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Here I am back again - just in time for the 93rd "Indy 500"

May 26, 2009

Taj Mahal "Diving Duck Blues" 1967 (click to listen)

Note: It's time to own up. I completed the following offering early morning Sunday May 24, 2009, about ten hours before the start of the 93rd "Indianapolis 500." I grew tired and decided it was time to sleep and when I woke up, I wanted to watch the telecast of the Grand Prix of Monaco, on Speed TV.

I am having a wonderful time watching Formula One this season and am a very enthusiastic supporter of Brawn GP and Jenson Button. Button appears to be on a historic mission in 2009, with five victories in six races so far -- and it's my favorite period in F1 since Nigel Mansell's World Championship season in 1992.

I did not get this initial offering on the new, upgraded version of Bob Jennings' World O' Racing posted until now -- three days late.

Ryan Briscoe did not win the "500" as I predicted. Helio Castroneves came through to put a story book ending to his legal turmoil earlier in the year, for his third win in the "Indy 500," and gave Roger Penske a new record fifteenth win in the "greatest spectacle in racing."

Sorry for being late but I still hope you enjoy the photos and the new version of my website. So here it is as originally composed . . . . .

It's been a long time -- like almost two and one half years since I posted anything new on Bob Jennings' World O' Racing. There are a number and variety of reasons why I have been absent from the Internet since the end of 2006. I won't go into detail except to write that life got in my way.

To mark my return, I created a new version of Bob Jennings' World O' Racing. The legacy version will remain on line for a while, at the old domain. Eventually I intend to add early content to this new Microsoft .Net website. Then hopefully, I can eventually retire that version in the future. But it will be a while before that happens.

If you look at the two tables below, you will see that even though I haven't posted new content on Bob Jennings' World O' Racing, I attended a number of racing events in the meantime. I also shot thousands of digital photos of racing images -- and my plan is to post many of them as 2009 progresses.

	in person racing activity 2007
May 8	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	91st "Indianapolis 500"	practice
May 9	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	91st "Indianapolis 500"	practice
May 10	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	91st "Indianapolis 500"	practice
May 11	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	91st "Indianapolis 500"	practice
May 12	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	91st "Indianapolis 500"	qualifications
May 13	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	91st "Indianapolis 500"	qualifications
May 19	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	91st "Indianapolis 500"	qualifications
May 20	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	91st "Indianapolis 500"	qualifications
May 25	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	91st "Indianapolis 500"	"carb day"
May 27	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	91st "Indianapolis 500"	"Indianapolis 500"
June 16	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	eighth U.S. Grand Prix Indianapolis	practice, qualifications
June 16	Indianapolis Raceway Park	USAC midgets, USAC sprints	heats, feature events
June 16	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	eighth U.S. Grand Prix Indianapolis	Formula One
July 22	Mid Ohio Sports Car Course	"Honda 200 at Mid Ohio"	Indy Racing League
July 28	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	14th "Allstate 400 at the Brickyard"	practice, qualifications
July 29	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	14th "Allstate 400 at the Brickyard"	NASCAR Cup
August 5	Michigan International Speedway	"Firestone Indy 400"	Indy Racing League
August 11	Kentucky Speedway	"Meijer Indy 300" presented by Coca-Cola	Indy Racing League
September 2	The Raceway at Belle Isle	Detroit Indy Grand Prix presented by Firestone	Indy Racing League
September 9	Chicagoland Speedway	"Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 presented by Mr. Clean"	Indy Racing League

	in person racing activity 2008
May 4	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	92nd "Indianapolis 500"	practice
May 6	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	92nd "Indianapolis 500"	practice
May 11	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	92nd "Indianapolis 500"	qualifications
May 14	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	92nd "Indianapolis 500"	practice
May 15	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	92nd "Indianapolis 500"	practice
May 16	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	92nd "Indianapolis 500"	practice
May 17	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	92nd "Indianapolis 500"	qualifications
May 17	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	92nd "Indianapolis 500"	qualifications
May 25	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	92nd "Indianapolis 500"	"Indianapolis 500"
June 1	The Milwaukee Mile	"ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225"	Indy Racing League
July 20	Mid Ohio Sports Car Course	"Honda 200 at Mid Ohio"	Indy Racing League
July 25	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	15th "Allstate 400 at the Brickyard"	practice
July 27	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	15th "Allstate 400 at the Brickyard"	NASCAR Cup
August 9	Kentucky Speedway	"Meijer Indy 300" presented by Pepsi and Edy's"	Indy Racing League
September 7	Chicagoland Speedway	"Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300"	Indy Racing League

I was lucky this month. I was able to visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway nine times during the twelve days of on track activity. I missed one day of rookie orientation activity and thirty four minutes of opening practice day one, on Wednesday May 6, until rain put an end to the action for the day. Other than that, I was there for nearly all of it. I took more photos than I can count and so far, I have only been able to review and edit 454 of those images.

There were few defining moments this month, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; no big controversies and from a historic perspective, the story lines have been difficult to ascertain. It was a similar situation in May 2006, except the weather was much better this time and we capped May 2006 with the wild conclusion that featured Sam Hornish beating Marco Andretti to the checkered flag by .0635 seconds; the second closest finish in "Indianapolis 500" history. Wouldn't it be neat if we could have another pass, at the finish line tomorrow, the way Hornish did it in 2006?

My mother died at 9:45 pm on Wednesday May 20, 2009, after entering the hospital on April 24. During her stay, there were repeated times when it appeared she was going to pass away. Had it not been for the practice and qualification days at the Speedway, I might have lost it because it was a very sad and stressful time, watching Mom die. The "Indy 500" pre-race provided distraction and diversion.

God bless the "Indianapolis 500." Thank God I have the race to focus on. The "Indy 500" is my favorite "whatever" in this world. Tomorrow will be my 53rd time to attend the "500." I haven't missed the race since my dad took me to the 1956 "Indianapolis 500."

Perhaps the number one story line going into the race tomorrow is how smoothly the program has proceeded given the economic problems we all face today. There was an interesting story, by Steve Ballard, that appeared in today's issue of The Indianapolis Star, which focused on how the sport of Indy car racing and the "Indianapolis 500" has been mostly successful in coping with the economy while the NASCAR "gorilla" has experienced more turmoil this year.

Open-wheel on road to recovery

After 13 years of being unfavorably compared to other racing organizations, the Indy Racing League has shown during the current economic crisis that it must be doing something right.

Although it is not immune from the financial travails affecting businesses and individuals worldwide, the IRL has displayed surprising resilience at a time when much of the racing world is being forced to make difficult and, in human terms, often painful choices.

In NASCAR, where annual budgets have quadrupled in the past decade, several teams have either folded or merged, and an estimated 1,200 people have been laid off since the end of the 2008 season.

The IndyCar Series has endured no such dire cutbacks, and heading into the 93rd Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, there is ample reason to believe the sport is on the road to financial recovery.

"We think the stability we have right now will allow us to weather the economy over the next couple of years," said Tony George, IRL founder and Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO. "Our teams can run the full season from somewhere between $5 million and $8 million. There are those that have the eight and some that don't have the five, but I think we're providing pretty good value, especially when you look at other series like Formula One, which is trying to cut back to $40 million."

The tailwind picked up by last year's reunification of open-wheel racing into one series was stifled somewhat by the recession, but the byproducts of a unified sport -- from fuller fields to a diversified schedule to a strong core of marketable young stars -- remain in place.

The IRL is seeking out new markets in Brazil and China, with an eye toward expanding its schedule from the current 17 races to about 20. Emerging talents such as Graham Rahal, 20, Marco Andretti, 22, and Danica Patrick, 27, are the face of the sport going forward.

Meanwhile, the search goes on for a title sponsor. A potential long-term deal fell through at the last minute.

"We're having conversations with a lot of companies," said Terry Angstadt, president of the IRL's commercial division. "First and foremost now is layering in more sponsors to make us more stable. We've had some success in that area, but we don't have the big one yet."

NASCAR has been hit hard by the decline of the U.S. automakers. Teams are dependent on the financial and technical support of Detroit's Big Three, and that revenue stream has slowed to a trickle. IRL teams, on the other hand, lease their engines from Honda at a cost of about $1 million for a full season.

Roger Penske, the dean of IndyCar Series owners who also has a team in NASCAR, credits the IRL for keeping a lid on costs.

"Obviously, there's pressure on sponsors. We all have that," said Penske, who will go for his 15th Indy win Sunday with driver Helio Castroneves starting from the pole. "We've got good teams out here. Just look at the equipment, lots of new drivers. I'm thrilled to see that.

"I would say an average team today can get in this to run the season in the $4 (million) to $5 million range. To run up front in NASCAR is probably $20 (million)."

One prominent team -- Rahal Letterman Racing, co-owned by 1986 Indy champion Bobby Rahal and talk-show host David Letterman -- was unable to find sponsorship to run a full season. They do have a car in the Indy 500, which they won five years ago with driver Buddy Rice. General manager Scott Roembke expects the team's troubles to be short-lived.

"We're talking to corporations that want to talk to us about the future," he said. "Things are starting to calm down a little in the economic market, and we're getting some forward traction in putting together a program."

The IRL is in the first year of a 10-year, $67 million deal with little-known cable network Versus, which has committed to 130 hours of programming this season with extended pre- and post-race shows. ESPN/ABC retains the rights to five of the 17 races on the schedule, including the Indianapolis 500.

Versus is available in slightly more than 75 million homes, about 25 percent fewer than ESPN, and ratings thus far have been minuscule.

But IRL Vice President John Griffin, who was with NASCAR in the mid-1990s when its partnership with ESPN helped produce a boom in popularity for both, sees a similar opportunity for Versus and the IRL.

For the past few months, I have read and heard reports that ticket sales were up for the 2009 "500." After the 2008 "Indy 500," Tony George reported there were 16,000 more people at the race than in 2007. From what I understand, attendance tomorrow may exceed race day 2008. May 25, 2008 was a beautiful day for racing and that probably had much to do with the increased enthusiasm. Tomorrow's weather calls for thirty percent chance of precipitation, with a high reaching 81 degrees. Unfortunately there is a chance of scattered thunderstorms.

Like many "Indy" fanatics, I wish there was some diversity in the field of 33 cars that will line up tomorrow. As I write this, I am listening to a replay of the radio broadcast of the 1968 "500," that featured one of the most technically interesting starting lineups of all time. In 1968, there were three wedged shaped STP Lotuses, powered by Pratt & Whitney turbines; turbocharged Ford V8 engines, normally aspirated Fords, a stock block production based Gurney Weslake Ford V8, turbocharged Offies and a Repco Brabham V8. There were a large variety of chassis packages in the 1968 race; Lotus, Eagle, Hawk, Mongoose, Lola, Coyote, Gerhardt, Brabham, Finley, Vollstedt, Shrike and Mallard.

Tomorrow, thirty three Dallara - Honda race cars will take the green flag. This particular Dallara model was introduced in 2003. I wish the "Indy 500" had not evolved into a spec car series and the Dallara looks way too familiar. But this is the nature of today's motorsport. Even Formula One appears to be going in this direction.

But hey -- this is the "Indianapolis 500" folks! It's still the best thing going -- warts and all and it's what old Bob Jennings lives for! The excitement is building now. I am preparing my cameras and lenses for tomorrow -- and it doesn't get any better than this.

Let's take a look at some of my photos. I present images of each of the starting thirty three cars and drivers by order of their grid position. These photos were taken during my nine days at the Speedway this month.

Helio Castroneves - May 16, 2009