Tonight our good buddy (OK, I met him once) Patrick Stephan of TrackSide Online podcast fame will be hosting a brand new "behind the scenes" IndyCar radio webthingy show.

RaceFanRadio.com has inked a deal to produce "All Access IndyCar Series", a "sixty minute, behind the scenes look" at the IndyCar and Indy Pro Series!!!

Hosted by TracksideOnline.com's Patrick Stephan, the weekly, pre-produced show will highlight the drivers, teams, sponsors and personalities of the IndyCar and Indy Pro Series, both on- and off-the-track.

Episodes will air several times each week with the season premiere launching at 7:30pm EST following "the National Speed Sport News Report Hosted by Bob Jenkins".

"We are ecstatic about producing this show and are thrilled to work with the best open wheel series on the planet!", said RaceFanRadio.com CEO, Charlie Brown. "The production team we have assembled to create this project will deliver a very unique look into what goes on behind the scenes of these two series which fans are going to talk about all season".

If Charlie Brown is involved then you know this "very unique look" of a radio show must be something truly special. Look out, SpeedFreaks!

Anyone else noticing this?

"It's highly unlikely that Portland will be on that schedule. But for 2009, our intention is to use a clean sheet of paper, evaluate all of the current Champ Car races and put the best schedule together we can." - Fred Nation (2/23/08)

"When you look ahead at the 2009 season, the schedule will probably be done with a clean sheet of paper." - Tony George (2/27/08)

"I think the beauty of the whole thing is we don't get to fully optimize unification in 2008...It's a great foundation, but as Tony mentioned we don't have a lot of flexibility. You can start optimizing unification on a much cleaner sheet of paper in 2009." - Brian Barnhart (3/5/08)

Maybe this is too much deduction, but I'd just like to point out that neither the "Georgia-Pacific IndyCar Series" nor the "Staples IndyCar Series" sounds very attractive.

When dealing with a tempestuous fellow like Robby Gordon, you never know what he really means. It seems Robby - who long ago made the move to stock cars along with Tony Stewart, although with distinctly different results - has not only been talking of trying to do "the double" of the Indy 500 and the Soda Pop 600 this year, but now is so frustrated with a penalty he may just leave tin tops altogether.

If the commission upholds the point penalties, Gordon will remain in 37th place in the owners standings, significant in that only the top 35 are locked into the field for each Cup race. Should the point penalty be rescinded, Gordon would be 21st in owner points.

Gordon indicated Tuesday during testing at Phoenix International Raceway that the loss of his appeal might drive him to the reunified IndyCar Series. Gordon said he could field his own car in the open-wheel series.

(MORE from the Sporting News)

I may be wrong here, but I believe Mr Gordon's sister is known to be a close personal friend of Ryan Hunter-Reay, so much so that there was talk of Gordon starting an ICS team with Ryan last year before he was quickly hired for the Ethanol ride. So while this may be belly-aching on the part of the Gordon not named Jeff it's not entirely out of the realm of the possible.

Would the basket of freebies offer extend to N-Word refugees as well?

First, some background. There hasn't been an official announcment but it's believed that this year at road and street courses the IRL will have traditional podiums featuring the top 3 finishers spraying champagne on each other. Or ignoring each other. Or kissing each other.

And although Texas Motor Speedway is most certainly NOT a road or street course, TMS uber-promoter Eddie Gossage has weighed in on the concept of "podiums".

"In America, the winner goes to Victory Lane. And everybody else goes to the garage and should soak their tears in their beer and figure out how to be faster next week. What's next? Certificates of participation for everybody?" - Eddie Gossage

Remember friends, this is the same guy who gave us this masterpiece.



Other than Indy his race is the most highly-attended event on the schedule, so argue with him at your own peril.

Besides sharing a passion for open-wheel racing, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Sarah Fisher and even Robin Miller all have something else in common: they’ve all spoken to the P-Dog. Forget Dave Despain, when people in the racing world want to get heard they go to the man who not only speaks TO the masses but also FOR the masses. There is pressdog, and then there’s everyone else.

(Sorry, was I a bit overboard there?)

The deal is Derek Daly has penned a new book called “Race To Win”, and like the aforementioned folks he’s gone to the ‘Dog for an extensive discussion. Yeah, Mr Daly never actually won an Indy-Kerr or F1 race, but that doesn’t disqualify him from discussing what it takes to compete at the upper levels of open-wheel motorsport. Besides, he's still a colorful communicator so it's probably a fun read.

The bonus for you is that there is a FREE AUTOGRAPHED COPY of the book - currently sitting on an undisclosed desk in Iowa - that could be in your hands should you win the contest pressdog is holding. Go check it out at pressdog.com for all the sordid details.

You may ask yourself, “Self, if Sarah Fisher has sponsorship money, why would she sink that into starting a team that will only be competing in selected races this year instead of taking the funding to a competitive team for a full-season ride?

Well Mr or Mrs Self, Sand Wedge at the Furious Wedge may have found your answer.

Her press conference didn't do much to explain the real reason I think she started a new team but now I think we know. If you catch her interview with ESPN from yesterday you'll catch what I think is the real reason as she alludes to wanting to start a family sometime in the near future now that she's married. That is entirely understandable and becoming an owner allows her to stay in racing without having to be in the car. I think knowing this, no one can fault her on making this move now because this is obviously all about looking out for their future and staying in racing which is what they love.

See how women are? The MOMENT the wedding is over it’s all “my biological clock...blah-blah-blah...I won’t be complete until I’m a mother...yada-yada-yada...you go right back up there and get me a toddler! I need a baby, Hi!”

Sorry, I digress. Here’s the video of the interview, and may I add with all sincerity that whenever Sara and Andy decided they want to expand their family your humble host will be more than happy to spot them their first Baby Bjorn.

Following up on a story from earlier this year, a group headed by IndyCar radio announcer Mike King has indeed been given a three-year contract to promote races at the Terre Haute Action Track.

King, the radio voice of the Indy 500 and the IndyCar Series, got his start at the Action Track. King has resided in Terre Haute for 23 years. King will return to the broadcast booth in Terre Haute for the season-opening Don Smith Classic.

“If it weren’t for the Terre Haute Action Track, I wouldn’t be the voice of the Indy 500 and the IndyCar series,” King said. “This is an opportunity to pay back to the community. We’ll do what we can to put Terre Haute back on the national motorsports map.”

(MORE from TribStar.com)

So if you’re anywhere near Vigo County, go crazy.

“I feel like this is something that is a new and unique challenge for me.” - Sam Hornish Jr (11/8/07)

For those of you who have been wishing the worst towards the former IndyCar champions who prefer to drive sedans, your wishes are being granted.

A quick check of the N-Word Sprint-phones-not-Sprint-cars Cup standings show that both Mr Hornish and Mr Franchitti (and pretty much every other recent open-wheel defector not named “Montoya”) are sitting currently outside of the Top 35, which means they have very little time remaining to demonstrate they are indeed of the 35 greatest stock car racers on the planet.

36. Dario Franchitti
38. Sam Hornish Jr
46. Patrick Carpentier
48. AJ Allmendinger
54. Jacques Villeneuve

The next two weeks feature races involving the (relatively) high speeds in Atlanta and the (decidedly) low speeds of Bristol, and should either Dario or Sam not improve their fortunes enough in this timespan they will no longer be guaranteed a starting spot at any given event. That means they would have to try to qualify the old-fashioned way – on speed – and lest we forget Sam ran up quite the streak of unqualifiability while attempting to make it in on speed in the tin tops last season.

Yes, I just made up the word “unqualifiability”. Desperate times demand desperate language. But hey, it's certainly a challenge!

This is not confirmed by Foyt Racing at this time, but My Name Is IRL has reason to believe the team will soon been announcing a second Indy Car Series entry. And before we go any further, it's NOT involving Paul Tracy.

Although the IRL open test at Homestead was concluded on Thursday, activity involving Foyt's #14 entry continued on Friday. A reader on the TrackForum message board (I know, not exactly concrete proof of anything) said the car was supposedly involved in the rookie test Foyt's USAC driver Pablo Donoso.

A headline on Donoso's site seems to confirm the test has been passed and an announcement is forthcoming.

PABLO DONOSO SE CONVIERTE EN PILOTO OFICIAL DE A.J. FOYT PARA LA TEMPORADA 2008

I know it's en espanol, but the guy is Chilean.

PABLO DONOSO BECOMES OFFICIAL DRIVER OF A.J. FOYT FOR SEASON 2008

If this is indeed the case, one can't help but wonder if Mr George has slipped some hush-money to Super Tex to stop publicly asking things like "Why do the people who treated us like s@#$ all these years get free cars and money?"

(thanks to reader Keith for bringing this to our attention)

UPDATE: The braintrust at TSO is on the story, finding links to Spanish-language publications reporting this as well.

According to well connected sources in Chile, Pablo Donoso will indeed drive the #41 for AJ Foyt Racing in 2008.

If you didn't know, Donoso is a Chilean driver that is a protege of Eliseo Salazar. Last year Donoso drove USAC Silver Crown cars on the big pavement tracks for Foyt.

He also has experience in lower formula single seat cars including Formula Renault in Argentina, the Formula Nissan World Series and US Star Mazda.

(MORE from TrackSide Online)

"Paul (Tracy) is great and all, but he doesn't have any experience in these cars and he's getting a little old...We're looking at 19- and 20-year olds, and he's almost 40. But it would be a shame if he didn't get a ride. I hope to God he gets a ride, I really do...I hope somebody picks him up, because he's always good for a story. He's one of those guys you either love or hate, but he's going to get the series out there. He gets press." - Michael Andretti

FoxSports says Tracy (who's stature in open-wheel racing has yielded a plethora of nicknames, from "Captain Crunch" to "PT Barnum" to "The Chrome Horn") is in Las Vegas to chat up Big Chip, who's in town for the N-Word event. Can't blame a guy for trying.

I'm not exactly a huge fan of Tracy's, but the series would suffer to lose his antics in this pivotal season. Oh, that Gene Simmons ever had the, umm, initiative to put his money where The Tongue is and fund a team of Tracy and PJ Chesson. The profits from merchandise sales of such a dynamic racing team would just about cover the cost of the nearly-certain chassis damages.