It's not that so many open-wheel drivers are making the jump to tin tops that's alarming as much as how suddenly it's just so fashionable (well, unless you're Scott Speed).

Case in point: former IndyCar regular Patrick Carpentier, who after putting the wraps on his IndyCar career in 2005 decided to go back home to Canada and try fendered racing. Carpentier will soon be testing with Gillett Evernham Motorsports, which AutoWeek informs us:

With his organization's sponsorship prospects an issue, NASCAR team owner Ray Evernham freed driver Scott Riggs to find another ride for next year. Gillett Evernham Motorsports (with three teams) and Petty Enterprises (with two) are talking about merging, meaning GEM would have to drop a team to reach NASCAR's upcoming cap of four teams under the same ownership umbrella.

Even so, GEM seems intent on signing Canadian driver Patrick Carpentier to join Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler in Dodges. Riggs is the leading candidate to replace Jeff Green at Haas/CNC Racing.

So not only is yet another furriner heading to NAPCAR, but one of French-Canadien upbringing. Which means Patrick and "Jack" Villeneuve can now battle over who gets the Perrier sponsorship.

It’s official. Chip Ganassi has wasted no time in announcing today that Dario Franchitti will be driving for his N-word team next year. The plan is NAPCAR only – no IndyCars or any other series that doesn’t involve racing sedans. Most of all, no defense of Mr Judd’s 2007 Indy 500 victory.

Indy-car star Dario Franchitti has only one major regret now that he signed to compete in NASCAR for Chip Ganassi/Felix Sabates Racing: not defending his 2007 Indianapolis 500 and Indy Racing League titles. "That was the hardest part of this decision," Franchitti said today (Oct. 3), when his move from the IndyCar Series to NASCAR was confirmed. "It'll be tough not defending those championships. I'll have my hands full with this new challenge, so it'll be impossible to run the 500." (MORE from AutoWeek)

It’s hard to fault Franchitti for leaving AGR, where the long-term relationship quickly soured with Dario’s success in 2007. Perhaps Michael Andretti was bitter that after years of paying Dario well for mediocre results he cashes the chips all in for tin tops. Perhaps Dario was dismayed that despite his career year his team owner was more concerned about every other driver on the team. Perhaps both. Or neither. Whatever.

For the most part Franchitti has been a class act in open-wheel racing and he’ll certainly continue to be an asset wherever he races, but let’s not forget he made this decision willingly. Dario is in the enviable position of leveraging his recent successes, so he actually gets to decide to race however he chooses on this continent – and that choice does not involve activities in Speedway, Indiana in The Month of May. Judging from his actions it’s now “been there, done that” for Mr Judd.

You can’t fault the guy for taking the money and the challenge of stock car racing, but you can remember he did so by stomping on the hearts of fans of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Yeah, I’m just a little bitter, but not so much I can’t wish him good luck. Welcome to the N-word, Dario; small fish, meet big pond.

Oh, and tell Ashley to watch out for Greg Biffle’s woman.

The Birmingham News reports that several IndyCar teams will soon be participating in a testing session at Barber Motorsports Park, which begs the question: which is more likely to raise your eyebrows?

That a track in Alabama would like to host an ICS event?

"It will be the first step for exploring a possible event in 2009," (Zoom Motorsports President Gene) Hallman said. "It's early but we want to know what it would take to accommodate the IRL. It is the premier open-wheel series in the U.S. and it draws tremendous crowds."

Or that Uncle Sam is practicing his IndyCar skills right in the middle of his N-word endeavor?

Indy Racing League stars Sam Hornish Jr., Dan Wheldon, Danica Patrick and Helio Castroneves are among 12 to 15 drivers scheduled to take part in an IRL testing session at Barber Motorsports Park on Oct. 12, track and IRL officials said Monday.

I'm gonna go with the latter. So is Ryan Briscoe.

OK, who saw this coming?

Andretti Green Racing announced today that Brazilian Vitor Meira will join drivers Bryan Herta and Tony Kanaan behind the wheel of the #26 XM Satellite Radio Acura ARX-01a in this weekend's Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

Meira is replacing Dario Franchitti, who was released yesterday from his Andretti Green Racing driver agreement.

This is just for the weekend as an ALMS replacement for Dario, but it is silly season...you never know. Now that Dario is gone, it's pretty much every man (or woman) for himself (or herself) in attempt to score that open AGR ride.

Ladies and gentleman, start your resumes. Vitor Meira will be starting from the pole position.

The press release from Andretti Green reads simply "Andretti Green Racing announced today it has released Dario Franchitti from his driver agreement. The team's agreement with Franchitti was set to expire later this year."

Not Indianapolis 500 champion, not 2007 IndyCar series champion - just plain old Dario Franchitti. After nearly a decade of service with Barry Green it's pretty much "Thks fr the Mmrs". The Associated Press picks it up from there.

Dario Franchitti's much-anticipated move to stock cars will begin Friday with an ARCA race at Talladega Superspeedway, the Associated Press has learned.

The 2007 Indy 500 winner and IndyCar Series champion has agreed to a multiyear deal to replace David Stremme in the No. 40 Dodge for NASCAR's Chip Ganassi Racing, according to a person familiar with the negotiations who requested anonymity because the deal had yet to be announced.

An official announcement is expected Wednesday at Ganassi's race shop in North Carolina.

Clearly they have been speaking with Dario's father George (I'm kidding...at least I think I'm kidding.) Stay tuned for official announcements on Wednesday.

A few days ago I received link to a photo discovered by John C, who’s been know to leave a comment or two at My Name Is IRL. The picture linked below is of Bobby Unser at IMS in 1971, and for some reason there’s a bird on the front of his car. A very dead bird, at that.


Neither of us knew the story here, so of course when you need to know something - anything! - about the goings on at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first guy you should ask is the track historian, Mr Donald Davidson. If you’re around Indy at any time during The Month of May you’ll likely find Davidson and his pleasant lilt on local radio or TV, answering all sorts of questions about Indy racing just as he has since 1965.

With that voice, he really should read children’s stories. “Once upon a time there was a little man named Mario...”

Anyhow, I fired off an email to the esteemed Mr Davidson hoping that he might not only know the deal behind the dead bird, but that he might also answer a question outside of May. It took him all of 15 minutes to respond.

I remember this like it was yesterday. He hit the bird on a qualifying run and it damaged the brake line. The officials did not charge him with an attempt, and after some minor repairs were made, he went back out for a successful run. Wags started calling him "The Birdman of Albuquerque." The bird was either lodged in the suspension or else had gone in through an opening in the bodywork.

OK, I’m impressed. It's definitely time to give a plug to Mr Davidson’s “Official Illustrated History of the Indianapolis 500”. Buy it for that special someone on your Christmas List. Like yourself. Or Arni.

Week Two of “Dances With Helio” and I can already tell you I am SO thankful to whomever invented the DVR. I was able to watch the epic 163rd baseball game – all 13 innings of it – and then quickly breeze through DWTS at a much more tolerable pace.

Of course, I fire up the DVR and see Curt Cavin sitting in the front row - comforting, assuring. Kanaan and Wheldon need to get down there as well.

Here’s what I know: Helio got the most points of anyone, besting even the Spice Girl and the Cheetah Girl. I don’t know much about dancing, but Helio actually looked like he does this for a living. His “mambo” was freaky good.

DWTS expert Jennifer says: Wow. Seriously. Wow. Helio was hot, he was sexy, he was full of energy, and he was having fun out there on the dance floor like the mambo is something he does to just blow off steam. What great showmanship! I think the judges were so overwhelmed by how good Helio was that they laid off on the bad race lingo analogies. My favorite moment was that back bend move Helio did. I guess climbing in and out of those racecar cockpits makes one mighty limber!

As silly as all this Dancing madness may seem to race fans, one striking thought occurred to me last night. Helio is good enough that he’s going to be around a while, and viewers – presumably not racing fans – will get to know the guy. It’s a safe bet to say he'll snag some personal sponsorship or endorsement deals out of this as a result of his bump in popularity, which would make the IndyCar series the only sport in the world that would have both a recognizable male (Helio) and female (Danica) participant who regularly compete against each other.

What that means in the long run, I don’t know. But it's pretty cool.

So I’m checking out Cavin’s Blog and he’s talking about being in Hollywood for “Dances With Helio” tonight. I don’t think Cavin will be covering the IndyCar testing in Milwaukee, Iowa or Birmingham, but come hell or high water he’ll be checking out Spiderman’s dancing moves. In person.

Which brings us to the fact that Curt posts just one reader question today.

Question: Hey, mate. Just a note to say Hi and tell you that Helio wasn't the first Indy-car driver to do "Dancing with the Stars." I did the Chilean version and lasted until the fourth show. Damn tango got me out. Check Eliseo Salazar El Baile on You Tube but don't laugh too hard. BTW: I read the blog every day. (Eliseo, Santiago, Chile)

So of course, I checked it out. And what do you think was one of the songs Eliseo Salazar danced to in this Chilean version? Forgive me for posting another dancing clip, but this is un-freaking-believable!!!

Seriously, watch the first 20 seconds and you'll be spitting beverage on your computer screen. I promise.

Monday Night means “Dances With Helio” on ABC. Or football. Your choice.

Regardless, Tony George must be placing some heavy bets lately, as Gambling911 has the dancing driver listed as the current favorite to win the, well, whatever award he and his dancing partner would win. You could say being the favorite is like winning the pole position for this week, since it really means nothing once the rubber sole hits the...oh goodness, I can’t finish this simile and still retain my dignity.



Thanks to reader Bash for the awesome graphic. If you so chose, you can vote for Castroneves using the same digits as last week - and you don't even have to watch to do so.

Call: 1-800-868-3409
Text: Vote 3409 (AT & T Customers only)

Things have been rather silent around here lately, with what news there has been being relatively un-newsworthy. In the past few days the IndyStar ran a story about Sarah Fisher, which basically said she was teamless but looking to participate next year – something I think we all figured was the case.

Meanwhile Penske Racing is preparing for it’s (nearly) imminent future, as Curt Cavin reported that Ryan Briscoe joined “Happy Feet” Castroneves for testing at THE Milwaukee Mile last week. Again, Briscoe preparing for the second Team Penske car is no surprise. Nicole Manske is already taking “smile and wave” pointers from Crystal Hornish.

In other forms of racing, 1995 Indy 505 winner Jacque Villenueve finished 21st in his Truck racing debut. Jack says “We learned a lot tonight; we had a lot of pit stops.” If over the weekend he had gone bar-hopping with his friends, got liquored up and tried to hit on every girl in sight, would he end up saying the same thing?

Anyhow, no news with Dario Franchitti since AGR is holding him to contractual obligations. And no other driver news, silly season or otherwise. And nothing officially announced with the “Value” plan. And the 17th race of 2008 on Moon Base Alpha has not been announced.

Quite honestly, the most interesting read hasn’t had anything to do with IndyCars. It would appear F1 castaway and N-word wannabe Scott Speed has redefined the term "Prima Donna", judging from his shock and horror at the policies of American tin top racing. From SpeedTV.com:

“In open-wheel racing, you always have someone on the team who buckles you into your seat. I got into my seat today waiting for someone to buckle me in and then after awhile realized I was supposed to buckle myself in. I’m not used to bringing my own helmet to the car either!

“[But] the most surprising thing is that I just don’t dress like these people yet. I got harassed by some of the ARCA officials for my shorts – which I wasn’t supposed to be wearing in the garage – and for my hat because it’s what Europe would call high fashion, but I guess it’s not considered that here...”

I’ll let Marc from Full Throttle express the sentiment:

Would it be uncalled for if I suggested they left him unbuckled and sent him on his way?

And I suppose sending Speed out without his Brain Bucket and only protected by his “high fashion Euro-hat” would also be classified as way out of line.

I tend to agree it is out of line, but there it is on digital paper and I have no intentions of removing it. In fact I have something to add; Just shut up and drive (assuming you can) you arrogant, spoiled pompous ass!