My season’s shot to pieces, so if Paul wants to wreck, let’s wreck

- AJ Allmendinger

You wonder why this is the greatest sport.

There HAS to be a third car for Newman/Haas racing in Mexico and there has to be another car for Charles Zwolsman, the 2005 Atlantic champion and not a replacement car. That would get the car count up to 20 for the season finale, which is probably a good indication as to what we can expect next year in Long Beach. Silly Season is under way, though you haven’t heard too much about just yet, but if you look at the line-up, there’s a lot more questions than answers. Of course, the difference now is that those questions WILL be answered and not MIGHT BE answered. But lots of speculations. Who’s in? Who’s out? Who’s staying? Who is leaving?

Is Newman/Haas going to have three cars next year, or is Servia (or Bruno) out on their own? And what about this Seabass and all those rumors of him joining just about every racing series other than the IRL? And what about Paul? Is he leaving for NASCAR? Is Jimmy retiring? PKV expanding to three cars? What’s the deal with HVM? We know that Ronnie is signed, but who else? Will Mario be back at Forsythe? Rusport seems to be on top for 2006, but are they completely? Rumored Atlantic teams for Mijack and Team Australia, so who’s jumping on that? Is Katherine Legg going to make her Champ Car debut in Long Beach? Is Milka? Something’s gotta change at Rocketsport, but what? What about Kasamets? He’s got to do it sooner than later!
One thing is for sure. At the Atlantic banquet in Montreal, which I was privileged to attended, Mr. Kevin Kalkoven gave a short speech and very little in this sport has motivated me and got me as excited for the future as that speech. So much so, that I wanted to get some sort of transcript of it. It was simple, yet eloquent and painted the future of Champ Car to a tee. A future that we all look forward too and a future where all the questions will soon be answered.

Hey, if anybody wants to email me and tell me about this RaceCar driver show on WGN, that would be great. I have seen the ads for it at champcarworldseries.com and I have seen the guys follow PT around and I am curious to see what the product will look like, or at least hear about it. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Reality shows are not my forte, but reality shows with premises are tolerable. Those choppers shows are cool, myth busters is cool. Those types of ‘reality’ shows make sense. I don’t know what Racecar driver will look like, but if it brings in a few new fans, then that’s great. Its tough to capture the life of a racecar driver without being able to read their minds, but I would imagine having a camera crew follow you around all the time would be the closest thing. I know that drivers and crew members have such routines and specific plans during race weekend that I am not afraid of anything being ‘unreal’ on the show or produced for the sake of excitement and drama. There’s enough real drama at the track without having to use too much ‘editing’ to make it exciting. This ain’t Big Brother where editors are the most important part of the show and the ultimate storytellers. God that show is terrible.

Kyle Busch. Youngest NASCAR driver to win a race. 20 years old. 20! The kid is, well a kid. He couldn’t even drink last night to celebrate his first stock car win. I really enjoy a race when it comes down to the pit stops. Or, I should say, when the final pit stops are potentially crucial to the outcome. It really demonstrates the team aspect of the sport and proves that it takes every member of the team to be on his/her game. Its another reason why I don’t understand the pit rules for Formula One and the idea that you can’t change tires or basically do anything. They have 600 team members over the wall running around like maniacs. It’s quite funny to watch. But usually you are so far ahead or so far back that a second here or there won’t make a difference. But when its your last pit stop and the guy your chasing is coming in a second ahead of you, then you know that teamwork and good strategy will pay off. You definitely hold your breath for the time it takes your favorite team to finish their pitstop. I think I’ll inquire with Champ Car about being a pit reporter at some races next year. Sounds like a lot of fun.

Las Vegas is my last race of the season. I can’t believe how quickly the summer/spring has gone by. I’m still clinging to a tiny shred of hope that I will make it to Australia and especially Mexico City, but I doubt that will happen. Although if I did go, I could gather enough content for numerous new features during the off-season. Makes sense doesn’t it? During the off-season, when finding new content for the website is sometimes difficult, a few new OHATT’s might just be what the site needs.

LVMS. Love the fact that Champ Cars race there. I know there’s been talk of a Vegas street race and I’m sure that would very cool too. But the LVMS is such a nice place. Right in the desert. Derek Daly has a racing academy there. At least he did back in the day. Maybe I can get in a quick drive before the event.

100 posts baby! Time to go into syndication. Any takers? And they said this thing wouldn’t last! Okay, nobody really said that. Or someone may have said it but it wasn’t about this blog.