Tony George, We Hardly Knew Ya

Breaking News: According to speedtv.com, Tony George has been voted out as CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He will remain as CEO of the Indycar Series.

This will certainly be the "Topic of the Day" in the Indycar world. Trackforum is discussing it here, and check the blogroll on the right as the major bloggers weigh in.

My primary concern at this point is the process for deciding on new leadership at IMS. If any parties from rival racing series find their way into IMS leadership, this could be a grave mistake.

Update: Or Did We Know Ya Afterall? Tony George is reportedly denying Robin Miller's report.

Luczo Dragon's New Marines Livery

Pretty sharp! Nice work as always, aowzone.

Twitter Makes Indy 2009 a New Experience

Dan Wheldon tweets about the car's handling, while Sarah has her crew broadcast out tweets while she's driving. Tony Kanaan's been keeping us in stitches all month. Heck, even Danica's gotten into the act.

For better or worse, this level in interconnectivity has been the story of the month.

The old-guard media like Curt Cavin have seemingly moved effortlessly to twitter's handheld-based medium, and the power of the technology really shines at a sprawling facility like Indy, where stories can happen a long way from the media center. When blogger MyNameIsIRL ran into Dan Wheldon and asked "Dan, what do you look for when cars bunch up?", we got Dan's response almost as it happened: "Paul Tracy."

Of course all this comes with a downside. Certain nameless young well-pedigreed drivers tend to tweet out the prosaic: "fried chicken for lunch, yum!" And do we really need to know how often the Vision drivers pass gas in their own motorcoaches?

Vision Gets Hunter-Reay's Car Right

Well, the paint job anyway...


Now *this* is nice livery. Vision went from having one of the poorest examples of sponsor placement to perhaps having the easiest sponsor logo to read at speed.

Tony Kanaan and Wallace: Separated at Birth?

Tony Kanaan sent out this picture via twitter:


Separated at birth? You decide.

Calm Before the Storm at IMS Media Center

MyNameIsIRL has a great photo of a currently-empty media center room for bloggers at the Speedway. Might have to get a pass next year and blog from the track.

Off-Topic

In non-Indy news...

TV wins some... and loses some. TNT cancels one of the sharpest shows on TV, Trust Me, while NBC renewed geek-chic Chuck for another season.

From Ryan Hunter-Reay's Mailbag

Dear Ryan Hunter-Reay,

It's not you. It's me.

Sincerely,
Your Car

It's Time to Shorten The Month of May

Yes, I know. I've committed Indy 500 heresy. Summon the ghost of Hulman and purify me with ethanol.

But as we all sit around with no activity on the track on this gorgeous 70-degree Tuesday, we owe it to ourselves to ask: do we really need 20 days to run the Indy 500?

Just take a look at the track schedule, which is empty for yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We have two days off next week too. Couldn't we focus the attention of the racing world a little better if the action went for, say, 15 days without abatement?

Here's my proposed schedule for the 2010 Indianapolis 500 that cuts out the empty days and adds more days of practice to boot:

• Fri May 14: Centennial Era Balloon Festival.
• Sat May 15: Centennial Era Balloon Festival.
• Sun May 16: Rookie Orientation.
• Mon May 17: Track opens for practice.
• Tue May 18: Practice.
• Wed May 19: Practice.
• Thu May 20: Practice.
• Fri May 21: Fast Friday.
• Sat May 22: Pole Day Qualifying.
• Sun May 23: 2nd Day Qualifying / Coke Zero Music Festival.
• Mon May 24: Bump Day Qualifying / Armed Forces Day.
• Tue May 25: Indy Lights Practice (Rain Day Indycar Qualifying).
• Wed May 26: Festival Community Day / Indy Lights Practice.
• Thu May 27: Indy Lights Qualifying.
• Fri May 28: Indy Lights Freedom 100 / Miller Lite Carb Day
• Sat May 29: Festival Parade, Public Drivers Meeting, Autograph Session
• Sun May 30: Indy 500

It's just a first draft, and I'm sure I left something off. I'm sure those living in Indianapolis would love for the festivities to draw on as long as possible, but packing all the fun into two weeks just might entice some visitors to stay for a week. Or two.

(Photo Credit: Humane Society of Indianapolis)

The Have and Have-Not at Vision

I agree with some twitterers that have interpreted Ryan Hunter-Reay's comments as suggesting that Ed Carpenter's car is getting a speed treatment that his isn't. But it's borne out by the evidence: Hunter-Reay, a solid oval driver last year with mid-quality Rahal equipment, was embarrassingly slow at Kansas and hasn't looked any better at Indy.

And it seems like it's got to be more than lower-quality oil. Both Foyt cars made it into the field today while Hunter-Reay simply had to wave-off his attempt. What does Foyt have that Vision doesn't?

One year ago, I thought Vision was a team on the rise. But today when their cars have such a vast performance disparity, I'd say they've taken a huge step backward.