Well the IRL season drew to a close yesterday with what was finally a little bit of good news in the announcement that Honda would supply the IRL engines until 2009. I was surprised to read about the skepticism from the Internet folks when the announcement came out. I guess Honda has earned itself a reputation in the IRL. Regardless of what the online posters think, this is at least a bit of a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy few months for the league. It seems, according to the press release anyway, that Honda might be satisfied in being the only powerplant supplier for the IRL, despite the fact that they said the exact opposite a few months ago. Should Honda become the only powerplant, this may actually be good for the series, as we have seen the rising costs of competing engine manufacturers and some drivers and owners have been clear in saying that they feel that some manufacturers favor certain teams.

It’s no big surprise that the IRL was able to retain Honda for 2009. They simply had to look next door at Champ Car and realize that this formula works. One engine supplier keeps the costs down and encourages more teams to participate since they can all be competitive. Once again the IRL is looking at following the exact mold of the Champ Car World Series.

On another note, a lot of team’s sponsorship money appears to be gone for 2006 and many drivers (5 according to Robin Miller) don’t know where they will be driving next year. This can’t be good for those drivers and the series. However, it could also make silly season very interesting. Especially if some of the rumors are true that Chip may run a few in Champ Car and that RedBull may want to run Champ Cars only. I am not holding my breath on any teams coming back. There’s a lot of pride in racing, maybe more so than any other sport because there’s some big egos and big time money being tossed around. For that reason, I believe that some teams might simply be too proud to come back and look elsewhere. I encourage them to come back to Champ Car, but I think the next generation of Champ Car’s great teams will be teams that started from the ground up. I’m thinking of a couple of Atlantics team that might move up or current small teams that will get bigger and better with time.

Its amazing how I haven’t mentioned the name Danica Patrick in a long time, after mentioning her on a daily basis for most of May and June. What can I say? I don’t often talk about mid-packers or back-packers. She has clearly established herself as a mid-pack at best. I have never hidden my feelings about her. I am skeptical about her abilities and until she proves me (and the world) wrong, then a cloud of doubt will follow her wherever she goes. Having said that, her teammate Buddy might be just as bad as her, if not worse. This is the Indy 500 winner, this is an Atlantic Champion and he has been terrible this year. My point is that I am now leaning a lot of the blame on the team and not strictly her performance. That team has been poor. Rocketsport poor. Maybe ultimately this is a good thing. Maybe in the off-season the team will find the problem and both Buddy and Patrick can win races next year. Having said all that, when you look at the top 3 in the standing and you see the powerplant, it really makes you think: what the heck is wrong with Team Rahal/Letterman? I don’t think more appearances on his show is the answer either.

I was very happy when I was watching WindTunnel last night to learn that I was not the only one who couldn’t stand to watch the NASCAR race on Saturday night. This was a dream television night for me. You had the NASCAR race on NBC, playoff baseball on Fox and some good old hockey on the CBC. I was in sports heaven. Unfortunately, the bubble quickly burst as I attempted to sit through this race. It was unbearable to watch and NASCAR needs to do something about this track. I have never seen so many drivers bicker about the conditions. I have never seen NASCAR implementing so many rules on the fly in order to get this thing to go more than 20 laps before a blown tire. I had no idea that they actually thought about shortening the race (according to Windtunnel). Wouldn’t that have been something? Bottom line is that we had one tire fiasco this year; let’s not have another. Oops, too late.

I did like Michael Waltrip though during all his interviews. That guy is just a classic clown. I liked when he talked about the Notre Dame game during the red flag. He is just a riot. I wish him all the luck he needs next year after this tough last season with DEI.
At first I was amazed that Jimmy Johnson had won the race. He started last; he had battery problems throughout the race. It looked like he might pull off a top 10, but no more. But he goes out and wins at his favorite track. Then it occurred to me that this was the least impressive of his wins at Lowe’s because half the field had withdrawn by the time the checkered rolled around. Sure, chalk it up to attrition and his team doing a heck of a job. But come on, at the end, someone HAD To take the checkered. I’m glad it was him, I like Jimmy. I just don’t think this will go down as one of his most memorable wins.