IRL

The IRL put on their annual show in Nashville on Saturday evening. It was a good show on the abrasive, one groove track. TK was the eventual winner, but he should be buying Gentleman Dan a nice gift.

The race was being dominated by the Rahal/Letterman team. Vitor Meira was simply unstoppable. He had a commanding lead and just kept pulling away until his pit crew screwed him. For some reason Meira was waved out of the pits while the fuel hose was still connected. He nearly pulled the reserve tank over. The car then stalled and Meira was at the tail of the lead lap by the time he was back on the circuit.

Buddy Rice took over the lead, but back in the pack Meira was driving all over the track passing cars at will. He had climbed back up to fourth when another round of pits stops occurred during a yellow. This time the front right tire changer screwed up and Meira had to go out and come back in, dropping him back in the pack again.

AGR for some reason decided not to reshod Wheldon’s car. A curious decision based on the grittiness of the track. The decision did allow the Gentleman to come out of the pits first, just ahead of Rice. As soon as the green flag fell it was apparent that Wheldon was no match for Rice. Attempting a pass in three, Rice had the inside line and seemed to have a clear track. Unfortunately Dan Wheldon came down on Rice’s line and the tow cars touched. Rice’s front wing and his race were ruined. Miraculously neither car spun but Rice had to go to the pits for repairs. Wheldon stayed on track but dropped back.

This gave the lead to TK who went on to win despite a strong challenge from both Penske drivers, especially Sammy.

Excellent race. Gil wasn’t in the booth for some reason, and ESPN in their infinite wisdom had to cut to the Great Outdoors Games right after the race so there wasn’t even a winners interview. This is one of the times when the IRL really screws itself. How do they expect to promote their series without promoting the drivers? They really are boobs.

NASCAR

The good ol’ boys had the weekend off, but Jr. tried to kill himself in Sonoma by burning up his Corvette race car. Jr. will be okay, but he probably needs to take a break when the schedule allows.

F1

Now that Max Mosely has decided to stay on as president of the FIA look for all of those changes that were discussed here a couple of months ago to take place. When a suitable replacement for Max couldn’t be found, his position of power increased exponentially.