Oilpressure

Last Friday was not a good day for those that have staked out a career in motor racing. NASCAR laid off roughly fifty of their in-house corporate employees in a cost-cutting move. Reportedly, there were a lot of long-term employees very good at their job that were let go. Considering my day job is heavily involved with Workforce Development, I consider last Friday a very dark day.

Continue reading →

One of the worst kept secrets of 2019 was made official yesterday, when it was confirmed that NTT would become the title sponsor for the IndyCar Series. OK…there was one surprise. We had all assumed that it would be NTT Data coming on board. Instead, we learned that it would be their parent company; Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) assuming the role of title sponsor for the NTT IndyCar Series. About ten days ago, Adam Stern of SportsBusiness Journal reported that IndyCar had been in advanced talks with NTT Corp about taking over as the title sponsor, after the deal with Verizon expired at the end of 2018.

Continue reading →

There has been a disturbing trend in the IndyCar blogosphere over the past several years. When I started this site almost ten years ago, there were so many IndyCar blogs that there was no way to keep up with them. Some were obviously better than others, but the choices were endless. Some were so funny that they were considered sarcastic masterpieces. Others were very professional looking websites that had a slew of contributors behind the scenes.

Continue reading →

By Paul Henry

Note from George: Timing is everything! Last month, I was approached by former fellow-blogger, Paul Henry (otherwise known as GForce Paul), about doing a guest blog here on what should be a fascinating topic for anyone who has ever attended the Indianapolis 500. As it turned out, my work is sending me to Washington, DC for the latter part of the week so it seemed like a good time for Paul’s post. Shortly after he started writing it, he told me it would have to be a two-parter. Even better, since I was not scheduled to get back home until late last night.

Some of you will remember Paul’s blog, “WideOpenWheel”, which he started in 2011. Although he and I have corresponded for years, we never met until this past May when he was in his new position – an IMS “Yellow Shirt”. On Wednesday, he discussed his recruitment and becoming a Yellow Shirt. Today he will provide us with a peek behind the curtain as a Yellow Shirt in the Month of May as he goes into detail about Race Day Merriment. I will return here on Monday Jan 14. – GP

In our previous episode, I mentioned that working for IMS as a Yellow Shirt makes for a long day. I do not exaggerate nor embellish; these are very long days. This is a calling that defines “you get out what you put in”.  You will not be successful if you are dollar driven and fail to feel the satisfaction of being part of something greater. Therefore, it is so important to really, REALLY want to do this for the love of the sport. Consequently, some of my fellow yellows have tenure that exceeds 40 years on the job! Consider this point: it takes over 2500 Yellow Shirts to pull off this event. That includes growing programs that involve volunteers from colleges, local schools and paid sub-contractors.   It takes a small, ever changing army and it takes dedication. Do you have that in your make up?

Continue reading →

By Paul Henry

Note from George: Timing is everything! Last month, I was approached by former fellow-blogger, Paul Henry (otherwise known as GForce Paul), about doing a guest blog here on what should be a fascinating topic for anyone who has ever attended the Indianapolis 500. As it turned out, my work is sending me to Washington, DC this week so it seemed like a good time for Paul’s post. Shortly after he started writing it, he told me it would have to be a two-parter. Even better, since I’m not scheduled to get back home until late Thursday night.

Some of you will remember Paul’s blog, “WideOpenWheel”, which he started in 2011. Although he and I have corresponded for years, we never met until this past May when he was in his new position – an IMS “Yellow Shirt”. Today and Friday, he will provide us with a peek behind the curtain as a Yellow Shirt in the Month of May.

Part II will run on Friday as he goes into detail about Race Day Merriment. I will return here on Monday Jan 14. – GP

I have this illness called speed induced methanol addiction and have found that on some days the urge is so bad that I could eat it for breakfast! I also am approaching retirement age and was asked one day by my far better half what was next? I have always had this idea that I would LOVE to work at the shrine of speed, The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with the group that controls access to Gasoline Alley. You know, those grumpy old men and women that wear these cool yellow shirts, stop you at the door and merrily blow those annoying whistles all day. They seem such a happy bunch that I thought this would be a great future life for me. I mean, what could be more fun then yelling at people incessantly, going deaf from engines being warmed in the garage and freely throwing out the word NO!! all day long?

Continue reading →

Belated Happy New Year wishes to everyone! I trust you all had a good Christmas. I know I did. It was good to relax and have the biggest decision of the day to be what to eat or which meaningless bowl game to watch. Not only do I take time off from this site at this time of year to rest up and re-charge my batteries, but there is just not a whole lot going on in the racing world around the holidays. But it’s back to business now – at work, and in the IndyCar world.

Continue reading →

As we head into the heart of the Christmas season, it’s time to put my computer into a little bit of a slumber as I always do at this time of year. The reason for this is two-fold – It’s always good to get away and re-charge my batteries, but few people come to this site around Christmas anyway; so it’s a good time to take a break.

Continue reading →