Rafael Matos to race full time with Luczo Dragon In '09

As reported on Curt Cavin's Blog this morning and speedtv.com this afternoon, Rafael Matos will be racing full time next year in the Indy Car series. Matos the Atlantic champ in 2007 and the Firestone Indy Lights 2008 champ make the natural progression into the big cars with Luczo Dragon . Matos was excellent on the ovals this season in Firestone Indy Lights, and is a wonderfully talented road course race. He should be a force this for many seasons in the IRL.

I would not be surprised at all if he wins a race, as a rookie.

Canadian Grand Prix Dropped from Schedule!!!

In a shocking and utterly disappointing move, ESPN.COM is reporting that The Canadian Grand Prix has been dropped from the 2009 F1 Calendar. I cannot believe this move, and this will leave the North American Continent with out an F1 Race. I hope Tony George hears this and works to add F1 back on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway schedule for next season.

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/racing/f1/news/story?id=3630361

Best Names in Racing

Today I am going to feature some of the sports truly great names. Some are fun names to say, and some names will have you wondering what the hell were thier parents thinking. Some had great success with these name,s and some had no success at all.

Indy Car/Indy 500 Drivers

Guido Daccò
Racin Gardner
Fabrizio Barbazza
Billy Boat
Buzz Calkins
Franck Fréon
Salt Walther
Willy T. Ribbs
Teo Fabi
Vincenzo Sospiri
Jules Goux
Baconin Borzacchini
Gaston Chevrolet
Wim Eyckmans
Dario Franchitti
Philippe Gache
Marco Greco
Ronney Householder
Hurley Haywood
Roger Rager
Laurent Redon
Gordon Smiley
Stubby Stubblefield
Didier Theys
Fermín Vélez
Spider Webb
Pancho Carter
Stevie Reeves

Formula 1

Alberto Ascari
Zsolt Baumgartner
Jenson Button
Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Beppe Gabbiani
Timo Glock
Pedro Lamy
Herbert MacKay-Fraser
Pierluigi Martini
Gastón Mazzacane
Alessandro Nannini
Stéphane Sarrazin
Domenico Schiattarella
Scott Speed
Otto Stuppacher
Wolfgang von Trips
Markus Winkelhock


NASCAR/Nationwide/Trucks

Dick Trickle
Elmo Langley
Cale Gale
Auggie Vidovich II
Buckshot Jones
Lyndon Amick
Buck Baker
Fireball Roberts
Cotton Owens
Ramo Stott
Coo Coo Marlin
Banjo Roberts
Sterling Marlin
Boris Said

HCN wont be racing at Surfers.

Well it looks like Helio Castroneves wont be making the trip to Surfers Paradise due to the terms of his Bail Agreement. Who will Penske use to fill his seat? Will it be a Penske Driver, Like Sam Hornish Jr. or Patrick Long? Why not Paul Tracy? Or will we see Penske pull a total shocker and place Rafa Matos in the car for a one off? Time will tell.

NASCAR has some serious problems!!

NASCAR has some serious issues. First, did anybody else see the large gaps in the grandstand that were empty seats for this weekend's race at Talladega? At times I thought I was watching a Nationwide race. I know times are tough, but to have seats empty at one of NASCAR's most prestigious tracks, during the Chase, needs to be examined.

The magic exploding tires have not killed anybody yet, but they did manage to send Denny Hamlin to the hospital after his scary tire failure while leading the race. Goodyear should be embarrassed, NASCAR should be very concerned, and the Drivers need to unite speak out against this. Let's not mince words here the tires are FAILING!!, and it is out of the drivers and teams control to fix the issue. Goodyear needs to be taken to task on this issue, before something really terrible happens.


If things were not bad enough NASCAR is now in the business of "awarding" wins to the driver that crosses the line second. Regan Smith is the rightful winner of yesterday's race, in my humble opinion. Smith, a rookie, who's team DEI, has a cloudy future due to the current economic situation, needed a win more than anything else. A win for Smith and DEI could have boosted the struggling team's fortunes and possibly brought much needed sponsorship money to the team. I firmly believe that Smith was pushed below the "out of bounds line" by eventual race winner Tony Stewart over aggressive blocking in the Tri-Oval, and his choices were go below the line, or wreck Stewart. Does anybody remember that one of the most famous passes, by NASCAR most Famous drivers, Dale Earnhardt occurred in the grass?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo4y7MJfeIs


It was an interesting day at Talladega, in a race that could have long lasting effect on this years Chase, Goodyear's future in the sport and quite possibly Regan Smith's future.

Penske Racing Response on Castroneves' Legal Issues

This is the first article I have seen that has Penske supporting Castroneves.


http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081003/SPORTS16/81003053/1048/SPORTS

Bertrand Gachot

The second driver with legal troubles that I am profiling is Bertrand Gachot. Gachot, a Belgian driver with the Jordan F1 Team was arrested for spraying a London taxi cab driver with CS Gas, aka tear gas. Which apparently is a big No No in England. He served a two month prison term and upon his release the Jordan team had no interest in having him back. His arrest and prison term did however open the door for a young and unknown Michael Schumacher to take his seat and make his Formula One debut. Gachot was primarily a back marker for the rest of his F1 career, however Gauchot did have some success after F1 winning the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans, for Mazda.

Tomas Scheckter

Before he started his topsy-turvy Indy Car career Tomas Scheckter was destined to be a Formula 1 driver. Son of the1979 World Driving Champion Jody Scheckter, Tomas was a test driver for the Jaguar F1 team when in 2001 Tomas was arrested for solicitation of a prostitute, and promptly fired. His F1 dream was destroyed.

Castroneves Indicted!!

I simply cannot believe that Helio Castroneves was indicted yesterday on Federal Tax Evasion and Fraud. These charges are very serious and it could jeopardize his driving career. There have been a few drivers in the past that have faced legal troubles while they were still active in racing and very few of them ever recovered. Over the course of the next few days I will highlight a few driver that have had legal troubles during there careers.

And you thought your wife Drove you nuts in the car!!

This video posted on You Tube this week show what happens when former F1 driver Riccardo Patrese takes his wife for a drive around the Jerez circuit.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIhGJyLR6TI

Monza!! Monza!! Monza!!

This weekend the F1 circus travels to the legendary Autodromo Nazionale Monza circuit in Italy. After last weekend's memorable and controversial race at Spa, Mclaren hopes to rebound at the Home track of Ferrari. The lightning fast track has been the site of some legendary races, and this weekend should not disappoint. The Tifosi, the passionate Ferrari fans will be behind their drivers this weekend, as the championship comes down to is final races.

Here is a memorable moment from Monza. Listen to the tifosi after Mika Hakkinen crashes, no wonder why he cried.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXmmdLwvSkY

INDY CAR YEAR END AWARDS PT 2

Today in the second installment of the Indy Car year end awards I present two awards: Pass of the year and Drive of the Year.

Pass of the Year. In the Indy Car Series passing occurs quite frequently, with cars routinely passing each other 3,4,5, 6 times a lap . This Year One Pass stands out.

On the Lap 160 Resart at this year's Indy 500 Vitor Meira made a pass for the ages. Sitting in third at the restart Meira and Dixon Got around a sluggish Ed Carpenter, who later said that he did not have the correct fuel map setting when the green flag flew, Meira then got an incredible tow off of Dixon, briefly made it "3 wide" and some how passed both cars at the end of the frontstrech. It was an incredible pass, and it is the Motor Racing Online's Pass of the Year.

Here's a video of the Pass From YOU TUBE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-HibLq5vXo

The Drive of the Year signifies the driver that turned in the most impressive Driving Performance in a race. There were many great Drives this Year that should be mentioned. Graham Rahal's win at St Petersburg, was a veteran drive from the 19 year old rookie. Paul Tracy's drive at Edmonton was classic PT. Aggressive, Attacking, Fast, and made more amazing by the fact that it was the First time Tracy was in this type of Indy Car on a road course, and It was the first time he was in a car since the Champ Car Finale at Long Beach. This year we don't have to look to far in the past to find this years Drive Of The Year.

What Helio Castroneves did at Chicago this year was amazing. Starting last, working his way through the field, to take the lead, lead the most laps, and win the race, while fighting Dixon tooth and nail for the Championship.

Video of the Amazing Finish from YOU TUBE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hq_iAB2DBA

No Indy Car on Sirius but NASCAR on XM

Radio Industry news web site FMQB is reporting this afternoon that the Sirius on NASCAR channels will be available to XM subscribers as a part of the merger deal that was struck this year. Much to my disappointment Indy Car Racing is not part of the "Best Of Both" programming package.

http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=879408

INDY CAR YEAR END AWARDS

One of the things you will be able to gather from my blog is that my favorite form of Motor Racing is Indy Car. With the IRL crowning Scott Dixon as its champion this weekend. I offer to you the Indy Car Year end Awards. I will have several awards ranging from Driver Of The Year, to Bonehead of the year. Today I will give out the award Crash Of The Year.

The crash of the year award was made much harder this year due to Dario Franchitti's foray in to the world of Tin Tops. However there was still one crash that stood out from the rest. Anytime a race car gets airborne it is a spectacular site. NASCAR race cars rarely get airborne these days due to the Roush Roof Flaps, and the side window mandated on ovals over one mile in length. Indy cars are a different Story. DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!

The winner of the 1st annual Motor Racing Online Indy Car Crash of the Year is.....

Vitor Meira at Milwaukee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=potxt1M05J8&feature=related

I hope this is not the last time we speak of Vitor on this blog. He is a great guy and I think he, along with Paul Tracy NEEDS TO BE IN INDY CAR next year.

McLaren Chicane-ary

The Belgium Grand Prix this weekend was not the first time a McLaren driver got a raw deal from the FIA. This You Tube Clip shows us the most famous Raw Deals in the History of FIA screw overs. The Race, the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix. The Drivers, Prost and Senna. The Prize, The World Championship.
I also rate this as one of the best motor racing calls of all time, calling the race the is the incomparable Murray Walker, and 1976 World Driving Champion James Hunt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7X3qH7RVzg&feature=related

UPDATE: Speed TV.com is reporting that Mclaren is planning to proceed with their Appeal of the Lewis Hamilton Penalty.

The Chase is On.

The week the chase for the Winston... umm Nextel/Sprint Cup is on. As we enter the chase Jimmie Johnson is clearly the hottest driver, winner of the Past 2 cup races and the past 2 cup championships. I think he is the odds on favorite to win a third championship in a row, and clearly the sexy pick with the NASCAR talking heads. I however am not picking him to win it all. I have to go with Kyle Busch. I am quickly becoming a fan of Ky. Busch. His take no prisoners attitude is what racing should be about. He is all about winning and that is what racing is all about. Winning. I think that Ky. Busch's goal is to win all the chase races, and I guarantee you that barring an injury or sabotage he will will more chase races than any other Driver, and take home his first of many Cup Championships.

One of my criticisms of NASCAR is "points racing". I translate that into , well we can't win this weekend so lets try to be the 10th place loser. As Ricky Bobby said, "If you ain't First, your Last." I wish more NASCAR drivers had that mentality.

First Post

Welcome To the Motor Racing Online Blog. My name is Steve Marengo and I have been a lifelong fan of motor racing. On this blog I will be blogging about all types of motorsports. My favorite form of racing are Indy Car and Formula One. I however will not limit my posts to just open wheel. I will sound off on NASCAR, Sports Cars, Moto GP, Drag Racing and what ever else I care to talk about. So Tell all your friends about the Motor Racing Online Blog.