After winning the Formula One World Championship twice, most thought that Emerson Fittipaldi had hung up his helmet for good when he called it quits following the 1980 season. After all, he was approaching thirty-four and had nothing else to prove. Plus, his last years driving for his brother’s team were hardly satisfying. It was time to head off into the sunset.
Archive for April, 2014
The Boys From…Colombia?
Posted in IndyCar on April 16, 2014 by OilpressureRandom Thoughts On Long Beach
Posted in IndyCar on April 14, 2014 by Oilpressure
We should have known we were in for a strange race when Arie Luyendyk spun the two-seater carrying Olympic Bobsledder Steve Holcomb on the parade lap. That was to be a sign of things to come.
Long Beach Preview
Posted in IndyCar on April 11, 2014 by Oilpressure
The Verizon IndyCar Series heads west this weekend for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. This race has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons lately. Well, the wrong reasons if you are an IndyCar fan. Formula One’s Bernie Ecclestone had proposed for his series to replace IndyCar when its contract ran out after the 2015 race. Chris Pook, who founded the Grand Prix and later served as a very disappointing commissioner for CART, had been lobbying for the Long Beach City Council to consider Ecclestone’s bid. But just last week, the Long Beach City Council proposed a three-year extension to the IndyCar contract, extending the race through 2018. It will go for final approval in the next few weeks, but is expected to pass.
A New Act For Paul Tracy
Posted in IndyCar on April 9, 2014 by Oilpressure
For my friends north of the border, I’ll apologize in advance for anything in this post that might rub you the wrong way. But one of their own, former driver Paul Tracy, was named to the NBCSN booth for six races this season – including this Sunday’s race at Long Beach.
Today’s Veteran Drivers Lack Bitterness
Posted in IndyCar on April 7, 2014 by Oilpressure
There is no doubt about it – I’m old. I don’t sugarcoat it or disguise it by saying I’m seasoned or mature. That’s especially difficult to say, when so many that know me consider me to be immature. When you’re a little closer to sixty than you are to fifty – that’s old.
How Should IndyCar Improve The TV Ratings?
Posted in IndyCar on April 4, 2014 by Oilpressure
By the time Trackside aired on Tuesday night, the overnight TV ratings for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg had been released. They were not good. In fact, they were abysmal. The race earned a 0.6 rating. That’s not even good for a cable telecast, but this race was carried over network television. That translates to 685,000 viewers nationwide, which is not going to make advertisers salivate. For comparison’s sake – the NASCAR race from Martinsville on FOX generated a 3.8 rating, which corresponded to 4.34 million viewers. Keep in mind, that NASCAR is lamenting the fact that the Martinsville race suffered a 5% drop in viewers compared to last year’s race.
Does Last Weekend Tell Us Anything?
Posted in IndyCar on April 2, 2014 by Oilpressure
Normally, I tend to take the opening race of the Verizon IndyCar Series at face-value. After all, it seems that more times than not – the winner of the season-opening race does not go on to win the championship. Sometimes, they are not even a contender. Take for instance, last year’s winner James Hinchcliffe. He won the opener at St. Petersburg, but went on to have a very up and down season. He won three races, yet had so many DNF’s, that he finished a very distant eighth place in points. Two years ago, Helio Castroneves won at St. Petersburg and finished a forgettable fourth in points.
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