Kasey Kahne Wins Sonoma

Congratulations to Kasey Kahne on his win at the weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup road race at Sonoma. He held off Tony Stewart and Marcos Ambrose handily in the caution filled closing laps. Coming from a sprint car background, Kahne is not one you would think of as a top level road racer; obviously his skills carried over as he proved to be quite proficient on the road course. He qualified well and raced well; his win was well deserved.

Mac McCormick
kf4lmt@comcast.net

The 24 Hours of LeMans

I was disappointed that Audi lost the 24 Hours of LeMans but I will congratulate Peugeot on their win. This year, they undoubtedly performed better than Audi. They not only had a better car this year, they also improved their performance in the pits and their decision making on the pit box. I think a lack of race time also accounts for Audi's performance this year. Peugeot ran the 908 at Sebring and during one of the LMS races this season whereas Audi only ran the R15 at Sebring. Given that the 908 is in it's third year and is a proven, developed machine the lack of race time on the first year R15 prevented Audi from finding and fixing flaws such as the intercooler overheating. You can test all you want, but some problems just aren't going to show up until you go through the stress of racing.

On the other hand, it was wonderful to see Corvette win their last GT1 race. If you don't think a win or class win in this race means something, witness Dan Binks as the 63 Corvette crossed the finish line. This is a man who had his hands in 15 sports car championships, yet he was in tears as he finally got his first LeMans win. Through all of Corvette's LeMans wins, he had never been on the team that won. Hearing our national anthem played as the Corvette team stood atop the GT1 podium was inspiring. Here's hoping that Corvette's GT2 program (if it continues given GM's financial problems) is just as successful.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

TNT Neglects to Mention Serious Injury to Johnny Benson?

I didn't see all of TNT's pre-race coverage before the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan yesterday, but I don't think anyone brought it up until Tony Stewart mentioned it in an interview they did with him during driver introductions. If this is the case, shame on TNT.

If anyone saw them mention it before Stewart's interview, please let me know.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Rick Mears in Racer2Racer

I just got finished reading a terrific article in the latest edition of RACER Magazine. This month's Racer2Racer article by Bryan Herta is with one of my racing heroes: Rick Mears. Mears was coming to the end of his stellar career as I was becoming interested in open wheel racing. While I was familiar with drivers like A.J. Foyt, Al and Bobby Unser, Tom Sneva, and others, it was Mears who was at the top of his game at the time. The way he raced, the way he conducted himself, and particularly the way he came back from horrible foot and lower leg injuries made him one of my heroes.

What really prompted me to write this post was something that Mears said in this interview and how much it contrasted with something that Dale Earnhardt Jr., someone considered a hero by many motorsports fans these days, said in an article I recently read. Earnhardt Jr. stated that blocking was part of racing (perhaps in not those exact words, but I can't find the article to get the exact quote). That is the way that NASCAR racing, particularly superspeedway racing is done these days and that just isn't what I grew up knowing as the sport of racing. This is what Mears had to say:

"Blocking is one of my pet peeves... To me, this is racing, it's not called blocking. Blocking takes no talent; the talent is in pulling away from your rival."

To read more of what he had to say, and for what more about racing should be, pick up the July 2009 issue of RACER magazine and read this article. The quote above sums up one of the reasons that I have almost lost interest in NASCAR's version of stock car racing.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Indy 500 Qualifying

Watching Sunday's "Bump Day" qualifying at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, one could easily assume that that the drama and excitement is back in the Indianapolis 500 qualifying process. As Lee Corso might say, "Not So Fast, My Friend..."

While at first glance, there were 36 cars competing for 33 starting spots, it was obvious all day long that of those 36 cars, only 34 were truly capable of making the necessary speed. Thus the drama was to an extent a creation of the coverage. Stanton Barrett and Buddy Lazier never really had the speed needed to make the field. The competition to not be bumped out was between John Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Alex Tagliani. That was where the drama was. It was odd that the veteran Andretti was finding it hard to make the car handle when his teammates, even Milka Duno, were. That Ryan Hunter-Reay had trouble both weeks finding the speed when teammate Ed Carpenter did was also surprising. These two teams really provided the drama during qualifying. I'm surprised that Tagliani wasn't faster given that Bruno Junqeira put his car in the field fairly easily with little practice. Unfortunately, Junqueira's effort comes to naught as his seat has now been given to Tagliani. I can't help but feel sorry for Bruno; obviously the commercial aspect of racing has trumped the performance aspect of racing. With the performance he turned in, Bruno deserves the ride in the Indy 500.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Ed Hinton Column on NASCAR Paint Schemes

Remember the old days when you could pick out your favorite Sprint Cup Series driver on the backstretch at Dega because of the color on the car? Those days are long gone.

All that I'll add to this column from Ed Hinton is this: "Amen Brother."

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

The Miss California Brouhaha Just Won't Go Away

Once again, the Miss California Brouhaha has managed to stay in the news (as if there aren't more important things going on). Despite my better judgement, I have three comments on this saga:

1. The latest issue at hand, the semi-nude photos, despite the massive attention given to them by the media, are not the problem that Ms. Prejean has. The problem is honesty. On her application, she was asked if she had taken any photos of the nature of those now showing up. She answered no, thus answering falsely. You should not be surprised if you are fired when your employer discovers you lied on an application. It is possible that the pageant organizers are using this legitimate issue to get rid of someone they no longer like, but that is a separate issue.
2. Isn't it odd that Shanna Moakler, one of the pageant officials looking into replacing Ms. Prejean is Playboy's Ms. December 2001. Ms. Moakler posed after her pageant work and Ms. Prejean's photos were taken prior, so the situation is not the same but this whole business smacks of hypocrisy.
3. This story is not important! The major networks should let it drop and cover more important things. Concentrate on our wars, our domestic issues, even theorize on who Obama will select for confirmation to the Supreme Court.

Mac McCormick
kf4lmt@comcast.net