Category: Videos

By David G. Firestone

I’m currently recovering from a fun filled weekend, where I spent a lot of it enjoying Halloween(more on that later), and watching racing. We had two races at Martinsville, a Truck Series race and a Sprint Cup race. As with all races at Martinsville, fenders got beaten, sheet metal got banged, and tempers flared. There was also a scary “big one” at Martinsville, but no one was seriously hurt. Dale Jr. finally won a grandfather clock, Darrell Wallace Jr won his third race, this one in a special scheme to honor Wendell Scott.

For reasons I can’t understand there is no Nationwide Series between October 10^th and November 1^st. This makes no sense to me because this is the point in the year when fans need it most.

With the Nationwide Series Championship on the line at this point in the season, it makes no sense for the series to stop for one week, let alone two. If this break were spread out, say one race in the spring, and one race in the summer, you could make the battle for the championship better, and at the same time

I’ve said before I think the IndyCar season ends much too early. I didn’t mind the back to back races when it was tried the first time, but now there are 3 back to back races, run on a Saturday and Sunday in the same weekend. This compresses the schedule, and is both physically and mentally draining to the drivers. While I understand that these three races are on street courses, it still makes little sense to hold two physically demanding races back to back. What I would like to see would be Toronto getting the back to back race, and races moved to two other road courses, I’d suggest Road America and Circuit of the Americas, and extend the season for 3 weeks. GIVE THE FANS MORE RACING!

For racing fans, this is a depressing part of the year, because we know the racing seasons are ending, NASCAR has 3 more races, F1 has 3 more races, and the NHRA has 2 more races left in the season. By November 24, all the major racing seasons will be over. November24-January 24 will be the longest 61 days in the year for me because that marks the time where there is no national racing, other than occasional winter testing. I’m gonna enjoy the racing while it lasts, but I will miss it once it is done for the season.

By David G. Firestone

The Contender Round is behind us, the Eliminator Round is upon us, and to my great surprise, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jr., Kyle Busch, and Kasey Kahne were eliminated, and Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth remain. When it comes to these drivers, I’ll give you Denny and Matt, they are both hard nosed drivers with a lot of talent, granted Toyota does not, for whatever reason, seem to have the horsepower it needs. Carl is the only non-Penske Ford left in the Chase, but I don’t think he can win it all, I just don’t think he has the horsepower either. My bet at this point is either Joey Logano or Brad Keselowski, since Penske has gelled as a team, both drivers are great friends, get along well, and work well as teammates. I can’t wait until Homestead to see how this ends.

I don’t pay attention to TV ratings when it comes to racing. I say this as I have a degree in media studies, and I focused on TV production in college. That said, I’m going to be paying attention to the TV ratings on November 2 for the AAA Texas 500 and the US Grand Prix. I’m fascinated by the fact that F1 and NASCAR are racing in the same state at the same time. I don’t know who pulled the trigger on this, but F1 will never be able to win a popularity contest against NASCAR in the United States. It’s just not going to happen. F1 didn’t race in America between 1981-1988, 1992-1999, and 2007-2011. They never had a fan base in the US to begin with, and now, for some reason, Bernie Ecclestone now thinks that F1 can beat NASCAR in a ratings battle, good luck with that.

Formula 1 is used to being the big shot in every country they race at. The minute they come to the US, they are a second banana to NASCAR. They aren’t publicly stating that, but that’s what they are thinking. You know it and I know it. Every other country they go to in a season is a major event. At the Grand Prix of Russia, Vladimir Putin was in the audience. Hell, he gave the trophies to the podium. If F1 expects a politician to attend the race, they’d better expect someone like Anthony Foxx, the Secretary of Transportation, because that is the best they can expect. F1 is irrelevant in the United States. They expect to be the big racing story in the country, they won’t even be the biggest racing story in their state! Above that, both the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans are playing at home so at best they will be the fourth biggest sports story in Texas. Also, the NHRA is having Eliminations from the Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas, thus dropping F1 down to the third biggest racing story on November 2. I want to see the TV ratings for both races to see who won this battle for viewership, and I’m willing to bet it’s going to be NASCAR.

Do I blame F1 for wanting to be more aggressive in the American market? No, F1 wants to tap into American market to boost the sport, add new fans and increase the bottom line. Give Bernie Ecclestone credit for trying because he is very aggressive in forcing his way into the American market. You’ve got the US Grand Prix, there are plans for a street race in New York City for 2015, and he just announced this week that he wants to hold a street race in Las Vegas. Again, he won’t win the battle against NASCAR but give him credit for trying. One reason a lot of Americans don’t like F1, is that we have no vested interest in the sport. No American drivers or teams, so we have nobody to root for. Ask yourself this question, why would you follow a sport where you have no one to root for, and you are not represented? Can’t answer that? I thought so. F1 should focus more on the European and South American markets, where it is huge, and gets great TV ratings and grow the sport more with huge fan bases rather than try and fail to win a country that doesn’t care about it.

I’d like to say something else before I go. I’m a huge Dale Jr. fan, I was a fan of his father, and he is my favorite driver. That being said, can I just say to Junior Nation right now…SHUT UP! Although I like Dale Jr. I’m not myopic enough to expect him to win the Sprint Cup Championship this season, or any season for that matter. Junior is not a championship caliber driver. I will say that publicly, for the record, and I will not apologize or back down from that statement. Junior is the equivalent of the Chicago Cubs, the Cleveland Browns, the New York Knicks, and the St. Louis Blues, all these teams have great fan bases who are dedicated to their teams and follow them and support them, but these teams will never win championships, not now not ever. I’m tired of hearing Junior Nation cry about not winning the championship every year, get over it.

By David G. Firestone

A few weeks ago, I called out the NHRA for having the Carolina Nationals when the track conditions were unsafe. This week, I’m going to call out Formula 1 and the Suzuka Circut promoters for the same thing. What happened on Sunday was beyond unacceptable, and I’m demanding answers.

To recap what happened, at the time of the start of the race, 3 PM local time, the track was drenched by the very northern part of Typhoon Phanfone, a category 1 storm. It was expected that the storm would miss Suzuka, and so the event was allowed to start, but it quickly became clear that the weather was going to be an issue. The race started under the safety car, ran for 3 laps, and was then red flagged due to weather. After a brief red flag period, the race resumed, again under the safety car for the first 9 laps. The race then went back green, and it seemed that it would go the distance. It should be noted that many teams were focusing on lap 40, or 3/4 of the scheduled distance, since at that point the race would be official. Even NBC mentioned the race to lap 40 on several occasions. Visibility was a serious issue, due to the spray coming off the cars, and there was reduced grip, even with the rain tires on.

Lap 40 came and went, but on lap 42, Adrian Sutil in the #98 Sauber-Ferrari hydroplaned off the track. He could not get his car back on the track and a local yellow flag was shown to drivers to warn them of the situation. A tractor was called to the scene to help remove the crippled car. As this is unfolding, Jules Bianchi lost control of his car on lap 43, and slammed into the tractor. It quickly became clear that he was seriously injured. The safety car was deployed, and the race was red flagged on lap 44. The drivers were very concerned with his condition, and the victory lane celebration was subdued, to say the least. As of this writing, Jules Bianci is in critical condition, but he is breathing on his own.

What I want to know is how a sport that is as safety-focused as Formula 1 is could allow a race to be run in such obviously unsafe conditions. Why is Jules Bianci fighting for his life after a situation that could have been easily avoided? The race should have canceled. The promoters would have had to deal with upset fans, but that would have been a small price to pay compared to what played out.

Formula 1 is very concerned about safety. Their fan base is quick to correctly point out that F1 has not had a driver death on track since 1994. I’m giving credit where credit is due, F1 is very good with safety, but today they dropped the ball, and a talented young driver is fighting for his life, and may never race again. I ask again, why wasn’t the race canceled? Racing is a sport where safety can mean the difference between life and death. For this event to have been held in these conditions is beyond unacceptable!

I’ve been following racing for 24 years, I’ve seen too many talented drivers killed in racing for me to be quiet about this! Safety should always take precedent in auto racing. I’m calling out Charlie Whiting, Bernie Ecclestone, Herbie Blash, anyone directly under them and the promoters of Suzuka Circut in Japan. What happend today is beyond unacceptable, and I want explanations for why the race was allowed to run in these conditons! Why did this have to happen when it could have been easily avoided? Who made the decision to run the race in very unsafe conditions? After today, I really don’t care if Charlie Whiting gets sacked. In fact I would like someone involved to get sacked because the ball was dropped.

Jules Bianci is in my thoughts and prayers, as is his family, and I ask the same of my readers. I really hope this story has a happy ending, and I know you do too. I really hope I don’t have to call out another sanctioning body for something like this, but if it happens I will.