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.

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..

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.

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.

…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).


And the Fox Bloggers Chase

photogr------------28
IowaGirl-----------32
williamwilman----34
Tezgm99-----------38
volfan69-----------38
JayJayDean--------40
jbroomy------------40
Dave_in_Indy-----40
HotfootLori--------46
SharplyBlunt------48
Forensic2----------64

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?

The Trifecta is back this week and is making 2 stops in Kansas with the meat in this NASCAR sandwich, The F1 race from Japan.  Now this might seem like an easy one, but there is going to be a few rules to each race that may turn this into a real nightmare.  Don’t let that scare you off though, if you get frightened you can tap your heels together and say “there’s no place like home”.  That will wake you up and bring you back to reality.  Here are your events.

 First up is the Busch race from Kansas. It is set to go off at 3:00pm ET, Saturday.  It should be chalk full of Cup drivers, but to bad you can not pick any of them.  This race is restricted to only driver that have not made a cup start this year.

 Second is the Japanese Grand Prix.  It is set to go off at an early 12:30 am Sunday.  I think the only one who is in favor of this start time is Tezgm99, but he is the one who is usually up at all hours to watch the races.  I guess we can give him a couple, eh. Your twist in this one is you can not choose any driver who has won a race this year.  Effectively this eliminates the 2 teams involved in the espionage scandal, Ferrari and Mclaren.

  The final race is the Nextel Cup race from Kansas.  It is slated to start at 1:00pm. ET, Sunday.  As you know this year has been dominated by the chasers (obvious statement there william), and now they seem to be the only ones out there.  This week we are going to change that by only picking cars not in the chase.  We need to do all we can to bring attention to these guys too.

 So there you have it.  Do your research, make you picks and “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain”.  The same rules apply for double picks (5 for 1,10 for 2 and 15 for 3) and we are giving up on the bonus for the cup guys because we have figured out how to pick a winner.  Picks are due before the start of the Busch races, and hope your drivers can “follow the yellow brick road” or at least stay right side up.

Well folks this weeks Trifecta is going to be put together really quick. It has been a long day at work but I did want to get one in this week as it is the finale of the IRL season.

First on the card is the Nextel Cup race from Richmond. Although it is the final race before the chase, it’s all but academic at this point. The race starts at 7:00 ET on Saturday night

Next we have the Italian Grand Prix from Monza. It is slated to go at 8:00 am ET on Sunday.

The last Race will be the final IRL race at Chicgoland. It is scheduled for 3:00 pm ET on Sunday afternoon.

Same rules for double picks this week but there will be no bonus for picking the Cup winner as we have figured out how to do that as a group.

Congratulations to photogr who won for the second time in a row last week, making it two weeks in a row successfully picking the cup winner

Okay folks and fans, first I must apologize for not being able to put on a Trifecta the last 2 weeks. Things at work have picked up and I find myself with a lot less free time than earlier in the summer. That is good, it pays the bills, but it is hard on the free time to pull this together. But this week there is some good races so I am making time to marquee 3. The Busch race is already underway and I would be watching it except my darling wife has taken over the remote, so it is not on the card.

First, we have is the Saturday night shootout at Bristol Motor Speedway with the Nextel Cup boys. Starting at 7:30 ET, and this is also when your picks are due.

Second is the Formula 1 race from Hungary at 8:00 am ET.

Third and last on the card is the IRL race from Infineon Raceway in California. That race starts at 3:30 ET.

Also that last time we played no one correctly picked Kurt Busch to win, no dominate, the race in Pocono, so the bonus points for picking the winner of the cup race has moved to -10. The same rule for double picking stands at 5 points for 1, 10 for 2, and 15 if all 3 of your picks have been previously taken.

Sorry as well for the late post, but good luck to every one.

This week’s Trifecta is all road courses, all on Sunday, all over the world and all in open wheel race cars. That’s right; this week will have nothing to do with NASCAR. As the cup teams are off preparing for the Brickyard. We will be focusing our attention on arguably the 3 premier open wheel divisions in the world.

First up the Formula 1 cars are at Nurburgring for the European Grand Prix. It starts at 8:00 AM EST.
Second is the IRL race at Mid-Ohio. It starts at 1:30 PM EST.
Third is the Champ car race in Edmonton as they race at the airport race track set up there. The most interesting challenge for our contestants might be finding a T.V. station to watch the final race on. If you are able to catch it let us know where we can see it.

I do imagine that a winner in each race will be picked and we could be looking at a record low score weekend for someone but I just wanted to let you all know there will be a large asterisk (nothing like Barry Bonds will have though) beside that record because of the few number of cars involved in the Trifecta. This week we are looking at about 60 cars in total. Last week the total was 97.
Picks are due before the first race on Sunday morning. Rules for picking doubles still apply. 5 for one, 10 for two and 15 for three. There is no carry over bonus this week as there is no cup car action.
Good luck to all.

Good Morning Trifecta Contestants.

Doesn’t it seem when you’re on holidays that your schedule gets turned upside down. Sorry for being a day behind and I hope it doesn’t effect the turn out. Enough with the excuses though and on to the other FOX NASCAR bloggers contest. We’ll leave it up for debate which one is more fun.

This week will start out with the Nextel Cup race, the Pepsi (formerly Firecracker) 400 from Daytona on Saturday 7:30 ET. Being dubbed the last restrictor plate race with the old car, it will take place Saturday night.

Next the F1 race at Silverstone on Sunday morning (8:00am ET). Hamilton returns home to show his country how to get it done. Will he cave under the pressure or rise to the occasion. You decide.

And lastly we will have the IRL race from Watkins Glen 3:30 ET Sunday afternoon. Finally they go to a track where throttle control is important and then the Nascar guys will be holding it wide open. Ahh, the irony of it all.

I also wanted to know how many of you are interest in champ car racing? It seems to me to be the bottom of the heap, because of instability and predictability. They are racing through the exhibition grounds here in Toronto this weekend and I think the only ones who are still interested are local media. No points for this one but you can tell me who you think will win.

I’ll do a wrap up next week from the past 2 weeks(when I have time back at work). I just wanted to get this out before it was too late. Picks are due…. lets see… we’ll change it up and say before the start of the Saturday night race (7:30 ET)(yes that is after F1 qualifying.)

Same rules apply for double picks.

Well let’s start with the wrap from the weekend that was. JayJayDean continues to set the bar becoming the first back to back trifecta winner and the first 3 time winner. JJ had a great runs in both NASCAR events and managed to get through the crash fest that was that IRL race at the new Iowa speedway. JJD’s main competition was again photogr who managed to get a hit a high note by picking the #2 finisher in the Nextel Cup race.  So in 5 weeks we have not been able to correctly predict the winner of a Cup race (albeit we have had 3 first time winners). He picked Jeff Burton who finished 3rd but Kevin Harvick was who was 2nd was not eligible being a past road course winner.

When I put together the non-road course winner aspect, I thought for sure somebody would take Juan but it ended up being too obvious of a choice.

Congratulations JayJayDean.

Final Results

JayJayDean--------------18
photogr--------------------22
Tezgm99------------------28
williamwilman-----------33
Dave_in_Indy------------(29)
14Falcons-----------------(30)

The last 2 were put there because their picks for the Busch race were late. I’m glad they didn’t win or I would have had to impose a real penalty. Any way they seemed like honest mistakes but those races will not be considered in their overall average. One last note, I think if we take those picks into consideration this had to be out lowest collective score(average) by almost 10 points. Good work folks. Once again I’m pulling down the class average (it’s just like high school all over again).

Season Averages

JayJayDean-------------23.92
photogr-------------------28.17
Tezgm99----------------36.60
Dave_in_Indy-----------38.32
14Falcons---------------40.75
williamwilman----------47.15

Now on to this week where all three major series’ are in action. And to put a little twist on things and because the French are famous for their backward way of thinking I have to decided turn the Trifetca upside down. This week you want to pick THE WORST FINISHER in each event. That’s right, who will finish last, so you want to get the highest score. The averages will be inverted to continue to show true statistics.

The 1st event is the IRL race in Richmond on Saturday.

The 2nd race is the French Grand Prix on Sunday morning at 8:00 am ET.

The 3rd and final event is the Nextel Cup Race in New Hampshire.

So here is your chance to show off how much you really know about the different series’. It’s easy to pick the cars that are up front every week, but now you are forced to go top the bottom of the pack to find the poorest finishers. Or maybe there is a driver you can’t stand and want to see finish last. Whatever the case, if you’re the ultimate stopper this Trifecta is for you.

JayJayDean not only won the Fathers Day trifecta but put a whoopin’ on us all with a microscopic score.  Infact, the score that photogr (2nd) ended up with would have won (or tied) any of the previous weeks, but JJ ended up the winner, with the largest margin of victory to boot.

This is JayJay’s second win and he is the first player to win more than once.  He did it by staying in touch with the leaders through the first 2 rounds and going for the jugular in the final race of the weekend.  He also set the bar in picking the highest ever finishing position in a Cup race (Tony Stewart finishing 3rd).  Obviously he has been doing his homework, studying all the stats, and pulling out the stops when the time is right.  You can check out his work on his blog  “JJD’s NASCAR bolg and other stuff” for your own insight as to who to pick in the NASCAR series’.

Your final results are

JayJayDean----------------------15

photogr---------------------------20

Dave_in_Indy-------------------33

williamwilman-----------------54

Tezgm99------------------------56

volfan69-------------------------57

14Falcons------------------------70

Your updated over all percentages look like this

 JayJayDean-------------------%24.24

photogr------------------------%26.96

14Falcons---------------------%38.02

Dave_in_Indy----------------%38.64

Tezgm99----------------------%41.55

williamwilman---------------%49.02

volfan69-----------------------%56.93

Nicely done JJ, and look at that percentage.  I guess that means you’ll be taken Gordon this weekend if he’s not busy becoming a father.  It’s in the numbers.  I was also thinking of taking the percentages over a set number of events.  That way you could better your numbers a little easier by having bad runs eventually drop off you record.  Any ideas on how many races it should span?

This week the IRL series is coming to Iowa, where I believe we have a couple of contestants living so look for that to be on the card as well as a possible twist on the Cup race.  I hope to post it around 10:00pm Thrusday evening.   I hope to put the trucks on too so check in before Friday night.

This week is the Fathers Day Trifecta. I have a little Dad story I wanted to share first. Last weekend my family and I attended a car show/cruise and over in the corner was a local race car on display. It caught my 2 and a half year old boy’s eye and we headed over to have a closer look at it. It was red so of course my son says “Kasey Kane car”. The guys looking after it laughed and ask my son if he would like to get in. At first he was timid but after we circled the car a couple of times he had to get in. I was such a proud Dad when he was making the engine noises. Then he stops and says to me “fix the tire Daddy”. So after dad completed a pit stop (complete with air gun sound effects) he was on his way and then he yells out to his Mom “need my checkered flag” (which we had just purchased earlier that evening). It was so cute everyone that was around laughed and the guys looking after it showed him how use his flag to pose for his victory lane photo. I couldn’t get the smile off my face for the rest of the day.

Anyway this weeks Trifecta will start with the Busch race at Kentucky. The only difference is that choice will be limited to non-Nextel Cup regulars. The rule for this is any driver that has started more than half of the Cup races to date this year will be excluded. Your scoring for this race will also be different from the actual results as the Busch regulars will be placed against each other and the Cup regulars will be disregarded.

Second on the card will be the USGP from Indy. Kubica has been replaced this week, doctor’s orders, but says he feels 100%. Again it is a miracle.

Third is the Nextel Cup race from Michigan.

The same rules apply as last week. You will be penalized for picking cars that have already been taken. You will also be penalized for picking late. Picks are due before F1 qualifiying, 1:00pm ET Saturday. But if your Busch pick doesn’t make the race you will be granted a do-over at the cost of 3 points. (I’m not sure when Busch qualifying is.)