Legge Needs a Helping Hand, All-Star Race and More

Can a thirty-fourth entry be found for the Indianapolis 500?

Thirty-three isn't an issue. Buddy Lazier completed his refresher and James Davison passed rookie orientation, but can someone step up and field a ride for Katherine Legge? The British driver has made back-to-back Indianapolis 500 starts and is looking for her third consecutive appearance.

The one hang-up... equipment. Earlier this week, Racer.com's Marshall Pruett reported AJ Foyt was interest in entering a third car for Legge, despite the belief Honda was not going to run a nineteenth car for the Indianapolis 500. While Honda appears to be at their limit, Chevrolet has only fifteen cars lined-up for the Indianapolis 500 but lack teams possible of fielding Legge. Ed Carpenter is running an additional entry, KV is running an additional two and Ganassi is not only running an additional full-time car but are in partnership with Dreyer & Reinbold's entry.

And then there is Penske... When was the last time Penske threw caution to the wind and made an entry out of nothing during Indianapolis 500 qualifying? I only suggest this because of an example Racer.com's Robin Miller used when explaining Indianapolis 500 changes with IndyCar's Derrick Walker.

Miller used Penske and Foyt as examples of teams telling Walker that they would run an extra car in Sunday qualifying. Of course he could just be using them as examples but think about it, the only Chevrolet team possibly capable of field another car is Penske. If the series and Verizon are interested in getting Legge the opportunity to make field, Penske makes the most sense. They are sponsored by Verizon, are a Chevrolet team and have all the resources.

Whether it happens or not remains to be seen but if we are to see bumping for the 98th Indianapolis 500, Katherine Legge may be the only hope.

NASCAR All-Star Race
NASCAR's All-Star Race this weekend. This year's event will feature twenty-two driver, nineteen already qualified based on race wins over the last fifteen months with two transfers from the Showdown and the fan-vote winner.

There seems to be plenty of opinions over what should be done to improve the exhibition event. I mind as well bite and throw in my two-cents.

It's a exhibition but, like many things in motorsports, it is getting to complicated and a little redundant. The format has changed so many times that you would think, with this being the thirtieth running of the All-Star Race, they would have already found a format that has worked for years that the fans can count on. Instead it has been home to nearly annual changes trying to make meaningless laps meaningful to fill time before we get to the final ten laps.

The race has become a set of short segments to easily fit in-between TV commercial breaks. They try, one, two and three segments and four quarters to make it feel like football (motorsports will never be football. Whether it be American or association. How is Superleague Formula doing by the way? Oh that's right) and four quarters with overtime. They've tried eliminations after segments, inverting the field, mandatory pit stops, mandatory stop-and-go's, having segment winners start at the front for the final segment and each has opened their own door of problems.

Want a great race? First off, give the fans a proper race. Don't give them meaningless pit stop after meaningless pit stop and phantom caution after phantom caution to bunch up the field. Make it natural. If a pit stop is going to happen, it is because a team needs to make a tire change or needs fuel. Not because the rule book says so (look at how the DTM did with their now defunct mandatory two pit stop rule).

If I had my way, I would take parts of each format and settle on one format from now on.

First segment: 50 laps. Let pit stops happen naturally. If I were to make one rule though, no pit stops in-between segments. Then I would eliminate six drivers. So this year, drivers in positions 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22 are eliminated.

Second segment: 30 laps. Let pit stops happen naturally. Six more drivers eliminated. So, positions 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 are eliminated.

Final segment: 10 laps, 10 drivers.

Simple, to the point, no hoops to jump through, no charades, just a race.

As for the ideas of moving the All-Star Race around. Keep it in Charlotte. The week the All-Star Race falls gives the teams a much needed week home. Why make the teams travel somewhere for a mid-season exhibition? If you want the All-Star Race at a short track then maybe move it to Rockingham or North Wilkesboro or somewhere that is easy travel for these teams.

Then there is the fan vote. Instead of making it a "vote for me so charity X gets Y amount of dollars," make it something a driver earns. Allow the top two from the Showdown to transfer but make the fan-vote driver come from positions 3rd through 7th. No more riding around at the back, keeping a car in one piece so they are prepared for the All-Star Race. Make the drivers earn it and not just settle with a fifteenth place finish in a twenty-three car field.

Practices
Marc Márquez topped both MotoGP practices from Le Mans. His fastest time was a 1:33.452. Andrea Iannone was second with Álvaro Bautista, Bradley Smith and Dani Pedrosa rounding out the top five. Stefan Bradl was sixth with Jorge Lorenzo in seventh. Valentino Rossi was tenth. Americans Nicky Hayden and Carl Edwards were fourteenth and fifteenth respectively.

Fabian Coulthard was fastest in V8 Supercars practice from Perth with a 55.7493 second lap. Chaz Mostert was second with defending champion Jamie Whincup third. David Reynolds and Robert Dahlgren rounded out the top five with V8SC points leader Mark Winterbottom in sixth.

Other series taking place this weekend: DTM is at Oschersleben, ELMS at Imola, Blancpain Sprint at Brands Hatch and Super Formula at Fuji.