Monday, February 10, 2014

Who will the 12th Man be?



Ex-Seahawks DT Colin Cole saw his Carolina Panthers lose 12-7 when Seattle came to town early in the 2013 regular season. (Image source: jimcutler.files.wordpress.com)
Uhm, NO! That's not in regards to the Seattle Seahawks vociferous, raucous, feverish, Diehard Fans affectionately known in the Pacific Northwest as the 12th Man... But instead to the mostly overlooked tender process currently taking place over who'll become Formula 1's  12th Constructor in 2015, as the process has been whittled down to three serious contenders - with today being D-Day for the potential candidates submitting their proposals showing their ability to adequately fund their team's entry beginning next season.

The three contenders, which I really believe are only two, unless somebody pulls a white rabbit out of a hat are Gene Haas and Dr. Colin Kolles, who in the past I've jested 'bout NOT being 'Cornfuzed with Funnyman ex-Seahawks Defensive Tackle #90 Colin Cole; Hooah!


The third contender is Stefan GP headed by its notorious Ringleader Zoran Stefanovich, who has done nothing in his previous attempts to flatter the FIA, having gone to the European Union no less to file a complaint, claiming the 2010 tender process was flawed by unfavorable bias towards Cosworth backed teams - which of the three selected: Campos-Meta, which became HRT, USF1 which never arrived and Manor which became Virgin and now Marussia - only the latter remains whilst there are currently NO V-6 turbo Cossie lumps available...

Dr. Colin Kolles is indeed the same ex-Team Principal of the failed Midland F1 Team, also having stints at Spyker and Force India before taking over the running of Hispania F1 before its demise and has long harboured ambitions of running his own Formula 1 team.

Gene Haas is the proprietor of Haas Automation, a 'Mega CNC equipment supplier and currently co-owns Stewart Haas Racing which won the 2011 NASCAR championship with 'SMOKE, a.k.a. Tony Stewart - as its worth remembering that it was Haas who inked Kurt Busch to the team this season and said he'd pay for it out of his own pocket!

Thus one has to wonder if Uncle Bernaughty's (Ecclestone) bluster about Haas not getting the nod for the twelfth seat is  just a clever ploy to entice Haas into putting his money where his mouth is? Since after all how long have Y'all been hearing that what the U.S. needs to really stoke the F1 fire is its own team...