I guess this is going to be a regular feature here at For The Love of Indy. It really is a good way for me to clear my mind and allows me to cover other motorsports topics. If you, the readers, have any opinions on whether you enjoy this or any other features here at For The Love of Indy, let me know on Twitter. The account is @4TheLoveOfIndy.
1. Not going to spend too much time on IndyCar at Sonoma. Scott Dixon was penalized for hitting pit equipment. End of discussion. There is no rule saying pit crew members can cause a penalty to the team if they are perceived to be lackadaisical or for holding a tire a certain way. Deal with it.
2. We're heading to Labor Day weekend and I feel as if Darlington Raceway should be hosting a race.
3. Remember the Nations Cup from the CART days? Not suggesting IndyCar bring it back but with next year being a FIFA World Cup year and IndyCar will probably schedule Toronto the same day as the World Cup Final (July 13) but God if they do schedule it that day, I hope they talk to ABC and have Toronto as lead-in programming to the World Cup Final which drew 15,545,000 viewers in 2010 and I only expect that to go up in 2014. Anyway, what if IndyCar had their own World Cup for late June and July? What if Iowa, Pocono and the two Toronto races counted as Nations/World Cup events and the top finisher for each country represented in IndyCar are awarded points. After the first three races (so Iowa, Pocono and Toronto 1) the top four countries in the standings advance to the "Final" (Toronto 2) and are the only teams eligible for the Nations/World Cup, whatever you want to call it. Which ever country of the four finishes best Sunday is the World Champion. It only works if there is money on it and IndyCar has to find sponsorship dollars but that's nothing new with IndyCar.
4. Is 500 laps at Bristol really necessary? We saw a great battle between Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne but had to wait four hours for it. Meanwhile the Nationwide race, half the distance was nonstop action and though Kyle Busch dominated, it was the better race. Now if NASCAR was going to get creative with those 500 laps and split the field into three, 100 lap heats, two with fourteen driver, one with fifteen and had the top five from each transfer to the final. Then took the remaining twenty-eight drivers and put them in a seventy-five lap LCQ with the top five from that advancing to a one hundred and twenty-five lap A-Main, then the whole night is more interesting.
5. Is the Camping World Truck Series the red headed step child of NASCAR or what? They are going to Mosport this weekend and only 30 trucks are entered, six under the maximum and there are no interesting road course ringers. No Ron Fellows, no Boris Said, no Max Papis even though it was announced. Also, talk about poor scheduling. Same day Cup is in Atlanta, same time as IndyCar at Baltimore (not that NASCAR gives a f*** about IndyCar but once again, I am on a crusade for all motorsports and scheduling races head-to-head is one thing all series should avoid though I realize it is not alway possible and will have to happen on some occasions) and same weekend ALMS is at Baltimore so there are some road ringers that are unavailable. Part of me thinks that this was so poorly scheduled that it could be a one and done for the Truck Series but I doubt Ron Fellows (new owner of Mosport) will allow that to happen and the race will be scheduled better in 2014. If anything, put it the same weekend USCR is there, of course if USCR does go to Canada which it should.
And Mosport couldn't get a top notch Canadian for this race? Jacques Villeneuve and Alex Tagliani are that busy? Andrew Ranger couldn't get a ride? Hell get Patrick Carpentier out of retirement or Paul Tracy. No offense to Martin Roy and Alex Gaunette, the Canadians that will be racing but this race could of have a lot of big Canadian stars in it.
6. Speaking of Canadian's, Australian but born to a Canadian father, James Moffat won Nissan's first V8 Supercars race since 1992 last Saturday at Winton Motor Raceway. His teammate Michael Caruso finished second. Mark Winterbottom and James Courtney won the other two races at Winton. Jamie Whincup had two retirements and a thirteenth but still holds a fifty-five point lead over Will Davison, cousin of IndyCar driver James Davison. Winterbottom is third ahead of Craig Lowndes, who was penalized twenty-five points after the final race of the weekend for avoidable contact. Fabian Coulthard is fifth in points. Next round for V8 Supercars is the Sandown 500 in three weeks. The first of the three Endurance races.
7. MotoGP news: Marc Márquez won again and Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo joined him on the podium. It is Márquez's championship to lose after picking up his fourth consecutive victory. MotoGP heads to Silverstone this weekend.
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