Going To California

With the final race of the championship heading to California, a lot has happened in the final week off and a lot is still to come.

The Passing Of Scott Roembke
Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing principal Scott Roembke passed away on Sunday. He was 50 years old. Roembke loved the Indianapolis 500 as much as anybody and will be truly missed. My thoughts and prayers go to his wife Darcy and his son Chris.

Zanardi Wins Gold, Gold and Silver; Wants A Shot at Indianapolis
Alex Zanardi won a medal in each one of the three handcycling events he competed in this year's Paralympic Games. It started on the 5th, with his gold in the individual H4 time trial, winning by over 27 seconds. Then on the 7th he picked up his second gold in the road race where he won by one second. In the team time trial on the 8th, Zanardi and his Italian team finished second, 43 seconds behind the American team that won gold. All handcycling events took place on the Brands Hatch circuit.

After his first gold medal, Zanardi mentioned a phone call between him and his former teammate Jimmy Vasser, where Vasser said if Zanardi could win a gold, he would give him a car for the Indianapolis 500 and it looks like Zanardi wants that opportunity. More reports came out that Vasser and their former car owner Chip Ganassi are trying to work a deal to get Zanardi a ride for Indianapolis next year. Earlier this year, Autosport reported Zanardi was interested in a ride in the 24 Hours of Daytona for 2013.

Road To Indy Seasons Are Wrapping Up
Jack Hawksworth locked up the Star Mazda Championship at Laguna Seca this weekend. They have one more race weekend at Road Atlanta in October. Matthew Brabham leads the U.S. F2000 Championship standings with one round, two races remaining. He leads Spencer Pigot by 41 points. The U.S. F2000 Championship wraps up on September 15th at Virginia International Raceway. Indy Lights will come down to the final race at Fontana between the Schmidt teammates of Tristan Vautier and Esteban Guerrieri. Last year, Guerrieri finished second to Josef Newgarden and Vautier won the Star Mazda title. After winning the last two races from pole and picking up fastest lap in each, Vautier leads Guerrieri by 11 points.

Legitimate questions can be raised about promotion of drivers through the ladder system. While it looks Hawksworth and the U.S. F2000 champion will move up, whether the Lights champions moves to IndyCar is unknown. The Lights series is the weakest step on the ladder, most races only field around 11 cars, with most of the drivers being ride buyers. Guerrieri was in talks about moving to IndyCar earlier this year but no deal ever formed. Vautier would move up to the top level after one year at each but is that what the ladder system is all about? You win a championship and then it's on to the next one. The other factor though is who in IndyCar is willing to give them a ride. Schmidt has been reportedly interested in a second ride for Rubens Barrichello and did not give JK Verney or Newgarden IndyCar rides after their Lights championships.

Bob Jenkins' Final Race
This is scheduled to be Bob Jenkins final race as lead commentator for the NBC Sports Net broadcast. Bob's wife, Pam is currently battling cancer and Bob choose to miss the Baltimore race to be with her. Jenkins has been a voice as recognizable with IndyCar racing as any other announcer. He has done very well since coming back to television with the NBC Sports Net team and it has been a joy listening to the chemistry that the current crew has together. I don't know who the next lead will be but whoever it is will have big shoes to fill.

The Other Battles
While there is the fight for the championship, there are other battles through out the championship table.   Castroneves leads Dixon by one point for third, two points separate Hinchcliffe and Kanaan for seventh, eleven points cover Barrichello, Servia, Hildebrand and Wilson in the eleventh through fourteenth battle. Seven points covers Tagliani, Sato and Andretti for fifteenth. Only six points separate Kimball in eighteenth and Viso in twentieth with Conway in nineteenth. Finally, James Jakes leads Ed Carpenter by five points for twenty-first. Plenty of drivers fighting for something at Fontana.

IndyCar Hindsight

Sadly, hindsight is 20/20. I thought about it long and hard, asked Twitter whether it was a good idea or not, but ultimately I felt I would be doing this not to hash up bad thoughts and the bad taste of the split but just look at what could have done differently.

The ALMS/Grand-Am merger has got me thinking a lot about American Open-Wheel unification. Like I said, hindsight is 20/20, we can all look and say this and that should have been done but it will not change a thing. So why then should I do being those? To compare the two different unifications.

Granted the sports car unification is just beginning and the more is still to come out but they are not in a rush to form one series again. They will let 2013 go as planned and work as one in 2014. IndyCar and ChampCar announced unification in February 2008, one month before the start of the unified season. To be honest, IndyCar and ChampCar could not wait any longer. With all the bad blood, the series could not continue as two separate entities. ChampCar was already pushing bankruptcy while both series struggled for car count. IndyCar did their best getting ChampCar events on the schedule. They sacrificed having one large race for having one last weekend with two races in Motegi and Long Beach. Edmonton was pushed back a week later than scheduled, while Surfers Paradise became a non-championship event. I skimmed over both that IndyCar calendar and the ChampCar schedule that never happened to see if anything else could have been done. Cleveland was scheduled for June 22, the same day as Iowa. The week before was open and a race could have been pushed up a week. The Kentucky IndyCar race was scheduled for August 9th, with Road America scheduled for the 10th. The following week, August 17th was open. The American Le Mans was running at Road America that same weekend and they also had the August 17th week off. Could they've work with ALMS to make that weekend happen a week later? Maybe. The problem that arises would have been a fourteen race stretch from Indianapolis until the final race at Chicago the Sunday after Labor Day. Could one year with lots of travel to keep popular races on the scheduled been worth it?

I am not sure but think about the prices for the teams. Would have keeping the DP01 and turning up the Honda engines output been cheaper for the team? I think we all know Honda was keeping the lid on their IndyCar engine once it became sole supplier and it was not impossible for them to make it more powerful to compete with the Cosworth and the DP01. We all know there were plenty of Honda engines and Dallara chassis to go around, they proved it in 2008. If there were any problems with the Panoz chassis' availability or parts, there were extra Dallara that could've been loaned. One thing is sure, if the Panoz was allowed, the rush for a new Dallara and new Honda engine would have came earlier than 2012.

We can't go back and fix what happened, nor should we dwell on what could have been. The facts are the current series we have has been great. If all that I typed above happened, would the racing this year have been as good as it has been? Would there be less turmoil? More? Would the owners be calmer? Would we fans be happier?  We shall never know but let's enjoy 2012 and the championship race that awaits.

The ALMS/Grand-Am Merger

Wednesday September 4th will go down as a day in American racing history where an era of splits and political bad blood comes to an end. The American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am will announce a merger that will unify American sports car racing.

First reported over the weekend, John Dagys has listed a few details of the unification. The Panoz Motor Sports Group is being bought by NASCAR Holdings. This includes Road Atlanta and the lease of Sebring. Jim France will be Chairman of the series with Don Panoz and Scott Atherton having other roles. Television deals for 2013 pushed the merger back to 2014.

The class structure has not been finalized.

As an IndyCar fan and with American Open-Wheel unification happening only four and a half years ago, memories of the many questions, hopes and wishes are still fresh in my mind.

Looking back on that February day in 2008, I wondered about cars and teams; races and dates. I wished for a series that would make the process as quick and easy as possible. Just allow whatever car  a teams has to race, go to the important race tracks and try to have as many dates as possible.

What happened? The one year old Panoz DP01 chassis was scrapped, while gaining Long Beach the unified series lost Road America, Surfers Paradise after one year as a non-championship race and a few teams disappeared along with some talented drivers.

My hope is whatever form of American sports car racing comes out of Wednesday's announcement will be a true merger and not a takeover/overhaul like the one in 2008. I hope the relationship with the ACO stays and will allow for the big name teams, manufactures and drivers to run at Sebring, Le Mans, Daytona, Spa, Petit and Silverstone like they once did. No class will be mothballed in favored of another. The schedule will be made of the best dates for the series and not simply forget the tracks with a long history of sports car racing.

IndyCar took four years from unification to get a new car, still have yet to get all-time favorite tracks such as Road America and Phoenix back on the schedule but have been slowly making headway both on and off the track when it comes to sponsorship and overall attention.

What the new series should not do is enforce totalitarian rule and make all LMP and GT cars worthless, forcing them to use the Grand-Am spec Daytona Prototypes and GT cars. Allow for all to be on the race track. Comprise one large schedule of the great races at their normal date on the calendar. Fans and teams will not be in an up roar because they have to go to Daytona, Sebring, Long Beach, Road America, Road Atlanta, Watkins Glen, Mosport, Laguna Seca, Mid-Ohio and Lime Rock Park with a trip across the pond for Le Mans and whatever other World Endurance Championship races are on the schedule. Scheduling does fall into favor with this unification more than the IRL/CCWS one because of the amount of tracks ALMS and Grand-Am both already go to just at different times in the year.

While some things could have been done differently, the events of 2008 greatly helped American Open-Wheel Racing and IndyCar has had one of their best season ever this year. American sports car racing could very well be in a better place after tomorrow but after what cost, if any? The powers at be must work for the good of all in the situation to come out truly as united series.

2012 Izod IndyCar Championship Round Breakdown

With Fontana two weeks away and the championship on the line, it is time to look at the possible outcomes and what has to happen for each driver to win the championship.

Ryan Hunter-Reay simply must finish seventeen points ahead of Will Power to win the championship on a tiebreaker. The minimum amount of points Hunter-Reay can score and still win the championship is 27 points. Here are the scenarios for Hunter-Reay to be champion:

RHR scores 53 points: Power must finishes 3rd or worse.
52: Power: 3rd or worse, score no bonus points.
51: Power: 3rd or worse, score no bonus points.
50: Power: 4th or worse, score no more than one bonus point.
43: Power: 7th or worse, score no bonus points.
42: Power: 8th or worse, score no more than one bonus point.
41: Power: 8th or worse, score no bonus points.
40: Power: 9th or worse, score no more than one bonus point.
38: Power: 10th or worse, score no more than one bonus point.
37: Power: 10th or worse, score no bonus points.
36: Power: 11th or worse, score no bonus points.
35: Power: 12th or worse, score no bonus points
34: Power: 13th or worse, score no bonus points.
33: Power: 14th or worse, score no bonus points.
32: Power: 15th or worse, score no bonus points.
31: Power: 16th or worse, score no bonus points.
30: Power: 17th or worse, score no bonus points.
29: Power: 18th or worse, score no bonus points.
28: Power: 25th or worse, score no more than one bonus point.
27: Power: 25th or worse, score no bonus points.

Baltimore: First Impressions

1. First, thoughts and prayers to Bob Jenkins and his wife Pam.

2. Now the championship is on.

3. Ryan Hunter-Reay's restart to take the lead and his drive into turn one has to be one of the top plays of the day.

4. Nothing wrong with Hunter-Reay's restart. Clearly the green was out. When will the teams learn the rules. This is not NASCAR. You go when the green comes out, not when the leader choices to go.

5. Even after all the problems with the chicane, it proved to be a great race.

6. Rain surely made the race interesting.

7. Briscoe is proving his worth. Maybe Penske keeps him after all.

8. Sato, Bourdais and Kanaan all had great days and finishes that did not stand up to what happened.

9. Barrichello sure has done well the last two races.

10. Brian Till did a good job in the booth.

11. The Lights also have an interesting championship battle.

12. This has been one of the best seasons on road and street courses and the DW12 has a lot to do with it.

13. Only thirteen days until Fontana. Five hundred until a champion is crowned. Going to be fun.

Morning Warm-Up: Baltimore 2012

Will Power won another pole, as he looks to lock up the championship this weekend with a race to go. Mike Conway surprised a few and ended up second but will have to serve a ten grid spot penalty. Other shockers in the top twelve were Bruno Junqueira who qualified tenth for his first race in the DW12 and Ed Carpenter ended up eleventh. The other championship contenders ended up third (Dixon), thirteenth (Hunter-Reay) and sixteenth (Castroneves). Other notables from qualifying are Bourdais in fourth, Franchitti in fifth, Hinchcliffe in sixth, Kanaan in seventh, Briscoe in fourteenth, Barrichello in seventeenth, Andretti in twentieth and Graham Rahal in twenty-third.

The front straightaway and the railroad tracks that intersects it remained a hot topic on day two of the race weekend. After installing a chicane to slow the cars down and prevent them from launching, the problem has yet to be truly solved. At the end of the final practice, JR Hildebrand had the back end step out exiting the chicane. Those caught out by the chicane in qualifying were Graham Rahal and Simon Pagenaud. The series will look to make changes by moving the walls for the race.

Forecast for tomorrow predicts a sixty percent chance of rain but it is most likely the rain may hold off until after the Grand Prix. Coverage for the Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT will begin at noon ET with IndyCar 36, followed by the Lights race at 12:30pm ET and the IndyCar race coverage beginning at 2:00pm ET. Green flag will be around 2:47pm ET.

Cars And Tracks, Part II

Years after Champ Car learned their lesson about racing over railroad tracks, you'd think IndyCar remember to listen. Sadly that was not the case yesterday. The chicane removed from the front straightaway on the Baltimore street circuit will return after cars experienced a launching effect while driving over the tracks at high speeds during the first practice.

Am I disappointed with what happened to IndyCar or is this just the kind of thing I expect to happen to the series? No and no. While it is inconvenient, it is CART at Texas 2001. The race is still going to happen and Come Monday, it'll be alright. But when will prior events make us realize that somethings are just not going to work? Most of us remember San Jose and the motocross jump that was featured and the only highlight of the circuit. Why would anything have changed? Cars running over tracks at over 100 miles per hour does not go pleasantly. If tracks are in the middle of a slow corner, like they are on this circuit around turns five and six then it is manageable. But other than that, IndyCars and railroad tracks just don't mix. IndyCar, next time somebody brings a street course proposal to the table, first question is, are there railroad tracks cutting through the circuit that the car will be running over? If the answer is yes tell them to comeback at a later date with a better design. As simple as that. It's like going green flag on an oval when it is raining. Who does that?

Once practice got back going, Will Power was fastest as he looks to clinch the championship this weekend. Simon Pagenaud was second, ahead of Dixon, Barrichello and Hinchcliffe. Bourdais was in sixth with Ryan Hunter-Reay in seventh. Other notables, Franchitti was in ninth, Castroneves in twelfth, Briscoe fourteenth, Rahal sixteenth, Andretti eighteenth and Junqueira in twenty-third.