Christmas is almost here and Hanukkah has just started. It is the fantastic time of the year. There is plenty of reasons to be joyful. There is a lot to look forward to over the next week to ten days. People are taking time off to spend time with friends and family. What else could you want in the world?
Like every year, we are giving out gifts but this year is a little different. These gifts are not necessarily what these people may want but this is what these people need. A gift should be something that provides use, not some luxury item that is not appreciated. Some of these may be tough too swallow.
Too bad!
Let's hand out some presents.
To IndyCar Fans: Acceptance that IndyCar is not returning to Pocono in 2020 and may never return again and it is not the end of the world.
To Canadian IndyCar Fans: A better television deal and getting over 2019 quickly.
To: A.J. Foyt Racing: Funding for two cars and two competent drivers and two competent engineers.
To McLaren's IndyCar program: Some sense of direction... although it seems to have gotten that with Craig Hampson so Christmas may have come early in that camp.
To Colton Herta: Reliability.
To Alexander Rossi: Winning a race by less than 20 seconds.
To Scott Dixon: A Swedish-to-English dictionary.
To Felix Rosenqvist: One great oval race to quiet any naysayers.
To Marcus Ericsson: A carbon-fiber glasses case. I need a glasses case this Christmas. I figured Ericsson could use a durable one.
To Simon Pagenaud: Appreciation for more than his dog.
To Sébastien Bourdais: An IndyCar ride to pair with his full-time IMSA ride. Maybe with Chip Ganassi Racing, come Chip, you like winners, don't you?
To Dale Coyne Racing: A few engineers.
To Santino Ferrucci: Patience... he is going to need it in 2020.
To Tony Kanaan: A proper farewell.
To Scott McLaughlin: A house on Lake Norman... he is going to need it.
To James Hinchcliffe: Courage to look outside the bubble.
To Spencer Pigot: That one breakout race he never got in four seasons at Ed Carpenter Racing.
To Ed Carpenter: His annual present, more oval races. At least two more, preferably three but at least two.
To Graham Rahal: A prototype he can fit in.
To Jack Harvey: Job security even if he does not meet Mike Shank's lofty expectations.
To Rinus VeeKay: People appreciating his ability and not becoming obsessed with how his name sounds. It is bound to happen. One or two television personalities are going to get distracted with his name and forget to learn anything else about him. I think you can figure out who those two are and, hint, one is not on IndyCar full-time.
To Oliver Askew and Patricio O'Ward: A longer leash than Hinchcliffe got and if McLaren wishes to discard either it will be done in a much more timely manner.
To Carlin: At least one full-time car in the Indianapolis 500.
To Fernando Alonso: Sunscreen since he is going to run the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia.
To Laguna Seca: Competent leadership.
To Circuit of the Americans: Grass and sand for proper run-off areas and respectable attendance for its FIA World Endurance Championship race that was a replacement for São Paulo.
To Iowa Speedway: A title sponsor for its IndyCar race and one clear night.
To Josef Newgarden: A Cup ride for a Bristol race.
To Will Power: Reliability, a lot of reliability going around this year.
To Juan Pablo Montoya and Hélio Castroneves: An Indianapolis 500 entry for each.
To Juncos Racing: An investor with pockets as deep as this team's passion for motorsports.
To James Davison: More racing opportunities than the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500. Maybe full-time USAC Silver Crown with a half-dozen IndyCar races and a half-dozen NASCAR races, including all the road course races in NASCAR's top two series.
To DragonSpeed: Fewer visa issues and more IndyCar races.
To NASCAR Fans: Acceptance NASCAR is not going to Nashville not matter how hard they try.
Also to NASCAR Fans: Acceptance North Wilkesboro is not coming back. The place is falling apart. Wilkes County does not need $100 million pumped into a racetrack that will be used three days a year.
Also to NASCAR Fans: Realizing a street course is not necessary.
To Jimmie Johnson: Nothing because he is going to get too many stupid retirement gifts next year... actually, an industrial paper shredder because he is going to get a lot of trash in 2020.
To Kyle Busch: More opportunities outside of NASCAR. How about an American-run, Toyota Racing Development Toyota TS050 Hybrid for Le Mans for Busch and two other drivers, which means...
To Kyle Busch and that American TS050 Hybrid Team: A NASCAR off-weekend falling on Le Mans weekend... and a Saturday night race the weekend of the Le Mans test day.
To Martin Truex, Jr.: A little more respect. A championship and two runner-up championship finishes in the last three years. Come on people.
To Denny Hamlin: An intramural sport that will not destroy his body. The guy has blown out both knees and could not run in next month's 24 Hours of Daytona because of shoulder surgery. Maybe darts is the game for him or shuffleboard.
To Erik Jones: A parachute, just so he can have a softer landing.
To Cole Pearn: Peace and quiet and no one asking if he is considering a comeback to NASCAR.
To Team Penske: One likable NASCAR driver.
To Kyle Larson: A contract extension with Chip Ganassi Racing and one that allows him to run the Indianapolis 500 at least once.
To Alex Bowman: Maple syrup... for pancakes and waffles.
To Darrell Wallace, Jr.: A move on up.
To Cole Custer: The ability to smile with it not looking like he is in pain.
To Daniel Hemric: Diapers, he has a kid on the way.
To Daniel Suárez: A job in any series.
To Brett Moffitt: A promotion to at least the Xfinity Series.
To A.J. Allmendinger: Clearing technical inspection after every race in 2020.
To Garrett Smithley: The attention span to remember what his spotter told him.
To Gateway Motorsports Park: A NASCAR Cup race and a weeknight race at that because it is the one venue set up to try it.
To the Brickyard 400: A suitable weekend.
To the 400-mile Daytona race: A return back to Independence Day weekend. It is going to be the 2020s version of the Southern 500.
To Homestead: A return back to the season finale slot after the 2020 season because Phoenix is going to be a downer.
To Formula One: Realizing no cares if Formula One races in Miami and to stop pursing the effort.
Also To Formula One: One race where DRS is kept open for the entire race. Let's just see what happens.
To Lewis Hamilton: Some books. There is nothing wrong with reading more.
To Valtteri Bottas: An entry in Rally Finland.
To Max Verstappen: A respectable showing in his first Dutch Grand Prix.
To Williams F1: Another second on the timesheet.
To Haas F1: One season where the only attention it gets is for what it does on the racetrack and not because it has a psycho sponsor or team officials are constantly talking.
To Charles Leclerc: A better teammate.
To Sebastian Vettel: A trip back to 2013.
To Lando Norris: An IndyCar one-off during the summer break at Mid-Ohio. It would be fun to see race with his old teammate Colton Herta again.
To Jan and Kevin Magnussen: A one-off at Le Mans in an LMP2 car.
To Robert Kubica: A great DTM ride and not having to drive for Haas F1.
To Nico Hülkenberg: The ability to accept a ride somewhere.
To IMSA: At least one full season Ferrari and Aston Martin in the GTLM class.
To Jack Hawksworth and Townsend Bell: The other two seats in the American TS050 Hybrid at Le Mans with Kyle Busch.
To America FIA World Endurance Championship Fans: Every race in their entirety on MotorTrend's television channel. There is no need for Classic Car Garage and other repeat programming that fills between the first and final hour of the races.
To the World Endurance Championship: Two full-time Corvettes in the GTE-Pro class. The class needs it more than ever.
To all the developing hypercar programs: Nothing but success in testing and leading to the best class out of the gate that the WEC could imagine.
To Super GT and DTM: A combination series that spans autumn to spring. It would start in Japan in autumn, has a round in winter in Asia-Pacific and perhaps the Middle East with maybe that round rotating with North and South America as well and concluding in Germany in the spring.
To Marc Márquez: A clever celebration for his ninth championship.
To Álex Márquez: People not getting on him for not being his brother.
To Fabio Quartararo: One race where he starts the final lap leading by at least one-second. If he can't win with that much of a gap then it is on him.
To Valentino Rossi: A GTE entry in the European Le Mans Series and 24 Hours of Le Mans. He would miss the season opener and the season finale of the ELMS season but the other four races are on MotoGP off weekends and this would be good for Rossi and the European Le Mans Series.
To Nick Cassidy: Some consideration from some IndyCar teams. Imagine if IndyCar had Dixon, McLaughlin and Cassidy on its grid. The series would have to give New Zealand a round at that point.
To Jaime Chadwick: A fair shot in Indy Lights, Formula Three or Formula Two.
To Indy Lights: At least eight more full-time teams and drivers because that grid is pathetic in terms of size. There might be some talented drivers in the Road to Indy but fields of eight or nine cars are not going to get any respect or Super License points, which is an important thing for a junior series.
To Pocono Raceway: Clear weather for its doubleheader NASCAR weekend.
To the World Rally Championship: Adopting electric cars. Does it make sense if the World Rally Championship had electric cars?
To Nick Tandy: More stock car races. Let's get him in a NASCAR race at Richmond, Watkins Glen, Road America, Mid-Ohio and Martinsville.
To Joey Hand, Dirk Werner and Richard Westbrook: Full-time rides somewhere. How is it that three of the four full-time Ford GT drivers from IMSA are unemployed? They are all race winners. They have all been around the block. They should all have jobs.
To Ben Keating: No post-race issues after Le Mans.
To Chris Dyson: A clean bill of health and the Mazda DPi program.
To Simona de Silvestro: Porsche running her in a few IMSA races in the United States where she has some fans.
To Sébastien Loeb: One more shot at the Dakar Rally.
To Formula E: Fewer calendar conflicts with other major series.
To Sam Bird: A sports car opportunity he can pair with his Formula E responsibilities.
To World Superbike: No cancelled races.
To MotoGP: A better television contract in the United States. One where more people can watch and not have it cost an extra arm and leg.
To the Dutch TT: A move back to running on Saturday. Let's have one different event on the MotoGP calendar. I know it is tough with the number of back-to-back weekends but let's keep the Assen on a Saturday.
To Eli Tomac: Motocross-level of consistency during the Supercross season.
To Kuno Wittmer: A make-up for his pit lane speed limiter/radio button mishap at Road America.
To World Touring Car Cup: No Goodyear tire issues.
To Roger Penske: Advil. He is now running IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Those entities come with headaches.
And finally, I want to say Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone! Enjoy the time you have with all your friends, family and loved ones.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
