Last week all the races in the Trifecta ended with late
drama. The Nationwide event saw a late
caution forcing a decision to pit or not to pit for tires, determine the
outcome. The Kentucky Derby ended on a
very sad note with the filly Eight Belles finishing second and having to be
euthenized right after the event. And
then there was an almost overlooked incident at the end of the Sprint cup event
where the 88 and 18 got together. I
wonder if anyone saw that, or a replay of it.
Anyway, after all that drama Dwindy1 cruised in what ended up being a
snoozer of a Trifecta. He led wire to
wire and was never really threatened for the lead. Congratulations again Dwindy1, Denny Hamlin
could learn a thing or two about how to close out a dominating performance from
you.
This week another serving of NASCAR sandwich, but instead of
1 horse power the meat in between these slices will be from Turkey
consisting of closer to 900 hp
The first race on the menu will be the the Nationwide event
on the newly paved Darlington Speedway.
The old lady got a new black dress and this is going to mean fast racing
in the Cup support series, starting at 7:00pm ET
Friday. This is when your picks are due.
The second piece of bread is the Sprint Cup race from the
track too tough to tame. It goes on Saturday night at 7:00 ET
And finally the meat sees the Formula 1 cars battle for
supremacy in Istanbul going off at 8:00 am ET Sunday. Also with no news of Fred sliding into one of
the red cars this weekend yours truly is the first one out of the Alonso moves
Ferrari pool.
This weekend also signals the official coming of spring here
as it will be the first “outside” race of the year. (I like to enjoy the races on my little T.V.
set up on the back porch with my favorite beverage (which is currently my home brewed beer)). Hope you all enjoy,
Cheers.
Last Sunday all the races in the Talladega Trifecta took
place. Forensic2 sat on the edge of
capturing his third straight victory vying to tie the all time Trifecta record
of 3 wins in a row. Fittingly the lead
was as much a hot potato as the lead of a restrictor plate race and changed
hands after every race. In a surprise
turn of events Dave_in_Indy an admitted open wheel fan, was able to run the
table and collect his first Trifecta victory of the year. It should not be too
much of a surprise though as 2 of the races were of the fender-less variety. Non the less, congratulations to Dave_in_Indy
on your win with a score of 14
This week’s NASCAR events will create the bread in a
Kentucky Derby sandwich for the Twin Spires Trifecta
First up on Friday night the Nationwide series will go after
it under the lights of Richmond International Raceway. The Lipton Tea 250 goes at 7:00 pm ET
Second, just after 6:00
pm ET, the 134th Kentucky Derby will be called to the
post. As we sit now 20 horses are
entered in the event and your favorite can be found here. Also check out this blog if you really want
some in depth information.
Third will be the Sprint Cup event, the Crown Royal 400 set for Saturday night at
7:00pm ET.
All drivers/horses are eligible to be picked and double pick
penalties will be applied. Your car race
picks are due before the start of the Nationwide race, but if you need to edit
your Derby
picks (horses are often scratched very late) you can do so until 6:00 pm Saturday. Please do so in a second comment though as
the time on your comment determines who picked said driver first.
Thanks for your cooperation and participation and I hope
everyone gets to enjoy a mint julep, or just the adult beverage of your choice
while watching the most exciting 2 minutes in sports. Don't forget your hat ladies...
This is a post that I have considered doing various weekends, but I never feel like I have enough time to reel it off. Maybe I should petition jon_464 to add it to his good, bad and ugly posts, but i have to mention it this week The headache of the week award has to go to Sebastian Vettel. For the 3rd out of 4 races the Torro-Rosso driver was punted off track and retired with out completing a lap. This is the same driver who subbed brilliantly for Robert Kubica last year after horrifying crash in Montreal. Imo he is a good driver, but can't buy a break..
Well maybe the unpredictability of Talladega will be enough
to slow Forensic2 down, whose score in the last 2 trifecti (a combined 8) would
still be low enough to take any week so far this year and almost all of last
year. A job well done Forensic, I don’t
know if we should chalk it up to experience or if you have been extremely
lucky. If this keeps up we are going to
have to introduce some sort of NASCAR style rule to equalize the field.
This week I wanted to share a few more pictures with you and
as well as the Trifecta maybe answer a little trivia question.
These pictures were taken quite a few years ago, when my
brother and I went on our first major adventure to the south, to Talladega. I was still young and a young NASCAR fan but
the things we did see on this trip shaped the fan I have become. We stopped in Charlotte
to see the shops. At Hendrick
motorsports we were able to walk right in to the race car shops and boy did our
jaws drop when we went through the door of that non- descript, grey box, building. This is what we saw.
This is actually three pictures from a point of view standing
in the corner, sweeping 90 across the shop floor, I have been to Hendrick more recently and boy
has it changed, making this memory even sweeter. We were invited in, to look closer at the car
that my brother (the number 50 shirt) is standing beside and the car behind
that one was the car they had raced at Martinsville
with 3 days before. The back end sheet metal was all torn away and it was already
being rebuilt. It was pretty cool.
This one I have tried to post before is of our set up in the
camping field. We drove 20 hours in a
chevette through the mountains. We were
young. The trip killed that car.
And this is the trivia question. It was taken at Talladega,
and is of a driver we followed up here in the northeast, racing on dirt for
many years before this. Do you know who
it is? And what significance does Talladega
hold for him?
And on with the Trifecta…it’s easy this week
First up, on Sunday at 8:00 am
ET the Formula 1 cars launch in Spain
at Catalunya.
Second the Sprint Cup parking lot races for restrictor plate
supremacy at Talladega, starting at
1:00 pm ET
And the final race is the last we will hear the IRL cars as
they go into hibernation until the Indianapolis
500 in the biggest weekend of the year for the Trifecta. They are in Kansas
and the race is scheduled to go at 5 pm ET.
Picks are due at 7:30
on Sunday morning and all the same penalties apply. Good luck to all (although Forensic doesn’t need
it, apparently) and thanks for your participation.
First looking back at the Something Different Trifecta we
find Forensic2 whipped the rest of us by scoring a minuscule 4. Picking the winners of the Little 500 and the
Phoenix cup race, his only blemish
(and a very slight one at that) was second in the Jack Ingram Cup race. The bike race added some fun, but was not
researched well enough by the team here at Trifecta head quarters and thus was
the cause of more than a bit of
confusion. First of all a few people picked female teams only, competing in the
women’s little 500, which was not what I originally intended, but I have included their scores from that
women’s event. Also the list I linked to
was not very up to date and 3 teams that were chosen from it did not even
compete in the race, so my apologies go out to Hanahan, Dwindy1 and YeeMum who
I had to score a 34 for that event. Here
are the results from last weekend
Forensic2-----------4 Photogr-------------16 JayJayDean--------18 williamwilman----19 Gerrel----------------24(I accepted your original pick which
finished 12th instead of 16th in the men’s event) HotfootLori---------24(ironically you and Gerrel tied, and
both were the ones’ to pick from the female group) Dave_in_Indy-------47 Hanahan-------------49 jon_464---------------60 Dwindy1--------------65 YeeMum--------------87(not exactly setting any records, but
I love the pick of sentimental favourites like landon. It’ll make for a cool read if he posts after
he upset wins one of these things, eh.)
Now on to this weeks action, or shall I say non-action. This week neither Sprint Cup nor Formula 1 is
running, so we are going to have to go to far reaching places to fill in the
Trifecta.
The first race on the card is the IRL race from Twin Ring
Motegi in Japan. It goes at 12:00
AM ET Saturday morning (that’s Friday night for all you crazy
partiers). This is when your picks are due.
The second event is the 3 race championship series stop in
Hamilton NZ for the V8 Supercars. You
are picking a driver to come away with the most points for the weekend, not
just 1 race. Our sponsor Tezgm99 tells
me this is how it works downunder and you can check out his blog for more
information about the race. The first
race takes off early Saturday morning at…um…er pretty early in the morning ET and there will
be 2 more races early Sunday morning. I’m
not sure of the exact time difference, but I’m hoping Tez can help us out. Also check out this site if you’re unfamiliar
with drivers in that series.
The final race is the Nationwide road course race from Mexico
City, Mexico. All drivers are eligible to be picked for
this one which goes off at 1:30 pm ET
Sunday.
Same rules apply for double picks. I thought about trying to include one these
final CART races, but I can’t get any information from their website so they
lose out. Good luck to everyone
First of all I would like to
apologize for posting a little late this week.
It has been a wild party here at headquarters since williamwilman’s
victory in the Texas Trifecta. I was
successful (a.k.a #### lucky) in picking the winners of the IRL and Sprint cup
race to win the weekend going away. To
top off my weekend I was also correct in picking the Kansas Jayhawks to win the
NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Unfortunately this was one of the few bright spots in my bracket. Things
are calming down now in time for an early card of races in Phoenix
and something a little different in this week’s Trifecta.
The first race this week is the
Nationwide event set to start at 9:30pm ET
Friday night. For this race we will be
playing “Jack Ingram Cup” rules, meaning only drivers who have never won a Cup
level points paying event are eligible to be selected. Check out our sponsor JayJayDean’s preview of
the race.
The Final race of the weekend
will be the Sprint Cup event. All
drivers are okay to pick for this one and it goes off at 8:00 pm Saturday.
The meat of the sandwich that
these races create is going to be The Little 500. For those who don’t know
(that was me a couple of weeks ago) this is an intramural bicycle relay race
that is held at Indiana University
every spring. It has been going annually
since 1951 and was featured in a film called “Break Away” in 1979. For those not familiar with the race, or the
teams participating, check out the link and click on "teams" at the top of the page.
It goes at 2:00 PM (Indiana
time(I’m unsure if they are eastern or central time). Special thanks go to another of our sponsors,
Dave_in_Indy, for the suggestion this week.
Same rules apply for double picks
this week, and are due before the start of the Nationwide race. If you have any suggestions for something you’d like to see in
the Tri, just let me know and I will try to incorporate it. Good luck to
everyone.
First off an official congratulations goes out to
HotfootLori, who fought her way through traffic to claim the “American Open
Wheel Becomes One Trifecta” last week. Her weekend started out mid-pack, after
the truck race, but steadily she moved up and in dramatic fashion, correctly
picked the winner of the cup race to leave all rivals in her dust. Well done Lori.
This week the Trifecta will touch the 3 major automobile
racing series’ and all races will take place on Sunday.
First Formula 1 visits the small desert island country of Bahrain. This is the first F1 race this year that will
roll off at a respectable time for us living in the eastern time zone, 7:00 AM.
In road course racing, as in golf, it is well known that the sand trap
is not the place to be. This weekend the
sand proves to be all around the track, which aside from being a hazard off the
course, can cause problems on the racing surface as the wind can blow sand on
it, making it exceedingly slick. Add in the removal of traction control and this
race could have fewer finishers than the Australian Grand Prix.
Second, scheduled to go off at 1:30pm ET is the Sprint cup race from Texas.
Last but not least is the street course race for the IRL
being held in Saint Petersburg Florida.
It starts at 2:30pm ET. Maybe a
street course will give an advantage to some of the old CART drivers. It appears to me that the course has
undergone some reconstruction, and will encompass a little of the small air
port there. Does anyone know when this
construction was done? Last year
already? Google Earth pictures show it
still under construction.
As you can see really like Google Earth. It’s like going on vacation when you are on
your computer. Very cool stuff. You can even make out the graders and
construction equipment in Florida. You can even see the old start finish line on the road. Very cool indeed.
All the same rules apply for this week, but if we get more
than 15 people playing I will waive the penalties for double picks in both open
wheel events.
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
Congratulations go out to Gerrel, a rookie this year who
backed up her first week win in the Trifecta hosted by HotfootLori, taking the
Trifecta Returns Home. As impressive as
winning two weeks in a row, Gerrel has done it with remarkable low scores of 16
in both weeks and beat 10 other contestants this week.
Albert Park, site of the AustralianGrand Prix from google earth
This week there will not be a Trifecta. We have the Nationwide Series visiting Nashville,
on Saturday and The Formula1 cars in Kuala Lumpur
Sunday, but I could not find a third race going on anywhere in the world this
weekend. It is just as well though, as
Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his victory
over sin. I pray you are able to celebrate
with family and friends this weekend and can take at least a few moments
reflecting on what He has done for you.
The Formula 1 race is taking place at Sepang Circuit in Malaysia. This is one of the most beautiful and
spectacular race tracks in the world. It
was designed by Hemann Tilke, A German track designer, who has done others, but
this is definitely my favorite.
I wanted to add a few other photos too. I was not able to post these on Dwindy1’s
post (I can figure out how to do that in a comment) about Tony Stewart and dirt
races, but here are 2 venues that the ARCA series visits, that are Dirt
Illinois State
Fairgrounds
DuQuoin State
Fairgrounds
And here are a few I wanted to share, because I just think
they are cool.
My wife and son shovel while I watch the Atlanta Nationwide race. This was taken almost exactly when Kyle Busch blew his tire and hit the wall.
He looks like he did it all himself
All the snow makes for some really cool tunnels Even if he doesn't make it to the big leagues I am determined to teach my son how to celebrate. (and yes that is his tony stewart hat. i tried for a half hour to get him to take the jeff gordon one, but he wanted tony stewart)
After being hosted by a able
blogger (HotfootLori) last week, the Trifecta returns to its original home and
will encompass NASCAR and Formula 1 this week. The
object of this game is to achieve the lowest score, picking drivers who you believe
will win their respective races. The finishing
position of each chosen driver is summed to produce your score. The participant
with the lowest score is declared the winner and gets praise and ribbing from
fellow bloggers.
This weekend’s events start with
the Nationwide series visiting the half mile oval in Bristol. If history has taught us anything this
promises to be a long drawn out affair, with many caution periods and a parade
of sprint cup stars at the front. The
race is scheduled to roll off at 2:00pm ET
and this is when picks are due.
JayJayDean has written a great preview for this race if you want to
check out who will be running this weekend.
All drivers are able to be picked The second race is the Formula 1
opener from Melbourne Australia. It is scheduled to go at 12:30 am ET. (That
is the wee hours of the morning for any new fans hoping to catch the
race.) jbroomy has written a great
preview of the season in his blog, if your wondering what to expect. The final race will be the Sprint
cup event at Bristol to start at 1:30 pm ET.
Hopefully it will be a good race, as there were mixed reviews after the
night race last fall when the track had been re-worked.
All drivers are eligible to be picked,
but a penalty will be given to folks who pick drivers already chosen. For the formula 1 race the penalty will be 3
points and 5 points for both NASCAR events.
Well, well well… very nice of you to show your face again
William.
First of all I must humbly apologize for completely bailing
on you guys mid way through the chase.
The truth of the matter is that burning the candle at both ends with
work and family and fun (blogging) finally caught up with me and I was knocked
off my feet with a nasty bout of pneumonia.
After a 3 week hiatus from my life I found myself scrambling to get work
and family back on track. Then at work I
was moved into a different department, requiring a lot of my time (overtime)
and blogging took a back seat. By the time I had any free time to do that sort
of thing, the chase was long over and Christmas was upon us. I made a new years resolution to update the
blog, but got swept up into the facebook revolution and honestly thought you
all would have forgotten about it. I was encouraged by the revival of the
Trifecta this weekend by Hotfootlori and felt I had to make my
re-appearance.
It has bothered me that I never finished this thing so here
you have the break down of the final 4 weeks.
Thanks again to all who participated.
….into the third turn they rush in a 2 by 2 formation (week
7 update)
…into the final turn they go and again all the position are
up for grabs but a leader is starting to emerge…oh it seems that Williams foot has slipped off
of the accelerator (week 9 update)
And here they come to the line. It’s a three way battle for the lead. This is
going to be close folks (in the true spirit of NASCAR manipulation). And the winner is!!!!
photogr-----------34 (tiebreaker 420) volfan69----------34 (tiebreaker 250) IowaGirl----------34(tiebreaker 201) JayJayDean------38 Tezgm99---------42 williamwilman—44(tiebreaker 380) jbroomy-----------44(tiebreaker 300) Dave_in_Indy----44(tiebreaker 0) HotfootLori-------56(10 point penalty) Forensic2----------58(tiebreaker 521)(20 point late penalty) SharplyBlunt------58(tiebreaker 323)
The tie-breaker was, to refresh your memory, the distance in
points between 1st and 12th in the standings. The actual number was 580
Nice job photogr. You
hung out around the lead for the entire chase including setting the lowest
recorded score in week 6. You’re easily
the winner, although it came right down to the wire. Thanks again for participating everyone, and
for being patient with me in this post.
…they scramble down the backstretch and jockey for position heading into turn 3.
Well finally one of the Fox bloggers in the Chase has done it, breaking through the 30 point barrier and posting a 28. The Martinsville race was over shadowed by an amazing Formula 1 race before hand and a “caught on camera” pit road altercation afterwards. The race itself may have been good (if you like yellows), but could not keep my interest so I will not be commenting on it.
What I will comment on though is the great job photogr has done this entire weekend, not only taking the lead in the chase but winning the Brazilian Paperclip Trifecta. He has taken a page out of Jeff Gordon’s “how to dominate competition” book Well done photogr and here are your standings for each event.
The Brazilian Paperclip Trifecta
photogr-------------7
volfan69------------9
Forensic2----------26
jbroomy-----------28
Dave_in_Indy----28(nice comeback after finishing worst in the first 2 races)
williamwilman---38
YeeMum----------44( sorry you actually received 15 points in penalty. If it is any consolation you would have beat me with those picks).
be the way did anyone get a line on the tiebreaker. my vcr didn't get the whole truck race.( note to self make sure you rewind the tape before you begin recording)
Well it appears this year that even NASCAR, in all their
meddling ways, couldn’t come up with as close a point chase as in Formula 1(check
out jbroomy’s blog, a great preview to this race). Come to think of it, the IRL series had a
wild finish, racing down to the last lap, make that that last corner to decide
its champion. It seems with all the
tinkering they are still in for a runaway.
I know, its not over yet, but judging by the last 31 races and Gordon’s
unwillingness to show even a crack in the armor, a lot of folks are writing the
finale now. They still have to run the
races though and that allows us to pick who we think are going to win
them. Bringing us to The Brazilian Paperclip Trifecta.
The first race on the ticket this week is the Truck race
from Martinsville. It goes off at 2:30pm
ET. Saturday, so this is when your picks are due.
The next race is the Brazilian Grand Prix. It starts at 11:30
am ET Sunday. This has the
potential to be one of the most interesting races of the year, make that the
decade.
The last race is the Nextel Cup race also from Martinsville. It is scheduled to go off at 1:30 pm ET. Sunday
All drivers are open to be picked and picking drivers that
have been chosen is a 5 point penalty.
This week we are going to have a tie breaker (more just for
fun). How many laps is the longest green
flag run going to be in the truck race?
Out of turn 2 and on to the back
stretch they go, fanning out to find each one's position in the draft….
Well, Jeff Gordon couldn’t give
that one away. After having it handed to
him when teammate Jimmie Johnson backed his ride into the wall. He led a fare bit until
the yellow flag flew with 12 to go. Not
realizing how low in fuel he was he followed the pace car and when the race
restarted (after a red flag to clean up some oil) Gordon found his car stumbling because of an
air bubble in the fuel line from driving around the banking under caution. The cough gave Ryan Newman the chance to get
around him and the other cars that got stacked up behind Gordon. As we all know Newman is able to lay down a
blistering lap, but he showed that he was human by looping it and hammering the
fence with 2 to go. Gordon led the cars
around under caution, this time being smart and keeping his car on the level
apron of the track, to pick up all the fuel possible. When the race restarted
though, as a green-white-checkered, the debris picked up from the apron on Gordon’s
tires caused them to spin on the restart.
Clint Bowyer, the surprise of the chase, was too close behind Gordon and
was unable to cleanly get around him, giving him a shot in the #### getting the
24 moving. In victory lane Gordon was
thankful for all the second chances and excited about his win.
I’m unsure of the number but I
know that he has a startling number of back to back wins. Some where around 21
times he has won 2 races in a row. And
don’t look now but next week is Martinsville,
considered one of Gordon’s best tracks.
Other interesting note from this
race was Matt Kenseth unbelievable bad luck.
Vying for the nickname “pinball” he hit everything but the pace
car. I’m sure he will be lobbying for a
softer tire next time they come to Charlotte.
Speaking of bad luck it seemed
that Scott Riggs was putting together a great run, after having announced this
week he won’t be in that car next year,
when Juan Pablo Montoya’s tire let go and took out Riggs, who was lapping
him at the moment. It seems when ever he
runs well he has problems.
Anyway, with the conclusion of
this race marks the half way point in the chase and slowly Gordon is
eliminating his competition with only 2 drivers within reach of his lead. Also drivers seem to be falling into their
place in the standings as only half of the drivers changed their position this
week.
Here are your standings IowaGirl-----------30 williamwilman---32 photogr------------34 jbroomy-----------36 volfan69-----------36 Dave_in_Indy-----36 JayJayDean--------38 Tezgm99-----------38 SharplyBlunt------46 HotfootLori--------52 Forensic2-----------66
Out of the First turn and into the short shoot they roll.
Kansas could
go down as the most controversial race of the year. All in the name of the Chase, NASCAR was put
in an uncomfortable position of trying to intervene between Mother Nature and fuel
strategy. In the end, though, they
almost completely got their way, having 5 of the chaser’s finish in the top
dozen (keeping the points still fairly close).
Here’s how your Fox Bloggers standing looked after Kansas
Talladega: the chase’s
great unknown, being the first super speedway race with the CoT, rookie driver
Jacques Villeneuve making his debut and the inevitable looming “big one”. As it turned out the rich got richer and the
stragglers struggled creating a 3 car break away for the points lead.
These are the current standing in the Fox Bloggers Chase
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.
