photo by Bob Jennings

Hello again. It's been a while. How was Thanksgiving, Christmas and the holiday season? Was Santa Claus good to you? Did you fill precious days with family and friends, creating new memories and traditions? Did you eat too much and drink more than you should? Did you spend too much money? Was it like old times? Did you sing the old tunes? Did brightly colored treasures from the past materialize in your mind as you moved from the traditional holiday turkey feast with family through gifts by the tree to toasting in the new year?

Winter 2004 reminds me of the frigid seasons I endured in the early days of each year, before global warming brought endless January and February days and nights with constant, dreary rain and forty plus degree temperatures (it was nearly always like that on Sunday afternoons). This season I'm talking about as much as ten below zero and as little as a constant bone chilling cold combined with snow slick streets, crowded with slow moving traffic struggling to and from work. I always pay close attention to the car directly ahead for fear of sliding helplessly into the rear bumper. Making an insurance claim in this era of accountability and reluctant acceptance of risk by the financial sector is a risk itself.  

Perhaps the environment is restoring itself and we are returning to a Mother Nature who isn't coughing as much as she used to from aerosol deodorant and hair spray in the atmosphere. Even if that positive is real, I don't like the extreme cold. I am older. My blood is thinner. I feel it a lot more than I used to.    

On some of these cold nights, the sub zero air is clear and when I look to the sky, the stars reveal themselves brightly amidst a dark (almost navy blue - like this website) backdrop. I see an occasional skinny coyote in my headlights in the local area where I live. The creature stares directly at my automobile as it interrupts the difficult search for food. Although I haven't yet heard reports of coyotes attacking humans in Indiana, whenever I see one I feel uncomfortable.

Where do all the coyotes come from? I heard them howl on nights when it was warm enough to open the second story bedroom window. It created an ominous sense about the night. It filled my head with black and white images of the classic 1940s Lon Chaney Jr. "Wolfman" film from Universal studios.  

Jimmy B's (Home Place tavern), at the corner of 106th Street and College Avenue, in southern Hamilton County, Indiana, is like a lighthouse on a stormy New England coast, a beacon that welcomes me on the way home from work. The snow swirls and the windows at my favorite bar are frosted. I shiver before I open the door.

The Indiana Pacers win the game shown on many of the TV sets which line the walls at Jimmy B's. A NASCAR replay is showing on other screens. The place is cozy. I enjoy the smoky, working class atmosphere that permeates my neighborhood spot. There are pool tables, dart boards, food, drink, women with soft, round curves and other people at Jimmy B's. It's a sometime shelter from the stark reality of life.

So far it's been a terrific season going into the NBA all star break. The Pacers are 39-14, which is best in the NBA at this point of the current NBA campaign. Who would have anticipated the Indiana Pacers would have the number one record in the NBA back in 1978? I used to drive down from Chicago in the middle of the week and nearly every weekend to see Bobby Leonard's band of "no names" fight on a week to week basis to remain in the league.

There weren't many people at Market Square Arena back then. Ricky Sobers, Johnny Davis, James Edwards, Alex English, Mike Bantom, Clemon Johnson and Corky Calhoun, these guys fought to a 38-44 season in 1978-79 and remain my all time favorite Pacers team. How they did it and how many payrolls they missed have to remain among the legends of modern sport. How many Friday nights I sat behind one of the baskets for $8.50, close enough to hear the players talk trash and see sweat falling off these guys in buckets while they performed "big man's ballet," I can't count. There were a lot of them.

But Slick and Nancy Leonard, with help from the folks at F.C. Tucker, persisted through the lean years of the Pacers' early NBA history. After a couple years of Sam Nassi's absentee California ownership, the Simons bought the franchise in 1983, saved it for Indianapolis and persisted in the quest for success on the basketball court and at the box office.

By 1994, under coach Larry Brown, with a team led by Reggie Miller, Rick Smits, Dale Davis, Antonio Davis and Mark Jackson, the Pacers became a perennial playoff contender. Ten years later, the Pacers with Larry Bird, coach Rick Carlisle, Jermaine O'Neal, Ron Artest, Al Herrington, Reggie Miller, Jamaal Tinsley and the gang have the best record in the NBA. The Indiana Pacers are also now among the elite franchises in the National Basketball Association.

Yes that's correct. The team from "Naptown" or "India-no place" is one of the four or five top franchises in the National Basketball Association.

I even saw a celebrity (I think it was a legendary rap artist. I don't know the name.) wearing a white Pacer cap with dark blue pin stripes, during one of those Super Bowl shows presented a couple weeks ago.     

I was a Pacers fanatic from late 1977 through late 1984, when I was back in Indianapolis and could go to as many Pacers games as I wanted. After Clark Kellogg went down with injuries, I lost interest and never regained the zeal from twenty years ago. But I am still proud of the home team. Ticket prices no longer fit my budget but I try to watch parts of most of the games and I follow the wins and losses - which have been very few this time - so far.

Perhaps it's wishful thinking, considering the imbalance between the Eastern and Western Conference teams. However could this be the year the Indiana Pacers make it one step farther than their appearance against the Lakers in the 2000 NBA championship series? 

It's school time again. I try to learn ASP.Net via an Internet class offered by IUPUI. That takes time and work absorbs my days (and sometimes nights - thankfully) Monday through Friday. But I usually feel lonely and insecure in the forced solitude my life has become since my wife and I stopped living together.

Saturday mornings are good though. I can waste time, play two exciting games from EA Sports, F1 Challenge '99-'02 and NASCAR Thunder 2004, on the computer I purchased in December, on which I am writing these words. I easily spend hours at a time playing racing simulations. I wish I could get the latest IndyCar Series game from Codemasters set up properly. The graphics are good on the Codemasters software but so far I haven't had any luck trying to play it, whether I use my Logitech Momo wheel (and pedals) or the keypad.

Any suggestions or help will be appreciated.

Racing can't come soon enough for me. I'm ready to focus my camera on a crack in the track surface in anticipation of catching a race car on film as it passes by at 200 (plus) miles per hour in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Recently we had a taste of Indy car racing with the open testing at Miami-Homestead Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway and it increases my anticipation for what lies ahead in coming weeks and months.

I'll discuss the speeds in these tests as we get closer to the 2004 Indy Racing League season opener two weeks from tomorrow. But these stats produce some interesting speculation as the new season looms. Go Tomas Scheckter!

Indy Racing League open test - January 28, 2004 - Miami Homestead Speedway - session one

Indy Racing League open test - January 28, 2004 - Miami Homestead Speedway - session two

Indy Racing League open test - January 29, 2004 - Miami Homestead Speedway - session one

Indy Racing League open test - January 29, 2004 - Miami Homestead Speedway - session two

Indy Racing League open test - February 11, 2004 - Phoenix International Raceway - session one

Indy Racing League open test - February 11, 2004 - Phoenix International Raceway - session two

Indy Racing League open test - February 12, 2004 - Phoenix International Raceway - session one

Indy Racing League open test - February 12, 2004 - Phoenix International Raceway - session two

Daytona Speed Weeks are here and the "Daytona 500" will be run tomorrow.

I always pay close attention to the "Great American Race" in February. However NASCAR's biggest event and season opening show in no way approaches the greatness of earlier years, despite all the money and attention thrown at it. Frankly I am of the opinion the "Brickyard 400" is as big a deal as Daytona in February these days.

Speaking of the "Daytona 500" versus the "Brickyard 400", let's take on Jerry Bonkowski. Bonkowski is a regular NASCAR contributor to the ESPN racing website and wrote a recent piece in which he suggested a schedule revamp to go along with the new "playoff" format to determine the Nextel Cup champion in 2004. Bonkowski has always been a Tony Stewart "cheerleader." So I won't jump on him too hard. But when I read the following words from this NASCAR beat writer, I wondered what planet he has been occupying for the past 100 years:

"Race No. 27 (9 to go): Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. How can you not have a true, legitimate "Chase" without arguably the second-most popular event and racetrack on the schedule? The aura and excitement of Indianapolis, coupled with close to 200,000 fans in the stands would be the perfect way to kick off the 10-race "Chase."

Admittedly some of the novelty and enthusiasm for the "Brickyard 400" has waned in recent years. Last August I paid $30.00 for an $80.00 ticket to the tenth "Brickyard 400." But the crowd at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the annual NASCAR race is still the second largest assemblage (next to the "Indianapolis 500") in the entire world of motor sports. The crowd at the "Brickyard 400" is twice as large as the crowd for the "Great American Race" at Daytona International Speedway. The only NASCAR crowd within 100,000 people of the number of people who attend the "Brickyard 400" are the 210,000 who attend the annual NASCAR Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Hey Bonkowski, get a clue. If only "close to 200,000 fans" show up for the "Brickyard 400," than they will be lucky if close to 100,000 people show up at Daytona for the "Great American Race" (my ass) on the 15th.

By the way I understand there are a large number of tickets to be sold at Daytona. The place looked more empty than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 11, 2003 for "Indianapolis 500" pole day, last Sunday February 8 when Greg Biffle won the pole for tomorrow's race. There were a lot of empty seats when I saw video footage of the two 125 qualifying races and that's unusual.

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Motorsportwriter@MSN.com. 

They ruined the "Daytona 500" when carburetor restrictor plates were introduced for the 1988 race. Since that time, the event has evolved into an aero exercise where its more important to have a good drafting partner than a fast car. The "Cup" machines gasp for air and horsepower at Daytona. I can even feel it when I play the EA Sports game.

All you had to do was watch the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona on February 7 (when it appeared a great crowd showed up under the lights) to understand what I am referring to. Dale Jarrett used the "aero" advantage to the maximum to win the 26th annual NASCAR race for the previous season's Cup pole winners, which was presented on prime time by NBC. It was a farce, not that Jarrett won, but rather because the determination came down to the number 88 UPS Ford being bumped to the checkered flag by Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Is that really racing? 

In my view, the final genuine "Daytona 500" occurred in February 1987 when Bill Elliott qualified 210 mph in Harry Melling's Coors Light Ford Thunderbird number 9. Bill along with brothers Ernie and Dan spent months building the red, white and gold T-bird for the family's third consecutive pole position in NASCAR's biggest event. Then "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville" proceeded to kick the ass of each and every competitor in one of the most straight fights in "Daytona 500" history, for his second victory in three years.

Bill Elliott is only doing part time duty for Ray Evernham and Dodge in 2004. I can't believe the Georgian is skipping the "Daytona 500," the scene of two of his greatest victories. When Elliott walked away with the 1985 "Daytona 500," he became an instant hero in much the same way Jeff Gordon emerged after his win in the inaugural "Brickyard 400" in 1994. 

I saw ads on TV, pitching tickets for the 2004 "Daytona 500" only a few days ago. Yes okay. I know they were still pushing tickets for the 87th "Indianapolis 500" on race morning and there were something like 12,000 tickets that went unsold. I am also aware many seats are still available for the 88th "Indianapolis 500." But there are more than 300,000 permanent seats at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There are something like 150,000 to 175,000 seats at Daytona International Speedway and it's NASCAR.

Perhaps with all the playoff points system crap NASCAR has come up with and the ever increasing cost to attend all of the events, the bloom is beginning to come off the rose. That may not be true but I think everyone realizes times are tough all over the "world o' racing" in 2004.

However a recent news item on the ESPN racing website reported "posted awards" for the "Daytona 500" will be $15,972,313, which is up from $14,030,129 paid for the 2003 race with "at least" $1.39 million going to the winner. The 87th "Indianapolis 500" paid a total purse exceeding $10 million. So much for that comparison; we lose another one to NASCAR.

NBC will broadcast a huge show business extravaganza from Daytona International Speedway immediately preceding the 46th edition of the "Great American Race." President Bush is scheduled to attend the "Daytona 500." The president's dad and Bill Clinton both came to the 87th "Indianapolis 500" and former president Gerald Ford was at the 1979 "500." We haven't yet had a sitting president at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on race day in May however.

I guess things ain't too tough down south are they? It's still cold in the Midwest however. 

Fans of the CART series are happy but supporters of the Indy Racing League (like yours truly) felt like it was snowing in Judge Frank Otte's federal courtroom in Indianapolis on January 28.

Score one for CART. Congratulations Matt Mora!

However CART fans, before you pop the cork on your bottle of champagne, let's take a closer look at what happened at the recent bankruptcy hearing in Indianapolis and also analyze the prospects for survival as OWRS tries to resuscitate the moribund concept of Indy car racing that your beloved series tried to force upon the "world o' racing." 

During the weekend preceding Judge Otte's ruling in favor of the new group known as OWRS in the hearing to liquidate the assets of Championship Auto Racing Teams, I did some friendly Internet sparring with a CART supporter from Frankfort, Indiana.

From this fan's emails, it is obvious he is a dedicated racing fan. But this enthusiastic "racer" has a deep resentment towards Tony George. It appears he has come to grips with current trends and now travels to Indy Racing League events and realizes the death of CART style racing is imminent, but he still tussled with me (in a congenial manner however. I liked him) over Indy car issues with the conviction of his feelings.

We argued about relative attendance figures at CART and Indy Racing League events. My email companion had a pretty good understanding of what has evolved in Indy car racing, but his relative crowd counts were mostly pro CART spin. I tried to enlighten him, but I realized he was in denial like many CART fans so I let it go.   

But here's the real world for all the "CART-isans" clinging to hope against hope their beloved series will survive. CART is dead just like I predicted more than two years ago on this website.

The only big time CART event in the United States is the street race in Long Beach. The permanent road racing venues at Road America, Mid Ohio, Laguna Seca and Portland have seen crowds for CART races decline on a continuous basis for the past five years. Although my recent email acquaintance claimed 40,000 for CART's night race last June at the Milwaukee Mile, oval racing has become an ever decreasing component of the series mix as the Indy Racing League steals one venue after another from CART much like John Frasco stole races for Roger Penske and Pat Patrick from the United States Auto Club in 1979 and 1980.

When I watched the 1996 "Indianapolis 500," I realized the fledgling Indy Racing League was going to emerge the winner in the struggle for power between the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Championship Auto Racing Teams. Actually it's been more a situation where CART killed itself rather than anything Tony George and the IRL did. The arrogance and egos ran wild in CART for so many years in their metro Detroit offices, while George and company followed a consistent, methodical approach to growing their series.

Eventually the prevailing powers in CART realized their series was doomed. Why do you think Roger Penske, the founding father for CART and driving force behind the series, abandoned ship after the 2001 season? Do you think it was because Marlboro told Penske to go to the IRL? Hell no! Penske desperately wanted to return to the "Indianapolis 500." He understood the forces that were tearing the foundation of his "brainchild" apart. Penske, Chip Ganassi and Carl Haas were savvy enough to unload their CART stock before the public relations nightmare which followed the race day cancellation at Texas Motor Speedway in April 2001.

By then Toyota already knew they wanted to be at the "Indianapolis 500" more than they wanted to race in CART. After Chip Ganassi won the 2000 "Indianapolis 500" with Juan Montoya, there was no way the Target team wouldn't be an annual entrant in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. When Toyota and Penske made the switch to the IRL, it was only a matter of time before Chip Ganassi made the move too. With Toyota leaving CART for the Indy Racing League, that was enough to induce Honda to jump from CART.

After that, it was inevitable the delicate house of cards that was CART would come tumbling down. 

Roger Penske predicted in March 2002, at the Indy Racing League opening event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, CART would be gone within twenty-four months. Obviously "the Captain" was premature in his forecast. CART lives on thanks to the tenacious efforts of Jerry Forsythe, Paul Gentilozzi and Kevin Kalkhoven to keep the dream alive.

Like I to wrote my "CART friend from Frankfort, Indiana," the efforts of Forsythe, Gentilozzi and Kalkhoven remind me a lot of Tony George in his tenacity to keep the Indy Racing League going during those early years when the racing media and many of the major competitors were solidly lined up against him. In the early years, only General Motors, Nissan and ABC (and even the relationship between the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Disney people was strained by early 1999) stood by Tony George, along with A.J. Foyt, Eddie Cheever, John Menard, Tom Kelley, Ron Hemelgarn, John Barnes and Gary Pedigo of course.

In the late 1990s, I used to do battle every two weeks, in the letters to the editor section of the late great magazine On Track, with arrogant CART fans about the relative merits of the two series competing for Indy car racing supremacy. I can still remember the names of some of the arrogant CART fans who spit on the Indy Racing League. The "CART-isans" had a lot of fun poking fun at the IRL.

Hey "CART-isans" are you still laughing? How did it feel to watch your creator Roger Penske bolt from your series? What did you think when Toyota, Chip Ganassi and Honda flew the coop? What about Texas Motor Speedway in April 2001?    

My email "companion" from Frankfort, Indiana was proud of the crowds CART draws to Mexico, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. If Paul Tracy ever runs with the Indy Racing League, the crowds in Canada would be as big or bigger than anything CART (a.k.a. OWRS) will produce in 2004. If Adrian Fernandez runs with the IRL in Mexico, my series will surpass the crowds you boast about. That's reality.   

CART is doomed! It's over. The OWRS will spend $50 million, maybe even $75 million to keep the dream alive. But the struggle to put eighteen cars on the grid of each race will be intense. The money CART (sorry OWRS) will have to pay to CBS or Spike (what the hell is Spike?) to show races on TV will drain these guys like they are probably already realizing today.

By August, the following things will occur. Forsythe, Gentilozzi and Kalkhoven will either begin to second guess their mission to keep CART going or the OWRS business partners will begin leaving for the Indy Racing League in 2005. Immediately after Judge Otte's ruling, Gentilozzi boasted he had signed Road America and Laguna Seca for 2004. That's for 2004 only "CART-isans."

In the meantime, you can be certain the IRL will be talking to some of the people at traditional CART venues for next year. The Indy Racing League plans a twenty race schedule in 2005, with the new races to be on road circuits or street layouts. If you were Dover Downs and had to decide which racing series had the best potential for success in the Long Beach race, CART or the IRL, which now has most of the CART principals anyway, which direction would you go? The same thing can be said for Mexico City, Toronto, Montreal, any place you want to bring up.

It's been obvious to me from almost the beginning. There was no way Championship Auto Racing Teams was going to survive against the might of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and they didn't. As determined as Forsythe, Gentilozzi and Kalkhoven proclaim themselves to be, one year from now, they will either bail and take whatever money Tony George offers them or else most of their business partners will have abandoned them.  

Sorry "CART-isans," I know you hate him but you aren't going to whip Tony George and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in this battle. "Cause there's no escape from the Rajahs of Erase."

Dave Despain has been around the world of motor sport for several years. I can remember when he was one of the on the scene reporters at NASCAR races for Motor Racing Network (MRN) radio. Despain's four times weekly Wind Tunnel call in program has become the number one presentation on cable channel Speed TV. Recently Despain offered an interesting commentary on the Speed TV website regarding ways for the Indy Racing League to enhance the popularity of the series.

Despain's commentary was insightful and mirrors what I have been thinking, writing and saying for years. Let me share the commentary with you:

"A while back a viewer wondered how USAC feels about sending it's top drivers to NASCAR instead of the Indy 500? So I asked USAC president Rollie Helmling. He said, "We just want to be certain our guys have a chance to go somewhere." I'll tell you what, I'd LOVE to be writing Rollie's recruiting commercials...something like:

Recognize these names? Ryan Newman - Jeff Gordon - Tony Stewart - Mike Bliss - Sure you do! They're USAC graduates! In the last ten years, no other organization has produced more championship winners and leading contenders in NASCAR...the richest, best attended and most watched form of racing in American history. Where do you want to go with YOUR career. Join the United States Auto Club.

Hey, it's hard to top a pitch like that, so I'm probably about to start barking at the moon here, but I continue to believe that American open-wheel racers deserve career alternatives. So I'll suggest to Tony George a wise, long-term investment for that $13.5 million he didn't spend last week buying CART's assets.

First, Tony, fine the IRL a million bucks for letting J.J. Yeley get away. NASCAR's next rising star - instead of yours - was sitting right there in Indy, under your nose, with "next Jeff Gordon" written all over him, and you let him move to Charlotte. Send that million dollar fine to Danny Sullivan, in appreciation for his effort to get an American driver into that big race you run in September.

Next, take half-a-million bucks, rent some cars and run a week-long Brickyard audition for Lonnie Adamson, Teddy Beach, A.J. Davis, Jay Drake, Aaron Fike, Nevin George, Bud Kaeding, Boston Reid, Dave Steele, Tyler Walker and Josh Wise. Understand this is a quick-and-dirty list. It started as a dozen names. I took Aaron Fike's brother A.J. off when he cut an ARCA deal, another promising young American open-wheel racer gone over to the tin-top dark side. I also left off kids from the CART ladder system, fearing threats against my family if I even SUGGEST that one of them set foot in an IRL car. If you take this idea to heart, Tony, we can tweak the entry list.

How will the test work? Well, in return for that million, we'll let Sullivan write the rules, and if you're short on judges, I'll help out for free. Bottom line is to identify a Top Three...based on character, charisma, commitment, and lap time.

You should then split the remaining $12 million three ways...spend $4 million each to provide this trio with a decent two-year I-R-L ride, a dedicated PR person, and a promotional campaign designed to introduce these kids to the American public, and to convince as many people as possible to go buy a ticket to watch them race.

Tony, no one has a greater stake than you in the ongoing debate over the ticket-selling appeal of American drivers. It's time to forget about killing CART...time to spend your money adding more spectator appeal to the Indy Racing League.

That's my take...I'd like to hear yours."

"In the beginning
We could hang with the dude
But it's been too much of nothing
Of that stank attitude
Now they curse your name
And there's a bounty on your face
It's your own fault daddy
GodWhacker's on the case

We track your almighty ass
Thru seven heaven-worlds
Me, Slinky Redfoot
And our trusty angel-girls
And when the stars bleed out
That be the fever of the chase
You better get gone poppie
GodWhacker's on the case

Be very very quiet
Clock everything you see
Little things might matter later
At the start of the end of history

Climb up the glacier
Across bridges of light
We sniff you, Big Tiger
In the forest of the night
'Cause there's no escape
From the Rajahs of Erase
You better run run run
GodWhacker's on the case

Be very very quiet
Clock everything you see
Little things might matter later
At the start of the end of history

Yes we are the GodWhackers
Who rip and chop and slice
For crimes beyond imagining
It's time to pay the price
You better step back son
Give the man some whackin' space
You know this might get messy
GodWhacker's on the case"
 

"Godwhacker" from the cd "Everything Must Go" Reprise Records, as written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen and recorded by Steely Dan.