Good News for Milwaukee Mile, Bad News for the Gold Coast, Neutral for Daytona & FYI: NASCAR Invented the Wheel

I'd like to thank Jeff Iannucci at My Name Is IRL for bringing the following article to my attention via twitter. That my friends is why I remind you to follow us all via twitter.

This looks like the best development to the Milwaukee Mile situation in the past year. In short it looks as though the Wisconsin State Fair, tired of Milwaukee Mile Holdings asking for a contract renegotiation and tired of their sucky Brewers; have decided to take matters into their own hands.

Members of the the state Fair look to have started their own LLC group that will take over racing events and promotions for the Mile, and they are making this switch as immediately as they can. The most important things to note form this is the motivation and positive outlook:

"The board felt the time had arrived to take decisive action to ensure there is racing at The Mile this summer."
&
"Napier said Thursday that he was very close to a new agreement with the fair that will keep racing going at the historic racetrack. Napier added that this year's slate of races at the track, including IndyCar and NASCAR, will be held as scheduled. Napier said he was also working to add more events at the track."

Sounds like their goal #1 is to continue racing at this historic track; kudos all around to them!

---

In a smaller bit of news, a lot of people are buzzing about an article in which Daytona International Speedway representatives said that with finally repaving their track it would be smooth enough for IndyCar to race there. I'm not going to say much about, cause really, there isn't much to say. Barber Motorsports Park has also said they would like to have IndyCar and many other tracks as well. The repaving is years away, and I'm sure even more testing would still have to be done before they get to that track so we're likely talking at least 3+ years away if that. Keep in mind the large changes as Las Vegas were cited as a reason ICS didn't jump right back there this year. If they do go to Daytona I'd be just as happy as the next guy, but don't confuse this as any kind of movement towards ICS racing there; be hopeful but don't expect.

---

In A1GP and ICS kind-of related news it sounds as though the non-compromise decision between the Gold Coast of Australia and the IndyCar Series is not working out so well for either side. For IndyCar they are now looking at 4 off-weeks in their final 6 weeks of their season. While losing Australia on those 4 open weeks isn't as much IndyCars fault, the lack of a plan B is. (New Hampshire, Las Vegas or Barber anyone?)

For the Gold Coast however; it looks as though their confidence in their traditional date, the V8 Supercars and the new A1GP series may have been a little bit overconfidence as the Gold Coast news is reporting that most all of the sponsors of their annual racing event are pulling out.

Honda would expected to pull out as they were tied directly to IndyCar, but I don't imagine the Queensland organizers expected Coca-Cola, Nikon, BP and a few more to pull out. Now obviously they are still hopeful of finding new sponsors, and they've taken the "Indy" part out of their race weekend, but that is changing 19 years of history in a name, doable sure, easy, no. One has to wonder if that is affecting it somewhat. One also has to wonder if the Gold Coast would be willing to change their date should things with A1GP not go so well; but that is still 9 months away so lets not jump the gun and instead be hopeful this event works out for all the Gold Coast, A1GP and ICS in the long run.

---

Now before you even have time to process the above NASCAR may or may not be credited with inventing the cotton gin and discovering antibiotics... For those who care about credibility in today's news, you most likely don't ever trust anything the idiots at Fox News ever say. But for those who might think Fox News is perfectly fine, I recommend you watch Outfoxed, but better yet turn your attention to the latest ball-faced lie they've published; and yet the 100th or so repeat of the ongoing B.S. that NASCAR cares to invent or develop anything in regards to revolutionary.

Now to Fox's credit, they technically didn't employ the writer for the article: "NASCAR Technology Makes Passenger Cars Safer" but they did publish it; and you think anyone who claims to be "Fair, Balanced" would be at least smart enough to make sure the "facts" in an article were actually true. I'm not going to quote the whole article but all you really need to know is the following sentence couldn't be further from the truth:

"The NASCAR R&D Center developed the Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) barrier to dissipate the energy of a crash away from the car and driver. "

I'm not a huge NASCAR fan, but I do enjoy the racing from time to time, I'm certainly not a NASCAR basher... that said: It is one thing to publish the wildly stupid opinions and theories NASCAR's president has... It is a whole other realm to discredit the very hard work of the scientists, researchers, and real funders of the invention and development of the SAFER barrier. NASCAR's announcers have done this time and again, and now Fox News joins in. The article also decides to list paddle shifting sequential gearboxes; a technology that NASCAR has never even attempted...

I guess my only response at this point is my face in my palm shaking my head. If you feel this way to, feel free to email fox news or the author's email at the bottom of the article and let them know they are idiots.