It’s time for our weekly Friday morning tour around the racing world. From hot laps to the main event, here’s what’s on our mind this week.
Hot Laps: Long Offseason
The NTT IndyCar Series season has been over since Sept. 10, but it is still 149 days until next year’s season opener at St. Petersburg, Fla., on March 10.
Qualifying: Just Wondering?
If a driver who wins a series championship is also a stakeholder in that traveling tour, does he still get paid?
First Heat: Playoff Format
Wondering what the massive band of social media naysayers will say if Martin Truex Jr., who has had a dismal first six races of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, should manage to win the title? While Truex won the regular season championship, he needs only one good race during the final four to grab his second title.
It will be interesting to watch.
Second Heat: Bloomer’s Back
Hall of Fame late model racer Scott Bloomquist will return to competition at next weekend’s Dirt Track World Championship at Eldora Speedway. Bloomquist, 59, has missed most of the season while battling various ailments, including a bout with prostate cancer.
Bloomquist is a three-time DTWC winner.
Third Heat: Top Sprint Car Driver
Who gets your vote as the top winged sprint car driver this season? Ours goes to Rico Abreu.
Yes, Rico did not win any of the crown jewel events, but to date he’s won 13 features this season. Six of those victories came with the World of Outlaws, four with the High Limit Racing Series and two with the All Stars. That’s beating the sport’s best on a regular basis.
Fourth Heat: Trivia Time
What race has Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Ted Musgrave, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, Noah Gragson and Carson Hocevar all won?
It’s the Winchester 400. The super late model classic will run for the 52nd time Sunday at Indiana’s Winchester Speedway.
Watch it live on SPEED SPORT affiliate MidwestTour.tv.
Dash: Good Start, More Work To Do
Surprising no one, Kyle Larson completed his rookie orientation program on Thursday, driving his Arrow McLaren machine with flying colors and without incident. Larson, who hopes to qualify for May’s Indianapolis 500, turned a best lap of 217.898 mph.
That’s some 12 mph off of the slowest speed (229.116 mph) in the field for this year’s race and another 5 mph slower than Alex Palou’s pole speed of 234.217 mph.
B Main: Humor In Racing?
Give Carson Hocevar credit for putting some personality into NASCAR racing.
After he was announced as a Cup Series driver for Spire Motorsports next season, Hocevar tweeted the following: “I understand that, with my agreement, Spire Motorsports have put out a press release late this evening that I am driving for them next year. This is correct and I have signed a contract with Spire for 2024. I will be driving for Spire next year.”
Cleary, Hocevar was poking fun at Alex Palou and his dispute with McLaren Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing regarding his contract status prior to this season.
Creative and fun.
Feature: Supercross vs. Football
Did you ever wonder how one could compare Supercross and motocross racing compared to football?
Well, here’s how.
Since becoming interested in Supercross racing a little more than a decade ago, we’ve been astounded by the number of injuries these athletes endure in pursuit of their craft. It’s far more than competitors in any form of motorsports that we’re familiar with including NASCAR, IndyCar and dirt-track racing.
But as a lover of all things football, it suddenly dawned on us this week as injuries to significant players in both the college and professional game are being injured at a high rate that it’s very much like Supercross.
Devastating sports on the bodies of those who participate.