Fans, Anarchy, VERSUS TV ... FANARCHY! 'Nuff Said!

Fanarcy on VERSUS is a place where fans take over the message ... the message that's in THEIR head, and share it with you (Ctrl-Click photo to launch video). Image Credit: VERSUS TV

Fans, Anarchy, VERSUS TV ... FANARCHY! 'Nuff Said!

Ever wish, when you were watching a program of sports (any sports competition) on television, that when you started shouting at the screen when the action in the program was going dreadfully wrong, it could be shared with other like minded, opinionated nuts just like yourself?

It would have been great this last weekend, for example, to vent when EJ Viso bumped with Robert Doornbos and Ryan Hunter-Reay and all three cars had to retire to the pits (Doornbos was able to return and gain a point in his rookie of the year quest) from the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer, and ask - Hey, EJ, why can't YOU finish a race?, and - Why did you have to damage the chances of the field of five (that's right, only five in Iowa) Transition Players entered in this race (so much for the merger - Viso, Doornbos, Moraes, Wilson, and Rahal - only Rahal was running at the end, five laps off of the pace at 11th position)? - See?

Well there is a program of sports psychosis on VERSUS TV (check cable or satellite for listing and will air regularly on Tuesday nights at 10:30 p.m. ET, beginning June 16) headed up by Zach Selwyn named FANARCHY. Selwyn is uniquely qualified to host this program because he beat out a potential crowd of over 20,000 in his effort to appear on the first season of the ESPN's reality show Dream Job. Selwyn debuted on the show in its second episode back on February 29, 2004. He went on to finish third - Tony Kornheiser later apologized for not picking Selwyn to actually be on his popular show "Pardon the Interruption" and admitted he had made a mistake leaving him at third place.

Charles Barkley says that high school basketball players should have to spend two years in college before being drafted. Do the fans agree? Find out on FANARCY, Tuesdays at 10:30ET on VERSUS.

FANARCHY is a show by the fans for the fans, bringing the robust online world of sports banter to life on television. Each FANARCHY episode will feature seven very opinionated sports fans appearing on-air via their personal webcams (in a kind of a Brady Bunch face-box grid layout). From on-the-field and off-the-field athlete/star antics and bogus referee calls to what they, the fans, would’ve done if they were the athlete, coach or owner. FANARCHY guests will be giving their unvarnished take on anything and everything from the outrageous and controversial to what might be currently happening in sports in a frenzied back-and-forth style.

Think of it as kind'a a Best Damn Sports Show ... without all the basketball, comedy, and professional announcer drive-by stars and guest hosting ... after all, FANARCHY features you, the fan, and that can't be all bad, can it? OK, OK, OK, we will at least have Zach Selwyn to bail us all out ... with a song, maybe. Did you know he was also an accomplished band leader and musician?

Now is the time for Zach to bump us out with a tune! Queue the band ... fade to black.

... notes from The EDJE

The L.A. Auto Show – Porsche Cayman S Unveiled

Porsche presents the second generation of the mid-engine Cayman S sports car for the first time at the L.A. Auto Show. The new model features the new flat-six boxer engine, which provide more power and greater fuel efficiency than the predecessor. The vehicle also features the Porsche-PDK, the new double-clutch gearbox. Available video includes driving footage as well as exterior and interior shots of the Cayman S series Porsche.

... notes from The EDJE

For T-Teams, Rookie Of The Year Slips A Notch In Iowa

These "boots" are made for winning, and that is what they did - Brit, Dan Weldon wins the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer at Iowa Speedway on direction from Chip Ganassi team's strategist, Barry Wanser. Happy 30th birthday Dan. Image credit: Andy Sallee (2008)

For T-Teams, Rookie Of The Year Slips A Notch In Iowa

A good and competitive race was held near the corn fields and flooding of Iowa. The race was won through pit stop timing and fuel strategy. Dan Weldon in the Target Chip Ganassi Dallara took the checkered flag on the day he turned 30 in front of an appreciative crowd looking for an escape from the acts of God tumult this region of the United States has suffered from in recent weeks.

Andretti Green's Hideki Mutoh as he enters the pits at Iowa Speedway. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2008)

After 8 of 18 races, Andretti Green Racing’s Hideki Mutoh begins to lock down rookie of the year honors in the IndyCar Series championship by holding on to second place next to his teammate in third, son of the owner of the Andretti Green Racing team, Marco Andretti. To a fan of the former ChampCar, this is a very disappointing trend. The rookies are almost all drivers who drive for teams that made their calling card carrying on for a racing series that raced on a different type and configuration of race track every weekend.

Transistion team driver Will Power of KV Racing Technology, finishes the highest position of the "Elite Eight" that qualified for the race. Here, he sits in the cockpit, control wheel on the deck, getting ready to get plugged in and go. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2008)

This was the fifth straight oval race in six weeks for the unified IRL drivers and, to be honest, the races are beginning to blend together. Cars try to run three (and maybe four) wide, tires in the open wheel cars almost touch (and sometimes do causing wrecks), suspension parts fail due to stresses of overloading the technology on tight lefthand corners sending cars into the outside wall, and at the end, the race will be won by one of three teams that have all the parts, back-up equipment, and teammates that will, hopefully, protect and keep them out of trouble.

Next week is the track at Richmond, Virginia … which is just a slightly shorter version of this track here in Iowa … but with a little less banking, will see more of the same. The twist for Richmond (just like they did in Texas) is that the race will be run at night in the glow of specialized lighting.

Unless the former ChampCar teams get an equalizing road course soon, and have five in a row to make things a little more even, this unification thing may begin to turn fans away, after all, there is still trouble getting all of the cars with sponsorship. Outside of the tradition a few oval tracks hold, the races play out pretty much the same no matter where one goes. There is not enough variation to really hold a rabid fans interest through the course of a whole season if every race has as its hallmark, higher banks, or shorter track, or the race will be held at night, or … this used to be a cornfield but now its an oval racetrack!

Helmet art of Dan Weldon. Depicts a knight slaying the competition ... as he did today on his 30th birthday at the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer at Iowa Speedway. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2008)

More about the “Corn Fed 250” (Iowa Corn Indy 250) excerpted and edited from Autosport.com –

Wheldon uses pit gamble to win Iowa
By Jeff Olson and Matt Beer Sunday, June 22nd 2008, 19:14 GMT

Dan Wheldon gambled on stretching his final fuel load for 90 laps and took an unlikely victory for Ganassi at Iowa Speedway, ahead of Andretti Green's Hideki Mutoh and Marco Andretti.

The Ganassi cars had not been a factor in the lead battle for most of the race, but the decision to leave Wheldon on track as most of the leaders pitted under a late yellow allowed the Briton to vault to the head of the field.

He then had to conserve fuel to make it to the finish - running 90 laps rather than the usual 75 on his last stint - but two further cautions in the closing stages allowed Wheldon and fellow fuel gamblers Mutoh and Danica Patrick to stretch their fuel mileage to the end.
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Wheldon was running back in the pack when he and strategist Barry Wanser chose to keep the car out on the track while the leaders came to the pits on the 187th lap.

It appeared at the time as if Wheldon wouldn't be able to make it to the finish, but he received two huge assists - a yellow flag when Mario Moraes brushed the wall on a restart on the 197th lap and another when Tony Kanaan spun and hit the wall on the 211th lap.
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Wheldon donated his winnings to relief programmes for victims of flooding in Iowa. Coupled with Scott Dixon's $15,000 for finishing fifth, Ganassi's drivers donated a total of $50,000 to disaster relief efforts.
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Andretti was the highest finisher amongst those who made the extra pitstop, having jumped past Patrick and Dixon in a single move at the final restart before hunting down Wheldon and Mutoh.

He was unable to get around his rookie teammate, though, and had to settle for third, as Mutoh successfully managed to fend off Andretti while also trying to keep the pressure on Wheldon.

"I almost got by Wheldon at the end, but I didn't have the speed to overtake him," Mutoh said. This is the highest finish by a Japanese driver (in the IndyCar Series), so it's good news for Japan and for myself, too."
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Despite these incidents, the race was a far cry from last year's crash-filled and processional inaugural Iowa event.
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This time, the race featured six cautions for 57 laps, but 17 of the 24 starters were running at the end. The other significant yellow came when Ed Carpenter spun in Turn 2 on the 39th lap, then blamed Patrick for his accident.

"Danica did her normal supreme block job," Carpenter said. "She is the new Scott Sharp of the series, as far as I'm concerned. That is two races in a row. I'm over her."
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KV Racing's Will Power and Newman/Haas/Lanigan's Graham Rahal completed the top ten.

John Andretti showed encouraging pace for the small Roth Racing team to run as high as seventh, while Justin Wilson (Newman/Haas/Lanigan) also occupied that position in the middle of the race, before both lost ground in the last stint.
Reference Here>>

How did the surviving eight drivers (of ten registered to compete) from teams that have transitioned from the CCWS?

POS./Qual./Car# - Driver - Hometown - Car - Name - Entrant

9/11/8 - Will Power - Toowoomba, Australia - Aussie Vineyards-Team Australia - KV Racing Technology

10/16/06 - Graham Rahal - Columbus, Ohio - Hole in the Wall Camps - Newman Haas Lanigan Racing

12/20/02 - Justin Wilson - Sheffield, England - McDonald's - Newman Haas Lanigan Racing

13/13/33 - EJ Viso - Caracas, Venezuela - PDVSA - HVM Racing

16/10/5 - Oriol Servia - Pals, Spain - KV Racing Technology - KV Racing Technology

17/17/36 - Enrique Bernoldi - Curitiba, Brazil - Sangari - Conquest Racing

19/24/19 - Mario Moraes - Sao Paulo, Brazil - Sonny's Bar-B-Q - Dale Coyne Racing

20/21/34 - Jaime Camara - Goiania, Brazil – Sangari - Conquest Racing

Bruno Junqueira of Dale Coyne Racing and Mario Moraes’s teammate hopes to have his damaged car ready for Richmond. No word at the time of this post if Pacific Coast Racing’s Mario Dominguez will make the show in Virginia.

If I were in the business of speculating, I’d say the chances are better than 50/50 that PCM may wait until Watkins Glen to rejoin the frey for the balance of the 2008 season, the week after the short oval at Richmond.

... notes from The EDJE

Z06 E85 Vette, Emmo - 2008 Indy 500 Pace Car Combo

2008 Indianapolis 500 Chevrolet Corvette Pace Cars - The convertable will pace the race from the start of the race until lap 100. The hardtop will pace the race from lap 101 until the end (presumed lap 200). Image Credit: automotoportal.com

Z06 E85 Corvette, Emerson Fittipaldi - 2008 Indy 500 Pace Car Combo

The Indy 500 has announced two Chevrolet Corvettes will serve as this year's pace car, with former champ Emerson Fittipaldi as the driver.

This is Chevrolet's 19th time serving as the race's official pace vehicle and the 10th time a Corvette has been used. To start the race, Fittipaldi will drive an ethanol-powered Corvette Z06 E85 concept car.

Emerson Fittipaldi honored to drive the concept E85 Corvette pace cars for the 2008 Indy 500. Image Credit: General Motors–Global via The EDJE

The next vehicle he will drive is a special edition Corvette, designed to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1978 Corvette Indy 500 pace car.
[Source: General Motors – Global – via The EDJE]


Mad Max Papis Rides Shotgun In Pace Vette At 180 mph

... notes from The EDJE

Road Runner Turbo 300 at Kansas Speedway

Dan Wheldon celebrated after winning the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 on Sunday at Kansas Speedway. Image Credit: MIKE RANSDELL The Kansas City Star

Road Runner Turbo 300 at Kansas Speedway

The race broadcast was delayed due to a playoff in the LPGA Golf event in Miami being shown on ESPN2.

The broadcast begins with the race in its second Yellow Flag caution period brought about by T-Team Will Power KV Racing Technology driver spinning and hitting the wall. Not a great start for the Round Three winner of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and the last ChampCar World Series event. The two open-wheel racing series are fully united beginning with this oval race.

Simon Morely of Luczo Dragon/Symantec Racing takes a hit, and keeps on ticking.
On the second yellow flag, brought about when last week’ race winner in Long Beach, Will Power spun and tapped the wall, which sparked a round of pit stops, Tomas Scheckter - Luczo Dragon/Symantec Racing, pulled in and was having his tires changed; Marty Roth locked up his rear wheels and hit the pit crew worker, Simon Morely, working on the right front of Schsckter’s car.

Marty Roth drops out after 57 laps with balance problems (the lack of balance probably helped with his spin earlier).

T-Team driver, EJ Viso - HVM Racing, of Caracas, Venezuela started 17th and climbed to 8th on lap 63 … 7th on 65

Green flag pit stops – lap 76 Milka Duno - Dreyer & Reibold Racing, spins car in pits.

Conquest Racing has had problems all race beginning with Ernesto Bernoldi spinning in the first laps and then on lap 84 Jaime Camara pulled into the pits with a problem.

Near halfway at lap 95, Target teammates are walking away from the field in lockstep. Dixon and Weldon, running about a quarter a second apart and at least seven seconds ahead.

Viso and Scheckter collect each other while Tomas was passing along the top. EJ’s right front notched in front of Tomas’s left rear at lap 99. EJ Viso solders on after a change of flat spotted tires. Tomas Scheckter is not so lucky - OUT.

Justin Wilson benefits from the yellow flag and makes up one lap.

Vitor Miera in the Delphi/National Guard car, while pulling out of the pits, taps one of Buddy Rice’s laid out tires and bends the left front suspension – OUT.

Green, Green, Green on lap 106 – Tony Kanaan - Andretti Green Racing, and Helio Castroneves - Penske Racing, get a jump. EJ Viso – HVM Racing, is one lap down but gets an impressive run as well.

Viso begins to block Ed Carpenter around lap 110, almost catches a black flag but is contacted on the radio and reminded of the rules.

Lap 120, Newman/Haas/Flannigan Racing teammates Graham Rahal and Justin Wilson run side-by-side at 13 and 14 on the lead lap about 7 seconds behind.

The compound of the tires is the same as they used at Homestead - Hard. The temperatures at Kansas being in the high 50’s to very low 60’s are having the tires take a while longer to heat up.

Danica Patrick – Andretti Green Racing, saves her car in a three wide racing incident when she was caught on the outside of Marco Annette while he was passing Mario Moraes. Patrick slid up the track missing the wall and saves the car.

Lap 148 finds Scott Dixon – Target Chip Ganassi Racing, leading teammate Dan Weldon by less than a half a second followed by Tony Kanaan of AGR.

Green flag pit stops are anticipated in 5-6 laps. Ed Carpenter - Vision Racing, reached fourth place and pitted, Buddy Rice – Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, brings out a yellow flag at lap 153 by hitting the wall. EJ Viso pulled into the wrong stall (Vision Racing) and further messed up Ed Carpenter’s pit stop.

Pits Closed, Dixon was in when the Yellow Flag came out but took fuel only, other cars pull in while the pits are closed to get a splash of fuel which is allowed.

Patrick has a poor pit stop when the right rear tire could not get remounted. The mounting studs had been worn down when the previous mounting was placed on the axel mount plate, loosely. Danica Patrick – OUT.

Ed Carpenter looses a lap after being counted for the fourth position before the fourth caution and pit mishaps. Carpenter takes the restart on lap 173 of 200 at P9. Dixon has to restart in P7 because of the in pit Yellow timing.

An interview with Patrick has her mention that the close racing with Scheckter is to be expected. Asked about the racing closeness with Tomas Scheckter and EJ Viso, Danica stated: “I always expect Scheckter to drive like that. ...

... And that Viso, I don’t know who he is even. He’s new and he’s got a pretty fast car. He’s learning the ropes of this oval racing. He almost put me in the wall at one point. I was like, ‘Look dude, you’re new. You better be nice because we all know how to handle this a little better than you do at this point.’ It’s all right. You got some newcomers and they’re going to be trying to push it. They’re not going to know how. They’re not going to know what they can and can’t do. There’s a lot of etiquette to learn in oval racing. It takes a little time. Yeah, there was close racing out there, but didn’t end up racing close at the end."

Nine cars on the lead lap of seventeen cars still on the track. Dan Weldon gets a good start. EJ Viso gets a stop and go penalty for the pitstop mishap with Carpenter.

Dixon has trouble getting around AGR/Panasonic Rookie Mutoh on lap 178.

Scott Dixon catches up to the two Penske cars and he clears them in a one lap short order. Dixon now third and behind four seconds.

With fourteen laps to go its Weldon, Kanaan at .031 behind, with Dixon about one straightaway behind.

Dixon is catching up running at 212 mph but there is not enough laps left for him to change position.

Carpenter runs out of fuel at lap 194. In and out of the pits.
Kanaan looses ground to Weldon in the next to the last lap and Dan Weldon coasts on to win.

Interviews and Reactions:

The incident on lap 153 set the table for the end of the race.

Dan Weldon becomes the first repeat winner at Kansas Speedway in the history of the track. This is also a first win for Dan Weldon after he became a married man. “This is good leading into Indianapolis”, stated Dan. The win brings him to third in points after four rounds.

Tony Kanaan complains about being held up in the final laps and wonders why that has to happen while one is racing for the win. He said, “What comes around goes around.”

EJ Viso was happy with the car and the performance in the race. “I just got confused and made a mistake”, said Viso of the pit stall mix-up with the Ed Carpenter pit on lap 153.

Scott Dixon has three strong performances in four races and gets bit again when the yellow flag flies while he is in the pits … and looses position.

Pos. - Driver - Team - Laps Completed
1. Dan Wheldon Ganassi 200
2. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green 200
3. Scott Dixon Ganassi 200
4. Helio Castroneves Penske 200
5. Marco Andretti Andretti Green 200
6. Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green 200
7. Ryan Briscoe Penske 200
8. A.J. Foyt IV Vision 200
9. Justin Wilson Newman/Haas/Lanigan 199
10. Ed Carpenter Vision 198
11. Oriol Servia KV 198
12. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan 198
13. Jay Howard Roth 197
14. EJ Viso HVM 197
15. Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne 196
16. Milka Duno Dreyer & Reinbold 195
17. Mario Moraes Dale Coyne 193
18. Ryan Hunter-Reay Rahal Letterman 169
19. Danica Patrick Andretti Green 156
20. Buddy Rice Dreyer & Reinbold 150
21. Jaime Camara Conquest 150
22. Vitor Meira Panther 101
23. Tomas Scheckter Luczo Dragon 96
24. Darren Manning Foyt 76
25. Enrique Bernoldi Conquest 54
26. Marty Roth Roth 41
27. Will Power KV 22
(ht: autosport.com)

The “Fine Nine” faired as follows:

Justin Wilson, Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, breaks into the top ten with a P9 - 1 Lap Down

Oriol Servia, KV Racing Technology – P11 – 2 Laps Down

Graham Rahal, Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing – P12 - 2 Laps Down

EJ Viso, HVM Racing – P14 – 3 Laps Down

Bruno Junqueira, Dale Coyne Racing – P15 - 4 Laps Down

Mario Moraes, Dale Coyne Racing – P17 - 7 Laps Down

Jaime Camara, Conquest Racing – P21 - 50 Laps Down

Enrique Bernoldi, Conquest Racing – P25 - 146 Laps Down

Will Power, KV Racing Technology – P27 - 178 Laps Down

Starting with the Indianapolis 500, Pacific Coast Motorsports with Mario Dominguez will become the tenth T-Team driver to join the 2008 season.

A good first truly unified race going into the month of May and the ramp-up to the INDY 500. Rookie orientation (which means most of the Fine Nine) will begin in one week and 14 cars are expected on the track.

... notes from The EDJE

Danica Patrick First Stateside Conference - Long Beach

Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (The EDJE) 2008

Danica Patrick Honors Long Beach Venue With First Stateside Conference

Danica Patrick, through the arrangement of the management of the Indy Racing League, held a news conference at 4:15pm PT in the press conference room at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. An honorable gesture was carried out by the IRL to have the woman who became the first-ever female motorsports driver to win a race in a professional open-wheel automobile racing series give a second news conference so soon after traveling from Japan to the Grand Prix racing venue in Long Beach.

Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (The EDJE) 2008

This conference in Long Beach was held just 19 hours after Danica won the IRL race at Twin Ring Motegi, Japan and helps to strengthen the move toward unification of the two American Racing series (the merge of ChampCar into IndyCar).

Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (The EDJE) 2008

The conference followed immediately after the ChampCar World Series podium winners conference and interview at the end of this, the final race featuring the rules, equipment, teams and drivers of the CCWS. The winner of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Will Power – KV Racing Technology, stated clearly that his hat was off for Danica and that she had earned the win through skill and strategy.

Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (The EDJE) 2008

Thanks to the Indy Racing League for making this happen … a class act!

In the video, Danica discusses the final laps strategy and the end of the race, celebrating, and the team day planned for AGR at the American Honda facility in Torrance, California tomorrow.

... notes from The EDJE

Danica Patrick Sets Historic First-Ever Mark In Japan

Danica Patrick celebrates her historic achievement with Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon on the podium at the Twin Ring track in Motegi, Japan (live camera transfer of internet broadcast). Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (The EDJE) 2008

Danica Patrick Sets Historic First-Ever Mark In Japan

On a day where the possibility of water seeping onto the race track threatened to postpone racing at Twin Ring Motegi, Japan (as it had done the day before), Danica Patrick uses her skills and her cool foot to out drive, out pace, and out last the top echelon of Indy Racing League drivers to become the first-ever female driver to win a race at the highest levels of professional open-wheel automobile racing.

Danica Patrick take a parade lap after first-ever historic win to accept cheers from the fans at Twin Ring Motegi, Japan (live camera transfer of internet broadcast). Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (The EDJE) 2008

Indy Japan 300 Post-race Press Conference>>

2008 will easily go down as a year of firsts in American Motosports!

First unified open-wheel racing season in well over a couple of decades (INDY perspective). The youngest driver to win a professional open-wheel automobile race (Graham Rahal at age 19). First team to win an IRL race other than the three top teams in the IRL since 2005 when Newman/Haas /Lanigan placed Graham Rahal in the top spot in St. Petersburg. And NOW - - - The first woman to ever win a race at the highest levels of professional open-wheel automobile racing.

All of this activity and we are only two and a half races (or is that three?) into an eighteen race season.

The Dallara chassis may be old, but it still races as long as there are teams and drivers to suit up and show up.

Whats next? A ChampCar T-Team takes the championship points lead? If Graham Rahal wins in Long Beach tomorrow, he will be second in the points with three full races into the season (or is that four?).

All Hail Danica Patrick!

... notes from The EDJE