After enduring years of bitter breakup this weekend marks the reuniting race of the major open wheel series’ in North America. The 2 sides will pick up the pieces and begin the long ascent of the Everest before them. Although much has been answered in the short few weeks since the merger was announced, a lot of questions remain about how open wheel racing will be re-accepted into the fendered culture that has prevailed for the last 10 years. Many have attributed NASCAR’s success in these recent years at least in part to the lack of a formidable foe. Do you think that NASCAR has built up enough of a stock pile of recognizable drivers, tracks and high profile series’ to keep the IRL down at the foot of the mountain? Time will tell but as I am already learning as a parent, solidarity is a must in being able to compete against an admirable foe (or child).
The first race in the Trifecta this week is the Craftsman Truck Series Race from Martinsville Speedway. It will start at 3:00 pm ET Saturday
The second race will be the IRL race from Homestead Miami Speedway set to go off at 8:00pm ET Saturday night. Should be good, under the lights
The final race will be the Sprint Cup race from Martinsville Speedway to start at 1:30 ET Sunday afternoon. All the same rules apply
Just a side note I wanted to start an informal pool on when Fernando Alonso will move into the Ferrari seat. There has been much speculation that Alonso will be with Ferrari next year, and with the way Massa has stumbled out of the gate and Alonso’s discontent with his Renault; many experts believe it will happen sooner. All you need to do is select the race you think this will directly precede. Once a race is selected it comes off the board. Here are the remaining events
Dwindy1- yes we are on. i just posted last night but forgot to put it in a category. so your first.
there is nothing for sure that alonso will move to the ferrari, but from what i understand he doesn't like being in second rate equipment. but then again he doesn't like having a competitive teammate either.
Last edited by williamwilman on March 27th at 7:10 AM.
All right...Dwindy and Hanahan...you are picking my IRL guys, lol. Guess I got to get here sooner each week :P Miss Lori, you are an optimist picking Danica, although I do hope she does well.
Here are my picks:
Trucks: Mike Skinner
IRL: Scott Dixon
Sprint Cup: Jeff Gordon
Have to read up on the F1 stuff to make a guess on Alonso. I'll be back :)
I know Gerrel, I want her to perform well, is that too much to ask? I could just as well pick Greg Ray and get the same result this weekend, though, lol
Lori - you are a riot...Greg Ray hasnt raced in the IRL in several years. Although I did like him when he was around...kinda handsome, lol.
Well, I cant say I really figured out anything to help me pick which race Alonso might "fly the coup" to Ferrari. So here's a random pick: Germany on July 20th.
now lori every one has a desire to be in better equipment. i'd love a cadillac. but my budget only allows for a chevy. but in fred's case he wants his cake and to eat it too. he's burned his bridges at mclaren but the renaults are not at the front anymore. the only place left is the big red machine
Last edited by williamwilman on March 27th at 9:15 AM.
i like to make my picks nearer to the end, as to not pick someone else choice, and to make it a bit more of a challange. plus it gives me an excuse when i don't win. lol
hey lori check out my comments on jjd's blog. history shows the chase field is about set already but neither gordon or johnson are in the top 12. if they are to make it in which 2 do you think will get taken out?
That is a fair, and tough, question. I'd tend to agree with JJD about Truex and Newman, since those two were the only ones who lost positions in the standings after Bristol. BUT, I have a feeling it would be Biffle and Truex. Wow, who says J. Gordon and J. Johnson WILL get in?? LOL And, Bowyer is in it again? Would love to see him get the championship if Smoke doesn't.
I'm not in you trifecta pool but I would think if Massa is going down the toilet, Ferrari will want Alonso in place by their home race. Since Dwindy aleady picked it, I will say the European Grand Prix.
well, well, that'll teach me for not checking the blog page earlier, lol
Trucks - Johnny Benson
IRL - Ryan Briscoe
Cup - I'll take the gamble this time then...Jimmie Johnson
as for Mr Massa...I'll take another gamble and say he'll stay with Ferrari for 2009. When he's 'on', he's better than anyone else, he just needs to figure out how to stay 'on', lol
William
Well the NASCAR season has started and IRL now has some reason to think it'll now become relevant once again within the eyes of the public. However let's just wait and see how long the peace'll last before there's another almighty implosion .
As for the F1 season I can't think any reason for me to support Alonso as he's nothing more than a miscreant and a liar . His actions brought about the severity of the fines lodged against his former team.
tophatal- i can't say i have really liked fred's attitude either. to steal a line i learned from the dirt ranks "just shut up and drive".
you think the IRL will crumble again eh. its easy to think that. if they have any success i think everyone will be scrambling for their piece of the pie. if it remains dismal tony george will have a mutiny on his hands.
feel free to have a say when massa will be let go tophatal
yeemum- im not sure Kovy (as he has been coined) will be running the IRL race. you made me laugh though. go to indycar.com to find a list of competitors.
William, done a good job. I will recommend this article to my best friends tom I have met on a biker site called ~~~Lovebiker.com~~~. I bet he will like what you write.
Trucks Kyle Busch
IRL Can I pick Kyle Busch..LOL.
CUP Kyle Busch..
Ok he cant run the IRL race so lets go with Tony Kannan...If Kyle was in it and as hot is he is in the cars and trucks I would pick him..Going to be a great weekend of racing.
that's the full entry list....at least, it says it is, lol
and, for what it's worth, I still say McLaren got off lightly and Lewis hasn't done anything to raise his reputation in my eyes with his continual startline chopping....guess he thinks he's replacing Schumi or something *shrugs*
Trucks - Denny Hamlin
IRL - I'll take the driver in the series with by far the most starts who has never won. No, it's not her. Vitor Meira.
Cup - Matt Kenseth
I'll take Singapore in the Alonso-to-Ferrari poll. Get him in their before the Asian swing AND the first F1 night race, for the extra pop.
william'
The one thing that IRL has in its favor now is that they can overtly use the likes of Dunno, Fisher and Danica to further sell the sport to the male populace. And to be sure that's what they'l do . They need all the publicity that they can garner at present. Perhaps before the start of each race they can get Castroneves and his former Dancing With The Stars partner Julie Anne Hough to dance the Mambo or Paso Doble' ? Any gimmick that'd open the fans' eyes even further might be welcomed at this juncture.
okay i know its late but i have a few issues that may or may not need to be addressed.
jon_464- sarah fisher is not in the starting line up for the irl race. you may want to try another pick. i will give grace to you until the begining of that race, 8:00 this evening
noahspop2001- Kyle Busch for the truck race and Kannan in the IRL race are double picks, add you will be given a 5 point penalty for each pick, you can change them if you want before each event starts. sorry the truck race is about to go off.
and my picks are
truck- setzer (it was a coin toss between him and darnell)
IRL- mutoh
cup- newman
nicely done kyle.... you may be losing fans who play the trifecta
williamwilman------------1
jon_464------------------2
Forensic2----------------3
YeeMum-------------------7
Hanahan------------------8
HotfootLori--------------12
Dwindy1------------------14
JayJayDean---------------21
photogr------------------24
Tezgm99------------------25( i feel bad for johnny, and thus for you. he didn't really do much wrong)
klvalus------------------26
Gerrel-------------------29(one race you came within 3 of your total for the first 2 weeks)
noahspop2001-------------31(5 points penalty)
Hmmm, WW nice truck race pick right at the end there! Looks like Dixon is it for IRL, at least Helio came in 4th for me...yipee. How you can keep track of all this is beyond me!
good drive from the Kiwi, proving to everyone (except me of course since I picked him back in early Feb) why he deserves to have the title favourite tag.
bad luck for Kanaan too...at least I'm not alone in having your trifecta driver taken out by a backmarker *sigh*
UGHHHH! My truck pick, Skinner was running 4th less than 5 laps to go and ran out of fuel. Grrrr, 29th is not the finish I had hoped for. At least my IRL pick Dixon won! I guess this will average out. I am thinking that someone else will be winning the Trifecta this weekend, LOL.
tez- if you haven't heard already kyle turned johnny in the last corner of the last lap. they were racing for second. it was uncalled for. even DW, who i feel is a little bias toward the youngster said it was not good. this is definitely not your week though as duno takes out briscoe.
jon_464- i charged you 26 because 25 cars started the race. plus i am trying to stay ahead of you.
and here we sit for sundays race.
YeeMum------------9(lookin' good for taken kovy at first. i couldn't let it go)
Hanahan-----------16
Dwindy1-----------17
HotfootLori-------18
(its a dog fight for second right now)
Forensic2---------23
williamwilman-----25
jon_464-----------28
klvalus-----------30
Gerrel------------30
JayJayDean--------31
Tezgm99-----------44( i guess i should call vegas now and put the house on jimmie for tomorrow because if even if he laps the field i still don't think it will help you.)
noahspop2001------44
photogr-----------45
Last edited by williamwilman on March 29th at 9:02 PM.
from what i saw it seemed like a good race. hope everyone enjoyed it. and congratulations go to......
HotfootLori--------------19
Hanahan------------------21
YeeMum-------------------26
jon_464------------------31( a good score considering a tough go in the IRL race)
Gerrel-------------------32(i can't help but think if it weren't for the last 5 laps of the truck race your score would have been microscopic again this week)
Forensic2----------------35
klvalus------------------36
Dwindy1------------------37
williamwilman------------44(and i was so full of hope after that truck race)
Tezgm99------------------48(good news. i still own the house(at least a small portion of it. the bank still owns most of it))
photogr------------------55
JayJayDean---------------61(very uncharacteristic jjd)
noahspop2001-------------82(that seems woeful, but don't forget you had 10 points in penalties)
thanks to everyone. that is my best response to date. 13 players.
Last edited by williamwilman on March 30th at 4:09 PM.
William, I TOTALLY lucked out on Crafton's career best second place finish. Plus Burton got better as the race went on. What are the races for next week's Trifecta?
again nicely done lori... as for next week the cup cars are in texas(and whos kidding who, they are the major draw even for the trifecta), my new love, formula1 is in the tiny desert country with all the money(bahrain) and the third race... well you will have to tune in midweek to find out what it is. any suggestions will be considered.
Congratulatio ns to Dave_in_Indy winning the Great Canadian Trifecta on June 10 2007. His blog "A Partially Able Mind" is a collage of sports info and a must for anyone interested in the Indianapolis 500 or the IRL. Congratulatio ns to JayJayDean, winner of the 2007 MonsterMile Trifecta on June 05, 2007. He has a great blog analyzing NASCAR's points system called JJD's NASCAR and other stuff blog. Congrats need to go out to 14Falcons, the 2007 winner of the Memorial Day weekend Trifecta. Every race fan needs to check out his blog, Kierkegaard's Stages. As for me, i am just another racing fan, from Canada, with opinions like every one else. other than racing i love Dave Matthews Band, playing guitar and all sports in general. favorite drivers include Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, and Dale Jarret. favorite sports teams are Toronto Raptors, Montreal Canadiens, Notre-dame football, Chicago Bears, Syracuse basketball.
