As why did I think of “Riders On the Storm”, Eh?
Sheez, you have company for a scant 72 Hours,
tune out of motor racing and News in general and Wallah! A litany ‘O events
occur.
First ‘n foremost was the Death of Rufas
Parnell Jones, better known simply as Parnelli Jones, the 1963 Indianapolis 500
winner. For whom I far more appreciated for His 1970 Trans Am Championship in
those Nasty Bud Moore School Bus yellow BOSS 302’s!
As I’ll let
another past legend, the late Robin Miller do the “Heavy” lifting upon what
made ‘Ol rufas so great in the video below…
https://racer.com/2024/06/05/from-the-archive-robin-miller-on-parnelli-jones/
Meanwhile, seemingly All Hell broke loose on
the MotoGP Silly Season! First learning that Ducati had signed The Pinball
Wizard, nee Marc Marquez to a “multi-year” contract as Pecco’ Bagnaia’s
teammate for 2025. As Marquez had said He would only ride for a Factory team in
2025, apparently forcing ducati’s Hands…
As Jorge Martin had apparently seen the
Handwriting on the proverbial wall, and signed to ride for the Factory Aprilia
team beginning next year. Although I don’t know who His teammate will be? Or
why Aprilia would drop Maverick Vinales?
While reportedly “the Beast”, nee Enea
Bastianini will move to KTM, although I’d expect Him to be riding for the
GasGas Tech 3 satellite squad, especially since rumours claim that KTM will
provide four latest Werks’ spec scooters for it’s four riders.
Since I’m Arse-suming that Thriller Miller, aka
Jack Miller will be replaced by Pedro Acosta, the 2021 Moto3 and 2023 Moto2
champion at the Factory team next year…
Next, I feel sad for Tom blomqvist. Having
mused to myself immediately after hearing the news He’d been “Parked” for two
races beginning at Detroit; Can Y’all say Hello David Malukas!
But Malukas’s announcement of returning to an
IndyCar cockpit was overshadowed by Juncos Hollinger Racing’s driver Augustin
Canapino’s Maelstrom!
Naturally the cynic in me said this was a move
to keep the Out-of-Touch Canapino from having to face the “Music”, Err media
during the Road America IndyCar weekend. Following Canapino’s Abhorrent
behaviour regarding the social media Death Threats that Theo Pourchaire
received after colliding with the Argetinian during the Detroit Grand Prix. For
which the IndyCar rookie Pourchaire was told to drop three places during the
race for.
And while I said Good for You Zak Brown and
Arrow McLaren for severing your strategic alliance with JHR. Since it seems
that the only way that Ricardo Juncos and Company would understand that
Canapino and His Fans were wrong was to Hit them financially, since this is the
third time this has happened in 14 months!
http://www.nofenders.net/2023/09/stop-hate-argentina.html
Nonetheless, as Marshall Pruett points out,
there’s 65-70 employees at JHR who aren’t enjoying the undeserved scrutiny! And
obviously have families to provide for…
Having missed the start of Friday’s Road
America practice, I was initially Cornfuzed’ over why IndyCar Radio was saying
Nolan Siegel’s name? Not knowing that He’d been asked to step into Canapino’s
No. 78 entry just an hour before practice began! And only had 15mins to get
acclimated to His IndyCar ride following practicing for the week’s Indy NXT
race.
Siegel then was “excused” by HMD Motorsports to
skip the Indy NXT race and focus solely upon His IndyCar Gig’ instead. With no
word on whether or not He’d be back in the JHR cockpit for His second “Home”
race at Laguna Seca in a fortnight’s time?
As we now know, Canapino has been announced as
the driver of the No. 78 for the remainder of the season, after having had an
Attitude “Adjustment” during His time off…
And I know we’re supposed to believe that
Augustin’s seen the light and give Him the benefit of the doubt. But what’s
going to happen the next time over the remaining ten races when somebody
collides with the Argetinian?
Although I did learn during All of this turmoil
that Nolan Siegel’s father Mark is a very wealthy Venture Capitalist. Meaning
that apparently the lack of IndyCar’s paltry $850,000 Indy NXT Advancement
Prize is not a deterrent towards Nolan getting a Fulltime IndyCar ride in 2025.
Especially since He’s dropped one place to fourth in the points standings
following Road America. Then being 79 points adrift of Jacob Abel, who appears
to be locked-in a two way title fight against Louis Foster…
As I was told that Siegel’s No. 18 Dale Coyne
Racing entry for His failed Indianapolis 500 attempt ran devoid of any
sponsorship! Which totally befuddles me, since it’s Indy Cars biggest race of
the year! As the Siegel’s must have paid Dale a lot of money to keep His
sonny’s Barbeque off it’s sidepods, Eh?
Whilst I can only speculate that Nolan’s jump
to drive for JHR on a moment’s notice was part of their plan to get Him more
IndyCar seat time in preparation for next year.
And then there’s IndyCar jumping to FOX for
it’s 2025 and beyond Television partner. For which All I can say initially is
that IndyCar took the money!
Since it’s even sadder that the IndyCar calendar has been compressed once again, ending on August 31st next year! Especially since FOX could have shifted the final September TV Broadcasts to either FS1 or FS2. Nah, Ain’t gonna Happen! As College Football’s way too lucrative, Oh Never Mind!
