In the Paddock

Ferrari loses with the FIA

2009-05-17T21:20:00.003-05:00

First of all, sorry it's been so long since I've submitted something. Been busy...

This is old news for those of you that follow Formula One, but Ferrari (who admittedly was one of several teams who wanted the diffuser used by Brawn GP, Toyota, and Williams banned) actually lost an appeal to the World Motor Sport Council of the FIA. This is a team that is the first to complain, submit an appeal, or otherwise try to use the system to their advantage, and over the past 14 years or so that I've been following F1, they have normally been extremely successful in these endeavors. It's almost like the FIA have had Ferrari's back. I've been unbelievably upset at some of these decisions, and I was sure this one would go Ferrari's way, too.

I wonder why it didn't?

Bad Drivers

2009-04-16T23:59:00.007-05:00

How many of you think there are a lot of bad drivers out there? Or, maybe rude drivers? To be honest, I'd be the first to tell you that there are a lot of bad and rude drivers out there. Just ask me any time after I've driven to or from work. But are they really "bad" drivers?

Let me explain.

Thursday, I had to go to ISU for a meeting. I rode my motorcycle up and was a little late so I was in a hurry. Driving through town, I had the same experience I always have while driving through town - I hit every light red. Don't know what it is - I'm gifted. Anyway, I'm sitting at a red light in the left turn lane, and I'm the only one. The lights for the opposing traffic went green first, and their left turn lane got the arrow to turn left while I waited for some kind of green light. Being impatient, when I finally got a green light (not a left arrow), I immediately took off, turning left into the leftmost lane. Another guy, coming from the other direction, turned right as I turned left and went into the right lane. It looked to me like he was going to come into my lane, and by the way, he ran a red light, so I hit my horn and stared at him as I drove by him. He simply pointed at me and kept going.

What a jerk. Run a red light, almost take me out, and then point at me. Me.

It took about half a mile before I realized that they still had a green light. I honestly don't know if I turned in front of anyone else, I was so intent on getting through the intersection. But I was sure I was right and that guy was an idiot. I would have told him so if I could. But it turns out I was wrong and he was right. I'm lucky I didn't get hit by someone.

Now, I would consider myself a decent driver. If I'm honest with everyone, I'd say I consider myself a very good driver. But I bet that guy in the bright blue car thinks - no, he knows - that I'm a terrible driver and a jerk to boot. And what else does he have to go on? He's probably never run into me before and likely will never see me again. Is that how it is? All the bad drivers I see - all the rude drivers I see - how often do I see them driving that way? Are they truly bad drivers?

Or did I just catch them having a moment, much like I had on Thursday?

I think I'm going to be more tolerant - at least for a little while until all the bad drivers get me mad again.

I thought the Route 66 Series was supposed to be different?

2009-04-13T23:05:00.011-05:00

There I go again, thinking I should export more. I've heard time and time again about how different the Route 66 Series (http://www.route66kartracing.com/index.html) is supposed to be. So, in preparation for last year, after running the complete Midwest Sprint Series schedule and a partial Manufacturer's Cup schedule in 2007, I figured we'd run Route 66 full time. Little did I understand what I was getting into.

First of all, they implement a new class, the Yamaha Rookie class. Supposed to be for inexperienced karters ages 7-12. So, a friend and I look at maybe running that class for both of our inexperienced sons. His son was at the younger end of the age scale and didn't have a lot of track time, and simply was too small to fit in a full size chassis. So, what do they do? Outlaw cadet chassis in that class. So, if you're inexperienced and at that age level, you have only one choice where you can run a cadet chassis - TAG 60 Cadet, which is the fastest Jr. Sportsman level class on the planet. Does that make sense? Of course not, so we both contacted the rules-maker to talk about it. His response was to take it to the Series, which I applaud, but here was the resulting post on their web site on 1/4/08:

"After several conversations regarding the cadet chassis being allowed in the Yamaha Rookie class, we have decided not to allow the cadet chassis in this class. Unfortunately it seems when there is an exception made, it doesn’t end up getting utilized in the appropriate manner."

I have no clue what that means and I was unable to get any additional information. Needless to say, neither one of us ran the series full time.

This year, I planned on racing both sons in the series in the TAG Jr class. TAG USA rules state the age range is 11-15; Route 66, in their infinite wisdom, changed the minimum age for the class to 13 ("or 12 years old with 2 years of karting experience and permission from the race or series director"). I believe this rule change was posted on December 23, 2008. After my younger son's TAG 60 kart was up for sale (he's 12, which is too old for that class, which is 7-11) and we outfitted a TAG Jr kart for him. Route 66 will allow him to race TAG 60, but he's over 5 feet tall, and while is thin as a wisp, weighs almost 110 pounds. He's pure muscle and doesn't fit in a cadet kart. No way he can run it, even if we wanted to. Why would we want to, when he can't run it anyplace else?

So, he's out unless we go with Yamaha Jr Supercan, a motor and class I hate. But Sebastian's still OK, until... as near as I can tell, about a month ago (middle of February?). Another change - TAG Jr will now follow WKA engine rules. Kind of late for that change, isn't it? I just noticed it this morning, and frankly, I don't know what it means yet. I don't know how underpowered we're going to be, but am working on figuring it out.

The best thing about all this? Route 66 was saying for, like ever, that the class needs to slow down. As I said, I don't know what the differences are between WKA and TAG USA rules, but I'm pretty sure WKA engine rules are faster.