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Indycar: As the Firestone Turns #1

Welcome to the very first edition of As the Firestone Turns.  This will be your weekly hot spot for off-track news, pictures, events, interviews, and happenings to keep you connected to the world of Indycar.  Often times, the best stories within the paddock aren’t what is broadcast on television or printed in the local newspaper.  The paddock is full of exciting events, interesting people, and great stories that are never told.  AtFT will connect you to the drivers, new talent, officials, history, and moments that make Indycar awesome.  Special editions will likely occur as I will be live at the track for the 2012 Indianapolis 500 and at the Firestone 550K at Texas Motor Speedway.  So, with that, lets get to it!

This first edition of As the Firestone Turns will bring you up to speed on some of the most recent off-season Indycar happenings via Twitter pictures.  One of the wonderful things about social media outlets such as Twitter is it allows fans instant access to drivers and teams and visa versa.  Luckily, Indycar drivers and teams are excellent at utilizing Twitter to engage and interact with fans.

Credit KV Racing Technology

As we all know, Indycar has a new chassis, the Dallara DW12, for the new season.  For you NASCAR fans, the process of prepping a brand new Dallara for the track is much different than a Roush Ford Fusion.  Just in time for Christmas, teams took delivery of the first 15 DW12′s on December 15th.  Dallara placed them in nice, big present boxes just for added holiday spirit!  Not really, but there is certainly some assembly required as shown by this picture Tweeted by KV Racing Technology.  This is Tony Kanaan’s new racecar.

 

 

 

Credit Will Power

Other than the infamous New Hampshire flying fingers incident, Will Power is known to be one of the most clean-cut and well-mannered drivers in the paddock.  The piercing blue eyes and Australian accent help cement the image he portrays.  However, after Las Vegas, Power apparently lost his razor on the way home and grew quite an impressive beard over the holidays.  Luckily, Will Tweeted this picture when he shaved the beard into an equally impressive 70′s era porn star goatee and side-burn combo.  Bow-chika-wow-wow!

 

Credit Andretti Autosport

After 9 years of the Dallara IR03 chassis, Indycar teams have fleets of the old cars sitting around.  Andretti Autosport Tweeted this picture from inside their shop showing off a couple of cars that have interesting histories.  In this photo is the #7 Motorola liveried chassis that Danica Patrick drove to victory at Twin-Ring Motegi as well as the #39 Michael Andretti drove in his last Indianapolis 500 in 2007.

Credit Alex Tagliani

Alex Tagliani is a busy man this offseason.  The 2011 Indianapolis 500 pole sitter, landed a ride with 2011 Indianapolis 500 winning team Bryan Herta Autosport for 2012.  Earlier this week, Tagliani was at Miami-Homestead Speedway testing the Lotus test car on the road course at the venue.  However, from the looks of his Tweet, Tags was in the Land-O-Giants not South Florida.  The shower head in the bathroom was apparently mounted to accommodate those of Yao Ming stature.

 

 

 

 

Credit Alex Tagliani

Not long after the above shower Tweet, Alex got his first taste of the new Dallara DW12 chassis.  One big adjustment has been the switch to ceramic brakes.  One of the first things drivers have mentioned after driving the new car is the immense stopping power the new brakes have and how it takes to get used to them.  These are certainly not the brakes on your Mom’s Malibu.  According to Tagliani, this is the “Ceramic Brake Face”.  Let’s just hope none the drivers get stuck like this!

 

 

 

 

Credit Graham Rahal

Most of the new DW12′s that have seen on-track activity have sported blank carbon-fiber panels or have been painted in manufacturer colors.  As the season draws closer, cars are assembled, and testing ramps up, the new liveries for 2012 show begin to show their new shiny sides.  Graham Rahal Tweeted this picture of his 2012 NTB/Service Central scheme.  I think it will look very nice going 220+ at Indy.

There you have it, the first edition and trial-run of As the Firestone turns and a quick Twitter photo update on a few of the off-season activities.  Feedback is always welcome and is it up to you, the fan and loyal reader, to help AtFT grow and develop with the content you want to see!

Ross (@therossbynum)

Indycar Finale Pre-Race Thoughts

Well folks, it is the season finale of the Indycar 2011 season.  As I sit in the media center, I just wanted to pass along some pre-race thoughts on today and some items to look for.

1.)  All 4 Andretti Autosport entries qualified in the Top 10.  Look for Danica to be more aggressive than usual in her last race as a full-time Indycar driver, and look for all Andretti entries to be fast.

2.)  Ed Carpenter, the race winner at Kentucky, qualified 3rd in the Sarah Fisher Racing #67.  This is the highest qualifying effort for SFR in their history.  Tomas Scheckter is starting 23rd in the #57 Angies List Special entry.  Expect to see him on the high side with bold moves early and often.

3.)  Alex Tagliani, in Dan Wheldon’s former ride, qualified in the 4th position.  Bryan Herta Autosport has shown it has what it takes to win, so look for Tagliani to stay near the front today.

4.)  After his horrible practice crash, James Jakes will be racing a pieced together car with parts donated to Dale Coyne Racing from KV Racing Technology-Lotus.  His car will look like a 4th KV entry.  Keep your eye out for any issues with this car as it has had no practice time since the accident.

5.)  Rookie Wade Cunningham finished 7th at Kentucky and qualified strong in 12th here in Las Vegas.  He has proven to be a great wheelman in Indy Lights at ovals, so expect him to race well today.  A great race could bode well for a full-time ride in 2012.

6.)  Buddy Rice will be starting in 33rd after his qualifying time was disallowed for running below the yellow line on his qualifying attempt.  Panther Racing is strong on ovals, Buddy Rice is strong on ovals, and together they finished 9th at Kentucky.  Expect Rice to move towards the front quickly.

7.)  Of course we should all watch Mr. Dan Wheldon as he vies for $5million dollars.  He has not shown much speed this weekend, so the race should be a challenge.  I know the lucky fan partnered with Wheldon that will receive $2.5million if he wins is hoping he finds speed.

8.)  3-wide?  4-wide?  It will happen, guaranteed.  Keep your fingers crossed for a safe race despite the hair-raising action.

9.)  Since this is the last race for the current Dallara, expect teams to go all out with no-holds-barred strategy and moves.  The gloves will definitely be off today.

Tune in to ABC at 3EST and 12PST for the race.  You don’t want to miss this…

Ross (@driverswanted07)

Gaynalysis: Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma

Credit Richard Dowdy/IZOD Indycar Series Media Site

Ah, Indycar at Infineon…wine, beautiful track, gorgeous weather, fast cars, and a good time for a nap.  They don’t call in “Infini-yawn” and “Snor-oma” for nothing.  To make matters worse, I have to watch all races telecast on Versus at the gym on a treadmill or elliptical since I can’t get Versus at my loft.  It is a lot easier to stay on a treadmill or elliptical for 2 hours if the race is interesting, but after about 30-minutes I was on the verge of a Karen Carpenter style collapse.

Mr. Angry Birds, Will Power, totally dominated the race weekend starting from the pole and leading all but 4-laps.  We are talking a Folsom Street Fair, S&M total domination.  Rihanna would have been proud.   Sadly, I pined for the drama of New Hampshire…the Danica pirouette and ensuing melee, Tomas Scheckter’s 3-wide passes in turn 1, Tony Kanaan flipping and knocking over a Port-O-Potty, and Will Power’s flying middle-fingers.

The only yellow-flag of the event came out when Chinese rookie Ho-Pin Tung, in his first Indycar start and the first start by a Chinese in Indycar, attempted to overtake Alex Tagliani and instead ended up off track and bouncing off the wall.  I’m sure it was not how he was “Ho-Pin” his first start would go.  If you will recall, Tung attempted to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 this year, but he backed the car into the wall between turns 1 and 2 during his qualifying attempt.  I will refrain from any Asian driver jokes, but feel free to insert your own here…at least they don’t have to use a blinker in an Indycar…

Rookie Martin Plowman made his 2nd start of the year in the #17 AFS/Sam Schmidt Motorsport entry sponsored by Snowball Express.  Plowman was impressive and finished a respectable 12th.  Martin drove hard, plowing through the field from his 15th starting position.  Ryan Hunter-Reay and Oriol Servia were in the process of getting plowed by Martin before running out of time in the closing laps.  The Snowball Express machine put a smile on my face as I’m sure it did many others.  I was confused to learn that Snowball Express was NOT what I imagined…(Between the sponsor and his last name I could go on for hours…)

HVM Racing’s Simona de Silvestro was unable to compete at Infineon.  When attempting to return to the US from a visit to her home country of Switzerland, she encountered visa issues and was not allowed to return in time.  However, it is “rumored” that de Silvestro kept referring to herself as the “Swiss Missile” which caused passenger uproar and a security breach.  Switzerland decided to keep her as the only missile in their arsenal.  2011’s super-sub Simon Pagenaud took the reign of Pork Chop for the weekend.  Pork Chop tweeted, “Pardon my French, but who’s ass is in my cockpit?!”.  Oui oui!  Sounds like a come-on line to me.  And yes, Simona’s car has a Twitter.  I highly recommend you following him as he is the funniest Dallara you will ever meet.

Andretti Autosport announced over the weekend that RC Cola would sponsor Marco Andretti full-time in 2012.  I am going to be the first to start the campaign to get Moon Pie’s to sponsor another entry for the team.  I’m most positive that the RC Cola and Moon Pie cars would be the most popular entries at the Barber Motorsports Park race outside of Birmingham, Alabama.  Being from Mississippi, I have enjoyed the pleasure of an RC Cola and Moon Pie many times in my life.  And, forget getting beads at Mardi Gras, I want a banana flavored Moon Pie!

So, that is it from Sonoma.  Next week Indycar heads to Baltimore for the Inaugural Grand Prix of Baltimore.  The temporary street course runs through downtown, by the inner harbor, around Camden Yards, and the Baltimore Convention Center.  Teams have no prior experience or testing on the course, so I expect solid runs from rookies and some of the smaller teams.  My main man Tomas Scheckter will return to pilot the #07 Redline Extreme machine.  I personally think Tomas should race shirtless, but that’s just me.  One can dream…

Ross (@driverswanted07 on Twitter)