Full Throttle

For some reason I don’t really buy this: “FIA satisfied with handling of Schumacher crash.”

Formula One’s governing body says it is satisfied that marshals and emergency medical teams handled Ralf Schumacher’s crash in Sunday’s U.S. Grand Prix correctly.

An International Automobile Federation (FIA) spokesman also justified on Wednesday the decision not to stop the race at Indianapolis.

“The safety car, medical car and fast intervention cars were deployed by race control without delay and the first car to reach the incident was the closest emergency medical vehicle,” the spokesman said.

“We require emergency medical personnel to arrive at an incident within two minutes. This was achieved and we were therefore satisfied with the response time.”

I will be the first to admit, I had no stopwatch on the emergency response, but it sure seemed as if it were an eternity before they arrived.

Some observers believed it took doctors closer to three minutes to attend to the German, who remained slumped in the car on the start-finish straight and is doubtful for the next two races.

“I’m disappointed if he was sitting there for a few minutes because that’s life or death stuff,” McLaren’s David Coulthard told reporters on Sunday. “That needs to be looked at.”

The FIA spokesman said marshals had followed the correct procedures however. “Track marshals and non-medical personnel attending the scene are specifically instructed not to touch a driver and to wait for medical experts to arrive,” he said.

“3 minutes”, that sounds closer to my perception. I think a little ass kissing is in play here. F1 badly needs the North American market, and Indy is the premiere circuit in terms of name recognition and prestige. In the ever political world of the F1 Circus it wouldn’t pay to many dividends for Bernie to piss off Tony George.

Nascar Is Keeping Liquor Company Out

You were expecting common sense out a bunch of erroneous yellow flagwavers at NASCAR.

Jeff Burton drew plenty of attention by finishing fourth in a Nascar Nextel Cup race two weeks ago in Dover, Del. The engine in his Ford was not much more powerful than any other in the field, and he did not drive with much more bravado or skill than anyone else.

Burton was driving a car that, with the exception of tiny decals on the front left quarter-panel, was as stark white as a washer and dryer. In a world where corporate sponsors pay millions, Burton’s unadorned car was the splashiest of all. Unsponsored cars are a staple in stock-car races, although they are usually slow cars that quickly drop to the back of the field.

The difference is that Burton drives for one of the top teams - Roush Racing - and has a sponsor ready to pay millions: Diageo, the world’s largest liquor maker.

Diageo manufactures 9 of the top 20 distilled spirits, including the brands Captain Morgan, Crown Royal, Dom Perignon, Gordon’s, Johnnie Walker, Jose Cuervo, Smirnoff, Tanqueray and Seagram’s.

And what does Nascar president Mike Helton have to say about a potential multi-million dollar deal for one the better drivers on the circuit:

“We’re not making a decision on the sponsor of the 99 car,” Nascar president Mike Helton said of Burton’s car. “Our decision is whether to allow spirits in the sport. We’re still of some opinion that spirits should not be allowed in the sport.”

How about a little spirit of competition, would you care to let that enter the NASCAR equation?

Let me check my memory bank for a moment - Yep there they are - replays of
a red Chevrolet driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr sponsored by Budweiser, Miller Lite splashed across Rusty Wallace’s Dodge, and Coors Light logos obliterating the bare sheetmetal of Sterling Marlin’s silver Dodge. And what of the little Smirnoff Ice logo on Burton’s teammate Matt Kenseth ride?

“In our minds, we view Smirnoff Ice as a beer or a wine,” said Jim Hunter, the director of communications for Nascar. “We don’t view it as a hard liquor.”

That’s assuming you have “minds,” and the current spate of easily fixed flagman difficulties calls that into serious question. But I still wonder why something with 2 or 3 times the alcohol content of a “good ole boys” beer isn’t considered a liquor.

So here is the NASCAR view as I see it. You can drink any number of different brands of beer till you produce a urinary tract explosion the size of a Chernobyl-4 reactor meltdown. All the while unable to pass a breath test in 50 States, three US territories, and the vodka addicted Russia. But thats OK, NASCAR can live with the results of advertising beer. And then, if your able to survive your beer binge you can then entertain the fans at Watkins Glen this week with a Viagra induced “woody” as you chase the racing babes thru the pits.

Oh, I almost forgot, your running attire includes a stupid hat with bottles of Smirnoff Ice on each side and double set of straws leading to your mouth.

Yep, that about sums it up. At least til NASCAR gets clue, or the starting fields are pegged at 30 vice the current 43.

Chad McCumbee isn’t preparing an acceptance speech for the Academy Awards. In fact, his only hope is that his performance in “The Dale Earnhardt Story” pleases the man he portrayed: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

McCumbee, a fresh-faced, 19-year-old race car driver, played the son of the seven-time NASCAR Nextel Cup champion in the upcoming, self-titled ESPN biography.

Don’t get him wrong. McCumbee has no intentions of packing up for Hollywood. In fact, he might not have landed on the big screen if not for his relationship with racer Andy Hillenburg.

Hillenburg, who owns the car McCumbee will pilot in the Flagstar 200, provided all the cars for the movie. Barry Pepper, who portrays Earnhardt in the film, had mentioned that the producers were having difficulty casting someone for the role of Dale Jr. when Hillenburg told them he had the perfect person.

McCumbee’s blond hair, blue eyes and racing background suited the role perfectly. But he doesn’t want to make a career out of it.

“I want to be a race car driver,” said McCumbee, who will start 30th in today’s race at Michigan International Speedway. “This was an opportunity I might never get again, so I wanted to capitalize on it and just see how it goes. It was cool, a neat experience.”

The upcoming film, to be released sometime in the fall, has come under some scrutiny from the Earnhardt family and those concerned that it doesn’t accurately portray Earnhardt. McCumbee isn’t worried.

“That’s for the producers to deal with,” McCumbee said. “I think they did a good job. My part was to play Dale Jr., and if he’s happy with what I did, then I’m happy.”

McCumbee said there was pressure to play the much- heralded driver of the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet who leads the Nextel Cup Series points race, especially considering he’s a fan of Dale Jr.’s.

“He’s on the cover of everything, so there was obvious pressure” McCumbee said. “I was just concentrated on doing what I thought he would do since I didn’t have any acting experience.”

Besides his looks, McCumbee shares a late-model background with the younger Earnhardt, racing at Myrtle Beach Speedway in South Carolina and winning the national championship in the Allison Legacy Series in 2001-02.

The movie did serve its purpose for McCumbee. Besides portraying a big-name driver in a production, McCumbee got a couple semesters of schooling at UNC-Charlotte paid for. He’ll be a junior in the fall.

No not another dominate Ferrari performance, that’s so common that red faces on the Williams and McLarens teams have long since turned to scowls of anger and frustration. No think about other podiums and victory celebrations in F1. Picture “little” Rubens Barrichello or the diminutive Takuma Sato as they hold aloft their well deserved “hardware.” Think of Michael struggling to lift his 1st place trophy (again) in Monoco or Spain. Now recall todays scene of Michael, Rubens and Taka being handed their “fruits of victory.” They are given three pieces of crap that could be mistaken for something stolen from a local drunkards bowling league. Or a pony league baseball championship. Its disgraceful, the cheap bastards. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn the “bubbly” was subsititued with Sprite, or club soda. With all the energy expended by Bernie on managing F1’s image, he needs to do a little “polishing” of the USGP image.

The other noteworthy events were a first turn accident that forced the retirement of Klien, Bruni, Massa and Pantano. And the biggest story of the day Ralf Schumachers lap 10 accident that will be worth a “few days” in hospital. (I can almost hear the Euroweenies screaming about their “heros” having to race on a track that has concrete barriers.) And in what surely is a sign that an ice cube vender has set up shop in Hell, Minardi scored its first championship point in two years as Zolst Baumgartner soldiered on to finish 3 laps down to Schumacher.
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Brazilian Rubens Barrichello swept out of Michael Schumacher’s shadow at the U.S. Grand Prix Saturday to seize his first pole position of the season. World champion Schumacher, gunning for his eighth victory in nine races Sunday after winning in Canada last weekend, had to settle for second best in an all-Ferrari front row.

The German was 0.177 seconds slower than Barrichello’s lap of one minute 10.223 seconds on a sunny afternoon at ‘The Brickyard‘.

It was the 10th pole position of Barrichello’s Formula One career and his first since Japan last October, when he also celebrated his last victory.

Japan’s Takuma Sato and his BAR team mate Jenson Button filled the second row ahead of the two Williams of Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher, fighting back after being disqualified in Canada.

“It feels nice to be here…there’s loads of Brazilians out there and I had a positive run just going out and it was nice, I could almost hear them shouting,” said Barrichello.

“It was just an easy lap, trying not to make any mistake on the limit and finally my first pole of the season.”

Schumacher, still five poles off the late Brazilian Ayrton Senna’s all-time record of 65, congratulated his long-suffering team mate who had been consistently faster than him in Friday’s free practice.

“I’m pleased. We’re both on the front row. Naturally I would have preferred the other position but Rubens did a better job so that’s where we are,” he said.

“I struggled in the mid-sector, (ed - that’s Schumie speak for a low downforce setup for the long straights at Indy) had to fight far too much oversteer in there and I lost reasonable time and there was obviously the doubt that I would keep that position. Actually, I was expecting to drop further back,” added the double winner at Indianapolis.

BAR confirmed their status as Ferrari’s main challengers with their best combined qualifying performance so far after Button’s pole in San Marino and Sato’s front row start at the Nuerburgring last month.

Although team boss David Richards is adamant that Ferrari remain in a league of their own, Sato was confident that BAR could get closer than ever to the red cars.

“To win a grand prix you need everything but trying to beat Ferrari is very, very difficult,” he said. “But that’s our aim and objective so we will try. We’re hoping that we can catch them up.”

Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen, who was on pole for McLaren last year at Indianapolis, was seventh fastest and lines up next to Toyota’s French veteran Olivier Panis, starting the 150th grand prix of his career.

Renault’s Fernando Alonso and Jaguar’s Mark Webber fill the fifth row.

There was disappointment for Alonso’s Italian team mate Jarno Trulli, the only man to beat Schumacher this season with a stirring victory in Monaco, who failed to set a time after having to be pushed out of the pit lane by mechanics.

Trulli, who retired seconds into the race in Canada, will start at the back of the grid.

When it was all said and done, eighteen-year-old ARCA RE/MAX Series rookie Reed Sorenson, in only his second series start, had nary a challenger on his way to victory lane Saturday afternoon in the Flagstar 200 at Michigan International Speedway. Sorenson, in Chip Ganassi?s Sherwin-Williams/Target Dodge, finished more than six seconds ahead of second place finisher Matt Hagans.

Pork Pole winner Justin Hobgood, who broke Casey Mears’s one-lap track record, had to give up the pole and tag the tail-end for the start for not getting through tech in time. The ARCA RE/MAX Series warriors brought out the largest MIS/ARCA crowd in recent years.
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The Kentucky Speedway track and event record for the NASCAR Busch Series Meijer 300 already had fallen twice on Friday by the time Martin Truex Jr. began his qualifying run.

Truex set the bar even higher.

Truex, the series points leader, captured the pole with a lap of 180.102 mph in his Chevrolet around the 1 1-2-mile track in warm, humid conditions. He broke the record held for barely 15 minutes by Kyle Busch, who turned in a lap of 179.832 mph in his Chevrolet.

Kenny Wallace, the first driver to qualify his car, initially broke the record with an opening lap of 178.089 mph, also in a Chevrolet. But he eventually qualified only sixth, as defending race champion Bobby Hamilton Jr. (179.605 mph), Jason Leffler (178.992 mph) and Robby Gordon (178.093) passed him after Truex and Busch had qualified for Saturday’s race.

Stacy Compton set the former record of 176.384 mph last year. Thirteen drivers exceeded that speed in qualifying Friday.
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BROOKLYN, Mich. ? In a game of Hendrick Motorsports tag, Jeff Gordon came out the winner. Jimmie Johnson was the first Hendrick driver to put up the fastest lap in qualifying Friday, only to see Gordon knock him off.

Then, late in the session as Gordon appeared assured of the pole for Sunday’s DHL 400 at Michigan International Speedway, teammate and rookie Brian Vickers nearly stole it away. Instead, Gordon’s lap at 190.865 mph held up for the pole ? his second of the season and 48th of his Cup career.

Hendrick Motorsports still swept the top three, with Vickers second and Johnson third. Ryan Newman and Robby Gordon completed the top five.

Johnson “has been wearing us out here in the last several weeks. I’m sure he doesn’t mind if we sneak one in there,” said Gordon. “The car has just been phenomenal since we unloaded it.”

Gordon’s pole came at a good time for the No. 24 team. Gordon suffered through races at Charlotte and Dover, Del., with two finishes of 30th or worse. He rebounded last week with a fourth at Pocono and was hoping to keep momentum going in the right direction.

Johnson, last weekend’s race winner, was upbeat about the Hendrick Motorsports performance Friday. Only Terry Labonte (31st) failed to qualify in the top five.

“I think this shows the vision that (owner) Rick Hendrick had,” he said. “It started with Ricky Hendrick and Jack Sprague bringing two (Busch) cars under one roof, and have the veteran help the rookie and building cars that are identical with the same engines. “Rick had a vision and he stuck to it with the No. 24 and No. 48.

Vickers’ No. 25 hasn’t been a slouch lately, either. Sunday will be Vickers’ sixth consecutive start of sixth or better, including his first career pole last month at Richmond, Va.

“All year long I’ve said that Hendrick Motorsports builds a team slowly but solidly,” he said. “We might not always come out of the box like a blazing bullet, but in the long run we’re going to build a solid team that’s more competitive week in and week out. “It’s taken time. Last year (in the Busch Series), it took time. But when it’s there, it stays there.”

Series points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 11th fastest. Kerry Earnhardt, failed to qualify for the race in a fourth Richard Childress Racing entry.

Source: ThatsRacin

But maybe not the one you might guess:

BROOKLYN, Mich. ? Dion Hinskey, the official who mistakenly triggered a caution during the May 21 Craftsman Truck Series race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., was suspended by NASCAR for three races, ThatsRacin.com has learned.

As of Friday, NASCAR, however, had not suspended Nextel Cup Series official Dean Duckett, who served as the flagman at the entrance of pit road in last weekend’s controversial race at Pocono, sources confirmed.

During the Pocono race, Puckett mistakenly waved a green flag allowing lead lap cars to pit when they were not supposed to. Then-race leader Jimmie Johnson and three others did not pit, instead following the correct procedure outlined in the drivers’ meeting the morning of the race.

Johnson rebounded and ended up winning the race.

In the Truck race, Hinskey, the backup flagman, mistakenly activated the caution lights on the track with four of 134 laps remaining when a truck spun, but no caution was called by race control. Then-race leader Carl Edwards slowed thinking there was a caution as did second place Dennis Setzer. Setzer, realizing no caution was called, passed Edwards and held on for the victory.

At the time, NASCAR denied the caution lights were activated. Later, once in-car camera footage was found showing the light illuminated, NASCAR admitted it had made a mistake. Hinskey’s first missed race was the June 4 race at Dover, Del., where Cup flagman Jimmy Howell replaced him in the flagstand.

When asked about any punishments officials have received in either incident, NASCAR spokesman Mize Zizzo said NASCAR would not comment on internal personnel matters.

To be honest when I saw the headline in my Email, (”NASCAR Flagman suspended“) I immediately thought of the NEXTEL Series. I’am willing to take all bets NASCAR has gone to the lowest common denominator, suspended someone from the smaller, less noticable (to the fans) truck series to send a signal to NASCAR employees. And Dean Duckett will never be suspended for his little escapade in Pocono.

Any takers? I’am giving 3-1 odds.

But lets be honest, if only between our selves. Its the racing babes that spice up every circuit and give us gearheads the real reason to visit the track. In Formula 1 (European race babes here) they pretend to shade the drivers from the elements with their logo covered parasols. Here in the Philippines during its two yearly stops, the Asian Formula 3 Series shows off its homegrown race babes.

Korea is another story. The little hotties in Korea are just as beautiful and provide the same entertainment value for our racing dollar, Won in Korea’s case. But some have gone beyond the normal call of duty. Hong Yeon-sil (pictured at left), Choe Hye-yeong and Seo Da-ni have decided to show their, Ehmm, “accessories” for us, the racing fan, and the community as a whole.

Racing Queen Hong poses nude not for money, but for Korean Motor Sports

As more and more entertainers are taking off for the camera, three racing girls announced Monday that they would pose for group nude photos. The three are Hong Yeon-sil, Choe Hye-yeong and Seo Da-ni, three of the top racing girls in Korea.

The well proportioned three (they average 1.74 meters in height with 34 inch busts), who are counted among the top 5 racing girls in the country, will travel to Australia on Wednesday for the photo shoot. Club Planning, which is producing the project, said the photos would be “healthy” and “dynamic,” and should remind viewers of “Charlie’s Angels” and “Tomb Raider.”

Funny I don’t remember any nudity in those flics.

23-year-old Hong, who is a racing girl with the Indigo Racing Team and famous for her “killer smile,” said in a telephone interview with this journalist that, “I’ve seen the test shots and I look forward to taking the real photos… It would be hard to say we were taking high-level ‘art’ photos, but they aren’t third-rate photos in which we simply stripped for money.” She said, “I’m trembling with anticipation.”

Hong also said, “I worried the most about what my fans would think of my posing nude, so deciding was really difficult, and in fact, it’s still hard.” She said.

Insert your own cheap jokes here ______ .

“This year, I got offers from eight places for nude photographs, but I refused them all… Two months ago, I finally accepted an offer to pose for nude photos in hopes that the photos would direct attention and interest in domestic motor sports.” She added, “This was not simply about money, but I am doing so in a dignified way as a professional racing girl, a member of the motor sports world.”

Yea… you go girl! We’re all proud of you. Now if we can only migrate her attitude elsewhere us gearheads will have more reason to spend our hard earned cash.