Milka for hire

Posted by Iannucci | 3/22/2009 | 23 comments »
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The braintrust at TrackSide Online was the first to let us know today that Milka Duno may not be all that and a signed check.

There are persistent rumors in the paddock that the Milka Duno deal may not happen with NHLR. We have nothing official to go on and caution that this is just speculation, but the rumors are so widespread, we felt it should at least be noted.

She is not here testing and the rumor mill suggests that there could be an issue with a portion of her sponsorship deal. It is important to point out that her deal with Newman Haas Lanigan Racing has never been officially announced. Speculation (and this is clearly speculation) by a large number of people in the paddock is that her chances of actually racing with the team at St. Pete are in the 50/50 range.
This evening, Robin went a step further and said she's gone shopping.

Testing resumes Monday but it appears Milka Duno is looking for a ride. She had practiced with Newman/Haas/Lanigan at Homestead last month and the team had cleared space in its shop to run three cars but evidently her funding fell short of what had been promised.
Meanwhile her would-be teammate Robert Doornbos had the 2nd-fastest lap time of all participants at Barber Motorsports Park today. I believe they share the same "Arctic Ice" sponsor, although no one has said that they are the sponsor in question here. Just throwing that out there in case their logo suddenly disappears from Bobby D's car.

23 comments

  1. Anonymous // March 23, 2009 7:18 AM  

    As long as Haas-Lanigan has enough $$$ to competitively run Doornbros & Rahal I'm just fine with Milka continuing to "go shopping"!!!

    A two car team with drivers Paul Newman would have been proud of... now that allows me to call this team Newman Haas Lanigan again!!!

    Now if they would only fix Graham's Mc Donalds car livery... too much red & in side view the Golden Arches look like Adidas Tri-Stripes (as the logo is folded over the side pod)

  2. Anonymous // March 23, 2009 7:40 AM  

    Arctic Ice?

    Is this going to be another Hollywood cig style deal? A product NOT available in the USA, marketing their product to their fans back in the home country?

  3. Anonymous // March 23, 2009 9:27 AM  

    If only Doornbros still had his Red Bull sugar daddy energy drink $$$...

    ..... I would get my Rahal/ McD's livery redeign. A nice shade of Metallic Blue breaking up all that Happy Meal Red!!! :) :) :) If only the IRL site still had their livery section up...

  4. Iannucci // March 23, 2009 9:29 AM  

    No matter what it would look like, as a father of four, I have to say that the idea of mixing a Happy Meal with Red Bull is UTTERLY INSANE!

  5. Anonymous // March 23, 2009 10:12 AM  

    :) :) :) Or one hell of an entry for America's Whackiest Video's (Kids Attack) ???

    If Arctic Ice is indeed available in the USA.... the same parental nightmare could still happen!!!

  6. Anonymous // March 23, 2009 11:29 AM  

    MaCrappy's & Red Bull?

    Holly Freakin' calorie BOMB Bat Man!

    :) (& my word varification was SHATisp !!!!!!

  7. Anonymous // March 23, 2009 11:36 AM  

    What if they served the SUGAR FREE Toro Rosso?

    Less colories at least... :) :) :)

  8. The American Mutt // March 23, 2009 1:52 PM  

    McDonals=Gross
    Redbull=Gross

    the two together=incredibly Effing GROSS

    but still better than Jaeger and Redbull.

  9. Anonymous // March 23, 2009 3:49 PM  

    Mutt: If you are dead-a$$ tired Red Bull's jolt is pretty tasty :) :) I do like TVR's though (Tequila/ Vodka / & Redbull). RV's are good too!!!

    Mc Donald's french fries are worth the calories every once in a while... just sayin'

  10. The American Mutt // March 23, 2009 8:28 PM  

    AZ,

    Not a fan of their fries, but every once in awhile a big mac or double cheese burgers or a mcchicken. Normally the thought makes me want to retch though. I'm a big fan of Rallys fries, and well Rallys in general.

  11. Anonymous // March 23, 2009 9:26 PM  

    Mutt: Pickin' fast food favs is like trying to choose between the truly hideous helmet liveries of G. Rahal or Will Power over at 16thAnd Georgetown

    Both are probably gonna make ya sick!!! :) :) :)

  12. The American Mutt // March 24, 2009 9:09 AM  

    Azz,

    I miss the Paul Newman movie tribute helmet. That thing was awesome.

  13. Anonymous // March 24, 2009 11:17 AM  

    About 15 minutes ago I was coming back from lunch and G. Rahal was doing some press in front of the Park Hyatt hotel here in Chicago. They had (I think) an old Panoz G-Force done up in Versus livery parked on the street.

    He wasn't exactly, um, mobbed--more like nobody passing by knew who the hell he was--but he was speaking with a couple reporters I didn't recognize and some presumably NHL PR flunkies.

    We made eye contact! But I didn't stop and bother him.

    Chris in Chicago

  14. Anonymous // March 24, 2009 1:20 PM  

    Mutt: The PLN tribute helmet was a work of art... but Young Graham's '09 livery is NOTHING like previous designs. It's as if he asked the helmet painter to use every trick in the book!

    :) :)

    Go to the 16thand G-town blog & see what I mean!

  15. The American Mutt // March 24, 2009 2:18 PM  

    I did go before posting that comment about the Newman helmet. It was...interesting. His helmet left a lot to be desired. I noticed that Marcos seems shaped much different than the rest...particularly around the mouth.

  16. Anonymous // March 24, 2009 2:25 PM  

    Because Marco's is a BELL helmet & it seems like every IRL driver has a deal with ARAI helmets.

    The BELL visor is different too & Marco is wearing the older IRL design as well. Oddly enough Sebastian Bourdais just switched from ARAI to BELL.

  17. The American Mutt // March 24, 2009 3:34 PM  

    AZ,

    I prefer it personally, well strictlyoks like Conway and Barret are using it as well. Did he have the right helmet for Ed Carpenter? Why would Ed have a William Rast helmet? Visos has a nice paint job.

  18. Anonymous // March 24, 2009 6:19 PM  

    I prefer it personally, well strictlyoks like Conway and Barret are using it as well. Did he have the right helmet for Ed Carpenter? Why would Ed have a William Rast helmet? Visos has a nice paint job.

    I was half joking about ARAI helmets because 16th's Brackets have featured a helluva lot of Arai drivers!

    BELL has Marco, Danica, Helio, & I think Darren Manning. Dan Wheldon changes his livery almost every race so he might not wear BELL any more

    Special Ed's helmet is an IMPACT model & it was the correct image. He has a personal service contract with William Rast (not sure if this pimps T. Bell)

    EJ Viso's helmet at the IRL Open Test in February showed that he has already changed liveries for his '09 helmet. It looks better than what 16th posted

  19. The American Mutt // March 24, 2009 7:10 PM  

    That was supposed to say strictly on looks. I effin' hate touchpads on laptops.

  20. Anonymous // March 24, 2009 7:21 PM  

    I wish this blog had an "EDIT" button like some message boards... I copied your message to assist me in my response & then I forgot to blow it out before entering my comments.... DOH!

  21. The American Mutt // March 25, 2009 8:53 AM  

    I may be in the minority on this, but I love the William Rast paint scheme, and miss Bells car from Indy. That thing was sweet--looked much better in person.

  22. Anonymous // March 25, 2009 11:17 AM  

    The William Rast race car livery is AWESOME....

    ... Ed's WR helmet livery is NOT on par with race car livery!!! JMO

  23. Anonymous // March 25, 2009 2:04 PM  

    Gotta agree with Jeff-O... WR race car sweet! Ed's WR helmet not so sweet!!!

    Even Townsend Bell didn't wear a Flat Olive, WR matching helmet.

    JMO, but like many of the Indy drivers, Ed needs to spring some $$$ & hire a designer to comp him some designs (before he just trusts the helmet painter)!!!