS came down from the hillside with the last rainstorm?). If no one party has veto control, then everybody will have to work together, and dirty words like compromise and win-win may just become working principles instead of quaint notions for wimps.
3. The merger must result in a new set of ladder series in the US to allow US-based drivers to work their way up through the motor racing ranks and arrive at the top level of American OW racing equipped to succeed in and outside the US.
4. The merger ought to be accompanied by some mea culpas on behalf of the key OW players. We (the fans) have had to sit and suffer as a dysfunctional drama has been played out in front of us for 10+ years. This has been a long, and distressing series of events to witness. I am pissed with the outcome, and I hold a lot of people partially responsible for this mess. I want to hear some contrition.

Since I wrote that note in May, there have been some improvements. Atlantics is being revamped with a new car/engine package for 2006 and beyond, and early indications are that the series will prove popular. Also, the IRL has reverted to a single engine supplier (Honda) after both GM and Toyota withdrew at the end of 2005. How that move fits in with "The Vision" I have no idea, except to note that if the IRL Vision was an I.T. Solution Delivery project, it would have been cancelled a long time ago.

...and it doesn't involve returning to CCWS. Instead, TCGR has signed Dan Wheldon for 2006. He will be part of a 2-car team with Scott Dixon. TCGR also has signed with Honda. My assumption is that the Honda deal was contingent on Ganassi signing Wheldon or a similar high-profile driver. You can be certain that Wheldon will be handsomely rewarded for his services in 2006 and beyond.
It seems that Wheldon was unwilling to sign on to a F1 testing deal with BMW for 2006, since there was no guarantee that he would ever be promoted to a race seat.
With the departure of Toyota from the IRL (not yet official, but they have already lost all of their competitive teams), Ryan Briscoe became expendable, and he is probably trying to get a seat with a Champ Car team (with the latest rumour being that Timo Glock and his DHL Germany backing are heading back to Europe and the GP2 series for 2006, a possible seat opens at Rocketsports).

...with Danica allegedly hitting Jacques Lazier upsides the head after he collided with her, putting them both out of the race (another chassis to be added to the Target Ganassi Racing 2005 Scrap Pile).
However, the most interesting debate is over the way that Tony Kanaan slowed near the finish line, resulting in a win for Dario Franchitti. Despite Kanaan's denials, the hot rumour after the race was that he had been ordered to let Dario win.
I have not seen the race video, so I have no way of knowing what actually happened. However, as a general principle, if Kanaan indeed did ostentatiously "lift" close to the line, he was almost certainly sending the signal that he was "gifting" the race to a rival under orders from the team. Remember, this is what Rubens Barrichello did in Austria in 2003, which ignited a firestorm in Formula 1 at the time. Rubens cleverly obeyed team orders, but also managed to signal that he was doing so under duress. Given that he was clearly quicker than Michael Schumacher on the track at the time, the move justifiably left a lot of racing fans angry, since nobody likes to believe that they are watching a game of charades. Racing fans generally labour under the delusion that they are watching a real race, where every driver is going all-out to win.
The bottom line is that no driver wants to give a rival even a nanosecond on the track, so any team that orders a driver to make way for a rival is putting that driver in the situation where he/she may feel obliged to signal that "I didn't do this because I'm an uncompetitive wuss, I did it because of team orders".

...when in the space of 1 week, the reclamation of a show Lola car by Ganassi racing leads to speculation which now has Penske returning part-time to CCWS in 2006.
I doubt that this will happen. One thing that I have always noticed about Roger Penske is that he seldom tinkers in anything that he does. He has a strategy, and builds actions to fit and support that strategy. I would not see him running in both IRL or CCWS. He will commit to one series or the other - or perhaps a different series entirely.

There is a lot of fevered speculation about Ganassi Racing's plans for 2006 and beyond in the IRL. With Toyota already leaving that series, all sorts of rumours are out there - Chip is leaving the IRL, Chip is staying, he's running in both series, he's going to leave open wheel, the earth is square (I just put that one in to see if you were awake)... the list goes on and on.

Let's look at the bigger picture:

1. TCGR is in a precarious engine supply position right now.
Toyota is leaving after 2006. It is difficult to imagine them being prepared to spend a whole lot of $$$ on a competitive motor in 2006. As the TRD factory team, under the terms of his current works deal Chip has to take the motors given to him by TRD. He cannot do a Penske and work on them to make them better. So, he is (probably) looking at another uncompetitive year with Toyota power.
If Toyota does want to walk away from the IRL after this year, according to some rumours, Chip's engine supply issue changes from a problem to a stark reality - a sum of money in the bank, but possibly a missing lump behind the fuel tank in his cars.
Cosworth is out after this year due to the IRL manufacture badging requirement.
Chip upset Honda in 1998 when he abruptly terminated his deal with them in CART to run Toyota power from 1999 onwards, in exchange for a large sum of $$$. It is unlikely that Honda is going to be feeling charitably inclined to forgive and supply.

2. He has had a disastrous 2005
Leaving aside Scott Dixon's victory at Watkins Glen, the rest of the year has been a series of disasters, poor performances, crashes, crashes and more crashes. Even an optimistic totalling of crash damage comes out at around $4m. Along the way he has fired his best-scoring driver, and converted that car into a revolving door for replacement drivers. Something is wrong with the whole team engineering set-up. They cannot put a safe oval car on the track.

3. One old Lola does not make a CCWS team
To run even 1 driver in CCWS for 2006, Ganassi will need at least 2 chassis, probably 3, plus spares, engine supply etc. etc. Reclaiming a show car for possible use is only a small first step on the road to running in CCWS.
The question that action begs: why is he doing it and why is he doing it now?

Given all of the above, what would you do or would you be trying to do if you were Chip Ganassi?
Here are some possibilities:

1. Threaten to walk from the IRL and return to CCWS
2. Threaten to walk from the IRL and return to CCWS
3. Threaten to walk from the IRL and return to CCWS

As a founding member of the collection of IRL "superteams", Ganassi departing for CCWS or commencing a transition back to CCWS would send a powerful negative message through the whole OW landscape. It might destabilize the IRL. By sending signals that he is considering leaving, Ganassi is hoping that IRL leadership will "persuade" him to stay. That persuasion would involve some combination of $$$ and an assured competitive engine supply for 2006/2007, preferably both. Whether the IRL does that by abolishing the manufacturer badging rule, or by leaning on Honda to "forgive" Ganassi, probably bothers Chip not one whit as long as he gets the $$$ and material he needs to continue.

Remember, with owners like Chip Ganassi, it's all about the money.

The Champ Car race planned in 3 weeks' time for Ansan, South Korea, has been officially cancelled, reducing the 2005 OWRS Champ Car series to 13 races. It had been clear for some time that the circuit was largely complete, but none of the spectator facilities were completed.
This cancellation was expected. However, what annoys me is that OWRS, in the announcement, is trying to describe this as a "postponement". Sorry, my BS detector just started beeping...this is not an effing postponement. If they run the race in 2006, will it count towards the 2005 championship? If not, then the race was cancelled. C-A-N-C-E-L-L-E-D.
Note to Kevin Kalkhoven - stop your PR guys from insulting the intelligence of fans...

Robert Clarke of Honda Performance Development was ostentatiously present in Las Vegas on Friday of last week, meeting with Kevin Kalkhoven and Tony Cotman.
He clearly was trying to sell them some idea. According to Robin Miller, he is trying to get a common engine formula with the IRL.
Honda's problem is that they have no current leverage with Champ Car. KK owns Cosworth, so engine supply for Champ Car is assured. With a captive engine supply, team budgets can be controlled. More engine manufacturers simply blows the budget landscape to hell and back.
Robert Clarke can only say "pretty please" to OWRS right now, and the air at Vegas was replete with complimentary statements about KK from Clarke, who is rather transparently posturing in public where the IRL leadership can see him.
The bottom line is that I have trouble seeing how it is in the interests of OWRS to let Honda in any time soon as an engine supplier.

When Katherine Legge won in her first start in the Toyota Atlantic series at Long Beach earlier this year, there were plenty of people ready to downplay that win. After all, she inherited the victory when Rocky Moran Jr. stopped with a wheel bearing failure. She had also punted out at least one other driver to get up to second in the race prior to Moran dropping out.
However, it now seems that the Long Beach win was no fluke. This last weekend in Edmonton, Legge qualified well, and raced to the front to win her second Atlantic race. This is two more victories than the victory total amassed by a certain Ms. Danica Patrick when she raced in Atlantics in 2003 and 2004.
What is more interesting is that this season is the first season that Legge has had a full-time ride. She has previously only competed in selected races or part-seasons due to lack of funding. As a result she has only driven in 20+ competitive auto races in her career - a fraction of the number of races that many of her competing drivers (including Danica) have competed in. The lack of experience shows, in that she has tended to run off course in qualifying trying to find the limit. However, everybody watching her has come away with the impression that, despite the lack of experience, she is a real bare-knuckle racer, willing to do what it takes to find a way past opponents. She has already been warned for blocking in Atlantics (note - a certain Mr. A. Senna also received more than a couple of warnings from race stewards while he was competing in lesser formulae). She clearly also has the speed - she has pole positions in other formulae.
Being 25 years of age, and having to beg and scrape for every chance, also appears to have given her a fairly wise head. She has worked out how to duck the inevitable comparisons with Danica, and is adamant that she wants to succeed by winning, not by being a woman. She also thinks that she is not yet ready to step up to Champ Cars, which may be true - she currently lacks consistency on a race-to-race basis.
So far, she is on the right track, and I suspect that Kevin Kalkhoven, having agreed to fund her for the season to run in Atlantics, has already more than justified his original investment. Expect to see her in a Champ Car test before the end of the season.

1. This was a good race from a spectator viewpoint. Having Danica Patrick come back from the rear of the field to almost win has to be good for public “buzz” and viewing figures.
2. Buddy Lazier put up an excellent performance in a one-off drive with Chevy power. The Chevy cars looked to be almost the equal of the Honda cars on race pace, and much quicker than all of the “factory” Toyota teams.
3. The Penskes were the only Toyota-powered team to show any competitive qualifying or race pace. Sam Hornish looked set for a good race until he fell foul of Bourdais drifting up from the low line. Every other Toyota-powered car was down among the dead men on race pace. I wonder exactly what Chip Ganassi has been saying to TRD recently (perhaps all of the money they paid him in 1999 to run their engines was intended to compensate him for the current-spec TRD engine…)
4. Despite all of the bloviating on the discussion boards, the Hornish-Bourdais incident was not Sebastian’s fault. It was a racing accident. Hornish was trying to pass on the outside, which is a high-risk manoever at the best of times, since the no-grip zone is just above you on the race track. Those of us who have watched IRL races in the last 4 years know that Sam Hornish loves outside passes, and he had already passed several cars on the outside in the race. This was one pass that went wrong because the driver on the bottom started drifting up the track, pushing Sam into the marbles. Any pass on the outside line on a narrow superspeedway is a calculated risk – you are relying on the driver below you to hold his line to allow the pass to succeed. Sam gambled and this time he lost.
5. AJ Foyt IV may be a nice guy who helps old ladies across the road, takes out the trash and can drive fast, but based on his post-accident interview, he should not be anywhere near an IRL oval race right now. He appeared to be unable to comprehend that he should have done his best to disappear in the situation he found himself in. He is an inexperienced rookie driving a dog-slow car for an uncompetitive team, and he was already several laps down when Bruno Junqueira came up to lap him.
On a superspeedway like Indy with a fairly narrow racing line, you need to stay out of the way in a situation like this, and AJ IV didn’t get out of the way enough. It all reminded me of the 2004 incident when Greg Ray tried to pass Darren Manning coming out of turn 4 despite being umpteen laps down, resulting in the spectacular pitlane pile-up that also claimed Sam Hornish. If his name was AJ Smith he wouldn’t be anywhere an Indycar, and he needs to stay away until he can be competitive and safe. He could start by moving to another team, but I fear that blood ties may be too thick for an objective decision like that…

Luckiest Driver ….Danica Patrick
a. Stalls the car on a pitstop and still stays on the lead lap
b. Spins the car under yellow, taking out two-thirds of the Panther team, and only suffers a damaged nosecone
c. Gets enough yellow flag laps to allow her to make one less pit-stop and still race for the lead for a while
d. Starts to run out of fuel but manages to stay in fourth place when the final accident ends the race under yellow

Unluckiest Driver…Bruno Junqueira
Running solidly in the race, Bruno gets tagged by AJ Foyt IV (who was several laps down and should have at least been prepared to give him racing room) and crashes heavily, suffering broken vertebrae. He will be unable to make a run for the OWRS championship, and Newman-Haas has a race car converted to an expensive pile of scrap.

Unluckiest Team
#1 - Newman-Haas
Bruno Junqueira was running well until he was tagged by AJ IV in mid-race (see below), which appears to have cost him 4-5 months of convalescence time from a broken back.
Sebastian Bourdais was running well, despite suffering from understeer for some of the race and getting tangled up with Sam Hornish, until he suffered mechanical gremlins right at the end.
#2 – Panther Racing
For whom Tomas Enge and Thomas Scheckter were removed from contention in the space of 100 yards when Danica spun her car under caution and looped down into the infield…

Needless Hype Award winner – ABC
ABC did everything except announce that Danica Patrick had won the race. Part of the problem was that Dan Wheldon either ran out of fuel after his doughnuts or stalled the engine, and had to be pushed all the way down the pit road. This, however, left the ABC team with all of the time in the world to ignore the second and third place finishers and focus on the girl who finished fourth. They finally got around to talking to Vitor Meira and Bryan Herta after the Victory Lane celebrations, but then Vitor had to grit his teeth while the ABC crew again gushed about Danica.

Doofus Comment Competition Winner
#1 Prize goes to…Bobby Rahal for his breezy dismissal of Danica’s spin under yellow as “no harm no foul”. Bobby clearly hadn’t spoken to anybody from the Panther team…
Honorable mention – Dr. Jerry Punch trying to talk to Kenny Brack after he had parked his car. Punch launches into some long-winded pseudo-meaningful drivel about “leaving on your own terms”, only to have Kenny respond, totally seriously, “I can’t hear you”, forcing Punch to repeat the speech. Priceless.

Stupid Comparison Competition Winner
#1 Prize – whoever it was who suggested that Danica Patrick could be the Tiger Woods of auto racing. The comparison is horseshit. Tiger Woods was the leading amateur golfer of his era. He won (among other tournaments) the US Amateur title three times. When he turned professional he had been winning championship tournaments for several years. He has always cited that as the main reason why he started winning on the PGA Tour almost immediately. He knew how to play, compete and win. He was the complete competitive package.
When you look at the racing records of top-flight drivers, one thing that generally sets them apart from their peers is that they won in all of the lower categories in which they competed. Many of them dominated in those lower categories. Danica Patrick has not won an auto race since her go-kart days. She may be quick, and a good racer, but she has not yet shown that she knows how to win. This worries me. My opinion is that the odds are against her becoming a dominant driver because of that lack of a winning background.