PT at Sonoma and Chicago?
That’s what Miller just said on The Speed Report.
In other news, Your IndyCar Overlord, Scott Dixon, won at Edmonton yesterday. In a race that can be best characterized by its abysmal coverage, Dixon got ahead of Helio, and Helio made a braking mistake in the final laps to give Dixon enough space to run away with it. ESPN did worse than normal this week. Bob Jenkins sat in for Marty Reid. He showed the energy of a bear in hibernation. Marty gets railed in the IndyCar internet world, but at least he sounds interested. I listened to the IMS Radio Network coverage of the first bit of the Brickyard 400 today, and Jenkins sounded more excited about the cab race than he did about the race yesterday. Also, they must have only had two or three cameras at the track, and they just focused on one car. Apparently there was a lot of passing, and PT made it from the middle of the field to fourth. We would have never known from TV, though. I did hear the radio did a much better job, though. Jon Beekhuis was freaking awesome, though. Get his butt on the crew full time stat.
On NASCAR, this freaking idiot on Speed just called it "a great race," and this other idiot is saying it was better than the USGP 2005. Well, from this couch, the Michelin debacle was at least more entertaining because the announcers were calling BS. These NASCAR shills saying today’s race was a good race is a total crock of poop. The fans deserved better. Just as importantly, the most holy of race tracks deserved better. Cousin Teddy said this was "the first and last NASCAR race he’ll ever attend." I don’t blame him. It was the worst race I’ve ever sat through. Goodyear and NASCAR should feel INCREDIBLE shame. Now this fat idiot is saying it’s IMS’s fault and the track should be changed. This show is really filling me with rage. NASCAR fans, this is an example of how little they respect you and your intelligence as fans.
July 27th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one thinking that. That NASCAR race was painful to watch, and that’s being nice.
July 27th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
It amazes me how idiotic some people can be, but had you been at the brickyard, or any cab race, you’re bound to run into someone with manure for brains, much like the drunk fella behind me today. I had decided Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the only place I would go to see a cab race, bad idea to see a cab race period. TIME TO PAUSE NOW FOR A YELLOW FLAG AND A TV TIME OUT that crap got old real quick, if you need tires go into the pits don’t throw the flag out there. If Goodyear had any decency they would send us free tickets to next year’s brickyard 400, much like how Michelin did for the F1 race (not that I’d even attend again, they’d likely be headed to stubhub).
If you want to see quality racing check out an indy race.
July 27th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I hope Robin Miller is right about PT. On his show tonight he wasn’t too kind to AGR and said something like he thought TK should get out of there. Last I heard TK had agreed to terms but hadn’t signed yet.
How about Walker Racing 2009: PT and TK?
July 27th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
What most people don’t know is that Bob Jenkins was calling the race from the IRL Headquarters in Indianapolis. Because Bob was being used Sunday for the NASCAR race on radio and Marty and Arute were pulled for the Nationwide race, ESPN had to use a skeleton crew up there. It was similar to Marty and Scott calling Danica’s win from Long Beach. I imagine it was tough for Bob to excited about calling a race while watching it on TV like us.
July 27th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
If Bob Jenkins (great broadcaster) has trouble getting his heart rate above 2 while watching a race on TV, he should probably have a chat with Bob Varsha, Steve Matchett, and David Hobbs, who watch EVERY F1 race on TV and relay what they see to us.
Also, the NASCAR race was quite annoying. I was in Row R of the J Stand (exit of Four), and I was getting covered in tiny specks of rubber dust that were getting thrown off the tires, two-thirds of the way up the stands. Absolutely inexcusable. The thing about the 2005 USGP was that Michelin had never run that surface, as it had been laid down in the fall/winter of ’04, so they miscalculated on just how abrasive the new surface was. Goodyear has no excuse, because this is the FOURTH race event they’ve done with this new surface (not to mention countless tire tests). If the drivers have a problem with a harder compound not handling as well, maybe they should learn how to properly drive a race car.
Oh and….Marco Andretti should really sit down and evaluate his driving style.
July 28th, 2008 at 4:12 am
I agree with the above. Sure glad I didn’t pay to watch the N-word race in person or even watch it on TV. I turned it on with 5 to go and saw all I needed. Mike Andretti wants Marco to be aggressive, so there you go. He drives like someone who doesn’t have to worry about running out of carbon fiber or being fired, ever. If I were Tony I’d be looking elsewhere.
July 28th, 2008 at 6:40 am
How about TK and PT at Walker Racing in 2009?
July 28th, 2008 at 6:55 am
At the US GP we sat there stunned watching a Bridgestone Tire Test, and were given tickets to the 2006 USGP as a thank you for not storming the media center and burning it to the ground. Yesterday, all I saw was NASCAR stealing people’s money and the owners having their puppet strings pulled by NASCAR to say “well at least it is fair because everyone is having the same issue” When did racing become this crap? Do you think NASCAR will give tickets to the 200,000 that went to see what was really just street racing between green lights? Anyone who calls that crap yesterday racing is going to get my size 12 up the side of their head!
As far as the snooze fest of a race that was given to Target – wake me in two weeks….looking forward to seeing Sarah with the new sponsorship!
July 28th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Sorry to say but, despite being a Hoosier born and raised, I didn’t care in the least to watch the N-word version at IMS so I didn’t. I went out and enjoyed the perfect summer day in a pool with a beverage. I am not all that surprised by the complaints. I’m sorry for those who paid good money to see something less than memorable.
If this something like the latest Brickyawn doesn’t make people realize that Indycar has a superior racing product to N-word, (ahem, TV executive types) and that it deserves better coverage than it currently gets, I’d have to say those execs are merely practicing the age old management process of CYA-AAC (at all costs).
Too bad, because the first network to jump on board now, with proper promotion and support, I believe, will get the bigger prize of Indycar’s future success.
July 28th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Bob Jenkins was the play by play. Unfortunately the Sandman, Scott Goodyear, is supposed to provide color. Well, not happening.
I really hope PT does more races this year. Since Dixon has pretty much locked the championship up, it would be nice to have a story besides AGR to hear about.
July 29th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
too bad the only thing nascar will do is continue to blame IMS. Noone will even dare to mention the idea of refunds or tickets for next year. Even if all of the hillbilly fans pooled their money together to hire a legal crew to get refunds, it wouldn’t be a penny in the bucket for what f1 lays down for these races. Bring REAL racing fans back. The Nextel Sprint Cup Allstate 400 presented by some-bullshit-company is an embarassment.