The opening article

http://marquettetribune.org/2009/08/31/news/books
Showcasing the trends on Marquette's campus about buying textbooks here versus online/renting.

The whole paper's worth a read, it's our first issue of the year.

Summer wrap and the road ahead

Insert sound of me going on personal soapbox... I have to say it was an awesome summer filled with travel and a lot of work. Le Mans was obviously the highlight, my first European excursion and all the surroundings and happenings of the 24 hours. But it also included my first trips to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Autobahn Country Club, and many happy returns to Road America and back home to Phoenix, AZ!

That's not to say my time in Wisconsin for most of the summer was a waste, not at all. Time was well spent and enjoyed with an internship at TMJ4 and working as a team leader for University Advancement Phonathon on Marquette's campus. We also had a fun-filled family reunion weekend which was our first official one since 1991, but an unofficial one was 10 years ago for my grandparents' 60th anniversary.

All that said I'm back on campus for year three at Marquette, now living the charmed life of an apartment life after two in the dorms. And it was today I felt every bit of my 20 years (old, in other words), as the next batch of freshmen moved on campus, all nervous and jittery, all going out and spending hundreds of dollars on books.

This week is a rare one, being on campus but with no classes, just work training for my first full year with the Marquette Tribune. That said, the Tribune is a part of Marquette Student Media and the word "convergence" has been tossed around quite a bit as our offices in Johnston Hall have been refurbished. They're quite nice, even if the furniture isn't all there yet.

It's universal training this week as all student employees from all walks of life are back getting their work on, be it as a tour guide, cashier, account executive, or word-butcher. I fall into the latter category.

I'm not sure how frequently I will update the blog from this point forward, similar to last year. There will be updates on my Twitter feed (twitter.com/tonydizinno or @tonydizinno) of all going on. I will get to it periodically and that's all I'll say now.

All told it was a great summer and I'm very optimistic the school year will be just as good, if not better. Out for now, and as always, cheers.

BRIEF Road America wrapup

11:52 PM Considering I basically just spent the last 3 hours writing on the class changes in ALMS, and penned (ok, typed) nearly 10,000 words today between ALMS, SPEED GT/TC race reports and the one I just finished, plus transcribing over an hour of quotes, I am a bit wiped to write anything original right now. Suffice to say it was a very fun weekend, and I'm hoping, not the wrapup to my summer of travelling to races. If it is, well, I ended on a high note.

All articles from the weekend:
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=341015&FS=ALMS-LEMANS (Class changes)
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=341072&FS=ALMS-LEMANS (ALMS race)
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=340881&FS=ALMS-LEMANS (qualifying)
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=341027&FS=SCCA* (SWC races)
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=340831&FS=SCCA* (SWC quals)

Out for now, tired and fingers somewhat drained. Cheers.

Road America Friday

10:28 PM There's nothing quite like Road America, as far as road racing permanent circuits in the U.S.

The facilities just make you feel as if you're at a preservatory, the ambiance of trees, a cool summer breeze and a blindingly quick track make it so unique. It's over 4 miles of pure bliss, a proper circuit for the stars and cars of the American Le Mans Series to stretch their legs.

A shame, then, this year's race has been reduced to merely a standard 2:45 race on Sunday after the last two years of four hours from sun into dusk on Saturday. Last year was a ghost town on Sunday once ALMS cleared out with the hasty cancellation of the Champ Car race as a result of the open-wheel unification.

This weekend's schedule is still jam-packed with seven different series (ALMS, SPEED World Challenge, Patron GT3 Cup, IMSA Lights, Mazda MX-5, Volkswagen TDI Cup and the Formula BMW Americas' US sendoff), but mainly sportscar-based with little in the way of open-wheelers. The Mid-Ohio date change meant this weekend was moved back one week, so Atlantic and Star Mazda are off in Trois-Rivieres, Canada instead of here.

Today was mostly spent walking the track, down the long middle straight under the Sargento bridge into turn 5, and up to Canada Corner. Relaxed as it was just the promoter's test day. Things kick off in earnest tomorrow with qualifying and the first batch of races, and most of the feature events are on Sunday.

For now, it's a serene end to a personally very hectic and crazy summer of travel with school about to begin in about a week. It's at the point of enjoying the racing while I still can.

As always, there will be more to come throughout the weekend here, on my Twitter page (twitter.com/tonydizinno), and motorsport.com with articles on the ALMS and SPEED World Challenge events. Out for now, cheers.

Mid-Ohio wrapup

11:08 PM I'm getting to this late on Tuesday night, a couple days after the races in Mid-Ohio. All told, I was very impressed with the facilities and the amount of on-track activity over the course of four 8-10-hour days at the track. The crowds were phenomenal from Friday through Sunday, and the paddock was just sprawling with activity.

The races though failed to hold much interest, which isn't too abnormal at the track. You can't fault Scott Dixon and Target Chip Ganassi Racing for basically being perfect in the IndyCar race, as evidenced by a nearly 30-second victory on Sunday, but it isn't exactly compelling theater. The same could be said for Jonathan Summerton and James Davison, the winners in Atlantic and Indy Lights without much battling except briefly.

The Atlantic Championship ran in conjunction for the first and only time this year with IndyCar and Indy Lights. I now see why that is. The difference between Atlantic, the last surviving link to the Champ Car era in terms of a series, and IndyCar, is night and day over the course of the weekend.

These guys, you can tell have a whale of fun with their weekends, and were trying to make the best out of being the red-headed stepchild. After their autograph session on Saturday I was lucky enough to ride back on a golf cart which was one of two in an unofficial race featuring a handful of drivers and a couple series officials. It was nothing short of epic, as the second cart was briefly held up by an interloper and then pedaled hard to try to catch up.

While I was riding with Condor's Borja Garcia and Max Lefevre, Summerton and Markus Niemela were among those in the second cart and those two were still laughing their asses off when we got back to the paddock. It was easily the highlight of the weekend for me.

I'd upload pics but for a technical glitch that is really affecting me. Upon returning to Chicago, my laptop power adapter decided to die so I had to order a new one, complete with a new battery as well as my battery has been on "weak" storage for a while. Technology can be very frustrating at times, as I have discovered the last few weeks.

A whirlwind summer of travel concludes this weekend at scenic Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI for the ALMS and SPEED World Challenge races. I'll take tomorrow as my last day of what has been an eye-opening internship at the NBC affiliate here in Milwaukee, and next week just decompress before moving back to campus for year three at Marquette.

A lot to dwell on and think about, but I'm out for now. Cheers.

Wet weekend on tap?

10:23 AM Sorry for no update yesterday. Spoke to a number of people, main chat was with Bryan Herta on how his Indy Lights team, Bryan Herta Autosport, has progressed throughout the season, and working on a feature for later in the season. At present it is raining at Mid-Ohio and that will undoubtedly upset the apple cart with washing out rubber and the like. A number of IndyCars have had offs in this morning's practice session. The funniest time was easily Dan Wheldon, timing it at a 1:09.0909 (13th fastest).

Articles from yesterday are IndyCar practice and Atlantic qualifying:
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=339982 (IndyCar practice)
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=339992 (Atlantic qualifying)

I hope it clears up but the radar isn't looking too optimistic. Out for now, cheers.

Thursday at Mid-Ohio

10:26 PM It was a largely uneventful day for me at the track. There wasn't much going on other than test sessions - the official Promoter Test Day - for ALMS, Atlantic, and SPEED World Challenge. A few people, mainly from those series, have showed up and the debate is on about the quality of the media center.

I fear for Mid-Ohio's new PR man that there may be anarchy with the photographers, who need more bandwidth and uploading room, yet have been exiled to single-wide trailers. The deadline room may get heated in more ways than one once the IndyCar media members truly show up in earnest (sure, some people know me but I'm definitely on the fringe just because I can't afford to go to enough races).

I'm looking at all opportunities for the future this weekend, mainly, in addition to my commitments for motorsport.com. Elsewhere I said hello to a few folks and had nice chats with Gerardo Bonilla - an excellent explainer of racing and here spotting this weekend for Andersen Racing in Indy Lights. Also, I lost track of time (I think it was over an hour) when talking with Lindy Thackston, who is one of the pit reporters for VERSUS' IndyCar coverage.

I'd not met her previously but she is wonderful in every sense of the word. She knows the scrutiny that comes with being a female pit reporter in an arena of male dominance, and she knows her stuff, and good. She is incredibly on the ball, very easy to talk to, and genuinely delighted to be there.

The track activity goes to another level tomorrow. Indy Lights doesn't even roll off until Saturday. Out for now, cheers.

Travel day to Mid-Ohio

9:31 PM ET It's been a long day filled with a train to Chicago, then a drive to Ohio for the Mid-Ohio race this weekend. Odd observations include a lot of Amish people in the countryside (reminds me of an old trip through Pennsylvania and what I believe is the "heart" of Amish country), funky GPS systems and my continual learning of technology and my Twitter account. Which, by the way (insert shameless plug here, haha), you can follow at twitter.com/tonydizinno.

That said, there will be updates throughout the weekend on motorsport.com, here, on my Twitter page, and maybe Facebook. It's already been a busy 48 hours of changes in IndyCar and there may be more yet to come this weekend:

http://motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=339790

Stay tuned. Out for now, cheers.

All about the "Pack"

I had two diametrically opposed encounters with "packs" last week, and will now attempt to relate the two within the context of one blog entry. Forgive me in advance if this is as lame an attempt to connect two things as how NBC attempted its six degrees of separation on how Nightly News' Michael Douglas and Michael Jackson were forever inextricably linked...

I mentioned last time I had some very cool internship news last week, and I have had yet another incredible opportunity in the last few days. My enthusiasm for going to Green Bay for the Packers' shareholders meeting - not so much for the meeting as a trip to Green Bay and doing something for TMJ4 outside the newsroom - was nearly deflated by having to wake up at 5:45 a.m., stopping by the station and then going to a park-and-ride in Cedarburg to meet the station's sportcaster and photographer.

It was raining and I am not a morning person. I haven't seen 7:45, let alone 5:45, in a loooong time.

Nonetheless we arrived at Green Bay in a separate loading dock to cover political bigwigs in suits talking finances and the state of the Packers' football team. I'm still getting chills as I'm walking through the tunnel where thousands have walked onto "the frozen tundra" - or on this day the spongy tundra - complete with a media pass and standing next to one of the architects of the team's success in the '90s, Bob Harlan, a Marquette grad.

Lambeau oozes mystique and aura far more than any other stadium in the National Football League. To be on that surface was just incredible. From there we hit the press room, another awesome experience, and then to St. Norbert's to talk to some of the players as they arrived in advance of training camp.

All told, a very successful eight hours and an awesome Saturday at TMJ4 tracking a lot of games, filling out a couple record orders and cutting some highlights made for a great couple of days.

***

The other "pack" of the week? What some might call a return to "pack" racing in IndyCar this weekend. The series tweaked its aero package to allow for tire ramps and sidepod extensions and added a Champ Car knockoff, Honda "power to pass," for an additional 20 pushes of between 5-20 extra horsepower. Like many who have followed the series this year, especially its series of parades on ovals this year, I was skeptical the changes would make any difference.

For one night at least - and I will stop far short of saying the IRL is back as Tony Kanaan did, because it never was to begin with - the racing was pretty damn good. The irony was not lost on me, or Jon Beekhuis who astutely pointed it out in the VERSUS broadcast booth, that Tony George had only just been ousted from his IMS posts but now his team was actually in contention for a win. With Ed Carpenter. Yes, that Ed Carpenter (left, in 2008).

Carpenter can't hold much of a candle to the veterans on road and street courses but he proved on this evening he can hack it on ovals, giving Penske a run for their money that NOBODY has given in years. He spent the last half of the race dicing side-by-side with Will Power, then Ryan Briscoe, for the lead! He raced clean if wide between turns 3 and 4 and fell all of .0162 of a second away from his first win and a highly unlikely one for both him and the team.

Oddly I found myself rooting for Ed, despite everything that TG has wreaked on open-wheel over the years, because it was that all-too-rare story in IndyCar of a minnow rising against the Goliaths. Briscoe won but Carpenter was special on this night, and I mean that in a good way, not like the negative connotation it sometimes has attached...

Elsewhere the series released its 2010 calendar and to nobody's surprise, races in Alabama and Brazil were added while Richmond and my home track of Milwaukee were jettisoned. I can't even begin to hide my disappointment on this one.

It was obvious that the financial issues stemming from the previous promoter carried on to the new ones, and then when word got out neither NASCAR nor IndyCar got paid in full for its races this year, it was time to sound the alarm bell.

Racing in Milwaukee the week after Indianapolis is as old a tradition as any in motorsport and it is a crushing blow that it won't continue in 2010 - or likely forever given the abandonment of history that the IRL has for many of its races. Sure, while 10 of the 17 races may have had prior CART or Champ Car history, it still goes without saying that races at Cleveland, Road America, Portland, California, Michigan, et al have all been lost. I hate for Milwaukee to join that list.

My review of the schedule is here: http://motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=339092&FS=INDYCAR

Off to Mid-Ohio this week for the IndyCar/ALMS events there, then Road America the week after that. Out for now, cheers.