Autobahn weekend wrapup

11:26 AM It was an all-around solid weekend in Chicago, really Joliet, for the Harrah's Autobahn Grand Prix presented by Mazda. The facilities were much better than I was anticipating, the only downside was that outside of cookies and granola bars, and $5/slice pizza still in its original box, food was sparse both in the media center and the concessions (which, to my knowledge, were not open all wekened).

The SPEED World Challenge probably put on the most entertaining races of the weekend. I was barely able to see the GT race as I was in the media center for the Atlantic race 2 press conference. A word about that is Tonis Kasemets is simply hilarious - he said after his podium finish that there would be a party at his house, complete with "skinnydipping and beverages." And then the day after the team would change the engine and go on to Mid-Ohio.

Enjoying a rare week at home, although have some internship stuff going on this week.

Saturday at Autobahn

11:47 AM I'm hating technology this weekend. I have a very ancient cell phone (3 years), just got logged on to Twitter (more out of necessity than preference - in fact entirely out of necessity), have a tiny Nikon digital camera as opposed to a series of bigger lenses and either a Nikon or Canon camera, my computer has locked up twice this morning (once after I finished my report and forgot to save, AWESOME), there's all sorts of upgrades that I have to make to keep up with the times. I'm a bit annoyed.

That was a very long one-sentence rant so I apologize for that. Otherwise the day has been good. The above picture is from the Atlantics autograph session featuring two of the series' more interesting drivers. Jonathan Summerton is on the left, the very talented young American who is keen to make his mark in Europe, and Tonis Kasemets (right), who is from nearby Mundelin and is here with simply a trailer, his yellow Team Tonis shirts, and is working on the car after each session. Tonis is very much a throwback, he works on the car, just has blank shirts, has a picture of the Marlboro grid girls on the inside door of his trailer, and is still really quick. There aren't many like him anymore.

Articles from the weekend so far:

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=338171 (Atlantic race 2 qualifying)
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=338008&FS=ATLANTIC (Atlantic race 1 quals)
http://www.motorsport.com/photos/select.asp?Y=2009&E=Autobahn_I&N=Tony_DiZinno&S=ATLANTIC (Photos from Friday qualifying)

More to come as the weekend progresses. Out for now, cheers.

Friday at Autobahn

11:26 AM I have to say this is quite a nice facility here at the Autobahn Country Club, it's real open (and green) and from the media center you can see quite a bit of the circuit. There's eight different series running, Atlantic, SPEED World Challenge (two separate divisions), Star Mazda, Patron GT3 Cup, VW TDI Cup, Mustang Challenge and Mazda MX-5 Cup.

A shame the car count is down in the major classes - Atlantic has all of 11 cars, SPEED Touring Car 12. SPEED GT though still boasts a relatively healthy 20, including the debut of the TRG Mercedes-McLaren SLR 722.

And I will admit that I "gave in" or "sold out" to the Twitter phenomenon, depending on your perspective and whether or not you are a "tweeting" fanatic. It's as much a sign of the media times and needing to be up on it for news and sports updates direct from the participants as it is something I want to do.

There's much to learn about it, but by all means if you have the itch to follow, do so at twitter.com/tonydizinno. I'll be likely integrating links to each - this blog to that and vice versa - while incorporating report links on motorsport.com via the blog.

Stay tuned for updates here, on Twitter, and on motorsport.com this weekend from the Autobahn GP. Out for now, cheers.

Month on the road

Just a brief update. I will be traveling to races three of the next four weekends, starting at Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, IL tomorrow for the inaugural Harrah's Grand Prix weekend featuring Atlantics, SPEED World Challenge and a couple other divisions.

After that I plan on my first visit to the scenic Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, OH where IndyCar, ALMS, Indy Lights, Atlantics and SPEED World Challenge are running. That promises to be a fantastic weekend. I conclude my racing schedule in person the week after at North America's premier road course, Road America, in Elkhart Lake, WI for the ALMS, SPEED World Challenge and a couple other series.

The racing landscape has been scorched by the economic crisis and everywhere, in every series, all participants have been affected to some degree. I can't say for sure but I have to take a lot of things into account in determining my future participation of covering races, depending on what is best for my bottom line.

Right now, I'm just enjoying it all while I can. Out for now, cheers.

Get silly (season)

Off week upcoming and the speculation about who's driving what, where, next year has officially begun. Silly season 2009 is on.

F1 looks like possibly having an in-season driver change for the first time since 2007. Ironically, that change involved a Sebastian at Scuderia Toro Rosso prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix and this year's looks the same. In '07 it was the German wunderkind Seb Vettel taking over from the dispatched Scott Speed, while this year it's Sebastien Bourdais (right, out in the rain at Le Mans) getting his pink slip for Spanish teenager Jaime Alguersuari.

The promotion of Alguersuari, last year's British F3 champ, is more an indictment of the current in-season testing ban than it is a "we want Jaime Alguersuari in the car"-type deal. It was only a couple weeks ago the Catalan, who just turned 19, even got the reserve role for both Red Bull teams, without ever testing. It just shows that if teams want to get their youngsters mileage they have no choice but to throw them in at the deep end on a Grand Prix weekend.

At least with five-times World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb, who had inquired about his availability for Bourdais' seat should it free up (which appears it has), has done some proper testing with Red Bull F1 last winter. He has some miles and I would venture to guess is a much more seasoned and F1 ready-driver than is Alguersuari.

He's also named Sebastien, which seems to be a requisite for a Red Bull F1 opportunity! Young Alguersuari has much to prove to himself, the team, and the F1 world in general.

Bourdais is a victim of his own success in Champ Car. He finally got the F1 gig but after a year and a half being more or less sent into the wilderness by Sebastian Vettel, then rookie Sebastien Buemi, he has had a difficult adjustment to the car and going back to Europe - even if he is by all means a nice individual and a French racing icon.

In both cases STR has not done their driver favors by looking to back one more than the other, in large part reciprocated by negative attitudes eminating from Scott and Seabass. Bourdais, assuming this deal becomes official, joins the list of CART/Champ Car champions who for one reason or another were spit out within a two-year cycle of F1.

Nelson Piquet Jr. might also be on the outs at Renault but that's no great loss; other than a name and a famous father Piquet Jr. has done nothing in F1. Really proves how cutthroat things are over there.

Elsewhere in F1 there speculation is rife over who will drive for the three new teams, where Nico Rosberg might go and most if all if Ferrari has a shakeup. Depending on the rumors Fernando Alonso either already has signed to Ferrari or will do so, while there have also been whispers young Vettel might follow Michael Schumacher to the bright lights of the Scuderia in time.

He's at the moment focused on chasing down Jenson Button for this year's title, even if it was his teammate finally earning a first victory this past weekend in Germany. Mark Webber's win in 130 starts means he has now gone the longest before breaking through, eclipsing the mark held by Rubens Barrichello (if Nick Heidfeld could ever catch a break he would beat that, but the BMW sadly hasn't a snowball's chance of winning this season).

Rubens I doubt will drive in F1 past this year. An ill-advised blow-up at the Brawn team following this race will have left his status in the team in jeopardy. Sure, he said on his Twitter page that he is "over it" but I highly doubt he's enjoying once again playing second fiddle at a Ross Brawn-run organization.


I don't think he expected Button to play the role of Michael otherwise I don't know why he would come back again. I like Rubens but it's time for someone else who hasn't been through the BS and politics of F1, who hasn't been made jaded or cynical by years of F1, to play the wingman role. Bruno Senna (left) perhaps?

***

IndyCar had a refreshing if wreck-filled race this weekend in Toronto. Oddly the race was the best part of a weekend involving a lightning strike, a city workers strike (so the stench of garbage was omnipresent) and easily reduced numbers of fans. Toronto is still very much a Champ Car town and it showed with the locals' appreciation for the sterling runs turned in by their hometown "boys," Tag and PT.

They both got robbed. Tag hit a caution at the worst time while leading and fell back - otherwise he had the race in the bag. PT hit the pits just right but was utterly screwed by a pit call that Dario Franchitti beat him to the blend line. Then the PT-Helio accident happened and I still say it was a racing incident, as PT did at the time, even if the crowd wanted Helio's head on a pike.

It's damning of the current state in IndyCar that this was only the 5th and 4th start of the season, respectively, for PT and Tag. There are rumors abounding that with Bourdais' demise he might be back in an IndyCar but I doubt he's keen on running more ovals or the current car. And considering everything PT has done to appeal to sponsors and he still only gets a handful of races, I agree with him when he says it's an outrage that Bourdais could waltze right into a seat.

A renewed PT-Seabass rivalry, with Tag also in the mix (and also Will Power, Bruno Junqueira, Buddy Rice, young Americans, et al) could do wonders to improve the entertainment aspect of the series. Sadly, I don't see it happening without money and/or ratings, neither of which is abundant in IndyCar at all.

Articles from the IndyCar weekend in Toronto (I wasn't there in person, but did from home):
http://motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=336302&FS=INDYCAR (Sunday race)
http://motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=336108&FS=INDYCAR (Saturday qualifying)
http://motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=335954&FS=INDYCAR (Friday practice)

Busy next few weeks coming up - family reunion this weekend, then at the track three of the next four weekends before school starts. Autobahn GP in Joliet, IL, massive road racing weekend in Mid-Ohio, then Road America and Elkhart Lake. So trips to three road courses, one of which (Road America) is arguably the gold standard for road racing circuits in this country.

Out for now, cheers.

The celebrity deaths and inane comments encapsulating our society

I’m taking a break from focusing on racing this week to look at some of the recent deaths and other oddities occurring in the world the last week-plus. All I will say about racing this week is a hearty congratulations to Justin Wilson and Dale Coyne Racing for scoring the IndyCar win at Watkins Glen, Coyne earning a long-overdue first victory after 25 years in the sport (not to mention ending the Ganassi/Penske streak of 15 wins in the last 16 races).

I’m really only superstitious when it comes to sports. A commentator will suggest during a baseball game that a certain pitcher is having a phenomenal outing when he is tossing a no-hitter, and at the mere mention of it, that pitcher than proceeds to give up a series of hits that not only cost him the no-hitter, but the team’s lead as well. It happened once when my dad and I were at a San Diego Padres-Kansas City Royals game, my dad saying the Padres pitcher was doing great and the exact scenario played itself out.

That said, it is weird that since I turned 20 on June 23 there has been a myriad of random celebrity deaths, ranging from the “King of Pop” to the unofficial kings of late-night sidekicks and infomercials. Ed McMahon passed away first, then two days later it was the surreal passing of both Farrah Fawcett (expected because of her sad situation) and then Michael Jackson, one of the world's greatest entertainers, shockingly, suddenly, at age 50.

In the same time frame, since the 23rd, we've also lost Billy Mays (here for OXI-CLEAN!), actor Karl Malden (Streets of San Francisco), former U.S. defense secretary Robert McNamara (the architect of the Vietnam War) and former NFL quarterback Steve McNair in an apparent murder-suicide.

Jackson's death is obviously the biggest and most surreal news. I can't say I knew too much of MJ's music other than the obvious hits, "Thriller", "Billie Jean" and the like, and in his later years, he had been reduced to a caricature of himself thanks to allegations of child molesation and holding his baby over a hotel balcony ledge. It marked the sad demise of a truly tragic figure, a great entertainer and musician who really created the modern music video and whose appeal crossed over for decades.

That said, the media's coverage of Jackson's death has been nothing short of embarrassing and overkill. Jackson, for all his accolades, was an ENTERTAINER and in my humble opinion, should have only been covered in death by media outlets that pertain specifically to entertainment. I could understand Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood and shows of that nature going all out but when the NBC Nightly News is devoting consecutive days of 30-minute shows, not to mention all the wall-to-wall coverage on the 24-hour cable news networks, it is simply too much. Our culture enjoys being saturated by celebrities so it isn't the fault of the networks so much as it is a failure of the society to look at the serious issues going on.

For instance, within this time frame President Obama has taken steps to pass a climate bill, begin withdrawal of troops from Iraq and attempt the massive project that is overhauling the U.S. health care system. Few words have been spent on these most important of issues.

The Today Show sent Matt Lauer out to explore the Neverland ranch, Jackson's "sanctuary" away from the chaos of the outside world. Larry King Live is basically living there. Both shows gave extended interviews to Jermaine Jackson, one of Michael's remaining siblings (although they were not included in the will, only the family's mother was placed in charge of the children).

Thank goodness for The Daily Show's panning of the coverage with its tongue-in-cheek "RIPPY Awards" for how the media's general appetite for all-MJ, all the time verged on ridiculous. The NBC White House correspondent, Chuck Todd, attempted a 6-degrees of separation analysis of how NBC and Jackson are intertwined because a young Michael Douglas once met MJ and now dubs the introduction for the Nightly News. A general assignment reporter, Michael Okwu, went ahead and said "this is the only time Jackson will die" on air. Jon Stewart's usually quizzical look thereafter said all you needed to know there.

Everything has been universal in praise of Jackson's music and life, and that is admirable. I'm sure Jackson did a lot towards helping charities and children in his efforts as a global pop icon, and had mass appeal to other countries. But how he self-destructed in his later years severely tarnished his image. Sure, he was acquitted of child molestation charges and the woman got to release a dove - but then again so was O.J. Anyone of his age who would admit it is okay for young boys to be sleeping in the same bed as him is seriously delusional or from another planet. That's not how it works, 99% of the time, in the U.S.

I have nothing against Jackson as a person, despite all that just written. I have nothing against his music or his efforts to help others. He made his own decisions that were generally more questionable than accepted for a normal society.

Speaking of delusional, so is F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone who went ahead and made some rather stupefying comments this last week. F1 fans long acknowledge Ecclestone and Max Mosley are killing the sport, their hubris and greed the only things preventing them from being overthrown. Ecclestone told London's The Times paper that he embraced dictatorships, that Saddam Hussein was the only person who could control Iraq, and that Hitler "got things done."

All I will say about that is Bernie has obviously never spent a day in an internment camp or oppressed in any way shape or form. Those comments are not only incredibly offensive to anyone with a lick of common sense or even the slightest recognition of history, but simply unacceptable to make at any stage. But then again this is the same person who once compared Danica Patrick to a "common domestic appliance" and serves as chief with an arrogant selfish idiot who was accused of engaging in Nazi sado-masochistic orgies. I guess we shouldn't be too surprised.

It's doubtful whether the last topic of the blog has much recognition of history. Vaulted onto the national stage when she was hand-picked by the sometimes admirable, sometimes very confusing Arizona senator John McCain as running mate, Alaska governor Sarah Palin entered the general realm of society as a "folksy, maverick" committed to the "core values" of the Republican party. She got slaughtered throughout the 2008 presidential campaign, most of it deserved for her utter incompetence for the position she was nominated for.

Anyway, in a 7-minute incoherent assortment of words in phrases, Tina Fey's look-alike quit the governorship, 2.5 years into her first term, tossing out a series of reasons why. They ranged from not wanting to become a lame duck politician, to a unanimous vote of her kids of 4 yes's and 1 HELL YEAH! and finally, to a basketball analogy where she compared herself to a point guard needing to make a pass at the right time.

She probably grew too much, too fast, with her incredible rise from the small town of Wasilla, Alaska to being a potential vice president. She still has her supporters in the GOP base and her next direction could range anywhere from a presidential run (God help us) to a reality show with that other former governor, Illinois's finest, 'ol Rod Blagojevich. Either way, time out of the spotlight might be best for her because she certainly didn't fare very well in it.

Dark times in racing, 2009

I've not felt as skeptical about the general future of racing as I do this first day of July, 2009.

All three major series, NASCAR's Sprint Cup division, FIA's Formula One World Championship and the IRL IndyCar Series, have all had politics and off-track issues, mainly the economic reverberations, cause adverse effects on their 2009 seasons. ALMS has also been rumored to go away completely if Acura pulls the plug on its P1 program.

NASCAR teams are losing their manufacturer-backed support as GM's new era of government-run management is in its first stage. The automaker is only alive thanks to a series of bailout payments and in the future, a wealth of additional taxes to be paid by the general public. The series costs a fortune to run annually, the $20 million a year threshold proving too much for any sponsor to foot solely on its own in many respects from 2010 on.

F1 is on the brink of war, its own divide of seas that could wreak unfathomable havoc for it going forward. Max Mosley, only days after agreeing to a deal with FOTA (Formula One Teams Association, basically everyone including the lynchpin of all, Ferrari), believed the response back from the FOTA teams undermined his authority and the regulations agreed to in the peace deal.

Mosley is a power-hungry, ageless lunatic who has several times threatened to leave his post as FIA President and when in fact his term ends this October, he has said he will actually do so. Yet the prospect of him reneging on that once again has everyone within the sport concerned that he and his partner-in-crime, FOM chairman and the sport's magnate Bernie Ecclestone, will act in their own self-interests to in fact destroy the future of the sport into two series.

F1 would just be Williams, Force India and a handful of new teams if the peace deal falls through, unflatteringly referred to as a "Formula GP3", while the FOTA teams include the eight manufacturer-backed teams and Monaco, with a host of other events F1 has discarded over the years.

F1 would of course be wise to acknowledge the devastation wrought on American open-wheel racing that is, at the moment, teetering on collapse altogether. Yesterday the cards indeed fell on Tony George resigning as IMS and Hulman & Co. president and CEO, leaving the future of the track, and by default the Indy Racing League, to new management team Jeffrey Belskus and Curt Brighton.

Those two are financial minds rather than pure racers, but each has been within the IMS system for 15-plus years. They have their eyes set solely on the bottom line, and basically, the IRL has to sink or swim as its own independent entity separate from IMS. It's been the IMS cash-cow series since its inception in 1996 but there are no signs of it becoming profitable now with limited sponsorship, decreased TV ratings, and most gutting, a completely uninspiring on-track product.

This week marks a race at Watkins Glen, and in the year since this race last year drivers from Ganassi Racing and Team Penske have been defeated only once (Justin Wilson of Newman/Haas/Lanigan at Detroit last year, aided by a blocking penalty assessed to Penske's Helio Castroneves).

Robin Miller, who first broke the unification story last year and did likewise of TG's ouster as the main man at IMS, has said it's both sad and ironic that what was originally created to be an all-American, all-oval series with low costs is pinning its hopes on a road race with mostly foreign drivers and much higher costs to keep people interested.

The IRL, I always felt, paled in comparison to CART and Champ Car. A lot of people felt that way but when unification happened last year, everyone drank the kool-aid, sang "Kumbaya" and discarded the issues still facing the series.

The IRL flat stinks right now. The cars need more power, the chassis must be altered to not look like a 20-year-old outdated tugboat, the drivers outside Ganassi and Penske need a chance, the tires need to stop rubbering off a second groove, the races are aired on a channel no-one gets, and most of all, the fans need to see passing!

It's doubtful anyone has the foresight, the financial wherewithall or the commitment to save American open-wheel from its current state right now, let alone make it a viable entity that can survive on its own dime and not the funds from the Speedway.

At the moment, that cautious optimism I had in February 2008 has been whittled away to nothing. I'm still going to a handful more races this year to see everything while I still can.

Otherwise, I feel sick about what is happening to all of the sport I have passionately devoted 13 of my 20 years to, motorsports, as a result of hubris, greed, arrogance, and economic reality.

My article on the changes at IMS:
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=334778

Out for now, cheers.