It would appear that while every other form of motorsport is undergoing ch-ch-changes (my apologies if that cultural reference has expired), the latest news from the IRL is all status quo.

For staters, any driver looking for relief from EJ Viso will get nothing and like it. Viso will return with HVM Racing in 2009, setting up another nervous season for every other driver of the the league. Rumors persist that HVM will pair Viso with Robert Doornbos in what would be the most devastating tag team since the Iron Sheik partnered with Nikolai Volkoff.

Also back where he's always been is Marco Andretti, who was finally confirmed as both a driver and participant in various impromptu closed-door team meetings with AGR. Whether or not you care for the team, the owner, or the driver, you have to admit that the in-race drama of the team without orders will once again be second to none.

And lastly, Al Unser Jr has returned...to the police blotter. Try to act shocked. OK, this time he's not been indicted for anything, but his name did come up in a story involving prostitution and extortion. KOB-TV Reports:

The District Attorney's Office said the head of a prostitution ring extorted money from racing legend Al Unser Jr. with claims of a compromising video tape.

Unser was named as one of two extortion victims in a 137-count indictment against the suspected Albuquerque pimp.

The suspect, 47-year-old Bobby McMullin, was arrested last May. Police say he ran an internet escort service that was actually a prostitution ring. McMullin also ran a Downtown strip club.

Unser is mentioned in counts 72 and 73 of the indictment. The DA's office said McMullin told Unser he had video of the racing legend in a "compromising position." McMullin allegedly asked Unser for $750,000, or he would release the tape to the public.

750 Grand? Please. No offense, but we're talking about a 47-year-old guy, not one of the Desperate Housewives. Mr Pimp would have been lucky to scare up $75 dollars in "releasing it to the public."

Now, if you'd be so kind as to please pass the brain bleach.

You humble host has often mocked the STOMP-STOMP-CLAP-STOMP-STOMP theme song the IRL has beaten into the ground featured in recent years, concluding as others have that the song sounds as if it’s proclaiming “I Am Mindy”. But mockery is no substitute for constructive criticism, and since we have both news free days and a new broadcast partner it seems like as good a time as any to garner suggestions for a replacement.

A while back over at YAUMB a reasonable suggestion was put forth: “Ready To Roll” by Jet Black Stare.



It’s not exactly an historic rock anthem, the video is unmemorable, and it’s lyrically generic, but that being said it is exceptionally catchy and it’s all about driving a car really fast. If nothing else it would make for good highlight music, which is more than I can say for the Mindy Song (although the version en espanol is marginally better since they aren't saying "Mindy").

But enough about my thoughts - how about you? Thumbs up or down on "Ready To Roll"? Does anyone in the peanut gallery have a better suggestion for a theme song?

"IndyCar in the U.S. market is a very important series. Very historic and classic, Roger (Penske) is competing (in it) for a long time, we are good friends with Roger, we are also quite interested in IndyCar. But we've defined very closely our motorsport pyramid in the past and (we) try to shake out what is for our customer base the most important series to be in and we found that the (American Le Mans Series) with the prototypes is better suited to the demands of our customers. I think that it is not very likely that we are going into IndyCar. There is no open question (about entering the series) on the table right now." - Wolfgang Durheimer, Porsche research and development board member throwing giant buckets of ice water on the idea of seeing "Porsche, there is no substitute" racing in The 500 anytime soon.

Then again maybe we will, just under the name "Audi" or, ahem, "Volkswagen".

It’s the giving time of the year, and even though the economy is in the crapper you’re still feeling like you want to get a little something for those special IndyCar fans in your life. You’re trying to decide if you should go rummaging through the Chip Ganassi Racing store (all Dan Wheldon merchandise is half off!), or peruse the newest new new store at IndyCar.com, or maybe even try to score a Sarah Fisher bobblehead on eBay.

Your best bet might be to simply get the Indy Wall Calendar, the gift that gives all year. For less than the price of Danica t-shirt you can help your IndyCar fan can show the world their naked love of super duper, bimergified, open-wheel racing for the entirety of 2009. Best of all, all proceeds from the sale of this calendar benefit the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation, which means you’re actually giving two gifts at once. One to an Indy fan, and one to a reputable organization that helps fund research, treatment and rehabilitation for those with spinal cord injuries. That’s right – double your Santa quotient in one fell swoop.


In the unfortunate event that you don’t actually have any IndyCar friends there still a few that you can adopt. Here are some possible recipients of your calendar gift, closet IRL fans who could use a little IndyCar love this holiday season.

Sebastien Bourdais – Americans don’t hate all Frenchmen and we don’t hate all guys with funny glasses. We do however loathe Frenchmen with funny glasses who whine during the 50% of races they DON’T win and who pick fights while still wearing their helmets. And I mean “loathe” in a good way, because it would be fan-freaking-tastic to be cheering against SeaBass in IndyCar races. Let him know you’d rather be lovingly throwing plastic bottles at him in the USA than watching him backmark his way around the world in F1.

Gerry Forsythe – After taking a buyout check for his portion of Champ Car, Gerry has sat on the bench unwilling to jump into the IRL pool. Somewhere though in the darkest reaches of his two sizes too small heart you just know he’s keeping an eye on his old buddies Carl Haas and Kevin Kalkhoven, who both have drivers featured in this calendar.

Sam Hornish Jr – Even though he remains in the N-Word where Top 20 is somehow a reasonable goal, Sam’s greatest racing memories occurred at speeds much faster than he’s been traveling in 2008. There’s no better way to remind him of the fun and excitement he left behind than this calendar hanging in his motorcoach.

Marty Roth – Poor Marty loves IndyCars, but after hearing back-handed compliments about what a great owner he would make Marty took his Dallaras and went home to Canada. Just think of the joy he would feel opening up this on Christmas Day, reminding him that even without his team IndyCar races are still a whole lot of fun to watch.

Scott Speed – I’m no Star Wars geek but even I remember how Darth Vader told Luke Skywalker “It is your destiny; join me and together we can rule the galaxy.” So it is that one day eventually High Fashion Scotty will come around to realizing that his greatness as a driver can only be written in one place: Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Let this calendar serve as a friendly daily reminder of that you can keep running, Scott, but you can’t escape your destiny.

I must report that Formula One’s Sebastian Vettel has won the Autosport 2008 Rookie of the Year award. This of course means that despite your heroic voting efforts to the contrary, EJ Viso did not win. Not unlike his rookie season, I suppose.

Vettel is a supremely talented driver, and this year at just 19 years of age he became the youngest winner ever of an F1 race, but after this slight God help him if he ever crosses path with Viso on the track. Just ask Tony Kanaan.



UPDATE: I am reminded that EJ wasn't entirely winless this year since he successfully defeated mumps. Take that, Mr Vettel.

This time the I Am Mindy Show features Johnny from Live Fast Racing, who graciously provides us all with a lesson in motorsports education.

Please note that I fixed the audio level problem from the debut podcast. The good news is I don't sound like I'm in a wooden box. The bad news is you can now hear me breathing all over the place. Oh well, work in progress, right?

Here is the podcast. Enjoy!

You remember Mr Judd has returned to being an IndyCar driver, right? He'll be back, and he'll be driving one of those super duper Target entries, but even with that ahead of him we'll never know what kind of lasting psychological damage he has from his trying year in stock car racing. I'm not talking about his leg injury, I'm referring to...well, what's with the Elvis look? Is this an attempt to reconnect with his inner Sam Hornish Jr or what?



And yes, sadly this interviewer has "Dare-ee-oh, rhymes with stereo" syndrome.

I guess this is what the good guys at Jalopnik would say is further fallout from the "Carpocalypse". Let's recap the announcments from the last day or so in case you missed any of them.

Over in F1 the good folks at Honda have decided that spending hundreds of millions of dollars to win one race in the last three years is probably not an effective investment. They announced they are pulling the plug on their Formula One team, reducing the curent grid count for the worlds premier open-wheel racing series (ahem) to 18 cars - and that's amid talk that fellow Japanese manufacturer Toyota may soon follow Honda's departure.

Meanwhile in the N-Word, news is develpong that Richard Petty's team may soon be merging with Ray Evenham's team. Please note that both teams sold major portions of their ownership in recent months, right before the world markets decided to nosedive. While consolidation isn't a sign of impending doom, it once again raises the question of whether the Cup series will be able to field 43 cars per race. Maybe if they just went back to the old models that are currently floating around ARCA they could reduce the costs for ownerships.

Not as significant dollarwise but noteworthy nonetheless is the sudden departure of Audi from ALMS. Audi has won like a zillion races over ther, including every LMP1 class championship since 2000. This follows the departures of IndyCar ownerships Andretti Green and Team Penske from the series as well, indicating reduced involvement from Acura and Porsche. So needless to say things are tough all over.

What does this have to do with IndyCar series? Directly nothing but indirectly a lot. The ICS is still staring at post unification car counts shrinking to pre-unification levels, what with 14-19 cars currently spoken for. But Honda representatives are saying their IRL commitment is sound, and word is that league representatives are in Germany speaking with the parent comapany of Audi (and Porsche) about joining the series in the coming years. So as bad as the Carpocalypse is looking, right now the IRL looks no worse than anyone else.

UPDATE: The briantrust at TrackSide Online expounds.

In some perverse way, the IRL is lucky that it is not heavily dependent on manufacturers, as they are obviously pulling back and that is rippling through various series. They are also lucky that the one manufacturer they have is on solid financial ground.

The question we ask ourselves is thus. Is it better to have several manufacturers (and teams highly dependent on them), or to be relatively underfunded, but have the teams a little more "self-sufficient". Can't say we have the answer - but it appears we are about to find out by watching what happens in quite a few series around the world.

Interestingly, when we talk to people in the series (officials, team owners, team managers), we just aren't getting the degree of negativity we would expect. Again, perhaps some are just resigned to working in a tough environment and they have low expectations for anything beyond survival, but it is surprising to us that we don't hear more negativity - though it is certainly out there.

Recently Curt Cavin noted on his Q&A that he an EJ Viso exchange emails. This is strange because I've never seen any of EJ's questions posted on Curt's "Ask the Expert" blog. I mean you'd think by now he'd have at least answered one of EJ's may pleas for expertise.

Question: Why does everyone hate me? (EJ, Caracas, Venezuela)

Regardless, Curt was kind enough to pass along the content of one of EJ's messages, which indicated that not only is Viso ready to return to HVM Racing for 2009, but that he's likely to have Robort Doornbos as a teammate. If you don't know much about Doornbos here are the key points:

1. He's Dutch.
2. He's raced F1 and Champ Car, among other series.
3. His driving style is reflected in the nickname "Bad Bobby D" (think Viso, before Viso.)
4. He once made Sebastien Bourdais get all snippy on an open mic, leading to a festival of Canadian booing.

This morning on the way to work I noticed the big sign in front of the shopping center across the street. “SHAME ON MACY’S”. There were three people standing by the sign, all wearing walkmans, protesting a company that doesn’t employ them. I know this because I’ve seen these same happy few standing behind a “SHAME ON (some construction company)” sign on the opposite corner a few weeks ago, and countless other previous to that. Nice work if you can get it I suppose.

In recent days I’m told there is a similar “SHAME ON THE IRL” type of campaign going on the airwaves of Indianapolis. It seems the people involved with the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) have taken offense that the Indy Racing League has decided to take sponsorship money from APEX-Brasil, a Brazilian-based ethanol production firm. Well, maybe not EPIC per se, but at least someone under the name “American Future Fund”.



"Unbelievable. The Brickyard will be fueled by foreign energy." As if all of the gasoline used years ago was pumped exclusively from American soil. Right.

It’s important to note here that there are other groups in various stages of wigging out. There is the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) which is also urging people to contact that league with their outrage, as well as the Iowa Corn Growers Association, who are responsible for sponsoring the race at Iowa Speedway. It’s also important to note that EPIC is dissolving, due in part to the consolidation in the industry. And by consolidation I mean this (courtesy of TrackSide Online):

The main backers of EPIC were POET, ICM and Fagen. These companies design and build ethanol plants and it appears they are now moving at least some of their backing to a new group called Growth Energy. It is also our understanding that to some degree EPIC itself is being absorbed by the Growth Energy coalition - who is planning to focus a lot of their attention at the legislative level. (On the internet, we found the following listing of companies supporting Growth Energy: POET, ICM, Western Plains Energy, Amaizing Energy, Hawkeye Renewables, Green Plains Renewable Energy.)

Did ya get all of that? Good, me neither. I know I’m going to read it about 10 more times just in case I get quizzed.

Soon after this ad started airing the IRL released a statement regarding how EPIC was paying the league for promotion rights just like any other sponsor, and now they aren’t so they took the next check.

The ethanol producers recently notified the IndyCar Series that it would not be renewing the agreement for 2009 and beyond and EPIC is ceasing operation. No one from any other part of the American-based ethanol community stepped forward with a substantial proposal. Soon after, the IndyCar Series and APEX-Brasil reached a preliminary agreement. As part of that agreement, we plan on starting our 2009 season with American-produced ethanol. Opportunities still exist for American ethanol companies and organizations to continue involvement in the IndyCar Series.

It’s true that EPIC helped support the IRL while other companies were leaving the series, but it’s not like they saved the series in any way. If anything they gave the IndyCar series a chance to make a technological claim, which is supposed to be a hallmark of this type of racing. Since everyone is running spec cars with the same engines, chassis and tires, the concept of innovation has been blunted. There haven’t been any turbines engines or six-wheeled cars or dual-motor vehicles lately, but check out these awesome SAFER barriers!

But even as a technological spin ethanol isn’t exactly a strong idea. In an effort to reduce the usual brown cloud over downtown Phoenix we’ve been running on state-mandated E10 here in Arizona for a while now. I can’t see much of a difference in the sky – maybe the cloud is beige or taupe – but I also haven’t noticed any difference in the way it affects my vehicle. (Full disclosure: your humble host is currently powered by Nissan.)

And speaking of the spec issue, as our buddy pressdog noted this entire issue has some built-in bad feelings for some since there isn’t a lot of domestic partnership currently in the series’ hardware. The Dallara chassis is Italian, the Honda motor is produced by England’s Ilmor, and the tires are by Firestone – a subsidiary of Japanese-owned Bridgestone. So if the fuel is supplied by Brazil, well, try to act surprised.

However, his point leads me to ask: Was anyone here outraged when American-made Panoz chassis were not longer used in the series? Saddened, disappointed, concerned – sure, all of those. But “outraged” to the point of calling Tony George and demanding a reversal of action? Come on. We all want to see American companies succeed, but this call to action is over the top. It’s not like US ethanol industry is going to collapse simply because the IRL isn’t actively promoting them in 2009. Besides, as Chris Estrada at Indy Racing Revolution finds in the original press release from the IRL, it appears that in spite of this animosity (or perhaps because of it) the league is trying to help American firms in some capacity.

"The multi-year deal includes cooperation from UNICA (the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association) to identify those interested in supplying ethanol to the series. Initially, UNICA will look to partner with a U.S.-based ethanol company to supply the IndyCar Series with corn-based ethanol."

I’m sure the AFF, RFA, ICGA and a few other acronyms are going to continue to grind this axe, mostly because as promotional groups it’s their jobs, but unless I’m missing something here it sounds to me like the expectation is that the IRL would keep powering it’s cars with US corn-based ethanol even though EPIC isn’t going to be sponsoring anything. Why would that be expected? Unless there’s some backroom deal here this is, as the kids today like to say, strictly bid-ness, and since the IRL is a bid-ness I would expect them to take the only check that was offered.

Maybe there are a few folks sitting with walkmans behind a big “SHAME ON THE IRL” sign on Georgetown right now, but if there are I wouldn’t pay them much attention. At least no more additionally to that which I just did.