My letter of resignation

Dearest fellow IndyCar fans (as well as anyone who arrived here via Blogger’s “Next blog>>” feature),

It is the with sincerest lack of humor that I am submitting my letter of resignation to you, my readers. For over four years (50 months and one day, in fact) I have endeavored to entertain and inform you, but recent events for me outside the world of racing have left me with little verve to provide for you the coverage of Indy Racing League news at a standard at which I am comfortable. In short, I’ve lost my mojo. So it is that I am effectively ending the run of “My Name Is IRL”, which for the record was always supposed to be pronounced like “Earl” and not “I-R-L”. (It was intended to embrace the slam Gene Simmons once said about how “IRL sounds like a disease”. In case you ever wondered.)

Rest assured my departure has nothing to do with the state of racing. Now, I would be lying if I said I was not concerned at the possibility of the sport transforming itself into a series of events featuring DeltaWings bouncing around the streets of major metropolitan areas because as anyone who has read this site would know that’s obviously (yes, I said "obviously") not what I as a fan would enjoy. But that’s not the reason, because as of right now that’s not what the 2010 season is featuring, and even though I’m resigning from the blogging business by no means am I surrendering my enjoyment of IndyCar racing.

No, this has everything to do with my life and the “Behind the Blog” episode that will never air on VH1. What I can tell you is this departure isn’t because I’m checking into a rehab clinic or battling some medical issue or anything like that, but I won’t divulge anything more than to say I’ve been struggling with some external circumstances that have gotten even more serious in recent weeks. And that seriousness has been weighing on me to the point that I don’t feel like I’m neither following the sport nor writing about it at the level your and I have come to expect. I know it’s cliché, but in this case it's absolutely true that I want and need to spend more time with my (shrinking) family.

In all honesty, I probably should have shut it down at the conclusion of last season. I was hardly posting back then, and even though I’d read innumerable stories about which I thought many of you would like to comment, I just couldn’t put the words together in a way that would make it worth your while to read. I mean, you have a lot of choices where to get your racing news, and since the whole bimergification there have been some incredible IndyCar sites popping up. In recent years the bar for online publications dealing with IndyCars has been raised considerably, and I’d rather say nothing about the topics of the day than waste your time saying something that’s not only already been said, but also been said more interestingly at any number of other sites.

And since this is the end I want to say “thank you” to EVERYONE who has helped me with this site in any capacity, although quite frankly that would be a list too long to even being to compile. That said, I’m compelled at least to publicly acknowledge my appreciation for the efforts of those who have contributed here: Declan Brennan, Dale Nixon, Shane Rogers, the MMack, and even Tony Johns who after a few posts here managed to score a gig at SBNation. (For the record, I’ve used whatever influence I have to request that the good folks at IndyCar.com to replace the link to my site with his.) And I also cannot properly express with words my eternal gratitude to my occasional landlord Roy Hobbson, as well as MoneyCJ and Bill “pressdog” Zahren for being such great friends beyond the realm of blogging ...and I have to stop there before I become overwhelmed with manly tears.

Lastly, I need to thank you, dear reader, whomever you are. When someone starts a blog they do so hoping and praying someone will eventually read it, but when the hits and comments increase to the level I’ve enjoyed here that anticipation turns into a heartfelt feeling of privilege and responsibility. And man, although I have loved having that responsibility for the better part of this run, I also have been keenly aware you deserve a lot more than what I’m able to give you right now. I hope someday the mojo comes back, but that day isn’t today.

And ...well, I guess that's it. Oh, the blog and the sidebar will still be here and I'll still be around on twitter now and then, but the posting portion of the program is now closed for business. So with that, I say to you all one last, heartfelt time - thank you very VERY much, and good night.

Your humble host,

Jeff Iannucci