Can Danica Patrick make it into F1 ?

[Julian Mayo]

Sorry, julian, I thought I saw a little angst in your statement before; my apologies. BTW, at the street race at St. Pete, Briscoe was in contention to win until he tried to fight Kanaan for the inside line going into the sharp left-hander at turn 10 and got sent into the tire-wall, ending his day about 10 or so laps from the end. Unfortunately for TK, his move allowed Wheldon to slip past him and win the race.

Thats racing!

[<T-K>]

....

1-Point taken, t-k, point taken. Since you mentioned Tony Kanaan's name in your posting, you might be interested in knowing that multiple news sources(speedtv.com, pitpass.com, etc.) have reported that BAR-Honda will be giving Kanaan a test session, date and time tba. So if you're wondering who might be in the running to possibly replace Jenson Button there, add Kanaan's name to the mix.

Now that could be interestin.....I wouldnt mind seeing Kanaan in F1, it could spice things up a bit......(I wouldnt mind danica either by the way).
It could be a fight between Kanaan and Rhubino for that BAR seat

[mlittle]

T-K, after reading a bunch of F1 and American open-wheel news-sites, I honestly believe that the second race seat at BAR-Honda is going to be getting the most attention in the off-season. Since its' very likely that Jenson Button's goin' to Williams next year, there seems to be a small crowd waiting for a shot at it. If they stay "in-house"(within F1), chances are that Rubens Barrichello gets the seat(if Ferrari were to let Rubens go...). If they go to an outside person, then..it becomes a bit more muddled. My guess, if his test session goes off well, then its' Tony Kanaan's seat(to lose, that is.) Throw in this year's two most recognizable racers from the 89th Indianapolis 500, winner Dan Wheldon and Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Danica Patrick and the decision for BAR-Honda becomes more interesting. However, both Wheldon and Patrick are long-shots at the present time.

My guess...either Barrichello or Kanaan will replace Button next year. But, anything is possible, so who knows right now?

[sgd]

sgd, what happened

about what??

[<T-K>]

T-K, after reading a bunch of F1 and American open-wheel news-sites, I honestly believe that the second race seat at BAR-Honda is going to be getting the most attention in the off-season. Since its' very likely that Jenson Button's goin' to Williams next year, there seems to be a small crowd waiting for a shot at it. If they stay "in-house"(within F1), chances are that Rubens Barrichello gets the seat(if Ferrari were to let Rubens go...). If they go to an outside person, then..it becomes a bit more muddled. My guess, if his test session goes off well, then its' Tony Kanaan's seat(to lose, that is.) Throw in this year's two most recognizable racers from the 89th Indianapolis 500, winner Dan Wheldon and Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Danica Patrick and the decision for BAR-Honda becomes more interesting. However, both Wheldon and Patrick are long-shots at the present time.

My guess...either Barrichello or Kanaan will replace Button next year. But, anything is possible, so who knows right now?

Now Wheldon is someone that i think would fit in well to F1, dont ask why, i just feel that he is well suited to it ...... I have a sneaking suspicion that BAR will remain "in-house" for 2006, (maybe a Rubens/DC partnership...assuming they kick Taku) and then for 2007 they will be looking for an outside person, thats what i think they will do.

How great would it be to see Rubins and DC at BAR......could be fun actually....

[mlittle]

Julian, JayVee, here's a brief update on qualifying for Rd.7 of the 2005 IndyCar Series season--The Suntrust Indy Challenge at Richmond Intl. Raceway.

It's going to be a Marlboro-Team Penske sweep, as drivers Sam Hornish, Jr and Helio Castroneves will start 1-2 on the grid, as 12 of the 22 racers for Saturday's race broke the previous track record, set by Castroneves in 2004 at 171.202 mph(Hornish set P1 at 176.294 mph, or 15.320 secs.) Indeed, it was a good day for TRD(Toyota Racing Development) as Rows 1 & 2 have Toyota-engined cars in those 4 spots. Starting third will be Target/Ganassi driver Ryan Briscoe, while Red Bull/Cheever's Patrick Carpentier will sit in 4th. Three of the four drivers for Andretti-Green Racing will start 5-6-7(Franchitti, Herta and Wheldon), giving Honda 3 spots in the top 10. There is one Chevy in the top 10 for the race--Panther Racing's Tomas Enge, who'll start w/a speed of 172.271 mph.

Prior to qualifying, one of the three support races(the USAC Silver Crown Sprint-Car Series) ran their event; during the course of that race, several of the cars wrecked, leaking oil all over the track, causing qualifying to be delayed a little bit. The reason I mention this is that, once the oil was cleaned-up, they began the qualifying session. First out--the driver of the #16 Argent/Pioneer Panoz/Honda, Danica Patrick. She'll start 21st, w/a speed of 164.707 mph. She will have good company back there for the start, though, as 2004 series champion Tony Kanaan, the fourth Andretti-Green Racing driver, spun out going into turn 2 and hit the outside wall during his run, putting him dead last(22nd) on the grid. With the field set, it should be an interesting race, as one can only wonder what them geniuses at TRD did to give their teams(excluding the 2 Penske cars) the extra hp for this week.

The race will be on ESPN-2 at 7:45 PM Sat., June 25th(01:30 UTC 26 June) and on both XM Sat Radio(Ch. 152) and the IMS Radio Network. I'll try and provide the results as soon as the race ends, which should be before 10 PM local time here. Richmond's an interesting racetrack and this year's race should be no exception.

[Julian Mayo]

thank you Mfer, that is extremely good work!!

[mlittle]

Well, julian, the race at RIR just ended and, boy, it was definitely an E-Ticket ride for the 22 starters on the grid. The race, the Suntrust Indy Challenge, began w/both Marlboro-Team Penske cars, Hornish in the lead, Castroneves right behind for the first several laps. After a brief caution, the race resumed and it soon became apparent that whatever TRD had done w/the Toyota entries, it was working; neither Honda nor Chevy seemed to have anything for them. Early accidents took out some of the front-runners, as Target/Ganassi's Scott Dixon wrecked on lap 37, ending his day a bit early. Following another caution for an incident involving the second TGR entry of rookie Ryan Briscoe, the race resumed at a seemingly torrid race pace for the 3/4-mile "bullring" w/Hornish and Castroneves leading the field still.

As the race passed lap 145(of 250), the series champion from '04, Tony Kanaan, spun out going into turn 4, sliding upwards and collecting the Johns Manville #17 of Vitor Meira; both were unhurt, but neither would continue, w/Kanaan leaving just 5 laps later. Once the green fell again, it was Castroneves and Hornish, 1-2, when Hornish caught some "dirty air"(turbulence) and lost the backend of the car, hitting the turn 4 wall before rolling to a stop along the pitwall on lap 164. 37 laps later, Scott Sharp then fell victim to the wall, as he clipped tires w/Roger Yasukawa through turn 2; Sharp was fuming when he exited the car in pitlane and let Yasukawa know it, shaking his finger angrily at the #24 car when it came in for repair work. It wasn't Roger's day, so to speak....as he would take out the third TGR entry of Darren Manning w/10 laps to go.

This set up, literally, a last-lap dash to the finish, but neither Dario Franchitti or Patrick Carpentier had a thing for Helio Castroneves, who would win his first race since the 2004 season finale at Texas. And, as is Helio's custom, he stopped his car on the start/finish line, got out of it, ran over to the catch-fencing and, like Spiderman, climbed as high as he could, cheering as the crowds waved and celebrated back.

As for the three rookies in the field...Briscoe's crash resulted in a 21st-place finish, while the #2 Rockstar Energy Drink/Panther Racing entry of Tomas Enge finished 7th, as top rookie. Meanwhile, it was a good finish for Danica Patrick, as her #16 Argent/Pioneer Panoz/Honda made it up from a 21st-starting spot to a 10th-place finish, three laps down but having survived her first visit to the bullring at Richmond. Ironically, of the three Rahal-Letterman Racing entries, she was the high finisher, as just behind her in the #15 Argent/Pioneer car was Buddy Rice in 11th, w/Meira ending up in 20th.

Next up:the Argent Mortgage Indy 300(Rd. , from the Kansas Sppedway, July 3rd, 1 PM, on ESPN. I'll give a short preview of the race mid-week, w/qualfying and race summaries following as the week unfolds.

[JayVee]

Thanks again mlittle.
Well done to you and Danica!

[Julian Mayo]

Thankyou, again, Mfer. Mate that was nearly as good as being there. Bad luck for Scotty, and Ryan is starting to get too familiar with the wall too often.
DP did well to survive from the sounds of things!! Do you think these cars may have outgrown the track, just a tad?

[Julian Mayo]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good afternoon JV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JayVee]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good afternoon JV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good Afternoon to you too julian

Just remembered the trivia and trying to answer them

[mlittle]

Thanks, y'all. Where should I start w/any observations...

1-Yeah, it was a tough day for Target/Ganassi Racing, as none of their trio of drivers(Dixon, Briscoe and Manning) finished the race. It's a shame for 'em, as their cars were running good in practice, Briscoe was P3 and Manning P10 to start and Dixon fought a ill-handling car.
2-As for Danica's first time at the bullring...it was pretty interesting. From what I saw over the televised broadcast(and heard over the IMS Radio webcast) she ran a great race for a rookie. She kept her cool, picked up a spot or two at a time and kept a clean line throughout the race. All told, you're right, JayVee, when you say, "Well Done, Danica!"
3-As for Roger Yasukawa...I don't blame Scott Sharp for being very, very upset at him. That was sloppy drivin' on Yasu's part and it not only hurt Sharp, but Darren Manning as well, who I swear looked like he wanted to fight Yasu there, right on the blacktop. Someone needs to sit both Roger and A.J. Foyt, IV down and teach 'em how to drive properly.
4-Finally, as your question about whether the cars have outgrown the track...They've been there for five yrs. now and this was probably the fastest race of them. To me, it's starting to remind me of when the ChampCar series went to Sanair Raceway in Canada from 1984-1986(i'm just old enough to remember that bullring; I turn 30 yrs. old in mid-July) and they outgrew that .8-mile track by 85'. Richmond hasn't gotten there yet; if they have to, those IndyCar Series officials' will figure something out, such as reducing the max revs' on those 3L engines from 10.5K to 10K rpms.

[Julian Mayo]

for an old bloke you have a mighty fine memory

[mlittle]

Thanks, julian. It's not everyday ya' get a compliment for one's memory. As for the sport...I just love open-wheel racing, my friend. I try and watch as many of the races as possible(unless my work schedule prevents that, in which case I read about em' as much as possible from as many sources as possible. The first race I ever saw was the 1982 Indy 500(don't remember that much of it, I was only 7 at the time) and you could say that I was hooked. I still remember back in the mid-80's(1986, I think) at Portland when Michael and Mario Andretti fought a late-race duel to the finish(I believe Mario beat his son to the line that day). Then, of course there was Danny Sullivan's "Spin-n-Win" at the 1985 Indy 500(which made the cover of SI here in the States'). You know, a lot of the great F1 legends have raced in America, from Mario Andretti(1979 WDC) to Emerson Fittipaldi, Nigel Mansell(only racer to win both WDC-1992 and ChampCar title-1993 in cons. yrs.), Nelson Piquet, and Mark Blundell(who won the closest CCWS race ever, edging out Gil de Ferran at Portland in 97' by .0027 secs.)

Of couse, the door swings both ways, as some of the great AOWR(American Open-Wheel Racing) stars, such as Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve have succeeded on both sides of the Atlantic. Both won Indy 500's(JV's in 1995 and JPM's in 2000) and JV has a WDC, in 1997(if I'm correct). Ah, this is a beautiful sport, my friend, even when bad things happen(the CART-IRL split, the USGP fiasco at Indy, etc.) or when we see drivers in our sport lose their lives(Senna, Ratzenburger, Brayton, and Moore come to mind). As long as man still has that competitive fire, they'll still be racing, whether its' at Indy or Monza or Bristol(Tenn.) or wherever you can get a bunch of racers, fans and cars to watch.