If this track wasn’t integral to the schedule – Honda owns it, after all – it’d be gone, or there would be some wholesale changes to make the racing more interesting. Granted I love the Motegi race and its atmopshere – the Japanese fans sure do love their IndyCar – but we can’t have more events like this one played out.

Mind you, this isn’t me hatin’ on NASCAR (though I do plenty of that, just not right now), it’s based on recent history. They put the July 4th Daytona GrandAm race on at like 11:00 AM the morning before the night Cup race. That’s for a series that they own and so you’d therefore think they’d get better treatment than they’d give a theoretical competitor like IndyCar. The Watkins Glen Cup/GrandAm weekend shakes out about the same, with the GrandAm race taking place on Saturday several hours after Cup qualifying is over, so therefore about an hour after most fans have left the track. NASCAR and ISC have shown very little desire to help out their own sister series, and so I’d doubt they’d show any at all to lend a hand to IndyCar.

That being said, at least send Lindy if you’re going to do it again. I’ve always respected Jack Arute, but he’s gotten a bit full of himself, espcially with the “In Color” segments. Jack, it’s not you we came to watch.

Posters on several sites have suggested moving this race back to spring. Ok, we tried that the first few years and the weather was about as bad as it can be at Indy in May. (Does anyone really like to hear the word “weepers?”) With the time/travel involved, Japan is not a setting for a race that can be pushed (weather wise) into a second weekend.

Now, let me throw a radical idea out here. How about the IICS run at Talladega the Saturday night before the NASCAR crowd runs on Sunday?
I know, the purists will say, “F*** NASCAR,” but the fact is that while all entertainment franchises are struggling, they’re still getting more butts in seats and their hard core fan base far exceeds that of IndyCar.

If you impress the fans of that series with on the track racing, isn’t it fair to assume that some of them will tune in to watch when the two series don’t occupy the same airtime?

Isn’t the idea to get MORE fans?

(And besides, imagine how fast an IndyCar could go at ‘Dega.)

Thanks for your follow-up remarks. That was a classy thing to do. After I responded to your first post it occurred to me that you simply like Simona as much as most of the rest of the racing community. Of course, I have never made a rash and foolish comment. LOL. Not more than once a week anyway. Here’s hoping she can finish the season on a high note.

And by the way, your comments on Simona’s talent and good character are certainly warranted. She has faced much adversity this season with graciousness and aplomb. As the Scots would say: Full marks to her, for a great attitude.

Truly Awesome. Through the years has anyone done that better?

Regarding delta3′s notion that HVM should give up on the season: What a shallow, simplistic way of looking at competitiion! Maybe all the backmarkers should just give up. Do you know of anyone else who was willing to come forward this season and give Simona a chance to “properly demonstrate her skills”? I think Simona has shown herself to be a very talented driver and I am grateful that HVM gave her a chance to demonstrate that because apparently no one else was interested in doing so. One of Simona’s many endearing qualities is that she is grateful for the opportunity she was given and she does not badmouth her team. Hopefully the HVM team will not be too crushed if they should find out that they are not meeting your expectations.

I know HVM did provide Simona with the unexpected opportunity to compete in the IICS this season, but nevertheless in my opinion they have totally dropped the ball and not done justice by her. If a team can’t afford to compete at a respectable level, then it should not have been in the game.