The Naperville Sun reports the Ethanol bandwagon will roll into Romeoville, Illinois, Friday with Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti, Jeff Bucknum and Jeff Simmons all taking turns posing for pix and pumping E10 fuel at a mere $2.20 a gallon.

I hope the fumes don’t bother Mr Judd and his concussion.

Before you go and wait in line, be sure to print out and read a copy of So Damn Indy’s thorough interview with Karl Ueberbacher. Karl is the PR guru for Jeff Simmons, and if there is anyone in racing with stories it’s the Public Relations folks. Sample this:

I'll give my opinion on Danica - she needs to win a race before she can start acting like she is God's gift to racing and that everyone should pull over and let her by. She's done some extremely unprofessional things on the track...

Do check it.

With essentially four weeks off, Sarah Fisher has decided to do her own reporting for ESPN.com regarding her whereabouts. Since Kentucky, she's been bowling, shopping, go-karting, working out and doing lots of laundry. She also recounts what was going on in her helmet before her first IRL race in nearly two years.

As I sat in my race car on the grid at Kentucky Speedway [Aug. 13] waiting for the green flag to drop, I had a flood of lost memories that have somehow all become a blur since my last time in Indy's fast lane. Maybe because back then I was so caught up in time, so lost in how fast things were moving that I didn't take time to enjoy any of it.

I looked to my left and qualified next to Danica Patrick. Speaking of Danica, I was on my way to Cincinnati for an appearance on Friday [Aug. 11] and I was startled to see a billboard with me and Danica on it. I'm not sure what she thought, but that was weird how that all worked out. (MORE)

Maybe the frothy panic experienced at that thought of Boulder Sam driving in NASCAR was totally unnecessary. Damian Dottore of the OC Register explains.

Hornish, who drives a Roger Penske-owned Honda-powered Dallara in the IRL, expressed a particular interest in driving in the Busch Series that are held on road courses. There were two on the schedule this year. One was in Mexico City and the other in Watkins Glen, N.Y.

IndyCar Series officials limit teams to five days of testing, so Hornish said he would like to use NASCAR as a way to give him an edge over his IRL rivals.

If this is just Sam’s way of improving his road course skills instead of simply dipping his toe in the NASCAR water, then this should actually be considered a good thing. When Sam signed with Penske, he expressed concern at the long season as a reason he didn’t want to go to NASCAR. It would be comforting for IRL fans to know if he still feels that way.

Sam is already one highest paid drivers – if not the highest paid – in the league, so maybe this is less about money and more about preparing for competition on more road courses in the face of a possible merger. Then again, he could be just keeping his options open. Maybe it's a little of both, but if Dottore is correct then this isn’t the completely bad news it appeared to be earlier.

From the ever-fascinating world of sponsorship roulette, Dreyer & Reinbold has announced that Ophthonix will serve as the primary sponsor for Sarah Fisher and the #5 entry at Chicagoland next weekend.

Fastenal is so yesterday.

Besides having a hellacious tongue-twister of a name, Ophthonix “is developing exceptional vision assessment and correction technologies to greatly enhance visual acuity.” I know I get a little silly with words, but whoever wrote the press release needs to take a lesson in pun-reduction.

IndyCar season's final race of 2006 promises to be an exciting and widely viewed competition. It will be a great introduction for Ophthonix and its transformational iZon Eyeglasses to fans across the nation. iZon Eyeglasses provide consumers with high definition vision.

Oh, how clever.

While Indy Racing League fans have spent a week fretting over the announcement that Roger Penske is exploring plans to put Sam Hornish Jr in a Busch Series car for a few races in 2007, Champ Car fans just got a big rainstorm on their parade.

AJ Allmendinger, the 24-year-old winner of four Champ Car races this season, will be driving in two Craftsman Truck Series races this year. Allmendinger, the only American of significance in the series, is not under contract for next season.

"When I had the opportunity a few months ago to explore my career options, I really wanted to try my hand at something in the stock car arena," said the Allmendinger. "We began making phone calls and this opportunitywith Bill Davis Racing really came about from that."

Mr George, Mr Kalkhoven for you on line one...

UPDATE: SpeedTV is reporting Allmendinger's teammate Paul Tracy (aka, the Only Champ Car Driver Anyone Knows Because Everyone Hates Him) will also dabble in NASCAR in 2007, as he is confirmed to drive some Busch Series races. Tracy has previous demonstrations of futility in this series (no top 10s in 6 races this year).

As a side note, I apologize for all the CCWS stories. I only present them as parallel coverage for those who have the Urge to Merge, and in no way am I pimping Champ Car. They have some skilled drivers, but their races are still stunningly boring to watch.

Over the weekend there was a tiny news announcement that Mr Judd had been involved in a crash while driving in preparation for a race England. The item said only that he had been examined, detained overnight and released.

Today Curt Cavin reports the following for the Indy Star.

Dario Franchitti will not drive in Sunday’s final Indy-car race of the season at Chicagoland Speedway, having suffered a concussion last week during a vintage car accident in England.

So since Mr Judd won't be driving, who will be the fourth for the final race this season?

AJ Foyt IV. Yes, a Foyt will be driving for an Andretti. Good times!

Foyt hasn't driven an IndyCar since last season, and his career includes 47 starts he has only 3 Top 10 finishes. This year "Anthony Foyt" has spent 2006 in the Busch Series of NASCAR, but he has no Top 10s in seven races thusfar.

Foyt is a curious choice for AGR. I mean, why couldn't they find a proven driver like Old Man Cheever to drive?

Just kidding.

UPDATE: Trackside Online has more info on the rationale for hiring Foyt, as well as the official AGR Press Release.

According to Indycar.com, Danica! will not only be attending a Cubs game on Thursday, she'll be doing everything except selling beer.

Danica Patrick has thrown out a ceremonial first pitch before, but the IndyCar Series star will do double duty Sept. 7 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

She'll throw a strike before the Cubs' game and then lead fans in singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch.

I know there's a joke in here where the Princess of the Pavement complains about the catcher blocking her view of the plate, but...

Born September 4th, 1979 in Aichi, Japan.

Poor guy has only one Top 5 in 47 IndyCar races, and he needs a girlfriend. Where is the love?

There are probably no two tracks in the IndyCar season that are more similar than Kansas and Chicagoland, so a good way to determine the most likely challengers for next weekend's Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 is to look at the results from Kansas Lottery 300. It's also a good idea to see how drivers fared previously at the Joliet track, so I'm going to do both.

Here are the drivers historical records at Chicagoland, listed in order of finish at Kansas Speedway this year.

1. Sam Hornish Jr
2001 2nd
2002 1st
2003 1st
2004 6th
2005 3rd
As you can see, Boulder Sam is indeed the man at Chicagoland. Note that he fared better with Panther Racing (2001-2003) than with Penske, but he also won at Kansas. He's definitely the favorite, and if he wins he gathers his third series title. Recently Sam was downplaying any pressure by saying "No matter what happens after that, after you win Indy, you've had a good season." So expect him to pull up late and let his Penske teammate capture the title...yeah, right!

2. Dan Wheldon
2003 4th
2004 4th
2005 1st
Remember how Well Done was leading 45 laps at Kansas this year until Sam nosed past him to win by a fraction of a second? We remember the miscues in the pits, but that was a few more points differential he just missed. He's still doesn't have a win this year since the season opener at Homestead despite leading a staggering 595 laps - and only 8 of them were in his win. He'll probably lead at Chicagoland some point, but whether or not it's at the end remains to be seen.

3. Vitor Meira
2002 8th
2003 DNQ
2004 5th
2005 7th
Third at Kansas with a record of finishing in the top 10 at Chicagoland makes it evident The Mirror Man will be a factor for who he keeps behind him. If his car can prove an equal match for the Red and White Brigade, he could frustrate a few contenders behind him. Even though he's out of the points, Meira is still trying to secure a full-season sponsor for Panther Racing in 2007. Perhaps another exciting charge to the lower steps of the podium is in store for the IRL's version of Underdog.

4. Scott Dixon
2003 2nd
2004 7th
2005 19th (Gear Box)
With so many people saying it folks may soon think his legal name is Poor Scott Dixon. He had his chance to move up with a dominating performance at Infineon before...well, let's not go there. He still worked his way back to the top 5 last week - ahead of the 3 drivers above him in the points standings - but that didn't comfort him at all. The Kiwi has a rep for road races, but he also has an oval victory at Nashville earlier this year. Don't let the his history here fool you - he will contend barring any further bad luck.

5. Tony Kanaan
2003 6th
2004 3rd
2005 5th
El Nariz is clearly a longshot to win, but like the Mirror Man he will be in front of some of these contending drivers. As Danica! would attest, there may be no more difficult car to pass the the AGR #11. Clearly he has a record of dependability at Chicagoland, and with the recent success of AGR drivers it would be foolish to discount his contention from this race.

6. Helio Castroneves
2003 20th (Gear Box)
2004 10th
2005 2nd
All he has to do is win, and even just finishing ahead of Boulder Sam may be enough, but coupling a 6th place finish at Kansas with that record at Chicagoland makes it appear like Spiderman may not be comfortable with the 1.5 mile tracks. Helio has never won an IndyCar series championship, so expect the conservative driving of the last few races to go out the window in favor of Mr. Drive It Like I Stole It.

7. Tomas Scheckter
2003 5th
2004 19th (Accident - go figure)
2005 4th
Here is is your very dark horse. In case you didn't see Ed Carpenter George running in 5th for much of the race at Kentucky, Vision Racing has managed to run fairly competitively with those outside the Big Four on the ovals lately. The Wrecker can drive ovals, and has finished 7th or better on 5 of the last 6 ovals (he had mechanical failure at Nashville). This matches his history at Chicagoland, so as long as his shoulder is healed he could find himself in the thick of the hunt.

As the mutual funds disclaimer goes, "past performance is not a guarantee of future results". That's good news for Sarah Fisher, who has 3 finishes at Chicagoland of 24th, 22nd and 18th.

The conundrum many writers encounter is whether or not to market their work for commercial purposes. It's a fine line between being a respected artist and a paid hack. Everyone wants respect, but no one wants to be thought of as "selling out to the man".

Fortunately, I have no such conundrum.

So it is with great pride that I welcome TrackSide Online as the primary sponsor of My Name Is IRL. Unlike Motorola, TSO will not have to worry about coughing up $21 million for my services, but as a consumer of both Motorola and TSO I can say the latter has the more reliable product.

Excuse me while I shill, but this is actually a really good service. For $19 per year you get their personal coverage (not just wire stories) of IndyCar and Indy Pro events in addition to every press release from teams, tracks and the league. They even email this to you so you don't have to look around for it. Plus they have their own photographer so you can see more than one picture for every race. What a concept.

If you're a total tightwad or just dead broke from buying too many Sammy Shammys, you can still access some items on their site for free, such as the HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Podcasts featuring track updates with IMS Radio's Patrick Stephan.

By the way, they ONLY cover the Indy Racing League. No NASCAR, no Drag Racing, and no Monster Trucks...unless of course PJ Chesson starts participating.

Anyhow, I just wanted to take a moment to explain why you'll be seeing their logo on this page. I may be a sell-out, but so is your favorite driver. And unlike certain drivers at the top of the standings, I actually use the sponsor's product. Check 'em out.

And now, back to the news.