Yeah, I know I shouldn’t be scribblin’ this, I mean talk ‘bout heaping pressure upon thy ‘lad, but nevertheless, as I mentioned before, I had an epiphany about the revitalized Open Wheel Racing career of A.J. Allmendinger this past weekend; which largely stems out of the fact that I don’t believe that thee ‘Captain, nee Roger Penske does things simply out of charity.
I mean if there’s any Penske who should be doing some Positive Spin campaigning right now, I’d reckon it’d be Roger’s son Jay ‘Pissinbootz Penske instead, albeit he seems somewhat preoccupied with his new lady in white right now, eh? As was it just a slow news day, or boring pre-race since I’m told ‘Kurty Cavin’s piece about Jay & Elaine Irwin expecting was published just 15mins prior to the green flag being waved at Alabama
So here goes nothing, and I have nothing to back this up with; BUTT! In a bolt ‘O lightning it flashed before Mwah that AJ’s auditioning for becoming Helio Castroneves future replacement! And roger’s expecting the old winning form of Allmendinger to reappear, which hopefully will turn out a la Dario Franchitti’s much publicized Stock Car experiment; Y’all know when Dario returned from his abortive effort to run off three straight championship titles for ‘Cheep Ganassi...
Thus, my prediction is that this year is simply a tune-up for A.J. being announced as a full time Team Penske IndyCar driver next year and ultimately replacing Helios whenever he wears out his welcome with roger, as surely Castroneves is getting a ‘Wee bit long in the proverbial tooth, eh?
If I’ve done my ‘ryth-muh-tickin correctly, ‘Ol Twinkletoes will be celebrating his 38th birthday on May 10th, just a scant nine days before Dario turns the B-I-G 4-Oh! While contrary to popular belief, Dario’s not the OLDEST driver on the circuit, as ‘TAG is currently the elder statesman by five months...
Thus with Allmendinger not turning 32 until this December, he’s currently the youngest driver in Penske’s Open Wheel stable, as Will Power already turned 32 just over one month ago.
Also, I think Roger’s hoping that A.J. can give Power a run for his money and push him to the next level, i.e.; championship, which he’s been the Bridesmaid the past three seasons now. And surely Roger must have a succession plan for all of his racing drivers, right? As I surely hope that Sam Schmidt has Tristan Vautier inked to a long term contract!
If I take this hyperbole to its zenith, and Ryan Briscoe is announced as Ganassi’s fourth driver for the month of May, could chip be casting about similarly for a potential replacement for Dario? As I’m guessing the Scotsman a la Tagliani is getting towards the end of their respective stints behind the keyboards of their Open Wheel careers...
So there Y’all have I-T! As I’m not putting any timeline upon it or saying it will definitely occur, but its just a thought towards the harsh reality of motor racing - and besides, aren’t we all ready for some new blood in Indy Cars?