Full Throttle

The rest of us meaning F1 fans.

Jean Todt is being lined up to replace Max The Littlest Perv Mosley when the current President of the FIA either steps, or is forced, down.

Allegedly that is the overwhelming view in the Formula 1 paddock as the Perv’s self-imposed execution (hopefully!) at the “Extraordinary Meeting” in Paris is now less than five weeks away.

When he does relinquish his grip on the most powerful position within the sport, former Ferrari team chief Todt – one of the few high-profile figures within F1 to publicly back Mosley (read Todt’s slobbering ass kiss here) – is widely believed to be the man being groomed to take over. Both the BBC and The Times have reported that the Frenchman is “a lock” to assume the role.

God save our gracious Queen (and us poor F1 fans too)
Long live our noble Queen, (but nip the Frog Prince Todt in the bud)
God save the Queen: (and us poor F1 fans too, PLEASE!)
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious, (but don’t be asshats and elect The Frog Prince)
Long to reign over us: (with more Ferrari conspiracies and Mosley-like inefficiency)
God save the Queen. (for the sake of all humanity us poor F1 fans too, PLEASE!)

Cross Posted @ F1 Rage

Technorati Tags: Max Mosley, Mosley Scandal, FIA, F1, Formula One, Full Throttle

Previously I had posted a few words on the Old School Racing Series that was to see the starters flag sometime this year. As a new series it has been universally applauded by many including myself, as an interesting way to get some of the past NASCAR stars out of the shadows and back unto a brighter stage.

A few days ago I noticed and commented on a post at One Bad Wheel (OBW) on the apparent demise of the series at least for this year.

As a side note, if you haven’t signed up to play Champs, Chumps and Sleepers at OBW you’re missing out on a free opportunity to look like a fool. Well, actually maybe that’s just me, but you get the idea. It’s not often you can play a game for free and win prizes doing it, so get over there.

Anyway on to the meat of this post. Old School Racing has announced a postponement of its inaugural season. According to the promoters they are looking forward to starting the series in spring 2009 vice this year and the delay “will allow a partnership to form that will make the OSR bigger and better for the drivers, crews and fans.”

Ok, so that’s the obligatory fluff issued by some PR type. Here’s the real meat behind the delay.

Apparently the placed their trust in a marketing agent that was contracted to promote the series. Last December series officials attended the Performance Racing Trade Show held in Orlando Fl. where it was believed OSR was to be promoted by the marketing agent.

Instead, and quoting from the OSR website, “…. instead of working out of the OSR booth, the marketing agent was in another booth representing another racing series. We came to find out that he had recently purchased that tour.

From August thru December, he was promoting his new series instead of OSR. All of the sponsorship figures he had been presenting to OSR was a lie, for his own series, or just blatantly fabricated. One of the potential title sponsors he was touting had never even received a call from the marketing agent. A big “lesson learned” here, for sure.”

Can you spell Shyster? (a term usually reserved for lawyers at FT but will make an exception this time - ed)

The big question I have is where the hell were the OSR officials for all those months between August when he was allegedly promoting OSR and late December when they discovered he was a crook?

That’s nearly 5 months this guy apparently did nothing he was contracted for while the OSR promoters did what? Nothing from the looks of it.

I’m far from a business genus, and even less so in promoting a new racing series but Geesh Marie, who the hell was watching the store? Shouldn’t someone, anyone, at OSR have been checking on this guy after spending the cash to employ him?

Maybe I missed something, or maybe OSR officials are the proverbial “babes-in-the-woods” and will learn from their mistakes.

One at least one would hope they did, if not this series won’t ever see the light of day.

And we all lose in that case

Technorati Tags: NASCAR, Old School Racing Series, Full Throttle

The list is getting longer for the future former head of the FIA. The Littlest Perv has lost another round in the legal system of the EU.

A judge in Paris said Tuesday it was not within his jurisdiction to ban an Internet video of The Littlest Perv with prostitutes, but he ordered the French recall of newspapers containing photos of the scene.

Judge Joel Boyer said he couldn’t ban access to website of the British tabloid the News of the World, which had carried a video with images of the scene, because the site is owned and based in Britain. Mosley’s lawyer, Philippe Ouakrat, had requested the site be restricted in France because the FIA, the governing body for motorsports that Mosley heads, is based in Paris.

“The mere fact that this site is accessible from France — like all others on the Web — is not enough to justify French jurisdiction,” Boyer wrote.

Cross posted @ F1 Rage

Technorati Tags: Max Mosley, Mosley Scandal, FIA, F1, Formula One, Full Throttle

Randy Moss a wide receiver for the New England Patriots has formed Moss Motorsports, which intends to compete in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series.

Moss said he plans for the team to debut at some point in the second half of this season and run selected races. The partial schedule is a prelude to a full-time campaign in 2009. Sponsors and manufacturer alignments will be announced at a later date.

“We don’t have all of the details in place just yet, but I am very excited about Moss Motorsports becoming a part of NASCAR,” Moss said. “I am by nature a very competitive person, and this is an outlet for me to compete at another level.

“There are some pretty awesome challenges in building a program like this from the ground up, but I am looking forward to it,” Moss said. “That’s just another aspect of the competition–you want to find the best people available, and you’re competing with all the other teams out there. We’re starting to look at who the best people are and working on getting them to be a part of our team.”

I should say good luck and I begrudgingly will, but I’ll believe it when I see it. My first question is why make any public announcement when no manufacture or sponsorship deal has been finalized?

I also wonder, if he’s been a fan of NASCAR and sponsor of a late model program as he claims why he hasn’t become involved in Herd Motorsports operation. That program was announced back in February and still hasn’t seen any on track action to this point.

With Moss being an alumni of Marshall University and Herd being so closely aligned with the college it would seem to be a perfect fit.

On the other hand, Moss hasn’t exactly been a “close fit” in much of his NFL career and comments he made about the University’s tragic plane crash of 1997 didn’t exactly foster any love or great connection between himself and the school.

I think I’ll file this one under “work in progress,” and see what we shall see. And not make any bets associated with Moss Motorsports ever seeing the race track.

UPDATE: The Sporting News has picked up this story. (via MSNBC) Moss plans to attend one or more non-companion truck races in June, if he can schedule the appearances around NFL minicamps. The likely choices are June 6 at Texas Motor Speedway or June 28 at Memphis Motorsports Park, where he also has been asked to serve as grand marshal.

That raises another question. With mini-camps opening how is he going to devote enough time to chasing down a driver, a sponsor and a manufacturer? And if he’s not doing it, who is? Shouldn’t that be at the very least something that should have been disclosed in this initial press release?

Yep, you’re right. I remain very skeptical this will go anywhere.

Technorati Tags: Randy Moss, NCTS, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Marshall University, Moss Motorsports

Here we go again, now that the the Kentucky Speedway date for it’s NCTS event is about 6 weeks away up pops stories about the speedways lawsuit. Dismissed lawsuit I should say.

Cynical? I sure am, there’s nothing like sucking a bit of air out of the May stories that are all centered on Humpy and Charlotte. Get while the gettin’s good as they say.

Anyway, the owners of the speedway are back in the news, and to be fair as much as I hate to be, the U.S. appeals court in Cincinnati released a redacted version of Kentucky’s appeal Monday. That gave the powers that be to run to the press giving their version of why they feel wronged by the judge, NASCAR, ISC, the Man in the Moon, Oprah and McDonalds.

Actually I made those last three up, but you get the idea, they are playing the victim card for all its worth.

In the appeal Kentucky Speedway says that NASCAR denied independent tracks Cup races until they agreed to sell to ISC at below market value. The track’s appeal also says that NASCAR threatened to pull races from Las Vegas Motor Speedway because the owners refused to sell to ISC; the owners later sold to ISC-rival Speedway Motorsports.

(Let me see if I have this right, they contend a threat was made, yet if that’s true wouldn’t ISC have double the reason to pull a date after LasVegas was sold to Speedway Motosports? And if evidence of the threat exists why wasn’t proof of it entered into evidence before the lawsuit was dismissed?)

“KYS, as a purchaser of sanctioning, cannot switch to hosting Bengals or Reds games, as suggested in the District Court’s casual analysis…,” Kentucky Speedway’s owners assert in their appeal. “By denying independent tracks such as KYS an opportunity to host a Cup race, it is impossible for a rival sanctioning organization to gain access to a competitive set of tracks in order to gain critical mass.”

(Funny Kentucky has had no problems hosting the ARCA RE/MAX Series at the track.)

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston denies that NASCAR threatened to pull races from Las Vegas or other independent tracks. “It’s absurd,” Poston said. “It’s completely false.”

Exactly, if they had a wiff of proof of any threats it would have been in evidence not aired in a press release.

Jerry Carroll and the rest of his investment group that own the track are suffering an extreme case of sour grapes over losing the first case or have been sipping far too much Kentucky Bourbon.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, they don’t have a ghost of a chance of winning this anti-trust lawsuit. But don’t believe me, I formed my opinion based on an expert. An expert that represented Francis Ferko and Texas Motor Speedway in his suit against NASCAR and ISC.

If you will recall that suit was settled out of court because it was found somewhere in the dusty past ISC had promised Texas a second date. Something that hasn’t happened in the current case.

Samuel Cherry, Ferko’s lawyer at the time had this to say about Kentucky’s suit two years ago:

At first glance, it seems NASCAR and ISC are operating an illegal monopoly in violation of federal antitrust laws, said Samuel Cherry, an Alabama-based lawyer who represented a plaintiff in a similar suit against NASCAR and ISC from 2002-04.

But, Cherry said, it’s not that easy to prove. His client, Francis Ferko, a Speedway Motorsports Inc. shareholder, sued NASCAR and ISC in 2001 because Texas Motor Speedway, one of SMI’s tracks, had not been awarded a second Cup date that had been promised. The suit alleged antitrust violations, just as Kentucky Speedway’s does.

That suit was settled in 2004 when SMI paid $100.4 million to buy out an ISC track in Rockingham, N.C., and transfer Rockingham’s Cup race to Texas.

That settlement, Cherry said, was pushed by NASCAR’s 1994 promise to award Texas the Cup date, not the antitrust portion of the suit.

“I think Kentucky is going to have a difficult time prevailing,” Cherry said. “We made the same antitrust allegations, but I didn’t feel very good about them.

“We said there should be competitive bidding for races, but your competitive environment has to pass business sense, and that’s where NASCAR has a strong argument, because they’ve been able to maintain a good business model. The competitive dynamics that at first glance appear to be collusive knock you down, but on closer examination, you appreciate the business logic to that approach.”

Cherry said he declined an opportunity to get involved in Kentucky’s case because he doesn’t believe it to be as strong as SMI’s.

Got that, Cherry had reservations about the Texas suit and truth be known the weak case is what led to the out of court settlement vice containing and possibly losing. Cherry and Texas went the bird in hand route rather than losing the whole shebang.

Jerry Carroll doesn’t have that option.

For the sake of argument let’s say Kentucky wins the suit.

One of the demands of the suit - assuming Kentucky wins - is for NASCAR to place up for bid all their race dates. Which raises the question how could tracks like legendary Darlington, or Kentucky itself afford a bidding war with the more well-heeled venues in the sport?

My guess they couldn’t. France, Bruton and a couple others more well-heeled than Jerry Carrol would out bid everyone and Kentucky would still lose out, in addition, and in all probability lose both the NCTS and Nationwide Series’ dates.

Technorati Tags: Kentucky Speedway, Jerry Carrol, Speedway Motorsports, ISC, Texas Motor Speedway

Kyle “Desperado” Busch won, again. But you can read that in any one of a hundred sites and news services.

Instead I’ll touch on what results from NASCAR clinging onto the top 35 and impound rules. I would also suggest you read Steve “The Idiot” Wronkowicz’s (we luv ya Steve, really we do) piece as he covers the overall effects of both rules where I stick to Talladega and how it affected the results.

If you hadn’t noticed Joe Nemechek, Sterling Marlin and Jon Wood all had excellent qualifying runs. Joe actually was Front Row for a change and Marlin and Wood started 16^th and 12^th respectively.

The main reason, impound.

All three cars were massaged to the max and that helped them escape Bottom 36 Purgatory® and make the race, but at a price.

Nemechek and Marlin all qualified without fan belts for their alternators and power steering pumps. Marlin also used an undersized battery. They made stops on the 18^th lap to make repairs.

Wood also started without fan belts. His team had a checklist of changes that forced him into the garage area after just three laps. He returned eight laps down.

Because of impound after Saturday’s qualifying session teams that made changes once impounded were forced to start at the end of the starting grid.

The changes needed for Nemechek, Marlin and Wood, however, were so far from normal adjustments, NASCAR didn’t give those teams the option of starting last.

None of this is to say any of the three would have made the race without the impound, or had a better finish, save for Wood losing 8 laps, but it does illustrate the hoops some of the teams must go through just trying to get into an event each week.

IN OTHER NEWS YOU CAN LOSE: How about that Juan “Latino Piloto is Muy Bueno” Montoya! Stays with the leaders all day, finishes 2nd to The Desperado and moves into the top twelve and Chase contention.

Mears, Ragan and Kvapil all had excellent runs with all three beating or tying their best points paying finishes on the year.

At the other end of the spectrum is Smoke who in keeping with his history at the place just can’t catch a break at Talladagea, and Kuet Busch who is about one twenty-something finish away from writing off his chances for making the Chase.

Technorati Tags: Joe Nemechek, Talladega Superspeedway, Jon Wood, Sterling Marlin, Full Throttle

For full disclosure, NASCAR has been and still is double X chromosome challenged, no one disputes that.

The klieg lights have shown even brighter on the fact since the Danica Tsunami washed over Twin-Ring Motegi last weekend.

Given that, it was only natural the motorsports press would seek out past females with experience at various levels of the sport for comment. It was just as predictable they would find their way to Erin Crocker the last female to make any headway at making at the top level of NASCAR.

With that as the preface, I give you Erin Crocker:

“To be quite frank, NASCAR is not doing much to help women get into the sport,” Crocker said. “Maybe that will change, but up until now they haven’t done too much.”

I’m not sure what she expects them to do, as a sanctioning body all they can do is provide the proper venue for them to race in and also ensure they are at a skill level so no danger arises for themselves or other competitors. And they have, along with Joe Gibbs supported the Diversity Program.

“I’m not privy to the insides of how they’re doing business,” she said of Cup operations. “I just know it’s not a high priority. Their priority is making sure they’re in the top 35 in points, taking care of their sponsors.”

“No one has put their stake in the ground and said we’re going to make it work. Everybody has just given it a shot, and when the going got tough they gravitated back to the norm.”

Excuse me!

Remind me again who it was that did have a shot. A shot at making it to the Cup Series by having a fully sponsored ride by one of the top-tiered teams in the sport at a level most rookies start at, the Truck Series. In addition the same team provided a competitive ride in the ARCA RE/MAX Series.

Excuse me again Ms. Crocker, the problem was not getting a fair shot but what was done with the opportunity.

The problem wasn’t any stakes in the ground, but rather your boss putting his “stake” somewhere it didn’t belong and creating an environment where you became virtually untouchable by both teams and major sponsors in the sport.

You young lady need to sit down, shut up and get on with whatever racing opportunities may come your way.

And while your waiting you need to call on your former, ahem… employer. and ask why he hasn’t done everything he “possibly could do” to get you back into a competitive ride as promised. Although I suspect there were a lot of promises that were made in the heat of “competition” that were never kept, if you get my drift.

Technorati Tags: ARCA RE/MAX Series, NASCAR, Erin Crocker, NCTS, Nationwide Series

New Zealand V8 racecar driver Dale Lambert has been banned for two years after returning a positive drugs test for cannabis.

The Auckland driver tested positive at the Manfeild round of the national series in February.

The New Zealand Herald newspaper today reported that Drug Free Sport New Zealand officials arrived at the circuit for the first drug screening episode of the sport without prior notice and selected three Toyota Racing Series drivers and four V8 drivers.

“Our members are subject to Wada’s (World Anti-Doping Agency) list of banned substances and it’s the first time the agency has turned up at a circuit,” Motorsport New Zealand (MSNZ) general manager Ross Armstrong said.

“It’s disappointing that we’ve had a positive urine test first time up but it reinforces to competitors that drugs will not be tolerated in the sport.”

A tribunal established by MSNZ to hear Lambert’s case decided against imposing a financial penalty.

MSNZ said Lambert admitted taking cannabis, albeit some considerable time prior to the test being undertaken.

For a sport where the slightest miscalculation or lack of concentration can put a driver in the wall, motor racing has been a little slow over the years in introducing mandatory random drug testing.

Formula 1 has a random-testing system in place where at any meeting drivers can be tested.. Nascar also has a system but tests only on reasonable suspicion.

Cross posted @ Asian Motor Sports

Technorati Tags: World Anti-Doping Agency, New Zealand V8 Supercar Series, New Zealand, Dale Lambert

I’m sure this will come over the objections of the NASCAR media who have slobbered all over themselves at the thought of a Tin-Top version of Danica-mania but, it ain’t happening!

Danica told the Daily Star: “First I want to contend for the IndyCar championship and then we’ll see what opportunities arise.”

“During my three years in England, I followed F1 closely and became dead set on racing in it,” she recalled.

“F1 is regarded as the highest level of racing with the best drivers in the world and it’s very flattering to have that as an opportunity,” Patrick added.

Now, all you ink-stained wretches that follow the NASCAR circus put down your pens, your mice (mouses?) and that “thing” you call your manhood and get back to writing something that approximates reality.

As a sidenote, anyone except me think it’s more than a happy coincidence that the Indy event is scheduled to start approximately around the time NASCAR’s Talladega event should be complete?

MeThinks Tony G is wearing a suit of hen feathers.

Technorati Tags: IndyCar Series, Danica, Danica Patrick, F1, Formula One, IRL

In what has been described as a “contentious” meeting of F1 Team Principles Saturday in Barcelona Max “The Littlest Perv “ Mosley may have finally gotten the “cut [that] is the deepest.”

It may not have been the first cut, as the song made famous by Rod Stewart would suggest, but after many smaller cuts by various F1 and motor sports luminaries Bernie Ecclestone may have given him the deepest slash of them all.

He pulled his support of his long-time confident and apparent butt-buddy Mosley.

After initially issuing statements defending Mosley saying the issue was mainly a “private matter,” the weight of so many opposed to his remaining in the job finally took its toll on the 77-year old Gnome.

Reportedly Ecclestone visibly lost his composure when representatives for Williams, Ferrari and Red Bull refused to sign a statement asking for Mosley’s resignation that would have been distributed to the media.

The Times newspaper claims that, if the confidence vote on June 3 does not remove Mosley, some motoring organizations have threatened to break away from the FIA and set up an alternate umbrella organization.

America’s AAA is reportedly leading the push.

Technorati Tags: Bernie Ecclestone, Max Mosley, FIA, F1