A Racing Moment

In racing, they say, when you have a moment, it's not a good thing. The moment in time is forever imprinted on your memory; it's when you slide dangerously close to the edge of control. Maybe you were actually out of control, and miraculously, you spin back to the proper direction and you continue on with as little noticable shuddering as possible.
Formula 1 had another moment last month, as I'm sure you've heard all about. Bad tires, blah blah, yes, conversations in testy tones, but in the end, life goes on, and a final judgement is still pending. Formula 1 took a severe hit in the eye here in the US, where the European affair with racing is looked on with some amusement. Over there, they are crazy...about racing. It's an heroic mystique. Over here, we look with genuine respect, but over there, shees. Anyway, their attitude at us is converse. Ah, the Americans and their racing, how quaint! Look at them go round and round. Open wheel is our anchor on the world of open wheeled competition, and yes the Indy 500 is the 'mecca' of our style. But open wheel cannot survive on the Indy 500 alone. It would be a shame if it did, because personal agendas and cronyism are all that would derail a plan to combine Champ Car and Indy Racing League. Both series are suffering from low entries, IRL has a steady entry level of 20 cars in each race- Champ Car is close to the same. This year's Indy saw hours go by on bump day while only a few teams saw a legitimate shot at making the field on that day. Even subsequent days saw little additional qualifying. There simply was not a huge contingent unable to make the race. There must be an opportunity for teams to test, some series make that a requirement. Make the power a spec requirement also. This is a dramatic cost cutter for the teams, obviously it's not going to be Toyota, probably not Honda either since Toyota's impending exit. Cosworth makes spec motors for Champ Car. No other major series has spec motors and entries are down. Sunday at Lime Rock Park, Connecticut, American Le Mans Series raced. In the four classes on the track, LMP 1 had five or six entries, LMP 2 had three cars. GT 1 and GT had a grand total of ten cars or so. The whole field was less than 25 strong, or near about.
What say the powers that be hear a voice of reason, and give us a strong open wheel premier series that consists of ovals, road courses like Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca, and street courses like Long Beach and St. Petersburg.

-Katykarter