(Editor's note: Greg Rickes is a car guy -- the guy who knows what's happening out on the racetrack and who all those guys are and what they're driving. For years now, he's been the public address announcer at every major event at Lime Rock Park, that mile and a half of racing asphalt in Connecticut. Please note that this column is reprinted with the permission of Greg Rickes/Weakly_Racing_Newz.)

The Men from Down Under

The much-anticipated CoTA appearance for the Australian V8 SuperCar series has now gone into the record books, and I  have to say I found it a bit underwhelming, possibly because the reality could have never lived up to the high expectations. 

Sunday’s racing was mostly processional up front, with just one actual pass for the race lead (not counting lead changes due to pit stops). There was some good racing back in the pack, but overall it was not inherently superior to  the variety of series we’re accustomed to on the domestic scene.

The V8s also brought out at least one flaw in the Circuit of The Americas. It doesn’t matter anymore if you run off  the racing surface, at least at the modern (aka Tilkedrome) circuits. The multi-colored paved runoff is just an extension, albeit minutely slower, of the race track. As one brought up on old school circuits, like Lime Rock and Bridgehampton, where there was a definite penalty for leaving the racing surface, it all seems a bit tame these days.

One other hypothesis that did get proved in Austin this weekend was that it was absolutely correct to forego the originally proposed June date for the Texas Formula One race. In mid-May temperatures were already into the 90s, and shade is a rare commodity at CoTA.

The Aussies really got into the spirit of Austin and Texas culture, which was certainly a selling point, but if I heard correctly the three-day crowd was 68,000. Not an impressive number when matched against the report of race DAY 60k for MotoGP. And as I said before it had to be no small piece of change to bring the whole show all that way across the Pacific. Talk seemed to be that this is a multi-year deal, so time will tell.

Shadow of The Past

Qualifying for the Indy 500 sprung its surprise, with Ed Carpenter nosing out the touted superteams. Beyond that there wasn’t much drama, or crowd, from what I heard and saw on TV. Bump Day was especially anti-climactic with just one car on the outside looking in. What a change from the high tension I remember from bygone days: I can still picture The Original Outlaw, Jan Opperman, making the show as the clock ticked towards six o’clock.

There was a great Car And Driver article, and wasn’t it on Wide World of Sports?  Remember when Pole Day was proclaimed as the second biggest motorsports draw of the year, behind only the 500 itself?

Fortunately, with the traditional 33 starters, the prospect for some real racing in the 500 itself is undiminished.

A Poorer Place

What a sad end for Dick Trickle. Amidst all of NASCAR’s modern day soap opera he remained beloved by so many as The Real Deal.

On To Lime Rock

It’s a two-day format at Lime Rock for Memorial Day weekend, with a Friday/Saturday program for TransAm, plus F2000 and F1600 double-features, along with a pair of VSCCA vintage events.

This will be the half-way point in the season for F1600, so there’s a lot at stake as the points battle shapes up, and there’s hope again that the new Carbir chassis will makes its debut, while in F2000 the question is whether anyone can slow Tim Minor’s momentum as he comes to Connecticut with a perfect 4-for-4 record.

For both classes, Lime Rock is quite a different proposition, with its frantic short-track atmosphere, quite in contrast to the expansive venues at VIR and Road Atlanta. There will be just a single round of qualifying on Friday, then a pair of races for both categories on Saturday. If you can’t be on hand in person, follow all the action via the Livestream audiocast

http://www.f2000championshipseries.com/

In The Video Age

I recently spent some time with a UAlbany student named Michael Roselli. For a senior project Roselli wanted to produce a documentary about Mohawk-Hudson Region SCCA. I was able to provide him with some historic background on the region, and reminisce about my days as grad student when I had to produce a three-minute instructional film. It all seems so antiquated now to think back on the week long-wait to get a spool of 8-millimeter movie film processed, and hanging the various strips of film to be edited back together with adhesive tape. Tempus fugit.

He came up with a fine production: Have a look, and maybe  even catch a glimpse of bygone days and some characters who made them memorable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G6RHo_UfmA

Cheers,

Greg Rickes