Thursday, May 31, 2012
Farewell, Valencia
As the 2012 Formula 1 season comes to it's summer series, we will soon say goodbye to the poorly designed Valencia Street Circuit. To be completely honest, I like the track. I think it's incredibly unique and very fast. Two things I love in a track. Is the racing good? Many would argue. But I find the speed and the looming question of who will pass who and when in the world will it even happen to be sort of, in a strange way, interesting. I like Valencia. No, I love it. And soon I will watch the cars grace the streets for one final time. I am going to deeply miss it. So with this, I'll just say, I expect the most disagreeing I've ever experienced with this post.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Anarchy in IndyCar
So....it appears as though history is starting to repeat itself. It seems like the team owners in the IZOD IndyCar Series do not like Randy Bernard's leadership. They are demanding he be fired. Reminds me a little of CART. According to Robin Miller, these men are John Barns and Tony George. Well then, that is funny because Tony George shouldn't have left his position in the IRL in the first place. But he did. And now he's demanding that Randy Bernard be fired? Yes, that totally makes sense. Someone needs to tell George that it's not his league anymore. He had his chance, he had his time, he ruined open wheel racing in America as we know it, he pissed off Formula 1, now he's demanding that the man running his league be impeached.
I'll be honest, I like Randy. I think everything he's doing for IndyCar is fantastic. He's just trying to get people to watch the dang races he's putting on. He's trying to turn it around and add more races to achieve a 50/50 split between ovals and roadcourses. Bernard does NOT deserve this.
You know what? If Tony George and John Barns don't like the way IndyCar is, well, why not just start your own series again? Tony did it once, he might as well just do it again. I'd honestly like to see how far that league went. Randy Bernard is doing too good of a job to fall into the same fate that CART did. I highly doubt Tony George will succeed with his new league (if he makes it) like he succeeded with the IRL. This is one time that I firmly believe that Randy just needs to say, 'Hey guys, if you don't like it, no one is forcing you to compete in IndyCar.'
I'll be honest, I like Randy. I think everything he's doing for IndyCar is fantastic. He's just trying to get people to watch the dang races he's putting on. He's trying to turn it around and add more races to achieve a 50/50 split between ovals and roadcourses. Bernard does NOT deserve this.
You know what? If Tony George and John Barns don't like the way IndyCar is, well, why not just start your own series again? Tony did it once, he might as well just do it again. I'd honestly like to see how far that league went. Randy Bernard is doing too good of a job to fall into the same fate that CART did. I highly doubt Tony George will succeed with his new league (if he makes it) like he succeeded with the IRL. This is one time that I firmly believe that Randy just needs to say, 'Hey guys, if you don't like it, no one is forcing you to compete in IndyCar.'
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
ALMS and their TV?
As the casual sports fan, I sometimes watch ESPN. Am I proud of it? Not really. But if I need to know something, I'll watch it. But lately, one thing that I just can't seem to find out by watching ESPN is when they plan to broadcast the latest American LeMans Series race. ALMS left SPEED because they weren't getting enough exposure. For whatever reason, they thought they'd get more with ESPN. I know more about the next broadcast of the NHRA on ESPN2 than I do about the latest ALMS race. In fact, as much of an ALMS fan that I am, sometimes I enjoy the fact that I can watch them on ESPN3.com. It's very nice to know that if I miss it, I can watch it. But I would rather not sit on my computer chair and watch a re-run of a race that I would rather have seen live. I can watch Grand-Am on SPEED live, why can I never seem to catch the ALMS races on ESPN live? In fact, are they even live? I wouldn't know. ESPN never says anything about it. Never it seems do I see one promo for ALMS. I see promos for the NASCAR Nationwide Series all the time. And it's easy to know when that is on. You ask yourself, when is the Sprint Cup race on? If the answer is Sunday, it's most likely on Saturday. If the answer is Saturday, it's probably Friday. I don't understand why they need promos for NASCAR, when it's the promos for ALMS that's needed. The coverage is pretty decent. It seems like they have people who know their stuff working their ALMS coverage (I especially liked Jeremy Shaw covering a few races last year) and that's a really good thing. They just need to get the word out more. Instead of telling me when the next NBA game, which people probably already know about, why not tell me tell me when are where I can catch the next ALMS race.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Another Memorial Day Weekend is in the Books
What a way to end Memorial Day Weekend 2012! Mark Webber pulls off one heck of a win at Monaco. Dario Franchitti pulls a brilliant move on Takuma Sato to win him his 3rd Indianapolis 500, and Kasey Kahne ends his winless drought and gives Rick Hendrick his 201st win as a car owner. Seems like the greatest weekend of racing ever right? Well, some would argue, but I will not. That was, unbelievably fantastic. I woke up in the morning to watch Monaco. Now, Monaco has never disappointed me in the past, but this time it surely did not. With Formula 1's extremely competitive 2012 season, I expected another surprise winner at Monaco. And I sure got it with Mark Webber. Mark Webber has been in the shadows of Sebastien Vettel for far too long now, in my eyes. Vettel dominated so much in 2011, I half expected Red Bull Racing to say bye-bye to Webber after 2011. Good thing they didn't. However, two people whom I don't think got enough credit this weekend are Nico Rosberg and Bruno Senna. Rosberg did a really good job all race long (or at least up until I left for Indianapolis) and really impressed me with his 2nd place finish. Bruno Senna, has been called the Dale Jr. of Formula 1. He has that famous last name and a lot of expectations to live up to. I personally believe that Senna's 10th place run at Monaco, was a step in the right direction for him.
Moving away from the world of Formula 1 now, I attended my 5th Indianapolis 500 yesterday. My 3rd in a row. First being 2006. Hands down it was the best I'd seen since '95. The amount of passing out there was second to none. The new DW12 chassis was a really good factor in causing that. Sure the thing looks like the Batmobile, but after it's all said and done, the thing races pretty darn good. I compared it a lot to CART's Hanford Devise. Yes, the DW12 chassis has nothing like the Hanford Devise, and it in fact barely has a rear wing to begin with, but the car in terms of aerodynamics punches such a huge hole in the air, the car itself becomes a Hanford Devise. In the last 20 laps, Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan, and Scott Dixon swapped the lead more times than I could count. Which was just what I was expecting. And it sure caused a great show. So many factors played into Indy. There are so many story lines that I could talk about this in a full story. But to keep you the readers interest, I will stop myself here. To wrap up the IndyCar portion of this article, I will leave all of you people out there who think that Takuma Sato got robbed, or was essentially screwed over by Dario Franchitti that Sato was not going to win that race no matter what happened. Sato was drafting by Franchitti on the frontstreach and he couldn't get by him until he went into turn one. Well, Sato wasn't going to lift (and I sure as heck don't blame him for not lifting. I wouldn't either) so he didn't. But what happened? Franchitti had a protective line going into turn 1. That protective line forced Sato to the very bottom of the track. Without the apron any more, the car wouldn't stick and Sato went spinning. That, my friends, is an example of Dario Franchitti's brilliant driving. And the reason why he is a 3 time Indy 500 champion.
To close, it's been a long while since I watched a NASCAR race from start to finish. I understand that NASCAR is doing everything they can to engage the fans, create and environment where winning is everything, and create exciting finishes. To be honest (as well as fair) they are doing everything right. The problem is, it's not showing on track. Drivers are still points racing, cars aren't breaking down or crashing as often, and Danica Patrick isn't doing enough to get the casual fan (or crazy sex pervert) to watch NASCAR anymore. However, the thing that still keeps me at least watching SOME NASCAR nowadays is the intense competition in the sport. Look at the truck series. Who is John King? I thought he was just an average Joe. Nope. He's a winner at Daytona. What about James Buescher? Look at the roll this kids on! Or what about Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s dominance in the Nationwide Series? I love this kid and he is making me watch the Nationwide Series every week. But in the Cup series, it's same old same old. Same drivers winning. Same long strung out races. Same everything. FOX is doing a great job as always at keeping the fans engaged, but right now, I just can't wait until the summer series in all 3 NASCAR Series kicks off this Friday. Road America, Montreal, Sonoma, Watkins Glen, Daytona, Indy, Iowa, it's all fantastic. And I simply cannot wait for what lies ahead in NASCAR. If it was as good as it was last year, I think we're in for a treat this summer.
Moving away from the world of Formula 1 now, I attended my 5th Indianapolis 500 yesterday. My 3rd in a row. First being 2006. Hands down it was the best I'd seen since '95. The amount of passing out there was second to none. The new DW12 chassis was a really good factor in causing that. Sure the thing looks like the Batmobile, but after it's all said and done, the thing races pretty darn good. I compared it a lot to CART's Hanford Devise. Yes, the DW12 chassis has nothing like the Hanford Devise, and it in fact barely has a rear wing to begin with, but the car in terms of aerodynamics punches such a huge hole in the air, the car itself becomes a Hanford Devise. In the last 20 laps, Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan, and Scott Dixon swapped the lead more times than I could count. Which was just what I was expecting. And it sure caused a great show. So many factors played into Indy. There are so many story lines that I could talk about this in a full story. But to keep you the readers interest, I will stop myself here. To wrap up the IndyCar portion of this article, I will leave all of you people out there who think that Takuma Sato got robbed, or was essentially screwed over by Dario Franchitti that Sato was not going to win that race no matter what happened. Sato was drafting by Franchitti on the frontstreach and he couldn't get by him until he went into turn one. Well, Sato wasn't going to lift (and I sure as heck don't blame him for not lifting. I wouldn't either) so he didn't. But what happened? Franchitti had a protective line going into turn 1. That protective line forced Sato to the very bottom of the track. Without the apron any more, the car wouldn't stick and Sato went spinning. That, my friends, is an example of Dario Franchitti's brilliant driving. And the reason why he is a 3 time Indy 500 champion.
To close, it's been a long while since I watched a NASCAR race from start to finish. I understand that NASCAR is doing everything they can to engage the fans, create and environment where winning is everything, and create exciting finishes. To be honest (as well as fair) they are doing everything right. The problem is, it's not showing on track. Drivers are still points racing, cars aren't breaking down or crashing as often, and Danica Patrick isn't doing enough to get the casual fan (or crazy sex pervert) to watch NASCAR anymore. However, the thing that still keeps me at least watching SOME NASCAR nowadays is the intense competition in the sport. Look at the truck series. Who is John King? I thought he was just an average Joe. Nope. He's a winner at Daytona. What about James Buescher? Look at the roll this kids on! Or what about Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s dominance in the Nationwide Series? I love this kid and he is making me watch the Nationwide Series every week. But in the Cup series, it's same old same old. Same drivers winning. Same long strung out races. Same everything. FOX is doing a great job as always at keeping the fans engaged, but right now, I just can't wait until the summer series in all 3 NASCAR Series kicks off this Friday. Road America, Montreal, Sonoma, Watkins Glen, Daytona, Indy, Iowa, it's all fantastic. And I simply cannot wait for what lies ahead in NASCAR. If it was as good as it was last year, I think we're in for a treat this summer.
Welcome!
Hello. My name is Rob Peeters. I am an avid motorsports fan and a very opinionated human being. I enjoy the motorsports of NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, DTM, Grand-Am, American LeMans, and MotoGP. In this blog, I will discuss current news in the world of motorsports and allow you my readers to write in with your views and tell me what you all think about the news or my opinions. Thanks for your interest and I hope you enjoy my blog.
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