January 2003 (1/29) - With the loss of digital pay-per-view in Formula One, the rest of us will suffer. 250 people who ran it were layed-off. There will no longer be ground-based pick-up points around the track which means that all on-car camera footage will have to be fed to a chopper prior to being beamed around the world. This limits the number of cars that can be veiwed in-cockpit. Murray Walker said I'm extremely sorry to hear this news. It was a brave, enterprising and laudable effor on Bernie's part to provide a better-quality product. That product is now going to be denied - not only to people who are prepared to pay the digital premium, but also to the vast majority of ITV viewers who were hoping to watch digital images as well. At a time when improved TV coverage is desperately needed, sadly, it will be getting worse." (1/26) - GOLDEN, Colorado (AP) -- Johnny Mauro, a 1948 Indianapolis 500 racer and founder of the U.S. Truck Driving School, died in a head-on collision with a teenage driver on Interstate 70. Mauro's car crossed into incoming traffic Thursday night in Golden, about 10 miles west of Denver, state Trooper Ron Watkins said. Both Mauro, 92, and Christopher Basinski, 17, were killed. A 16-year-old passenger in Basinski's car was injured, authorities said. Mauro usually drove a couple blocks every day to drop off bank receipts from the driving school but rarely drove on the interstate, said Mauro's nephew Richard Lammers, who runs the school. "I don't think he's been on I-70 for 20 years. We don't know how he got there," Lammers said. "It's a tragic accident. We feel for ourselves and the other parties involved." Mauro raced for years in the Midwest, using the name "Jack Morris" for a time so his parents wouldn't know he was racing. He competed in the Indy 500 in 1948, finishing eighth behind winner Mauri Rose. Mauro founded the driving school in the late 1950s. (1/21) - NASCAR is cracking down on the number of fans roaming around in the pits and garages. They are handing out special "hot" passes for people that need to be in there. They are also erecting strobing red lights that will go off 30 minutes before on-track activity. This will tell the fans it is time to clear out of the way. Also, the Daytona 500 has announced that John Travolta will be grand marshal and Mariah Carey will sing the national anthem. Why can't the Indy 500 get a decent line-up? I mean, yeah, John Mellencamp is cool, but come on, he lives down the street and everyone around Indianapolis and Bloomington has seen him like 50 times. Most people didn't know who the guy they got to be grand marshal of the Indy 500 last year was. Coincidentally, I finally saw this guy in a movie just last night. It was a some chick flick that was so lame I wanted to puke. Who do I recomend for grand marshal? Well, not Ozzy Osborne!. (1/16) - The ESPN2 show, INDY PIT PASS, returns for 2003. This 1/2 show takes a look behind the scenes of the IRL during the previous season. Here is the schedule (EDT): Date Time Subject Jan. 16 2:30-3 p.m. Helio vs Sam Feb. 20 2:30-3 p.m. Infiniti Pro Series March 20 12:30-1 p.m. George Mack May 1 3-3:30 p.m. Tomas Scheckter May 15 3-3:30 p.m. Helio Castroneves June 19 2:30-3 p.m. Robbie Buhl July 16 3-3:30 p.m. Gil de Ferran Aug. 22 3:30-4 p.m. Sarah Fisher Sept. 18 2:30-3 p.m. Panther Racing Oct. 22 3-3:30 p.m. Jeff Ward Nov. 19 1:30-2 p.m. Alex Barron Dec. 18 3-3:30 p.m. Firestone (1/15) - A.J. Foyt announced his 25 y/o son, Larry, will drive the #14 Dodge on the Winston Cup circuit this year. As a side note, A.J.'s 18 y/o grandson, A.J. Foyt IV will make his debut in the IRL this year. (1/15) - Kevin Kalkhoven and Craig Pollock (original head of the B.A.R. F1 team) has bought the defunct CART team, Pac-West. The name of the new team will be PK Racing and they will be based out of Indianapolis. Jacques Villeneuve will not be involved in the venture. (1/13) - The IRL has wrapped up the winter's first testing at Homestead. Test in the West will be Feb. 3-7 at California Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway. The teams have a lot on their plate with sorting out the new chassis and engines. (1/13) - CART has gotten their two European dates back - they will race in England and Germany in May. I also noticed something interesting about their schedule, most of the U.S. states they visit, they visit twice during the season. (1/5) - CART's Herdez Competition has confirmed veteran driver Roberto Moreno will teammate with Mario Dominguez. (1/2) - Jeff Gordon is going to host Saturday Night Live on January 11th! He is the first race car driver to do so. Also, Today's date is 1/2/3!

February 2003 (2/21) - Awesome news this week! Hemelgarn Racing had lost Coors as sponsor and it was dubious whether 1996 Indy 500 Champion Buddy Lazier would be able to race. They missed the Test in the West. Hemelgarn announced he'll be racing in the first event at Homestead however! His younger brother's IRL career had been blossoming sinec 2000 as he jumped from one team to another before landing the awesome Menard ride in 2002. Four races later and he broke his back at the Nazareth race. Jaques Lazier had to sit out the rest of the season. Rookie Vitor Meira filled in for him for the final four races and won the pole at Texas! Vitor is from Brazil and he did an awesome job. John Menard had a problem. Did he stick with this new younger talent who looked like he might be as good or better than Jaques, or go with his more experienced original driver and hope he was over his injury. I am happy to see that he has decided to give Jaques the ride. Things are tight, good drivers are out of work, and if he didn't give Jaques another chance, who would? Vitor has not been discarded however. He will be the test driver this year for the engineering partnership group between Team Menard and Red Bull Cheever Racing. It was looking doubtful if Bradley Motorsports would survive, but they have gotten a G-Force with Toyota power and hired Jeff Ward!! Greg "choke" Ray also landed a job with the new Access Motorsports Team. I was sorry to see that this team did not go with the new Falcon chassis as they'd originally planned. They'll be using a G-Force chassis with a Honda engine. I guess Falcon was behind in getting a chassis together in time. No team will be starting the season with one. I hope they can hang around long enough for some teams to try their car. (2/18) - The IRL spent Monday and Tuesday with open testing at Homestead Florida. Rain interrupted some. Penske and Andretti had the best times. A.J. the 4th hit the wall today. COMBINED MONDAY PRACTICE: Driver, Speed (MPH) 1. Gil de Ferran, 205.761 2. Helio Castroneves, 205.307 3. Michael Andretti, 204.847 4. Roger Yasukawa, 203.652 5. Scott Dixon, 202.996 6. Tony Kanaan, 202.710 7. Scott Sharp, 202.617 8. Sam Hornish Jr., 202.604 9. Dario Franchitti, 202.553 10. Kenny Brack, 202.079 11. Tora Takagi, 201.097 12. Felipe Giaffone, 200.997 13. Buddy Rice, 200.500 14. Sarah Fisher, 197.765 15. Tomas Scheckter, 197.532 16. Robbie Buhl, 197.157 17. Jaques Lazier, 196.922 18. AJ Foyt IV, 195.764 19. Al Unser Jr., 195.739 COMBINED TUESDAY PRACTICE Driver, Speed (MPH) 1. Andretti, Michael 207.378 2. de Ferran, Gil 206.756 3. Sharp, Scott 206.230 4. Castroneves, Helio 206.152 5. Kanaan, Tony 204.958 6. Franchitti, Dario 204.536 7. Hornish Jr, Sam 204.067 8. Dixon, Scott 203.750 9. Scheckter, Tomas 203.712 10. Brack, Kenny 203.692 11. Yasukawa, Roger 203.335 12. Giaffone, Felipe 202.969 13. Rice, Buddy 202.969 14. Takagi, Tora 202.051 15. Unser Jr, Al 201.660 16. Fisher, Sarah 201.474 17. Lazier, Jaques 200.986 18. Buhl, Robbie 198.470 19. Dixon, Scott 195.537 20. Foyt IV, AJ 193.857 21. Hattori, Shigeaki 192.753 22. Mayer, Scott 192.178 Butch Meyer (General Manager, Team Menard): “It went great for us. We have a new car, and we are learning a lot about it. When we come back to race in a week and a half, I think we are going to be very competitive. The announcement of the driver will be made in the next few days. John Menard will make that announcement.” Sam Hornish Jr blames their slow start to the fact that they are a one-car team and it would help to have another car providing feedback on the race setup of these new cars. (2/16) - Rain stopped the Daytona 500 twice today. The 2nd time was for good. Pencil in Michael Waltrip's 2nd Daytona 500 win! (2/14) - Some more new rules for Formula One this year. For this season there will be no two-way telemetry, radio communication or spare cars and come 2004, traction and launch control and automatic gearboxes will be banned! I'm all in favor of losing these electronic driver aids. I think these changes are intended to help the excitement level as well as save some money for the teams. (2/14) - Jaguar Racing is joining Minardi, Renault and Jordan in opting for the new Friday testing plan in Formula One. These teams will be allowed two extra hours of practice on race weekend. However, they must give up lots of other testing hours in between the races. (2/12) - Citing the downturn in the economy, coupled with possible payouts in the tobacco settlement, R.J. Reynolds has talked with NASCAR about the possibility of the stock-car sanctioning body finding another sponsor for its premier series. RJR has been the title sponsor since 1971, when the company came into the sport as manufacturers were leaving. Many have considered Winston to be a saving grace to NASCAR, establishing a points fund and pumping millions of dollars into the sport. (2/8) - Phoenix Final Practice - Here are the fastest drivers in the final day of testing: 1. Tony Kanaan - Honda power 2. Scott Dixon - Toyota power 3. Gil de Ferran - Toyota 4. Helio Castroneves - Toyota 5. Kenny Brack - Honda 6. Felipe Giaffone - Toyota 7. Tomas Scheckter - Toyota 8. Dario Franchitti - Honda 9. Scott Sharp - Toyota 10. Michael Andrettie - Honda 11. Roger Yasukawa - Honda 12. Sam Hornish, Jr. - Chevrolet It will be televised tonight on ESPN2. Buddy Rice hit the wall today and Mark Taylor made contact back on Thursday. (2/7) - Test in the West - The IRL has all new cars this year and the race teams are rushing to get the cars ready for the first race coming up in March at Homestead FLA. 22 IRL guys practiced at Fontana, a 2 mile D-shaped oval on Tuesday. California Fastest Laps 1. Felipe Giaffone 2. Tomas Scheckter 3. Tony Kanaan 4. Dario Franchitti 5. Gil de Ferran 6. Scott Dixon 7. Tora Takagi 8. A.J. Foyt IV 9. Al Unser, Jr. 10. Helio Castroneves 12. Sam Hornish, Jr. Next, the teams all flew to Arizona and tested on the 1-mile Phoenix oval. Phoenix 1st day Fastest Laps 1. Helio Castroneves 2. Kenny Brack 3. Felipe Giaffone 4. Tomas Scheckter 9. Sam Hornish, Jr. (2/7) - I've been hearing about basketball coach Bobby Knight as far back as I can remember. The same goes for A.J. Foyt. Both of these men have figured prominently in the sporting news in Indianapolis for years. I always thought these two guys shared some similarities - they were both hard asses and neither were ever afraid to say what they thought. Now that Bobby's coaching in Foyt's home state of Texas, the two met up at a recent game where Knight's Texas Tech team lost to Texas A&M. After the game was over, Bobby invited A.J. in to help him give those boys a talkin' to! I'd sure love to have seen that. (2/7) - Cool! Petty Enterprises is going to let John Andretti race in the Indy 500 this year! He'll have to grab the last train to Charlotte to compete in the 600. I guess we can give up on Tony Stewart coming back, but maybe Robby Gordon will attempt the big double again. (2/6) - How would you like to be on Al Unser, Jr's pit crew? Charity raffles will be held ($100 per ticket) and the winner will receive round trip air fare for two to an IRL race beginning with the Copper World Indy 200 on March 23rd in Phoenix, Arizona. Included is ground transportation, two all-access pit passes, two grandstand tickets, hotel accommodations with Kelley Racing, an exact replica of a drivers helmet autographed by the driver, his crew and Tom Kelley as well as the option of working with the crew throughout the event weekend. There will be several raffles throughout the year. Proceeds are going to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. (2/5) - PDM Racing helped their 69th driver achieve their IRL racing license. Alex Mueller, a young German who raced for Minardi in Formula 3000 took the test in California and passed with flying colors. Scott Mayer will be the PDM driver this season. (2/5) - As you probably know, A.J. Foyt IV. is going to be driving for his grandpappy in the #14 IRL car. It seems A.J. Foyt's IRL sponsors have decided to move to his Winston Cup team. Luckily new ones have come on board. His grandson is going to be sponsored by the bankrupt Conseco Insurance company which is based here in Indy. (Bankrupt they may be, but they also paid the city $20 mill to keep their name on the Indiana Pacers' fieldhouse for a few more years.) They had been sponsoring Foyt's Winston Cup team. Shoring things up monetarily in the #5 car will be the Japanese company, Epson. Naturally, Shigeaki Hattori is part of the deal. I think this team will qualify for the biggest gap in driver age (18 & 39). I wonder what will become of Airton Dare. I wonder if he's gotten married yet. I heard he was engaged. (2/1) - The 1991 CART champion and the winningest CART driver, Michael Andretti, announced he will retire from Indycar racing after this year's Indy 500. Michael is 40 and retiring about 14 years sooner than his father, Mario, did. Michael has competed in the last couple of Indy 500's even though he was racing in the CART series. This year he brings a new 3-car team to the IRL - Andretti-Green Racing. He, himself, plans on competing in all the IRL races this spring up unto the Indy 500.

March 2003 (3/29) - Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk was confirmed as part of a three-car effort of Mo Nunn Racing in this year's Indy 500. (3/23) - Tony Kanaan held off Castroneves to win the IRL race in Phoenix. So far, both IRL races this year has had less than a second between the leaders at the finish. IRL regulars, Felipe Giaffone and Al Unser Jr finished third and fourth. Michael Andretti got into a crash with Gil de Ferran when Gil tried to pass him. Gil had to go to the hospital with a concussion and a fracture in his lower back. He will be sitting out the Japan race in order to get healed up for Indy. Alex Barron will be filling in for him in Japan. (3/24) - FORMULA ONE RACE The big story at the F1 race in Malaysia was the fact that the Renaults started on the front row! Fernando Alonso won the pole position beside his teammate Jarno Trulli. Fernando is the youngest driver to ever capture pole as well as the only Spanish driver to do so. Michael Schumacher collided with Jarno Trulli in the second turn on the first lap. His race was further hurt when he had to replace a nose cone and THEN got a drive through penalty. He managed to work his way to finish in 6th. His brother had a good drive finishing in 4th, after having started in 17th. Kimi Raikonnen, won his first grand prix at the age of 23. This was the McLaren driver's 36th grand prix. I was really bummed that I didn't get to see this race. My vcr goofed up while I was down in Tennessee at the Nascar race. (Dan's Bristol pictures) (3/12) - Well darn. I was hoping the IRL's Infiniti Pro Series would race during May at the nearby Indianapolis Raceway Park's .66 mile oval. I guess it didnt' work out. However, you Hoosiers can still watch them race at no less a place than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway! On Saturday, May 17th the IPS teams will compete. Not only that, but all you race fans can come out and check out the IRL's new feeder series for no more than the normal price for an IRL practice day - $5! And of course you'll probably get to see the big cars out practicing before their last chance of qualifying for the Indy 500! The feeder series for - the second weekend of qualifications will see the IRL's Infiniti Pro Series (3/9) - Well, the first F1 race of the year is over and there was no Ferrari driver on the podium. David Coulthard won his 13th Formula One grand prix, moving him ahead of Mario Andretti in the catagory of total F1 race wins. (3/2) - Scott Dixon won the first IRL race of the year in the first IRL race of his life! Scott is a native of New Zealand and is 22 y/o. He is driving for the Target Chip Ganassi team. He won rookie-of-the-year honors in CART two years ago and he won the Indy Lights championship in 2000. While the top 8 qualifiers at Homestead had Dallara chassis, Scott drove a Panoz G-Force to victory! (3/1) - Tony Kanaan has the pole for tomorrow's Toyota 300 at Homestead. His Andretti-Green teammate, Michael Andretti will start beside him. (3/1) - Rookie A.J. Foyt IV learned a lesson yesterday during practice for the IRL Homestead race this weekend. He let Helio Castroneves inside which forced him into the wall, demolishing the entire rightside of his new Dallara and the gearbox. They'll have to work hard to get it ready for the race tomorrow. Helio and Penske racing appologized which made Anthony feel a little better. Helio said a similar incident occurred to him in Homestead's first turn in 1998. He grazed the wall after letting Michael Andretti go under him in the race. "From then on, I don't do that," Castroneves said. "I told him not to be such a nice guy next time." A.J. Foyt had some words of advice for his grandson, "I told him next time just turn left and blast him, and let both of you go to the wall. That will break him of that habit." He he. When A.J. is done with Peewee, everyone better look out! Scott Sharp was fastest yesterday in practice at 204 mph around the 1.5 mile oval. He joined Ed Carpenter today as men who have made contact with the outside wall today. (3/1) - For awhile there, it looked like Bradley Motorsports might make the IRL line-up this year, after securing driver Jeff Ward, but things have fallen apart for the team. Created in 1996 for '96 IRL co-champion, Buzz Calkins, the team survived one year after Buzz retired after 2001.

April 2003 (4/30) - It has been determined that the piece of debris from Brack's car that launched Mario's Indycar into the sky was the rear wing. The launch also gouged the track. (4/29) - Ex-President Bill Clinton will be attending this year's Indy 500. Wyonna Judd will be the Grand Marshal. (4/25) - Jimmy Vasser will be returning again to the Indy 500 and running for the Rahal/Letterman race team. He races in CART. Robby Gordon will again be running the "daily double" this year. He will race in the Indianapolis 500 and then fly to North Carolina to compete in Nascar's Coca-Cola 600. Robby has landed a nice ride with Andretti-Green Racing. Arie Luyendyk is running again in the 500 too. He's driving for Mo Nunn Racing. (4/25) - Jeff Gordon in a Formula One car?! YOU BET. On June 11 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Jeff is going to take out Juan Pablo Montoya's BMW Williams FW25 car and drive the hell out of it on the road course! Similarly, Montoya is going to drive Jeff's Dupont Chevrolet Winston Cup car on the road course. (4/25) - Six drivers passed their Indy Rookie tests at IMS on Monday: A.J. Foyt IV, Roger Yasukawa, Dan Wheldon, Tony Renna, Buddy Rice and Vitor Meira. However PDM's Scott Mayer did not, so they'll be looking for a new teammember for May. In the rookie tests, they have to prove they can run consistent laps at high speed. 10-lap averages of 200-205mph, then 205-210mph, then 210-215mph and finaly over 215mph. (4/23) - It was a beautiful day in Indianapolis today. Two minutes before the Indycar drivers practicing on the speedway were required to end for the day, Kenny Brack crashed in Turn 1. Mario Andretti was following him and ran over some debris. The front of his car came off the ground and he took off like an airplane. The car rapidly flipped end over end about three times(!) before landing on its wheels and coming to rest against the outside of turn 2. Fortunately, Mario and Kenny were both ok and able to walk away. (4/23) - Holy cow! Mario Andretti got in one of his son's IRL cars and took off on the speedway's track and soon had it up to 212 mph. While his 40 year old son is talking of retiring from Indycar racing this May, The 63 y/o Andretti is talking about qualifying on the pole! Mario retired from Indycar in 1994, but ran Le Mans in 2000. He has currently been staying over in the CART camp and is on their board of directors. While the possibility of him actually filling in for one of Andretti-Green's injured drivers in May is slight, its still an intriguing concept. (4/21) - Tony Renna, driver of the No. 32 Cure Autism Now/HomeMed Pharmacy Indianapolis 500 entry, completed his Rookie Orientation Program today at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (4/20) - The Schumacher brothers both qualified on the front row for this weekend's race in San Marino, Imola, Italy. Their mother, having fallen a week ago had lapsed into a coma. The boys were at their mother's side last night before she died at age 55. They flew back to Italy and somehow managed to race. Michael won his first race of the year and his brother finished in 4th. (4/18) - The back injury sustained by Dario Franchitti in a motorcycle accident (see 4/8 below) is apparently going to keep him out of racing for the next 3 months. His team, Andretti-Green, said they'd be interested in running Robby Gordon in Dario's place next month in the Indy 500. They may need someone to fill in for Kanaan as well. (4/16) - Michael Schumacher spent some time talking about his rivals recently. He commented that Villeneuve should spend more time racing and less time talking. Well, after 3 races this season, he has only gotten his world-conquering Ferrarin into 8th in the standings while Villeneuve has his junky B.A.R. in 11th. Maybe Michael needs to heed his own advise! (4/16) - For some time, a new stock car racing series has been being designed. It will feature 3 types of cars: Chevy Corvette, Ford Mustang and Dodge Viper. The series name is TRAC and will consist of six 4-car teams that are based from cities and will compete as teams, similar to ball games. Anyway, they have a television package in place now with ESPN and they plan to start racing in May 2004 (4/16) - A.J. Foyt discussed his Winston Cup car's disqualification from qualifying at Talledega and his subsequent withdrawal from the race in Martinsville in his Texas style, "After what NASCAR did to me at Talladega last week, we didn't see any point in going up to Martinsville and tearing something up," Foyt said. "The deal they did to us at Talladega was a big (bleep)-off deal, so (bleep) them. "I'm like Dale Earnhardt was when he was alive, those (bleeping) plate races (stink). NASCAR is so crooked. Whoever you are, I don't care what you say, if you can't see that, then you are blind. Why should you take out that many cars if you are racing?" "All it is any more, restrictor-plate cars is a glorified IROC race, that's all it is," Foyt said. "If you are going to go racing, then go racing. But if you want an IROC race, then just call it an IROC race. I've never been for plate racing, I never will be. "It's just like racing back to the yellow, I'm glad to see Jeff Gordon speak out against that. Racing shouldn't be who is a complete idiot on the yellow flag. It's a different ball game than it used to be. It's not getting any better, it's getting worse." Foyt admitted he was losing interest in Nascar. (4/15) - Scott Dixon, the winner of the season opener in Miami, and Tony Kanaan, the winner of the league's second race in Phoenix, crashed in Turn 3 on Lap 178 while dueling for the lead of the Japan IRL race. Kanaan suffered a radial fracture on his left arm, and Dixon suffered multiple fractures in his right hand and wrist. Several comments have been made by veteran IRL drivers about the illegal blocking moves that the new guys from CART have been engaging in. It will be interesting to see if Brian Barnhart issues some penalties this week. Sam Hornish commented, "What are you going to do? You have guys two or three laps down to me, blocking, and I'm fighting for position. How many drivers had to go out of here today on a stretcher or an ambulance?" Pancho Carter, who is now a spotter, commented, "There were a lot of crashes going on today. A lot of guys were racing a lot closer than they need to at these speeds. I guess that's the way they race over there in the other series. I don't have a good explanation of it. Probably the biggest thing is too much micromanaging goes on on a lap-to-lap basis." Tomas Scheckter also spoke up on Gianffone's great drive at the end against Hornish, "Felipe has been in this series for a couple of years. He knows what Brian (Barnhart) will allow and won't allow. He knows there is no reason to block the guy because all you will do is end up in a pile of pieces in turns 3 and 4. I had a good race with everybody I'm used to racing against. Take that however you want to." (4/13) - There has been only two Japanese race in the Indy 500. Currently there are four Japanese drivers competing in the IRL. (4/12) - Qualifying for Sunday's Bridgestone Japan Indy 300 was rained out forcing IndyCar Series officials to set the starting grid based on combined practice times. Scott Dixon will start from the pole position based on his lap of 206.996 mph set Friday afternoon. Tony Kanaan, who turned a lap at 206.484 mph on Saturday morning, will start second. Setting the starting grid based on practice times is a new rule for the Indy Racing League in 2003. (4/11) - Much to the delight of Jordan Ford, the FIA decided that Giancarlo Fisichella had started on his 56th lap before the red flag was thrown in the Brazilian Grand Prix last weekend. Since he'd taken the lead on lap 54, he was ruled the winner and Kimi Raikonnen was moved down to 2nd place. This miracle is just what the struggling Jordan team needed as they search for sponsorship dollars. This is the team's 4th victory, their last coming in 1999. This occasion was also the team's 200th outing and Fisi's first win in Formula One. (4/9) - Eddie Cheever is bowing out of the Indy 500. He says he's been so busy running his race team, that he has not had time to prepare for racing in the 500. So for now, he is going to concentrate on running the team this May. (4/8) - In the F1 race Sunday, it looked like Fernando Alonso might have broken his leg, but he is ok and just has a sore knee. (4/8) - Dario Franchitti stopped by his native Scotland on the way to the IRL race in Motegi Japan. He crashed his motorcycle into a hedge and suffered a compression fracture of the L1 vertebra. He still plans on racing in the Indy 500, but Dan Wheldon, the backup driver for Andretti-Green Racing will be filling in for him in Japan. (4/5) - Rain and water washing across the track made for a very exciting and unpredictable Formula One race. Seven drivers spun in the greasy 3rd turn and all but Mark Webber had their race finished as the result of. These drivers included Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya. The safety car had to come out numerous times and unfortunately toward the end, after Giancarlo Fisichella in the Jordan passed Kimi Raikonnen for the lead, there was further trouble. Mark Webber, who had been challenging all day in his Jaguar, spun and crashed. Renault's Fernando Alonso soon came up too fast on the debris, hit one of the Jag's tires and slid into the inside wall, smacking it sideway, then rebounding across the track while spinning like a top and smacked the outside walls sideways again. Alonso crawled slowly from the cockpit and sat down against the wall. It was obvious he had a problem with his left leg. With debris strewn all over the track, the red flag was thrown ending the race and a ambulance took Alonso away. Fisi stopped his car in the pitlane hopped out, and his engine caught fire. He was excited about winning his first F1 race, but soon learned that the rules state that the driver line-up reverts to the way it was 2 laps before a red flag is thrown. Since his pass of the Mercedes-McLaren had happened just one lap before, he was moved down in to second place and Alonso was moved up to third. So, on the podium and in the after race interview, they were a man short as Alonso was on his way to the hospital. (4/1) - IMS has selected the 2003 pace car and its a strange vehicle - part pickup truck - part convertible. It will be the first time the pace car is a truck. Here it is, the Chevy SSR: It will be driven by Herb Fishel, the executive director of GM Racing. (4/1) - Menard Cheever Technologies (MCT) has acquired the independent British engine design company, TWR Engines and is renaming it MCT. Service to current and future customers will be provided from this U.K. facility as well as the expanded MCT facility in Indianapolis, Ind. The move reinforces the company's intention to become a worldwide leader in the design and supply of engines, vehicles and associated technology. "This is a big step for the technical company Eddie and I formed last year," John Menard said. "The resources and knowledge of the workforce at TWR Engines opens the door to a great number of new business opportunities."

May 2003 - INDY 500 (5/26) - Whew, another Indy 500 in the books. While the 65 degree temperature was not terribly cold, it was the 3rd coldest race in history - the two colder being in '92 and '97. Sara Fisher was voted the peoples favorite driver for the third year in a row. She and Billy Boat were the first Chevy's to retire. Sam Hornish, Jr. almost finished in 6th place for Chevy, but his engine let go with 5 laps to go! The story this year was all Toyota and Honda engines. Chevy is going to have to start spending a lot of money if they want to catch up with the Japanese. Late into the race, Scott Sharp hit the safer barrier in turn 1 hard. Soon after, rookie Dan Wheldon lost control in turn 3. After hitting the wall, he became airborn and flipped and landed upside down. No one was hurt today in the race. Photo by Larry Papke The men who lead the most laps included Kanaan, Scheckter and Michael Andretti who was racing his final Indy car race. The Andretti luck continued as his car broke down and he had call it quits. His teammate Tony Kanaan had a great race and ended up in third place. The Ganassi drivers did well most of the day and Tomas Scheckter came home in fourth place. Tora Takagi rounded out the top 5. The Penske team worked their usual magic and finished 1-2. Gil de Ferran finished a split second ahead of his teammate and defending 2-time Indy 500 Champion, Helio Castroneves. One was driving a Dallara chassis and one was driving a G-Force chassis! It was a very close race and about 7 cars were on the lead lap at the end. Photo by Jeff Barrie (5/23) - Sara Fisher finally has a new sponsor. GMAC sponsorship dollars should help her get through the IRL season this year. (5/23) - During Carb Day, Kenny Brack had the fastest practice time of the day and he also played lead guitar during a rock concert at the end of the day for all the fans! He was good too. (5/23) - Red Bull Cheever Racing won the Pitstop Competition, beating out Penske Racing. Eddie said the pit crew gets to share the entire $30,000 prize money. But come race day, he is going to be taking a piece of any prize money! (5/20) - Robby Gordon is again going to race in the Indy 500 and afteward fly to N.C. to race in one of Nascar's biggest races. Tony Stewart has done this before, but he is not attempting the daily double any more. Here is an interview with Tony: How much will you pay attention to the goings-on during race day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway? "Considering we have a night race, I'll sleep in all morning and get up in time to watch the start of the race. I'll wake up, eat my breakfast and pay pretty close attention to it." A lot was made of the possibility that the Indianapolis 500 would not have a full, 33-car field. But after Bump Day last Sunday, they will, in fact, have a full field. Why was filling the field such an issue this year? "The field was thin this year because of all the changes that were made. There were new chassis this year, so a lot of the underfinanced teams that had trouble finding sponsors because of the economy were forced to miss the event. There weren't as many teams, but the teams that are there this year are quality teams. I think there are more quality teams this year than there have been in the past. I think the field is probably stronger than it's ever been. We just didn't see the magnitude of cars in terms of car counts that we're used to seeing." It wasn't but 10 years ago when CART and NASCAR were neck and neck in terms of motorsports supremacy. Today, CART is struggling to rebuild itself, while NASCAR is the 800-pound gorilla of motorsports. Some think NASCAR is in the same position that CART was 10 years ago, and that they're susceptible for a fall. Do you think that's the case? "CART's demise came with the car owners trying to run the series. That's why NASCAR won't fall into that same trap. NASCAR knows what's in the best interest of our racing series and they're in control of it. The car owners have input, but they're not in control. That way, the series can't be corrupted by other people's agendas." Has NASCAR set the template for how a racing series ought to be run, essentially with a benevolent dictatorship? "I think so. Even for me, it's still hard to understand some of the things NASCAR does and why they do it, but there is a reason for all of their actions. And it's their leadership that has gotten this sport to where it is. You don't have to understand why things are being done all the time, but you know that the end results of those decisions are in the best interests of our sport." You used to be a part-owner of an Indy Racing League (IRL) team. Do you have any desire to get back into the ownership ranks of the IRL? "You never say never, but I would have to do a lot of homework to start an IRL team. The technology in that series has gotten away from me a little bit. But I enjoyed my ownership in the IRL, and I would enjoy being a part of it again. You never know what may happen down the road." How much has the technology changed in Indy car racing since you last competed in the Indy 500 two years ago? "It's quite a bit different. For a whole day and a half during the first week of practice when I did double duty, I would pull into the pits and the crew would tell me an aero number, but I didn't know what the aero number meant - and I still don't remember what the aero number meant when I drove for Ganassi. The difference is that those cars use on-board telemetry and live-time telemetry. It's space-age. It's technology that hasn't been available to Winston Cup cars until the last couple of years, and even then we can only use it during tests. It's not allowed for race weekends. And even at that, it's still behind what's being used in the IRL. We're using stuff in the Winston Cup Series that we had in the IRL five years ago. We're kind of behind on that, but that's also NASCAR's way of helping the teams save some money, or using that money for different areas of their program." (5/20) - CELEBRITIES ANTICIPATED TO ATTEND 87TH INDIANAPOLIS 500: Muhammad Ali Tim Allen (actor/comedian) Neil Boortz (national radio talk show host) Avery Brooks (actor, “Star Trek”) Former President George Bush Ruth Buzzi (actress/comedian) Jim Caviezel (actor) Former President Bill Clinton Bryan Cranston (actor, “Malcolm in the Middle”) Howie D. (Backstreet Boys group) Anthony Edwards (actor) Andrew Firestone (“The Bachelor”) George Hamilton (actor) Florence Henderson (actress/singer) Orlando Jones (actor) Naomi Judd (singer) Wynonna Judd (singer) General John Keane (Vice chief of staff, U.S. Army) Jeannette Lee (champion billiards player) David Letterman (late-night TV icon) Charlie Maher (“The Bachelorette”) Peter Max (Official Indy 500 artist) Mercy Me (Christian band) John McGinley (actor, “Scrubs”) Brian McKnight (singer) Bode Miller (U.S. Olympian) Dennis Miller (actor/comedian) Beverley Mitchell (Actress, “7th Heaven”) James Mungro (NFL running back) Jim Nabors (actor/singer) Bubba Paris (former NFL player) Daniel Rodriguez (singer) Ryne Sandberg (Former baseball all-star) Steven Spielberg (filmmaker/producer) Staind (alternative rock band) Joe Tiller (Purdue football coach) David Wolf (astronaut) Darryl Worley (singer) David M. Finkel (Shelbyville) ( 5/19) - Bobby Unser has a new book out, "Winners are Driven". (5/18) - The 33-car field for the 87th running of the Indianapolis 500-mile race was filled today on the last day of qualifying - known as "Bump Day". This year there were only 33 drivers attempting to qualify, so there was no bumping of drivers on the bubble. That hasn't happened since 1949! Considering that neither CART nor Formula One can even field over 20 cars in today's economy, its nice that the IRL can still field 33 Indycars. This year, only one driver has come over from CART to participate - the American, Jimmy Vasser. Also, the IRL's new minor league race series field 19 cars for their race this weekend. (5/18) - Ed Carpenter won the inaugural Freedom 100 at IMS today where it was restarted after yesterday's rainout. (5/17) - Not only is ex-president Bill Clinton attending this year's Indy 500, but so is ex-president George Bush. (5/17) - The Indycar's minor league series, the Infiniti Pro Series, made history when they held a race at IMS today during the month of May. They practiced and qualified in the last two days. Ed Carpenter won the pole position. While the Indycars are reaching speeds of 230 mph, the IPS cars hit 180. There was a crash on the opening lap when Beardsley spun in turn 3, collected Medeiros, and the both slammed into the wall. The rear wheels and rear spoiler became detached from one car. I'd never seen that before. On the restart, Craig Dollansky crashed in turn 2. He spun into the grass, and then drove head first into the outside wall. His head jerked forward with quite a jolt. He ended up in the hospital with a fractured lower spine. Craig, 37, races in the World of Outlaws and this was his first IPS race. Before they could restart again, it began to rain and the race was postponed. The IPS will try to hold the race tomorrow and the Indycars will have their last day of qualifying. (5/16) - Little Al brushed the wall today. His comments: "We were just trying to get the car right, and I got a little high getting into Turn 2 and got into the marbles and tapped the fence. It put an end to our day. The car was working better today than it was yesterday, and we were trying some things out there. We were making headway. We were out doing a long run and got in just a little bit high and couldn't get it back down. It is a long month at the Speedway, but I think you need it because you get the best out of your team, the best out of your race car and the best 33-car lineup on Race Day." (5/16) - A.J. Foyt IV tore up his qualified car today during pratice. Here is what his team owner had to say - A.J. Foyt Jr.: "When it first happened and I saw he was OK, I got on him pretty hard. Then when I came back to the garage and saw the setup sheet, there was so much nose-weight on the front end that there was no way he couldn't have wrecked. I apologized to him because it was a mistake on the crew's part and mine for not catching it. I feel bad for him because the three accidents here this month weren't his fault. One was caused by a cut tire, the qualifying spin was caused by a droop-stop bolt that had backed out and the windy conditions, and now this. I'm just thankful he's been able to walk away from them all." (5/14) - Sarah Fisher is in the lead for the "Most Popular Driver Award". You can vote at the track inside Turn 2 this weekend and outside Turn 4 during the extended race weekend. (5/14) - CARB DAY - 12 PIT STOP COMPETITORS: Andretti-Green - Michael Andretti Rahal Letterman - Kenny Brack Dreyer Reinbold - Robbie Buhl Penske Racing - Helio Castroneves Ganassi Racing - Scott Dixon Mo Nunn Racing - Felipe Giaffone Panther Racing - Sam Hornish, Jr Andretti-Green - Tony Kanaan Red Bull Cheever - Buddy Rice Target Ganassi - Tomas Scheckter Kelley Racing - Scott Sharp Kelley Racing - Al Unser, Jr (5/14) - Arie Luyendyk is still feeling pain from his accident on May 9th and is going to miss competing in this year's 500. Will Arie be back next year after he turns 50? A.J., Al and Mario all did. Alex Barron will substitute for him at Mo Nunn Racing. (5/14) - There will be a music group warming up for Cracker at Carburation Day next Thursday at the speedway. This band will be headed by Indycar driver Kenny Brack, who plays guitar. He has a few friends and local talent joining him, including Indy Blues guitarist, Gene Deer. (5/11) - Helio Castroneves earned Penske their 12th Indianapolis 500 pole and Toyota their first. 24 drivers qualified on this extremely windy day. All the Chevys qualified after all the Honda and Toyotas (except for AJ's Toyota which qualified 2nd to last.) (5/10) - The Indy 500's First Day of Qualifying was rained out. That hasn't happened since 1990. Pole Day will be decided on next day, Sunday, if the weather permits. The drivers will now have to radically adjust because the temperature has dropped, the wind has picked up, and all the rubber has been washed from the track. (5/9) - Sarah Fisher and the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team are looking for sponsorship, and Fisher's teammates always tell her they will do anything to help out. On May 8, Fisher decided to play a practical joke on the crew and came up with an idea for "Speedway Spoofs" and told her crew that they had a chance to get sponsorship money from Nickelodeon and SpongeBob SquarePants. According to Fisher, a Nickelodeon crew wanted to shoot footage of the team working on her car wearing SpongeBob attire, which just happened to be SpongeBob SquarePants boxer shorts. The crew members all agreed, and IMS Productions filmed Fisher's crew working on her race car in SpongeBob boxer shorts. Engineer Mark Weida, crew chief Dan Miller, data acquisition specialist Jason Lucas and crew members Andy O'Gara, Scott Merryman and Mark Talifario all participated. When the IMS Productions crew finished filming in the garage, Fisher told them they needed one more shot to show that they were at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The crew agreed to walk through the garage in full view of all the other teams and pose in front of the timing and scoring pylon. Fisher had the crew practice saying together in front of the camera, "Hi, we're the No. 23 SpongeBob SquarePants team." But the crew couldn't get it right, so she held up a sign that said" "Gotcha - you're on Speedway Spoofs." When the crew read the sign, they chased Fisher. According to team officials, the crew has vowed revenge, and Fisher is watching her back. (5/9) - Marlboro Team Penske officials announced this morning that Helio Castroneves will attempt to qualify with a Dallara chassis and Gil de Ferran will use a Panoz G Force chassis. (5/8) - Access Motorsports formed recently and has one car for Greg Ray to try and put in the 500. This new team is made up of members of previous IRL teams Blair and Treadway, and the only race they have competed in this year is last month in Japan where they finished 9th. (5/7) - Something new this May was the production of a lot of Indycar sculptures and bases that were painted and decorated and displayed around the city. They were about 1/3rd scale The Star newspaper has pictured all of these cars on their website and they are having a contest where you choose your favorites and you might win some 500 tickets. Go to Art In Motion. (5/7) - Shigeaki Hattori lost control in turn 1 yesterday, hit the wall backwards, and broke his finger and got a concussion. IMS rules state a driver must stay out of the car for atleast 7 days after suffering a concussion. Hence, Shiggy will miss the first weekend of qualifying. Of course Foyt could always replace him with someone else. Dare and Salazar are waiting in the wings. (5/7) - 7 drivers surpassed 230 mph in practice yesterday. The fastest Chevy -powered car only reached 228. While GM has been involved with the IRL for years, newcomers Toyota and Honda are showing they can kick the general's butt. Both companys compete in Formula One so its not too surprising that they know how to make an engine go fast. Eddie Cheever believes GM will catch up, but not in time for the Indy 500. (5/6) - PDM Racing is letting Jimmy Kite do some testing and hoping that he can come up with some sponsorship dollars to help put the car in the 500. (5/6) - Andretti-Green driver Tony Kanaan has been cleared to drive in the 500. He was injured in the race in Japan last month. Andretti-Green has also hired Bryan Herta who last raced in CART in 2001 and hasn't been to Indy since '95. During May, he will be a backup driver for Robby Gordon. Afterward, he'll fill in for the injured Dario Franchitti. Bryan gave up a ride in in the 24 Hours of LeMans to take this job. (5/6) - In response to veteran IRL drivers complaining of the new drivers from CART driving style, Scott Dixon claims that the CART cars were unable to hold the outside line through corners, necessitating that they chop down into the lower line. A habit that they will have to break. (5/5) - Jerry Nadeau, who suffered head, lung and rib injuries when his car hit the wall in Friday's (May 2) NASCAR Winston Cup practice at Richmond International Raceway, has been upgraded from critical to serious but stable. (5/5) - CARB DAY ANNOUNCEMENT - In keeping with the tradition of having the best midwestern rock bands give free concerts on Carburation Day (May 22nd), this year the band will be CRACKER! I saw this band last year and they were great! The concert will start around 4pm, after the Pit Stop Competition. Carb Day Concert is also brought to you by Miller Lite and WTTS 92.3. They will also be having a tent party with free food, beer & the Playboy Playmates. Then later that night, WFBQ 94.7 FM will be sponsoring another free rock concert. Steppenwolf will be playing downtown at the corner of Jackson Street and Meridian Street! (5/4) - Scott Sharp had the fastest time in the first day of practice for the 87th running of the Indianapolis 500. He exceeded 228 mph. (5/1) - Scott Dixon broke his right hand and wrist while racing in Japan on April 13th. Gil de Ferran fractured his neck and lower back while racing in Phoenix on March 23rd. Both have been cleared this week to drive in this month's Indy 500. Tony Kanaan broke his left wrist in the racing accident with Dixon. Tony has not yet been cleared to drive in the 500.

2003 Indianapolis 500 News & Notes

Drivers who've crashed at Indy this month: Date Driver Description 5/16 A.J. Foyt IV Hit Turn 1 wall in car he qualified - extensive damage. He's ok. 5/14 Shinji Nakano Too low in turn 1 makes him hit turn 2 wall. He's ok. 5/11 Scott Sharp Wind helped send him into the wall in Turn 2. Scott came out later and qualified his backup car. 5/11 Tomas Scheckter Wind helped send him into brushing the wall in Turn 2. He's fine. 5/10 Billy Boat Spun out of 4, hit pit wall hard backwards. Went to the hospital, he's ok, just sore. Heavy damage to car. 5/9 Arie Luyendyk Hit outside walls between Turns 1 & 2. Arie went to hospital with back pain, heavy damage to car. He's out. 5/8 A.J. Foyt IV Hit Turn 1 wall. He's fine. 5/6 Shigeaki Hattori Hit Turn 1 wall. Concussion, out 7 days 4/22 A.J. Foyt IV Glanced off Turn 1 wall. He's fine. 4/23 Kenny Brack Spun in 1 and hit Safer barrier. He's fine. 4/23 Mario Andretti Performs wicked triple somersaut, lands on tires. He's ok, but giving it up. 4/24 Tomas Scheckter Spun on out lap and hit turn 3 wall. He's fine.

Here are the daily fastest! Date Speed Driver Team Engine 5/22 227.276 mph mph Kenny Brack Rahal/Letterman Honda 5/16 229.966 mph Scott Dixon Ganassi Racing Toyota 5/15 229.157 mph Tora Takagi Mo Nunn Racing Toyota 5/14 229.704 mph Tora Takagi Mo Nunn Racing Toyota 5/11 231.725 mph Helio Castroneves Penske Racing Toyota 5/10 233.236 mph Scott Dixon Ganassi Racing Toyota 5/9 230.714 mph Scott Dixon Ganassi Racing Toyota 5/8 232.202 mph Dan Wheldon Andretti-Green Honda 5/7 231.039 mph mph Kenny Brack Rahal/Letterman Honda 5/6 231.108 mph Dan Wheldon Andretti-Green Honda 5/5 229.019 mph Tora Takagi Mo Nunn Racing Toyota 5/4 228.764 mph Scott Sharp Kelley Racing Toyota

June 2003 (6/29) - Michael Schumacher, while not winning the European G.P. at the Nurburgring, broke another record. He garnered enough points to pass the 1000 point mark - the most points ever for an F1 driver. (6/28) - Bryan Herta is back to the IRL and filling in for Franchitti again at AGR. Bryan has raced in both CART and the IRL this month. (6/26) - Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon have been crying all week over the fact that Robby Gordon cooked their goose Sunday at Sears Point. Robby took advantage of a Nascar rule that allowed him to race back to the flag during a caution. In a sport where every little thing helps and in a sport where many great men have tried every possible way to cheat to win, I find it mandatory to take advantage of every thing the rules allow you. Instead of using the rules to to maximize your chances of victory, Jeff and Kevin talk about "gentleman agreements"! What did they have, hand shakes? No? Are they telepathic? Get real guys! (6/20) - Dario Franchitti has decided to have surgery for an injury he encountered this Spring while out on his motorcycle. He will be out for the rest of the season. Andretti-Green does not yet have a replacement for him. (6/14) - On lap 190 of the Texas IRL race, Sharp and Giaffone raced side by side. As they approached a corner, Tora Takagi attempted a very late pass on the inside. As Sharp and Giaffone's line moved them low on the track, the former Formula One driver bumped Sharp and sent both of the other drivers into each other and into the wall, while Tora stayed in control and went on to finish 3rd. Brian Barnhart has now penalized Tora Takagi. He has been imposed probation until Dec. 31, 2003 and loss of 23 Driver points as well as 23 Entrant points for Mo Nunn Racing. Barnhart said, "I have reviewed the broadcast footage of the Texas race, and I am disappointed to view actions which exhibit reckless, careless and overly aggressive driving, and endangering the safety of competitors." (6/12) - Dario Franchitti is coming off the injured list to race at Pikes Peak June 15th. This releases Bryan Herta from the team, but don't worry - he has picked up a ride in CART. (6/11) - Juan Pablo Montoya and Jeff Gordon returned to the speedway today to participate in Speedvision's "Tradin' Paint". Both drivers brought their respective racecars, and then switched cars! The drivers took turns running laps on the speedway's roadcourse. I think they should have found Jeff a Formula One helmet first. His head was being buffeted all over the place. After his first stint, he said he was really surprised at the g-forces generated by this car, the blood rushed to his head, and he's never felt anything like it. His neck was sore and assured us that Juan must have a very strong neck. He was also amazed at the fantastic brakes that the Williams BMW had. Similarly, Montoya was surprised at the poor brakes on the Winston Cup car. Jeff had a brief off into the grass, but otherwise did quite well. His lap times improved and he came within a second of the baseline speed Montoya did in the F1 car in the morning. Montoya beat Jeff's baseline speed in the Winston cup car by a 1/10 of a second. He had a few lockups, flat spotting Gordon's Chevy. I loved this demonstration! As Jeff Gordon screamed around the track in the high-tech Williams car, I could imagine what it was like for him. In a euphoric fog, I left, red-lining it all the way back to work in my turbo Talon as if it were a F1 car. Ah, we're never too old to dream! (6/11) - Christian Fittipaldi is replacing Andretti at Petty Enterprises. This weekend's Michigan Nascar race will be the Brazilian's 4th Winston Cup race. (6/9) - The IRL next race at Pikes Peak. Al Unser Jr.has never won at the Raceway there, but the family practically renamed Pikes Peak, ?Unser?s Mountain.? Little Unser won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 1983. Al Sr. has two victories at Pikes Peak. Bobby Unser, holds the record for most victories with 13. Twelve members of the Unser family have raced in the hill climb with seven family members scoring a total of 37 victories. Little Al comes to Pikes Peak in contention for the IndyCar Series title. He climbed to second in the standings, 26 points behind Tony Kanaan, after winning the Bombardier 500 on June 7 at Texas Motor Speedway. (6/9) - John Andretti has left Petty Racing. Will we see him compete in the IRL agains Andretti-Green? (6/8) - When I heard that Chevy was going to go ask Ford Cosworth for help in getting an engine that could beat the Toyotas and Hondas in the Indy Racing League, I couldn't believe it. The Chevys are running about 7 mph slower than the Japanese powered cars this year. GM has been building these non-turbo engines for the IRL since 97. Honda and Toyota entered the series just this year. (6/7) - Congratulations to Al Unser, Jr. for winning the exciting Texas Indycar night race! (6/6) - After replacing Shigeaki Hattori in the A.J. Foyt Enterprises 2nd car, Airton Dare wipes out in practice at Texas and breaks a leg and an arm. Shiggy however is not replacing him, but Jaques Lazier! (6/1) - Three strikes and you're out! At the first IRL race of the year, Jaques Lazier made light contact with the wall ending the race for him on lap 89. At Phoenix, he had a 360 degree spin, but kept it off the wall and finished 6th. Next in Japan, Shinji Nakano wrecked in front of him leaving him no where to go. Then in Indy, Jaques crashed after Richie Hearn wrecked in front of him forcing him to get on the brakes which sent him out of control. Team Menard gave Jaques Lazier a chance to make a come-back this year but evidently don't like his luck percentage as he's out and Vitor Meira is in.

July 2003 (7/30) - I had some friends drop by Sunday and invited me to go motorcycling through the curvy country roads of southern Indiana. It was a great trip, but it meant that I had to miss the Michigan 400. No problem, I have a VCR. This race was awesome! The competition was fierce and this track gives the Texas Motorspeedway a run at having the most exciting IRL race. The 75' wide 2-mile track allows the drivers to run 3 and 4 wide and attack from different angles. It was also exciting to see Sam Hornish, Jr. debut the new Chevy Gen IV engine. For the first time this year, he had as much power as the Toyotas and Hondas. He sprinted from the 2nd row to take the lead at the beginning and was often leading the race. All of the other Chevy drivers was at the rear of the pack. These teams and drivers look forward to the Kentucky race when Chevrolet should have built enough of these new engines to supply all the teams. As it stands right now, they will be able to introduce the new engine to Team Cheever and their driver Buddy Rice at St Louis in a few weeks. Sam dueled with Little Al, Sharp, Alex Barron, Dixon & Scheckter through out the 400 miles. It was good to see A.J. IV up to speed - he stayed on the lead lap through most of the race. There was a scary moment when Barron drifted high into someone and he ended up spinning at over 215 mph. He kept it off the wall as he ended up back in the right direction and with his motor still running, he got back in the race. With 10 laps to go it was anybody's race - then my VCR tape ended! ACK! I stayed away from the news for a few days, hoping to get to watch the end on someone elses tape, but eventually I heard that Alex Barron beat Sam Hornish by a nose. Alex Barron never seems to disappoint as he subs in CART and the IRL. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a steady ride. (7/26) - Rumors had spread that Chevy might have to turn to Ford's British Cosworth division, to help them gain power in their IRL engines and keep up with the Japanese. Chevy said that wasn't happening. The new engine they were going to be supplying, the Gen IV, was all in-house. But as it makes its appearance at this weekends Michigan race, who should appear at Sam Hornish's pits? None other than some Cosworth mechanics! It looks like the Brits have helped - Sam starts in P4. All the other Chevy Chevies are starting at the back. (7/26) - Paul Tracy had some interesting things to say in a CART press conference today. He was complaining about various penalties he's been assessed this year, most recently yesterday in provisional qualifying: "Well, I feel a range of emotions in the last 24 hours that I'm not very happy with. I feel that I've supported CART when CART had nobody to support them. Team Player's supported CART when nobody was supporting them. The things that have happened and the inconsistencies in the rules that have been going on for years and years, are very frustrating to me and very troubling. My emotions are probably not much different from that of Tony George or Honda or Toyota, Marlboro Team Penske or Michael Andretti. So those are the type of feelings that I've had over the last 24 hours with how CART is handling what's going on in and outside the racetrack." ( 7/25) - Not unexpectedly, Antonio Pizzonia has been booted off the Jaguar F1 team mid-season and replaced with Minardi's Justin Wilson. F3000 driver Nicolas Kiesa has filled Wilson's place at Minardi. (7/24) - Final Nascar testing wrapped up at the Brickyard yesterday. Jeff Burton had the fastest reported speed - 179.959 mph. A few drivers, such as Tony Stewart, did not deem it important to show up for the test and tune leading up to the 10th Brickyard 400. Burton said it's imperative that teams test at Indy, for two reasons: Despite frequent comparisons to other venues such as Pocono Raceway and Michigan International Speedway, there's nothing like Indy's 2.5-mile oval, and the importance of winning the Brickyard 400. "It's a real specialized race, and we feel it requires direct attention," Burton said. "There's nothing at all like this. The only thing the same about this and Pocono is that it has long straightaways. The corners are totally different. "This place is so much smoother, (and) Pocono is rough. There's not a corner on this racetrack that resembles Pocono. A lot of people look at the straightaways and say, 'It's like Pocono,' but it's nothing like Pocono." Burton said both he and his team owner, Jack Roush, place winning the Brickyard 400 high on their "to do" list. "Anybody that has been involved or is involved in motorsports that doesn't have a respect for Indianapolis doesn't deserve to be in motorsports. It's a historic place with a tremendous amount of heritage, and I have a lot of reverence for that. Everybody's heard of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, so anytime you can be successful at a track with that much history and heritage, that's a special thing." (7/20) - Some crazy 56-year-old Irishman, dressed in a green kilt and waving protests written on cardboard, interrupted today's British Formula One race by cavorting on Hangar Straight as the cars accelerated towards him at 145mph. This incident, on the 12th lap of the 60-lap contest won by Rubens Barrichello, for Ferrari, came only hours after the sport's commercial ringmaster, Bernie Ecclestone, had issued an ultimatum to the circuit's owners, the British Racing Drivers' Club, and the Government that they have just one month in which to put Silverstone in order or risk being omitted from the 2004 calendar (7/19) - Scott Dixon won his third consecutive IRL pole position for tonight's Indy 200 night race in Nashville Tennessee. Dixon set a track record by circling the 1.33-mile oval in 22.695 seconds in his Toyota-powered G-Force, reaching 206.211 mph (329.937 k/hr) for his fourth overall pole of the season, including Japan and his current streak. (7/17) - Chevrolet has submitted a request to the IRL to allow them to begin issuing to the IRL teams a new engine they have developed, called the Gen IV Chevy Indy V8. This engine was developed in-house, without the assistance of Ford's Cosworth company. Searching for a quick answer for more horsepower, to compete against Honda and Toyota, Cheverolet had tested the 3.5-liter V8 Cosworth engine [see (6/8) below]. (7/16) - Rumor has it that Buddy Lazier may be following his brother into unemployment. Ron Hemelgarn is talking about replacing him with Memo Gidley. We've seen Buddy race and we know he's a great fighter. I think the problem Hemelgarn is having has more to do with their under-powered Chevy engines, not Lazier. (7/16) - While Formula One has no American teams or American drivers, they sure have American sponsors. Forsooking CART and the IRL, Budweiser announced a 50 million pound / five years sponsorship package for the Williams BMW team. Can you imagine the impact that kind of money would make in American open-wheel racing?! Pity. (I wonder how many Europeans drink Bud.) (7/14) - John Andretti was at the speedway testing a car for Dale Earnhardt Inc. They hope to supply him with a car for the Brickyard 400. The test went well as he had the 2nd fastest time - 178.568 mph (7/10) - Tony Raines, of LaPorte, Ind., had the fastest lap in the 2-day practice when he turned a lap of 179.918 mph yesterday. 11 drivers competed in this test and more will be testing next week at IMS (7/9) - The Nascar boys are in town doing some testing, getting ready for the next month's Brickyard 400. Speeds yesterday ranged from 169 mph to Jeremy Mayfield's 176 mph. Then last evening, a storm moved through, dumping lots of water and then a tornado touched down in the Speedway area! (7/6) - A black conservative organization called Project 21 are calling for NASCAR to end its relationship with Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Nascar has given $250,000 to the Citizenship Education Fund, an arm of Jackson's coalition. The group says it has used the money to boost minority participation in motor sports. Project 21 accuse Jackson of intimidating NASCAR into giving him money to keep him from making a public fuss about the lack of minorities in motor sports. (I wonder why they would care?) On Thursday, the group challenged Jackson to show he is truly committed to minority participation in motor sports by sponsoring a black driver himself. They suggested Herbie Bagwell Jr. who has qualified for the upcoming Busch North Series and who needs sponsorship. Charles Farrell, director of Rainbow Sports, said Jackson's group does not sponsor athletes. I think they should try using that quarter million Nascar just gave 'em! (7/6) - At the end of the IRL Kansas race, AGR called the race leader Tony Kanaan in for fuel. Bryan Herta, his teammate, had the same amount of fuel and he stayed out and took over the lead. His fuel held out long enough and Bryan took the checkered flag in front of the Penske cars. (Poor Tony finished 4th). Earlier, Felipe Giaffone and Dan Wheldon tangled resulting in contact with the wall and a broken right leg for Giaffone. (7/5) - Greg Biffle won his first Winston Cup race at the night race in Daytona. I found it interesting how he and other drivers interviewed right after the end, were all drinking Coke, as the race was the Pepsi 400.

September 2003 (9/30) - SILLY SEASON UPDATE : Tony Renna is replacing Tomas Scheckter at Ganassi, who is replacing Sam Hornish at Panther, who is replacing Gil de Ferran at Penske, who is retiring. (9/28) - Michael Schumacher won his 2nd U.S. Grand Prix and nearly clinches his 6th World Title. It should be final at the next and last race in Japan. The race experienced light rain to heavy rain to a dry track making for difficult choices in tires for the teams. Juan Pablo Montoya's dream of a 2003 title went away on the third lap when he had contact with Rubens Barrichello and was penalized by the Race Stewards with a drive-through penalty for the infraction. He would finish sixth, a lap back after a stirring drive and four pit stops (including the drive-through). Both B.A.R. cars retired due to mechanical malfunctions. Ralf Schumacher slid off the wet track and out of the race early as did Mark Webber. Panis spun off later. Heinz-Harald Frentzen finished third, and his Sauber teammate finished 5th - a big surprise for all. (9/28) - U.S. GRAND PRIX RESULTS: 1. Michael Schumacher Ferrari 2. Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes 3. Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 4. Jarno Trulli Renault 5. Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 6. Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 7. Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 8. Justin Wilson Jaguar 9. Cristiano da Matta Toyota 10. Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 11. Nicolas Kiesa Minardi-Cosworth DNF Lap 64 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda DNF Lap 49 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford DNF Lap 46 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes DNF Lap 45 Fernando Alonso Renault DNF Lap 42 Jenson Button BAR-Honda DNF Lap28 Olivier Panis Toyota DNF Lap 22 Mark Webber Jaguar DNF Lap 22 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW DNF Lap 3 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari (9/27) - Formula One at Indianapolis - QUALIFYING: 1. Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes 1:11.670 2. Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:11.794 3. Olivier Panis Toyota 1:11.920 4. Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:11.948 5. Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:12.078 6. Fernando Alonso Renault 1:12.087 7. Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:12.194 8. David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:12.297 9. Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:12.326 10. Jarno Trulli Renault 1:12.566 11. Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:12.695 12. Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:13.050 13. Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:13.083 14. Mark Webber Jaguar 1:13.269 15. Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 1:13.447 16. Justin Wilson Jaguar 1:13.585 17. Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 1:13.798 18. Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 1:14.027 19. Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 1:15.360 20. Nicolas Kiesa Minardi-Cosworth 1:15.644 Jarno Truli had the pole on Friday at 1:09. However on Saturday, he crashed during warm-up. (9/21) - Another record breaking and tight IRL race, this time in Fontana California. The Toyota Indy 400 established a new closed-course speed record with an average race speed of 207.151 mph! The race was slowed only once due to caution. Sam Hornish Jr. won, his 4th win in the last 5 races. After a dreadful start to the season for the defending IRL champion, he has been fighting his way back to the top of the point standings since receiving the new Chevy engine. With one race remaining in TEXAS, it's going to be a SHOOTOUT!! That final race will be on Oct 12th. Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon are tied for first in the IRL with 467 points. Tony Kanaan has 460 and Hornish 448. Roger Yasukawa is just 3 points in front of Dan Wheldon as they fight for Rookie of the Year honors. (9/19) - NASCAR has changed one of their rules: Drivers no longer will be able to race and pass under the caution flag. (9/15) - Unfortunately, the Ferrari Modenas won't be back this year for a support race to the U.S. Grand Prix, however the Porsche Supercup will be back. It is now sponsored by Michelin. (9/14) - Ralph Schumacher was hurt during practice and sat out the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, replaced by Marc Gene'. His brother led from the pole and won the race. <(9/14) - CART has been purchased at 53 cents on the dollar by a group of CART team owners: Gerald Forsythe, Paul Gentilozzi, Kevin Kalkhoven, Carl Russo and Jamie Rose. Their partnership is called "Open Wheel Racing Series LLC" (9/10) - Johnny Rutherford will be competing in a race before the IRL Texas race next week. (9/3) - Indianapolis was deluged with rain this Labor Day weekend and IMS has been pretty flooded. THe golf course is closed, yet the Hall of Fame Museum remains open despite the closure of Gate 2 – the main entrance and tunnel into the Speedway off 16th Street – due to flooding. Museum guests should enter the Speedway grounds via the Brickyard Crossing Inn entrance, located a block east of the Speedway entrance, and follow the signs. At this time, they do not expect the flood to cancel the U.S. Grand Prix. Tunnel that goes under track completely flooded.

October 2003 (11/02) - The horrible wild fires burning up California forced the cancellation of the last CART race. Paul Tracy wrapped up his first CART championship in his 13-year career. (10/31) - Team Menard is joining Panther Racing to form one IRL team for 2004. They figure two heads are better than one. (10/28) - Formula One driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen says he has been in talks with Eddie Cheever, Jr. about switching from F1 to the IRL. Heinz currently drives for Sauber and has been in F1 for a decade. (10/28) - The manufacturer that won two of the last three Winston Cup championships announced Tuesday it won't return in 2004. Pontiac is leaving Chevrolet as the only GM divisioin on the stock car circuit. Five full-time teams currently use Pontiacs, with Ricky Craven providing the only victory in 2003. In the manufacturer standings, Pontiac is a distant fourth, trailing leader Chevrolet by 127 points. Ford and Dodge also race in Winston Cup. (10/24) - Races in England and Germany will be out and one in South Korea will be added to a revamped CART schedule for 2004 if the sale of the Champ Car series is completed as expected. Tony Renna 1976-2003 (10/22) - Awful news at IMS this morning. Tony Renna was killed while testing an IRL car for his new team for 2004, Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Tony had been a backup driver for Kelley Racing since last year. He competed in seven IRL races, scoring five top-10 finishes, including a career-best fourth in 2002 at Michigan. He also finished 7th in the Indy 500 this year and had started 8th. He was 26 years old and from DeLand Florida. He was getting married in two weeks. Tony was very excited about joining the powerhouse Target team, who has a penchant for picking awesome up-and-coming drivers. Tony and the team were up late last night getting him fitted for the car, as his first day would begin today with a tire test at IMS. Tony started the session a little past 9 a.m. It was a cold morning in the 40's, with gusty winds. On his 4th lap, Tony had the car up to 218 mph. He apparently spun in turn three, caught some air underneath the chassis and went airborne. His car slashed into the catch fence, some pieces cutting through the fence. There were a couple of other cars on the track at the time, but no one was involved with Tony's accident. The wreck was bad. Tony was taken to Methodist hospital and pronounced dead on arrival. (10/20) - Little Al wrecked his ATV down in New Mexico and broke his pelvis, rather ironic - he spends all year driving over 200 mph, then when he's going only 20 mph.... Luckily he's got all winter to heal up before the next Indycar race. (10/19) - Kenny Brack has been moved out of intensive care and his condition upgraded to satisfactory. IRL officials have confirmed that Brack's impact with the debris fencing at Texas registered an initial hit of just under 200g - twice that of a regular high-speed oval smash! He will soon be moved to Indianapolis to begin rehab. His wife asks everyone to pray for his recovery. (10/15) - 2004 Formula One Qualifying Rule Changes for 2004 1. There will now be two 1-hour practices on Friday and no qualifying. 2. Teams not in the top four of the Constructors' standings may run a third car in Friday practices. 3. There will be two 45-minute practice sessions on Saturday. 4. Saturday qualifying order will be determined by the results of the last race. The starting order at the first race of the season will be taken from the last race of the previous year. 5. Drivers will have two chances at qualifying, one after another. However If a driver fails to set a timed lap in the first section he will not be allowed to take part in the second. (10/15) - It looks as if Canada's offer of ten or so million may have been enough to bribe F1 into running a race even though tobacco sponsorship is now outlawed there. It will be held on June 13th, 2004 in Montreal - a week before the U.S. race. This would push the total number of g.p.'s to 18, the most ever. (10/12) - Michael Schumacher "managed" to finish in 8th place in Japan in the final F1 race of the season. This 1 point enabled him to clinch his 6th Driver World Championship - the first F1 driver to accomplish this feat! Teammate Rubens Barrichello won the race in front of Michael's closest competitor, Kimi Räikkönen. This was Ferrari's 5th straight Constructor's Championship. (10/12) - 1998 Indy 500 winner Kenny Brack was involved in a serious accident at the end of the IRL season finalie in Texas. He tangled with Tomas Scheckter, his car leaped into the catch fence, got ripped to shreds, then the driver's capsule spun upside down like a top. Kenny suffered a fractured right femur, a fractured sternum and lumbar and fractures to both ankles He will undergo surgery on the femur and both ankles tonight. Kenny is 37 y/o and his wife Anita is currently pregnant. The accident happened 12 laps before the end. The IRL halted the race on lap 5. While the top 5 drivers who were viying for the championship all stayed in the front of the pack, toward the end, Helio and Kanaan touched wheels and this put them in for new tires and dropped them out of contention. Gil de Ferran won the final race of his IRL career! Scott Dixon finished 2nd. Dixon and Target Chip Ganassi won the 2003 IRL championship and the $1 Million bonus! Now Sam Hornish Jr. will be switching to team Penske. I wonder how he and Helio are going to get along... IRL 2003 FINAL - TOP TEN DRIVERS 1 Scott Dixon 2 Gil de Ferran 3 Helio Castroneves 4 Tony Kanaan 5 Sam Hornish Jr. 6 Al Unser Jr. 7 Tomas Scheckter 8 Scott Sharp 9 Kenny Brack 10 Tora Takagi (10/10) - Craig Pollock called BAR boss David Richards and told him Jacques Villeneuve wanted to be released from his contractual obligations and that he was withdrawing from the last race of the season. (ie. Take this car and shove it!) So BAR will be running Takuma Sato one race earlier than planned. (10/09) - The IRL championship will be decided this weekend at the last race on the schedule - the Texas Motorspeedway. The top three drivers in the point standings, Castroneves, Dixon and Kanaan, control their fate. Each will win the championship with a victory in the Chevy 500, regardless of where the other drivers finish. It's that simple. Sam Hornish Jr and Gil de Ferran also have a chance to win the championship. (10/6) - Carl Haas has resigned from the CART board. (10/6) - The Canadians are trying to save their grand prix for next year. Bernie told them that they could race in Montreal without tobbacco sponsorship, however they would need to pay the race teams an additional 30 million. The Canadians think they might be able to raise part of that and hope Bernie will be negotiable. Fat chance. (10/6) - B.A.R. has declared that they are not renewing Jacques Villeneuve for 2004. Not much of a surprise. While I feel sorry JV, at least I won't have to suffer watching him in that lame car. BAR will be replacing him with a Japanese "driver" to make Honda happy. I've already ordered my Fernando Alonso Renault Mild Seven hat ($32!). Anyone want to buy a BAR hat ($10) & polo ($25) or the 1/18 scale die-cast cars for JV (I'll let 98 or 2000 go for $50 each)? Bernie Ecclestone said in the "Sun" that he tried to find JV another ride. "I did everything possible to talk teams into giving Jacques a drive for next season but the truth is no one wants him. I still regard him as a great racer but he needs a team that would give him extra motivation. Toyota would have been the perfect platform for him because they could give him a car capable of winning races. I even suggested he should go to Ferrari and drive alongside Michael Schumacher for free. But it didn't come off because Michael insists on No. 1 status, which shows he must still consider Jacques a threat." Duh. (10/6) - Tony is exploring the idea of a superbike race as a support race for the U.S. Grand Prix. He recently had some cyclists from the American Motorcyclist Association's Superbike division out to test on the circuit. A motorcycle's top speed on the front straightaway could reach 200 mph under race conditions. Jake Zemke said, "Without being strapped in, that's too much, the walls are so close here and the speeds are so high." (10/4) - We were sitting around the other night calculating how much money IMS brought in for the Grand Prix. Since Bernie Ecclestone gets all the tv money, that leaves the gate for Tony George. Tony has to pay Formula One some multi-million dollar amount to get the race, and on top of that, he has to also cough up $6 million in transportation costs to bring the WHOLE show across the ocean blue. Not to mention the multi-millions he spent preparing the speedway a few years ago. With a full house, I don't think Tony ends up making much money. With attendance down to 120,000 from 2000's 200,000, I don't see him trying very hard to renew the contract for '05. I suspect that either people need to come out in numbers like they did in 2000, or Bernie is going to have to lower the cost or America will lose its only Formula One grand prix.

November 2003 (11/25) - The F1 teams got back to practicing today after the winter break. The teams you would expect to be fastest were, except for Renault. Also, B.A.R. is switching to the Michelin, the tire used by McLaren, Williams, and Renault this past season. (11/24) - F1 has dropped the French g.p. at Magny-Cours off the calendar for next year. Seems they can't afford it. The Belgium g.p. won't be happening either. However, China and Bahrain will be joining the circuit next year. The race in China will be held in Shanghai. Bahrain is a archipelago in the Persian Gulf, east of Saudi Arabia. Three times the size of D.C. They can afford a g.p. and France can't?! What has happened to the French race fans??? (11/20) - CART and Open Wheel Racing Series LLC have signed a definitive merger agreement. CART is holding a stockholder's meeting today to vote on the merger. I don't think the stockholders have much choice though - accept 56 cents on the dollar or go bankrupt. OWRS owns about 22% of CART already. (11/19) - The Canadian Grand Prix is a definate go now! In order to find the compensation needed for the tobacco-backed teams to race without sponsor logos, contributions were given by the parties concerned. Both levels of government will invest $2 million (Canadian) per year for the next three years and Labatt Breweries will add $5 million for one year, although Labatt will not be the official sponsor of the GP. GPF1 will contribute somewhere in the region of $12 million; the total cost of the compensation amounts to $29 million. The teams will receive $30 million (US) for one year and Bernie Ecclestone will invest his own money for further compensation, thought to be in the region of $10-13 million. (11/13) - Rumor: Sarah Fisher may switch from Dreyer Reinbolt Racing to Panther Racing. Panther has already announced that they are joining up with Menards and hiring Tomas Scheckter and Mark Taylor. If Sarah joins then Panther/Menards Racing will be running 3 cars! (11/10) - Jacques Villeneuve has been offered a drive on a Le Mans team. If Jack won the 24-hours of Le Mans, he would be the first driver to have won the CART championship, the Indy 500, the Formula One Championship and Le Mans! (11/10) - Matt Kenseth won the 2004 Winston Cup championship, his first and team-owner Jack Roush's first, driving the No. 17 DEWALT Power Tools Taurus. While only winning one race during the year, his consistancy kept him in the points lead all year. He had 25 top 10 finishes and 11 top 5's. (11/6) - Target Chip Ganassi Racing has hired Darren Manning for the 2004 IRL season. Manning just finished his first full year in CART where he finished 9th for Walker Racing. From 2000-2002 he was the test driver for the B.A.R. Formula One team. In 1999 he won the All Japan F3 Championship. Darren is 28 years old and is from England. (11/03) - CART released further figures on the state of its affairs. Profits are down and losses are way up prompting them to say "If the proposed merger with Open Wheel is not completed for any reason, and if no strategic transaction that is an alternative to the merger is available to us at that time, it is expected that we will be required immediately to cease our operations, wind up our affairs and seek to liquidate our remaining assets. (11/03) - Mark Taylor, the 2003 Infiniti Pro Series champion, will be racing in the IRL next year. Taylor won 7 of the 12 IPS races this year. He'll stay with Panther Racing and be teammates to new Panther driver Tomas Scheckter. Since Panther and Menards are supposed to be joining together to form a two-car team, I wonder what is going to happen to Menard's current driver, Vitor Meira. Perhaps they'll run three cars. (11/02) - The horrible wild fires burning up California forced the cancellation of the last CART race of the year. Paul Tracy wrapped up his first CART championship in his 13-year career.