Taking a Spin Through Rumor Town© Gary Presley
Dec 4, 2000
Hey, it's off-season. Teams are testing here and there - I just saw a news bulletin that Greg Ray, one of those IRL guys, turned a lap near 200mph at Homestead - but there's not much racing, except on tape.
Can't be a better time to fire up the computer and take a tour of the 'Net. There's always something interesting to be learned about racing.
A Little Doubt From Our Friends
Johns writes mostly on NASCAR, but he's on the mark in this commentary, in my opinion. You gotta think people like Chip Ganassi, Paul Newman and Carl Haas would have a little red-white-and-blue in the veins and want a home boy in at least one of their seats. Is it the money from engine manufacturers? Toyota and Honda have deep pockets. Ford too, for that matter, is an international corporation.
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"The question really is, Is there, in fact, a future? Or is CART going to turn into an American F3000 series? What was once a proud and elite American open-wheel series is now a mish-mash of F1 aspirants like Bruno Junquiera and Nicolas Minassian and broken-down F1 retirees such as Johnny Herbert and Mark Blundell. America is virtually unrepresented save for Michael Andretti, whose career is still near its peak but is obviously on the downhill side. Meanwhile, talented young American drivers like Memo Gidley, Buddy Rice, and Alex Barron are ignored by the big teams and can only get substitute rides in the smaller bottom-feeders like Dale Coyne Racing and Della Penna Motorsports."
Walker Has A Yen for Japanese Products
This guy spent 3 years in F-1 before dropping back to the Formula Nippon Series. That suited his style. He won 8 of 10 races in that series in 2000. Chatters on some of the auto racing fan lists have floated a few derogatory nicknames for the Tiger, one of which incorporated the unflattering label of Speedbump.
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"Derrick Walker wasted little time moving forward with his plan for 2001 as he announced the addition of Tora Takagi, Pioneer and Toyota to his lineup for next season. The move continues a line of successful partnerships between Walker Racing and top Japanese talent, following Hiro Matsushita in 1993, Naoki Hattori in 1999 and Shinji Nakano in 2000."
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