Motorsport Manager Magic

Well, it's been a while since I've posted anything on here. Indeed, in that time the following have happened:

• Cubs won the World Series
• Blue Jays have been back to the playoffs
• All Blacks have lost a match
• Michael Phelps has proven to actually be human in a pool
• Kyle Busch can join Brad Keselowski towards the end of their careers by trying to win the Truck title to be the first to complete the NASCAR championship sweep (unless Dillon wins the Cup title, then that idea is thrown in the rubbish)
• Canadian NHL teams royally sucked and all seven missed the playoffs

But those are neither here nor there, this post is about my current gaming love; Motorsport Manager. The gist is that you're the new boss of an openwheel team and you have full control over the following:

• Hiring of drivers (2 for the team and a reserve/test driver). Every driver has different stats and traits which can change over the course of the year (for example; 'dodgy neck' reduces the fitness to 0 for however many weeks) and you need to scout heavily to reveal how good or bad the drivers in the game are unless you want to take a stab in the dark with someone (not really recommended).
• Hiring of race mechanics (1 for each main driver). The longer you keep driver/mechanic together, the closer the range of getting the right setup at the track becomes.
• Hiring of lead designer. Each designer has different traits which help with the design (some are better at developing aero parts, others with improving the engine, that sort of thing)...however, some traits do put the car at risk with scrutineering. You can avoid detection of illegal parts sometimes, other times you get caught and you lose that part as well as getting fined.
• Signing sponsors who offer you upfront payments, per race payments, race-peformance payments and sometimes a combination.
• Developing your team HQ (better factory, better design center, tour building for marketing, test rack, etc).

I could go on and on about it, but suffice to say, I haven't been this interested in a racing manager-type game since Europress' effort back in the mid 90's. I went with the ultimate challenge by going with the lowest ranked team in tier 3 (10 teams in this series); Predator Racing.

They had no money, a very basic HQ site, one decent driver...and that's about it. Given the financial state of the team, I decided to go with my character as someone with that type of background since it gives you a small discount when building stuff; you can be an ex-driver (improves driver morale), ex-mechanic (improves parts design/building), political guru (gives you more voting power when discussing the rules for the next season) or a complete stranger (no perks whatsoever).

I've just started my fifth year with the team and feeling I'm making pretty good progress in the Constructors' title: 10th, 9th, 7th and 7th. I've been chewing through my race winnings pretty quickly with parts development (want a shiny new, and much better, engine? That'll be $1.5 mill please...oh, and then you need another one so one driver doesn't get screwed over and be really annoyed with you, but you can't build anything until the current engine is finished being made).

The highlight for me so far was a very surprising win in year 4. It was the second time in the year we raced at Milan and the first one went rather badly as our engine sucked so I wasn't expecting much second time around...it was won on a glorious strategy call to one of my drivers midway through the first stint to save fuel and eek it out to avoid stopping an extra time. Sadly, I couldn't do the same with the other driver as I had put a little less fuel in at the start to avoid double stacking...she ended up with a top 10 though which was a bonus.

My goals for this season are; finish 7th at worst (hopefully higher), keep improving the car and not go into debt. I did that in season 4 after I built a weather center for the HQ and was putting the highest amount I could away each race for the design of the following seasons' car (I did eventually get it back under control and had about $4.5 million by the end of the season before getting my prize money). This year we're in much better shape with money (over $13 mill to start with), preseason went well with neither driver having mechanical gremlins. I will probably upgrade the design center to be level 2 midway through the season (that'll be $8 million and will take 20 weeks to finish).

I am loving the complexity of it so far and it has been pretty much the only thing I've been doing on the weekends since it was released. It will have you want to rip your hair out one minute, then be dancing around the next when things go just your way *laugh*

Has Marcos made his mark?

On the eve of his final Cup race weekend beginning, I figured it was a fine time for me to give my thoughts on Marcos Ambrose’s NASCAR career.

 

The raw numbers say the following:

•  22 starts in the Truck series, with one pole position and four top tens.
• 77 starts in Nationwide, four poles, 18 top tens and five wins (all on road courses).
• 226 starts in Cup, three poles, 46 top tens and two wins at the Glen.

But I honestly think you have to look beyond the stats here. Unlike other drivers who made the jump, Ambrose was more than willing to start at the bottom of the ladder and work his way up. That won him a few fans as pretty much everything he went on to achieve was down to his talent rather than a silver spoon. I believe he gained even more fans after the 2007 Montreal Busch series race where he was taken out towards the end of it having been the guy to beat all day. I reckon very few of us would have shrugged our shoulders and said ‘that’s racing’, let alone smiling, when the microphone got shoved under our face afterwards.

 

However, that is what Marcos did his entire career over here. In every interview, you knew he would say how happy he was to be racing in NASCAR at some point, something I liked to hear as I take that as meaning they’re having fun.

So what will I most remember about Marcos Ambrose in NASCAR?

Well, I could go with the obvious meeting at Sonoma on race morning, or his first win…but I think I’ll go with something a little less obvious; the Truck series race in Kansas back in 2006.

Ambrose started fourth that day, his best qualifying of the season to that point I believe…he didn’t stay there for long. Sweeping around the front row off the start, the Aussie showed for the first time that maybe he might get the hang of this ‘turning left only’ deal. It was such a surprise that the commentators didn’t realise it was Marcos until he’d crossed the line to lead the lap. In the end he finished up third, something I doubt many would have thought possible in his first season.

Other memorable racing moments for me include;

• His first Cup start at Watkins Glen in 2008. Coming from the back when qualifying was rained out, Ambrose dragged the Wood Bros #21 to finish third.
• His first night Bristol race in 2009 where he finished third, behind Kyle Busch (who became the first, and so far only, driver to win all three races in a weekend).
• Finally getting that long overdue win at Montreal in 2011…having been the recipient of a bonehead move by Jacques Villeneuve at turn 2 halfway through the race.
• And lastly, the battle with Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch to see who would come out on top at Watkins Glen in 2012. 

If there is one thing that might be labelled as his legacy, it would be his prowess on the road courses. His career coincided with those races producing some of the best racing of the season. Now that could be down to the rules package, but it doesn’t matter; you knew that when those tracks rolled around, Marcos Ambrose was one guy you would have to contend with if you wanted to head home with the trophy.

 

Doing what he did best; giving it all on the road courses.

Darrell Waltrip believes Ambrose to be one of the best road course drivers he’s ever seen…now I’m sure people around the world will roll their eyes at that, but given the rarity of that type of racing in NASCAR, I can get where he’s coming from. So if raising the bar on the road courses while wearing his customary grin is all he’ll be remembered for, I’m ok with that.

Good luck back in the V8 Supercars, Marcos…hopefully the partnership with Roger Penske and DJR works out just fine.

Chase field for the 2013 TNRC

Well, after nearly a year off, I figured I might as well post something again...so it's the resurrection of my points standings which I haven't bothered with since early 2011. You'll have to make do with just the races though as I haven't updated qualifying.

A rundown then since it's been so long:
- Both titles for 26 rounds use an old V8 Supercar points system which only awarded the top 17 finishers (72, 60, 51, 45, 39, 36, 33, 30, 27, 24, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3, 1).

- Once the Chase guys are set, those 12 use the old CART points (20, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1). The remaining drivers use the V8 points, but these 12 are excluded from them (hypothetically, the 'winner' of a Chase race who isn't in the Chase could have actually finished 13th on the track).

- Half points given if a race doesn't reach 75% distance (yes, I'm going with the F1 rules on that).

- Bonus points for wins are 4 x however many you start the Chase with (except 11th and 12th, just like the real Chase). If a Chase guy wins a Chase race, they get an additional point (so 21 instead of 20).

- Top 10 Drivers after 26 rounds get 4 bonus points per round they clinched (eg: Jimmie was in after race 22, so he gets an additonal 16 points when the Chase started...not counting wins. Kyle gets 12 and Kenseth gets 8).

Right, so to the points after Richmond and it's a little different to the actual standings as you can see:
1 - Kyle Busch, 780 points (4 wins)
2 - Jimmie Johnson, 778 points (4 wins)
3 - Matt Kenseth, 678 points (5 wins)
4 - Carl Edwards, 643 points (2 wins)
5 - Kasey Kahne, 640 points (2 wins)
6 - Clint Bowyer, 621 points
7 - Kevin Harvick, 613 points (2 wins)
8 - Joey Logano, 610 points (1 win)
9 - Kurt Busch, 585 points
10 - Jeff Gordon, 568 points

To the wild cards then where, even if I did dock points for what happened at Richmond, Truex still makes it in as the gap to the next person in line (Greg Biffle...he was 94 points behind Martin at the end of the race) is substantial.

WC 1 - (11th) Martin Truex Jr, 547 points (1 win)
WC 2 - (14th) Ryan Newman, 468 points (1 win)

So here is the adjusted tallies as before the race at Chicagoland began:
1 - Jimmie Johnson, 32 points
=2 - Kyle Busch, 28 points
=2 - Matt Kenseth, 28 points
=4 - Carl Edwards, 8 points
=4 - Kasey Kahne, 8 points
=4 - Kevin Harvick, 8 points
7 - Joey Logano, 4 points
=8 - Clint Bowyer, 0 points
=8 - Kurt Busch, 0 points
=8 - Jeff Gordon, 0 points
=8 - Martin Truex Jr, 0 points
=8 - Ryan Newman, 0 points

I shall try to keep this up-to-date for the rest of the season.

Bruno Spengler; a Canadian Battler

While I admit to have been impressed when TSN responded to my....question (we'll leave it at that shall we?) about where the praise was for Bruno Spengler winning the 2012 DTM title last week at Hockenheim, I wasn't that happy to see it only warranted all of 10 lines of text.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Now, you could probably make a claim to Spengler not being Canadian at all given he was born in France. But he moved to a town in Quebec when he was three, and races with the red maple leaf on the side of his car, so that's good enough for me.

In winning the season-ending, and title deciding, race last Sunday, he became the first Canadian to win a major international racing title since 2003 (Paul Tracy in Champ Car) and the first to do it in Europe since 1997 (Jacques Villeneuve in F1).

Finally, after eight years, Bruno enjoys the moment.

He's come close to winning the DTM the last few seasons when he was in contention towards the end but fell short (a pair of thirds in 2010 and 2011). 2012 saw a big shakeup as he switched from Mercedes-Benz to BMW. I say shakeup as, while BMW have a mighty impressive racing history, they haven't raced in the DTM this millenium....and I think we all can agree that the car business moves along at a pretty fast pace in the technology and performance department.

It was therefore a big surprise when, in just their second race since their return, Spengler nabbed the win at Lausitz. He followed that up with wins at the Nurburgring and Oschersleben and rolled into Hockenheim just three points behind Gary Paffett (who is McLaren's test driver incidentally...so not exactly a duffer behind the wheel).

Despite qualifying behind Paffett, Spengler got a near-perfect start and soon took the lead from his fellow BMW driver, Augusto Farfus, when he made a mistake on the first lap. Bruno was able to build a lead to four seconds before the pitstops. Paffett managed to jump Farfus and emerge second once the stops were done and did his best to nibble away at the gap, getting to within a second, but it just wasn't enough as Spengler held his nerve to clinch the title in his eighth year of trying.

Bruno takes the chequered flag, winning the title in style.

So from someone who appreciates that accomplishment, congratulations to you, Bruno...maybe you can shed that nickname of 'the secret Canadian' now eh?

Chrysler looking at V8 Supercars

V8 Supercars could return to the 'old days' where multiple manufacturers battle each other instead of just the two we have now. With the introduction of the 'car of the future' in 2013, the V8 big wigs are encouraging other car companies to enter. BMW, Mercedes and Toyota have all been touted as possibilities, but Chrysler are the first to actually confirm V8 Supercars is an option.

Chrysler are getting prepared to launch the next generation of 300C and the V8's are heading to America next year...could be a case of perfect timing.

It wouldn't be the first time the 300C has been used in a touring car series though. Back in 2008, the German group, Zakspeed, raced a 300C SRT 8 in the Italian Superstar Series.

How obvious is obvious?

I'm going to borrow this from Jay Hart's article dated November 11.

Jimmie Johnson was questioned why Kyle got parked for the Texas weekend and, after some prompting, couldn't figure it out (not because he wrecked a title contender, not on probation and not because it was under caution). Jay felt it was because Kyle was too obvious about it: was wrecking Hornaday wrong? Absolutely. Did the punishment fit the crime? Yep. But the only reason Busch got parked was because he copped to it. Had he kept his mouth shut or simply played vigilante under green-flag conditions – you know, when they’re running full throttle – he’d likely have gotten little more than a slap on the wrist.

That’s the lesson NASCAR is teaching here: Boys, have at it, just don’t be so obvious about it.

Which raises a simple question then; why were James Buescher and Todd Bodine both allowed to race at Texas in the first place after their post-race shenanigans the week before at Martinsville...wasn't that just as obvious as the Kyle/Ron stunt was?

The 2011 'A&W Cruisin' the Dub 300'

Well, it took me five years after my first NASCAR sanctioned series race, but I finally managed to break my 'road course only' mould when the Canadian Tires Series (formerly known as CASCAR) made their one and only trek to BC last night at MotoPlex Speedway, just north of Vernon.

She's a long drive from where I live (left home at 9, checked in at the hotel around 2:30)...the things us racing fans do, right?

Anyway, I got a bit worried when I saw the 'no cameras allowed' sign at the entry to that track but apparently that doesn't apply for the race (good thing too or Kristen would probably have shot me!) as I certainly was not the only person taking photos. The track itself is a half mile tri-oval (banking goes from 11 degreees to 14 in the corners), has seating for about 9500 people but only from turn 4 to turn 2...there was no seats on the back stretch that I could see.

Qualifying for the race started around 5:30 with the race itself going at 8pm. DJ Kennington (the 2010 champ) looked the man to beat before Scott Steckly (the 2008 champ) pipped him at the end. The order gets drawn out of a hat (helmet maybe since it's motorsport) the announcers told us. From memory, Scott went around in 18.3, a few tenths off the lap record.

Lining up for qualifying (there were 21 cars in total).

Kennington looked like he'd start from the pole...

...but Steckly had something to say about that.

After qualifying, all the cars were lined up on the front stretch where they allowed people on the track for a autograph session (it went for about an hour). Then it was driver intros, with a bit of a twist. JR Fitzpatrick, who races in the Nationwide series some times, told the officials that he thought it would be fun to have the drivers walk through the gap between the main grandstand and the uncovered one before going on to the track via the opening at the flag stand on the start/finish line as that meant the drivers would meander their way through the crowd.

So that's what they did (no photos of that since it was kind of hard to see them until they were at the flag stand). The spotters based themselves in the back row of the second uncovered stand...I thought they'd be on top of the main grandstand but obviously not.

The spotters get in position to call the traffic shots.

The cars all lined up on the front straight.
The autograph session in full swing.

Looking at the race results, it seems like it was rather dull; Scott and DJ started 1-2, and that's how they finished at the end of 300 laps...but it was anything but dull. A spate of early yellows occurred before they were finally able to settle into a rhythm saw DJ looking like the man to beat. But after the first round of stops, that changed as Pete Shepherd (driving car 7) charged his way into the lead.

The race gets underway...the first double file start of many.


The first round of stops...mainly just for fuel since you can't do both.

But just as it looked we might see a bit of an upset with none of the usual suspects winning, the favourites upped the tempo. Steckly drove to the front from 11th in about 30 laps as he elected to stop the latest and had the advantage of fresh Goodyears. That saw the others leave him stranded when, yet another, yellow came out. The final 100 laps or so saw lots of squabbling over track position...but no one could challenge Steckly.

Steckly leading Kennington on the final restart of the race.

Steckly takes the win as DJ's car just wasn't good enough on a short run to challenge.

Kerry Micks and JR Fitzpatrick got into it bigtime, with Micks turning Fitzpatrick coming out of turn 4 (he later said that JR got loose and he couldn't avoid him). Well, JR wasn't that thrilled about it, and after the race they decided to duke it out until their teams, and officials, dragged them apart.

Alas, as I said in the trifecta, my camera wasn't able to keep up once the sun went down and so all the photos from about lap 160 on were quite blurry...sorry about that. I did try with the flash on, but that didn't work very well either.It was a long day for me as the race didn't finish until 10:30 due to all the cautions...but it was worth the five hour drive. I didn't even get sunburnt this time!

The Aussies Are Coming...

...in 2013 anyway.

It was announced last week that the V8 Supercars have inked a five year deal to race on the new facility at Austin. At this stage, it looks like it'll be a two-race weekend, both races being 124 miles (which, in nice round Australian numbers, is 200 kilometers).

For a brief rundown on the V8's...hmm, I guess you could read the wikipedia page or check out some videos on youtube, but basically the formula is to take a sedan from GM and Ford (that may change soon...other manufacturers are sniffing about as a new style car is launched for 2013), chuck a 5.0 litre engine with 650hp in the front, make it RWD, add a rollcage and some slicks and put it on the track.

One of the most promising 'newbies', Shane 'The Giz' van Gisbergen doesn't do conservative.

I suppose they would be similar to the GT class in the Rolex series except without having to worry about those pesky Prototypes that zoom around the place at the same time. Yes, that means proper head and tail lights, wipers and doors (are you listening, NASC...oh forget it, they never do anyway) for us to enjoy.

My main worry is how you guys will take to the series. I mean, it's not like there's any shortage of motorsport currently available and the last time an Australian sport branched out over this way, it didn't pan out that brilliantly (the 1987 Rugby League experiment in Long Beach) so we'll just have to wait and see I guess.

I wonder if Marcos Ambrose will push for it to be on an off weekend for the Cup guys...

The Difficult Third Album...

Apparently it's hard to keep the success rolling so, for this (third time to this race for me, hence the title) edition of the 'Lugnuts hit Sonoma', I changed a couple things in the lead up (or forced to in some cases);

- gone was the quick gas and go to Lyndon a few weeks prior to pick up a cheap US cell phone as I changed onto a plan so I had global roaming this time.

- gone was the BART trip to meet up with Kristen as Orbitz changed my flights and had me getting in around 8pm Thursday...four hours at Sea-Tac was rather dull though, you can only walk by the same shops so many times before it gets old. Kristen said she'd just pick me up directly from the airport this time.

- gone also was my chance of getting sick (sore throat, blocked nose) at the hotel as I decided to do that the Friday before leaving...yes, I probably could have done with a session from our resident Doctor although she may have heard my frustrated screaming anyway.

- and last, but not least, gone was my trusty backpack that I bought about a month after I arrived in New Zealand back in January 2003...it bit the dust over Christmas so I got a new one when I was home. That backpack was very well travelled having been to the Australian Grand Prix twice ('05 and '07), Sonoma twice ('06 and '10), Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, BC, Alberta and Alaska, not forgetting the Can-Ams visit to NZ back in '07 at Teretonga Raceway near Invercargill and a few stages of Rally Otago since the company I worked for sponsored it back then.

But enough stalling, on to 'the weekend that was'.

I had been waiting a little while Thursday evening for Kristen who told me that she was stuck in traffic. Then some texts flew around, followed by a phone call or two asking me precisely where I was. I told her that I got spat out in front of the US Airway signs...of course, I did neglect to mention departures while she was doing laps in the arrivals a level below. After...how can I put this?...freshening up (a month at Googa in High School made me an expert of the deodorant shower), I just followed the people out of the airport, I didn't even think about what level I was on :S

The less said about bathrooms the better...right, Kristen?

Heading to the track Friday we bemoaned about the lack of a World Cup to listen to on the radio, how Marcos probably wasn't going to win due to the pressure (I agreed with that...my initial trifecta pick was going to be Menard but Kristen said how you all left me my boy, aww), how ticked the double deuce team were that Brad won a points race before Kurt this year, and the reasons behind just why someone would make off with Kristen's Dale Jr emblem that had been on her car last year but now wasn't...more to come on that later actually (no, I didn't have anything to do with it. Well I did, but not how you're thinking!)

As most of you probably saw, Ambrose was using a special paint scheme for the race; he had the name of one child from each State of the USA who had been in and/or are still in hospital for an extended stay. First thing I saw while wandering around after Kristen had rushed off to the garage had me thinking that 'The King' was on a seriously tight budget if this was their hauler.

But no, this had the demo car that was going to unveil the paint scheme in VL later that day. After scoping out exactly who had their merchandise here this year, I made my way to my seat to click merrily away while cars were put on the ramp and hopefully appease Kristen after what happened last year when none of us saw her pushing the car down pitlane on raceday as we were all at driver introductions.

The good thing about sitting there on Friday is you never know who might come out of the media room.




The last one was when Marcos came out for the deal in VL...won't put up many of it but I can say that on Ambrose's facebook album, in one of the photos, you can see me in the background!



After Marcos' time there, and after practice was done, the new inductees, Allison and Jarrett took center stage before Jarrett stayed to help David Ragan unveil his Brickyard paint job (the 6, not the 11 obviously...the 11 would never pass inspection *laugh*).

Kristen has already been over the issues that Kurt had before qualifying so I won't rehash that other than reiterate how much of a shock it was that Joey stuck the thing on pole...I don't think even he knew how he managed it. To the stage for 'Trackside' then where (can we just give it to him already?) the leading RotY, Andy Lally as well as Ambrose were the guests. They moved the stage around so where I was standing last year would have meant I'd be behind the stage for this one yet where Melissa stood last year meant she was in front this time...so I stuck with Melissa and hoping my trusty boxing 'roo flag could entice Marcos to visit after his segment was over.

It did (I think *laugh*), and in my attempt to remove the lid from the pen, I dropped the bloody thing and my "oh bugger" comment may have clued him into my nationality...the shiny new Ambrose shirt could have done it as well I suppose. Anyway, we had a little chat where he said it was great I was there and it was good to see me. Yes, you read that right, I thought that *I* was supposed to be saying that to him! Bottom line is he signed the hero cards that Kristen snagged earlier (one's heading your way soon, Indy!) and I left the track with a smile that rivals Marcos' usual one.

Saturday dawned and opting for the KTS (Kristen's Taxi Service) saw us at the track around 8:30 where we encountered the lawn mowers. Considering I moved from a place where sheep outnumber people by a significant margin, I can't say I was as enthused about it as Kristen was but, even so, it was pretty funny to see. I went down to turn 7 for both practices, you could tell who was 'on it' and who was cruising just by the how much kerb (same deal as 'tyre' I'm afraid) they were using...

...or by how much they messed up their braking point.



Not a whole lot really happened on the 'lazy day' I think Kristen said, but CR did show up between practices so we were able to get some good openwheel talk going before Melissa turned up (I *knew* I should have stuck with my Vettel jinx pick, grrr!) having been delayed by a slow pitstop for fuel I believe it was. Rest of the day we watched the Nationwide race in the hotel, then went to dinner with Kristen's inspection buddy...that sounds wrong, um, don't read it like that please...who explained things like what gears the teams could use this weekend and why Kurt's car didn't pass inspection before qualifying. Alas, he could not tell me exactly why Ambrose had to use the rookie stripe in 2009 while Keselowski didn't in 2010 when both were ineligible for RotY honours in those respective years having run too many races the year before. He thought it had something to do with Brad running more than half a season while Marcos didn't however.

To Sunday then, where, after a fair bit of deliberation and a lightbulb moment by Melissa, I went to the track with Kristen again since she would be taking me back Sunday afternoon...little did we know the events that were to unfold. For some reason, the nearest Starbucks couldn't get my name right and insisted on spelling it with a 'i' instead of a 'y'...I suppose that's how they roll in San Rafael, Kristen found it somewhat more amusing than me, have to say *laugh*

We got to the track earlier than the previous two days (by over an hour). Jeff Gluck was doing a 'tweet-up' at 8am just behind VL and his guest today was my (apparently, if the 'Trackside' thing was anything to go by) good mate; Marcos Ambrose. Kristen, being the legend she is, snapped a once-in-a-lifetime photo of 'us Aussies'...well, for me it was, Marcos probably not so much.

Why yes, this is now my laptop background...am I not that predictable?

After that was done, I went for a wander down pitlane and bumped into both CR and Melissa. I elected to skip going to the stage for driver intros this year and waited for Kristen's texts keeping me up-to-date over when the #22 would come rolling down the pits. Of course, when it did, she wasn't looking my way, so I have a shot of her going off at Tony (she probably was actually since he likes to tease her), one of the officials.

I then went back to my seat to watch the rest of the pre-race stuff...didn't miss the intros in the end so I snapped a fair few drivers this year and, with the aid of photoshop, I can bring you the Sonoma edition of Juan Smurftoya!

I believe that Kristen will have a blow by blow account of raceday from her perspective and it's highly likely that you guys watching it on TV could keep up better than Melissa, CR and myself so I'll close with seven more pictures before my final blurb.

Joey leading them off on lap 1.

Kurt taking off on a restart.

Kurt taking the win...and Kristen can finally breathe again!

Now, last year we took a group photo of the four of us but that didn't happen this year so you'll have to make do with me, Melissa and CR...

Three quarters of our group...Kristen wouldn't let me photoshop her head in place of Bobby's.

...as the final member of our group ditched us for a postrace date with 'Vicky'!

The new line of 'Where's Wally?' books featuring our very own Kristen! She's in that melee somewhere...

CR and Melissa left, leaving me the recipient of one of the biggest bear hugs I've ever gotten in my life when Kristen was able to tear herself away from the festivities (I told her to take as much time as she wanted). The drive back...I'm not sure I could do it justice really. Only word I can come up with is 'surreal' which is still pretty poor. For some reason I'm reminded of the movie 'Almost Famous'...which I've never seen but, from what I gather off the wikipedia page, it's basically about someone who is trying to bask in the glow of others. That's kind of how I felt, but not really...does that make sense?

In case you were wondering, yes, she did pilfer some victory confetti...and yes, she gave me some.

However, it was very, very, cool to share in her elation with 'her guys' finally winning a points race when she was there, and on her home turf no less!

So that was the race experience, but it's not the end of the story if you've been eagle-eyed and see only six photos, not seven like I said. For there is a hobby shop where I live that has NASCAR stuff from a few years ago so when Kristen said about her missing car emblem and not wanting any #88 Dale Jr stuff, I said I'd have a look when I got back. They had quite a selection and, hiding beneath a group of Tony Stewart #20's and Mark Martin #6's car doohickeys, was a lonely old #8.

Quite possibly the only piece of Dale Jr merchandise I'll buy in my life.

It's not a very fair trade though for everything she's done; driving me everywhere for the last two years here, got Marcos to siggie my flag last year, honoured our verbal (written?) bet over the NHL Conference final, got me into Gluck's tweet-up with Ambrose, dragged an inspector to dinner with us and nabbed some confetti from Kurt's win (along with, I'm sure, a gazillion other things)...and all I get her in return is, in her words; "HOLY CRAP!!! IT'S A PERFECT REPLICA!!!"

Yeah, I don't get it either...I'll post it down this week though, Kristen :)

I don't think the race itself was as good as last years but, personally, the overall experience was better (sorry Jon, wish you were there, mate!)...so thanks hugely to Melissa, CR and Kristen for making it possible. Nicking the NHL slogan; this is what we live for!

A slice of NASCAR hits Indycar?

And so, a day after his teammate knocked him out of the Indy 500, Ryan Hunter-Reay will take the green flag next week after all...with Bruno Junqueira being given the boot as Ryan slides into the #41 for A.J. Foyt after a dismal weekend for Michael Andretti's team that saw two of his five 500 bullets misfire (Mike Conway, who sits 4th in points, is still out by the way) on bump day.

Here is the article on Yahoo! sports for those interested.

The last time I recall something like that happening was a few years ago when Michael Waltrip did the same thing at, I think, Talladega.

TNQC and TNRC - Las Vegas

Alright, as I am currently on a lunch break, and we've had an off week, I reckon I can post this as we're three rounds into the 2011 season.

The points were explained in my post in January so here's how they stack up thus far:

All up, 29 drivers have registered point in the QC with 30 for the RC.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying championship - round 3:

1 - Carl Edwards, 123 points (1 pole)
2 - Kurt Busch, 111 points
3 - Kyle Busch, 108 points
4 - Matt Kenseth, 99 points (1 pole)
5 - Regan Smith, 93 points
=6 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 72 points (1 pole)
=6 - Jeff Gordon, 72 points
=6 - Joey Logano, 72 points
=9 - Greg Biffle, 69 points
=9 - Kasey Kahne, 69 points
=11 - Marcos Ambrose, 60 points
=11 - Martin Truex Jr, 60 points

Jamie McMurray sits three points back from 12th but hey, early days and all that. Jimmie Johnson is currently 27th with just nine points after three rounds...I expect that will change before we get to round 23 though.

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - round 3:

1 - Carl Edwards, 132 points (1 win)
2 - Tony Stewart, 105 points
3 - Kurt Busch, 96 points
4 - Kyle Busch, 90 points
5 - Juan Montoya, 87 points
6 - Ryan Newman, 78 points
=7 - Trevor Bayne, 72 points (1 win)
=7 - Jeff Gordon, 72 points (1 win)
=9 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 54 points
=9 - Jimmie Johnson, 54 points
=11 - David Gilliland, 51 points
=11 - Denny Hamlin, 51 points

Marcos Ambrose and Kevin Harvick are next up on 48 and 46 points each then we have four guys on 45 points (AJ, Kahne, Labonte and Truex)...I expect this could be similar story as we get closer to the Chase cutoff.

99.94

It is, perhaps, the most important four numbers in sport...and yet, outside of a select few countries, no one has much idea of what they refer to.

The best of the best. It's a bold statement to make, certainly. There are many factors that go into deciding whether a sportsperson stands out beyond the elite. Names like Jordan, Nicklaus, Cobb, Petty, Ruth and even Earnhardt I'm sure you are more familiar with...but as I'm not American, I have to stick up for 'my' man; Bradman.

I never saw Bradman ply his trade on cricket pitches as his playing career stopped some 30 years before I was born, so I can only imagine what it would have been like. Newspaper headlines from England just had to say 'he's out!' and people instantly knew what they were talking about. His test match playing career spanned twenty years, broken up by World War 2, and he ended up just four runs short of averaging 100.00. But still, 99.94 is leagues ahead of the next best.

An excerpt from his cricinfo page says, "unquestionably the greatest batsman in the game, arguably the greatest cricketer ever, and one of the finest sportsmen of all time, Don Bradman was so far ahead of the competition as to render comparisons meaningless and to transcend the game he graced."

Mathematics agree with this; Sir Donald Bradman was the best ever...if you go by standard deviations.

Bradman rises up above the elite with his number being 4.4. To put that into perspective, MJ would have needed to average a further 13 points per game, Jack would have added another 7 majors and Cobb needed a 0.392 batting rating instead of 0.367 to match that figure.

So, I hope you may forgive me for being callous about the ten year anniversary of the passing of Dale but, in my eyes, the world lost a far greater sportsperson a week later.

Sir Donald Bradman...no one will ever come close.

All Change for the TNC's

Well, not really.

Having looked into things since Homestead, I'm only going to do one major change which is get rid of the half points idea (mainly since it's a PITA to work out *laugh*).

So, for those who have forgotten (including me), here is the way it works:

- Both titles for 26 rounds use an old V8 Supercar points system which only awarded the top 17 finishers (72, 60, 51, 45, 39, 36, 33, 30, 27, 24, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3, 1).

- Once the Chase guys are set, those 12 use the old CART points (20, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1). The remaining drivers use the V8 points, but these 12 are excluded from them (hypothetically, the 'winner' of a Chase race who isn't in the Chase could have actually finished 13th on the track).

- Washouts in qualifying don't count towards the QC.

- Bonus points for wins/poles are 4 x however many you start the Chase with (Hamlin, for example, started the '10 RC Chase off with 24 points since he had 6 wins). If a Chase guy wins a Chase race, they get an additional point (so 21 instead of 20).

- Leader after 26 rounds get 4 bonus points per round they clinched (eg: Harvick couldn't be topped in the '10 RC after race 23, so he got an additonal 12 points when the Chase started...not counting his wins).

Clear as mud? I'll try to remember to put the link for this piece in every update I do so people can check how it works fairly regularly.

TNQC and TNRC after Homestead

Well, going into the final weekend there were a couple of good storylines with my titles; could Jamie McMurray come from the clouds and pip his teammate for the QC? Could Kevin Harvick or Denny Hamlin do enough to knock off Jimmie Johnson in the RC?

Ultimately, Jamie Mac will be doing his best Captain Kirk impression of "Kaaaaaaaaaaaahne!" after the Washington Wonder stole maximum points in the final race, denying McMurray the four points he needed once Montoya bombed out. Carl Edwards was best of the rest with, in possibly the surprise of the year, AJ Allmendinger edging out Greg Biffle for 14th.

All up, 52 drivers scored points in qualifying (and three washouts)...and yes, I shall list them all. Congratulations to Juan Montoya and the #42 crew for, finally, shoving Johnson off his qualifying perch.

Juan Montoya was the qualifying master for 2010.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying championship - full field:
1 - Juan Montoya, 122 points (3 poles)
2 - Jamie McMurray, 119 points (4 poles)
3 - Kurt Busch, 101 points (2 poles)
4 - Ryan Newman, 95 points (1 pole)
5 - Kasey Kahne, 91 points (4 poles)
6 - Jimmie Johnson, 90 points (2 poles)
7 - Clint Bowyer, 88 points
=8 - Jeff Gordon, 79 points (1 pole)
=8 - Mark Martin, points (1 pole)
10 - Tony Stewart, 75 points (2 poles)
11 - David Reutimann, 74 points
12 - Kyle Busch, 67 points (2 poles)

13 - Carl Edwards, 807 points (3 poles)
14 - AJ Allmendinger, 677 points (1 pole)
15 - Greg Biffle, 640 points
16 - Martin Truex Jr, 606 points (1 pole)
17 - Joey Logano, 563 points (1 pole)
18 - Denny Hamlin, 515 points (2 poles)
19 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 487 points (1 pole)
20 - Jeff Burton, 465 points
21 - Paul Menard, 462 points
22 - Sam Hornish Jr, 415 points
23 - Matt Kenseth, 378 points
24 - Marcos Ambrose, 357 points
25 - Elliott Sadler, 348 points (1 pole)
26 - David Ragan, 320 points
27 - Brad Keselowski, 309 points (1 pole)
28 - Kevin Harvick, 285 points
29 - Regan Smith, 271 points
30 - Scott Speed, 199 points
31 - Casey Mears, 147 points
32 - Dave Blaney, 136 points
33 - Joe Nemechek, 130 points
34 - Bill Elliott, 96 points
35 - Reed Sorenson, 81 points
36 - Brian Vickers, 78 points
37 - Aric Almirola, 75 points
38 - Bobby Labonte, 69 points
39 - Michael McDowell, 41 points
40 - Jeff Fuller, 30 points
=41 - Boris Said, 12 points
=41 - Michael Waltrip, 12 points
=41 - JJ Yeley, 12 points
44 - Robby Gordon, 10 points
45 - Chad McCumbee, 9 points
46 - Landon Cassill, 6 points
=47 - David Gilliland, 3 points
=47 - Jeff Green, 3 points
=49 - Trevor Bayne, 1 point
=49 - Mike Bliss, 1 point
=49 - Patrick Carpentier, 1 point
=49 - Travis Kvapil, 1 point

Now for the RC. 48 drivers scored points...which was an omen in the end as, by dint of finishing ahead of his chief rivals, Jimmie secures the 2010 TNRC. Even allowing my 'half points' system to be scrapped and full points awarded every Chase race, he still would have done it so don't grumble about that. Like his teammate did in the QC, Matt Kenseth ran away in the end over Mark Martin for 13th. So congrats to Jimmie Johnson and the whole 48 team on, yet another, great year.

Jimmie Johnson racks up another RC.

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - full field:
1 - Jimmie Johnson, 138.5 points (6 wins)
2 - Kevin Harvick, 126 points (3 wins)
3 - Denny Hamlin, 117.5 points (8 wins)
4 - Carl Edwards, 82 points (2 wins)
5 - Greg Biffle, 81.5 points (2 wins)
6 - Clint Bowyer, 78 points (2 wins)
7 - Jamie McMurray, 72 points (3 wins)
8 - Tony Stewart, 69 points (2 wins)
9 - Kyle Busch, 64 points (3 wins)
10 - Kurt Busch, 55 points (2 wins)
11 - Jeff Gordon, 50 points
12 - Jeff Burton, 39 points

13 - Matt Kenseth, 762 points
14 - Mark Martin, 665 points
15 - Joey Logano, 643.5 points
16 - Juan Montoya, 611.5 points (1 win)
17 - Ryan Newman, 555.5 points (1 win)
18 - Kasey Kahne, 539.5 points
19 - David Reutimann, 519 points (1 win)
20 - AJ Allmendinger, 438.5 points
21 - Martin Truex Jr, 417.5 points
22 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 393 points
23 - Paul Menard, 384 points
24 - David Ragan, 286.5 points
25 - Marcos Ambrose, 264.5 points
26 - Brad Keselowski, 196 points
27 - Regan Smith, 189.5 points
28 - Sam Hornish Jr, 151 points
29 - Elliott Sadler, 143 points
30 - Scott Speed, 142.5 points
31 - Aric Almirola, 106.5 points
32 - Reed Sorenson, 102 points
33 - Brian Vickers, 99 points
34 - Robby Gordon, 75 points
35 - Mike Bliss, 51 points
36 - Bobby Labonte, 49.5 points
37 - Bill Elliott, 45 points
38 - Casey Mears, 28.5 points
39 - Trevor Bayne, 24 points
40 - David Gilliland, 16 points
41 - Boris Said, 15 points
=42 - Steve Park, 12 points
=42 - Ken Schrader, 12 points
44 - Kevin Conway, 9 points
45 - Jan Magnussen, 7.5 points
=46 - Patrick Carpentier, 6 points
=46 - Chad McCumbee, 6 points
48 - Hermie Sadler, 0.5 points

Thus endeth the 2010 TN titles...whether I tweak it in the offseason is up for debate.

Will he or won't he?

The 'he' in question being Mark Webber with the discussion being about, not the Championship funnily enough, what he will be doing in 2011.

Having stated the other day what everyone already knew (that being that the big wigs at Red Bull would prefer to see Vettel win the title if given the choice), he's now opened the way for further whispers about whether he will see out his contract with Red Bull next year in an interview with the BBC if you take the article title at face value.

Reading between the lines though, I'm not sure he's said anything out of the ordinary.

He's 34, coming towards the end of the shelf life for an F1 driver, has been having easily the best season of his career and, if he does what he did in May by taking two wins in the space of a week (Spain and Monaco), will be crowned World Champion in Abu Dhabi on November 14.

"Pressure? What pressure, mate? Oh, that..."

I mean, there is a substantial difference between being asked "why did you retire?" over "why didn't you retire?" and I'm not just talking about two letters and the apostrophe.

Rumours have been tossed around the Australian, despite signing a one year extension a few months ago; he's going to retire, he's replacing Felipe at Ferrari being the main two...but I don't believe he will do anything other than be plonking his butt behind the wheel of a Red Bull when the 2011 season starts in Bahrain next March.

This Aussie hopes it's with a '1' on the nosecone.

TNQC and TNRC after Lowe's

Jeff Gordon's been heading in the right direction from last post (ninth to fifth) while Kurt Busch appears to be in freefall (fourth to eighth) at the moment. After storming to his fourth pole position last week at Fontana, Jamie McMurray nips past his teammate at the top of the table while the only guy to win this title is seemingly lurking back in fourth with five rounds to go.

Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch get the nod over Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Ryan Newman respectively by dint of having more pole positions.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Chase field after 5 rounds:
1 - Jamie McMurray, 65 points
2 - Juan Montoya, 63 points
=3 - Kasey Kahne, 55 points
=3 - Jimmie Johnson, 55 points
5 - Jeff Gordon, 51 points
=6 - Kyle Busch, 48 points
=6 - Mark Martin, 48 points
=8 - Kurt Busch, 43 points
=8 - Ryan Newman, 43 points
10 - Tony Stewart, 38 points
11 - Clint Bowyer, 37 points
12 - David Reutimann, 27 points

The EGR duo are still the ones to beat at this stage.

With his front row effort at Lowe's, Carl Edwards sneaks out a bit of a lead over Martin Truex Jr for 13th while only AJ Allmendiger, Greg Biffle and Joey Logano seem to be the only other drivers capable of spoiling Carl's party.

To the RC then where, with back-to-back third place finishes, Jimmie Johnson extends his lead over Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin. The biggest movers though are the last two winners as Tony Stewart jumps up from 11th to sixth while Jamie McMurray now sits fourth. Again, like in the QC, Kurt Busch has dropped back from last time (from fifth to ninth).

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - Chase field after 5 rounds:
1 - Jimmie Johnson, 85.5 points
2 - Kevin Harvick, 68 points
3 - Denny Hamlin, 67 points
4 - Jamie McMurray, 53 points
5 - Kyle Busch, 45 points
6 - Tony Stewart, 43 points
7 - Greg Biffle, 40.5 points
8 - Clint Bowyer, 36 points
9 - Kurt Busch, 34.5 points
10 - Carl Edwards, 32 points
11 - Jeff Gordon, 31 points
12 - Jeff Burton, 28 points

Vader's got the inside line over the rest, headed up by Happy.

Matt Kenseth is still more than a race ahead of Juan Montoya for 13th but he needs to look behind him as Mark Martin and Joey Logano are closing in on the Columbian.

With five weekends left, both titles are still up for grabs...although the other guys better figure out a way to beat Jimmie in the RC if they want it to stay that way.

TNQC and TNRC after Kansas

I wonder what odds you would have been given that Loudon would be the most exciting race of the Chase...or would you have been laughed out the door?

Anyway, three weekends down and while it's a familiar name on top in the RC, it's EGR leading the way in the QC. Juan Montoya has been 'the man' thus far and has opened up a small lead over Jamie McMurray. Jimmie Johnson, who's had a stranglehold on this thing from when I first started it back in 2007, has been somewhat quiet and sits sixth.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Chase field after 3 rounds:
1 - Juan Montoya, 46 points
2 - Jamie McMurray, 41 points
3 - Kasey Kahne, 37 points
4 - Kurt Busch, 34 points
5 - Tony Stewart, 33 points
6 - Jimmie Johnson, 31 points
7 - Kyle Busch, 29 points
8 - Ryan Newman, 27 points
9 - Jeff Gordon, 26 points
10 - Clint Bowyer, 24 points
11 - Mark Martin, 22 points
12 - David Reutimann, 19 points

Carl Edwards is hanging on to 13th but AJ Allmendinger is making a charge. Truex, Biffle, Logano and Hamlin seem to be the only other ones capable of getting there.

To the RC where, despite having an ordinary day at New Hampshire, Johnson was back in the lead after his win a week later at Dover. The main reason was that, like I've done with all races under 400 miles in length, he only lost 10.5 points on the field rather than the full 20. The biggest loser compared to the real points has to be Jeff Gordon who is 9th in mine while Greg Biffle is the big winner and sits 4th. Also, Jamie McMurray is hanging on in 7th, not bad for a bloke who didn't actually make the official Chase.

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - Chase field after 3 rounds:
1 - Jimmie Johnson, 57.5 points
2 - Kevin Harvick, 48 points
3 - Denny Hamlin, 45 points
4 - Greg Biffle, 29.5 points
5 - Kurt Busch, 28.5 points
6 - Kyle Busch, 27 points
7 - Jamie McMurray, 26 points
8 - Carl Edwards, 23 points
9 - Jeff Gordon, 21 points
10 - Jeff Burton, 20 points
11 - Tony Stewart, 19 points
12 - Clint Bowyer, 15 points

It's not looking brilliant for the other 11 guys...but both Martinsville and Pheonix, while being good tracks for Jimmie, are also half pointers so we'll see. Outside the Chase, Matt Kenseth is looking good for 13th, more than a full race in front of Montoya in 14th.

And then there were three?

Well, one more GP has gone by and it would seem my my comment about the McLaren having the third best car is holding true. Not only was Hamilton dropping back from Alonso and Vettel, he also got jumped by Webber at the pitstops. While he did slice the gap down from eight to four seconds before the safety car, it was all for nothing as the duo collided on lap 34, leaving Lewis with a broken left rear suspension while Mark escaped with a banged up front right wheel (there was a decent gap between the tyre itself and the rim...see the picture below). Further proof of that was that, despite Jenson being in a perfectly good car, he still couldn't do anything with Webber's wounded Red Bull.

Webber's wheel after the contact...see the gap at the top of the rim? It should be flush with the sidewall.

Considering Lewis' mishap at Monza with his right front being broken from contact with Massa's Ferrari, one has to wonder if McLaren have sacrificed robustness in their quest to keep up the pace of development...

Anyway, the table now sees Webber holding an 11 point gap over the hard charging Alonso, with Hamilton another nine behind that. Vettel and Button are still hanging in, being 21 and 25 points off Mark's tally. Meanwhile, Red Bull have pulled a bit of a gap over McLaren in the Constructors' Championship, with Ferrari really needing Felipe to step it up if they want to make it a three way tussle.

With just four races to go (three if Korea isn't ready in time), Webber is hanging on pretty well. He might not be winning, but he's still scoring decent points and they guys behind him keep swapping places so he's padding to his lead...but Alonso is coming fast and is, quite possibly, in better form now than what saw him claim back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006. The wildcard is probably Hamilton who, after saying his chances were looking bleak, doesn't really have anything to lose.

If Webber can pull it off, it will be an amazing turnaround from 2009. Leaving Hungary second in the standings, he then went four races in a row without scoring a point. With Japan being the last of those, and considering how mighty the Red Bull was there last year in Vettel's hands, he's well on his way to banishing that stretch of races from his mind having gone second, sixth and third in the same three races this year.

Still anyone's title...but McLaren appear to be starting to fade a touch.

A belated 2010 Winter Olympics post

Ok, first things first; yes, this post is some six months after the fact but I was hoping this particular day would come. See, there was a display here which had the Olympic medals and people were allowed to get up close and personal with them. Also, klv requested this and after the F1 fiasco last week, I thought I'd better pull my finger out and do this ASAP.

So, without further interruption, here's my experience of the 2010 Games from an Abbotsford perspective. Unlike the Sydney Games back in 2000, I was close enough to the host city to feel the vibe this time...and besides, I like the Winter Games more anyway.

At the time, I was working at the airport so we got a pretty good feel of both the Olympics and Paralympics. Not only did we get a brand new FBO (fixed base operator) that processed the private jets that came in, we also had a few 'names' pop by (the Governator, Vice President of Russia, hockey players, that kind of thing). February 28 was the busiest day, airspace-wise, in this regions history; Abbotsford processed some 80 jets alone.

She was a busy Sunday at YXX.

How we kept track of the planes expected at the FBO.

The torch swung by a few times, although the official torch relay date was February 7. I believe there was some small gridiron game played on that day as well but this was far more cooler. The airport itself got to see the torch a further two times, and yes we all got our pikkies taken with it. The torchhad a funky little maple leaf engraved on the side but none of the pictures I took of it really turned out very well so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Yes, that is an Australian National Ice Hockey jersey...and yes, it was worn to work a few times.

I had no idea I was at a changeover point until the bearer on the right turned up.

As far as Vancouver goes, I ventured in on the 20th to soak in the atmosphere...mighty glad I did since the buzz in the host city was amazing. Rather ordinary timing from me however as that was the one day Canada didn't win a medal. I suppose I could say I was one of the rare people to experience the Olympic rings in their typical blue colour rather than lighting up whichever colour medal Canada had won.

Downtown Vancouver during the Games.

The Olympic rings from across the water.

The first day people were allowed to get close to the flame.

Which brings us round circle to today where I was fortunate enough to get a photo of me with a gold medal...alas, that didn't bring Australia's tally up by one but frankly, I don't care. According to the little fact sheet I picked up today, 615 medals were handed out at the Olympics and 399 for the Paralympics.

Gold to Austral...wait, what do you mean 'no'?

All in all, the two months went by pretty well. It was both Australia's and Canada's most successful games in history and we got a ripsnorter of a hockey match as a finale...Sochi in 2014 has a bit to live up to.