Full Throttle

Not sure what to make of this, I’ve heard the F1 to Las Vegas rumors before. Renault chief Flavio Briatore has dreamed of a Vegas stop and Bernie “The Boob” Ecclestone has also considered an F1 street race out in the desert.

But Tulsa? Oklahoma? For Formula One?

Feed Me F1 claims it is so, and has scored an exclusive interview “held in confidence with a reluctant source.”

Question: Will the USGP return to Indianapolis after 2006?
Source: Well, as the speedway has stated. They didn

No, not the girls, not even the fast ones (thats been covered). It’s the cars stupid. But not just any cars, it’s the old cars, historic Formula One machines.

This past weekend saw the 5^th running of the Monaco Historic GP, an enormously popular historic race that runs the weekend before the Monaco GP, in front of a crowd rivaling that of the current event. The F1 classics ran in two categories, rear engined Grand Prix cars (1954-1965) and Formula 1 cars (1966-1974).

The image shows shows a ’70s era March leading a pack of irreplaceable and wildly expensive early Formula 1 cars. Here is a list of the F1 entrants that include the famous (infamous?) 6-wheeled Tyrrell P-34 one of my all time favorites. The P-34 had only a single GP win at the Swedish 1976 Swedish GP in 1976 finishing 1-2 with Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depailler.

The oldest entrant is a 1968 Lotus Ford Type 49B. Graham Hill drove a Type 49B to that years Monaco GP winners circle. It was the beginning of what was to become the year of the wing. Team Lotus showed up with a wedge shaped car that sported a low mounted wing over the carburetors. It was also driven by Mario Andretti, Jackie Oliver and Bill Brack during the 1968 season.

The interesting thing about the Tyrrell is not that it was a 6-wheeler, but it wasn’t the first. That distinction goes to the Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser KK500G that competed in the 1957 Indy 500 when that event counted towards the F1 Championship (between 1950 and 1960).

Ferrari built a six-wheel version of the 312T2 in ‘76. The car, dubbed “T6″ had twin rear wheels on the same axle. Both Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni drove the “T6″ in testing but it never made into race trim.

In 1977, March built the 6-wheeled 240, later designated the 771 but it’s only on track appearence was during practice for the 1977 Brazilian GP.

The last time a six-wheeler was built was in 1982 when Williams produced the FW08B but like all the rest it failed to be an improvement over 4 wheels and development ceased with a helping hand from the FIA who outlawed four wheel steering and also stipulated four wheels only and only the front two could steer.

For the record, the Tyrrell P-34 racked up its second win in actual competition by winning Race G (125.012 avg.) Saturday over a 1975 Penske PC3 and a second Tyrrell P-34 from 1976.

Race F was won by a 1970 Brabham BT33 (123.795 avg.) over a 1974 McLaren M23 in second and a 1974 Surtees TS16 taking the bottom step.

Monoco Grand Prix, Formula One, F1, Monoco Historic Grand Prix., Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle

Part of the fallout from Dale Jarrett leaving Yates Racing to join Michael Waltrips TRD squad has reared it’s ugly head in the form of a major shake-up at Yates.

Robert Yates, NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and Busch Series car owner, announced today that he is re-evaluating the structure of the organization and has made a change in personnel at the management level of Robert Yates Racing (RYR).

As part of the process, Eddie D

Ever wonder why the Half-Vast

A1 Grand Prix

Ken Schrader had to start at the back of the field after not qualifying his car (Josh Richeson practiced and qualified the #99 Chevrolet) and make it through two green-white-checkers to take the win in the Hantz Group 200 at the Toledo Speedway Sunday afternoon.

Schrader beat Justin Allgaier back to the line after the field took the green-white-checker finish the second time. Allgaier finished second followed by Frank Kimmel who had dominated much of the weekend by capturing the Pork Pole Award on Saturday and leading 182 laps of Sunday

NASCAR’s annual ritual known as the All Star Challenge had it’s usual array of Star’s both in the Open event and the million dollar to win Challenge. And it was a good thing they were on the track as the rain delayed, then shower interrupted, evening featured enough clouds to obscure any heavenly stars that may have been visible.

Keeping with NASCAR’s theme of borrowing other major sports events, namely All Star events, I have chosen to had out a few awards similar in fashion to the other major American sports. (MVP’s, Homer Champs, Plays of the Game, etc.) Without further adieu here are the awards given to the “lucky contestants” from Saturday night. They are broken down in order of appearance starting with the pre-race show.

PRE-RACE SHOW:

Best Rain Delay Interview: By far it was Jeff Burton’s discussion on the importance of America’s short tracks as the seed farm for the stars of tomorrow. I’m sure Bill Ryan was cheering very loudly from his home in Oxford, Maine. That’s assuming his watched from his owners box as he watched Terry Merrill dominate the field Saturday night. As an aside, that event may have produced a short track historical first.

I Wish I had One Award: Carl Edwards brandishing a B-B-Q’ed lamb chop. Who the hell needs concession stand hot dogs when you can get yer lips around that.

Sin by Omission Award: A Pitroad BobbleHead opined that a lot of unknowns made predicting the evenings outcome a difficult proposition. Among the reasons given were the repaved surface, rain washing the surface clean and the hard compound Goodyear’s in use. In reference to the tires he said the NASCAR Open would be the “first race” on the tires. NOT! Guess he was too busy in the media center Friday to witness the Truck Series on the very same track, with the very same hard compound Goodyears.

Best Family Shot: J.J. Yeley holding daughter Faith with a green #18 pacifier stuck in her mouth. Cute as hell and a damn sight better than the normal kids image of strained green peas dribbling out of the mouth.

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP OPEN

When’s Check-out Time award: The question was asked of pole sitter Scott Riggs at the end of lap one of 30. Response: Now, as he “checked out” and was never challenged taking the checkered flag ahead of Jeff Green.

Unrequited Anticipation Award: As the event dwindled down to a few laps the Booth BobbleHeads were beside themselves (with accompanying yellow stained pants) in anticipation of a redux of ‘05 when Brian Vickers spun Jeff Green to win the Open. It never happened, and an audible gasp could be heard from the booth and Hollywood Hotel sounding like a cheap circus balloon busting.

INTERMISSION

Award for Best “Inside the Park Homer:” (i.e. hitting all the bases) Michael Waltrip ended his interview with, “Go NAPA Dodge; Ford; Chevy; Toyota.”

DRIVER INTROS ALL STAR CHALLENGE

Award for the best acrobat imitation: Ryan Newman’s crew member who dove off the stage into the waiting crowd below.

Award for the Stupidest Move: Ryan Newman’s crew member who dove off the stage into the waiting crowd below, that wasn’t waiting!

What the Hell Was THAT Award: Given to the throng in attendance for the tepid response to the introduction of the retiring Mark Martin.

The Priceless Award: The facial expressions on the child that Kyle Petty carried onto the stage.

NEXTEL CUP ALL STAR CHALLENGE

Save of the Day: Greg Biffle, lap 1. Bif got so far sideways if the following Jeff Gordon had been a paparazzi he had the perfect opportunity for an excellent profile shot of Biffle. Yet somehow Biffle saved it.

Best Teammate Tussle: Lap 12, Mark Martin tapped fellow Roush Mongol Hoard