Hey, a new way for me to complain about the motorsports world.

So here we go. This new column/blog/waste of webspace of mine is here for me to speak my mind on various topics in the motorsport world without risking getting my ass banned from internet forums. Many of you will know me as Senor Soup, Senorsoupe, or some other unimaginative variation of two words I put together while drinking to create an internet name and may (or may not) be surprised by the content of this blog as I generally am nice and polite on the forums, but I have decided I feel like giving more opinionated race previews, reviews, news analysis, dog poo on a stick, and other such fun things to read about motorsports and the likes. So sit back, enjoy, get offended if you so desire, although I do not strive to offend anyone, although I may say some less than nice things about your favourite driver/team/personality or any other such subject in motorsport.

As there is no Formula One this week and I would rather take a power drill to my own testicles than watch NASCAR I will start by previewing the upcoming IndyCar race at Richmond. Some of my European friends will wonder why I like IndyCars and not NASCAR and I will say that even on ovals, the IRL has a habit of producing some pretty good races. Partly due to the speed, partly due to the fact that the races are shorter, partly due to the smaller size of the cars being more conducive to overtaking and partly because the commentators and drivers tend to be capable of mastering the English language. So on we go.

The Indycars will be racing at the 0.75 mile oval at Richmond this year and due to the fact that there are now 26 cars on the grid (assuming Marty Roth makes it through practice without destroying his car this time, which is far from a safe assumption) this race will probably be pretty exciting. The IRL races at the shorter ovals this year have been pretty exciting with lots of overtaking and close racing and Richmond tended to produce good racing before the influx of new cars. The drama will be further increased by the presence of a whole pile of new mobile chicanes, people who would probably fail a road test, and other such "racing drivers" that the IRL has decided to give racing licenses to. Maybe they need to hire new racing license evaluators because the current ones do not seem to be doing a good job. But when your Tony George and have totally run North American open wheel racing into the sewer and essentially have to beg drivers to race with any kind of favours possible, you can't be too picky, even if it means risking the lives of real race-car drivers. I guess that is the cost of doing business in the eyes of Mr. George and his dumb-assed cronies in Indianapolis. I kind of wish that IRL racing was not as exciting as it is, then maybe I could turn my television off and feel good about flipping Tony George the virtual bird, but shucks darn those guys are good racers. So now that my first Anti-Tony George rant is out of the way (there will be more) it is time to actually talk about the upcoming race. Richmond is a track that can throw up some wild-cards and the boys and girls of Penske, Ganassi, and AGR will have to look over their shoulders at some of the smaller teams that have been impressive of late. The most impressive of them has to be John Andretti driving for Roth Racing. He finished 11th in the last race in Iowa, but could have finished higher had he not been driving for a team that is run by a useless hack of a driver on a shoestring budget who are stuck with the no-name brand of mechanics and pit crew members (for the unaware, no-name brand is a brand of cheap food available here in Canada that is only purchased by students and the unemployed and is probably hazardous to the health). John Andretti also has a great record at this track in NASCAR and has a truckload of experience racing everything and anything, he will surprise. Other drivers with the potential to do well include Ryan Hunter-Reay, who had a chance to win in Texas only to be taken out by one of Marco Andretti's many rookie mistakes, Ed Carpenter, who could do really well if only he was a better driver, and Vitor Meira who has been criminally unlucky. This race will also feature a large number of accidents due to the small nature of the track and the lack of talent in many of the cars, so someone could strike it lucky.

Thanks for reading (if anyone does) and I hope to read some of your comments. For the Indy Car fans out there I am going to start a new contest, called the "what lap will Marty Roth crash on" contest. Place your bets via comments and I will post a table of sorts, once I come up with a points type system. An answer of "won't crash" is acceptable, although not bloody likely, an answer of "DNS due to accident" is also acceptable and much more likely!!!

Cheers
Senor Soup