Full Throttle

You are browsing the archives of 2007 January.

Toyota rolled out their 2007 entry in the F1 World Championship in Cologne, Germany on Friday.
Aside from the normal optimism that comes with a new season came a humble admission by Toyota’s major domo Tsutomu Tomita. Tomita-san offered an apology for the teams unproductive past performance:

“It was a really disappointing year,” team boss [...]

I suspect NASCAR’s decision to allow Toyota into its premiere division will be a running point of contention for the entire season at some level. I also believe the news media will take every opportunity to further the controversy. But that’s a story for another time.
There is a certain segment of American society, however small, [...]

The Bernie & Mad Show, a/k/a Formula One, have offered a vision of F1 that includes a more “ecco-friendly” greener future for the F1 Championship. Mad Max went so far to say the “tide of world opinion has just turned regarding global warming. With the changes we have made, we have caught the tide. If [...]

As a general rule posting anything of a religious nature at Full Throttle has been verboten. It’s a subject whether for, against or ambivalent towards always has the potential for controversy and risks the green flag being thrown on a flame war of epic purportions.
But sometimes, as the saying goes, you gotta do what you [...]

The International Race of Champions has come a long way from its debut at Riverside International Raceway in 1973. The following year the late great Mark Donohue became the first driver to win the championship behind the wheel of a Porsche Carrera RSR.
IROC has also run the Pontiac Trans Am, Dodge Avenger, Dodge Daytona and [...]

Reports out of France indicate currently unemployed former F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve is in line to drive one of Peugeot’s V12 turbo diesels in this years Le Mans event.
Reportedly he will team with Marc Gene and reigning CCWS Champion Sebastien Bourdais in the French manufacturers bid to unseat Audi’s R10 TDI diesel powered juggernaut.

This years [...]

This story should have George, elder Statesman at Fast Machines (sorry George, nothin’ but the truth ’round here!), tipping back a few in celebration.
F1 McLaren boss Ron Dennis has sold the majority of his financial holdings in the F1 team to Bahrain’s Mumtalakat Holding Company who now own thirty percent of the company. Mercedes parent [...]

Daytona testing?
No silly.
The delayed response. The rebuttal. A little returned fire. A fire-suited version of Rosie and The Donald. A fully sponsored Hatfield and McCoys feud. (by Boudreaux’s Buttpaste)

Interesting question isn’t it? Ask ten people the question and your likely to get nearly as many answers.
The most common one is an online journal/blog that doesn’t allow comments (although I don’t agree) but there are many other reasons a valid argument can be presented for.
Generally speaking a weblog is a website that displays in [...]

The 11 teams competing for the 2007 2007 F1 World Championships have been pushing for a testing session at the Sepang International Circuit.
The F1 race calendar this year has a three-week break after the opening round in Melbourne from March 16-18. This meant that the teams would have to transport their cars back to [...]

What, you say it’s only Sunday night and Daytona testing doesn’t commence until Monday morning? Just how fast and what was the Michael Waltrip Racing Camry driver timed at you’re asking?
There’s much more important things than Daytona testing, testing that is nothing more than a few days of photo ops in an attempt to sate [...]

“The thing I loved about Bobby Sr. so much is that he treated everybody the same,” “It didn’t matter if you were one of the drivers he competed against or a fan he’d never laid eyes on before.
“He didn’t have a pretentious bone in his body. I think that’s why people were drawn to him. [...]

Making a long story short, and not to rehash the obvious, the Indy Racing League has been and continues to be an unmitigated disaster under Tony George’s reign.
So it’s not surprising when Tony George attempts to restart his own driving career life imitates the Indy Racing League. (apologies to Oscar Wilde for corrupting his original [...]

True to his heritage, Boris Said’s father drove in the 1968 and 1972 Winter Olympics for the U.S. bobsled team, Said led qualifying Friday for the Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge at Lake Placid NY.
Event organizer Geoff Bodine trailed Said, winner of the inaugural run last year, by nearly a full second.
Others competing include Kevin Lepage, [...]

You know you love us. What’s not to love about one of the most diverse racing blogs around? (detractors & trolls don’t answer that!)
It’s time to spread the love around. The 2007 Bloggies are here. For the first time in its seven year history a Best Sports Blog category has been added. Unlike some award [...]

Everyone knows how it goes. With the possible exception of Richard Simmons everyone puts on a few pounds during the holiday season. That fact seems to hold true for the powers that be within the corporate halls of NASCAR as well. (Wonder if Brian France has a “cubicle?”)
Back say, about November at Texas Motor Speedway, [...]

TThe following list of “did you know” Car of Tomorrow factoids were compiled by David Newton for ESPN. As painfully obvious the Half-Vast Staff™ of Full Throttle couldn’t leave sleeping dogs alone and had to add our two cents (cheap at twice the price) worth of commentary.

Newton’s contributions are in italics, the rest belongs to [...]

Add Northern Louisiana to the growing list of geographic areas looking to suckle the teat of auto racing’s current boom in popularity.
Racing enthusiast and local businessman Stewart Bashner announced a capital investment of $4.5 million from BizCapital in New Orleans for construction of a speedway. Monroe Motor Speedway will feature a .375 mile paved oval [...]

Come with me and jump into the Full Throttle WayBack Machine a second, or two. We’re traveling back to July and the Pocono event on the NEXTEL Cup schedule.
That event featured a three car maelstrom that included Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards. By most accounts Stewart instigated the get together but at this point it’s [...]

Anyone care to guess the significance of that date?
The year 1935 started with the inaugural Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl in college football. Later that January the 1st canned beer, “Krueger Cream Ale,” was marketed by Kruger Brewing Co.

Other significant events were the first use of a Lie detector in court, Babe Ruth’s 1st NL [...]