TBK-Light.com

PT put some meat on the bones of this one on Gold - Petro Canada and Honda would be backing Hinch financially to buy a chassis from Schmidt and source some old Forsythe equipment.

_________________
Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

Anyway, after all of that chatter, Hinch is definitely staying put.

https://www.autosport.com/indycar/news/ ... dycar-seat

_________________
Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

2020 Schedule will be released this afternoon

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Some chatter going around that Ganassi could reform the third car to keep the IMSA team employed


Sent from my Z797C using Tapatalk

Foyt loses ABC after this year.

schedule news:
Barber stays at the first of April - probably a good thing to give some space for fans doing the double with Talladega, also gets it out of Tornado season
CoTA takes over Barber's old date slot in late April
Richmond returns - race will run on June 27th / mirroring the original race weekend from 2001-2009
Mid Ohio moves to mid August due to the Olympics
TV schedule basically the same

known supports:
St. Petersburg
IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup USA
Pirelli GT4 Americas - Sprint
TC Americas

Barber
IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup USA
IMSA Lamborghini Super Trofeo

Long Beach
IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship
Pirelli GT4 Americas - SprintX
SPEED Energy Stadium Super Trucks
Formula Drift
Historic Atlantics

IMS
Freedom 100 - Indy Lights

Detroit
IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship

Texas
NASCAR Trucks

Toronto
IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Canada
IMSA Lamborghini Super Trofeo

Gateway
NASCAR Trucks

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Tickets are already on advance sale for Richmond

prices are the following:
upper rows - $40
lower rows - $30
Party Deck - $25 (must be 21 or older)


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bummer about Pocono, hopefully IndyCar adds another track (or returns) up there for 2021 / ASAP

ABC Supply will still be on Foyt's cars (or just one of them?) at the Indy 500 but that is it.

Regardless, the team plan on running 2 cars next year.

https://racer.com/2019/09/01/foyt-vows- ... y-backing/

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Not sure there's been any sort of explanation given from Indycar's side as to why Pocono is gone. From what Miller was writing around the time of this year's race, the track management wanted to do a deal but Indycar were not interested.

I hope it isn't a safety thing as that could set a bad precedent. What happens if (when?) the next car gets into the fence at Indy or Texas?

_________________
Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

other than the chicken wire / gate fix following the big shunts, shouldn't be due to safety

more so on the costs for teams end ($500k at least to run Pocono alone according to Bobby Rahal) apparently is one of the reasons sadly

with ABC pulling out from Foyt, the race presumably would have lost it's title sponsor as well

Pocono was still on until last Thursday - teams didn't want to add a extra race due to engine lease costs
https://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2019/ ... -thursday/

That just sucks even more.

Losing Pocono in favour of Richmond is a poor trade. The racing at Richmond was always poor from what I remember as it's a single groove track where you can't pass anyone unless they let you past.

Maybe with the new car it will be better than before, Have to wait & see I guess.

The earlier IRL races at Richmond were actually pretty good from what I remember. They got pretty awful during the later days of the '03-'07 crapwagon era however. I'm cautiously optimistic about the IR18 working better there and making it more like Iowa which has been amazing with the IR18 in my opinion.

Iowa:
D-shaped oval
Length 0.875 mi (1.4 km)
Turns 4
Banking Turns: 12°-14°
Frontstretch: 10°
Backstretch: 4°

Richmond:
Length 0.75 mi (1.21 km)
Turns 4
Banking 14° in turns
8° on frontstretch
2° on backstretch

It should be very similar...

Richmond is much more narrow, and Iowa is progressively banked thus giving a extra couple grooves

I'll say Richmond will be more like Gateway rather than Iowa

another thing to remember with Richmond tho when looking in the past was that the final years was in the ultra crapwagon stupid high DF / high drag / low horse era, track is much more abrasive now & cars have 200+ more horse as well


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I'm optimistic about the racing product, but every race next year is a question mark as the aeroscreen is putting a shit ton more load on the right front given the 50 pound + higher CoG add

Richmond is a totally different track from Iowa. The exit of Turn 2 at Iowa is open so you can stay with the car in front. The banking at Richmond falls off and you can't get within 7 tenths because of aero push.

I hope the current car can race well there. I wouldn't get my hopes up.

_________________
Follow me on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/135625678@N06/

Richmond's surface is super abrasive. NASCAR races there have enormous tire wear. Curious to see how that translates to the IndyCar guys.

That's why I'm holding out hope it won't suck like Phoenix and will be more similar to Iowa, simply because there won't be enough grip to let them just keep their foot in it. Cars might slip and slide enough for mistakes to be common and tire wear to be enough of a factor that we see comers and goers.

I got a feeling most of the teams will be fighting tight & burning the right front off with the aeroscreen - not just Richmond but all tracks, still a big wildcard that we won't know fully until October

hope if that's the case they can get some of the weight re-adjusted on the rear, or cut some weight off elsewhere

Jesus Christ Indycar, you're back to only one 500 miler again and your ONLY other Super Speedway is the roulette wheel in Texas.

Indycar belongs on the big Super Speedways just as much as it does the bull rings and road courses. Losing Pocono over engine leases is idiotic, and so is Miles' vehement opposition to running longer into the season. Break up this back-to-back-to-back race nonsense and give the guys a break. End the season somewhere in mid to late October, especially if you're OK with 18 races.

Bastards... I've lost Nazareth and now Pocono. I can't drive to Richmond and back in the same day which eliminates any possibility of going with my parents... A little family tradition we've done for as long as we've had a race to go to. 5 years at Nazareth (first Indycar race ever) and all 6 at Pocono.

Sorry... Just pissed.

Let us not pretend the racing was any good at Pocono either, aside from batshit crazy restarts where the drivers were so desperate to pass they did stupid, stupid things.

_________________
RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

Mailbag titbits;

-ABC Supply will only be sponsoring the #14 at the Indy 500 next year.
-The downsizing of the sponsorship appears to be the result of new corporate leadership wanting to leave their mark.
-"Right now (McLaren's drivers are) anyone’s guess except I’ll bet you all the money I can borrow from Bobby Unser that Hinch won’t be there." - what's more interesting is that the letter this was in response to was written after Sunday's race, and therefore after Schmidt's proclamation that Hinch was staying put.

_________________
Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.