This just in from Alex Lloyd's twitter account:

So I have decided to leave Ganassi Racing. I need to explore my options and get into a race car and to do that I need to be a free agent.

CGR have worked hard to find funding and I appreciate their efforts, I need to get back behind the wheel and this gives me my best chance.

In 2007 Alex utterly destroyed the Indy Pro Lights series, winning 8 of 15 events and finishing in the Top 5 an eye-popping 13 times. It seemed to be a huge step for Lloyd's career when he agreed to a development contract with Chip Ganassi, but other than a few Gran-Am races all it developed for Alex was two starts in the Indy 500. Well, that and a VERY pink firesuit.

Maybe the fact that Dan Wheldon left and Alex was not promoted into his spot played into this. Maybe the activities behind Robin Miller's recent proclamation that Scott Dixon might be leaving TCGR and replacements being considered are not named "Alex Lloyd" sealed the deal. Speculation aside, all the best of luck to Lloyd in his search for employment.

Photo: TrackSide Online

Before I write anything else in this post I'd like to personally thank you for reading it. I'm completely serious. THANK YOU!!! You, dear reader, are the kind of person that represents the hope and future of the IndyCar series today. Maybe not as an individual you don't, but collectively by actively seeking out social media sites about the IndyCar series you are changing the way racing is done.

Don't believe me? Here's proof: Today, the IndyCar series did something incredible - they offered an explanation for a debris caution. So sayeth the reporting machine that is Dave Lewandowski today at IndyCar.com.

It's Lap 150 of the Bombardier Learjet 550k and a Delphi Safety Team member of Safety 1, ever-vigilant to the racing conditions, breaks the relatively low radio transmissions to report to Indy Racing League track safety coordinator Dave Brown that he's spotted debris between Turns 1 and 2 of the 1.5-mile tri-oval.

Brown confirms receipt and race steward Brian Barnhart calls for a yellow flag to inspect the track and subsequently requests sweepers to remove tire marbles in the corners. The caution interrupts Ryan Briscoe's ride alone under a full moon, during which he built an 11.2-second lead on his closest pursuer, Marco Andretti.

Though not shown during the TV broadcast, a bolt that fastens each of the four titanium wear bars to the undertray is collected from the racing groove between the turns (where there's a bump above the infield tunnel). Also, carbon fiber shards from a Lap 2 incident involving three cars that have been sucked onto the asphalt and a piece of a brake rotor are picked up.

That's right - two days after the fact the league decided to commission their online media outlet to write an entire story in response to something as otherwise mundane as a yellow flag. This yellow flag, however, was perhaps critical to the race, as then leader Ryan Briscoe had an 11-second lead and looked on course to lap everybody save Brian Barnhart himself.

So who exactly is this response intended to reach? Is the other teams? Well, other than Ryan Briscoe they all benefited. Heck, Briscoe's teammate won the race, so I can't imagine Roger Penske is still troubled by the caution. Is it to the mainstream media? Well, I didn't see too many reports from them proclaiming outrage.

Well then who WAS pitching a fit about this over the last 48 hours? You were, that's who. You left your comments here and at pressdog's and elsewhere. You got your anger on at TrackForum. You tweeted to, in the immortal words of Jack Arute, "describe the feeling" of watching Briscoe's lead vanish because of some unseen debris. In short, you were a whole lotta angry fans in a sport that can't afford to drive away the point-whatever rating of viewers that still exist. And today, the sport responded.

So thank you, dear reader, for expressing your opinion on the matter, because there can be no doubt that your collective voice helped to prompt this explanation offered today. Regardless of whether or not the explanation is true (and really, I'm not going to go there) it indicates that someone in the offices at 16th and Georgetown is hearing your outrage. Keep hope alive that in the future they'll take pressdog's advice and work a little explanation of any future debris caution to the broadcasting teams and avoid this outrage altogether.

What does this one say?



(Photo: TrackSide Online)

Richard Antinucci, who was not only the runner-up to the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights title but is also at least within six degrees of separation from being my extremely distant cousin, will officially be making his IndyCar series debut this season.

Team 3G today announced that winning Indy Lights driver Richard Antinucci will join Team 3G for the Camping World Grand Prix at Watkins Glen on July 5. Richard is considered one of the best up-and-coming American IndyCar drivers, having finished runner-up in the 2008 Indy Lights Championship.

The team and driver will start preparing for the IndyCar event by testing in Watkins Glen on June 9th and 10th. This will give Richard an opportunity to learn the IndyCar, and also begin to work with Greg Beck, Owen Snyder, and the rest of the Team 3G crew.

"We are thrilled to have an opportunity to work with such a young and talented driver such as Richard" said Team 3G co-owner Greg Beck. "He has proven that he can be a consistent winner in open wheel racing, and he has won at Watkins Glen in an Indy Lights car".

As you might recall, Richard is the nephew of 1998 Indy 500 winner Eddie Cheever, and if Eddie and Watkins Glen are going to be mentioned in the same post then contractual obligations require linking to video of the 2006 IndyCar race at The Glen.



(Photo: TrackSide Online)

The following is NOT an actual internal memo circulating the offices of VERSUS this morning...but it should be.

Dearest Members of the VERSUS family,

We have heard today that many of you are fielding numerous calls from viewers who are angry that there was no visible footage of the debris that brought about the caution at Lap 150 of Saturday Night's IndyCar race. We apologize for placing you in the position and assure you the debris was real. Probably. Members of the Delphi Safety Team could CLEARLY be seen for at least three seconds backing up and stepping out of their Honda Ridgeline at the exit of Turn Two during the caution period, but we couldn't see what they actually might have picked up.

As you may have noticed it was a rather hot weekend in Texas, and quite frankly none of the camera crew wanted to venture beyond the air-conditioned trailers to set up cameras on the back stretch. As a consequence, only one was set up along the inside wall right next to a beer vendor, which may have had some bearing on the camera work.

Of course, without adequate television coverage the exit of Turn Two turned out to be quite a happening place. Graham Rahal took out two drivers in the opening laps and we couldn't see one of them (EJ Viso). Later in the race when AJ Foyt IV put it in the wall we had literally nothing. Honestly, we didn't even know he was still in the race at that point.

We realize this makes our Indy Racing League partner look bad, especially Brian Barnhart who has now risks becoming the lone gunman of phantom debris. Please do not share this with those outside of the VERSUS family, but we were told the debris was first noticed only by Jaques Lazier, either because it came from the jalopy Team 3G stuck him with or because he was the only driver traveling slow enough to see it.

Lazier and his team informed Race Control about the debris early in the race, but unfortunately Barnhart had fallen asleep around Lap 50 after devouring a healthy portion of Nachos. When he awoke about 100 laps later he became visibly angry when he realized that racers had completed a round of green flag pitstops during his slumber. Barnhart asked if any debris had been noticed, and when informed of Lazier's report nearly an hour prior Barnhart immediately called for a caution.

Like many of you, we too heard the ironic possibility that this caution period may have been brought about by then-leader Ryan Briscoe brushing the wall. This remains unconfirmed because this incident would have occurred during the 13 seconds of the race we were not showing Penske cars on Saturday. We had Robbie Floyd ask Roger Penske off-camera if Briscoe had touched the wall, but the conversation was not unlike when John Stossel questioned professional wrestler "Dr Death" David Schultz. Needless to say, this will foreveer be a mystery.

Again, we apologize for our logistical errors in not being able to accurately show the debris, but rest assured that steps are being taken so that in the future we will be able to televise the entirety of the racing track at Texas Motor Speedway. Have have ordered more cameras, portable air-conditioning units, and a yearlong supply of amphetamines for our friends in the IRL.

Sincerely,

The Management

Welcome to Texas, where everything is bigger. Allegedly. I can't confirm that, but I can attest that this race is one of the most anticipated races every year because it features three-wide racing unlike any other track. And that, my friends, gets us fire up!

Woo-hoo! Yeah! Something about it just makes me wanna inexplicably yell "Sne-va!"

Amid the excitement try to pay attention to Dario Franchitti tonight. He's driving the blue and black "Energizer Bunny" scheme that Scott Dixon has sported each of the last three seasons. '07 at Watkins Glen, '08 and '09 at Nashville - all three races Dixon won. Dario is a lock. You can't deny the power of the bunny.

No further facts are necessary. It's time to start.

0: Tony Kanaan is being interviewed by Jack Arute.

0: Congratulations to the Carpenters and the Lloyds on their new additions. Ed just deadpanned "We'd all go out on a date, go home and do our thing..."

0: Arute in the Sky Lair introducing footage of Shaq changing the tire on and IndyCar. He's veeeeeerrrrrry ssssllloooowwww. This is why the Suns didn't make the playoffs. Can Phoenix please have Shawn Marion back now?

0: Arute is now in the truck interviewing Helio. In the stands, in the Sky Lair, on the truck - ye gods, they've cloned the man!

0: Footage of Tomas Scheckter throwing his gloves at Marco. That NEVER gets old.

0: NostraBeekhuis is explaining the rear wing additions that help make the racing at Texas so awesome. And he did it in such a way that I actually understood it. Excuse me, I need to go retake my SATs right now.

0: Shaq says "Texas Motor Speedway, are you ready? I said, TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY, ARE YOU READY? Ladies and gentlemen, START YOUR ENGINES!!!!!"

0: Jack Arute back in the pits.

1: And we are green. And the Big Two Penske and Ganassi cars jet beyond everyone else.

2: On board with Rafa Matos as he's passing people very few hundred yards.

2: Yellow! Milka and Graham Rahal sliding against the inside wall. Both cars are shedding parts. P1 and P2 have a little disappointment here as they had Moraes and Conway in "first out" here.

3: Looks like EJ got into this as well. Oh, no - not again. Replays show Graham Rahal's car went EVIL, snapped into EJ and collected Milka as well.

5: Replay also shows Ed Carpenter had a BIG moment as well. Great save by Ed in the retina-burning #20.

8: Jaques Lazier is in the pits. Fixing any number of things on that Team 3G car.

11: AAnd we're finally back to green.

12: Briscoe and Franchitti, side-by-side, nearly banging tires. SNE-VA!!!!

17: Marco and Kanaan are battling for 8th. Kanaan started 16th, and he's had just about enough of bad luck these last two races.

25: Briscoe, Franchitti, Helio, Dixon, Danica are your leaders. Marco is closing in on Mrs Hospenthal though.

35: Been lots of passing through the field, athough the front three of Briscoe, Franchiti and Dixon seem to be pulling away. Helio 4th, Wheldon 5th.

42: Jack Arute interviewing Milka Duno. I have no idea what Milka said. Could have been insulting Jack for calling her a "Chihuahua" last year for all I know.

46: Mike Conway is now in the pits, but for one of those extended stops where they take the cowling off the motor. Don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon, son. Beats being the wall, I guess.

50: I'll be honest with you: 50 laps in and all I can think is where did the three-wide racing at Texas go?

54: Racers are starting to pit. I'm guessing the Ganassi cars will pit last.

56: Briscoe, Dario and Dixon all pit. All leave in the same order.

57: Helio is the last to pit.

58: Check that: Ed Carpenter and Sarah Fisher will be the last to pit.

62: Saving fuel didn't seem to help Ed much. He's in 14th and about to be lapped by Briscoe.

70: Briscoe, Franchitti, Dixon, Helio...everyone else racing for 5th, which happens to be Marco.

80: Nothing is happening. This is Texas and the cars have separated and the four Ganassi and Penske cars are running away. Briscoe is in the front and Dixon, Helio and Dario are battling occasionally behind him. How shocking.

90: The Briscoe Inferno is leading by 6 seconds. Maybe my mind has gone fuzzy but I can't remember the last time someone led by 6 seconds at Texas.

100: Not content with destroying Texas, General Briscoe is now burning Atlanta. Also lapping Tony Kanaan in 9th.

110: Briscoe ahead by 9 seconds. Has lapped the field up to Marco in 5th. Four cars left on the lead lap as Briscoe is rolling the field like tanks through Sudetenland.

117: Helio and Dixon were briefly wheel-to-wheel battling for 2nd. Helio pulls ahead to make it Penske, Penske, Ganassi, Ganassi...it's like a cure for insomnia.

125: Briscoe still ahead by 8.7 seconds. Blowing the trumpet and knocking down the walls of Jericho.

128: Marco around Franchitti for 4th. Huzzah! Also, it seems Wheldon and Danica in 6th and 7th are still hanging on the lead lap. Everyone else has succumbed to Briscoe the Hun's invasion.

136: Marco gets past Helio for 3rd. Come on Marco - let's, break up this party.

141: Marco around Dixon for 2nd. Woo-hoo! SNE-VA!!! Only Briscoe ahead of him...by over 10 seconds. *slamming head on keyboard*

149: Here's Ryan Briscoe driving all by himself. It's like he's not even on the same track. I don't think Marco is even in the same time zone. 11.

151: Yellow! Total I've never been so happy to see a phantom debris yellow. I could hug Brian Barnhart right now.

153: Pitstops for everyone. No mix ups, but Briscoe tries to throw a block on Tony Kanaan who short-filled and beat everyone out to get his lap back. Leaders are still Briscoe, Andretti, Castroneves, Dixon, Franchitti.


157: Hideki Mutoh is in the pits. Looks like his day his done. Maybe he's got a hot date.

159: Back to green!

160: And Helio begins battling Marco for second....and he's around him, Penske back in 1st and 2nd.

162: And Dixon's around Marco. Dario on Andretti's rear wing now.

166: Helio has caught Briscoe, and now the Penske cars may soon batle to see who gets to kick the most butt. Or they may fall into formation.

168: Marco's hanging in 4th and Dan Wheldon is now challenging Dario for 5th. Come on Dan! I'm in full support of anyone ready to break up this Big Two stranglehold.

174: Yellow! Looks like AJ Foyt IV may be in the wall. Like the wreck on lap two, it's not a very camera-friendly incident.

176: Looks like Quattro is out an walking around. Everyone is going in for their final pit stops. On the exit it's...Helio, Briscoe, Dixon, Dario, Marco. Penske, Penske, Ganassi, Ganassi. Oh well, Wheldon right behind Marco.

178: VERSUS shows a package with Johnny Rutherford discussing the 1976 Indy 500. That was probably one of the more interesting moments tonight.

181: Dan Wheldon radio's in that he wants to do what Helio did at Kentucky last year. Presumably that means conserve fuel.

183: We go green and Marco, who's been running the high line most of the day, tries to go low on Dario. Can't get it done.

185: Well it only took 185 laps but we've finally got 8 cars running within a second of each other. Hope you're still awake. The guy in 8th: Tony Kanaan.

190: Marco is going backwards as Dan and Danica have both gotten around him.

191: Now Kanaan is around Marco. Now Danica is around Dan. Now Marco is back around Tony and Wheldon. SNEEEEEE-VAAAA!!!!! Helio, Briscoe, Dixon, Dario ahead of them.

195: Robbie Buhl just said "Danica needs to get up there and get on the gearbox of Dario Franchitti." Pretty sure that's on her to-do list, Robbie.

200: Penske, Penske, Ganassi, Ganassi, Danica. The first three are close but Dario and the rest are dropping back a bit.

207: Bob Jenkins informs us "By the way, AJ Foyt IV is OK. He thinks something broke on the car and by the looks of things he's right." *rimshot*

213: Battling for 5th, Danica just threw a HUGE block on Marco. To quote one of her commercials, "You think this is wring? This is just teamwork."

215: With TEN laps to go we're watching commercials.

216: We're back and we have no more crawl. Just footage of the two Penske cars pulling away, so maybe it doesn't matter.

224: White flag for Helio.

225: Helio wins, and you know a guy like Eddie Gossage won't stop him from climbing his fence.

Briscoe, who had such a strong car and lead 160 laps tonight, takes second. It's gonna be Prime Rib tonight for Team Penske. Dixon is third, Dario is...wait, Marco got around Dario for fourth! Golf lap in the My Name Is IRL World HQ as Andretti 3.0 breaks up the stranglehold. Danicker sixth for her fifth consecutive Top 10.

No offense to Helio but I'm a little bit stunned. There were moments of actual racing but something went horribly wrong tonight. Where did the three-wide racing go? I expect the pack to separate at Indy, but not here. Even Scott Dixon, who's wearing his sunglasses at night, is complaining that the racing was stunted. He thinks they need to "open up the rules".

I'd rant more, but apparently Marco is even more fired up that Danica was throwing an epic series of block parties. Says he told Danica "We're gonna have to talk...three out of four of us get the camaraderie so we need to have a sit down." I'm sure Michael will be thrilled to hear his son talking like this.

Danica response includes the line "I didn't make it hard when he got next to me." And that pretty much sums it up. Time to give Helio a ten-gallon hat and a couple of six-shooters so we can wrap this event up. Thank you very much folks, and good night.

For a while there was a Japanese driver in the IndyCar series by the name of Kosuke Matsuura - or as he is more commonly known, the "Sofa King" - and in 2006 he answered a questionnaire thusly:

Q: What are your off-season plans?
A: "This season ends kind of early - in September. I don't have anything to do. I'll go back to Japan. I don't spend any time in the U.S. in the off-season. I train and spend time with my friends and try to find a girlfriend.”

Yes, sad but true but in this vast land of millions of eligible ladies poor Kosuke was unable to find a suitable companion. Kosuke is now long gone, but it appears the problem continues as YET ANOTHER lonely Japanese driver is wandering the IndyCar series. Tony Kanaan shares the sad details with us.



Alrighty, American women - how does this happen? I've seen scads of you throwing yourselves at the most fugly of American race car drivers (read: Kyle Busch) but you mean tell me there aren't ANY of you who would bother to seek the companionship of a fine young Japanese lad? What IS the deal with your disaffection of the Japanese?

Is is their obsessive fascination with golf and video games? Is it the hairless chests? Is it the creepy female companion robots the Japanese keep producing? What's the matter here?

You need to look in your collective mirrors, American women, and you need to face the facts. Hideki Mutoh is a fun guy, he doesn't cause problems, and as I can personally attest to his brief dialogue with P2 last year he's good with kids. Oh, and he's a FREAKING RACE CAR DRIVER.

I'm going to join Tony in pleading with you all to help Hideki find someone with whom he can share a little sushi. American women, please, before Honda becomes personally offended at our national insult, we need one of you to step up and spare our country from this avoidable shame. Do it. Date Hideki. If you act fast enough you might even get to hang with Danica.

A few days ago Matt at The Other Side had a cheeky little post about Tomas Scheckter, saying he was quitting racing so he could sell MonaVie fulltime. As we now know know, Scheckter will still be driving - nine more races this year we're told - but the truth is he will also actually be selling the bottles of berry juice, which has to be some kind of a first for the top level of open-wheel racing in America.

For those who don't know, MonaVie is an energy drink that comes in containers that look like wine bottles, and it includes among other unknown ingredients the highly touted "acai berry". I'm not here to promote the stuff, so if you want to learn more go Google it yourself. You can't buy MonaVie in a store because it's only sold through licensed individuals, which is a nice way of saying it's distributor ship model uses Multi-Level Marketing. That's MLM for those in the know, and by the way don't you dare call it a "Pyramid Scheme" because if you do you'll get flaming comments like you can't imagine.

(Full Disclosure: I once was hired to do database programming for company that had an internet provider business, but was was soon transitioned to work instead on their MLM website organization. That didn't work out.)

It's often said that race car drivers are salesman for companies, that sponsors need "activation" in directly promoting their products by using the driver of the car they have sponsored, but what Tomas is doing is taking this to a literal level. Scheckter is a licensed distributor for MonaVie and he's been working his celebrity and his twitter - all decked out in MonaVie to help generate sales.

Email me at tomasenergy@googlemail.com if you interested in been part of my monavie distribution team !!!!!!!

Wanna send an email to that address? This is the response you get.

Thank you for expressing an interest in being a member of my Monavie distribution/racing team. This product has changed my life and I am confident you will like it also. If you are looking for better health and wealth, you are at the right place at the right time. To get started, go to my web site at [link removed]. There you will be able to learn about this amazing nutritional beverage that allows you to get your daily recommended amount of fruits and vegetables by drinking 2 oz in the morning and 2 oz in the evening. Each case has four bottles in it and will last you one month. We have 3 formulas. The first is called Original and has 19 fruits in it. This is intended for children under 12, pregnant women and nursing mothers. The next formula is called Active. This contains the same 19 fruits plus two all natural ingredients called glucosamine and esterified fatty acids. This formula is for everyone over the age of 13 who is looking for general health and any joint issues. The third formula is called Pulse. This formula is geared for the cardiovascular system and in particular helping anyone with high cholesterol.

These are just fruit in the bottle. Monavie does not claim to prevent, cure, or treat any disease. It is just fruit. All I know is once you feed your body with the proper nutrition, your body is designed to heal itself.

To get started on my team just click the Enroll button located on the bottom right side of my web site. Most of the enrollment form is self explanatory but the first sheet you will need to choose your country, skip the next box, read/scroll through the Certification and check the box below. Read/scroll through each of the underlined sections then check the box below. Then read/scroll through the Privacy Policy then check the box below. Proceed through the rest of the enrollment.

I am so excited to have you be a part of my team. Once you have gotten yourself enrolled then email me back and me and my partner will give you a personal call and get you started. I can't wait to give you that call, remember after signing up when you email me to leave a number so i can call you.

Sincerely,

Tomas Scheckter

So if you like Tomas and REALLY want to support him, you can show an unprecedented level of support by signing up as one of his distributors. While other drivers are licensing their names and likenesses for use on t-shirts and caps, Tomas is hoping you will buy and sell lots of $40 bottle of berry juice so he can get a piece of that action. I know many folks were hesitant to cough up eight bucks a month for an additional cable tier to get VERSUS, but if Tomas can make this work then more power to him I guess.

He should know though that the odds are against him making a profit with MonaVie, as Newsweek noted last year "Fewer than 1 percent qualified for commissions and of those, only 10 percent made more than $100 a week." Those are some harsh numbers, but with a higher than average profile Tomas has an advantage over the other 99% of us not racing on weekends. So maybe this all works out for him, and since he's currently getting entered in races with this sponsorship you could argue it already has.

To be fair, MLMs in racing aren't anything new. If you're old enough you might recall the fetching Amway cars 20 or so years ago to the TWO different Herbalife cars in this year's Indy 500. I don't know if Townsend Bell and EJ Viso actually sell Herbalife (which has been amusingly called "liquid Amway") but Indy Lights driver Mike Potekhen appears to be working a "downline" like Tomas for a different energy drink called efusjon. I guess the bottom line is if you really want to drive a racecar you do whatever it takes, right?

The car company, that is - not the planet, although no one doubts The Captain couldn't purchase a celestial body if that's what he really wanted. In fact, I have it on good authority Roger has already made a down-payment on Neptune, prompting Chip Ganassi to reflexively lay an embarrassing claim to Uranus...but I digress.

From the Associated Press:

A person briefed on the deal says General Motors Corp. will sell its Saturn brand to former race car driver and dealership chain owner Roger Penske.

GM has scheduled a 9 a.m. EDT conference call with Saturn General Manager Jill Lajdziak. The person briefed on the deal said Penske will be on the call.

Penske has said his company, Penske Automotive Group Inc. of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is interested in the Saturn brand.

That's pretty much the entirety of the story at this point, although the Detroit Free Press has a little more. According to one analyst, this "doesn't make much sense" for Penske.

Aaron Bragman, an industry analyst from IHS Global Insight, said it doesn’t make much sense for Saturn to continue “as anything.” However, he added, "If anyone is going to make a go of it, Penske is one of the better people to try.”

Au contraire, Mr Indystry Analyst. This purchase totally makes sense for Roger.

Obviously Penske wants his own car company so he can enter his own engines in the next generation of IndyCars, and by "his own" I mean Ilmor-manufactured supermotors featuring alien technology that are badged as "Saturn". He's already got Test Driver Will Power available, thumbs a-twiddling, ready to begin testing.

Soon enough Ryan Briscoe will be married, which means there's a 50% chance that by the time the new engine specs are finalized he'll be completely brow-beaten, uninspired, and generally susceptible to overeating, depression and dementia. Nothing against his lovely bride-to-be, just a using modern marital statistics. Advantage, Will Power.

Meanwhile Penske can prop up the Saturn brand by returning the models to the brand's original dent-free body panels, allowing for ads featuring three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves jumping up and down on various models and espousing the new slogan: "My Saturn is FUN-tastic!!!" And yes, you'll definitely buy one.

When news started leaking out yesterday (and it should be noted it still hasn't been officially announced) that Jaques Lazier would be taking over for Stanton Barret in the #98 Team 3G IndyCar, the question most people asked was "Why Jaques?". There are plenty of other drivers available, many of who raced a couple weeks ago in Indianapolis, but for whatever reason Lazier was picked as the guy.

A question few, if anyone, asked was "Why not Stanton?", because after enduring two years of hoping an owner/driver like Marty Roth would let someone else drive for him the natural presumption was that Stuntman Stan had decided he'd had enough of this madness. But if you read the latest entry on his Interush blog, it sounds like Stanton might have a different reason for stepping out of the Dallara.

We were working on shaving time each lap taking off 3-5 tenths per second each lap. Then in turn 2 all of a sudden the car just broke loose and lost control. This was completely unexpected and caught me off guard. I hit the wall hard backwards then came around and slapped the wall sideways on the right side.

Unfortunately it was such a heavy impact we were not able to repair the car at the race track and was not able to race this weekend. I have been very sore from the impact and taking some time to recover. Not certain what the next weekend is going to bring with regards to running the IndyCar. I have to make sure my back is not as sore as it is now to be able to race those cars. It is really unfortunate because it might keep me from running in a few races.

I am still looking forward to the weekend to race either in the Nationwide race in Nashville or the IndyCar race in Texas. I just have to wait a few more days and see how my physical health is before I can make the right decision on what I am going to do...

Now, this may completely valid, because as Tony Kanaan and Vitor Meira can attest even with all of the modern safety advances a driver can still get banged up pretty badly in these cars. Then again, this may be some kind of posturing so his sponsors don't get edgy if at some point Stan decides he wants to have another go at it. Whatever the reason, it seems his "decision" has already been made.

(Thanks to The Furious Wedge for bringing this to our attention.)