It’s Brickyard week here in Indy and you know what that means. The snobbiest, rudest and most misinformed of all race fans will converge on Indy for the next 3 or 4 days. Oh don’t get me wrong, there are many good NASCAR fans out there, but the snobby ones who think their little taxi cab racing is the do all end all of racing are pitiful.

NASCAR itself has become so overblown and ostentatious that they are squabbling over such trivialities as knocking over other sponsors ads in victory lane. Couple that with the ridiculous points system for this season and NASCAR has really lost all of my respect. But be that as it may, their circus does roll into town this week and for the city and the league it is a big deal.

Hopefully Jr. will be able to run the whole race and have a good result. Also it would be nice if Jeff Gordon was a DNF and Tony Stewart crashed….hard. Just kidding about that. I don’t want anyone hurt, even Tony.

If you are heading out, look for me at “The Spot” on Friday and probably up in the E Penthouse on Saturday.

F1

The three week holiday is always nice at this time of the season. Normally it heralds the final third of the season and the final push for the championship. Of course this year the championship is a foregone conclusion. It also normally brings out the start of silly season, but that started weeks ago if not last year when JPM said he would be in the Williams for only one more season.

The latest however has Christiano not making any more appearances in the Toyota. As reported here over the past few weeks, Christiano was upset that he was not privy to the teams plans for next year. Now that it appears Jarno Trulli will take over the ride daMatta wants out and it looks like the Cologne team will oblige.

For his part Christiano says he has other F1 offers he is considering and has made it known that he isn’t interested in going back to CART.

Well we have another week off until Hungary so enjoy the break!

IRL

The 2005 season schedule is out. Here it is, of course, subject to change.

2005 IRL schedule

March 6: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Fla., 1 1/2-mile oval

March 19*: Phoenix International Raceway, Phoenix, 1-mile oval

April 30*: Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi, Japan, 1 1/2-mile oval

May 29: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, 2 1/2-mile oval

June 11*: Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas, 1 1/2-mile oval

June 25*: Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, Va., 3/4-mile oval

July 3: Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kan., 1 1/2-mile tri-oval

July 16*: Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn., 1 1/3-mile oval

July 24: The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis., 1-mile oval

July 31: Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Mich., 2-mile oval

Aug. 14: Kentucky Speedway, Sparta, Ky., 1 1/2-mile oval

Aug. 21: Pikes Peak International Raceway, Fountain, Colo., 1-mile oval

Aug. 28: Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, Calif., 10-turn, 1.99-mile road course

Sept. 11: Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Ill., 1 1/2-mile D-shaped tri-oval

Sept. 25: Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y., 11-turn, 3.4-mile road course

Oct. 16: California Speedway, Fontana, Calif., 2-mile D-shaped oval

Noticeably missing is of course the second Texas race and the Nazareth race. Nazareth is shutting down after this year and NASCAR fucked up the last IRL race of the season at Texas. The Glen and Infineon have been added. There also remains a wide open slot between the middle of March and the end of April. Speculation is that a street race will take place in St. Petersburg, FL. That sucks.

But you want to know what really sucks? There is speculation that the schedule for May 2005 will once again be altered. The track would open on Wednesday with practice on WE, TR and FR. Pole day Saturday and quals on Sunday. Then the schedule would play out as it has recently. Just more and more taken away. I’m not going to rant and rave too much until I see it officially, but I am not happy.

Finally, I have to comment on Sunday’s race at Michigan. Congrats to Buddy Rice who passed TK with just 11 laps to go to win. But what was appalling was the crowd. Sure by IRL standards it wasn’t bad. Estimates run between 40,000 and 60,000. Unfortunately the track holds 136,000. Now I ma not so naïve to think that the IRL should have filled the joint this week. But I do not understand how many of my fellow posters on Indystar.com and Trackforum.com can claim this as a victory. They claim it was a bigger crowd than last year (whoopee shit), bigger than CART was getting (whoopee shit) and that the ‘business plan’ would call that a success and that this was probably their goal. Well that is BS. If it is the goal of the IRL to continue on with crappy attendance and nonexistent TV ratings then how long is this thing going to last?

I will be going out the track this weekend and it will just break my heart to see the crowds. Saturday will look like Pole Days of the past and race day you are crammed in like sardines. Oh I am not one to live in the past. It does no good, but I can’t help but be reminded of the days when Indy was king. Fucking Tony George is an idiot and a loser and his idea of fixing what was allegedly wrong with open wheel racing is a joke.