By David Firestone

In the spirit of my recent additions to The Driver Suit Blog, I’m gonna start writing “My Thoughts on The Racing Weekend” articles on Mondays. These will be pretty straight forward articles, where I recap my thoughts on the racing of the past weekend. If there isn’t, I will comment on any and all announcements made concerning racing and racing news. That said, let’s get started.

Let’s focus on F1 first. The first Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix took place at the brand new Sochi Autodrom in Sochi Russia. The race itself was not without controversy, given the recent events between Russia and the Ukraine. It should be noted that the circuit is a street circuit, with some public roads as part of it. What shocked a lot of drivers was the lack of grip. The surface itself was very nonabrasive to tires, which given that it is brand new does not come as a shock, but the lack of grip made strategy much more complicated. I was wondering which tire compounds Pirelli would bring to the race, and the white mediums and yellow softs did come as a shock. I thought for sure that the red super softs would be used, as did many teams. The racing itself was good, the track is long and it is a really good track.

The Jules Bianci situation was a heavy topic of conversation. He is still in critical condition, but he is in stable condition. Every team and driver had their own tribute, and even F2 and F3 teams wore decals to commemorate him. Mariussa brought his car, and put it in race trim as their tribute. This was a shocking accident in a race that should have been canceled and I am waiting for an explanation as to why the race had to be held.

As for NASCAR, the race at Charlotte was a good one. A rain storm mandated a competition caution, which I don’t like but I accept, and Toyota showed some horsepower in their cars for the first time in a while. Kevin Harvick was putting together a winning effort, but for many similar efforts he put together this year, he came up short. But the major story was a disagreement between Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski, and I’ll let the footage speak for itself…

It’s emotion, plain and simple. Kenseth and Keselowski are two passionate drivers. Kenseth suffered the heartbreak of being eliminated from the Chase in the Challenger round. Keselowski had a disagreement with Denny Hamlin, and accidentally ran into Kenseth. Kenseth had his seat belt and some of his safety equipment off, and could have been seriously hurt. I don’t blame Kenseth for what he did, I would have done the same thing. I think Keselowski was being very brash, but you don’t win championships without being a little brash. What will happen penalty wise we will find out later in the week.

As for me, I spent the day yesterday with my best friend Matt and we went to Zizzo Racing to pick up some memorabilia, but more on that on Sunday. I will be back on Wednesday with the Paint Scheme Tracker and on Friday with Paint Scheme Grades. I’m gonna try something I’ve been wanting to do for a while right now. I read and am a huge fan of Uni-Watch, and on Saturdays, they run a piece called 5+1. Written by Catherine Ryan, 5+1 ranks the top 5 college football games in terms of attractiveness of uniforms, and the +1 is the worst. So I’m gonna try this for the race at Charlotte.

5 Jamie McMurray #1 McDonalds Monopoly Chevy SS Smooth look, great color scheme, and I like the use of Big Mac on the name rail.

4 Landon Cassill #40 Hillman Racing Chevy SS Less is more…a lot more. White works well as a background color, and you can’t go wrong with a good shade of red!

3 Kyle Busch #18 Double Mint Toyota Camry While green has traditionally been an unlucky color for race cars, it has been used very well here. The rather simple clean design works well too.

2 Brad Keselowski #2 Detroit Genuine Parts Ford Fusion If the lettering had a black outline, it would have been more visible, but even still, the baby blue works well, as it usually does. The simple design works very well too.

1 Jimmie Johnson #48 Lowes Chevy SS Perfect design and color schemes combine for an awesome scheme!

And the +1 Danica Patrick #10 Go Daddy Chevy SS Pink for October is usually bad, but Go Daddy likes to use a really bad shade of pink. Combine that with an already bad color scheme, and design scheme, and it just looks horrible.

By David G. Firestone

John Monsam is a NASCAR Camping World Series crew chief. While he has limited experience in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series, he has 8 wins in 14 seasons. He also has 2 wins in the ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series. His most impressive season came while he was the crew chief for Mike Bliss in 2002 when they won the Craftsman Truck Series Championship, with 5 wins, 13 top 5’s and 18 top 10’s. In 2003, Jon Wood took over for Mike Bliss and they had two wins, 10 top 5’s, and 20 top 10’s. They wound up finishing 5^th in the points standings.

Starting at the 2003 O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas, Jon Wood picked up Bob Graham’s Presidential bid as a sponsor. This lasted until the 2003 Advance Auto Parts 200 at Martinsville on October 18, almost two weeks after he dropped his bid for the Presidential ballot in 2004. Monsam wore this firesuit, since the threat of fire on pit road is great, and fire does not care who you are.

I’ve complained about politics in racing before, and that complaint is still valid. But as a collector, and a researcher, I don’t pass up something like this. A race-used crew chief suit is not easy to come by. So I will discuss its traits like I would a driver suit. It is a single-layer suit, SFI certified.  The chest has a CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES, FORD, and ROUSH RACING logos on the right side , and a WILDERNESS FOUNDATION logo on the left chest. The torso has BOB GRAHAM RACING TEAM sewn into it. It has full arm gussets, no design on the shoulder epaulets, and has no television logos. The legs have an odd design in that they say Bob Graham’s racing motto on the side, “Workday Bob Graham, Racing For America” which is the first time I have ever seen a motto on the legs. Monsam’s name is on the belt, but on the back as opposed to the front. On the back is a JR’S GARAGE logo, WWW.ROUSHRACING.COM, and the same BOB GRAHAM’S RACING TEAM logo that is on the front.

By David G. Firestone

A few weeks ago, I called out the NHRA for having the Carolina Nationals when the track conditions were unsafe. This week, I’m going to call out Formula 1 and the Suzuka Circut promoters for the same thing. What happened on Sunday was beyond unacceptable, and I’m demanding answers.

To recap what happened, at the time of the start of the race, 3 PM local time, the track was drenched by the very northern part of Typhoon Phanfone, a category 1 storm. It was expected that the storm would miss Suzuka, and so the event was allowed to start, but it quickly became clear that the weather was going to be an issue. The race started under the safety car, ran for 3 laps, and was then red flagged due to weather. After a brief red flag period, the race resumed, again under the safety car for the first 9 laps. The race then went back green, and it seemed that it would go the distance. It should be noted that many teams were focusing on lap 40, or 3/4 of the scheduled distance, since at that point the race would be official. Even NBC mentioned the race to lap 40 on several occasions. Visibility was a serious issue, due to the spray coming off the cars, and there was reduced grip, even with the rain tires on.

Lap 40 came and went, but on lap 42, Adrian Sutil in the #98 Sauber-Ferrari hydroplaned off the track. He could not get his car back on the track and a local yellow flag was shown to drivers to warn them of the situation. A tractor was called to the scene to help remove the crippled car. As this is unfolding, Jules Bianchi lost control of his car on lap 43, and slammed into the tractor. It quickly became clear that he was seriously injured. The safety car was deployed, and the race was red flagged on lap 44. The drivers were very concerned with his condition, and the victory lane celebration was subdued, to say the least. As of this writing, Jules Bianci is in critical condition, but he is breathing on his own.

What I want to know is how a sport that is as safety-focused as Formula 1 is could allow a race to be run in such obviously unsafe conditions. Why is Jules Bianci fighting for his life after a situation that could have been easily avoided? The race should have canceled. The promoters would have had to deal with upset fans, but that would have been a small price to pay compared to what played out.

Formula 1 is very concerned about safety. Their fan base is quick to correctly point out that F1 has not had a driver death on track since 1994. I’m giving credit where credit is due, F1 is very good with safety, but today they dropped the ball, and a talented young driver is fighting for his life, and may never race again. I ask again, why wasn’t the race canceled? Racing is a sport where safety can mean the difference between life and death. For this event to have been held in these conditions is beyond unacceptable!

I’ve been following racing for 24 years, I’ve seen too many talented drivers killed in racing for me to be quiet about this! Safety should always take precedent in auto racing. I’m calling out Charlie Whiting, Bernie Ecclestone, Herbie Blash, anyone directly under them and the promoters of Suzuka Circut in Japan. What happend today is beyond unacceptable, and I want explanations for why the race was allowed to run in these conditons! Why did this have to happen when it could have been easily avoided? Who made the decision to run the race in very unsafe conditions? After today, I really don’t care if Charlie Whiting gets sacked. In fact I would like someone involved to get sacked because the ball was dropped.

Jules Bianci is in my thoughts and prayers, as is his family, and I ask the same of my readers. I really hope this story has a happy ending, and I know you do too. I really hope I don’t have to call out another sanctioning body for something like this, but if it happens I will.