Whither the news?
problem is there are no available Honda seats, unless Marco gets booted from his dad's team or Hinch finds the sponsorship to displace Ferrucci. will Honda Canada fund a full season? probably not. maybe a one off for Toronto, or an Indy/Toronto/Detroit effort.
The idea that Hinch might join Ganassi as a 4th car is interesting. With the IMSA Ford GT program closing out, maybe they have capacity? They hired Mike Cannon away from Coyne, which could hurt Ferrucci if he stays there. Seems to me that's as likely as an RLL 3rd car.
Nothing against the guy but if I hear Diffey say "The Mayor of Hinchtown" one more time, I'm going to pull an Elvis and shoot the TV. BHW
When a commodity is over sold you will have this. Maybe the drivera of "spec racing" need to focus more on the driving part and less on the marketing part. Never saw AJ or Mario have to pitch a sponsor. The sponsors found them.
Be nice. That was back when they used to pan the stands to show how full they were as opposed to the closeups of the track so you don't see how empty.....
Yeah, but that ship sailed a long time ago. Having worked with Tom Kristensen's management team in 1999 attempting to gain a CART seat and bringing no budget, the interest was certainly there but since there isn't a huge industrial base in Denmark and lack of certain media ties, the two teams that gave him a serious look (Walker and Rahal) both required serious upfront $$$ despite the fact that with every team Tom worked with on the way up, he had made them all winners. Walker flat out needed $4M for Tom to even set foot in the car for a test. Rahal had Shell as a sponsor and as much as Rahal liked Tom, Shell liked Kenny Brack better because he had "Indy 500 winner" (such as it was) on his CV. So, money always wins out over talent. As much as we may consider Hinchcliffe a young guy, the fact is he's been in it now nine years and six wins to show. Corporate backing from Honda aside, if he's more of a "personality commodity" now than a serious contender, then perhaps the time is right for some new talent to emerge. Racing is a cruel business and a young man's game (among other cliches), but certainly Hinchcliffe will find a ride somewhere even if Honda has to create a new entry for him. BHW
and that's the problem. while his personality makes him a star, his performance is mid-pack. he's the Michael Waltrip of IndyCar.
Just saw that today is the 20th anniversary of the very sad loss of a huge talent who could have gone extremely far: Greg Moore, saw him race in sports/GT cars at Sebring that year or the year before and it was a terrible experience to see the Champcar accident at Fontana that took him away as it was obviously unsurvivable: RIP Champ...
'97. 'Was there also when he drove the FIA GT Merc' CLK GTR, they finished 7th (also 'drove the CLK again at 'Seca a week later and finished 7th again). My only other time was the first CART race at Homestead, '96, again 7th. Another coincidence.....very nasty weather both weekends. Moore was definitely a "comer" that was already here.....
Ah yes 97 the FIA GT Merc panzers, after the race I was under the podium next to him and Alex Wurz, always spooky to remember such moments.
Yeah (temp: '60s). But Saturday there was a monsoon. Not quite like IMSA's first MIA GP ('83), but very, very wet indeed.
Greg Moore drove with the Mercedes-Benz AMG CLK-GTR as part of the three car team at the FIA GT race at Sebring in 1997. The team (actually Mercedes-Benz North America) had the good sense to hire me to photograph for them that weekend. That was the race where there was a monsoon over the track for the middle portion of the race. **** weather but great images! BHW
Scott Dixon was at our Bal Harbour Shops Collector's Weekend event on Saturday. We got to speak with him for about 10 minutes and discussion turned to Hinchcliffe. As everyone agrees, it's a too bad situation and the way (and time) it was handled was very unprofessional and may leave Hinchcliffe without an Indy Car ride for 2020. His Honda ties are strong so perhaps he ends up in IMSA with the Penske DPi team or the Acura GTD squad. Also, Dixon said that an announcement will be made this coming week about him joining an IMSA DPi team for 2020. My money is on Wayne Taylor Racing. BHW
Yikes! And it doesn't get much worse than that! Michael Waltrip is easily the most annoying personality in the history of racing. BHW
Hey BW...no biggie but, "which witch is which"? I'm just not clear..."him" Dixon, or "him" Hinchcliffe, to join an IMSA team? (part time? full time?) 'Assuming Hinch', but as you said,his ties are with Honda so 'confuses a tad, when as you suggest, "he" may be going to Cadillac.....(I know, Dixon/Honda in IRL, but he's already driven G's Ford GTs, so obviously 'not as tight as Hinch's) Also I don't recollect his (Hinch) doing any sports racers/cars before as has Dixon.....
I guess it's "Pick on BW Day" for me as I have to disagree. I'd give that award to another Michael.....Mike Wallace. 'Can't stand him, nuttin' agin' 'im, just not his schtick.....
