House Of Penske Dominates Race Two And First Oval Of The 2022 Season

 

Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden nips teammate and NTT P1 Pole Award winner Scott McLaughlin at the Start/Finish Line by 0.0669 after 277 Laps on a last corner pass in the XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway. Image Credit: Penske Entertainment - Chris Owens (2022)

House Of Penske Dominates Race Two And First Oval Of The 2022 Season

It's early in the season where we have had the season-opener on the street course in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Florida and this weekend's high-speed banked oval at Texas Motor Speedway near Ft, Worth, Texas.

To those who have been paying attention to the opening races in North American professional motorsports at the highest levels, Team Penske has been on quite a roll. If one were to add machinery and drivers who were formally directly associated with Team Penske, the start of the 2022 season for the "House Of Penske" is quite astounding.

To review, the first race of the IMSA DPi season - the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona - was won by an ACURA that was first introduced to this class of sportscar racing and sold to Meyer Shank Racing driven by two past driving members of Team Penske, Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud.

The first non-points paying race of the NASCAR Cup Series season - BUSCH Light Clash at the Coliseum - was won by Team Penske's Joey Logano. Further, the first points paying race of the 2022 season - the Daytona 500 - was won on the 85th birthday of his car owner, Roger Penske, by 23-year-old NASCAR Cup Series rookie Austin Cindric. Cindric beat Bubba Wallace to the finish line by .036 seconds in overtime to win Sunday’s 64th running of the Daytona 500.

The first race of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Season - Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - was won by Team Penske second year driver, New Zealander Scott McLaughlin who won his first race for this INDYCAR team.

Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden celebrates by pulling the triggers on the six shooter pistols, one in each hand, in victory lane after winning the NTT IndyCar Series XPEL 375 race at Texas Motor Speedway. Said Newgarden, of the win performed on the last corner before the Start/Finish Line, "I just went for it. He [teammate Scott McLaughlin] didn't do anything wrong, up on traffic, getting loose. I was a little stronger than him at the end for sure. It would be unwise, it actually shows his wisdom. It would have been very unwise for him to take a flyer and go high side without knowing what's going to happen. He won the first race, leading the championship. That would have been silly for him to do that decision. For me it was a risk but I think it was somewhat calculated. I saw people going up there toward the beginning and middle of the race. I took a calculated risk and it worked out."  Image Credit: Penske Entertainment - Chris Owens (2022)

The second race of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season - XPEL 375 - was expected to be very hotly contested, and this race did not disappoint. 

Much of the early buzz surrounded the fact that NASCAR standout veteran and second year driver for Chip Ganassi Racing Jimmie Johnson was finally going to be in his element. During his NASCAR career, Johnson won seven of his thirty-five starts in each 500 mile race performed at Texas Motor Speedway. This race was only going to be a contested length of 248 circuits/375 miles - only 3/4ths of the length of a NASCAR event.

J.R. Hildebrand had just signed on with A.J. Foyt Racing (AJFR) to be the oval race specialist in the car normally driven by Rookie driver, Colombian Tatiana Calderón. He competed in 11 straight INDY 500 races and was brought on to lend some valuable experience in coaching two rookie drivers (the other Rookie being Indy Lights Champion , Floridian Kyle Kirkwood) and assist with second year AJFR driver, Canadian Dalton Kellett, as well as run all of the ovals on the 2022 schedule.

A 27 car count field had fans excited about the prospect of this race. In recent years, having 19, 20 , 21, or 22 cars seemed about the norm for most INDYCAR competitors taking to the track - not being a race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the INDY 500. This has been growing through the refinements and maturity of the DW12 racing platform and aero-dynamics, with this racing season becoming the most robust car count racing seasons in years.

RESULTS >>>

This excerpted and edited from Racer - 

PRUETT: IndyCar had empty stands at Texas - Here’s why it's worth the investment

By: Marshall Pruett - March 20, 2022 10:53pm ET

The best thing to come from Sunday’s IndyCar race is the fact that, after a fun race with more passing than we’ve seen in years, IndyCar has something to fight for at Texas Motor Speedway.

If the XPEL 375 turned out to be another single-lane stinker where we were stuck with 248 laps of follow-the-leader, I’d be singing the old country song, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over…they say that all good things must end” and rooting for IndyCar to uproot its act from Dallas/Fort Worth and find another oval worthy of its affection.

Thankfully, the constant action near the front, the rising and falling drivers everywhere else and the thriller of a finish — one teammate ripping the heart out of another — made a big and positive impression that wasn’t entirely expected. If only there were more people in the grandstands to have seen Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, Marcus Ericsson, Jimmie Johnson, Santino Ferrucci and the rest of the 27 crazies put on a heck of a show.

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The extra 150 pounds of downforce IndyCar added to its Texas aero specifications and the revised Firestone tires helped drivers to charge harder into and out of the corners, and while the second lane never materialized as anything other than an infrequent option, the competition was fierce. The series has some valuable takeaways to consider; Newgarden thought the extra session run late on Saturday to try and bring the second lane to life served a purpose.

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A highly skilled IndyCar promoter who was in attendance thought the tiny crowd was likely a result of making a big mistake on setting the start time around 11:30 a.m. Most churches don’t let out before noon in the Bible Belt — and if it’s a good sermon it might be 12:30 or 1:00 p.m. before the doors are opened. IndyCar and TMS might have asked a lot of fans to choose between the Good Word and good racing. If that’s true, the grandstands provided the answer on who won that divine contest.

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What I do know is: After the race IndyCar produced, Texas needs to stay on the schedule. But not if it looks like they forgot to open the gates to the damn event. 

As I’ve probably written 50 times in recent years, IndyCar cannot afford to go to venues where it looks small and unimportant, and that’s exactly what we had on Sunday.

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IndyCar needs to intervene and bring its marketing and promotions capabilities to bear. Penske Entertainment is treating its co-promotion of the upcoming Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend at Iowa like it’s the most important race the world will ever know.

From all the sponsors it has signed to the big music acts Hy-Vee has brought in, it’s clear that when Penske Entertainment wants to go on the attack to make sure people buy tickets to an event it’s in charge of, it will work itself to the point of exhaustion. Unlike Iowa, IndyCar’s annual visit to TMS isn’t a track rental where its promotional efforts are directly tied to making a profit. But maybe it should be treated that way.

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IndyCar drivers and teams risk too much over those 248 laps to play in front of an empty house. They deserve better and so do the faithful who circle this event on the calendar every year and pray for a good race.

Now that they’ve got one that’s worth saving, it’s time for IndyCar to stop pinning its hopes on TMS to deliver a massive crowd and do its part by attacking the problem and getting people in those seats themselves.

[Reference Here]

With the level of success the House Of Penske has had at the many racing series and tracks in North America this year, maybe it is time to flex some of their "other" muscles found at the House Of Penske's Penske Entertainment.

Team Penske driver, who's second in the Championship points, Will Power gives a congratulatory hug to Team Penske teammate Josef Newgarden on his last turn pass and win in the XPEL 375. Newgarden moves up to P4 in the season points behind Chip Ganassi Racing driver and 2021 season Champion Alex Palou. Image Credit: Penske Entertainment - Chris Owens (2022)

Driver Season Championship Points Here >>>

In summation after looking at the post race 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Season driver points chart - impressions:

Pretty eye-opening given that some drivers are doing better than imagined.

Top of the order in points is House Of Penske with Scott McLaughlin @ P1 and Will Power @ P2 (trailing by only 28 points) - the "down-under" twins - both male and both qualify and win a lot. Josef Newgarden for his part @ P4 (32 points behind), notched his 21st career IndyCar victory. Team Penske earned its 600th win across all racing programs.

INDY 500 winner during his first year driving in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES has always coveted being a season champion, but has come up short, started this season with an intent that this was going to be the championship breakout year. After only two races in a 17 race season, he finds himself stuck at the starting line. Image Credit: Penske Entertainment - Chris Owens (2022)

Colton Herta is highest points for Andretti Autosport at P7 - Andretti Autosport's Alexander Rossi has only beaten out two extreme Rookies ... so that makes him literally LAST in points.

Jimmie Johnson finished in sixth place in the XPEL 375 for his best IndyCar finish to date. Johnson is racing the full IndyCar schedule for the first time in 2022 after joining the circuit part-time last year. On the year, Jimmie is a surprising P11 ahead of Rahal at P12 and O'Ward at P13.

 

Pre-Race meeting between one-race fill-in driver Santino Ferrucci and second year driver for Chip Ganassi Racing Jimmie Johnson who was able to register more laps of racing at Texas Motor Speedway than any driver in the field due to his seven championship winning NASCAR Cup Series seasons over 18 full-time year career. Image Credit: Penske Entertainment - Chris Owens (2022)

Santino Ferrucci with a one-race fill-in for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Jack Harvey, who had an accident during the final practice and due to ACCELEROMETER PROTOCOL was not allowed to take to the track and race, finished the race as the biggest mover - Santino went from dead last @ P27 to P9 in the No. 45 RLL Honda. Due to this performance, Ferrucci has more points @ P20 in the season points stack rankings after two races than ... Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter, Kyle Kirkwood, Jack Harvey, and oval specialist J.R. Hildebrand (who should be the one with the most points of those mentioned before him - yet still has more points than Rossi).

Really a fun 11.7% completion snapshot of an early season before ACURA Grand Prix Of Long Beach set to run as Race 03 on April 8-10, 2022.

... notes from The EDJE

FEATURED ARTICLE >>> 

TAGS: Texas Motor Speedway, INDYCAR, House Of Penske, IMSA, NASCAR, Car Counts, XPEL 375, The EDJE

From Beginning To End, BUSCH Light Clash At The Coliseum A GoGo Logano Show

Penske Racing's Joey Logano, driving the new Next Gen No. 22 Ford Mustang racing platform, accepts the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum trophy for his win in this unique "one-of" promotional non-points paying race to kick-off the 2022 season on February 6th, 2022. Image Credit: Ralph Garcia (2022)

From Beginning To End, BUSCH Light Clash At The Coliseum A GoGo Logano Show

It is as if Joey, and Team Penske, were going to own this very special and unique opportunity to showcase both NASCAR and the introduction of the 7th specification racing platform developed for the racing sectioning body termed "Next Gen" from the time the racing team transporters were scheduled to load-in to the trophy presentation at the Peristyle End of the iconic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The Pennzoil/Shell logo'd Team Penske transporter kicked the event off in grand style by being the absolute last rig to arrive and signaling to all just who was in town and that the party could now begin with the scheduled 5:00pm Transporter staging process. 

The staging area was one parking lot on the South side of the Banc Of California Stadium (just East of the NASCAR staging and pits), designed for professional soccer competitions during this sport's annual competitive seasons. Mixed in with all of the NASCAR team semi-truck transporters was a group of transporters used to be the equipment travelling squad for concerts headlined by two southern California bands, Glendale's System Of A Down and KORN, having formed in Bakersfield. 

Once all of the team rigs were set, then the pit preparation began and this potential delay would have set all of the teams back in their BUSCH Light Clash At The Coliseum preparations.

The Transporters were placed side-by-side in the Southeast open parking lot that parallels Martin Luther King Blvd., the teams set their pit operations directly out of the back tail lift gate continuing straight out as the pit crews worked elbow to elbow next to each other.

  

The life of a winning race car driver has many demands placed on their time. It is rare that during an event/race weekend that the curiosity and the joy of discovery is able to have precedence over sponsor receptions and other business gatherings to keep engines running. Joey ... had other ideas. He just wanted to see custom builds that featured very powerful engines.

The Coliseum, besides going through very incredible and professional transformation into a first rate 1/4 mile asphalt racing track ... but the transformation did not end there. Nobody would have guessed this, but on Friday (Feb. 4, 2022), the whole venue became a production set and studio for the promotion of several related products and upcoming events.

Lightning McQueen begins to stretch it out along the back straight-away after leaving Turn 2 at the peristyle end, complete with the Olympic Flame Torch, during his time on the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum "one-of" oval race track during a promotional photo shoot for Mattel's Hot Wheels. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2022)

If this were not real life, one might think this posed image of Disney Pixar's Lightning McQueen was actually a computer-generated painted cell from an upcoming presentation of Cars. McQueen is posing not too far from where famed Olympic track athlete, Carl Lewis won four of his nine Olympic gold medals during the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.  Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2022)

NBC Sports was able, with the permission of NASCAR racing series co-broadcasting partner FOX Sports, to film a special Super Bowl advertisement having four of the new Next Gen cars enter the floor of the Coliseum. 

The cars and drivers featured for this advert shoot were No. 9 Chase Elliott - Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | No. 12 Ryan Blaney - Team Penske Ford | No. 23 Bubba Wallace - 23XI Racing Toyota | No. 48 Alex Bowman - Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. 

The shoot had these cars line up behind a pick-up truck painted with a special livery using Cincinnati Bengals black and orange colors featuring a Bengals football helmet graphic on the outside-track right-hand door, and a Los Angeles Rams helmet graphic on the inside-track left-hand door (still surrounded with the Bengals colors livery where the LA Rams used to call home field). 

The pick-up truck led the four cars on a pace lap, then turned them loose for a few laps of exhibition - the very first time the sound of these 670hp NASCAR engines filled the LA Coliseum with the vibrations bouncing off of the empty stadium seats. Everyone at the Coliseum at the time, felt the same as the NBC Producer (assumed) exclaimed, after hopping over the infield wall near the Start/Finish Line, at the end of this shoot, "That was awesome!" which could also be heard bouncing off of the empty stadium seats - pretty cool moment.

  

Finished NBC Promotion >>>

Saturday was a day of testing the new Next Gen platform of this unique racing track and surface (which is scheduled to be torn up and removed the very next week). 

UPDATE - Just One Week Later Feb, 12, 2022 >>>

Before the seriousness of the day, however, where the Next Gen race cars take to the track in a more serious posture - testing and timing - Joey "GoGo" Logano had a very important date for a photo opportunity to promote his last year liveried Generation 6 Hot Wheels car while standing in front of Lightning McQueen placed in a Cars backdrop set in the fan appreciation area, on the grass, just outside of the Peristyle End of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Caption on this captured META/FB posting: Joey Logano - February 5 at 2:53 PM  · "GoGo Logano and Lightning McQueen photo op at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum" - Shell Motorsport - Pennzoil - Team Penske - Disney Pixar

On Saturday (Feb. 5th, 2022), after a series of practice sessions, a timing trial on an each-by-each basis will be run in order to establish the groupings of the Qualifications Heat format race sessions to be run on Sunday before the main heat event of 150 Laps - with a break at 75 Laps to allow for team assessments, adjustment for a final 75 Lap run to a Checkered Flag.

To be clear, Joey didn't capture every important point-of-order in an event that was compressed on the playing surface (some have said that this was like taking a size 14 foot and trying to fit it into a size 6 shoe) but intentionally set to grab the attention of the unindoctrinated through hosting this 43 year annual Daytona based showcase, non-points paying, team and equipment shake-down, tradition known as The Clash at one of the most important media and communications centers in the world, one-week before the 56th NFL Super Bowl - BUSCH Light Clash At The Coliseum in Los Angeles.

Image Source Credit: Jay Wells via Racing Junk (2015)

This excerpted and edited from Racing Junk -

When NASCAR secured CBS Television as a strategic broadcasting partner in 1979, the agreement included the inaugural Busch Clash which featured the largest purse per mile event in the history of the sport. The winner of the race would take home $50,000 for 50 miles (or 20 laps) of racing.

The clash was the brainchild of Busch Beer brand manager, Monty Roberts, who pronounced Busch the “Official Beer of NASCAR” in 1979 and sponsored car owner Junior Johnson and driver, Cale Yarborough.  Roberts wanted to showcase the competitive aspects of stock car racing, with the Busch brand front and center.

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The race took just over 15 minutes to complete and Buddy Baker averaged a rocket-like 194.384 mph in the caution-free event, banking a cool $50,000 to the Harry Ranier-owned team out of Charlotte, N.C.

ENDS - (reference here)

So, when this first started, it was thought that, wouldn't it be fun and promotional to hold a race featuring just the drivers and teams that won pole positions during the previous 1978 season. We will schedule a 50 mile (basically a 20 Lap sprint on the banked curves of the 2,5 mile Daytona International Raceway) challenge with a $50,000 purse for the winner at the beginning of the season before the Daytona 500.

The fastest single lap that set the mark during the shake-down practice sessions run as the very first time all teams and drivers could take to this temporary racing surface transforming the football field during the previous month so this 1/4 mile oval motorsports racing event could take place - Chase Elliott 13.455 seconds (66.890 mph) in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Phone image grabbed from FS2 broadcast of the initial practice sessions. Image Credit Edmund Jenks (2022)

This beat out the time set later, under cooler conditions, in the each-by each time trials headed by Kyle Busch in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Busch turned a lap in 13.745 seconds (65.489 mph) on Saturday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to pace single-car qualifying for Sunday’s Busch Light Clash At The Coliseum. 

The fastest time set throughout the entire event was set by Joey Logano, posted within the 150 Lap race, at 13.336 seconds (67.487 mph) ... Ka-Chow!

Joey Logano as he enters this promotional 150 Lap Next Gen chariot heat race from the Coliseum's famed Peristyle End under the Olympic Flame torch. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2022)

Joey Logano has also set the distinction with this win that all two major racing events sanctioned by operations owned by NASCAR - IMSA Sportscar Championship's Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and the NASCAR Cup Series Championship's BUSCH Light Clash At The Coliseum - were won by owners and teams influenced and/or staffed by competitors of INDYCAR Series - a Roger Penske headed enterprise. 

GoGo Logano performs a back straight-away burn-out in front of his team assembled in the infield of this "one-of" quarter mile race track on the floor of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to celebrate his win over Kyle Busch in the BUSCH Light Clash At The Coliseum. Image Credit: KK Garcia (2022)

IMSA Sportscar Championship's Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona held just the weekend before, GREEN GREEN GREEN on January 29th, 2022, was won by Meyer Shank Racing (the INDYCAR racing team that won last year's INDY500 - Helio Castroneves' 4th title) fielding an Acura originally fielded for competition by Team Penske (2017) and driven by two drivers originally associated with Team Penske - INDY 500 Champions Helio Castroneves (4-titles) and Simon Pagenaud (one title and INDYCAR 2016 Series Champion).

The Team Penske influence owned this NASCAR experiment in attention and introduction to the Next Gen, 7th generation NASCAR racing platform. From the late "The Party Doesn't Start Till We Arrive" horn honk entry into the load-in for staging and pits, to race end combined with Ford visit at Jay Leno's Garage and Mattel's Hot Wheels public relations events along the way - this edition of the BUSCH Clash was a GoGo Logano show all the way. 

Additional Event Images From NASCAR >>>

... notes from The EDJE

FEATURED ARTICLE >>>

UPDATE >>>

See Restored Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Floor HERE

TAGS: NASCAR, BUSCH Light, The Clash, Los Angeles, Memorial Coliseum, one-of, Shell Motorsport, Pennzoil, Team Penske, Disney Pixar, Lightning McQueen, Jay Leno, Joey Logano, The EDJE

Busch Light Clash At The Coliseum Groundbreaking Ceremony

Shovels full of fill & aggregate base material officially begin the transformation of the floor of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to a quarter mile paved short track that will pay host to Next Gen NASCAR stock cars boasting 670 HP. Pictured with shovels from left to right: Dave Allen - Auto Club Speedway, Kevin Daly - Coliseum Assistant General Manager, Ben Kennedy - NASCAR Sr. VP of Strategy and Innovation, and Michael Waltrip - Analyst for FOX Sports and 2-time Daytona 500 winner.   Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2021)

Busch Light Clash At The Coliseum Groundbreaking Ceremony

As construction begins on the quarter-mile, asphalt track for the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum, NASCAR and Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum executives, racing event staff from Auto Club Speedway, and FOX Sports personality/2-time Daytona 500 Winner Michael Waltrip conducted a groundbreaking ceremony and were available for one-on-one interviews. 

For the first time since 1956, when NASCAR held a race in Chicago’s Soldier Field, the famed stock car racing organization will kick off its season not only inside a major city stadium, but with a short quarter-mile track. It will also be historic for the cacophonous debut of NASCAR’s seventh generation cup cars: The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Toyota TRD Camry and Ford Mustang. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2021)

The thought came up in the annals of NASCAR, why don't we hold the introduction of the future racing platform in an attention-getting and iconic environment and do this while capturing the essence of first races on a short track where most drivers begin to learn their craft - racing!?!?!

This thought came to life in September and the Gods of motor culture, living in Los Angeles, did not allow any real blockages in the path of these great NASCAR visionaries and creative planners.  

To Anheuser-Busch executives who run the sponsorship side of the business this back-to-back big weekend visibility on a national basis, managed out of the West Coast, is all in a big brewers portfolio. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2021)

The folks at Budweiser, the Busch Light title sponsor of the Clash, were more than happy at the open dates of February 5th & 6th 2022 since this did not conflict with their other large sponsoring duties set to be shown in activities surrounding the NFL's final game of the 2021 season - Super Bowl LVI, SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, CA on Sunday, February 13, 2022.  

Auto Club Speedway's Dave Allen is looking forward to "hosting" two races in the same month, in the same geographical basin, with the same racing series. Dave shares his thoughts in this Social Media VIDEO done live while standing on the new dirt of the floor inside the LA Coliseum. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2021) 

NASCAR and Los Angeles City also began to recognize that the best folks to aid in managing the elements of a stockcar racing event - the timing, the crowds, the legalities - just might be the management of the Auto Club Speedway. It happens that after 3 races in Daytona, including the Daytona 500, the 4th season championship points paying race on February 27th, 2022 is planned to be held at Auto Club Speedway that is 2.0 miles in a very large "D" shape.  

Why of course they can handle a non-points paying race on a very small quarter-mile (micro) "D" shaped 2% banked track on the floor of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

This beginning layer protects the surface that was perfectly laid down for sporting contests on turf back in 2018 when the Coliseum went through a modernization upgrade with event suites and media facilities. Click HERE to see the NASCAR transformation in their first commercial advertising the Busch Light Clash. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2021)

Busch Light Clash By The Numbers

130,000 Sq. Ft. of plywood and visqueen field protection

9,200 Cubic Yards of packed fill & aggregate base material

3,840 Ft. temporary track walls

6,900 Sq. Yds. asphalt track & apron paving

6,800 Sq. Yds. asphalt infield paving

1,400 Ft. track catch fencing

1,400 Ft. safer barrier perimeter 

Modification To Tunnel Entry

ENDS

META/FB Photo Gallery Credit: Edmund Jenks (2021) >>>

Without any clear description (in ads or website descriptions), one is left to assume that given the formats of the qualifications heat races and the length of the Busch Light Clash race overall plus the note of "Modification To Tunnel Entry" the pits for preparing/repairing cars for racing are outside of the stadium.

Michael Waltrip gets interviewed by KCBS2/KCAL9's Jim Hill. Michael was very impressed at the plans for this track and the use of the new Next Gen racing platforms. Said Michael “If this event goes well, you could see pop-up racetracks in a lot of big cities around America and NASCAR being the center of the stage.”   Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2021)

This day's ceremony on December 21, 2021 took place exactly 100 years to the date after the venue's original groundbreaking and further follows two Summer Olympics (1932 and 1984 ... and scheduled again in 2028), two Super Bowls, a World Series, University of Southern California Trojan home football games, Los Angeles Rams, Oakland Raiders, Los Angeles Dodgers, Billy Graham Crusade (record 134,254 attendance), a motocross event that utilized the steps of the Peristyle end covered with dirt while the floor was transformed into whoops or moguls, Stadium SUPER Trucks 2013 Round #3 LA Coliseum SST On NBC with similar modifications to the floor and Peristyle end, concerts by the Stones, U2, the Who, Springsteen and numerous other headliners and JFK’s acceptance speech at the 1960 Democratic National Convention.

NASCAR Images >>>

This race track is seriously becoming a reality. Image Credit: NASCAR via YouTube Commercial

Welcome NASCAR's Busch Light Clash to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, featuring the new seventh generation racing chassis and engine, which marks the first time the preseason Clash will be held outside of Daytona International Speedway since its inception in 1979. Again, it will give the sport its first competitive look at the Next Gen car on February 5 & 6 in a non-points event, embellished through a pre-race concert by Pit Bull. 

NASCAR Cup Series Clash exhibition race broadcast coverage GREEN Flag drops Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the L.A. Coliseum >>> Schedule HERE.

... notes from The EDJE

FEATURED ARTICLE >>>

TAGS: NASCAR, Busch Light Clash, Auto Club Speedway, Michael Waltrip, USC, Next Gen, 670 HP, The EDJE

Decisions Made, Digital Games Played

Sage Karam leads Felix Rosenqvist (complete with the 2020 season introduction of the Aeroscreen safety platform addition) and the rest of the field through the esses during the American Red Cross Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International, the first event of the planned 6-Race INDYCAR iRacing Challenge. Image Credit: Chris Graythen (Getty Images) via NTT IndyCar Series

Decisions Made, Digital Games Played

The Wuhan Virus | Chinese Virus | Coronavirus | COVID-19 pandemic has had its impact on just about everything in life, and living activity worldwide. In an effort to reduce the speed of the spread of this potential life-ending illness through human contact, it was determined that a policy of social distancing and human interaction through shelter-at-home "lockdown" requests all around, was the first best policy at protecting life of those who has not become infected.

Sports car racing team Marco Polo Motorsports got the 2020 GT4 America season off to a strong start last weekend at Circuit of the Americas in Austin Texas. The No. 71 KTM X-BOW secured podium finishes in both races with drivers Nicolai Elghanayan and Mads Siljehaug, putting them fourth in the GT4 America Silver Cup class championship standings. Due to pending homologation for the 2020 KTM X-BOW, the team reverted to running the 2019 KTM race car against a highly competitive field of sports cars. Image Credit: SRO GT4 America (2020)

What motorsports enthusiasts across the globe missed due to the timing of the advancement of this invisible scourge was the beginning of every professionally sanctioned season start to the 2020 championships - F1, WEC, NTT IndyCar (under its new stewardship as a Roger Penske led enterprise), NASCAR, and so on. About the only professional series race held, without the planned WEC participation, was the SRO Motorsports GT World Challenge America, GT4 America Sprint, SprintX, and TC America held at Circuit Of The Americas (COTA) the weekend of March 7-8, 2020.

This social distancing and human interaction through shelter-at-home "lockdown" requests wasn't going to end activity, especially since all had to place their motor culture based competitive passions on hold throughout the winter off-season. Fans and participants alike were not going to be held back from their desires to compete and watch competition by professionals each in their own disciplines.

Enter ... the virtual life.

iRacing NASCAR race screenshot as displayed by The Vrege

This excerpted and edited from The Verge -

PRO DRIVERS ARE COMPETING WITH GAMERS AFTER F1 AND NASCAR CANCELED RACES
Virtual replacement races are drawing stars — and tons of eyeballs
By By Sean O'Kane@sokane1 Mar 22, 2020, 7:00am EDT

For many, the cancellation of major sporting events was the moment that made the coronavirus pandemic feel real for the first time. But while fans of baseball, basketball, soccer are left wondering when they’ll see players back in action, racing fans don’t have to wait — because many of their favorite drivers are already competing in online sim racing competitions that were spun up in the days since the first real world races were canceled.

The first few of these substitute sim races, held last weekend, were successful in ways that surprised even the organizers. Now, many of the people who put them on have spent the intervening week trying to figure out how to use that momentum to fill the gap left by real world racing, as fans around the world hole up at home in a collective attempt to slow the spread of a global virus.
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The success of these first few replacement races was a testament to how far sim racing has come during the rise of esports (and the era of Twitch), but it also sheds light on a truth that a lot of motorsports fans have become familiar with: that a new age of competitive, virtual motorsports is already upon us.
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Within minutes of those [season opening] races being canceled, people like TJ Majors started making phone calls and sending text messages.

Majors is the “spotter” for the #22 NASCAR team, meaning every Sunday during the season, he’s standing on the roof of the grandstands letting the driver know (via radio) what cars are around him, when it’s safe to change lanes, things like that. It’s no surprise, then, that he helped spin up a virtual replacement for the canceled Atlanta race. After all, it’s literally his job to be looking out for other people.
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Majors called up iRacing’s executive vice president to get the green light. He started contacting NASCAR personalities, too, like Dale Earnhardt Jr. (who retired last year after suffering multiple concussions), rising star driver William Byron, and Chad Knaus, who was the crew chief for each of Jimmie Johnson’s seven championships.

Majors also called James Pike of Podium eSports, which puts on broadcast-quality productions of sim races. “I got the call from TJ on Friday afternoon, and he told us about the idea that they had put together,” Pike said in a phone call with The Verge. “He asked if we were interested in broadcasting the race, and I said, ‘are you kidding me? Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and all of those other drivers are going to be running in our race? Where do i sign?’”
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“One of the funniest moments was [when fellow spotter Kevin Hamlin] calling me asking for a name of the race,” Majors said. He kept thinking about the movie The Replacements, so he suggested that, with a small tweak: “The Replacements 100,” a nod to the number of laps they would run.
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One reason for the [virtual racing's] popularity, NASCAR driver Parker Kligerman said, is the similarity of the skillsets. “It’s the only esport that connects in such a parallel with the real world,” he explained. “The reason you see so many real-world drivers doing this all the time is it’s not only fun, but it literally in many ways can feel like I’m doing something that could be helping me as a real driver.”
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Even Majors, who watches over a driver going 200 miles an hour every weekend, agrees to an extent. “Real racing requires an enormous amount of skill and bravery,” he said. “Sim racing is still incredibly difficult.”
[Reference Here]

As to anyone who might be skeptical as to the entertainment value to the fan who might be stuck at the issue of "skin-in-the-game" and the full team with pit stops experience, this will take just a bit of transposition - no matter how difficult SIM racing might actually be.

Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi, and Kyle Kirkwood go three-wide during the American Red Cross Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International, the first event of the INDYCAR iRacing Challenge. Image Credit: Chris Graythen (Getty Images) via NTT IndyCar Series

This excerpted and edited from Racer -

PRUETT: The eRevolution has to be televised

The numbers can’t be ignored. NASCAR, FOX Sports 1, and iRacing combined to generate a 0.53 Nielsen rating on Sunday, which equated to 903,000 viewers, by choosing to air stock car racing’s first live Esports event on cable television this year.

Even better, 297,000 of those who tuned in for the eNASCAR Pro Invitational iRacing Series skewed towards a younger demographic, with the coveted 18-49 range making up nearly one-third of the viewers. That’s roughly the size of the crowd that packs into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indy 500 each May, which is hailed as the largest single-day sporting event in the world.

One analyst reckons the broadcast was the most watched Esports event of all-time across North American airwaves, and that alone should have IndyCar, IMSA, Formula 1, and every other major series clamoring to have their upcoming Esports races featured on TV.

IMSA held its Sebring SuperSaturday iRacing event last weekend across its YouTube and Twitch channels, which combined to draw an average of 10,000 viewers or so through live streaming, and IndyCar is set to use the same online delivery outlets for its upcoming race on Saturday. Even with a significant spike over IMSA’s streaming numbers, IndyCar’s audience size will pale in comparison to NASCAR’s wildly successful e-visit to FS1.

The TV component has become a must-have item, and with most sports networks struggling to produce new content, the NBC/NBCSNs and ABC/ESPNs should have the ability to clear the decks and accommodate their various racing series.

And before we hammer IMSA and IndyCar for aiming low and offering nothing other than YouTube and Twitch, there are a few nuances to consider here.

Every racing series has prioritized finding new and younger fans, and venturing into gaming has been among the core strategies employed by most sanctioning bodies.
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But life in a coronavirus world is far from normal, and by sticking to the let’s-get-younger-by-streaming-with-Esports playbook, a massive amount of older fans get orphaned in the process. It makes the dual delivery methods chosen by NASCAR and FS1, with cable and streaming options presented to fans of every age, especially smart.
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With everything else in our lives seeming to change on an hourly basis, giving folks an eNASCAR race, on the day and time the series’ fans carve out to watch from their living room, was a welcome respite from an uncomfortable reality.
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As series and their teams search for ways to give sponsors value while the pause button has been pressed on live racing events, the 903,000/293,000 numbers from FS1 are guaranteed to spur action from the IndyCars and IMSAs.

Some digital artists who develop liveries for various teams have reported an increase in business since last weekend as everyone from professional drivers to auto manufacturers have commissioned iRacing liveries that replicate their real cars.
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“There’s the potential for something big here, that can last,” said IndyCar driver Conor Daly, whose passion for all forms of Esports is well-known. “I was watching the eNASCAR race on FOX, but I was also watching one of the driver’s Twitch feed because it was more of a personalized thing. The TV option was great, and they clearly advertised it enough, and the drivers tweeted it out, and people knew to tune in. And it worked.
[Reference Here]

American Red Cross Grand Prix 

Race 1 - INDYCAR iRace Challenge At Watkins Glen - RACE VIDEO

The NTT INDYCAR Series effort was received very well by fans (IndyCar reports 600,000+ online) and driver participants alike. Nothing will ever replace real racing on real track, but the iRACE display over YouTube was very acceptable visually as well as on-track feel in competition.

This excerpted and edited post race comments from the inaugural INDYCAR iRace Challenge effort titled the American Red Cross Grand Prix and run on the virtual Watkins Glen International -

Most informative comment was made by Will Power:
Obviously we all want to get back in the real car, get back testing and all that, but in the meantime this is what we've got, and it's kind of amazing that you can get a bunch of drivers all in different places racing a race in cars that look exactly the same and doing about the same lap times, so it just shows you what technology -- how far technology has come in the last 20 years.

Second most interesting comment was contributed by Felix Rosenqvist:
I mean, my other one was only a steering wheel attached to the desk, so it was very -- like the most simple rig you can have, so I've made a big upgrade this winter because the off-season is so long.

I started to get bored, and I was thinking, what do I need to do to keep up with my driving, and I bought a really good setup here in the U.S., and yeah, it kind of came in handy. I got that in January, so I'm pretty happy I did all that, and I got some practice done the last couple of weeks. So yeah, it's good fun. It's a good way to get into the sport, as well, for young kids.

I really want to stress the point that you don't need a really expensive sim to be competitive. You know, there's plenty of guys out there iRacing who they finish top three in really, really tough races and they only have basically what I had before, just a steering wheel on a desk.

INDYCAR iRacing Challenge News Conference
Saturday March 28, 2020 - Press Conference
Sage Karam - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Felix Rosenqvist - Chip Ganassi Racing
Will Power - Team Penske

LEIGH DIFFEY: Hi, folks. Hope you've enjoyed the inaugural iRacing INDYCAR Challenge, the American Red Cross Grand Prix of Watkins Glen. I think sort of the first one out, it was very enjoyable, and I think that we can call it a success. And we need to congratulate the top three in the race, starting with the race winner from Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Sage Karam.

Sage, you're no newcomer to this form of racing. I think it was something like your 144th iRacing road course win, so congratulations. Nice way to come out and start 2020 that way. By the way, if you didn't know, there's going to be a donation made to the American Red Cross in your name, and you're also going to get a ring and a custom trophy from Jostens, so a couple of extra bonuses there for you on a job really well done today.

You had a victory of just over three and a half seconds, and from pole to Victory Lane you looked pretty much in control the whole way. Was that the case?

SAGE KARAM: I'd like to say yeah, but no, it wasn't totally in control the whole way. Had a few moments for sure, especially late in the race, had a lapper spin right in front of me and nearly lost it all there. But no, it was good. I was really worried about qualifying because Will was basically doing qual sims for the past week like every day all day, and I thought he was going to be hard to beat for pole. I didn't really have a perfect lap. It was a pretty good one, but when I saw his first lap, I thought, I think he's going to be able to get me here.

But I don't know if he like went off on his second or whatever, but --

WILL POWER: Yeah, I did.

SAGE KARAM: I wasn't too confident, and then when I just knew I had it, I was like, all right, this is going to make life a little bit easier hopefully. But it seemed like Felix found some speed today where he was able to run really, really good race pace. I was really banking on my race pace to be my strong suit, and when I saw Felix was not going anywhere and not falling back, I was getting kind of worried. I was hoping I could get a little bit of a gap and kind of cruise, but I basically had to push basically the whole race.

Yeah, it was cool to get Wix up front and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and it means a lot to those guys, and during this time where we can't really do much, it's great to be able to get the sponsors out and the teams out and be able to give the fans and the media something to cover and watch and have some fun.

LEIGH DIFFEY: It was a lot of fun for myself and Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy. Because you've been involved with iRacing for so long, what was your big picture view of it? Typically you would be racing fans, other racers, members of the public. Now you're in here against your INDYCAR peers. How was it in your view and in your mind?

SAGE KARAM: Yeah, no, it was a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to the rest of them. It's kind of cool, you've got like a complete mixed bag. You've got guys who literally just signed up for iRacing this week, and then you've got guys that have been there forever, since like 2007, like me. You know, it's pretty cool to see and try and help out everybody and get them fully up to speed, and I think it was really awesome to see the amount of time and prep that every driver put into it.

It was almost every single day, all hours of the day for the past week of drivers just in the rooms, doing laps. Even though some guys were new to it, nobody wanted to be that guy that just was out there just cruising around. We're all competitors. We all want to do our best. We all want to win, and it was really impressive to see everybody grab it by the horns and get after it. Big hats off to INDYCAR, big hats off to the drivers, all the teams, everybody who made it happen. It was a really cool event, and I really hope the fans enjoyed it.

Felix Rosenqvist sails up the hill toward Turn 3 during the American Red Cross Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International, the first event of the INDYCAR iRacing Challenge. The cars are sporting the new Aeroscreen and full sponsorship badging making all to feel a bit more serious - great track graphics from iRace. Image Credit: Chris Graythen (Getty Images) via NTT IndyCar Series

LEIGH DIFFEY: Congratulations on the win. To second place now from Chip Ganassi Racing, Felix Rosenqvist. You had a very kind of parallel race and similar race to the one that Sage had and you got pretty close to him there towards the end. Did you ever think you may have had something for him?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think by just based on pure pace, I didn't really have what it took. I think we did similar lap times, but whenever I got closer, it seemed like Sage was able to react and go a bit faster. So I was kind of hoping for the lapping part to be my advantage, but there were some cars flying and stuff, and every time I thought Sage was collected, he seemed to get through all of them.

In these races you can never really -- you have to do all the laps until the finish because you never know when -- it's very easy to make a mistake on your own or to get together with someone. It's pretty hard to race closely.

But yeah, I think I was also really impressed with the effort that everyone put in and how well it came together. I actually had a look at the TV just to see how it looked, and the cars look amazing and the track and everything almost looks like real. It was cool to see my NTT Data car there, as well. Yeah, in these times it was nice to do something for the fans and for ourselves. We're competitors, and we don't want to sit around all the time just waiting, so yeah, good fun.

LEIGH DIFFEY: Just listening to a couple of things you said there, was there a few times it was a bit wild? Was it a bit of a wild ride?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I mean, my race was pretty smooth. I think Sage had more -- he had more things going on when he lapped other cars, but he never lost any time, so yeah, it was hard to make any advantage doing that. My race was -- I never really had any battle with anyone, just the lapped cars, but I just blew my Push-to-Pass trying to get around people quick, and I think Sage kind of did the same thing.

Will was behind us, so his gap was also kind of static, so he had some quick laps, as well, so he was pretty fast, and I don't know what happened in the beginning, but he had like a 10-second gap to us already from the beginning, so hopefully next time he can get into the fight a bit more, as well.

LEIGH DIFFEY: There will be more questions coming from fellow members of the media here shortly. To third place, Will Power, Team Penske. You've got this ridiculous top-5 finishing percentage on iRacing. I think it's almost nearly half the races you've run you've finished in the top 5 on iRacing road courses. You continued that streak today. How was your race?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it was pretty good. I didn't know that I actually had that many top 5s in iRacing. Every time I do it, I always bloody crash out. But yeah, it was fun. I kind of was really cautious on the first lap and lost a couple positions, and then got stuck behind a couple people and Felix and Sage were able to check out, and once I cleared those guys through a pit stop sequence, it got a little longer. The gap kind of just maintained. They'd catch traffic, I'd close a little and then I'd get that traffic and it would open up again. Yeah, just tried to focus on not making mistakes, and yeah, it was enjoyable.

It was actually not very eventful for me. I kind of kept out of trouble and didn't have cars really spinning in front of me or anything. It was a pretty straightforward race. It would have been nice to have a restart or something close up with those guys, but that may have been bad for everyone watching because maybe the top four would have taken each other out, who knows.

LEIGH DIFFEY: I can't let you go without asking about this: What is this (pointing to mustache)? Is that just boredom?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it is. It's a 30-day lockdown regardless, so by the time the 30 days is up this thing is going to be gone. I might keep it, man. Nigel Mansell has never been the same since he shaved his mustache. All the great things he did with a mustache, he looked tougher; he shaved it off, it just looks weird. So maybe this is to stay.

Continued Press Conference Questions & Answers 

At Motorsports Journal Podcast Above

Or at iHeart Radio >>>

Needless to say, for most motor racing fans, this is a brave new world without the actual sound and feel of engines. That said, when one is watching real drivers who we have witnessed doing their magic on the track with actual skin-in-the-game, this digital game, oddly, has a place.

Just to keep a level of fan interest and sponsorship up during the off season, a virtual race a couple of times a month with the actual drivers who raced the previous season, as well as drivers who have been advancing up the ranks in advancing feeder series, could put on a scheduled display with post race interviews performed by the on-season broadcast professionals, which can serve for the training and enjoyment to all who participate - fan and driver alike.

The second of six events will be held Saturday, April 4, on the Barber Motorsports Park permanent road course. The event will be held at 4 p.m. ET and streamed through INDYCAR.com while INDYCAR's YouTube and Facebook platforms as well as iRacing's Twitch will serve as additional outlets for viewing.

Future events will be held weekly each Saturday through May 2 at the following sites: a "Driver's Choice" track (April 11), "Random Draw" track (April 18), Circuit of The Americas (April 25) and a non-INDYCAR "Dream" track (May 2).

... notes from The EDJE


Keep Calm | Wash Hands & Wear Gloves | Bump Elbows Or Shoes


TAGS: Coronavirus, IndyCar, iRacing, Esports, IMSA, IndyCar, Formula 1, NASCAR, American Red Cross, Grand Prix, INDYCAR iRacing Challenge, The EDJE