Three women to race in Kansas City IRL race

Milka Duno joins Sarah Fisher and some chick named Danica in this weekend's IRL race.

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It is the IndyCar Series, but old habits die hard. Fuck, I still call Champ Car CART.

 

Semantics, of course ...

IRL is the sanctioning body, which sanctions the IndyCar Series & the Indy Pro Series. They began pushing heavy use of the term IndyCar Series (instead of "IRL") two or three years ago.

So, calling it the "IRL race" would be just as accurate as calling the Talladega Nextel Cup event "the NASCAR race," even though there are two other NASCAR events on the same track this weekend.

Danica has proven herself as a decent driver who can get her way around Indianapolis and has built a huge following. Fisher has proven herself as a decent driver who has been saddled with crappy equipment her whole career (good qualifier, not great racer). Duno scares me. She's never driven on an oval. She's never driven a high-horsepower, rear-engined car on an oval, and Kansas is a high-banked, fast track where the drivers race in packs ... and then, there's Indy.

 

We've come so far, what with two black head coaches in the Super Bowl.

 

We got a crapload of really smarmy postcards sent to the office before the season. One had Hornish on the front, one had Wheldon, one had Patrick...can't remember who else.

The back was something like "This is Sam Hornish Jr., a three-time IndyCar Series Champion. That's right, IndyCar Series. So when you're writing about the most popular open-wheel racing series in this country, call it 'IndyCar Series', not IRL, not Indy, not blah blah blah.' Thanks."

Soooooooooo annoying.

 

Really? We never got those.

 

The bigger question is does anyone care? Fisher was decent when she started way back then had some wrecks and was never the same. Patrick is fraud. Has she even contended for a race since the Indy 500 in 2005? Anyone else notice you hear nothing about her going to NASCAR now? I know nothing of this new girl.

It's great and all that women are racing against the men. It's great when Michelle Wie wants to make the cut at a men's tournament. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't winning, and not just being there, the objective?

 

So the IRL is racing this weekend?

BTW, could someone explain to Tony George that putting a race against (a) the NFL draft, and (b) NASCAR at Talladega, probably isn't the best way to get ratings? The best thing he could do is sell out to the Frances. Alone, Champ Car and the IRL are irrelevent and that's a shame. Together, they could do something, but apparently, the Champ Car guys seem to think they've got something special...

 

The best thing about Indy Car races: They are a helluva lot quicker with fewer cautions (I hear you, Tony) than NASCAR. And, obviously, the drivers are easy on the eyes.

I actually wouldn't be surprised if Fisher got her first win before Patrick.

 

Actually, not as bad of a programming move as you might think ...
a). If you're watching Round 6 of the NFL draft *that* intently on Sunday, you really, really need a hobby. By that point, there really isn't much going on unless you're trying to figure out who your favorite team drafted ... and by the way, the other ESPN channel has a race on (not that ESPN has lifted a finger to promote its IndyCar races this year, but alas).
b) The fender race begins at 1:30, the IndyCar race at 4:30. While NASCAR (I'm sorry, "Nextel Cup") races seem to last longer than the 12 Hours of Sebring, Talladega should be close to over by the time the IRL (sorry, "IndyCar") race really gets going. Not putting a thought in Tony George's head, but the hope is that the NASCAR people will flip over during yellows and like what they see.

While I'm not exactly a big Tony George (or Kevin Kalkhoven) butt-kisser, and I hold them both very responsible for the demise of open-wheel racing in America, the IRL usually tries not to counter-program against NASCAR too heavily. When they do run on the same day, the IndyCar race usually begins as Nextel Cup is hitting the closing laps or is over, which does a couple of things. First off, it doesn't go head-to-head with the 800-pound gorilla, and second, it puts an IndyCar race on TV right at the time when a lot of motorsports fans are watching.

One thing Tony George & Brian Barnhart have done right is in creating the IRL product -- maybe by accident -- but the on-track racing is very, very good. The IRL has been able to draw at Richmond & Nashville, while the pre-split CART series never gained much traction there. Where the disconnect comes is the marketing -- it's been difficult to build the emotional connection to the drivers NASCAR fans seem to have with their guys. From their perspective, finding ways to get that product in front of the NASCAR crowd by stacking a race right after the Cup race is over (and while they're still likely to watch TV) is hopefully going to draw a few eyeballs the IRL's way.

And, as far as the Frances ... they've screwed up enough. NASCAR is a marketing behemoth, but on the track, it has a lot of problems -- from the myriad of bogus debris cautions in races to the "debris caution" thrown to the points chase at the end of the year to the knee-jerk rules changes to the fact that no sane person can stay awake through a 4.5-hour race every week. Heck, it's that crap that drove me away from NASCAR and drew me back to open-wheel racing in the first place (and yes, I watch both series, although I don't have much fondness for street racing).

Then again, Champ Car isn't exactly scoring a lot of points with their lame attempt at fixing the starts and going to exclusively-timed races (as well as the faked attempt at "strategy" with the red and black tires).

 

The best one of those I've ever seen was when then-Busch Series sponsor Yellow Freight changed its name to Yellow Transportation. They sent out postcards that said, "Please don't use the F-word." Funny and effective.

 

Danica Patrick is a much, much better driver than Sarah Fisher.

From everything I've heard, Duno has no business racing in IndyCar.