I’m sure all of us have heard that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is leaving the home stable of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) to join Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) at the end of this Nascrap season.  What amazes me is all the publicity that is circling the current status of his Budweiser sponsorship and who owns the rights to his number “8″ (sidebar, if he doesn’t get to take the number ‘8′ to HMS, it singlehandedly sabatoges a great nascrap shirt, which should be available soon).

In typical fashion, the nascrap way of doing things is to arbitrarily assign numbers to a team, with no rhyme, reason, or significance.  This is in contrast to Formula 1, where the previous champion drives the #1 car, regardless of his team.  His teammate then is issued #2, and it goes on with some written protocol from there that I will not claim to know every nuance of and I’m too lazy to research the answer.

Nascar has stepped in to say they “own” the numbers in an effort to end what will likely become a bidding war.  They also face a big dilemna…will the fans pay hard-earned money to update their Jr. wardrobe and replace the ever popular window sticker’s should Jr. be issued a new digit?  This is amongst all the backlash regarding the boring product, fixing races with unnecessary caustion flags, and increasing ticket prices.

Merchandising excutives are likely in favor of a different number because it translates to an abundance of easy targets that will need to update their wardrobe of Budweiser & tattered number “8″ t-shirts.  Hell, they probably won’t even need to advertise…distribute product and sell!

Budweiser is also contracted with DEI through the end of the 2008 season.  I’d like to find out who the rocket-scientist is that inked that deal at Anheuser-Busch.  Lets sponsor a driver, one year past the end of his current contract with his current team.  Never fear, I’m sure the lawyers will figure out how to get out of that deal, if they haven’t done so already.

There is no significance in the numbers, or the sponsors, so who cares what digit is on the car?  Everyone forgets that Sr. drove a blue & yellow Ford Thunderbird, sponsored by Wrangler, with the number #15 on it.  Sponsorships come and go, and so do insignificant numbers.

Either way, I’m buying stock in a razor blade company, because all those ‘necks out there will be scraping either a Budweiser or an “8″ sticker off their car, or possibly both.  Maybe they should come out with an “8″ sticker with a halo and angel wings on either side…

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Technorati Tags: Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Dale Earnhardt, Inc., DEI, Hendrick Motorsports, HMS, Nascrap, Formula 1, Nascar, Jr., Budweiser, Anheuser-Busch, Ford, Wrangler

First off, I have to apologize on behalf of Steve and myself to anyone who was reading our little racing blog.  Over 2 months without any posts is ridiculous, especially during the summer racing season when things are at their busiest.  Some new content will begin to be posted with some form of regularity and I will do my best to stay away from re-hashing any retrospective events that already have been over-analyzed to death in the media.

Peter Windsor congratulated & Felipe Massa acknowledged Bridgestone for their 100th pole position in Formula 1 at the Bahrain Grand Prix during the post-qualifying driver interviews.  Is it really a milestone when you are competing against yourself?  At the end of this season, Bridgestone will have a total of 114 pole positions and claimed every pole in 2007.  Some might say, “Impressive,” not really when Michelin leaves the series a year early & you are the exclusive tire supplier to every team competing.  I also don’t think any of the poles won while there is a single tire supplier should be included in their numbers & stats….so by my calculations lets just call it 97 & holding….

Another interesting hypothetical related to tires that I will make no attempt to answer on my own: How close would the driver’s championship be with Michelin still in the game?  Would Renault be so far behind?  Would McLaren-Mercedes be so much improved?  Would BMW Sauber be even stronger on Michelins?  Where would Ferrari be in regards to the other heavy hitters?  By pulling out of competition a year before the single-tire contract went in to effect in 2008, did Michelin single-handedly rob F1 fans of an even more competitive championship fight?  How very French of them, “I surrender.”

What kind of tires are on your car???

Technorati Tags: Peter Windsor, Felipe Massa, Bridgestone, Formula 1, Bahrain Grand Prix, Michelin, Renault, McLaren-Mercedes, BMW Sauber, Ferrari

In a galaxy far, far away…

That is about the only place where what Felipe Massa did makes sense!

In an article on Autosport.com, Felipe Massa defends his tactics in attempting to pass Lewis Hamilton. What Felipe fails to mention, is that he attempted to pass Hamilton three times: and failed all three times. After losing the lead from pole at the start of the Malaysian Grand Prix, Felipe Massa was passed not only by Fernando Alsono from P2, but Lewis Hamilton starting in P4.

Massa’s retort:

But the only certainty I had was that, having lost position to Fernando (Alonso) and to Lewis, I knew that if I did not pass Lewis as soon as possible, my race was effectively over.

The best I could have finished would have been third at that point. With me due to refuel on lap 17 and Lewis three laps later, I would never have overtaken him in the run of pit stops and so the only course open to me was to try and pass him on the track.

That is why I said to myself that I did not want to sit behind him, looking at the back of a McLaren for the whole race!

So, finishing in 6th and looking at the back of Nick Heidfeld’s BWM Sauber was a better view?

In an earlier post, Massa’s feats were on display. This is where one must draw the line. There is no defense of trying to pass Hamilton three times through corner 4. There were other places where overtaking were quite possible, including, the area where Kimi began setting up Hamilton for a pass towards the end of the race. Massa was just impetutous. After slipping a spot from the start to Alsono, Massa had to realize his race was for 2nd. Being impatient and trying to drive the faster Ferrari through a series of lower speed corners in an effort to pass the quicker McLaren was foolish.

Massa should have position himself to use the speed of the Ferrari going into turn one to over take the Hamilton. This was the strategy of Raikkonen during the end of the race. It seemed more effective. Raikkonen reduced the gap between himself and Hamilton by over 5 seconds and appeared poised to the take the pass Hamilton if the race had been a few laps longer.

Technorati Tags: Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen, Formula One, F1

It was like watching the implosion of a dysfunctional family:

First Juan Pablo Montoya, the little brother with everything to prove of Formula One, wrecks his car - wait, not only his car, but his teammates, too. Then he runs away from home to join the circus… the Oval Circus©.

Then, the first-born, pride and joy, all-Finnish son, Kimi, decides to leave home. He’s had enough with dad’s overbearning ways… and instead of going to Yale, he goes to Princeton, just to spite his dad and his alma mater.

Ron Dennis, had to be crushed. Or was he?

In some ways, it looks like it was too easy to clean house. On the one hand, you get ride of the bad-boy, numb-nuts of F1 (Juan Pablo) and on the other hand, you get rid of the one of the most gifted, but laziest driver’s on the circuit (Raikkonnen). And you get to replace them with newly minted F1 prodigy Lewis Hamilton, and two time reigning world chamption Fernando Alonso. OH THE TRAGEDY!

Ron Dennis probably wakes up every morning to the sound of his own laughter after getting out of the mess that JPM and Raikkonen created for him.

Technorati Tags: Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren, Mercedes, Formula One, NASCAR

Did I hear a snicker from Michael Schumacher? That had to be. Ferrari is still in the points despite themselves.

Starting Kimi Raikkonen with a de-tuned engine in order that he can make it through the race is a gutsy move. Letting Felipe Massa drive a Formula One car is even more of a gutsy move. My contention is this: a Ferrari, even with a damaged engine, is a more reliable car than McLaren Mercedes put under Kimi during the prior 3 years. Second, Felipe Massa was completely outdriven by a F1 rookie: Lewis Hamilton.

Ferrari’s reliability was legendary when Schumacher was driving for them. It was so legendary that when Michael suffered a mechanical failure at Suzuka during last year’s Driver Championships, one had to look back to 2000 at the Circuit de Nevers, Magny Cours, France for his last engine failure. To that end, Kimi completed his second race on his engine as required by the FIA regulation despite the fact that is suffered an overheating due to low coolant level at the end of the Australian Grand Prix 3 weeks ago. Ferrari’s decision to run the engine, despite the coolant issue was due to their overwhelming confidence in their engine’s reliability. They even simulated the the effects Kimi’s race engine experienced by running the test car in a similar, low-coolant, level tests. After dissecting the engine, they felt that Kimi’s engine would be reliable to complete the scheduled 56 laps in 100*F ambient temperature Malaysian Grand Prix. That is confidence; that is reliability.

My other point is this: What the hell was Massa doing?
Clearly, he had the faster car. It appeared the Ferrari had taken a bit of wing off so that they were quicker in the straight-a-ways than the McLaren Mercedes; however, even the heavier fuel-ladened McLaren was quicker, more nimble through the technical sections of the track. And yet, Massa insisted on trying to pass Lewis Hamilton through turn 4! Not only did he try and fail; he tried and failed, miserably. It cost him 3 places in the end. While BMW is coming on strong this season. They still did not carry the race pace of Ferrari or McLaren/Mercedes. Yet, Massa could not get past Nick Heidfeld, either. It is tough to consider that if Kimi had a fresh engine that he could have potentially placed better than 3rd. He was attacking Hamilton and it appeared inevitable that the Finn would have taken him had the race been a few laps longer, or Massa would have gotten out of his way earlier!

But you do not have to take my word for it. For your viewing pleasure!…

Technorati Tags: Michael Schumacer, Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, Formula One, F1, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes

“Boy, oh boy, if you just spent USD$300 million to engineer a car to go 1.5 seconds slower than last year’s, you could have bolted on 10 kilos of lead for 10 bucks,” said SpeedTV’s Steve Matchett after knock-out round two of the Austrailian Grand Prix’s qualifying.

He was referring to Honda’s factory team’s failure to make it to the final knock-out phase. This is most poignant in the wake of both Super Aguri’s qualifying higher than the factory works car.

Why you ask? Well, regardless of the customer-car controversy, Super Aguri is driving old(er) technology. The SA07 is simply a modified version of Honda’s 2006 factory F1 chassis. Honda has developed a new chassis and transfered the intellectual property rights to last year’s car to Super Aguri. Whether this constitutes a violation of the Concorde Agreement is topic of another debate which Spyker and Williams will take up in short order.

The fact of the matter is, that Honda is out. That is the story. However, I feel Super Aguri’s fortune is short-lived. Super Aguri has felt the pressure of Spyker and Williams and are undertaking the design of a new chassis. This will undoubtedly put them to the back of the pack, which is what Spyker and Williams want. This brings the customer car question to a head. What is, or more importantly, is not a customer car?

[I really want to write an in-depth piece on this matter, but really haven’t found the time… so this is a short defense of Super Aguri.]

Spyker purchased Midland towards the end of the 2006 season. Spyker raced the Midland chassis with a Toyota engine. This scenario did not violate the Concorde Agreement’s ban on customer cars because Sypker presumably purchased the intellectual property rights to the Midland chassis in the purchase.

Honda (the factory program) designs, and therefore, owns the intellectual property rights to its chassis. If they decided to leave Formula One in the mid-season and sell their program to Spyker, Spyker could purchase and run the Honda chassis and it would not be considered a customer car. This is identical to the scenario above, just replace the name “Honda” for “Midland.”

The key to these transactions is that the company can sell the intellectual property inherent in the chassis. This is clearly what Midland did when transferring the property rights to the ‘06 chassis to Spyker. (Theoretically, Spyker could have driven the unmodified chassis this year.)

This being said, if Super Aguri purchased the chassis and the intellectual property rights from Honda, thereby precluding Honda from returning to that chassis, each team has a unique chassis on the grid. Which is the goal of the Concorde Agreement for the purpose of a Constructor’s Championship. Spyker’s argument against Super Aguri driving the 2006 Honda chassis as a customer car fails. Super Aguri is driving a customer car inasmuch as Spyker drove a customer car in 2006.

The real issue regarding customer cars relates to Red Bull and Toro Rosso.

Ford Motor Company announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Aston Martin business to a consortium comprised of David Richards, John Sinders, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co.

David Richards, founder and chairman of Prodrive, runs the Aston Martin Racing team in international sports car series, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans; the Subaru World Rally Team, in the World Rally Championship; and Ford Performance Racing in the Australian V8 Supercar series.

Prodrive enters Formula One in 2008. Will they extend the Aston Martin name to F1? It should be interesting. As factory teams begin to dominate the series, teams like Williams, Spyker and even Red Bull/Toro Rosso struggle to keep pace with them. If Prodrive enters as an independent team, it clearly tilts the track away from their favor. However, if they enter with the support of Aston Martin as a factory team, it will really catapult them towards the top 5 in a hurry.

Technorati Tags: Formula One, Aston Martin, David Richards, Prodrive, Ford

This op-ed piece is another real good reason. It touches on many issues including the mentality of the fans, their hypocrisy, and the ignorance NASCAR itself.

Technorati Tags: NASCAR, NASCRAP, Formula One, F1

Today, Renault announced it was leaving the GPMA, effective immediately. So what?

First of all, what is the GPMA?
The Grand Prix Manufacturers Association (GPMA) is an alliance of car manufacturers that participate in Formula One and are committed to improving Grand Prix motor racing.

Who is in this “alliance”?

• BMW
• DaimlerChrysler
• Honda
• Renault, until today

Quick note: That was four out of 11 teams, or 36%.

What is the aim of the GPMA?
The aim of the GPMA was to negotiate with the commercial rights holder of Formula One to ensure the racing series would remain the pinnacle of motor sports while trying to maintain reasonable return on investment for the teams involved. (This is a really nice way of saying: trying to leverage Bernie Ecclestone to share the wealth or else they would make the manufacturers would make their own racing league).

Why did Renault drop out now?
With the expiration of the existing Concorde Agreement of 1997, the teams were emboldened to take on the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone to force changes on the racing series that were in the best interest of the manufacturers as opposed to Bernie’s wallet, as had been the case in during the previous 10 years. As a lever in the mechanics of negotiation, several of the teams formed the GPMA as a bargaining unit. With a large contingent of teams involved (originally Toyota was part of the GPMA, too), they represented a rather loud collective voice. A voice that was saying to the FIA, “change or we will leave and make our own series.”

Bernie heard this voice and on November 16, 2006, the FIA and the GPMA agreed-to-agree. Rules would change to benefit the manufacturers and F1 would stay F1 without a competing league.

So, why did Renault leave?
With the collective voice being rather effective, why did Renault leave the association that forced Bernie Ecclestone’s hand and saved Formula One? First of all, nothing is free. The GPMA is a nice way to say “lobbyist.” Paying lobbyists isn’t cheap. One way to cut down the cost of the sport is to reduce the ancillary costs associated with running the program, such as maintaining dues with an irrelevant trade association.

Second, Renault may be signalling the end of its presence in the series as a true “manufacturer.” That is, they may stop building chassis and complete racing systems. Notice their press release. It states:

Renault has reinforced its long-term commitment to the sport through an engine supply deal with Red Bull Racing beginning in 2007, and looks forward to collaborating with its fellow manufacturers and the FIA on a future vision for the sport…

To me, that reads, “We are done as a team. Alonso left us; Fisichella is a putz. Our engines are pretty good. So we will keep making them.”

Technorati Tags: Formula One, F1, FIA, Renault, Fernando Alonso, Giancarlo Fisichella, Bernie Ecclestone