Vegas and Mid-Ohio
Lee Spencer at FoxSports.com, of whom I’m basically completely unaware, says that her sources are saying that Vegas will be the 2009 finale. The league itself says no final decision has been made. The article says nothing of New Hampshire, but she’s a NASCAR writer, so who knows what she actually knows about the IRL, let alone the SMI five track proposal.
Chris Estrada’s entry says the aforementioned article was edited.
Mark C. at AR1 had an assessment on the Vegas/Loudon/Phoenix today. Essentially, he groups the three, which isn’t entirely fair since Vegas and Loudon are SMI and Phoenix is ISC, and goes on to say that the three would be doomed to fail. He also rips into Tony Stewart for no apparent reason. While I generally like his site and don’t regret giving him money (which in this world, even post split, is grounds for being bound and gagged), he generally took a cynical, pessimistic tone with this entry. While I’d recommend it, because I think it truly is one of the best all-around racing news sites out there, I wish his editorial rants got their own section because his anti-IRL spin is still prevalent. He does make a point that the league should honestly consider markets where NASCAR is not, but that basically consists of Denver, the Northwest, and Canada. They’re doing Canada, and to be fair, Portland should be an option.
Though it’s not exactly new news, Bryan Herta has been brought in by Vision as a consultant for road courses. Considering they have two drivers with primarily oval experience, it isn’t a bad idea. Then again, parking AJ IV for a road course specialist wouldn’t be either. Ed’s not necessarily any better, but Ed’s been a lot better than The Fourth overall this season. I kind of think that with a more balanced schedule next season, we might see more tag team deals with an oval and road course specialists splitting duty.
At Mid Ohio, Marco, in session 2, and TK, in session 1, were the two quickest drivers today. After the two AGR drivers were the Penskes, with Helio leading the way. The quickest transition driver was Justin Wilson in seventh. Buddy broke the top ten, and Wheldon was the only of the Big 3 to miss the top 10. In the back, Marty was quicker than Milka (I thought this was a Townsend race for some reason).
July 19th, 2008 at 4:38 am
I’m sick of eveyone saying that Nascar is in the Northeast…where? I live in NJ and the closeest track is 4-5 hours away (due to traffic in Dover and Pocono, and Watkins is up in NY State). We have a brand new top of the world road course in Millville NJ (30 from Atlantic City, 45 from center city Philly and 1 1/2 hours from NYC). I know they IRL wants a “perfect mix” but they need to land a race there. Let’s be real, there will never be a race in NYC, and the Meadowlands Grand Prix of the 80’s didn’t work due to NJ politics- shocking I know.
NYC folk will not travel to Pocono or Watkins Glen but they will travel ‘down the shore’. Same holds true for Philly Folk, they will support local stuff, but could care less about Dover’s Nascar race.
This is the chance to get the IRL very close to ten million fans, they need to set up a test for Ealry Sept and see what the fan turn out is for a test day -honestly I would realisticly say a few thousand and I am sure you could get 40,000 to 50,000 easlily on a race day.
I know you have huge pull with Tony and the IRL so calling his cell phone and asking him to read this would be a huge help- thanks!!!
July 19th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
AJ IV was doing so well early in the season. I guess getting set on fire (twice) took the wind out of his sails.
He is one of the reasons I follow the series and hope that he has a solid ride opportunity for 2009 so he can concentrate during the off season on improving his skills.
July 21st, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Lee Spencer is a well-respected motorsports writer with many years of reporting experience having covered Indy cars and NASCAR with the latter her more recent and focused assignment during the past decade. Lee is considered a leading writer among her peers whose reports and columns have always been well received and highly accurate.