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		Turning Left: Weekend Racing Preview By Charlie O. Mallonee July 23, 2009

	All three major racing series are running this weekend. In fact, they will overlap each other on Sunday afternoon’s television schedule. NASCAR races at Indianapolis on ESPN. Indy Car runs a road course in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on Versus. Formula One competes in Hungary on Fox. NASCAR This weekend at Indy is very important to NASCAR for several reasons. Last year’s Brickyard was a complete fiasco. Goodyear brought the wrong tire compound for the rough cut asphalt of Indy limiting the run between tire changes to 10 or less laps. Mandatory competition caution periods for safety kept any real racing from taking place. The race was almost as much of a disaster as the F1 race several years ago that was plagued by tire problems. The surface at Indy may look smooth, but it is not. The surface is rough cut to allow for extra grip to allow for faster speeds in the 90° left turns on the nearly flat 9+° banking. After reaching speeds of 200+ down the long straights, the cars still maintain 150 – 160 mph in tight, flat turns. It makes for great watching and tears the heck out of the tires. Goodyear claims to have solved the problem. For the sake of NASCAR fans, I hope that is true. The Brickyard is also on the homestretch of the race for the chase (only six races remain after Indy before the Sprint for the Cup cut). Greg Biffle is just 10 points out of the Top 12. David Reutimann, Clint Bowyer, Brian Vickers, Jeff Burton and Marcos Ambrose are all within striking distance. Strong showings at Indy could launch these drivers toward being a part the coveted Top 12. Tony Stewart is the series leader as the series readies for the Brickyard. No wants a non-competitive race as the teams do everything they can to make into the Top 12. Finally, NASCAR needs a great race full of chills, spills and thrills to take the spotlight off of Jeremy Mayfield. Mayfield is claiming that there is a great conspiracy to taint his drug test and keep him from racing. Hmmmmm … denial that there is a problem. Isn’t that a symptom of one who has a substance abuse problem? NASCAR wants the focus to be on racing. A strong Brickyard 400 would go along way to making that happen. Indy Car This is another series that needs to focus the headlines on racing. The focus over the past few weeks has been too much on the business side of things. Tony Hulman-George was ousted by his family as the head of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and President of the Indy Car Series. Then, this week Joie Chitwood, the COO of the Indianapolis Speedway announced that he jumping ship and joining the International Speedway Corporation which operates Daytona and several other speedways. ISC is owned by the France family, so he is joining the NASCAR family. By all accounts, Chitwood is a marketing and operations genius who was groomed for his executive position by Tony Hulman-George. With his mentor Hulman-George gone, Chitwood decided it was time to jump ship and head elsewhere. Also this week, the new Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corp president, Jeff Belskus, stated that keeping the IRL strong will keep the Indianapolis Motor Speedway strong. Huh? IMS owns Indy Car for all practical purposes. Why wouldn’t IMS want to keep Indy Car strong and functioning? Belskus’ statements lead me to believe that the Hulman-George family was thinking of dumpy the Indy Car series as part of their management shake up and coup. It is time to call on Roger Penske to step in and save Indy Car. I know that he busy buying Saturn from GM, running car dealerships and his truck rentals plus directing his race teams, but Indy Car needs Roger’s management expertise now! Left to their own devices, the Hulman-George family is going to kill Indy Car and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race on Sunday in Edmonton will take place on an1.96 mile airport/street course. That means a rough ride with flat turns and speeds that will go from flat out down to first gear on the turns. It will be very similar to the CART races that were held in Cleveland on that airport course. Look for the teams that have not down well on the high-speed ovals to be competitive at Edmonton. The cars do not need to have been tweaked in the wind tunnel do well on the road courses. The smaller teams have a much better chance to finish high or even win on this type of course. Formula One The 2009 F1 season has been rather boring. The Brawn Racing team has performed so well that they have taken the mystery out of the races. Red Bull has come on strong as well, but Ferrari, McLaren, BMW-Sauber and Renault have been mediocre at best. The series has needed something to inject some life into it. Well … get ready for some excitement. The Scuderia Toro Rosso (that is the number two Red Bull development team) has named 19-year old Jaime Alguersuari to replace Sebastien Bourdais starting this weekend in Hungary. Alguersuari is the current British Formula Three Champion. This weekend he will become the youngest driver to ever drive in a Formula Race when the green flag drops in Hungary. The conventional wisdom is that he will run near the end of the field all day because he is new and inexperienced. However, the Scuderia Toro Rosso team did not change drivers to finish in last place. Expect Alguersuari to charge hard and try to lead the field. His youth and inexperience should allow him to run with reckless abandon. Alguersuari’s aggressiveness may lead him into a crash or mechanical breakdown, but it should be exciting while he is running. The Budapest track is in a beautiful setting and is 2.722 miles long. The racers are scheduled to round the circuit 70 times. All eyes will be on the youngster Alguersuari … at least until he is out of the race! Yes, that is a prediction.