Off the Wall Racing News

NASCAR

Denny's got good reason to shoot 'em up!

Sobering fact for everyone other than Denny Hamlin and his fans: Since the NASCAR Chase for the Championship format began in 2004, the driver leading in points after eight of the 10 Chase races has gone on to win the Championship.

Yep, records are made to be broken…

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How about Mike Ford (crew chief on JGR’s number 11 team) choosing to pit right next to Jimmie and Chad’s pit. Great strategy! If Johnson is so unshakeable then why not go after his pit crew. Obviously intimidated watching the 11 crew out work them and then seeing Jeff Gordon’s rig go down hard and leave the race, Chad Knaus effectively fired the 48 crew after four substandard time and position losing pit stops when he pulled the over-the-wall portion of the 48 team (tire changers and fuelers) out of the pits in favor of the suddenly idle 24 crew. Hendrick Motorsports then announced on Monday the changes made in Texas will stay in place through the next two races.

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It appears Phoenix, in terms of the three Chase contenders’ history of success here, can be won by any one of 'em. Other Chasers who’ve done well on this track? None other than last week’s news makers, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch (Kyle earned himself a $25,000 fine besides the laps penalty for his HANDy work).

Phoenix International is a relatively flat one mile “D” oval with 11 degree banking in turns 1 and 2 and 9 degrees of banking in turns 3 and 4. Check out this info from Racing-Reference (http://racing-reference.info/factsheets/statfacts_2010-35.htm):
From 2005-2010 a typical Phoenix race had 12.9 lead changes, 8.0 cautions for 41.6 laps, and an average green-flag run of 30.7 laps.

31 laps per green flag run? Sounds like rock-em sock-em NASCAR to me!
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New driver at JGR


JGR signs Brian Scott for full-time driving in the Nationwide series next season. I wouldn’t normally put this up, but it certainly flies in the face of Joe Gibbs’ past high-profile driver selections. Scott has driven in 97 NASCAR events with only one win (0-40 in NWS and 1-57 in CWTS) driving for his family-owned racing team. No hype, no muss, no fuss…

Joe certainly seems to have an eye for talent… Good Luck Brian!
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Formula 1

F1 Brazilian Grand Prix… The state of Brazil


Jenson Button and a group including his father John Button, his trainer Mike Collier and his manager Richard Goddard were being driven in an armored vehicle with an off-duty policeman at the wheel in Sao Paulo when a group of bandits brandishing weapons unsuccessfully attempted to hold them up. The driver, trained in danger avoidance techniques, was able to bang his way through several vehicles in a traffic jam and leave the congested area where the attack took place. No one was injured. Later it’s been speculated this may not have been a hold-up after all but rather an attempted kidnapping.

Jenson Button in Brazil

Both Button and his Vodafone McLaren Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton had been provided with bullet-proof vehicles driven by police drivers in anticipation of such an event (The proverbial ounce of prevention).

In a second F1 incident with Brazilian thugs, three Sauber Motorsport engineers were robbed after leaving the Interlago race track Saturday evening. Five men, one reportedly carrying an automatic weapon, stopped the van they were in. No one was hurt but a couple of backpacks with cameras were stolen. Guess those engineers don’t get the same kind of protection as the drivers… It’s either that or they’re simply easy marks… Ha!

In 2009 Tonio Liuzzi had to run down a Brazilian race Steward who made off with his steering wheel after Tonio was wrecked out of the Grand Prix. Evidently the Steward thought it would be a collectors’ item or something. I understand an F1 steering wheel costs somewhere around $45,000 (!). Kinda sounds like those very expensive US Air Force toilet seats we’ve all heard about… Now can anyone tell me why a steering wheel is so expensive?

In 2008 Lewis Hamilton’s luggage was stolen while he was vacationing in Brazil.

The first paragraph of the U.S. State Department’s crime warning to Americans considering travel to Brazil:

Crime throughout Brazil has reached very high levels. The Brazilian police and the Brazilian press report that the rate of crime continues to rise, especially in the major urban centers – though it is also spreading in rural areas. Brazil’s murder rate is more than four times higher than that of the U.S. Rates for other crimes are similarly high. The majority of crimes are not solved. There were rapes reported by American citizens in 2008.

For the complete warning, refer to: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1072.html#crime

Sounds like a great place to go racing (sarcasm)… or go do anything else for that matter.
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F1 moves from Brazil to the United Arab Emirates’ capital of Abu Dhabi for the final showdown. This is the first sentence in the U.S. State Department’s Travel Information on crime for the UAE: Most travelers to the UAE are not impacted by crime. F1 passes from one end of the spectrum to the opposite concerning personal safety, all in one week’s time.

Speaking of Abu Dhabi’s final showdown in F1’s 2010 season, Team Red Bull official
Christian Horner speaking to the fact that both Red Bull drivers, Sebastian Vettle and Mark Webber have a chance to win the driver’s championship, announced there will be no team orders. “The drivers know that they need each other. It would have been wrong for us this weekend to remove one of the drivers from the World Championship effectively. If they’re in that situation I’ve every confidence that they will do the best thing for the company, which is to ensure that we achieve the best result. Still a few racing laps before we get there.

“Both drivers can win this World Championship. We’ve backed them all year, and we’ll do it again next weekend. They’ve both got a chance. Some of it will depend on what Fernando (Alonso) does, but we’re going there with an objective to try and win the championship, and I’m sure that they’ll do the best they can to ensure that we lift the trophy.”
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The question that came to mind about the F1 steering wheel sent me off on a search... The results:

This is the Mercedes version... I knew it had to be high tech. Kinda looks like a gamer's control.

1/ MSG OK
Confirms settings dialled in with multi-function dial and menu settings.

2/ Menu scroll buttons
Steps through menus of settings chosen using the master switch (14).

3/ Differential adjustment
Can be shifted to suit track conditions and tyre wear, for instance to increase traction, grip, braking stability and turn-in.

4/ Neutral switch
Engages neutral/reverse.

5/ Front wing switch
Adjusts angle of front flaps to increase downforce.

6/ Radio LED
Illuminates in blue to inform the driver that the pit-to-car radio is active.

7/ Pit-to-car radio
On/off toggle.

8/ Fuel mix adjustment
Adjusts the fuel mix and revs either to preserve the engine or increase performance, as required.

9/ Throttle map override
Adjusts throttle and power characteristics to suit track conditions.

10/ Overtake button
Momentarily increases the engine revs to its 18,000rpm maximum. Helps with overtaking and scaring off pigeons.

11/ Pitlane speed limiter
On/off toggle.

12/ Engine braking level
Particularly useful in the wet for increasing rear-end stability.

13/ Tyre configuration
Optimises car settings for slick, intermediate or wet tyres. Also activates the rear rain light.

14/ Master multifunction switch
Allows the driver to access a number of system settings including engine maps, front wing controls and an aero-mapping function that monitors and maximizes car airflow.
I REALLY like that overtake button...
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IndyCar

Take a look at Honda’s short film, Failure: The Secret To Success (Caution Gene… Danica Patrick is featured here along with other IndyCar racing people and Honda America management). Interesting film if you haven’t seen it…

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Is Chevrolet planning to reenter the IZOD IndyCar series with their racing engines? That’s the rumor circulating for 2012, but GM (Government Motors) hasn’t confirmed as yet. Hopefully they’ll repay America’s tax payers before challenging Honda’s IndyCar dominance… Ya know… I can remember a time when Japan’s automakers were passed off as a joke by the “Big Three” American automakers. That was way back before government mandated safety and emission standards were enacted. The Japanese addressed those problems and kept infiltrating the American market while our auto builders cheapened their products (GM was the worst) in order to meet the regulations and keep profits up. Damned short sighted if you ask me.
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The Edmonton Deal…
Edmonton is off the 2011 IndyCar schedule due to the City of Edmonton wanting to reconfigure the race course around the municipal airport in order to keep a runway open during the event. The city was unwilling to foot the bill for the change while the race promoter, Octane Management, couldn’t afford the changes on their own. Octane’s only option was to shut down the race.
IndyCar Series commercial division president Terry Angstadt commented, “It is tremendously disappointing, particularly after the fanfare of welcoming Octane to the fold and having the press conference with the mayor," Angstadt told the Edmonton Journal. "Just in terms of the way it has happened, it doesn't make you feel terribly welcome. We always say that we need places that want us to be there. We thought we had that in Edmonton. To have this come down and not receive a call is a little shocking."

Currently there’s no make-up race in the offing for the suddenly open July 24th date…
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Hold on tight! It oughta be a great weekend of racing coming up out on two deserts half a world away from each other!