Saturday, January 31, 2009

I want a Roethlis-burger!


Tomorrow is the big day and as great as the game will be, wouldn't be even better if you had a Roethlis-burger and some Iron City? I've had the IC and the IC light, in fact, but I haven't had the burger.






So far we have a fruit tray, a veggie tray... we even have a Brookie tray! (That's part brownie, part cookie, topped with ice cream... a whole TRAY of it.) But I feel like a Roethlis-burger would make it even better.

See you in the morning for some more Super Bowl stuff...

From Longest to quickest match? Serena gets 10th Grand Slam!

I honestly don't have much to say after watching the Women's Final, over just as it began...

I'm honestly fairly certain the introductions and warm-ups were longer than the match itself, and that's not a joke, I seriously think they were. The match was short of an hour, and looked like a pickup game between random buddies where one friend who is a regular player convinces the other who has never picked up a racket to come 'play' only he never cuts the newbie friend any learning time.

I really don't know how to put it; was Serena dominating? Did Safina choke? A lot of both? Safina was easily straining and defeated by the 3rd point. The crowd's loudest applause was on the few instances Safina even won a point & now Safina has come up short (2nd) in the Aussie & French Opens and Olympics all back to back to back.

Whatever way you slice it, that may have been the quickest Grand Slam final in a long time with Serena Williams simply devastating Dinara Safina 6-0, 6-3 to collect her now 10th Grand Slam title & the #1 ranking.

Nothing else to say about the 'match'; guess just going forward: Will Serena retain the #1 ranking?

Friday, January 30, 2009

2nd Greatest Match ever?

For those lucky enough to be able to stay up for the 3:30am match of #1 Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco got to see what may possibly already be the best match of the year, and also now the longest match EVER in Australian Open history!

Verdasco is the man that has not only been upsetting higher seeds for 3 rounds now, including favorite Andy Murray and last year's Aussie runner up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. But Verdasco is more as he's been Nadal's doubles teammate for Davis Cup as a fellow Spaniard, and the 2 are good friends.

This match, for those who missed it, went the distance of 5 sets; but more than just 5 sets, THREE of the sets needed tie-breakers. In all the final tally came up: 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-7 & 6-4. With both men literally collapsing in exhaustion when the match finally ended, you really felt bad simply because both men surely deserved the win after all they'd put into the match, but alas Nadal came out the winner.

This of course sets up a Federer vs. Nadal rematch of the epic Wimbledon match widely acclaimed as the best match in tennis history. I will honestly say Nadal-Verdasco can give that match a run but would fall 2nd in all time, but will most definitely go down as the best match of Australian Open history.

It begs two questions I know we're all chomping at the bit to see in a days time.

1) Will Nadal be able to rest and recover from this match enough to contend with a well rested Roger Federer.

2a) Will Nadal and Federer be able to put on a bigger show than Nadal just did with Verdasco & will it live up to the hype of 'Wimbledon Best Match Ever' rematch!?

We can only wait a day to watch, but in the meantime; don't miss out on Serena Williams and Dinara Safina vying to take over the #1 ranking in Women's tennis late tonight(tomorrow morning)

p.s. for those who missed the Nadal-Verdasco match: head here for some highlights feel free to tell ESPN they might wanna put a #1 by Nadal's name seeing as he's the #1 ranked player and all.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Focusing on Wrong Aspects of Rahal-Letterman & DirecTV News?

Firstly in the smaller news of the day; Bryan Herta Autosport was officially announced as an Indy Lights team with American Daniel Herrington as it's driver. we'll say it again, we'll be rooting for Herta to do well in anything he does, and we're glad to see him back as a part of IndyCar racing.

There's also a bit of rumor from a sentence in Robin Miller's most recent article that Davey Hamilton is planning on starting an Indy Lights team as well as trying to run in the Indy 500 again. If Davey should do this (Indy Lights part) it would be great and right up there with Herta. It should come as an easy task as Davey and his dad already run many teams in many leagues. Mrs. Wedge will most assuredly love any chance to cheer for her fellow hometown childhood carpooler's cousin.

Thirdly: Dale Coyne Racing has hired engineer Bill Pappas, formerly of Patrick Racing, Ganassi Racing, and Panther Racing. Pappas has worked with the likes of Jimmy Vasser, Gil De Ferran, Juan Pablo Montoya on his 500 win, and Dale Coyne possible sophomore Bruno Junquiera. It is great to see this move from DCR, as obviously they wouldn't be hiring anyone if they didn't intend on racing in 2009; and this should be the Big news on the circuit, but unfortunately its not...you know because its positive and all...

Now on to the non-surprising bigger news of the day:

As everyone already suspected the IRL's John Griffin has confirmed that DirecTV has pulled their sponsorship of the IndyCar Series citing the move to new TV partner Versus (who is owned by Comcast):

“One of DirecTV’s biggest competitors is Comcast,” Griffin said. “They felt it didn’t make sense to have their logo and support in a position where it supported a Comcast initiative in any way.”

A lot of people seem to think this is the IRL's mistake in going to Versus as they should have known DirecTV would pull sponsorship as a result. People need to remember however that the league ran many years without a presenting sponsor, it can do just fine without and/or finding a new one (I recommend maybe asking Comcast). It however would be a devastating blow to lose live broadcasting of their races (remember ESPN did not want to continue showing all the races anymore), plus the NUMEROUS many other reason we've listed here at FW already about why the move to Versus will be good at growing the product of IndyCar.

Now I will say this: John Griffin, Terry Angstadt and anyone else associated with the IRL NEED to stop saying things like this to the press: “We just had a meeting Monday with a very, very big corporate brand name.” Whether or not they had a meeting and how promising it seems, is irrelevant. It is Public Relations 101, that you do not reveal your own negotiations until they are certain to complete; and even then there's no reason to spoil your own announcement. If it goes through, sure you look fine, but there are any number of things that can end negotiations prematurely, and whether they are your fault or not, will never look good for all involved.


Now onto the 2nd non-shocking news of the day. As correctly reported by seemingly few Bobby Rahal confirmed to news sources that Rahal-Letterman Racing does not currently have a sponsor and needs one to go racing in 2009. A lot of people are up in arms wondering how Bobby Rahal & David Letterman can't come up with the money, assumed they have in Uncle Scrooge's money bin, to get their car on the grid.

Its perfectly understandable honestly; they are running RLR as a long-term business, not for the aspiration of racing. And I'm not saying that it is a bad thing to do; many IndyCar teams run as a business and there are teams who are just so hungry for racing that will do whatever it takes to get out there. What this does tell us is that RLR might love IndyCar racing, but not enough to spend their own dollars; its a business for them, and that's fine; they still have other series to race in should they not answer the IndyCar bell in 2009.

What everyone should be wondering instead; is how exactly RLR will ever get back into business as a IndyCar team any year? Their last 4-5 years of ICS team(s) have been funded at least majorly by sponsors connected to their drivers (Paul Dana-EPIC/ethanol, Scott Sharp-Patron, Ryan Hunter-Reay-IZOD, Danica Patrick-Argent). I'm thinking Centrix or Menards was "their" last sponsor, and that was rumored to be due to Mernards really liking that young upcoming Vitor guy that was driving for them; whom RLR then dropped, and soon went Menards too. Now we know Letterman and Rahal both have name recognition and business savvy, but as a fan of the team, their track record of landing sponsor does not bode well for their fans.


side-thought: You also have to wonder what IZOD is thinking of their Hunter-Reay sponsorship. If I recall right, they did film a commercial with him in a car for future use; what good is that to them (and the awesome line of apparel they were ready to push) should he not get back into the series?

Some Can't Catch a Break; & Some Scream Like a Pterodactyl

As the week goes on, we're getting more and more news and crackpot theories from the world of motorsports (updates coming soon), but first lets delve into the great action in Melbourne.

For Men's Singles tennis for, I don't know... 5-6 years?, it's been Roger Federer vs. the field. The man won 13 Majors and most tournaments he entered, actually having a bet/race with Tiger Woods to see who can get more Majors in their career. Most recently though, Rafael Nadal proved himself to be Federer's equal, besting him a few times and most recently in what some call the best match in the history of tennis at Wimbledon. But what about "the field"

Well, U.S. of A.'s Andy Roddick won a U.S. Open once upon a time before all this, and then what? Well... Federer happened. Roddick was 0-6 against Federer in Grand Slams (3 of those coming in finals and 3 more in semi-finals) and 2 out of 17 all time. So Roddick had enough, hired a new coach to whip himself into shape this offseason and work on improving his game more. specifically so he could beat Federer. Well Roddick clearly lost much weight and improved his game; Federer himself even admitted this after their semi-final match last night:

“I thought he played a bit more aggressive with his backhand … Played a bit more flat, so the ball goes through [the court] a little bit more. I really think he improved [his] returns. The second serves he takes more easily. I have the feeling he's improved at the net. He's a better mover. Before, he didn't run a whole lot for drop shots. Today I didn't play 25 dropshots, but I still felt he was running for every ball. He wasn't always doing that. That's also a big key to his game.”

As you've probably guessed though; Roddick is now 0-7 against Federer in Grand Slams. If you watched Roddick play any of this tournament though, you saw a vastly improved and energetic game. Last night he was great, made plenty amazing shots, was all over the court making plays, Federer as always was just a little bit better. Federer simply made, well, Federer-ish impossible, shots pushing backhands entirely cross court or on the line while running, scrambling etc... If you're Roddick; what do you do? What can you do?

For Federer? Well barring a huge upset, it looks like Federer will be getting his chance for revenge against Nadal and a chance to take the #1 ranking back.

And speaking of rankings; Does anyone want to be the #1 Ranked Female? Ever since Justine Henin suddenly retired from the game giving up her #1 ranking with it, its been a smorgasboard of women who shortly have held the ranking. With current #1 Jelena Jankovic going out 3 rounds short of the women's final; does anyone want to take the ranking and keep it?

We're bound to find out as #3 Dinara Safina will meet 2 Serena Wiliams who both won their semifinal matches in quick straight sets.

Serena though had a peculiar opponent who I had not yet witnessed as I've been away from tennis for a while. The #4 Elena Dementieva is one of the most interesting players I've seen in some time. Because she's a good looking girl you say, well yeah she is but no that's not the reason; because she has a good game, again she does, but no.

No what struck my out of nowhere was, during her match with Serena, she botched a great chance to get a ball past Serena. While some would shout, curse, look down in disgust, throw the racket... Dementieva let out what I can really only describe as the most piercing sound/screech I have ever heard in my life uttered by a human being. Seriously you would have thought her leg just snapped in half.

I've seriously been scouring the internet trying to find audio or video of it, but no luck. People have talked about it, some call it a piercing scream, it technically was 2 screams; but I think I know most what it resembled. Go get yourself a copy of Jurrasic Park III, and go to the scene where they get trapped in the pterodactyl cage; take their screech and highten the pitch a couple notches and thats about what Dementieva did...

Elena Dementieva, you have now become the player I wish most to see play again, and hopefully do well, but have a shot somewhere not go the way you want it...

2009 MLB Preview: St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals














IF (3/5) - Can't go lower than 3 with Pujols here. But what else is there? Kennedy is respectable in that "not much power, not much speed" 2B kind of way. And the Cards were the winners (or the actual losers?) in the "Who Wants Khalil Greene" game. But he has to improve his .213 average. And of course there is Troy Glaus, who will miss some time due to shoulder surgery. So I guess Brendan Ryan or Brian Barden will fill in for a while, but neither will put up similar power numbers. Both catchers return.

OF (4/5) - If these guys stay healthy, this is a pretty good outfield. Good power, but they could use some more stolen bases from one of these positions. I wonder if they're content with Duncan or if they're looking to upgrade at all?


SP (3/5) - Even if Lohse, Wainwright, and Wellemeyer can repeat last year's success, you'd still have to have questions about Carpenter's health (which should be fine) and the status of the #5 spot.


RP (2.5/5) - I like Perez and Franklin, but I'm not sold on anyone else. McClellan was awful late in the season. Trever Miller is a solid vet.


Wildcards: Barden, Glaus, David Freese... basically 3B. and Carpenter.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Super Bowl XLIII Preview: The Tecmo Challenge

Well, I did it. I finally got an NES emulator and have Tecmo Super Bowl running on my computer. The Furious Wedge wants you to know who is going to win the Super Bowl this weekend. Now, we can sit around and guess all we want, but if you want real answers, why not just have the computer play the game for you? And that's what I did. You're welcome.

Of course, by using a video game from 1991, some (OK, all) of the players will be different. And sure, the Cardinals now represent all Arizona residents and not just Phoenix. But other than that, there's not really much difference.

So who won? Well, I'll give you all the highlights:

Steelers won the flip and elected to return. Del Greco kicked off to Stone who ran it out to the 35. But Brister came in and threw an INT on the very first play. Rosenbach completed a 39-yard pass to Proehl (his only catch of the game) and Johnny Johnson quickly ran in the TD. 7-0 Cardinals.


That was the end of their scoring.

Brister immeidately drove the Steelers down the field and threw a 35-yard TD to Derek Hill. 7-7 at the end of the 1st quarter.

The 2nd quarter saw the break-out of the Steelers' Warren Williams, who got the Steelers down the field. Brister connected with Louis Lipps for 30 yards and Merrill Hoge ran in the TD. The Cardinals drove back down the field, but Del Geco missed a FG at the half. 14-7 Steelers.

In the 3rd quarter, Pittsburgh's Anderson kicked off to Sikahema, but Phoenix quickly had to punt. The Cards' defense looked good, but on 3rd-and-24, Brister completed a 45-yard pass to Williams, who also capped off the drive with a TD. 21-7 Steelers.

The Cards started the 4th quarter with an excellent drive. Rosenbach was running and passing down the field, but then threw an INT in the endzone. Brister turned around with a 55-yard TD strike to Williams once again. 28-7.

In their last drive, The Cardinals could not convert on 3rd or 4th down, with Ricky Proehl dropping two passes. Hoge ran in the next play for a TD as time expired. Final score: 35-7 Steelers.

Brister threw for 218 yards (138 to Williams alone) while Rosenbach managed only 58.

So... look for Roethlisberger to have a big game while Kurt Warner struggles this Sunday.

Stay tuned for more Super Bowl nonsense over the next few days!

2009 MLB Preview: Cincinnati Reds

Cincinnati Reds












IF (4.5/5) - Good all around. Alex Gonzales is back from injury. Ramon Hernandez at catcher helps a lot. If Phillips' numbers are closer to his 2007 stats, this is a very good infield unit.

OF (3/5) - Pretty young group and not much depth right now. Bruce showed power, but needs to drive in more runs. Taveras had nearly 70 SBs despite a fairly low OBP. They'll likely be relying on Dickerson to start.

SP (3/5) - Lots of potential here. If 3-4 guys have career years, you're looking at a very good rotation. Unfortunately, the odds are probably against that. Harang had an awful year and they need him to rebound and lead these young guys. Volquez is good, obviously, and Cueto could get there. It's time for Bailey to show something.

RP (3/5) - Not bad. Cordero and Weathers are strong and Rhodes was signed to help out. They'll need other guys to step up though.

Wildcards: Ramon Ramirez, Micah Owings, Daniel Ray Herrera

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Herta/Vision Racing in 2009?

--In quick news; as was rumored a while ago has now been confirmed in that Michael Andretti will be Danica's new race strategist. I find this to be interesting in that Michael is a more aggressive strategist while Danica seems more comfortable playing strategy; the absolute question for me is: what happens should she have a run-in with Marco on the track?

For better and fuller analysis of the move head on over to MyNameIsIRL or IndyRacingRevolution as Jeff and Chris have already put a good deal of thought into it.

--In Indy Lights & A1GP news Scott Dixon's fellow Kiwi, Johnny Reid, has tested for Team New Zealand's 'Black Beauty' and may be racing for them soon. This comes along with recent talk that Reid has no deal in place yet to be back in Indy Lights. With part of the late A1GP season overlapping the beginning of Indy Lights season, I have to wonder if maybe he'd really be trying both or if this is plan B.

--In a small bit of IndyLights news and IndyCar Series speculation for the ladies. Genoa, Panther, Guthrie-Meyer and Sam Schmidt Racing have been testing at Palm Beach raceway, getting acclimated with their new drivers. While there isn't a terrible amount to report as it is just testing. It is definitely worth noting 2 things.

1) Richard Philippe was in fact Genoa's driver which all but tells us that we should fully expect Nelson Philippe in the IndyCar Series either as a driver for Conquest/HVM/Coyne (as they have the open spots), or as a driver for the rumored Team France the Phillipe family intends to start by buying the Roth Racing team. & 2) Richard was no only fast, he set a track record my friends, the Philippe's are no joke; they may have money, but that doesn't mean they don't have talent.

--And lastly and easily one of my most favorite stories in a while. As was being rumored around the news circuit for about a week now, Bryan Herta has officially purchased the Indy Lights equipment of Playa del Racing, to start Bryan Herta Racing. I think all IndyCar fans have the be thrilled; firstly, because finally another veteran alumnus of IndyCars is deciding to stay on as a owner and driving coach rather than going to sports cars or disappearing to a quieter life.

Secondly, I don't know a person out there who doesn't like Bryan Herta; the man volunteered to step out of his ICS ride so AGR could hire Danica only to be later shafted and dropped from the team mid season last year; I think we all want to root for Bryan, and this gives us that opportunity. We know he can be a great teacher as evidenced clearly this last April when Danica finally won in Motegi; Bryan was the very first person she mentioned and thanked.

What makes the story more curious though, is that reportedly all the equipment he bought was delivered to the Vision Racing headquarters in Indianapolis. If you'll remember, Herta was hired on as a driving coach to Ed Carpenter and AJ Foyt IV last season so you know he already has a relationship with the Vision team; and partnering his Indy Lights program with Vision, even if only in name, will allow them all to benefit from the bonus testing allowed to teams who have Indy Lights programs. While no one has reported it in any way, Herta has repeatedly said he's not done with racing, I'm going to be the first to say I'm thinking it... Herta in an extra Vision ICS car for May??

Much like Sam Schmidt though, if I were an ICS owner, I would definitely be interested in any driver that came through Indy Lights as a protege of Herta's.

2009 MLB Preview: Houston Astros

Houston Astros
















IF (4/5) - Tejada and Berkman are great offensive players obviously. Matsui is a nice spark who will steal and score. If Boone starts at 3B, they can't expect much offense. We haven't seen Quintero catch a full season, but he hasn't shown much offensively.

OF (4/5) - Corners are solid. If Bourn raises his OBP he'll steal 50+ bases. Not much depth here though.

SP (2.5/5) - Plenty of upside, but I'd be worried entering the season with this rotation. We know there's Oswalt, but then what? If they rely on Hampton, that's risky. Backe, Rodriguez, and Moehler would all have to have good years for this rotation to put fear into opposing teams.

RP (4/5) - Could be pretty solid here, as it seems to be the deepest part of the team. Valverde, Hawkins, Brocail, and others are solid relievers. No stars, but they should be able to maintain leads. Can the rotation give them enough leads though?

Wildcards: Mike Hampton, Fernando Nieve, Lou Palmisano, Danny Graves (remember when he was good?)

Quotes left out of Joe Torre's book


With all this talk about the Joe Torre book, we figured we should add our two cents.

Personally, I don't get why everyone is so surprised. Did everyone really think Torre was some kind of good guy? I don't think it's possible to coach the Yankees and have much of a genuine "tender" side, is it?

Either way, his name is on the book, the quotes are his. But here's the strange part...

The publishing company had sent us an advanced copy of the book months ago. Yet now we hear that parts of the book have been abridged, removing certain quotes. Below, we will highlight the Top 5 quotes that have likely been removed from Joe Torre's book:

5. "We started calling him 'Tostada' because he was always eating! We'd say, 'Jorge, put the food down! It's your turn to bat.'"

4. "Derek was dating this one girl, and whoa baby... was she SMART. She had a great personality and was just a pleasure to be around."

3. "At one point, A-Rod entered his 'dance' phase. All he wanted to do was dance. He'd often dance around the locker room. Naked. Then he tried to convince the boys that they each needed a homerun dance, like a touchdown dance. His was going to be the robot. Luckily, he quickly outgrew this phase and soon replaced it with a SWF-like obssession for Jeter."

2. "For a while, George was making me bring him lunch. Sometimes it was calzone. Other times it was soup in a bread bowl. He loved being able to eat the bowl when he was done."

1. "Finally I told him, 'I'm not putting that in your butt! Call your trainer or something.'"

Monday, January 26, 2009

2009 MLB Preview: Chicago Cubs

As I grow tired of winter and my anticipation for spring (and baseball!) continues to grow, I will attempt to do quick 2009 previews for every MLB team. I'll rate each team in a few different categories. Because I'm a big fan, I'll start with:

Chicago Cubs










IF (4.5/5) - Not many teams are better at the corners. Theriot and Fontenot are great sparks. Miles should add OBP for a team who really needs it. DeRosa will be missed. Soto is possibly the best young catcher in MLB.

OF (4.5/5) - Rating depends on health, of course. If Bradley and Soriano are healthy, this offense is likely the best in the NL. Johnson is not the best CF in the world, but played great when given the chance last year. Fukudome is not being relied upon this year as a starter, so he can only help. A great Spring Training could land him the CF job. Replacing Pie with Gathright also helps.

SP (4.5/5) - If the top 4 stay healthy, this is already the best rotation in the NL. Marshall could really surprise some people and be a great 5th starter. The addition of Peavy would obviously make this rating a 5/5.

RP (3/5) - Biggest question mark, by far. Marmol is lights out and Gregg has proven to be reliable. Gaudin has shown signs of being very good. Samardzija could become a star this year and will have a shot at starting if the Cubs don't acquire Peavy or another LHP for the pen, which would make it hard to start Marshall.

Other positives: Coaching

Wildcards: Angel Guzman, Rich Hill, Micah Hoffpauir

EDIT (1/28): The addition of Heilman will help either the rotation or the bullpen. Marshall takes another step toward the bullpen. Removed Olson from the wildcard list. Seems Rich Hill is next.

A day to Catch Up/Take it All In

Firstly: Don't miss Ron's follow-up on the ridiculous high-school basketball coach below...

Secondly: Thanks again for anyone who played any part in the blogathon, It was a lot of fun, and fun that played far and wide! How much exactly? We just took a look at our site-statistics for the weekend; In all we had visitors and commenters from 36 different U.S. States and 32 different countries!!

I'm still taking it all in, and wondering what the quote of the weekend was; I've got it down to: Buddy Rice's "I'm so retarded", Sal Masakela's "They go down through the super channel of death" & Shane Lewis's "As far as the drivers go 80% are doing a great job, 15% are completely lost, and the other 5% are the AMA guys that keep trying to jump the bus stop instead of driving through it.""


I tell you what though; I do know what the quote of last week was. I always said the IRL's move to Versus is a good thing, and hopefully now more people will start to get that. 10 weeks out of the season and Versus has already started advertising the IndyCar Series for 2009; complete with multiple talk-in's during the NHL All-Star Game!

But I said something about a quote right? ahh yes, indeed there is one and it come via Versus president Jamie Davis in an article of the Boston Globe:

"'We made it a priority to start building up our original programming. One of the things we did in October was we launched a show called Sports Soup. '

Davis said Versus's long-term plan is to launch 2-3 more original shows this year and add shows in 2010.

He promises that none will be people sitting at a desk discussing statistics and showing highlights."

Covenant coach fired!

Just before the Blogathon, I said in this post that this coach should be disciplined. I was shocked to hear yesterday that he refused to apologize. I was thrilled to find this morning that he was fired. At least we know the school had enough integrity to back up its apology. As a teacher I would feel OK going to work today knowing this guy was no longer my co-worker.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

job well done

I too would like to cogratulate Wedge on an awesome Blogathon. It was amazing.

I will initiate one myself soon... Unfortunately for just about anyone who reads this, it wouldn't be centered around racing.

Thanks to everyone who followed and especially to those who contributed in posts and comments. I had a blast just keeping up with you all.

Crossing the tape of the Blogathon!!!

Wow, everybody, just freaking wow!!!

As far as the race, what didn't the opening to the 2009 season have??? Most cautions; most distance covered in DP era, closest finish, not sure but possibly most cars on leap lap??? 24 Hours of racing and we had what may be the closest finish of this season! I can't say enough about this awesome action!

...(takes a breath)...


Well everyone, we finally come to the end of the craziest idea we've had yet here at the Furious Wedge.

138 posts in 25 hours!!!

I can assure you it was a blast! Firstly, I have to thank my wife, for not only not killing me for coming up and going through with this crazy idea, and also joining in the viewing for a good part of it (she in fact knitted herself an entire fingerless glove during the process).

Thank you Andy (SpeedGeek) and Mike (Ron Furious) for posting and joining in all you did; Thanks to all of you who followed, chatted, commented along with us at any point in this wild marathon of typing, analysis, and for me personally, sleep deprivation, I can't believe I just went the entire 25 hours of coverage... and every bit of it was great: from driver interviews, legal troubles with SPEED, watching 2 TVs and a computer monitor all at the same time... man just... fun.


I can tell you this for sure, I enjoyed the action, enjoyed all your company, and really hope that even those silent readers out there enjoyed this as much as we all did at Furious Wedge. We got what I personally think was to date the best 24 Hours of Daytona to date; I really can't remember the last time the action stayed so close, surely to this magnitude.

We got to learn that Team Ireland's Adam Carroll is a dominating force in A1GP, only 2nd to a hiccup out of the pits and also that his nickname is "princess" !? We got to see the longest match in Women's tennis this year, Ron's ideas for improving the Daytona 24, most likely Roger Federer's biggest comeback of his career and even got to throw in some record snowboarding, racing snowmobiles, and... second only to Daytona's action.... a giant friggin pipe organ with fireworks & light show on top of a gigantic hockey puck.


I can't wait to hopefully attempt this again next year...

but for now; I've gone 25 straight hours blogging, and about 32 without sleep... I think it's time for a nap...

Wow.

That was a fantastic finish, huh? Right down to the end, literally the last lap. You couldn't really have asked for a whole lot more. The #59 Brumos car and the #10 Suntrust car faded badly at the end, catching some bad breaks in traffic, but two cars is all you need for a great finish.

One black mark at the end: JPM and Memo Rojas whining in victory lane about getting beat. "Too much Porsche horsepower, blah, blah, blah." Note to Juan: you won this race two years in a row until now. Memo to Memo: you won 6 out of 14 races last season. Shut. Up. It looked to me like now that Porsche has a 4-liter engine, the performance balance is just about right. The Lexus and Ford will definitely be better at the slower and mid-speed tracks, due to better torque, but Daytona? That's a horsepower track all the way. The Porsche gets extra revs due to being smaller capacity, hence it has more power. So, high speed advantage to Porsche. That's fine. If the Porsches win all 12 races this season, OK, then you can complain.

Anyway, that nonsense aside, this one will go down in the record books as one of the best ever at Daytona. I'm just glad to have been here to see it.

Thanks to the guys here for having me this weekend, and thanks to all on the Twitter feed for stopping by and sharing their thoughts with all of us. It was great fun, and hopefully we can do this again in the future!

Brumos #58 takes the victory!!!!!

David Donahue, Buddy Rice, Darren Law & Antonio Garcia are 24 Hours of Daytona champions!

67 TRG Porsche takes GT: Jorg Bergmeister, Andy Lally, Patrick Long, Justin Marks, RJ Valentine, GT Champions!


I'm not even sure how to explain how awesome that was, so many records fell, excitement through the roof, easily best Daytona 24 finish ever!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still just under a half second between Donahue and Montoya!!! will Montoya stick his nose in for a shot when he's out of options!!!!???

UPDATE: HOLY FREAKING CRAP THIS IS RIDICULOUS; Get out of the way GTs!!!!

Holy cow, 24 Hours and we are seperated by seconds

odds the 58 held up after all the oil we saw it spitting out all this time; man this is crazy, at this pace we might have 5 laps left!!!!

Switching to Donahue recovery of the race, what will the traffic give us, can Montoya do it, I think he needs traffic assistance to get this done.

i have internet!

But can't see the race. Looks like a good one with those same four cars going at it.

'Geeky Thoughts: Hour 23

This has been fantastic. After 23 hours, we have the top 4 cars basically nose to tail. Montoya will definitely stay in the leading #01 on the last stop, Barbosa will stay in the #59 and Angelelli will stay in the #10, but will Garcia stay in the #58 or will Donohue get in? I'd vote Donohue, but my vote does not count.

This is going to be an awesome last hour, probably the best hour of racing this race has ever seen. I'm giddy.

Wow, Top 4 all within 2 seconds

1 hour to go, and it looks like Garcia has finally figured out he's got the fastest car of the 4; I think this is about to get real interesting. I don't know about you guys but With these 4 this close and with such little time left in this race, I think it's time to just sit back and watch this amazing race finish out!

no team orders at Brumos

Barbosa in the #59 is clearly not on team orders blocking Garcia in the faster #58 down the oval/straight; definitely not liking this if I'm Rice/Donahue/Law


word verification update: man these are getting hard to read

Keeping it close...

As we possibly say goodbye to Furious Ron for the blogathon, the #58 Brumos just can't seem to catch a break, every time they pull a lead we seem to catch a caution. Be curious to see if Montoya has anything at all this time around for Garcia, gotta assume they'll treat this and any other restart as their last one.

UPDATE: Ganassi got Montoya in front of Garcia with pit stops, lets see if it holds up; we haven't seen it hold up yet... except one time tonight.. when Garcia was in the car...

last post for now...

I am scheduled to record guitars in about 30 minutes. Last time I couldn't get internet access on my computer, so I may be done for the Blogathon.

We'll find out soon...


Word Verification Update: Geez, they're making this stuff REALLY tough to read now.

Are we set to go to the end?

Top 5 all changed drivers; I think Buddy Rice drank an entire Red Bull before that interview; man he's pumped up, and also keeps us going with great quotes like "I'm so retarded" and his awesome hat bills; man I hope he's got that seat at Pacific Rubicon Racing...

Looks like Pruett is plenty spent; much different than the other times we've seen him get out the car. Sounds like they just don't have anything for the #58. But Garcia is the one who put the #58 into the wall in the night; so #58 crew just has to hope they stay clean.

TRG settled for a 67 GT victory?

I guess we finally got our answer about TRG; under team orders now... so I guess disregard their quote from the middle of the night...

and if I said it before, I'll say it again, barring breakage or anything crazy Buddy Rice is ripping off some hot laps in that car, no one's going to be able to make that up without caution, and even with caution we've seen time and time and time and time and time and time again what happens after a few laps of green even after sneaky pit strategy.

And I guess that talk with Max there clears up some Rubicon rumors, Buddy's ride to lose.. he sure is putting on a show right now, clearly not a one trick pony, or beyond "the game."

UPDATE: and just like that all that "pointless" hard work pays off as Childress' #2 makes its way to 9th and will have 8th in short order. Again I know what Danica meant when she said the quote, but I'm sure now she gets it.

Mosley stuns Margarito



















Hey guess what? Last night these two guys, Mosley and Margarito, were punching each other a lot with their fists, which were covered with gloves. Mosley punched Margarito more often, harder, and/or better than Margarito punched Mosley. Because Mosley punched so well with his fists, he was given an award: that little girl. So if you ever want to have kids, just go punch someone a lot.

Big spray of fluid?

I got the race back on just in time to hear them say Buddy Rice left behind a big spray of fluid. Come on, man. You gotta be more specific than that!

Say it with me everyone

#58 Brumos Porsche with Buddy Rice to the lead

I simply cut and paste that sentence at this point, simply change the driver; clearly out-pitting them isn't working, but the many efforts are great to watch. If the #58 holds together, they've clearly got everyone on speed.

Did someone say oil leak?

That's it...

Why are we just now mentioning jetski man?

I mean come on, this dude is going for a world record; how about a distance update, what's the current record, how is he faring against it!?

UPDATE: I have to agree with the announcers; when's the last time we got this close to the finish with not only multiple cars, but 4 of them on the same lap and all within striking distance of each other.

Wakey, wakey! Sort of.

Good morning to all from Speedgeek Palisades! A big, big ups to the fellas here, Ron and Wedge both, for recapping all night. I somehow feel like I stayed up, too, but like I'm still strangely rested. Possibly like I've drunk 7-8 of Rusty and Steve Wallace's energy shots (no plug for them, if I'm not getting paid or receiving free product).

Much in the way of interest, as we head down the stretch (Jimmy Spencer bobbleheads appear on my screen as I type "head down the stretch"). First, Porsches rule, pace-wise. Well For the time being. The #58 Brumos Porsche DP appears to be leaking copious amounts of gear lube (as evidenced by about a pint of the stuff winding up on the pit camera lens as the car left the pits), though they claim that nothing is wrong. Meanwhile, the #59 car appears to be OK, even though it has been saddled with having to carry JC France around for a good portion of the event. Also, 6 of the 7 Ford-engined DPs in the field are out, every single one befallen by a loose PIP wheel whacking down all of the crank-related sensors. Oops. Meanwhile, the 7th Ford-engined car, the Suntrust #10, continues to run in 4th and on the lead lap. Will the pin fall out of their grenade, too? Scott Pruett continues to hold the #58 car at bay as I type this, but with as quick as the Porsches have been, is it a matter of time before he gets passed? Or is the #58 trying to ease up a bit to make it down to the last hour? Good questions, all (and not just because I asked them).

TRG Porsches run 1-2 in GT, both on the same lap and 6 laps ahead of the third placed GT car. Can they cruise to the win? I say yes.

Hope everybody's enjoying some nice brunch (or lunch, for those folks who have been up for more than 2-3 hours, aka, those people who aren't me) and settling in for the last three hours. Lots of racing to go, and plenty to watch for. Good times!

P.S. Forgot to mention Meesh, who also hung in for most of the evening as well. Nice work by you, too.

Who is telling the Truth?

Brumos says they don't have an oil leak, everyone else says they do; Ganassi claims they have a secret weapon in opening up the air at the end of the race, they also say they're gonna start pressuring Brumos, though they are 11 seconds behind... and SunTrust... well I don't think they even know what to say to even attempt lying...

While this new Penske work may not affect their chances of winning already down 11, , the #99 is only 3 laps behind and that's valuable points and #2 is 10 behind.

UPDATE: and there you have it, we just tied the record for most cautions, and at the same time we've also killed out any advantage Buddy Rice had built up over Ganassi...

Gruden has a right to be mad...











Tampa Bay did not have to wait so long to fire Gruden. So why did they? Is it possible they purposely waited so long to keep him from getting another job? I guess he could end up in KC. But it looks like he may be out for a year.

Personally I'd like to see him on FOX. That way when Caliendo does his stupid impersonations and tries to do Gruden, maybe John will punch him in the face.

That, John, would be taking one for the team. You'd have fans for life.

---

Word verification Balderdash: unkapsy (adj.) a tube or bottle whose cap has been left off

Man this Buddy Rice guy is no good

I mean shoot only a collection of the fastest laps run in this race, has lead multiple times... I know I wouldn't want him on my team if I had an IndyCar team and I was choosing between him and the wife of the Vice President of a Venezuelan oil company...

Seriously though, Rice is looking pretty sweet in this race, adding more and more time between himself and Pruett; I'm sure he'd be glad to add the 24 Hours of Daytona to his resume.

And despite as Danica said "motivation is hard when you're down 20 or so laps" Childress/Howard racing has worked their way back up to 10th place.


UPDATE: and the Spirit of Daytona is on fire! Seriously, that's not a euphemism for the coolness of the motorcross guys, I mean there are flames and smoke coming out of the car.

25 Hour diet

so assuming I make it to the end of this race I'll actually have been awake for somewhere near 29-30 hours straight... the diet for this kind of schedule is... well... not that much mostly due to my snack of choice; so here's what I've got:

-5 bottles of ICB Root Beer
-2-3 glasses of water
-Roast Beef sandwich (french dip with Au Jus)
-baked ruffles potato chips
-half of a homemade pepperoni pizza (when you have time, you have time to make pizza from scratch)
-an entire 1 pound bag of David Sunflower seeds
-2 glasses of milk
-a couple sticks of gum (over the course of the blogathon, not all at once)
-a banana
-2 sausage bisquits
-glass of Orange Juice

the sunflower seeds are perfect to hold you over for many hours in a row...

2nd to last driver changes underway

Buddy Rice climbs in the #58 Brumos Porsche, wonder how long he will go, we know for sure he can't go all the way, but surely he wants the fastest lap back from Dumas. Ganassi going with Pruett for now which means he won't be the closer like last year. I'll be curious to see who the 59 Brumos and SunTrust go with, clearly France is the 59's weak link while Angelelli is the strong link at SunTrust.

UPDATE: It looks like Buddy Rice was actually supposed to be the final driver in the 58 but Darren Law had a problem with his seat causing some serious discomfort when the G-forces from the turns got applied.

the first food post!











Next time we have a Blogathon, I will have more exciting food to report about. But I still think it's interesting to chronicle what we've consumed.

Again, my list will be boring. I didn't even have one beer, possibly due to my unplanned 7-hour nap. So I'm hoping Wedge will have something better to show us for this time.

Here's what I've had so far over the course of this Blogathon:

suffed bell pepper
apples
popcorn
Starburst
chicken (baked, not even hot wings)
carrots
celery
chocolate cake (the highlight!)
strawberries
biscuit with eggs and sausage
Coke
milk

Update later, hopefully.

Wedge? Anyone else??

The Beauty of Endurance

Here is a list of things you don't hear in any other race:

-Broken Axle
-Broken Driveshafts
-Hood flys off
-Tires exploding
-Replaced fuel cell
-Tires falling off
-Multiple wall collisions
-Broken fuel pumps
-Bad electronics
-Numerous gearoxes and entire back ends have been changed
-running while losing oil pressure, fuel pressure
-every engine, for one manufacturer, but one has failed
-1st and 2nd set of brakes have gone bad...

and yet we're describing some cars that still have a shot at winning!

World Baseball Classic coming soon...












Now that the tennis is over, I'd like to take a quick second to talk about baseball.

I'm getting pretty excited about the World Baseball Classic. Rosters are due on February 24th and games begin on March 5th. We'll talk more about this event (and a lot more about MLB) as those dates draw near. It'll be really exciting to see if Japan can repeat and America can fare any better. The 2-1 loss to Mexico was quite disappointing.

This blogathon has been fun and if the WBC plays games around the clock at some point, I'd like to propose another 24-hour post fest. I'd actually try to stay up this time, possibly having to enforce a "no SNL" rule on myself.

More info soon...

Blogathon note: word verification is back!

GT battle going strong 19 hours in 5 hours to go

Farnbacher/Loles & TRG GT battle is still strong 19 hours in and going... both teams have 5 each entered to help on some pick and rolls

UPDATE: and just like that the battle is over for the front-running Farnbacher/Loles with a Broken Axle!!

Djokovic yells a lot

After a lot of yelling, Djokovic pulled it out. But I must say, I'd rather someone do some more winning before yelling so much. Maybe he's trying to imitate others?




Djokovic so close now

He just needs 1 more game to put this match away, but Baghdatis wants to keep the marathon going...

Over in Daytona someone need to tell the Spirit of Daytona/AMA Supercross guys that they don't need to be in the dirt this weekend. Gives us another full course caution, 1 short of tying record, and also allowing SunTrust Ford to get back on lead lap, and should let 02 Ganassi get a lap back...


UPDATE: 3 and a half hours over their TV time the Australian Open is finally done for the day, as Djokovic is finally able to put Baghdatis away in the 4th set.

What is it in Australia now 1am, 2am, Wednesday???

I have to say though, those are some awesome fans in the stands, singing cheering so loud yet perfectly respectful of when to quiet down so the players can concentrate.

Daytona just gets more and more interesting, and to be honest what else would we expect. can't see a stand out in Overall/DP or GT with Farnbacher taking back the GT lead and DP switching ever few laps and pit stops, and still 5 hours to go...

UPDATE: its actually 3a.m. Monday, looks like the Australian Open is going for a marathon of their own... 24 hours of tennis???

tables turned?

Baghdatis just dominated that set. Hard to imagine the #3 player tiring out, but this is Midnight Madness. Anything can happen.

UPDATE: I'm not a tennis expert, but Djokovic really seems to be struggling. He's grunting a lot.

Getting crazy now

First Bagdatis wins the 3rd set's tiebreaker to continue Midnight Madness...

Now the 02 Ganassi nose/hood randomly goes flying off, if they weren't in contention before, they are definitely out of contention now... brings out the full course caution; meaning we are now 2 short of the record no one wants to break...

So we're down to a Lexus with previous breaking issues, a Porsche with possible overheating issues, another Porsche with a possible oil leak, and the "DOOMED" Ford.... who is your money on?

Baghdatis is fighting for his life...

Fishing fans are about to get their programming back.

UPDATE: He pulled it out. This would be amazing if he can win this now.

suggestions for improvement




This is my first time watching this race. It's pretty cool and all, but we can think of ways to improve it.

1. Make all drivers have GPS in their car. You cannot turn it off and you absolutely cannot pitch the annoying machine out of your window. Oh, and the GPS voice should be Samuel L. Jackson's.

2. Have McDonald's and various drive-thru restaurants available for the drivers. The temptation could cause interesting lead changes.

3. Keifer Sutherland drives a car. All 24 hours by himself. When he falls asleep, crashes, and dies, people will see it was all just a TV show after all.

4. Water puddles and oil spots. And banana peels. And give the drivers some turtle shells. And the ability to blow smoke out the back of their cars! Come on people.

5. Dollars for Dents!

How to Deal with Impending Doom?

At this point every other Ford has had an engine failure, and you've been told by the Ford representatives that you have the same parts they all had and its likely you won't be finishing the race...

SunTrust seems to have a handle on it though... said basically all they could "Just keep racing, what else could we possibly do?"


and for those wondering; we just learned from the future in Australia that tennis rackets bounce pretty well.

And Now Penske too

Romain Dumas had the lead and lost it to, none other than, #58 Brumos Porsche, but now he's got a much bigger problem as he missed the chicane, also didn't stop and the waiting line.. and it looks now like they will be taking the car behind the wall... A Penske car breaking is not a common thing for one to be able to witness...

Just showed a replay, sounds like the gearbox just broke as he was shifting on the oval portion...


Over in the future where it is Monday; I agree with Ron, these guys look pretty even since that 1st set. that tiebreaker falls Baghdatis' way last set and we'd be looking at a much different match...

doesn't seem like ...

Djocovich should have such a commanding lead. They seem almost evenly matched, but Djocovich's shots are falling more often. Guess that's why he's better.

Of course the announcers just told me he just wants it more. That's it!

Endurance comes to life with 6+ to go

In just the last 30 minutes we've really seen the "endurance" part of this race come to life; a lot of guys suddenly with a lot of problems... SunTrust and 02 Ganassi with brake issues, Fords breaking left and right, and Penske possible overheating problems...

Good news for Ron's prediction though as the 02 Ganassi got 1 of its 2 laps back on that caution.

Stop me if you've heard this before

The 58 Brumos Porsche makes its way back into the lead, still putting down many strong laps. Buddy Rice still having the fastest lap of the day in that car.

and now yet another Ford with yet another problem...only one Ford contender left...

Over in Australia its now Monday and Baghdatis is looking to make this thing 1-1...if he does, that means we need at least 2 more sets... this match is most likely going to 2am in Australia.

Midnight Madness? Really?

Let's make a deal right now. Just because a sporting event may be taking place at 12:00 AM, we do not HAVE to use the term Midnight Madness to describe it. There is no madness currently involved in this tennis match. Just two dudes trying to win.

If one guy does a backflip? Maybe. Backflips always equal madness.

Unless Baghdatis takes off his bandana and tries to strangle Joke-o-vich with it, let's calm down with the Madness talk.

Ganassi 02 out of contention!?

wow Franchitti in 3rd blows past the chicane and then also doesn't stop at the line to wait!? brake problems?

UPDATE: so they fix the brake problem and go a lap down but then have to serve their penalty for driving through the chicane and go another lap down... still plenty time to get that back though.

I am a racing expert...

Not really. I was going to make a prediction after I woke up today, but then realized only like six teams still have a good chance of winning. I am now pulling for the Chip Ganassi Team.

Interesting PR ahead

As everyone has suspected, 5 of the Ford's that are out are the result of a "similar" part failure from the same supplier. But that's about all their PR will tell, and probably all they will publicly tell. Chances this "supplier" is Ford?

JC France up front again

As a result of pit cycling, just like last time... lets see if he fares hopefully a little better this time around.

And now Baghdatis goes up 3-0... be amazing if he tured this set as fast as Djokovich got the first one on him

Coke is mean...

It's not 7:00 yet, but it's Blogathon and I'm drinking a Coke. I just bought these yesterday, and they are Tennessee Titans cans. I say pull these things off the shelf! I'm not a huge Titans fan, as I just moved here recently. But if I had to drink from a Cubs can a week after they got swept out of the playoffs, I'd hate Coke.

OK, seriously...

Someone make an executive decision right now. Is this dude's name "joke-a-vich" or "jock-o-vich." You can't just keep saying it both ways.

One thing's for sure: Jock/Joke-o-vich is going to kill Baghdatis.

Whatever Furious Ron says, bet the house on the opposite

He went 0-2 on the NFL playoff picks, and now he tells us he's rooting for Baghdatis in this match and Baghdatis quickly goes down 6-1 in the opening set.

Over in Daytona Ron has yet to make a prediction so keep your eyes peeled... though on the track Max Angelelli just got into the rear/side of th 59 Porsche spinning it out as they went for the same real estate of the turn...

And We Get our First on-screen pass of the day

Courtsey of Scott Dixon working his way inside the 58 Porsche only to be followed by both Brumos Porsche's coming in for stops...

you figure with such a small pit stall to work with they'd want to come in on different laps so they can come in and leave straight...?

interesting

They just said that Dokic was a former Top 5 player. Wonder what happened there?

Then they basically said not to expect Baghdatis to pull off the upset like Dokic did. Sick burn!

Guess who I'm rooting for! (We know how these things turn out... I am the kiss of death.)

you know for being Australian

she sure speaks with a Russian accent...


and now after waiting for the new 'longest match of the year' Baghdatis and Djocovich finally get to start their match at what is it now in Australia 11pm, later???

great moment in tennis history

Dokic is being interviewed and the entire crowd in going crazy because she's the first Aussie to get this far in 4 years. Then they cut to her trainer and he is texting on two phones at once! No wonder she's so good. Her trainer is a genius.

exciting match

LSU girl was just done. She knew she wasn't winning that one.

Dokic's ankle...

is going to hurt tomorrow. Full roll. She says it doesn't hurt while she's playing. We'll see what happens if she gets this upset...

Cool pics / New Record

and this is now officially the longest match of the Australian Open so far.. and its still not over, tied 6 games a piece in the 3rd set.

and for you race fans: TRG has got some new sweet pics from their last pit stop up for viewing: http://www.theracersgroup.com/media/photos/2009rolexpt3/

Upset a brewing in Australia

Unranked Aussie Dokic is working on her upset, just 1 set away from completion!


Over in Daytona we're still not looking at much, but we're about to get a whole cycle of driver changes so look for the aggression to build up as we start to work our way into morning.

I'm back

I don't know what the hell I'll be watching or posting about, but I'm awake.

Non-sports note: Saturday Night Live is better than sleeping pills, to me. Knocks me out every time.

A pass!!!!

Well we went back silent again for about 30 more minutes and then got a pass from Joao Barbosa past Memo Rojas... then we pit cycled currently giving us Timo Bernhard (Penske) in first for a total excitement meter rating of 1.

The one good thing we did get was over at the TRG picture-web-pit majigger was in the chat portion, we've been getting a slew of TRG drivers and crew members answering questions and we did get to find out Andy Lally is going to get another GT driver a talking to, about some pretty shitty driver etiquitte; he wouldn't say who, just that it was a GT driver who was many laps down.

In tennis however we're watching a pretty good back and forth match... which also unfortunately is holding up the Baghdatis match, and also proving much more that Tennis playes simply call for "challenges" whenever they get pissed off they didn't make the shot they wanted.

Jimmy Johnson on a mission

to take the GT's out of the top 10, he's worked the #99 past 2 GTs in the past few laps, there's only 3 more ahead of him.

Over at the Aussie Open we're heading to a 3rd set as the Aussie Dokic couldn't fulfill the upset in 2 sets.

Nothing doing here

I haven't posted in a bit, cause really nothing has been happening in quite a bit...We've had 2 passes in the past 50 minutes. Dixon passes Rice for 2nd, then we had a harmless spin bringing out a caution... 30 minutes later Rice passed Dixon back for 2nd, drivers getting sleepy and content?


ooo a 3rd Pass; Casey Mears in the Childress DP passes a GT; then he radio's in to his team "you know what guys, NASCAR is stupid, I should have been back in IndyCar all along, Indy here I come!!!"

ok, I made that last part up...

IndyCar front row?

well if we were at Indy, everywhere else it's 2 cars, but we are definitely looking at a Briscoe, Rice, Dixon front 3 at the moment & shockingly enough we now have the top 6 cars all on the lead lap and all within 8 seconds of each other.

After that the next DP is 8 laps back, and then we go on a flurry of GT's with 3 porsche's 18 laps back to complete out top 10.

UPDATE: Dixon gets around Rice for 2nd, had something to do with Rice's straight billed hat being much less aerodynamic...


As the sun sets on Sunday in Auystralia before it even rises here we're finishing up our match between Manly Australian Girl and LSU dressed girl.... right now, manly girl is ahead.

Rice tracking down the Inferno

Buddy Rice is trying to track down Ryan Briscoe in the Penske Porsche, but regardless, if everything holds out you gotta be happy if you're Porsche...

And with that said more problems for Ford as the Khron Racing DP has some problems and drops out the top 8, moving our highest 3 GT Porsches even higher in the overall..

and for those who are interested to see just how dominating Team Ireland is in A1GP this year; here are some updated standings: USA moves out of tie for sole possession of 9th.. woohoo? http://a1.gpgrid.com/2009/01/25/a1gp-standings-after-taupo-nzl-feature/

From wall back to contention just like that

It wasn't but a small time ago that the #58 Brumos Porsche went mistakenly from lead contention to wall contact.. well guess what, enter David Donahue and now Buddy Rice and we can now see the #58 is back on the lead lap and only a mere 4 seconds behind the leader.

At this point its still anyone's game, but has the 58 already gotten its issues out of the way. From timing you can clearly see they are putting out some of the fastest laps out there.

UPDATE: And to 3rd and now the #58 is up to 2nd place! man that thing is hauling ass right now; Rice and Donahue both doing great time in that car.

Race over, sweet we can call blogathon a done deal right?

man, you go out to get some ice cream come back and when you go to Grand Am's website to load up the timing and scoring on a new computer Grand Am's site tells you the race is over!?... Session Results!? really...

I mean come on, we've moved from stupidly motivated decisions to just downright stupidity here. I mean come on SPEED/Fox/Grand Am, this isn;t your first time holding a rodeo is it?

Halfway there!

Though technically we started this blogathon before the race started, we have hit the halfway point in the 24 Hours of Daytona. We're currently cycling through some pit-stops at the lead

but just before that 2 GTs broke into the top 10, looks like the Gainsco/Stallings DP won't be repeating its podium performance as they befell soe bad luck.. but in all; it looks like we're jusy 8 Daytona Prototype's away from a GT Overall win... likely, no; but its late and the lack of sleep is starting to set in...

So here are some other halfway point observations:

1) I think X-Games athletes try to take stupid looking pictures for their bio shots. Seriosuly I'm in marketing, and worked with talent managers for some artists... no photographer in their right mind would choose the photos these guys choose unless it were some kind of inside joke.

2) Either the rookie class of the NHL is a dominating force or the sophomore class of goalies stinks, but either way, we need more gigantic pipe organs with fireworks atop a giant hockey puck... ok maybe not ut in all seriousness, the festivities are great but I think the breakaway challene could use a little more shot for shot like slam dunk and a little less time limit.

3) Fox/SPEED has got to be run by the stupidest people on the face of this planet. Stopping anyone from showing a web-cam at the track that does not show on course action, because its considered a "live" shot is retarded... especially when SPEED themselves is showing BS like Unique Whips and paid advertising...

4) I'm starting to wonder if at what point Tom Berdytch realized he was no longer winning that match, like at what point did Federer say "ok I gave you your chance to beat me, but thats it, no more"

5) A1GP needs to take the pit stops out of Sprint and the rolling starts in, and needs to bring powerboost back to qualifying; they say they didn't like how it jumbled the fields, but honestly that is what was good about it; who wants to see Ireland dominate everything, they clearly have the upper hand on everyone right now, at least make them work for it one race each round...


and with that it looks like the Suntrust/Ford/Dallara with Pedro Lamy bhind the wheel has taken the lead with barely under a second over the IndyCar 02 Ganassi with Alex Lloyd behind that wheel... and I seem to recall the McDonalds near our house having a sign claiming it to be open 24 hours... And I think 3:30am is no better time to test them on their offer... so I'll be out for a bit but should arrive back one McFlurry happier

Alas!

I was waiting to see Federer actually put the matchpoint away before posting, but Berdych wasn't making it easy, but alas, Roger worked all the way through that match, taking a lot longer than I'm sure anyone imagined...

Speaking of Rogers, the Penske car just made its was the the lead of the 24Hours of Daytona, just 30 minutes short of the halfway point. AND While we have 2 Pontiac's scratching clawing hoping to find their way past the 4 Porsche's up front its more noteworthy to mention that the top GT (Farnbacher Porsche) is just 1 spot out of the Overall Top 10, of course still 19 laps down to our new Overall leader...

A sign of things to come

Penske's new full time Porsche for Grand-Am with Romain Dumas behind the wheel is reeling in and mowing down the Ganassi cars; lead soon?

And speaking of reeling in; Federer has fought his way to a 2-2 sets tie; and the same time Andy Roddick has just clinched himself a spot in the final 8, elite 8, whatever they call it in tennis...

Time for another Good Idea, Bad Idea

I miss that sketch on what was it? Anamaniacs? Well anywho... Ganassi seems to have the idea to triple stint his drivers, and while the drivers were doing fine in 1st and 2nd respectively it seems to have backfired at this point while the Suntrust Dallara got a fresh Max Angelelli in their car and he quickly overtook maybe a tired Franchitti for the lead, and Dario losing more ground to Angelelli, now over 3 seconds back, maybe they should get Lloyd in that car sooner than later?

ad on top of that, you have to assume Dario and Montoya are both getting close to their time limits? and if so why not use the caution to make the driver change?

In Aussie open land however, it looks like Tom Berdych may have lost his chance at history as Federer is working his way to a comeback, just a few points away from tying this thing at 2 sets a piece... however these guys look like they've gone to the Andy Reid school of "challenging" as I think both players have gone 0% on all their in/out challenges.

Endurance....

Well firstly Federer is going to need some if he plans on winning this match, hes barely ahead 5-4 in the 3rd set...

but moreso We just had a pretty lengthy caution as Chapman Ducote slammed into the wall shedding alot of debris in Daytona; but the endurance part??? Dario Franchitti and Jaun Montoya are still in their cars, not switching on the caution... Are they also going to push the limit on their max time allowed?

UPDATE: Federer was able to take the 3rd set... he just needs 2 more.

France takes down NASCAR, ISC and now Brumos Porsche

man... get JC France (yes that same France family) out of that Brumos Porsche, he's lost yet another position and ruining all that work Joao Barbosa did... and yes that does mean we now have Ganassi, Ganassi, Penske...

In the Aussie, I think we could be witnessing the biggest upset of the year... and last year... Federer is in real touble and may possibly go down in straight sets. I really never thought we'd see that until maybe 10 years from now.

Great quotes, historic match?

SO Shane Lewis just got out of his teams car and is live chatting and gives us a great quote for the night: "As far as the drivers go 80% are doing a great job, 15% are completely lost, and the other 5% are the AMA guys that keep trying to jump the bus stop instead of driving through it."

At the same time I have to ask....are we about to watch Roger Federer, the Worlds #2 Tennis player go down in straight sets?

What's up with Federer

Federer is now down in a tie-breaker for the 2nd set... when's the last time, if ever in Federer's professional career he was down 2 sets to none???

In Daytona Dario has pulled about a 14 second lead away from the Brumos Porsche now; at the same time Juan Montoya has pulled to within a second of the Porsche (this after the 01 was down from behind the wall work)... should Montoya get by France do I dare think they go to Lock Step!?

Fun with pictures

I have to say watching the 66 pit just now in still pictures was kind of cool; almost strobe-light-ish-y

In other notes; Federer looks like he's about to start a mission to correct how this match started.

UPDATE: Franchitti takes the lead from Brumos putting Ganassi back on top, and with the 01 gaining their lap back earlier they are now up to 3rd

and Is Darren Manning done in ICS & not trying for the SFR road courses? SPEED chat just tells us Manning to run in Grand Am when Kyle Petty can't

fun with pit-cycling

Time for more pit-cycling and Scott Dixon is in the lead, for now... Raphael Matos is back on track in the #55 and considering the blown tire incident earlier, 7th place only 2 laps down is a great position for them to be in.

and just as I type that Dixon comes in and gives the car over to Dario Franchitti and then we get a full course caution... not exactly sure why just yet

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Fun with legalities

TRG is doing what they can to give fns any kind of resemblance of race coverage since SPEED chat has even now relegated their chat to a photography discussion, bt giving us a refreshable picture from their pit-cam... as far as I know that's not live coverage.

On Federer watch though, he's just lost his first set of the tournament!

Burr Ditch??

Danica and Max Papis on track IndyCar fans! In a real shocker Roger Federer is down 1-4 in the first set against some dude named Berdych??

in Daytona, Barbosa has turned that 1 second lead into just under 3 seconds now, Dixon is most likely losing time trying to figure out how to pronounce Joao Barbosa

Federer now on court

ok So I'll pose the question no one knows... why doesn't tennis simply score games 1, 2, 3 win???

and at Daytona, I can tell you The Racers Group is a team anyone can like, from their own chat:

"67 crew just radioed that they need to chase down Spencer. This is The Racer's Group, not The Team Orders Group!"

Patrick Long in the seat of the 67 now; Brumos Porsche still retains its very slim, less than a second, lead over Scott Dixon in the 02 Lexus

New GT leader; Williamses..es dominating

TRG Porsche takes the GT lead passing Dominik Farnbacher's Porsche, Still 11 laps behind Overall now #59 Brumos Porsche with Joao Barbosa in the cockpit.


over in Australia, we're currently being treated to watching the Williams sisters dominate their opponents in Women's Doubles about to finish up the second set currently ahead 5-1


UPDATE: #87 Farnbacher Porches breaks an axle... putting the endurance, in endurance racing


UPDATE 11:28, 65 TRG Porsche just went behind the wall "electrical problems"

Channel of death?

We're now watching snowboarders go through the "super channel of death" yes... Sal Masakela actually just said that... I sometimes wonder if anyone even watches the X-Games broadcasts in retrospect and thinks:

"you know.... maybe we shouldn't just make things up on national TV?"


and in Daytona, the #58 went back onto the track, in 10th lost 3 laps, but the car is in good enough shape to continue.

#58 Brumos into the wall!!!

Holy cow, full course caution; the 58 Brumos Porsche that had been up front all day is in the wall!!! not positive but word is that it may have been a cut tire that caused it, which makes sense as it (Antonio Garcia driving) had just randomly lost 3 positions.


Looks like a lot of teams are taking this caution time to make driver changes, expect a lot of shake up.


Aussie Update: Safina completes her comeback to win the final set 7-5

#87 fixes a Crankshaft???

Track announcer just said the #87 Farnbacher Loles Porches was in the pits to replace a crankshaft??? I'm no Grand-Am specialist, but I'm pretty sure he meant driveshaft...

Either way they are only down 22 laps now, thats pretty good for a driveshaft change.

And at the Aussie Open, Safina fought her way back from about 4 matchpoints and is now ahead of a game that would put her up 6-5

Sooo glad Fox didn't get IndyCar

at one time fans clamored hoping Fox might have some interest in IndyCar, and I'm telling you now, they may actually be stupider than ESPN. They (through SPEED) killed live coverage of a race event to go to pre-taped coverage of a race that no one wants to see only to follow it with syndicated and paid programming, which basicly means there is nothing they were actually obligated to show.

On top of it they've been ona mission to cut down everything they possibly could that will give fans information on the race trying to force everuone to their non-informative retarded live-chat, when all fans really give a crap about is the race action....

That said: AIM Autosport took the lead after Penske pitted and we continued all the way through our pit cycle to find ourselve back with Scott Dixon in the lead in the 02 Ganassi, with only 5 or so cars on the lead lap now.

In Australia however we're watching the #3Ranked Women's tennis player, Russian Dinara Safina about to blow a 1 set lead as she is now behind 3-2 in the 3rd set to 15th ranked French Alize Cornet and a Federer match about to get underway

And we're checkered in Taupo!

Jani holds off Ireland even while losing oil in the final laps; Some great pitting gets Portugal to 3rd, and Doornbos and Andretti make up about 1 position on the restart due to all their powerboost, Marco regains 8th which is still good enough for points and I think China put on a clinic for pitting while Lebanon and Monaco did the same for spinning... all in all, and ok race, needed a little more action.

and we have nothing but timing for Daytona now as SPEED has blocked every avenue for fans of the race to get information on it, no pit-cam for TRG, no streaming pictures from any of the other teams that were doing it... nope we're now going to be relegated to just some text updates...

the one bit of good news though is that we're just about to start live coverage of the Australian Open, hopefully sans chair fights today...

12 laps to go in A1GP

Team Monaco off course in Taupo, but not far enough; our first caution will certainly make this ending interesting as we now get all bunched up and everyone who's been saving PowerBoost (Doornbos, Andretti, Guimaraes) should have a chance to make use of that now, especially on a restart..

In Daytona we're only looking at 9 cars on the leader's lap, as we're really starting to see the "endurance" in endurance race take its toll as many teams are making extensive pit stops or just breaking altogether, be it tires, clutches and the like as we go off of SPEED, potentially the worst part of the blogathon, we go to internet only for race coverage.

UPDATE: And Marco does make use of it getting past Italy and now setting eyes, once again, on India's Karthikeyan

What's Hot, What's Not

I put on the Speed Channel. I like that track.

Blogger's "captcha" word verification thing sucks.

Interesting Strategy

Team China decides to take the jack with them as they leave the pits....

Up front though Switzerland/Neel Jani, Ireland/Adam Carroll, Portugal/Filipe Albuquerque, all within eyesight of each other

in an interesting blogathon development: blogger is suspicious of how many posts we've thrown down in such little time and is now requiring us to fill out an eye chart of text for each post...

Defense

LSU's offense got a little colder this half. But the main problem I see is their defense down low. They're going to have to improve. But at times tonight they've shown signs of playing good defense and they're definitely hustling more than they did under Brady.

5 minutes left...

green again in Daytona

Ryan Dalziel down a few laps is giving Dixon quite the headache stopping him from challenging Buddy Rice for the lead in Daytona

we're jumping the pipe in Aspen

and we're going through an interesting pit cycle in Taupo, Switzerland misses its first chance, Portugal stays out till late as usual, and without having pitted yet, Marco still does not catch Ireland who has already pitted.