Just back from CART town meeting...

[datachicane]

...great turnout, lousy food compared to the spread GEG put on at the festival chalet last year. In fact, no food outside of the free drinks and odd candybar for sale. I want my wine and cheese! :D

Anyway, here's some highlights before I go to bed:

When an 8 yr old kid asked why they can't call the cars Indycars anymore, Pook suggested he check out crapwagon.com for the answer before giving him Split101.

Pruett and Vasser each made remarks re: Franchitti's current misery.

Pruett dared Pook to explain to a Papis fan the REAL story behind why Max doesn't have a ride. :D

After being introduced by Pruett, Bill Hildick quickly stated that he had been seriously misquoted by the Portland Tribune last year. Obviously, somebody had already jumped him over that one.

Pook politely (and understandably) declined to give any info after my query re: Road America, describing the situation as delicate while agreeing about the significance of the course.

Pook explained the absence of the helmet cam @ St. Pete's as a byproduct of the change in the rule re: car weight, and promised that it would be fixed before the next race.

More to come in the morning...

[cart7]

I'd love to hear how Mr. Judd is feeling these days. :laugh:

[rabbit]

cart.com has the audio from the meeting archived.

[ChrisB]

Anyone know... Was there any mention of the future engine formula? Did the words "V10" or "turbo" popup?

[RaceGrrl]

I really liked the idea of the TransAm support races. I'd love to see Scooter and TK hop in a TA car again.

[Spicoli]

Sir Pookus mentions Crapwagon.com

Out-fookin-standing!

We met up with Pook at St. Pete's - and gave him a Crapwagon.com hat. Being the gentleman he is, he gave us all brand new ChampCar hats as well.

What a guy!

[lone_groover]

Tremendous!

The lad himself mentions crapwagon.com as a worthy source of info for a little kid; while sum others consider themselves above even mentioning the name.

KUDOS! :thumbup:

[Spicoli]

I just hope Bernie likes it too! ;)

[JLMannin]

Paul Tracy is my hero. He took the term Crapwagon from the forum universe and put it out front in the racing universe.

I will thank him by buying some PT merchandise when I attend races this year.

[lateralus42]

Dario Franchitti is alreay frustrated??? :D

[ChrisB]

In the audio archive of the Portland meeting on CART.com, Pooks response to a question about a V10 starts at about the 34 min mark. He's saying the 2 manufacturers he's talking to are essentially gonna make 10 cylinder versions of their current V8's with the turbo removed. BTW... a 10 cyl version of a 2.65L V8 would be about 3.3L, which I would hope they would do instead of just 3.0L

*My guess* is that one of the 2 manufacturers is Ford, and the other could be Honda/Illmor. He was saying it would do around 13k rpm and make about the same Hp as now (which a few minutes earlier Jimmy was saying was still in excess of 800hp)

But yea, listening to him, it sounds like they're definitly going to a V10. As much as I liked the turbos, I'm just fine with a V10 as long as it makes about the same Hp.

[pchall]

Originally posted by lateralus42
Dario Franchitti is alreay frustrated??? :D

Actually, Ashley is frustrated.

Because Dario is depressed and consequently not up to standard as far as marital duties are concerned. ;)

[FortyOneFord]

Originally posted by pchall
Actually, Ashley is frustrated.

Because Dario is depressed and consequently not up to standard as far as marital duties are concerned. ;)

Well, all the time he has to spend on his knees for that honda dough prolly leaves him a little less than enthused for action at home.

Poor dario; he made a bad decision and now he has to live with it. Ha ha.

[RaceGrrl]

Let's just hope that chasing Honda bucks doesn't injure or kill him.

[RaceChic]

Originally posted by Spicoli
Sir Pookus mentions Crapwagon.com

Out-fookin-standing!

Actually, how about Out-POOKin-Standing!!!!:p

[Napoleon]

Just listened to it.

Some good stuff like "the Irrelivent Racing League" and "Crapwagon".

DataChicane you should have got a OC plug in. Were you sucking up to Hildick? ;)

[JT265]

Originally posted by pchall
Actually, Ashley is frustrated.

Because Dario is depressed and consequently not up to standard as far as marital duties are concerned. ;)

Send her my way PC!

(all part of the service, of course) ;)

[oddlycalm]

Originally posted by lone_groover
Tremendous!

The lad himself mentions crapwagon.com as a worthy source of info for a little kid; while sum others consider themselves above even mentioning the name.

KUDOS! :thumbup:


Yep, a classic. The next best crack was when Pruett said that the ABC post race approach was "bull****e."