Otay, if Y'all are following at home, then these
items may be a tad bit late; but, as I've mentioned before, I was in
Indianapolis last week and thus enjoying another well deserved respite from thy
A-L-L devouring keyboards of Zed 'Confuzer...
Wilson on the Mend
Justin 'B-I-G UNIT Wilson has been released
from hospital in California following his nasty accident at Auto Club Speedway
which for Mwah will always simply be California Speedway in Fontana, the track
that Roger Penske built upon the toxic wastelands of a shuttered Kaiser Steel
Mill - not to mention the site of Greg Moore's death...
As unfortunately Wilson's late race spin
induced upon hitting one of those dreaded track seams caused an abundance of
"Smoke On" to be called seeing the six-foot plus Brit to become the
proverbial spinning top and unfortunately 'T-boned by trailing driver Tristan
'turbo Vautier's racecar with the incident causing Wilson to have his pelvis (broken)
fractured in three places along with a bruised lung and ribs - while Wilson's
now back home in Colorado to begin his recovery, albeit he'll be forced to not
put any weight upon it for 6-8 weeks...
Sam Schmidt loses
HP Sponsorship
This one caught me totally by surprise, as
longtime Davey Hamilton and Schmidt -Hamilton-Peterson Motorsports IndyCar
sponsor Hewlett Packard has decided to end its association with the team's No. 77
entry upon their most fruitful campaign to date with "Symone
Pagenoe's" (Simon Pagenaud) breakout IndyCar season of finishing third
overall along with scoring his first two 'BIG CARZ wins...
NO word on how this will affect the team,
lead driver or its entire program, as it'd be a shame to see Simon on the
sidelines once again, albeit I'm NOT predicting this to happen and hope the
team can find the necessary funding to continue its upwards trajectory...
Hinch' wins another
Term at Andretti
Glad to hear that thee Mayor 'O Hinchtown,
aka James Hinchcliffe has been signed to a new contract to remain with Andretti
Autosport in 2014, (with an option for 2015) along with the bigger news of
Mikey's team switching to Honda power to become the Japanese auto manufacturer's
B-I-G "anchor" team next year.
Now all that's left to be announced is
whether Andretti will run four or five cars next season, with Hinch', RHR (Ryan
Hunter-Reay) and 'Marcky-Marc (Marco Andretti) all being inked, we're just
waiting to hear if E.J. "What, Me Worry?" Viso returns with CITGO and
if Carlos 'Silk Munoz graduates to thee 'B-I-G CARZ...
2014 Driver
Roulette continues...
As the driver dominoes continue falling;
first with 'TK Follow-your Schnoz Kanaan's signing to run Chip Ganassi's fourth
car next year, we were left ponderin' where thee Mayor 'O Hinchtown would land?
While Jimmy Vassar decided the best B-I-G name after those two had found seats
was le 'Hamburgular, nee Sebastain Bourdais, while KVRT's remaining driver
"Symona-Symona" (de Silvestro) future with the team is in limbo, as
they'll now be known as KVSH Racing instead with the addition of James
"Sully" Sullivan's involvement, as the SH Racing outfit first ran
Tomas "Rockem-Sockem" Schekter back in 2011 in association with KV Racing
Technology...
Meanwhile apparently Panther Racing has lost
its vaunted and extremely lucrative Nat'l Guard sponsorship to rival Rahal
Letterman Lanigan Racing with thee 'Graminator, nee Graham Rahal becoming the
Guard's new face in '14, albeit this supposedly isn't a done dealio just yet,
as John "Print This!" Barnes has been crying foul and demanding an
appeal, whatever that means... Which you'd have to ARSE-sume puts Ryan
Briscoe's ride with Panther Racing next year into question?
And then there's the scuttlebutt hinted by
Leigh Diffey during the Fontana broadcast that potentially A.J. Foyt has tired
of Takuma Sato's penchant for wrecking chassis with an eager Conor Daly in the
wings - while may be Briscoe would be willing to reassess his thoughts upon
driving for 'Ol SuperTex's team, eh?
Not to mention Dragon Racing having an extra
seat available - as surely you'd have to say that Briscoe is the biggest name
on the marketplace at the moment, as I'd really like to see the affable 'Aussie
in a well funded fulltime IndyCar drive next year.
Hmm? Perhaps as FAST EDDIE's (Ed Carpenter) teammate
at ECR? Or better yet as Joseph 'STUD Newgarden's teammate at SFHR - as is it
just Mwah? Or is the tail end of the IndyCar grid looking somewhat disheveled
right now?
As 'TAG (Alex Tagliani) hopes to resuscitate
his faltering Open Wheel Racing career (which I think unfortunately is over...)
with Oriel Servia and J.R. Hildebrand just two of the list of suitors looking
for IndyCar rides next year...