Musings from the Fire Pit
Posted 3 months ago.
Posted by: Kohl
>I would be remiss if I didn’t open up this edition with the fact that I am extremely excited that the IndyCar Series has a series sponsor. Welcome IZOD to the world of title sponsorship and a big thank you to Terry Angstadt, Brian Barnhardt & Tony George for bringing in a huge title sponsor…now Terry & Brian, please go out and work on a different chassis, nothing like what is seen below, please!
>Tweeps! Looking for some offseason following fun? Here are some twittering IndyCar folk for your enjoyment: @paultracy3 (Paul Tracy), @tonydizinno (Motorsport.com writer Tony DiZinno), @99forever @Fieldof33 @joeyo @lmkenny @indy44 @planetirldotcom (my colleagues here at Planet-IRL.com), @tomasscheckter (Tomas Scheckter), @pressdog @royhobbson @speedfreakbash @mynameisirl @elementofspeed (fellow bloggers), and…last but not least, my fellow radio colleagues @midwkmotorsport & @speedfreaks
>And the winner is…whoops! Ever since Rio-gate, no official word has been given by the IRL brass on where the season opening race in Brazil will occur. This blogger hopes that they will race at Interlagos, as it would be a perfect fit for the Dallara equipment.
>Speaking of Tony Dizinno, in his latest article on Motorsport.com, he begins his talk about the IRL not being at The Mile with: The late Paul Newman famously said in the movie “Winning” that “everybody goes to Milwaukee after Indianapolis.” Flash forward to 2010 and for IndyCar, that ain’t happening. It does hurt not having Milwaukee on the schedule, but at the same time, the IRL is a business and needs to make money, so I understand the decision. Hopefully, if the rumors are true, the new promoters (which include John Menard) can pay the IRL what is owed and The Mile can take it’s rightful place on the calendar.
>Am I the only one who thinks that if NHL wants to run a 3rd car, that JR Hildebrand should be in that seat? The IRL, now that they are the sanctioning body to the USF2000 Championship, should take a look at the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development ladder. Kudos to John Doonan & his staff for rewarding champions in their class to a ride in the next series.
That’s it for me, any questions or subject ideas can be e-mailed to jeremy.planetirl@gmail.com. Also, follow me on Twitter: @theinsideline. Cheers!
“Am I the only one who thinks that if NHL wants to run a 3rd car, that JR Hildebrand should be in that seat?”
JR certainly needs to land somewhere. But the latest reports already have NHL fielding three cars: Graham, Pink Lloyd, and Mutoh with his Formula Dream cash influx (to make room for RHR at Andretti).
BUT — and this is COMPLETE speculation on my part, so don’t shoot me when it doesn’t happen — I couldn’t help but notice that the sponsorship issue was dealt with rather dodgily in the press release about Dan returning to Panther (http://www.pantherracing.com/news/index.cfm?cid=24173 — see the last line). Nothing against Dan, but it would be very smart to shift that National Guard sponsorship to JR (aka Captain America) and put him in a car with it next year. Again, pure speculation. We’ll see what happens.