The Official Blog of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

We’ve been getting all of our fans hyped on Twitter and Facebook for the Ben Spies tweet up for the past 2 weeks! Today was finally the day. The first 5 fans in line outside of the Oakley retail garage received a free pair of Oakley Batwolf sunglasses and Ben signed autographs for about 20 minutes for a line of fans that stretched from one row of garages to the other!

A big crowd for Ben Spies and Oakley

Fans were armed with sharpies, posters, framed pictures and helmets. We knew this would be the appropriate place to find our Fan of the Day, and who better than the first person in line? Jennifer had been waiting in line since noon (the tweet up was at 5pm). She didn’t even leave to eat lunch, she had family and friends deliver food to her.

Jennifer waiting for Ben Spies with her Oakley Batwolf sunglasses

Jennifer has followed Spies through pretty much his entire career. She has watched him race for about 10 years she said, and has even met his mother! She has attended the Red Bull Indianapolis GP every year at Indy and her favorite racing memory was the first time MotoGP came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Ben finally arrived and the fans cheered for him as he took his seat outside of the Oakley garage. Jennifer was first to get an autograph. The line of fans took their turns getting autographs, shaking hands and wishing Ben good luck this weekend.

Jennifer got to walk away with a free pair of Oakley sunglasses, an autograph from her favorite driver and a great memory! What more could a fan ask for?

Judging by the feedback I received from the Nov. 8 edition of Splash And Go, it appears that the many dramatic subplots of the AAA 500 last Sunday weren’t enough to draw back those of you who have abandoned the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup this fall. Your attitude seems to match that of Kyle Busch to the NASCAR official during his stop-and-go penalty for pit road speeding last Sunday at Texas — the big, fat middle finger.

Guess many of you feel the same way about the Chase, which is too bad.

That’s a shame, as no one is going to convince me this isn’t a compelling Chase. The top three drivers within 59 points. Two races to go. Forget about the COT. Forget about the Chase system.

Two races to go, 59 points separate the top three. If that’s not good enough for you, maybe Travis Pastrana can save NASCAR in your eyes.

Off my soap box and on to Phoenix.

Four-time reigning Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson trails leader Denny Hamlin by 33 points after Hamlin won last Sunday at Texas. But there are few better places for a JJ rebound than Phoenix, as he has won the last three fall races at The Desert Mile.

Hamlin is hot, as he’s racing no differently during the Chase than he did during the “regular season” — the dude is driving to win. So anyone Chase naysayers complaining about conservative “points racing” better not point to Hamlin. Oh, sorry, I’m on that soap box again.

And what about Kevin Harvick? He’s 59 points behind leader Hamlin, and Mike Mulhern suggests it might be a must-win situation for Happy this Sunday at Phoenix.

It should be vewwwy interesting, as Elmer Fudd would say.

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A bit of housekeeping and two public service announcements before Splash And Go begins. Sorry for the lack of recent posts — I was splashing and going on vacation last week. And if you’re 18 or older and a U.S. citizen, please vote today. You lose your right to complain about your government if you don’t do anything about changing it. Finally, please help Hoosiers in need by donating to the 1 Lap, 1 Great Cause food drive at IMS.

On to racing.

Sorry, Carl, but Happy Harvick is too busy fighting to win the Sprint Cup

Talladega was an interesting show last Sunday for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but it wasn’t the decisive “wild-card” race many expected. All it did was reinforce that this is a three-man show with three races to go, as Jimmie Johnson leads Denny Hamlin by 14 points and Kevin Harvick by 38 points.

This is the kind of bandstand finish that NASCAR envisioned when it created the Chase. I’m starting to believe that Harvick can be the dark horse in this race and take it all, as he has the right attitude regarding the final three races: Top-10 finishes, simply staying out of trouble, don’t cut it.

Harvick also has a consistent, solid teammate to help him, Clint Bowyer. Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin are too inconsistent to be solid wingmen for Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. continues to be largely irrelevant. Kyle Busch is too much of a wild man and wild card to be much of a help for Hamlin, and Joey Logano is no factor.

Take a minute to think about Bowyer. He has won two of the seven races during the Chase. Yet he’s 12th and last in the Chase standings because of the 150-point penalty levied by NASCAR for driving an illegal car to victory lane in the Chase opener in September at Loudon.

Bowyer deserves applause. He’s driving hard, like a man with nothing to lose, despite being buried in the Chase because his car was out of whack by about the width of a hair. He’s the Chase’s version of the Buffalo Bills, still playing with intensity despite being 0-7.

The “Big One,” which ESPN’s announcers seemingly so desperately wanted to see last Sunday at Talladega, never really happened until A.J. Allmendinger’s wild ride on the final lap that precipitated the extending scoring review to determine Bowyer edged teammate Harvick for the victory.

But there was a massive wreck last Sunday in the DTM (German touring car) race at Adria, Italy. This looked every bit like a tumble-and-spin job from restrictor-plate racing, yet it was on a road course. Thankfully driver Alexandre Premat was OK:

It takes a big story to push the Chase aside in NASCAR-land during a Sprint Cup weekend in the fall, but the death of longtime NASCAR and racetrack executive Jim Hunter did just that last weekend. And Hunter was worthy of every bit of praise coming from all corners. He was old school, someone who listened as much as he talked. Someone who understood the media and its job. Trust me when I say that is a rare commodity today among motorsports executives.

Godspeed to Hunter, a true giant.

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Don't Hassel The Hoff

Television ratings and attendance for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series continue to drop, and the series heads this weekend to one of its few flops as a new race market, Los Angeles. Then again, Tinseltown is the worst pro sports market in America, so is anyone surprised?

But never fear, a solution to NASCAR’s woes is here, courtesy of Auto Club Speedway: THE HOFF.

David Hasselhoff, famous from “Knight Rider” and “Baywatch,” being booted after the first round of “Dancing With The Stars” and one of the most legendary videos ever on YouTube, is singing the national anthem before the Nationwide Series race Saturday at the track.

BOOM goes the dynamite! NASCAR’s problems are solved thanks to The Hoff. Remember, he’s huge in Germany.

The Nationwide race at California also will be significant because it will the first of six consecutive Nationwide races for Danica Patrick, with no IZOD IndyCar Series race commitments. The stretch will mark her first back-to-back races in the series since February and March.

Aftershocks from the off-track soap operas so far during the Chase still will be felt this weekend in Southern California. Jim Pedley of RacinToday.com thinks the affair over Clint Bowyer’s car and NASCAR’s subsequent double-denial of Richard Childress Racing’s appeal have put a damper on the Chase.

Gentleman Jim has a point: Is anyone talking about the racing during this Chase? Well, maybe if the racing involves wrecking.

The racing Richter scale continues to chatter over the Carmageddon bump-and-runs between Chaser Kyle Busch and non-Chaser David Reutimann last weekend at Kansas. Rootie is unrepentant, and Kyle’s brother, Kurt Busch, has entered the fray by saying non-Chasers should keep their heads when racing around drivers participating in NASCAR’s postseason.

That’s fine, Kurt. But Chasers also should treat non-Chasers as more than speed bumps or bumper car crash-test dummies. Your little bro Rowdy never has received that message and probably never will.

Meanwhile, that Bearded Man of Mystery is back in the points lead heading to his home track, a place where he normally puts the boot into the behind of his rivals. Then again, if Jimmie wins this weekend at California and extends his points lead, fans will yelp that the Chase is boring, needs changing and is responsible for their shrinking 401K despite eight of the 12 Chase drivers being within 85 points of the lead entering this weekend.

NASCAR can’t win. Yet the racing has been pretty good.

It usually takes awhile for Silly Season to crank up in the IZOD IndyCar Series. But this year is different. Announcements and rumors — good and bad — are flying like Justin Bieber dolls will off shelves this Christmas shopping season.

First, the good. Simona De Silvestro may not have won the Rookie of Year title this year — Alex Lloyd did — but she easily was the most pleasant and talented surprise in the series in 2010. She’ll stay at HVM Racing for the 2011 season.

KV Racing Technology is helping a new team, SH Racing, field a one-car entry for the 2011 Indianapolis 500. No driver has been named, but a sponsor, REDLINE Extreme energy drink, is lined up.

Is it just me, or are energy drinks the new dot.com’s of the racing sponsorship world? Let’s hope the long-term viability of those fizzy, yellow drinks to pay the bills is better than the Internet firms that sprouted and disappeared like crabgrass about 10 years ago.

Two-time American Le Mans Series champions Highcroft Racing aim to run a limited IZOD IndyCar Series schedule in 2011, with an eye on a full-season ride for 2012. Highcroft and team owner Duncan Dayton are the real deal, so this team looks like a solid prospect for IndyCar in the future.

Now for the bad news, and it continues to swirl around one team – Andretti Autosport.

Just a few days after AA announced Tony Kanaan was free to look for a ride with another team because primary sponsor 7-Eleven wasn’t returning in 2011, Michael Andretti’s team announced it needs a primary sponsor for Ryan Hunter-Reay. Series sponsor IZOD picked up RHR’s tab in 2010. AA officials have indicated one company already has made an offer as a primary sponsor, so that’s a proverbial silver lining.

It should be one of the more active Silly Seasons in recent IndyCar memory. VERSUS IndyCar announcer Jack Arute offers his opinions on what might happen.

And speaking of silly, ’tis the season for a good highlight reel of IZOD IndyCar Series bloopers.

MotoGP continues its Asian tour this weekend with the Grand Prix of Malaysia. 2010 Red Bull Indianapolis GP winner Dani Pedrosa will miss his second consecutive race with a broken collarbone suffered last weekend in practice at Motegi, so Jorge Lorenzo only needs to finish ninth or better to clinch his first World Championship.

Put the mortgage on it. Jorge’s worst finish this season is fourth, twice. He’s been on the podium at every other race.

One of those fourth-place finishes for Lorenzo came after an epic battle with Fiat Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi last weekend at Motegi. The Doctor and Jorge aren’t on each others’ Christmas card lists, and Rossi has no regrets about racing Lorenzo hammer and tongs over the final laps.

And why should he? Rossi may be a happy-go-lucky guy off the bike, but he’s an assassin on it. Plus that battle sent a clear message to Lorenzo: You don’t own me, kid.

Beating Lorenzo must have done wonders for Rossi’s ailing shoulder, as he’s leaning toward finishing the entire season with Yamaha instead of skipping the last two rounds, at Estoril, Portugal and Valencia, Spain, for shoulder surgery.

Then again, Rossi is a master of mind games. Maybe he’s just trying to butter up Yamaha to let him test his new Ducati ride for 2011 the day after the season finale at Valencia.

Rossi’s replacement for 2011 at Yamaha, American rookie phenom Ben Spies, did an interesting video interview with OnTheThrottle. Check it out in two parts here.

Formula One and its raging championship battle are back in action this weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, one of the world’s greatest tracks. But all eyes in F1 remain on Japan’s neighbor to the west, Korea, where the inaugural Korean Grand Prix remains in doubt for Oct. 22-24.

The final layer of asphalt is being paved for the race, and the FIA’s Charlie Whiting is supposed to inspect the circuit Monday. But even if the track passes muster, this race is a disaster in waiting. Come on: Just two weeks for the asphalt to cure?

Yet despite this joke of a race, F1 continues to look east to banana republics as proper spots for races while ignoring places with history, tradition and completed infrastructure like Imola, Magny-Cours and … Indianapolis. Thailand is the next target. At this rate, more than half of the races in the World Championship will take place in the Middle East or Asia, where dictators, despots and oil barons are more than willing to play Bernie Ecclestone’s financial parlor games.

Syracuse, N.Y., is a far distance from Thailand or Suzuka, and the Syracuse Mile doesn’t have the infrastructure of any of Bernie’s speed palaces. It doesn’t have a pavement problem, either, because there is no pavement.

But the Moody Mile is playing host again to one of the most balls-out racing events anywhere on Earth, Super DIRT Week. The SEF Small Engine Fuels 200 this Sunday is the showcase event, the Super Bowl for dirt modifieds. Much like the Knoxville Nationals for sprint cars, it’s roots racing at its hardest, purest and finest.

Colin Edwards leans into a corner at Aragon

Colin Edwards, a Houston native nicknamed “The Texas Tornado,” will offer candid insight about his performance, competitors and life in the exciting world of MotoGP motorcycle racing before every event in 2010 in “Tornado Warning.” It’s the third consecutive season in which Edwards will offer this exclusive insight for www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

Two-time World Superbike champion Edwards, 36, is in his eighth year of MotoGP competition, riding this season for Monster Yamaha Tech 3. Edwards and the rest of the MotoGP riders will continue the season Sunday, Sept. 19 at the Grand Prix of Aragon at Motorland Aragon (8 a.m. ET, Sept. 19, SPEED).

The colorful Edwards competed in the third annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29 at IMS along with fellow American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies, and MotoGP superstars Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

Haven’t talked with you since before Indy. How are you doing?

I’m doing all right, man. Just hanging out, man. Motorhome. We’re in today. We’re in the middle of B.F.E. over here. It took almost three hours to get here from Barcelona airport. Just hanging out.

Have you ever been to this Aragon circuit before? Is it all new to you?

It’s all new to everybody. It’s a brand-new circuit. I think Valentino came here and tested a couple days ago on an R1. But for the rest of us, everybody, it’s brand new.

Have you walked the circuit or rode a bike around it to learn the characteristics?

Yeah, I did two laps today on a bicycle. It’s definitely got some elevation changes and some couple tight corners and straights. It looks pretty fun, to be honest with you. There’s definitely some technical aspects to it. It’s got tons of damn run-off, which sometimes is good, sometimes is bad. Good for safety, but for learning … I generally like to know where I can and can’t go.

Does it remind you of any track you’ve rode before?

Oh, man, just going around it on a bicycle, I can’t say. There’s definitely some elevation changes such as like Laguna or Brno. There’s definitely some elevation, uphill, downhill, but no real long climbs. It’s all just kind of in a short area. You’re going uphill, and the next thing you know, you’re going downhill. It’s pretty cool.

How is the bike running? You had tire problems on Race Day at Indy, but Misano seemed better.

It’s still not the fastest bike out there, but we had it set up pretty good. We started really getting the handle on the setup at Brno. Obviously, Indy was not the best race on the planet for us. Misano was OK. We got out there, but I just couldn’t stay with those guys that were up front. Here there are definitely going to be some long, uphill climbs … Well, not long, but some short uphills that lead on to the straightaways. So I don’t know; we’ll wait and see.

When you come to a new circuit for everyone, can that level the playing field? Or is everyone’s engineering expertise so good that the top riders prevail anyways?

The top guys are still going to be the top guys. Ben (Spies) rode from me from Barcelona to here, so we had three hours of just B.S.-ing in the car. I was thinking the other day, if you could say anybody had a slight advantage right off the bat, it would probably would be Ben for the fact that he’s spent the last year and a half, basically every track he goes to, he’s got his brain set in that mode that he has to learn, has to learn the track. He’s never been to some of these tracks still. The rest of us, we’ve been to all of these tracks. We just show up. You really don’t have to walk around the track or ride around the track before you get on it. You just know it. You know where the brake markers are, whereas his brain is just wired for the moment where it just has to learn everything rapidly. It’s been so long since we’ve had to do that. I would say it seems like a slight advantage at the moment.

Is Ben the fifth alien now? Has he entered that class yet?

I don’t know. That’s hard to say. I would like to say 100 percent, absolutely, yes, but at the moment I don’t think he’s on the equipment at the moment to be able to make that step. I think once he gets in the factory team next year, I think that next step will be there, for sure.

But what he’s doing with what he has is pretty mind-boggling, don’t you think? It seems every week he’s going quicker and quicker, and you know the bike he’s on.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I say definitely he’s young and hungry, and he’s riding the shit out of it. I think to be classified in that fifth alien group, I mean, he is, he’s riding good. I would like to see him on a bit better bike to really know that he can beat those guys regularly.

Any news or update on what you’re doing next year?

Still not 100 percent, but I think we should figure it out this weekend. Obviously, everybody would like me to stay here. I’d like to stay here. We just got a couple things we’ve got to tidy up. I think we should know something this weekend.

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for everyone in motorcycle racing, especially you. How have you been holding up, and how do you carry on through tough times like this?

I mean, you know, hell, it’s a … (exhale) … shit, dude, it’s just jacked up. They say time heals all wounds, which it does. But at the end of the day, he was just a friend. He wasn’t family, or anything. But going back from early days, I’ve had quite a few guys that passed away doing exactly this. Starting with Larry Schwarzbach back in ’92 and Nagai, my teammate in ’95. Hell, I saw him; I was right behind him when that happened. You got Michael Paquay in, I think, ’98 or ’99, I think, was a teammate of mine at Castrol Honda, passed away at Monza. Kato. I’ve had a few guys I’ve seen or I’ve been close to, and it’s just kind of the business. It doesn’t happen that often. It puts you on the ground and makes you realize that … I mean, hell, I could step out of the bus here and trip and bust my head into the next motorhome, and if I hit it right, lights out, so. Life is life. Sometimes it sucks, but at the end of the day, time’s up, time’s up. Shit, man, I don’t know how else to put it.

The mentality of racers, it’s a risk you accept, and you do it because you love it. Does something like this ever cause you to step back and analyze your commitment to the game, your love for the sport?

I think it’s never affected me to the point to where you step back and go: “Whoa, man, this is so dangerous. This is crazy. I don’t even know why we’re doing this.” You don’t say that. It’s just not your mentality. Hell, for the last 33 years, however long I’ve been riding motorcycles, you know the risk. You don’t ever step back and go: “Wow, this is crazy. Why am I doing this?” You just say, “OK.” Died doing what he loved to do. You can’t ask any more than that. At least the guys that passed away, they didn’t grow old and die from f*cking prostate cancer and some screwed-up shit and suffer. They were doing what they wanted to do. So you just have to look at it that way.

Time for a quick merry-go-round to see what’s shaking and baking in the motorsports world today, with tasty links to full stories elsewhere on the Interwebs about these topics, to boot. We’ll focus on the three series that compete annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway — IZOD IndyCar Series, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and MotoGP — but anything with wheels and an engine is fair game.

The 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule will be announced Friday, Sept. 10, and the announcement is taking place in Milwaukee. Hmm. Think there’s any coincidence there? Is series CEO Randy Bernard going to unveil the sked in Packerland just because he loves a good beer and a brat as much as the next guy?

You can connect the dots.

While the biggest story this week in the IZOD IndyCar Series is what tracks will and won’t appear on the 2011 schedule,  there’s still a crazy 2010 championship chase going on. Will Power leads Dario Franchitti by just 17 points, and — start the foreboding music of doom — the last two races take place on the equivalent of kryptonite to Superman Will, ovals.

Still, Power thinks he will conquer ovals sooner than later. It better be sooner, Little Dingo (yeah, I love those Verizon commercials, too!), or the not-so-wee Scot will become just the second driver to hoist the IZOD IndyCar Series championship trophy three times.

This has nothing to do with the schedule or the championship chase, but much like E.F. Hutton, when A.J. Foyt speaks, you listen. Paul Dalbey at More Front Wing offers a podcast with Super Tex this week. I don’t know what’s more refreshing, an interview that actually features questions instead of statements with responses or that the hard-drivin’, two-fisted Texan actually is doing a podcast. Either way, it’s a good listen.

Taking stock in NASCAR, the final race before the Chase this Saturday at Richmond has all the suspense of a deflated balloon, as Clint Bowyer has a 117-point lead over Ryan Newman for the 12th and final spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.  Still, SBNation’s Jeff Gluck and NASCAR.com’s David Caraviello both warn that the lack of drama this Saturday shouldn’t force NASCAR into a knee-jerk reaction of expanding the Chase to 15 drivers, as has been rumored.

I couldn’t agree more. Sometimes even the best plan doesn’t work out. This year is an aberration, as the fall Richmond night race usually features at least a couple of drivers fighting with every drop of sweat for the last spot or two.

Michael Waltrip Racing vice president and GM Ty Norris urges Corporate America to take a chance on a young fresh face as the leading man for its stock car sponsorship program. While Ty’s piece is a compelling story, perhaps the best part is the pictures of current NASCAR superstars as young turks. Tony Stewart without two chins and a gut! Jeff Gordon with a trucker hat, Gargoyles shades and a porn ‘stache! Junior with the Clorox look in his locks! Epic.

Formula One continues to be the most melodramatic soap opera on wheels, as the FIA ruled today that Ferrari will face no more punishment despite issuing team orders to its drivers, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, to fix the finish of the German Grand Prix. That decision only plays into the cynics’ belief — and I’m one of them — that FIA stands for Ferrari International Aid.

The decision also led to cries that FIA President Jean Todt, the former sporting director of Ferrari, cannot judge a case against his old team without bias. It’s a case that veteran F1 journalist Joe Saward lays out convincingly, as usual, in his blog.

Colin Edwards

The MotoGP world understandably continues to reel with sadness following the deaths in consecutive weekends of USGPRU rider Peter Lenz at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP and Moto2 rider Shoya Tomizawa at the San Marino Grand Prix.

MotoGP officials and American riders Colin Edwards and Ben Spies paid tribute to Lenz with a minute of silence before the 125cc race at San Marino. The always-excellent superbikeplanet.com also re-published an excellent feature from earlier this season about the bright light of Tomizawa by longtime MotoGP journalist and TV commentator Julian Ryder.

Godspeed, Peter and Tomi.

If you’re a MotoGP fan and want to know even more about the sport or if you’re a curious fan wanting to dip your toes into this wild two-wheeled world, this blog post is a fine place to start. Below are links to websites and social media for MotoGP, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and 2010 MotoGP teams and riders.

We hope this helps you learn even more about the exciting premier level of worldwide motorcycle racing as the MotoGP circus brings its exotic, 215-mph prototype motorcycles and charismatic, CRAZY riders to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway next week for the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29.

So ladies and gentlemen, start clicking your mouse or tapping your touchscreen and dive into the cool world of MotoGP!

MotoGP

•Official site: www.motogp.com

•Facebook: www.facebook.com/MotoGP

•Twitter: @officialmotogp

INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

•Official site: www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com

•Facebook: www.facebook.com/indianapolismotorspeedway

•Twitter: @IndyTalk

TEAMS

Ducati Team (Casey Stoner, Nicky Hayden)

•Official site: www.ducati.com

•Facebook: www.facebook.com/Ducati

•Twitter: @ducatimotor

Fiat Yamaha Team (Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo)

•Official site: www.fiatyamahateam.it

•Facebook: www.facebook.com/fiatyamahateam

•Twitter: @fiatyamahateam

Interwetten Honda MotoGP (Hiroshi Aoyama)

•Official site: www.interwettenracing.com

•Facebook: www.facebook.com/hondaproracing

•Twitter: @hondaproracing

LCR Honda MotoGP (Randy De Puniet)

•Official site: www.lcr.mc

•Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Monte-Carlo-Monaco/LCR-Honda-MotoGP-Team/65683534043

•Twitter: @LCRHondaMotoGP

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (Colin Edwards, Ben Spies)

•Official site: www.teamtech3.fr/2009

•Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Monster-Yamaha-Tech-3/114621875218067

Paginas Amarillas Aspar (Hector Barbera)

•Official site: www.teamaspar.net

•Twitter: @TeamAspar

Pramac Racing Team (Mika Kallio, Aleix Espargaro)

•Official site: www.pramacracing.com

•Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/PRAMAC-RACING-TEAM-THE-GREEN-ENERGY-TEAM/377638343303

Repsol Honda Team (Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso)

•Official site: world.honda.com/MotoGP

•Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Repsol-Honda-Team/21356130089

•Twitter: @hondaproracing

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (Loris Capirossi, Alvaro Bautista)

•Official site: www.rizla-suzuki-motogp.co.uk

•Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Suzuki-MotoGP/108230575865489

San Carlo Honda Gresini (Marco Melandri, Marco Simoncelli)

•Official site: www.gresiniracing.com

•Facebook: www.facebook.com/hondaproracing

•Twitter: @hondaproracing

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Colin Edwards at the Sachsenring

Colin Edwards, a Houston native nicknamed “The Texas Tornado,” will offer candid insight about his performance, competitors and life in the exciting world of MotoGP motorcycle racing before every event in 2010 in “Tornado Warning.” It’s the third consecutive season in which Edwards will offer this exclusive insight for www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

Two-time World Superbike champion Edwards, 36, is in his eighth year of MotoGP competition, riding this season for Monster Yamaha Tech 3. Edwards and the rest of the MotoGP riders will continue the season Sunday, July 25 at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca (5 p.m. ET, July 25, SPEED).

The colorful Edwards will compete in the third annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29 at IMS along with fellow American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies, and MotoGP superstars Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

Settings-wise, how much did you change at the Sachsenring? I read in the team release that you changed quite a bit after Friday.

Dude, I’ll tell you how retarded this weekend was. We started with a setting, went out first session, I think we were fourth or fifth. It looked pretty good. We were going pretty well. So after that, I thought we needed more front end. Needs to turn more. Just needs to turn more. So we go out and change it Saturday. Sunday morning comes, and we try something different. We put all the weight on the front; we put all the weight on the back. Dude, honestly, we did so much bullsh*t this weekend just trying to get it to work. Come race time, we looked at the lap times that everybody had kind of set down, and nothing was easy. Anyways, it didn’t really matter. Every second we put on the bike was a second off the pace. So we sat down after warmup, and I said, “Why don’t we put it back to what we came with?” So whatever I had done warmup on, what I had done qualifying on, what I had done … throw it out the window and just go with the setting we started with. It doesn’t matter. It does not matter what we … I followed Ben whenever he came by me, and his bike looks like a bigger piece of sh*t than mine, to be honest with you. It does not turn whatsoever. He’s running so far wide, trying to get the thing to hook back in.

Is that what happened with your crash? Were you running it in so deep to try and pick up time in the corners that it wouldn’t turn?

My crash was basically … I was fighting for 15^th, man. I don’t race motorcycles to fight for 15^th. I’m sorry, I’m out, I’m finished. Give me a plane home. That is not what I do; that’s not what I’ve ever done. The last few years, I’ve hated fighting for fourth or fifth, but it’s just the way it’s gone about. But the reality of it is, whenever I crashed, hell, I was just pushing. When you lose five, six, seven bike lengths off the corner, you’ve got to make it up somewhere. So I was just trying. I just outbraked myself. I ran a little bit wide. I was just probably a yard off line. But I was just being stubborn because I couldn’t afford to run wide. I was already in 15^th or some bullsh*t. So I couldn’t afford to run wide and lose a little bit of the draft down the straight. So I thought: “I know it’s coming back. I know it’s coming back.” And then, boom. So.

The announcers on the telecast from the Sachsenring kept talking about updates for the Tech 3 bikes for Laguna. What updates are planned for you and Ben there?

That’s funny, dude. I don’t know. It’s a little wishy-washy story at the moment, but from what I’ve heard , we’re getting an update for Laguna. That is the story I heard: We made an ask, a request to the king, let’s say, the boss in Japan. We’ve got Monster, we got Motul, who else do we got? We got American sponsors. De Walt. We need to come up with something that we can show these guys why they’ve got their name on our team. Can we please have something? Well, at the end of the day, he’s pretty much saying: “Maybe something. We could do something.” But the story I heard is that I had the engine in at Sachsenring, which I couldn’t feel a difference. That’s just the story I heard. So I’m hoping I’m wrong. I’m hoping that’s not accurate. But we’ll see.

With all that’s happening now on the team, is racing at Laguna any kind of advantage? Does home cooking help when you’re struggling like this?

Dude, we’re so far off the pace right now, it’s just disgusting. I’m qualifying faster than I did last year with exactly the same bike and slower engines. It’s the same tires. Everything is the same except the engine is slower. I’m qualifying faster, I’m riding better than I’ve ever ridden. Ben is riding the damn wheels off the thing, as well. And we just have two, three, four more Hondas up there, a couple of more Ducatis. Instead of finishing fourth or five, we’re finishing eighth, 12^th or whatever it is. And Laguna, I would like to say, yeah, we’re going to have an advantage. But the reality of Laguna is they totally f*cked it up for us because they changed the track. They took all the technical difficulty out of it. They scraped off a bunch of the bumps and resurfaced it and pulled Turn 1 down. And after the Corkscrew, they fixed all that to where we don’t have to … I don’t know. It’s more European now.

How do you keep your head up?

I don’t know, man. I’ve been trying. I’m trying real hard. At the moment, my motivation factor is running slim. I don’t want to end my career being pissed off all the time. I don’t know. I’m searching for something. Generally, the last couple of years I’ve said, “Just be happy with yourself, be happy that you rode the wheels off of it.” Usually my result was around fifth, sixth, whatever it might have been, fourth, whatever. An occasional podium here and there. But all I could really do was be happy with myself and the way I rode. I’m riding my ass off. Whatever Honda and Ducati and all these guys are coming up with and giving everybody everything, we’re just stuck in the wind.

Were you surprised at all with how well Valentino rode last weekend at the Sachsenring in his first race back after suffering a broken leg?

Oh, no. No, not Valentino. Hell, when he tested that R1 a couple of days before that, he was hauling ass. That doesn’t surprise me. That’s Valentino. I’ve never bet against him. Never have. Never will.

Colin Edwards at Silverstone

Colin Edwards, a Houston native nicknamed “The Texas Tornado,” will offer candid insight about his performance, competitors and life in the exciting world of MotoGP motorcycle racing before every event in 2010 in “Tornado Warning.” It’s the third consecutive season in which Edwards will offer this exclusive insight for www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

Two-time World Superbike champion Edwards, 36, is in his eighth year of MotoGP competition, riding this season for Monster Yamaha Tech 3. Edwards and the rest of the MotoGP riders will continue the season June 26 at the TT Assen (9:30 a.m. ET, June 26, SPEED).

The colorful Edwards will compete in the third annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29 at IMS along with fellow American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies, and MotoGP superstars Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

First of all, how are you feeling? Feeling better physically?

Oh, yeah, I’m good. There was never a problem with me, obviously. I had some tests, some blood work, I had a bunch of things done, and everything came back negative. You’re perfectly fine. Yeah, I’m fine. I knew I was fine. It was just a matter of: “Why am I getting arm pump? Why do I feel out of breath?” I just wanted to go get checked up anyways just to get checked up.

You still felt the arm pump at Silverstone, though?

Yeah. We’re on to something basically that the degree angle that we’re using on the forks, basically we found that on Michelins a few years back that it seems to work good with me. Problem being is that the Bridgestones are quite a bit flatter, not as triangular as the Mich used to be. The tire is a lot heavier. Whenever I used to run steeper angle, it used to get a lot of chatter. So we’ve never even gone back to what Valentino uses because I always had chatter with that. We just haven’t been back there. Now that I feel like I’m getting arm pump, we’re obviously riding harder, going faster, pushing the limits more. That agility is one thing that definitely comes into play. I just feel like I don’t have it. I feel like if I let go of the bike, it continue turning forever. And having to pull the thing up is one thing that Jorge complained about on the weekend, as well. So we’ve got to make some changes, but we’ll make them for Assen.

Did the bumps at Silverstone make your arm pump worse?

No, not really. What the bumps do is, Ben and I were last and second-to-last on the speed charts, again. We’re getting used to that. But what it creates is when your bike is slower, your engine is not the fastest thing out there, from point A to point B in a straight line, you cannot change that. It’s always the same. The only way you can try to get the lap time that you need to get, which is what everybody else is doing, is basically in the corners. Whenever it’s bumpy like it is at Silverstone, it’s a bit more difficult. You have to know what’s coming up. You know there’s a big bump coming up. You have to brace for it. You have to carry speed before it, after it, the whole 9 yards to try to link it all together. Yeah, it makes it more difficult, sure, when it’s bumpy like that.

You like Assen. I know the new track isn’t the same as the old track, but is the circuit better suited for your bike than Silverstone considering the problems you’re having?

Assen is not really a monster horsepower type track. It’s more of a linking all the corners together. I left Silverstone still kind of complaining that the bike being a little heavy. We’re running a little more angle than the rest of the guys on the Yamaha. We know last year Jorge and I had some wear on our front tire at Assen. He finished second; I finished fourth. Our front tires didn’t look that great. Our bikes were set up kind of similar. Valentino’s was set up different than ours, and his front tire was great. So taking that into account, we’re going to have the same tire we had last year, I told the guys, “Just give me the exact same settings.” When I start the weekend, I want to go out on exactly what Valentino had last year and just adapt to it and see how we get rolling. We had another setup, as well, we could use. A little bit of a variation of that, as well.

Speaking of Jorge, you said two weeks ago that it would be interesting to see how he would react to Valentino being away from the team. Seems like he made a pretty big statement at Silverstone.

Yeah, he did that. He was fast all weekend. Even though we don’t have the same chassis or the same engine, it’s roughly the same type of family. And I was pretty impressed: He was fast all weekend. I would say he reacted perfect. And to get back to the Yamaha guys, Ben, honestly, what Ben did yesterday was just, for me, was just retarded. I know what bike he’s on. I know how slow it is. I know what chassis he’s on. I know how the bike is set up. But for him to actually get on podium, I think he’s a lot better, personally, I think he’s a lot better than everybody thinks he is. Everybody thinks he’s a good rider, but to do what he did is quite remarkable in my eyes.

So we’ve got the fifth alien in the making with Ben?

Could be. Could be. I spend a lot of time with Ben. When we’re changing into our leathers and we’re sitting there and bullsh*tting and talking and farting all over one another, whatever. We’re in there giggling and having a good time. At the same time, whenever one rider says to another, “It’s like what are we doing here? We’ve got the slowest damn bikes out here. So how do you get motivated?” Whenever you throw these kinds of words around, it’s just demoralizing to a point. But racers is racers. You point your helmet on, you go out there, you give it 110 percent. You crash, you crash. If you come in good, you come in good. Whatever. You just ride your ass off. But for Ben to have the attitude that we had Saturday and Sunday morning and then for him to go out and do what he did, I was actually very impressed.

Any more word about you and Valentino’s factory bike? (Note: This interview was conducted two days before Yamaha announced test rider Wataru Yoshikawa as Rossi’s replacement.)

Oh, I’m out. I’m out on that one. That was never really a good idea. My pockets might have got a little fatter. That probably would have been the only positive about it. The reality of it is it sounded good for Fiat Yamaha. It did not sound good for Tech 3 Yamaha, Monster Yamaha team. At the end of the day, I had some discussions with Herve (Poncharal, Tech 3 team boss). I wasn’t real comfortable doing it; he wasn’t comfortable doing it. Yamaha factory, of course, the Japanese side of it, they didn’t care. But the European side of it was kind of wanting to get me on the bike. Obviously, they want to win the triple crown: Most points for the team, for the manufacturer and their rider winning the championship. And you put a test rider on, that hurts your chances right there. At the end of the day, Herve sold the team to DeWalt and to Monster and all these guys that sponsor with me and Ben as the riders. And it’s kind of hard to say, “OK, I’m sorry, but we’re going to take one of those riders away.” It wasn’t going to work out.

Check out this great clip from Yamaha USA.