In the last month seven more drivers qualified to be included in the overall SPEED BLOG RANKINGS which rate drivers from NASCAR, Formula One, IndyCar, NHRA Drag Racing and World Rally against each other’s relative performances.

World Rally ace Mikko Hirvonen stays on the top again this month, while for the first time this year a NASCAR driver, Kyle Busch, breaks into the Top 10.

The Top 10 at the end of July are:

1. Mikko Hirvonen (Rally)
2. Sebastian Loeb (Rally)
3. Scott Dixon (IndyCar)
4. Helio Castroneves (IndyCar)
5. Tony Schumacher (NHRA)
6. Lewis Hamilton (F1)
7. Feliepe Massa (F1)
8. Kimi Raikkonnen (F1)
9. Robert Kubica (F1)
10. Kyle Busch (NASCAR)

As part of another writing project I’ve recently been rewatching the Disney-Pixar classic animated movie CARS. Watching the accompanying 16 minute documentary on the DVD abut the inspiration for, and making of, the movie, I was struck by one sentence.

The movie makers remarked that the essence of racing on the screen (be it the large cinema one, or the smaller TV one), is best projected by having not only great camera shots, but a knowledgeable and enthusiastic commentary team with great personalities. For this reason they enrolled FOX TV NASCAR commentator and ex-driver Darrell Waltrip to call their animated race sequences. Whatever you say or think about DW, no-one can argue that he simply loves racing and is one of the most enthusiastic broadcasters there is.

The more I thought about what the movie makers had said, the more I had to agree.

For me growing up Formula One was defined by what consider to be the best commentary team the sport has ever known, Murray Walker and James Hunt. Now I watch F1 coverage here in the US, I get as much entertainment from the banter, wit and sheer fun of Bob Varsha, David Hobbs and Steve Matchett.

What of NASCAR? Looking back I realized that I watch far more races in the half of the season when FOX is covering the races. DW, Jeff Hammond, Mike Joy and crew make the whole experience a fun four hour show – without them the races drag.

Then there’s IndyCar. A series I watch purely for the racing, in spite of the commentary team. Now that CART and IRL are back as one series, the racing is better and the series is poised to return to the glory days of American open wheel racing. But a keystone of that is a network that understands the sport (i.e. doesn’t move it around from channel to channel, often seemingly on a whim), knows how to build entertaining programming around it and has an enthusiastic, knowledgeable commentary team with personality. Would it be too much to suggest that ABC bring back Paul Page from covering NHRA drag racing to where he belongs, with IndyCars, and have Jerry Punch and a opinionated ex-driver (Dario Franchitti, Bryan Herta?) in the box alongside? – Seems like sense to me.

At the half-way point of the season 135 different drivers from Formula One, Indycar, NASCAR, NHRA drag racing, and the World Rally Championship have qualified to be included in The Speed Blog driver rankings.

World Rally driver Mikko Hirvonen maintains the top spot for another month, but the gap to second placed Indycar racer Scott Dixon is closing fast.

Here’s the Top 10 standings at the end of June.

1. Mikko Hirvonen (WRC)
2. Scott Dixon (IRL)
3. Sebastian Loeb (WRC)
4. Helio Castroneves (IRL)
5. Robert Kubica (F1)
6. Fellipe Massa (F1)
7. Dan Wheldon (IRL)
8. Kimi Raikkonen (F1)
9. Tony Schumacher (NHRA)
10. Chris Atkinson (WRC)

Kyle Busch is the top ranked NASCAR driver at #13 on the list.

Watching Danica Patrick win the IRL race in Motegi, Japan last night was fun. The race itself was somewhat processional until the last 15 laps when the tension built as we waitied to see who would have to pit for last gasp “splash & go” stops, and who had managed to race and preserve fuel. – The answer to the last question was Danica.

All evening she had been around 8th or 9th place with the in car camera shots showing she was fighting understeer all the way around the egg-shaped oval track. After her last pit stop she seemd to have settled for a top ten finish, but in retrospect was probably conserving fuel for the end, as this race has traditionally come down to fuel management over out right speed. With just two laps to go she swept past the fuel starved Penske of Helio Castroneves to take the lead and an historic victory.

Since Danica Patrick burst onto the IndyCar scene I’ve always been impressed with her speed, but often questioned if she had the race craft to take a victory. Last night she proved she did.

The only negative note after the race for me was the TV commentators continued use of the phrase, “The first woman to win a major open-wheel event.” As usual with US based journalists, they ignore the rest of the world. “The first woman to win a major open-wheel event” was Desire Wilson, who won a round of the Bristish F1 championship in 1980 – becoming the only woman to have won an F1 race.

Not to take away anything from Danica’s achievment – but let’s be accurate. She is “the first woman to win a major American open wheel race. – Let’s hope there’s many more to come.

The opening IRL race of the 2008 season was meant to be the start of the new era of US  open-wheel racing. Sure enough there were a few ex-Champ Car teams on the grid, but given the short amount of time they have had to prepare they weren’t really a factor. In short the start of this “new era” was pretty much the same as we’ve seen over the last few seasons.

The battle at the front was between the three power teams of Ganassi, Penske and Andretti-Green with Ganassi’s Scott Dixon ending up in victory lane with team mate Dan Wheldon being the star of the show with a charge up to third from the back of the grid. Marco Andretti drove with maturity beyond his 21 years to a solid second place.

Going back to the unification; while it was great to see a full grid of cars, would it have been better to wait a little longer, maybe even to the Indy 500 in may, for the ex-Champ Car teams to join in. having a team like Newman-Haas sidelined through a lack of spares is frankly ridiculous. And how can drivers like publicity stunt Milka Duno have a ride, while Sarah Fisher, Paul Tracy and many others sit on the sidelines?