Yes, I know… I'm sort of sick of the Dale Earnhardt Jr. – Teresa Earnhardt soap opera, too.  Yeah right, who am I kidding!  That's drama I/we SpeedFreaks thrive on!!

WHAT?  You don't know what I'm talking about?  I'll chalk it up to you being vastly ill or something similar… basically, NASCAR's most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. is no longer racing for DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.), the company his father started with his sons & daughters in mind, DALE JR included?  According to the media frenzy, I don’t think anything else was going on in the racing world… or how could it?  Dale is the motorsports God and when he speaks, the world stops and listens… and forgets about the rest. 

Well, there was a LOT of great racing this weekend… so here goes…

OPEN WHEEL
IndyCar
The Indy 500… does anything else even need to be stated?  Absolutely not.  Everyone in the world has at least heard of this 91 year old event… and with the new, successful qualifying format, possibly even new fans have now grasped on to the month long mayhem?  Well, if they were there in person, at least.  The few that were there… not so long ago the entire front stretch was packed… both inside and outside the track!  Where are the powers-that-be in marketing and series development?  Or better yet, where have they been sleeping the last decade?

There were some awesome tense, exciting moments in the final half hour of Pole Day and then again in the 2nd day of qualifying!  BUT, sadly there weren’t enough butts in the seats to witness the renewed action and vigor at Indy.  And sadly even more, there are far too many people who are still not sold on the TV packaging of the IndyCar series, either… disregard the fact that the boring Ladies Golf tournament went into overtime and ESPN didn't even run a picture-in-picture so we could witness live the final hour excitement at Indy on Sunday… that’s a whole other story as many of you NHRA fans have argued the network on in the past.  But explain this to me – ESPN goes 'side by side' during the commercials in an IndyCar race so you don't miss the action, but they can't go 'side by side' when an event goes into overtime, thereby not allowing fans to catch that action when most crucial?

On another note, I’ve received emails upon emails upon discussions with fans in person about the IndyCar TV coverage and how it has been quite bland for years.  In my opinion, I saw a bit of an improvement last year… believe it or not, excitement crept back into the commentary!  But this year the drama meter is on “E”.  And Pole Day’s first hour was one of the worst examples to date.

I was so excited to tune in to see Pole Day under it’s new format (finally with great weather)!  But the coverage lost me just 5 minutes into it.  There were incorrect stats being mentioned, other HUGE tidbits were being excluded and there was nothing to keep anyone from clicking their remote unless they were one of the true diehards like myself.  Give me a REASON to watch, people!  And please, oh please, do NOT allow your pit reporters to burp on the air! 

I will reserve further comment until later… that’s sort of how ticked off I am about how one of the most exciting times in motorsports could be turned into such a snooze fest.  And on Mother’s Day, I will honor my mother by doing what she taught me… “If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all!”

Onto weekend results, Team Penske's Helio Castroneves came away with the pole, after withdrawing his 2nd row start to gamble for the top position with only 4 minutes or so to go.  Then once he secured the pole, Tony Kanaan ran out before the sound of the gun to stake his claim on the $100,000 bonus prize… his first 3 laps would have done it, but the 4th and final lap dropped just that much to lower his 4-lap average 0.26 seconds below Castroneves.  Damn… and get this, next in line was Danica Patrick.  Just not enough time, though.

With the sun set now on the Brickyard, 22 drivers are in, 2 of the 3 females are set and there are just 11 spots to be filled next weekend.  Bumped out of the grid today were Al Unser Jr., Jon Herb and Marty Roth.  Also waiting another week will be Jacques Lazier who waived his run in the final hour, Stephan Gregoire and of course the third female Milka Duno, who crashed hard on Friday and needs to have her car rebuilt.  And what's this we're hearing about another Andretti, perhaps John Andretti, to vy for the field?  Here's the scoop.

To see the complete lineup from yesterday and today (Sat & Sun), visit indy500.com and indycar.com for all the details.

Formula 1
So, it was May 13, 1950 when Formula One racing was born… and it hasn’t been since that inaugural season that there was a 3-way tie for the lead in points.  Hmmm, 57 years later to the date and here we are with another 3-way tie for the top spot in the championship.  NICE!  So did Barcelona deliver?  Yes sir-ree… through a race of attrition and pit misfortunes, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa won his second straight and Lewis Hamilton continued his streak of 4 straight podium spots in his first 4 races, and is now the youngest driver ever to lead the championship standings alone.  Click on to formula1.com for all the interviews and insight…

And speaking of Ferrari, Michael Schumacher made his first return to the paddock since retirement.  Could he have been the lucky charm for Massa and the red army?  After a pit fire, I’d say yes… Here are just a few of Schu’s quotes about his current life. 
     “It’s certainly very obvious that there IS a life after Formula One…
      after being 16 years here, it’s been an interesting experience not
      to wake up every morning and think about it… it has been very exciting!”

World of Outlaws
Craig Dollansky and Jason Meyers were the two winners in WoO this weekend… Dollansky on Saturday at Lake Ozark Speedway and Meyers on Friday at US 36 Raceway.  There was a moment of silence before Saturday’s race to pay tribute to Aussie racing legend George Tatnell, father of current WoO driver Brooke Tatnell.  For the complete weekend bits of information, check out racingone.com's page HERE.

Sprints/ Midgets
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took the National Midget win at Tri-State Speedway in Indiana, Aaron Pierce won the Silver Crown race in Darlington and out at Perris, CA, USAC/CRA points leader Tony Jones took a commanding win… for the complete stories, including the Western Midget winner from Hanford and all the scoop on Ford Focus Midgets, log onto usacracing.com

 

STOCK CARS
NASCAR Cup
Well, again the Saturday night race was rained out and postponed to Sunday… and Sunday’s race was a little bit stale.  Even though Darlington is known for painting cars white on their outer door panel, of which none was lacking this weekend, it sort of crawled along until we all realized that the COT Hendrick Cup would again be won by one Mr. Jeff Gordon… with a motor on the fringe.  Good on ya JG for making the motor last so that you could indeed run a victory lap WITHOUT cans being thrown at you on the track.  Must be nice to celebrate the CORRECT way!

Obviously the drama of the week revolved around Dale Earnhardt Jr. making his announcement to leave his father’s founded team, DEI… more on that below.

Busch Series
In Darlington Friday night… we chalked up another win for Mr. Denny Hamlin… damn that guy is hot… in Busch at least… his 2nd place finish didn’t seem to make him too happy in the Cup race, but he’ll get there… the COT has been friendly at the very least to the Gibbs organization, so a win must be around the corner!

For some of the stories, hit nascar.com… for the gossip and scoop, hit the sites below.

ARCA
How about that Erin Crocker!!  Wow, she was oh so close to becoming the first female winner in the ARCA series, but damn that Erik Darnell for passing her with 5 laps to go to take the win… how dare he!  Want her quotes, Erik’s explanation and the race recap?  Hit this: arcaracing.com

Other
From Las Vegas Motor Speedway:  Justin Johnson of Las Vegas won his fifth 40-lap Super Late Model feature of the 2007 season at the Bullring… Charlie Wahl won the 30-lap, $1,000-to-win IMCA Modified feature while Larry “The Torch” Dittman won the Bomber finale.  Darren Rollins won his second Charger feature of the year and Doug Hamm scored again in the Late Model class.

From South Boston Speedway:  Adam Barker outran defending SoBo NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division champion Drew Herring of Benson, N.C. in a 21-lap sprint to the finish to win the 150-lap race for the division… Defending Limited Sportsman Division champion Bruce Anderson of South Boston, Va. continued his domination Saturday with a victory in the 50-lap race for that series…  Jarrett Milam of Ringgold, Va. swept the pair of 30-lap races for the Budweiser Pure Stock Division.

Want your local track covered?  Then be sure to send your weekly results & releases to CrashG@SpeedFreaks.TV by Sunday at 9 p.m. ET

 

TWO WHEEL
World Superbike
Well, Monza this weekend is where the first double winner of the year has come from.  Noriyuki Haga has now moved into 2nd in the points standings with his double win and James Toseland, despite finishing 4th and 2nd maintains the top spot.  Podcasts and all the cool series info can be found at worldsbk.com

Motocross
The motocross season kicks off next weekend at Hangtown… keep track of it all at amamotocross.com

 

DRAG RACING
The NHRA races next weekend… or at least we thought they were.  The folks at Bristol Motor Speedway are apparently having a tough time with the new concrete launch pad 'settling' in time for this week’s event, so they just announced today (less than 4 days before the teams were to arrive on site) that they will need to postpone the festivities to July 6-8.  So much for those of you who had airline tix booked, eh?  That will tick a few people off… for the complete release, click here:  nhra.com

 

OFF ROAD
Be sure to catch the CORR series in Pomona, CA next weekend… all info obtained at corracing.com

 

And now, for the moment you have all been waiting for… WHERE will Dale Jr. go now that he has declared himself a free agent in NASCAR?

     1. Dale will NOT drive the #3… not full time…if he signs with RCR (Richard Childress Racing) ever in the future, he would ONLY bring it (the #3) out on special occasions.  NEVER full time,… and if you doubt that, then look at ther transcript from his interview here. 
     2. Dale still may end up driving for DEI in 2008… as a contracted driver only.  This is not as far fetched as some may think… Budweiser may command that this happen as they have contracts with BOTH Dale Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Incorporated (DEI) separately and have now been left in an awkward situation.  And the DEI brand is still to be maintained in the best interest of the Earnhardt family, including Dale Jr.
     3. Bobby Ginn Racing will do whatever it takes to get Dale in their stable… BUT consider this clash of the titans… Dale has a driver development deal with Supercross star Jeremy McGrath, while Ginn Racing has a driver development deal with Supercross star Ricky Carmichael… wow, that could go ugly early.
     4. Joe Gibbs Racing (thanks to Tony Stewart) will make JJ Yeley’s current seat available for Dale Jr. (apparently JJ was told at the beginning of the season (around the Chili Bowl in fact) that his seat was to be vacated for 2008)… but Joe Gibbs himself has a real problem with any beer sponsorship.  Hmmm… that’s right Joe, your drivers are little angels… and the NFL never sells beer at their games, so your Redskins players are quite the role models, too. (you may vomit now… or click here for more)
     5. And finally, stop talking about Dale Jr. running with the Hendrick team… all Rick Hendrick’s drivers are under contract for 2008 and they can not have more than 4 cars in their garage… and don’t even tell me that Casey Mears may be farmed off to a satellite operation to make room for the man in red… that’s ridiculous!

Other links to the 'free agency':  AP Sports / Jayski / Catchfence

Perhaps more immediately, where will Dale’s crew chief Tony Eury Jr. go in the next few weeks as he will apparently be facing a suspension from NASCAR and a monetary fine due to illegal wing mounts found in pre-race spec of the #8 car in Darlington… the first COT penalty… here's the story.  Hey, maybe he can scout teams for Dale and himself… or maybe he can try to play mediator for Kasey Kahne and David Stremme… click here to see how their feud has escalated.

 

In other news, IndyCar driver Tony Kanaan needs help naming his new baby… will you help him, please, before he names the poor tike after one of his sponsors!!!!  I’m sorry, but Oreo Kanaan, Kraft Kanaan, M&M Kanaan (wait, Eminem Kanaan could work actually), Honda Kanaan… they just don’t cut it… Help now by clicking on Tony’s blog here at MyRacer.com

Need more?  Email me… CrashG@SpeedFreaks.TV