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TURNING LEFT: NASCAR & Formula One
By Charlie O. Mallonee March 29, 2009 |
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The Martinsville Paperclip Does Not Disappoint NASCAR’s oldest and smallest track proved it is worthy to be a part of the series once again on Sunday. The paperclip shaped track challenged the divers and provided first-class racing excitement. Weather was major enemy all weekend in Virginia. Qualifying was rained out and the cars started according to driver points. That placed the top drivers at the front of the pack to start the race on a green track. The weekend was dominated by a celebration of the first Rick Hendrick Team win 25 years ago at Martinsville. A win by a Hendrick driver would have been the perfect ending to the celebration but might just be too much too ask. Jimmie Johnson did not think a Hendrick win was too much ask for and came home first in the 500-lap event. Johnson had to pull off a tough and dangerous pass of Denny Hamlin on Lap 485 in order to win. Hamlin had executed an aggressive and well-executed pass of Johnson on a restart just a few laps earlier. The race featured long racing periods broken up by 12 caution periods for a total of 63 laps. Seven different divers led the race that featured 13 lead changes. Denny Hamlin led the most laps with 296 laps in P1. After his aggressive pass of Johnson on lap 456, the race appeared to be his to win, but Johnson would not go away. Johnson’s win in the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 was his 41st NASCAR Sprint Cup victory in 251 races. It was Johnson’s sixth win at Martinsville. Jeff Gordon had a nice run on Sunday and appeared to be ready to end his winless streak. In the end, Gordon finished fourth and remains in the points lead for the Sprint Cup. Denny Hamlin’s second-place finish was his third top-10 posting of the season. Hamlin is now fifth in the point standings. Tony Stewart had another good race. The co-owner of the Stewart-Haas team finished third in Martinsville and now stands seventh in the point standings. Joey Logano was the top finishing rookie posting a 32nd finish. Up next is the high speed, high-banked slot-car track known as the Texas Motor Speedway.
Formula 1 Down Under Reporters Note: This reporter discontinued coverage of F1 racing when the group pulled out of the U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis. At this time, the group is still governed by Bernie Ecclestone. Ecclestone is still the same boorish and egotistical tyrant that he has always been as F1’s leader. Three things have changed to cause me to resume covering the circuit at this time: 1) The owners of F1 racing teams have organized and may well form their own governing body in the near future. I do not want to miss covering the fall of Ecclestone and the rise of a new F1. 2) A group has been formed in the United States that plans to operate a two-car team in F1 in 2010. U.S. Grand Prix Engineering appears to be very serious about running the F1 series next season. That seemed to be a monumental task until the Brawn-Virgin racing team captured P1 and P2 in their first race at Albert Park. 3) I love F1 despite its flaws and miss covering the sport. The 2009 Formula One season began on Sunday in Melbourne. From the beginning to the end, no one would have been able to predict what would happen because what happened should not have happened! F1 has been hit by the worldwide recession, as has every other sport. Honda decided to pull out of the series and sold its racing operations to a group headed by Ross Brawn. On Saturday before qualifying, Brawn announced that Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Empire would become the team’s chief sponsor. That news alone would have made the team a winner for the weekend, but the Brawn team was not finished making news. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, Brawn’s drivers, went out and qualified one–two for the event in Albert Park. To say the F1 world was shocked would be an understatement, but Button and Barrichello were not finished creating surprises. F1 made some major technical rule changes to create more nose to tail racing and eliminate the runaway races that had become so commonplace. The major changes came in aerodynamic modifications to the front and rear wings. Button charged away when the green flag dropped while Barrichello had a near-stall as he tried to pull away and that created a major scrum for the cars heading into Turn 1. While Button stayed out front, the rest of the field was changing positions like midget racers on a Saturday night. Button had increased his lead to almost 48 seconds when Kazuki Nakajima put his Williams into wall on Lap 19. After major delay in dispatching the safety car, officials then left the car on the circuit until Lap 24 for some unknown reason. Button’s entire lead was erased because of the caution period. Button managed to keep and improve his lead while the rest of the field jockeyed for position. Late in the race on lap 55, Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, and Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, touched and spun. The incident caused the Safety Car to make another appearance. After the incident, the field reassembled and Barrichello found himself in second position. Jarno Trulli, in a Toyota, managed to take over P3. Both drivers were surprised to be in position for a podium finish. Barrichello’ s front wing was damaged on the lap 1 incident. The Brawn/Virgin driver had struggled to just stay in the field until the nose could be changed out. The Toyota’s were made to go to the rear of the field due to a post-qualifying rear wing violation. Both Toyotas started from pit road. Trulli brought his car home third but was penalized for a Safety Car period violation and was dropped to 12th. Defending world champion, Lewis Hamilton, finished fourth but was awarded the P3 podium result. Button and Barrichello came home one-two in their Mercedes powered racers. It was the first time since 1954 that a new Grand Prix team finished one-two in their racing debut. “It's not just for me but for the whole team,” said Button, “a fairy tale ending really to the first race of our career together and I hope we can continue this way. We are going to fight every way we can to keep this car competitive and at the front. This has got to continue and this is where we want to be. Bring on Malaysia!” |
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