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.

By David G. Firestone

Yesterday, I called out NASCAR, today, I’m calling out the NHRA. I’m demanding an explanation for what happened during the Carolina Nationals on Sunday! Here is how I watch racing, I’ll watch a live telecast whenever possible, but I’ll watch the NHRA whenever it’s on ESPN or ESPN2 since I don’t get ESPN3. So after watching NASCAR on Sunday, I sat down to watch the Carolina Nationals Final Eliminations. The first round of top fuel and funny car went well, at least from my perspective. Then, pro stock started their first round, and the Allen Johnson/V Gaines race started, and I’ll let the video speak for itself.

The 67 year old Vieri Gaines was unhurt, but what happened next stunned me. What followed was an hour of discussion between the crews and the NHRA officials concerning track conditions. The wreck itself did damage to the track, but there were problems leading up to that race. The track had been dealing with concrete issues on the racing surface. Allen Johnson was interviewed while the wreck was being cleaned up, and he slammed the NHRA for letting the cars race on the surface. John Force was very upset, and Tony Schumacher called the racing surface “un-race-able.” Obviously the NHRA officials were aware of the fears of the drivers and of the conditions of the track. There were attempts made to solve the issues, but rain and a bad surface caused the cancellation.

I want an explanation, from Z-Max Dragway, the NHRA or someone involved as to how a racing surface can get that bad. Obviously there was a failure somewhere, and something like that happened. How could the NHRA and Z-Max Dragway allow the competitors to race on a surface that was obviously not capable of holding races safely! I normally wait until Saturday to post new blogs, but this needs to be discussed right now!

I’m demanding an explanation, and the NHRA and Z-Max Dragway owe not just me, but all of their drivers, crew members, sponsors and fans an explanation. Many fans left disappointed, fans watching from home were too, and there was no reason for this. Why wasn’t the racing surface safe? Why was concrete lifting off the track? Why in the world was the track sub par? What makes it even worse is that someone high up on the NHRA chain of command made a decision to allow the race to go ahead despite an unsafe racing surface, and I want to know why they would risk driver safety in that respect!

Both groups have a duty to ensure the safety of the competitors and fans, both groups failed horribly in that respect. V Gaines got lucky, and wasn’t seriously hurt, but that could have been a lot different. How could something like this take place in this day in age? Tom Compton, Dallas Gardner, Bruton Smith, you owe everyone involved, drivers, crew members, sponsors and fans an explanation for yesterday’s debacle. What happened was unacceptable, and someone needs to stand up and explain what decisions were made prior to the event, what the officials knew, and why the decisions were made the way they were.

By David G. Firestone

Well the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup has begun. What that means for the 16 drivers in the Chase is special paint scheme rules. Specifically, all Chase drivers will have yellow numbers on the roof, a yellow windshield banner, a yellow front splitter, and special decals. I waited on discussing this issue because I wanted to see how the cars looked on track. While some cars looked good, with the yellow elements working well, other cars looked awful, with the yellow clashing with the current design scheme. No car suffered as much as Brad Keselowski and the Miller Lite Ford. I can live with the yellow roof numbers, it has been done before, the and I can live with the windshield banners and decals, I’ll comment on that later, the splitter design is pointless and it makes the car look ugly. Why in the world did NASCAR make the splitter yellow? It serves no purpose, and clashes with the rest of the paint scheme.

Now I wanted to comment on something I noticed that NASCAR is doing. I was worried about this and these fears are now coming true. When the windshield banner was introduced with the Gen 6 cars in 2013, I did not like it. I thought it was pointless, and it didn’t add to the car at all. What I was worried about, but I didn’t discuss it was what else NASCAR had planned for the banner. Well we found out this year. In addition to the plain black, there have been green designs for environmental awareness, patriotic designs for memorial day and the 4^th of July, and of course the yellow Chase designs. NASCAR is using this as their vehicle for promoting causes. Like pink bats on Mother’s Day, or patriotic jerseys for Memorial Day in baseball. October is around the corner, and the Pink-washing will begin in earnest, and I’ll be shocked if there aren’t pink banners on the windshields.

I noticed something else when it comes to banners. There are two decals that cars carry, one is the Sprint Cup Series decal, and above that is a NASCAR Race Car decal. When the windshield banner is a special design, the NASCAR decal is a matching design. Let’s look at that Brad Keselowski Memorial Day scheme again. Notice the decal just above the Sprint Cup Series decal? It is a star with NASCAR written on it. Now let’s look at Brad’s car from the Brickyard 400. The NASCAR decal is a simpler, more plain design. This is Kevin Harvick’s car with the green banner. Notice the NASCAR decal…it matches the banner. Why is this important for the Chase schemes? Well because whoever came up with this idea felt the need to give the Chase drivers special NASCAR decals. 16 drivers get yellow decals, the rest get silver. I’m reminded of the Star-bellied Sneetches in this situation…the second time that reference has been made in regard to sports uniforms this year.

I’m really wondering how much more NASCAR can over-complicate this, I really am. Why not add yellow wheels and yellow spoilers? I’m amazed that NASCAR could mess this up they way they did. Get rid of the yellow spoilers and NASCAR decals, and I wouldn’t have a problem with it, but too much salt spoils the soup…every time.

By David G. Firestone

I’ve been getting off track(pun intended) lately, and I’m gonna get back to basics. I’ve been wanting to do an article on a set like this for a while. I bought a set of items used by one driver at the same time, namely a driver suit, driving gloves, shoes, goggles, and arm restraints worn at the same time by a driver by the name of Jim Jones, an SCCA racer in the late 1970’s through the late 1980s. He was a weekend warrior who raced for the love of racing. In the late 1980’s he raced a Pontiac Trans Am and was sponsored by Boston-based Nimrod Press.

The first and most prominent item is this driver suit. It was worn by Jones in the 1980’s, and is black with red safety stripes and a quilt pattern. The suit shows a nice amount of wear. There are a number of small sponsor patches on the chest and it has a blood type indication sewn into the suit under the number. This is so that in the event of a very severe accident, the hospital can know quickly what blood type Jones is and get him a transfusion. You also often see this on motorcycle helmets. The shoulders have safety straps, the sleeves have safety stripes in red, and the old school SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS patch on the sleeve. The belt, legs, and back have no decoration to speak of.  There is a small tear just above the belt.The second item is a pair of Worth racing gloves. The gloves show a large amount of wear, with the Worth racing logo damaged on both gloves, and the padding on the gloves is highly soiled.

The third item is a pair of Simpson racing shoes, which show a decent amount of wear. I love the fact that the inside of the shoes is neon yellow, whereas the outside of the shoes are all black.

The third and fourth items are pairs of goggles. The first is a French pair of Bolle goggles, which show a decent amount of wear. The second pair is an Italian pair of Carerra goggles, which also show a large amount of wear. These were from a time when drivers wore helmets that mandated goggles. Even full-faced helmets needed goggles.

The last item is a pair of arm restraints. Many racing series mandate these to prevent arm injuries that occur from crashes when the drivers are in restricted driver cockpit. This particular pair of restraints were made by Auto Pro, and show a decent amount of use.

Now we move on to…

TAILGATING TIME!

This week, I’m gonna share my recipe for Dave’s Nitro Burning Ribs.  These ribs are easy to prepare and have a unique sauce.  I like to use a Siracha Stout barbeque sauce for my ribs.  So, without further ado, the rib recipe!

INGREDIENTS:

For the ribs:

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon granulated garlic

1 tablespoon granulated onion

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon white pepper

3 racks baby back ribs, about 5 pounds

For the barbecue sauce:

2 tbs olive oil
8 cloves of garlic, minced
2/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 1/3 cup ketchup
4 tbs worcestershire sauce
3 tsp sriracha
4 tsp smoked paprika
2 cup Stout
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp onion powder

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix together the cumin, garlic, granulated onion, cayenne pepper, brown sugar, paprika, chili powder, white pepper, salt, and black pepper. Rub the spice mixture over both sides of the ribs. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight.

2. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Unwrap the ribs and place them on a baking sheet. Cover completely with foil. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove the foil and let the ribs cool. Refrigerate them, wrapped in plastic, until you are ready to pack, up to 24 hours.

3. While the ribs are cooking, it’s time to make the sauce. In a pot over medium heat, add the oil and allow to get hot but not smoking. Add the garlic and stir until you can smell it, about 30 seconds. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until combined. Allow to cook until thickened, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Store in an air tight container in the fridge. Until you are ready to leave.

4. Just before leaving, Place the racks in a large, seal-able plastic container. Add 1 cup of the barbecue sauce and stir so all the ribs are coated.

5. At the track, Prepare the coals. When the coals are hot, grill the ribs for 10 minutes, until they are lightly charred and heated through, turning them several times and applying several more coatings of sauce.

Serve the ribs hot, accompanied by more sauce.