Watching yesterday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race from Watkins Glen prompted me to post the following quick note on my Twitter feed.

Can’t believe the lack of medical crews at the site of the 9 car pile up in today’s NASCAR race. NASCAR needs to learn from open wheel.

Thinking about it over night I thought perhaps I had over reacted  until I watched the following video again.

Watch Bobby Labonte climb out of the #43. He is obviously injured and in pain. Why was he allowed to groggily find his own way down pit lane? He even passed two NASCAR officials who let him keep going. What if he’d had internal injuries?

In fact my by my  rough reckoning it was almost 90 seconds after the impact that track workers arrived with fire extinquishers.  And this wasn’t some distant part of the circuit between two marshal posts - it was right at pit-in.

I’ve seen better marshalling and faster response times at club level road racing.

If this had happened in Formula One there would have been an international outcry in the media.  Yet I haven’t heard anyone on TV (Speed Report, Wind Tunnel etc.) or online mention it.

I’m I the only one who seems to think there’s an issue here?

Just a few days after my post about how race commentators can impact TV ratings comes news that the Indy Racing League has signed a new TV deal.

According to the announcment the series new TV partner  “will produce extended coverage, including pre and post-race shows and, potentially, programmes between races.”

All this sounds great, except for one point.

That new TV partner? - the cable channel Versus

Who?

I’ve never heard of it before. Apparently Versus is not included in most basic satellite packages, as ESPN is, and reaches 20 million fewer homes.  (OK a little research shows that Versus is the new brand for OLN best known for its hunting and fishing shows.)

I’m one of those 20 million fewer homes. I have Direct TV and whenever I’ve looked at a cable or satellite deal I’ve always stipulated that whichever package I get includes SPEED TV and ESPN.

Apparently the IRL also renewed its deal with ABC to screen five races each season, including the Indianapolis 500. So instead of watching a full season of 17 races, I’ll only be watching the occasional event.

So this makes sense how?

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.

One thing I’ve noticed among most fans of Formula One is that they all seem to have their favorite Grand Prix. For some it’s the magic of the Monaco street circuit, for others the fast curves and history of the Italian GP at Monza, or the challenge of Spa in Belgium.

Being born, raised and sucked into the world of motor racing in England, I was lucky enough to watch F1 Grands Prix at Silverstone and Brands Hatch, as well as several European races in person; but the one race that always fascinated me was the US GP. Held at a variety of circuits each reflecting the nature and culture of different parts of the United States, it was “my race.” The one I looked forward to more than any other.

After relocating to the States I was determined to attend the US GP, the only problem, there wasn’t one. When F1 racing returned to these shores in 2000 at Indianapolis I was there. It was a culmination of two boyhood dreams in one – being at a US GP and being at Indy.

I was hoping that the US GP’s absence from this year’s F1 season would be a one off occurrence, but after the FIA issued its provisional calendar for 2009, it seems we must wait a bit longer.

To help get over my US GP blues I’ve been looking back and researching the history of the event. Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting my own personal look at the story of the United States Grand Prix here on The Speed Blog.