Several months ago I asked, “What Is ‘Midwest,’ Anyway?” In the interest of continuing that analysis of the name of this website, and in the interest of bringing new life to a conversation that (with 4 “up” votes and 3 “down” votes) is now buried on the fourth page of the /r/sports subreddit, I ask you, “What is a sport, anyway?”

The folks on Reddit voiced the following opinions:

• A sport is a physical competition.
• The outcome of a sports competition should not be subjective. Thus athletic contests such as diving, gymnastics, figure skating, and perhaps even boxing do not qualify.
• A sport involves athletes engaging each other on the field of play. Thus activities such as golf, bowling, swimming, and track-and-field, which compare individual performances (and don’t involve defense) do not qualify.
• A sport must be more than simply “physical.” It must involve “athleticism.”

I think that these opinions give us too narrow a definition of sport. I also think that the subjectivity in sports such as diving and gymnastics is overblown. While judges in these sports reach different conclusions, there are hard criteria on which they base their scores. They aren’t simply voting for the athlete they like best.

Diving: Is it a sport? Swedish bronze medalist Arvid Spangberg would say, "Yes." (Photo from Wikipedia)

Before I go on, let’s look at how the dictionary defines “sport.” Here is the Dictionary.com definition:

an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.

And here is the definition from Collins’ World English Dictionary:

an individual or group activity pursued for exercise or pleasure, often involving the testing of physical capabilities and taking the form of a competitive game such as football, tennis, etc

Both of these definitions suggest that a sport isn’t necessarily a competitive activity. Thus outdoor activities such as hiking and non-competitive fishing would count. But using these definitions one could also argue that activities such as marching band and dancing are sports.

This raises another question: Is there a line separating “art” from “sport” or are there physical activities that fall into both categories.

Cheerleading: Is it a sport? (Photo from Wikipedia)

One of the most contentious “Is it a sport?” debates involves cheerleading. By any standard, cheerleaders are athletes and cheerleading is an athletic activity. But is there a difference between an athletic activity and a sport? And is there a difference between competitive cheering and cheering on the sideline or during time outs?

In 2009 the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that cheerleading was a “contact sport.” Thus, one cheerleader could not sue another for not catching her. A year later a federal judge in Connecticut ruled that competitive cheerleading could not count as a sport for Title IX purposes. The judge wrote:

Competitive cheer may, some time in the future, qualify as a sport under Title IX. Today, however, the activity is still too underdeveloped and disorganized to be treated as offering genuine varsity athletic participation opportunities for students.

Another sport that often comes up in “Is it a sport?” discussions is auto racing. Again, I would argue that drivers are, without question, athletes. I would ask: In a given type of racing is the technology and equipment more important to the outcome of the event than the physical skill of the driver? I would guess that, for most if not all types of auto racing, the answer to that question is, “No.” But if it were “yes” would that effect whether that type of racing qualified as a sport?

If there is an arbiter of what is or is not “sport” in our world, it would probably be the International Olympic Committee. In addition to the many sports that are part of the program at the Summer and Winter Games, the IOC recognizes 32 other International Sports Federations. These federations govern sports such as cricket, squash, baseball, and bowling. They also govern activities such as chess, billiards, bridge, life-saving, and climbing. (Life-saving was actually a demonstration sport at the 1900 games in Paris.)

If chess and bridge are sports, do other card or board games, even video games, qualify? Certainly there are other games that employ a similar level of strategy and problem solving. (And video games also involve hand-eye coordination, making them “physical.”) Do popularity, longevity, and the degree to which they’ve been studied set chess and bridge apart?

And while I’m sure that this guy who commented on my winning streaks article is glad to see billiards make the list, what about other table games such as air hockey and foosball? (Before you ask, table tennis is a sport by any definition.)

A sport? (Photo from Wikipedia)

At this point, I’ll shut up and let you decide for yourselves.

Please feel free and encouraged to defend your choice in the comment section.

A few months back, I was given the awesome opportunity to meet Matthew Hanson – national hero.

During that day, I also got to meet Matt Kenseth, Rodney Atkins, and watch the race at Richmond from unbelievable views.  Crown Royal took me behind the pits, underneath the track, into the grandstand, and into their personal suite throughout the night.

Well, this weekend, my adventure continues.

Crown Royal is flying me to Las Vegas for a once in a lifetime opportunity.

I will be racing against Matt Kenseth in a real NASCAR at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

I will get into Vegas Friday night, and race Matt on Saturday afternoon.  I will be doing a lot, and I’m sure I will come back with plenty of stories (of which I will share with all of you), but I do need your help.

First of all, if anyone out there has ever driven a NASCAR at 160 MPH and has some advice, I would appreciate any and all information you have.

Secondly, if anyone has ANY questions you would like to ask Matt Kenseth, let me know!  Either get me on twitter or comment in the comment section on this post and I will do my best to ask him what you want.

Finally, if anyone would like to give a personal word of thanks to Matthew Hanson and his family for their sacrifice for our country, shout it out.

Follow me on twitter this weekend and be looking for the hashtag #racematt.

Wish me luck!  Maybe I beat him!  And then, none of us would ever forget what happened in Vegas.

Wheldon had a sense of humor about the media coverage of the 2005 Indy 500.

Wheldon’s first victory at the Brickyard came in 2005, when he was 26 and beginning his third season as a full-time driver on the IRL IndyCar Series. That race made a star of one IndyCar racer, but it wasn’t Wheldon. Danica Patrick led 19 laps, becoming the first woman to lead at Indianapolis. Patrick was leading at lap 193 and finished fourth. Her performance was noteworthy not only because she was a woman but also because she was a 23-year-old rookie. Much of the attention the media gave Patrick was well deserved, but “Danica Mania” (which was an actual thing) kept Wheldon from getting the recognition that should have come to him.

Wheldon won his second Indy 500 this year, capitalizing on the misfortune of rookie J.R. Hildebrand, who slid into the retaining wall on the fourth turn of the final lap. Hildebrand, who could have cruised uncontested to the finish line, became the story of the 2011 race.

Hildebrand, who coasted (literally) to a second-place finish and claimed rookie-of-the-year honors, drove for Panther Racing, Wheldon’s former team. Wheldon drove for Panther in 2009 and 2010. Though he turned in two second-place finishes at the Indy 500, he failed to win a race in his two years with Panther, and the team decided to release him and replace him with the younger Hildebrand. Wheldon entered this season without a team, but found a ride for Indy. And he won, edging out the driver who had taken his job.

It was an incredible story, but it didn’t translate to Twitter and YouTube. To the average sports fan, the story of the 2011 Indianapolis 500 was reduced to “This Hildebrand kid had the race wrapped up and blew it.”

**********

Once upon a time, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner would have been a household name, regardless of the circumstances surrounding his victories. But Indy racing doesn’t command the attention it once did. IndyCar’s woes go back to 1996 when the Indy Racing League (IRL) broke away from CART, separating many of the sport’s best-known drivers from the sport’s premier race. The IRL merged with Champ Car (formerly CART) in 2008, but not before the split had done considerable damage to the sport’s popularity and ability to attract sponsors.

While ABC continues to air the Indianapolis 500, the rest of the IndyCar Series races are consigned to Versus. IndyCar ratings are consistently lower than those for NASCAR Nationwide races on ESPN2 and NASCAR truck series races on Speed. Indy’s ratings are even poor when compared to other niche sports on Versus.

But that happens. Sports go in and out of fashion. What doesn’t change is the devotion of the athletes. Regardless of a sport’s popularity, there will be athletes who are so dedicated to their craft that they are willing to risk their bodies and even their lives. While sports in general and auto races in particular are safer than they have ever been, there remain those rare occasions when a sport claims the life of one of its most devoted competitors.

**********

Dan Wheldon won 16 IRL/IndyCar Series races in his short career, including his two wins at Indianapolis. He won the series championship in 2005 and finished in the top 5 for 5 consecutive seasons, from 2004 to 2008. By any standard he was a great driver, even if the series he raced in struggled to attract viewers and sponsors. Unlike some of his peers, Wheldon didn’t reach a wider audience by winning Dancing With the Stars or marrying an A-list actress or starring in a Super Bowl commercial. Many American sports fans didn’t know the name “Dan Wheldon” until news of his death broke on Sunday afternoon. And that’s too bad.

Wheldon at the National Guard Youth Foundation 2010 ChalleNGe Champions Gala (Wikipedia)

Wheldon leaves behind his wife, Susie, and two young sons. And that sucks.

This week, Chantal Sutherland became the first female jockey to win the prestigious Santa Anita Handicap, riding Game On Dude, and Danica Patrick finished fourth in the Nationwide Series race in Las Vegas, the best ever finish for a woman in a national NASCAR race.

As a general rule, sports are an institution where the sexes don’t mix, but recent events have shown us that situations are now arising where men and women, girls and boys are competing with and against each other – and in many cases the girls are holding their own.

The question is, when are coed sports OK?

When I played Pee Wee baseball, all of the teams were co-ed. That lasted until age 8, at which point I kept playing baseball while my former female teammates switched to softball. Never again, outside of pick-up basketball games, would I compete with or against girls.

As a general rule, segregation by sex in sports makes sense. There are physiological differences between men and women and boys and girls—differences in size, strength, speed, and flexibility.

To my knowledge, the only sports that were designed to be coed are mixed doubles tennis, mixed doubles badminton, and korfball. In korfball, teams of four men and four women try to put a ball through a basket atop a 3.5-meter pole. (Because a korfball team must have equal numbers of men and women, every college in the country could establish a korfball program without worrying about running afoul of Title IX.)

Auto racing and horse racing, though they weren’t designed to be coed, are the two major sports in the United States where men and women don’t compete in separate leagues and likely never will. Physical differences between the sexes are muted in these sports, as they are less significant than the differences between the cars the athletes drive or the horses they ride. (In 2005 driver Robbie Gordon actually suggested that Patrick had a physical advantage over her male competitors because she is so much lighter than most of them. That’s probably true, but Dirk Nowitzki’s 7-foot frame gives him an advantage over other small forwards, and no one ever complains. Size and body type are factors in almost every sport.)

In 1976 Janet Guthrie became the first woman to qualify for a NASCAR Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup) race. In 1977, she became the first woman to qualify for the Indy 500. The following year, she finished ninth at the Brickyard. But in the decades that followed, women remained a rarity in major American motorsports.

Now, a new generation of women has taken strides toward making auto racing a true co-ed sport.

A record four female drivers qualified for last year’s Indy 500. Later that season four women qualified for a NASCAR Truck Series race. While Patrick’s 2008 win in Japan remains the only win by a woman at the highest levels of racing—providing fodder for those who feel that female drivers, particularly Patrick, get a disproportionate amount of media attention and endorsements—women have won the Indy Racing League’s Most Popular Driver award in nine of the last ten years. (Patrick won six times; Sarah Fisher won three.) Patrick has twice finished in the top five in Indianapolis and have finished in the top ten of the IRL points standings in five of her six seasons. Fisher has one second-place finish and one pole to her credit.

Chantal Sutherland is one of several active female jockeys, but no woman since Julie Krone in the 1980s and 1990s has been nearly as successful. Neither thoroughbred horse racing or the equestrian events at the Summer Olympics segregate by the gender of the jockey.

When it comes to mixing the sexes, contact sports obviously are more complicated than horse or auto racing. The wrestler who forfeited his match against Cassy Herkelman cited religious and moral teachings about using physical force against girls as his reason for bowing out. Jasmine Plummer, who as an 11-year-old quarterback led her team to the Pop Warner Super Bowl (and was the subject of The Longshots, starring Ice Cube and Keke Palmer), eventually gave up football because the “boys got too big”. Katie Hnida, the first woman to score points in a Division I-A/FBS football game, reported being molested and verbally abused by teammates when she was a placekicker for the University of Colorado.

Herkelman has three girls’ state titles and four girls’ national titles to her credit. She wrestles against girls when she has the opportunity, but when she wrestles for her school, she must wrestle against boys. Many girls find themselves in similar situations. While three states—Texas, California, and Hawaii—hold girls state wrestling tournaments, other states (including Iowa, where wrestling is a religion) do not. After the forfeit, Herkelman lost her next two matches and was eliminated from the tournament. Maegan Black, another girl who qualified for the Iowa state tournament, also lost her first two matches. But Herkelman is only a freshman—a freshman who won 20 matches and qualified for state—so she’ll probably have other chances. And she and Black are by no means the only girls to have success wrestling boys. In 2006 Alaska’s Michaela Hutchison won the state title at the 103-pound weight class.

Girls aren’t alone in challenging gender norms in sports. Several boys in New England, for instance, play for girls’ field hockey teams because boys’ teams aren’t available.

In an ideal world, schools would field girls’ wrestling teams and boys’ volleyball teams whenever enough students showed interest. But we don’t live in an ideal world. We live in a world where many school districts are cutting athletic budgets and struggling to hold on to the teams that they have. There aren’t many school boards right now that would approve money for a boys’ field hockey or girls’ football team. Perhaps if high schools continue to trim their athletic budgets, AAU sports and club sports will become more prominent and will give athletes of both sexes a wider variety of options.

Coed sports raise difficult questions and make a lot of people uncomfortable; but they aren’t going away. When those difficult, uncomfortable questions arise, I feel that we should err on the side of opportunity. Parents, coaches, leagues, and athletic departments should give young athletes as many opportunities as possible to exercise their physical gifts and talents and to play the sports they’re passionate about. But we also can’t forsake safety. We need to be mindful of differences in size or strength that could put an athlete at greater risk of injury; and we need to protect athletes from sexual assault and harrassment.

So, anyone interested in putting together a korfball team?

The year before, the sanctioning body signed a lucrative contract with new television partners FOX and NBC/TNT, and for the first time most events on the Cup schedule would be available on over-the-air television. This was a sign that NASCAR was truly moving from the backwater to the mainstream.

No one thought the date would instead mark the end of an era, with repercussions still felt in the sport now ten years later.

At age 49 and the oldest driver in the field, Dale Earnhardt was still the man in the minds and hearts of NASCAR nation – even if the seven-time champion was not as dominant then as he had been during the late 1980s and most of the 1990s before finally relinquishing some of the spotlight to Jeff Gordon.

The universal respect for The Intimidator reached a crescendo in 1998 when Dale finally won the Daytona 500 after years’ worth of bad beats on stock car racing’s biggest stage. He was greeted by every crew member of every team on the way to Victory Lane in a unified show of respect.

Preparing for his post-driving career, Earnhardt had also established his own race team, with son Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip among the drivers in that stable.

As the the tenth anniversary of Earnhardt’s death approaches, many have reset the well-documented final lap, which occurred after a much more massive multi-car wreck earlier in the race took out much of the field. DEI drivers Waltrip and Earnhardt were holding down the first two positions while Earnhardt, in the iconic #3 car, was trying to hold on to third in the frantic free-for-all that inevitably occurs on NASCAR’s two restrictor-plate tracks. The #3 was nudged from behind by Sterling Marlin’s car and shot straight up into the Turn 4 wall in the now surreal scene.

Seeing Waltrip take the checkered flag on television with the wreck behind him, my first thought was that at least Dale’s post-race interview ought to be interesting.

Then came the grainy footage of Ken Schrader climbing out of his car and checking on the #3, with no sign of Dale emerging.

I added two plus two very quickly – ‘Earnhardt’s dead…’ I said.

The next 90 minutes or so were very strange. FOX was trying to focus on the joy of Michael Waltrip winning his first race in 463 attempts, along with older brother Darrell Waltrip who had just been hired by FOX Sports as a commentator.

Realizing that a possible tragedy was unfolding as rescuers cut Earnhardt away from the wreckage, both FOX and MRN Radio (which was being played in-house at the speedway) partially downplayed the situation. FOX signed off saying that any updates on Earnhardt’s condition would be given during Fox Sports Net’s ‘Victory Lane’ later in the evening. Meanwhile, FOX caught up with Ken Schrader, and when asked about Earnhardt’s condition said ‘I don’t know’…which in effect said everything.

I immediately headed for an Internet chat room looking for updates. Finally a brief wire story ran that had Earnhardt being in ‘guarded condition’, not unlike the November day in 1963 when Walter Cronkite announced an initial report that JFK had been ‘seriously wounded’. Not long after, I flipped on another network just in time to hear a reporter reflecting on Earnhardt in past tense. At that exact time, dozens of new messages in the chat room said the same thing.

‘He’s gone….’

NASCAR was suddenly on the front page alright, even the lead on the Nightly News. Eight broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a broken ankle, and finally a basal skull fracture did in the seemingly indestructible Dale Earnhardt. Millions of racing fans were sent into shock and mourning. I personally know a die-hard race fan who cried at work the entire following week.

Ten years later, this question has the right to be asked more than ever – especially after a subsequent investigation seemed to turn up even more questions than answers:

Did Dale Earnhardt have to die???

Veteran driver Bill Elliott put the cheese on the cracker in a 2006 auto-biography with the following passage, referring to three fatalities (Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, Tony Roper) in NASCAR’S three national touring series during the 2000 season…

“No one called for investigations or softer walls, or HANS (head-and neck restraint) devices when these drivers died. But when Dale Earnhardt died, NASCAR went full bore, head over heels on safety,. Shame on NASCAR for letting a handful of good men die before finally addressing the problem after Dale died.”

19-year old Adam Petty died after the throttle stuck on his car during a practice session at New Hampshire International Speedway, effectively ending the four-generation Petty dynasty. Two months later Irwin died at the exact same track in similar fashion. Also during that season Geoff Bodine barely survived one of the most frightening wrecks ever during a Truck Series race at Daytona.

Although risk and the possibility of injury and even death have long been accepted from the short tracks to the big leagues of NASCAR, Indy Car, and Formula One, it remains amazing that nothing was done by NASCAR until their #1 meal ticket got lost.

And the safety issues were not limited to the drivers. As recently as the 2001 season, most pit crews operated without head protection. It wasn’t until two crewman were seriously injured at a race at Homestead late in the ’01 season that NASCAR immediately mandated helmets for those on pit road.

NASCAR soldiered on in 2001, and indeed to unprecedented buzz. Richard Childress Racing brought up rookie Kevin Harvick from the Busch Series to replace Earnhardt in a re-branded white #29 Goodwrench Chevrolet (as opposed to Earnhardt’s black #3). In just his third race Harvick brought the team back to Victory Lane with a dramatic win in Atlanta. The Cup Series then returned to Daytona that July, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. scoring a hugely popular win with Michael Waltrip this time finishing second. Dale Jr. would then score another emotional victory at Dover in September in NASCAR’s first race following the aftermath of September 11.

Dale Junior quickly became NASCAR’s #1 attraction, and it only seemed a matter of time before he joined his dad in becoming a Cup Champion.

Recent years have not gone nearly as well for the sport. Among the causes are: declining TV ratings; tumbling attendance figures (which NASCAR likes to blame on the economy/gasoline prices); and a 5X Champion in Jimmie Johnson who for whatever reason is hugely unpopular. Tracks hosting events try feverishly to pump up the gate, offering pre-race concerts and other gimmicks, but to little avail.

NASCAR has also made numerous changes in the last ten years, some in the name of safety and some in the name of entertainment. Included among these changes are:

• Ending the decades-old practice of racing back to the start-finish line after the caution flag is waved. Often the lead driver would slow and let lapped drivers get a lap back, especially in the case of teammates. There were other occasions when the first place driver would not slow down, not wanting to get a marquee driver back on the lead lap and putting him back in contention for a win.

• In order to ensure interest down to the last race of the season, NASCAR introduced what they billed as ‘The Chase’, where the point standings were reset for the top 10-12 drivers for the final ten races of the season. Jimmie Johnson detractors cry that Johnson has won the last five championships because the final ten tracks on the schedule happen to be tracks Johnson does well on.

• NASCAR ended another practice that dated back to the early days of the sport, where lead drivers lined up single-file on restarts, with drivers one or more laps down being on the inside lane. Often drivers would not pit during a caution period so they could take the re-start ahead of the leader, and thus get back on the lead lap if another caution were to fly soon-after. To inject more excitement, lead laps cars now line up double file before re-starts.

• In another attempt to jump-start entertainment value and to eliminate the possibility of races ending when the end of their advertised distance comes under the caution flag, ‘green-white-checker’ finishes were introduced. At first only one attempt was made to finish a race in such a fashion, but was later amended to allow as many as three ‘green-white-checker’ attempts, which carries the potential of running a race insanely past it’s scheduled distance.

• Worried that they had policed themselves too much. NASCAR told their drivers to ‘have at it’ before the start of the 2010 season, basically asking the competitors to police themselves. That sort of frontier justice was put to the test early last season when in an act of revenge Carl Edwards sent Brad Keselowski airborne into the fence in retaliation for being wrecked earlier in an event.

• Just this off-season, NASCAR decided to overhaul a points system that had been in place since the early 1970′s in favor of a new system designed to make the math more simpler for fans following at home.

None of the above seems to have, or will, revive interest. NASCAR fans, or what’s left of them, do not seem satisfied with anything. And it all goes back to the loss of the Intimidator.

Outside of Dale Jr., collectibles featuring Dale Earnhardt by far outsell all other existing drivers. Go to a souvenir stand at an event and you might even find a framed picture of that moment from that final lap at Daytona with Michael Waltrip, Dale Jr., and Dale Sr. running 1-2-3.

Then there is the massive slump that hit Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s career and forced him to move to Hendrick Motorsports after in-fighting with step-mother Teresa Earnhardt resulted in Junior leaving DEI, and not long after DEI being consolidated. One has to wonder if things would have shaken better for Junior if the old man was alive and running the show.

And then, of course, there is the economy, which bites racing much more than the ‘ball-and-stick’ sports, since sponsorship is the lifeblood of race teams. In recent years, even the marquee teams have struggled to get advertisers placed on their cars.

The one thing NASCAR can hang its hat on though is that there have been no fatalities in either the Cup, Nationwide (Busch), or Truck Series since February 18, 2001. That would be a span of nearly 1,000 races plus practices and qualifying.

On Sunday, 43 cars will line up on a freshly repaved Daytona Speedway, which is playing to early reviews of vastly increased speeds – perhaps alarmingly so. At some point this weekend NASCAR may have to make a decision to somehow compensate and reign in the RPMs. Or will they choose to go with the entertainment value and flirt with disaster yet again?

Just remember how they learn how to count down in North Carolina, 1, 2, Dale Earnhardt…

Say what you want to about the Daytona 500, but the Indy 500 is as good as it gets.

Don’t get me wrong, the Daytona 500 is an epic race, but it just can’t compare to the legendary race at the Brickyard.

Now I’m not going to pretend to be an Indy car racing fan, because I pay very little attention to the sport. But, every Memorial Day weekend, I make sure that I tune in to watch the king of races.

In 1911, “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” was born. To put in perspective how long ago that really is, the Cubs had won a World Series just three years prior.

That’s a long time!

The first race was won by Ray Harroun (right), and since then, many of racing’s greatest drivers have followed in his footsteps. Legends such as Al Unser, Mario Andretti, Al Unser, Jr., Emerson Fittipaldi, A.J. Foyt and Bobby Unser have all won the crown jewel of racing. Andretti and Foyt are the only two drivers in history to win both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500.

As the 94th running of the race draws near, we all get to look back on the great moments of the Indy 500. The winner’s milk, the Borg-Warner Trophy, Al Unser and A.J. Foyt winning their fourth Indy 500s, Al Unser, Jr. beating Scott Goodyear in 1992 by a mere .043 seconds, these are just a few snippets of the Indianapolis 500′s greatness.

And this weekend another chapter in the glorified history of this historic race will be written.

After you make your UFC 98 odds picks for Saturday night, you can get in on the Indy 500 betting action Sunday afternoon for the “Greatest Spectacle In Racing,” which will begin at 1:00 PM ET. Scott Dixon is the defending race winner and favorite in your online sports book, but another former winner will take the checkered flag.

Dixon has Indy 500 odds of +350, and the defending series champion will roll off fifth, in the middle of the second row. Dixon hasn’t finished lower than sixth in his last three 500s. He also won the last IndyCar race at Kansas after two disappointing results at St. Petersburg and Long Beach, and another win would give him a lot of momentum heading into the summer months.

Ryan Briscoe isn’t the most well-known IndyCar driver, and he’s probably most recognized for tangling with Danica Patrick on pit road in last year’s 500, taking them both out of the race. Briscoe has Indy 500 odds of +600 after winning at St. Petersburg and coming in fourth at Kansas, and he ran fifth at the Brickyard in 2007. He starts in the middle on the front row.

Points leader Tony Kanaan, who starts on the outside of the middle row, and 2007 500 winner Dario Franchitti are rated at +700. Kanaan has a series title from 2004 and he’d love to add an Indy win to his resume with four top-10s in seven trips to the Brickyard. Franchitti returns after sponsorship problems ended his NASCAR stint, and he’ll be looking for a good run after an 18th-place result at Kansas. Franchitti also won Long Beach, and starts on the outside of the front row.

Of course, you have to mention Danica Patrick Indy 500 odds, which are set at +1000. She’s followed up a 19th-place run at St. Petersburg with two straight top-fives, and she’s good at Indy as well, racking up a pair of top-fives and an eighth-place result in three visits to the Brickyard. IndyCar’s most popular driver rolls off 10th, on the outside of the fourth row.

However, this year’s winner is accustomed to the tradition of drinking milk in Victory Lane at Indy, as Helio Castroneves is the last driver to win back-to-back 500s in 2001 and 2002. Castroneves thought he’d be watching this race from a jail cell, but he beat his tax-evasion case, and came back with a seventh-place and runner-up finish since then. No one is happier to be back in the driver’s seat than Castroneves, who is starting from the pole and rated at +400, and he gives you a solid chance to win. Take Helio Castroneves’ Indy 500 odds on Sunday.

And even more incredible is that he was completely fine afterwards – fine enough for life to imitate art, as Edwards gets out and runs to cross the finish line like he’s Ricky Bobby. Check it out:

Video of Carl Edwards crash at Talladega:

——————–

Video of Ricky Bobby (or is it Carl Edwards?) from Talladega Nights

Update: Here are a link to story about the crash, where 8 fans were injured:

• Carl Edwards crash at Talladega injures 8 fans — (NASCAR.com)

There are a number of items to discuss regarding this race, so lets take a few minutes to discuss some of the items that make this such a pivotal race in the schedule:

1) This is the race before the Indy 500. That means we are seeing a few drivers this weekend that are in it mainly to gain some seat time before transitioning the World’s Greatest Race Course, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Two drivers come to mind there, Milka Duno and Sarah Fisher. They will both be in the race this weekend and will transition some of their experience from this weekend to the month of May.

2) This weekend is the first oval of the season. The past two races have been on temporary street circuits. They are bumpy, curvy and not ideal for side by side racing. Now, we move over to the super smooth, super fast and super tight racing of a high speed oval. For a driver’s psychological preparation as well as the physical preparation, they must address this race much differently than the races so far in 2009. Rest assured, they are professionals and will have no problem adapting to those changes, but from a fan’s perspective it can be easy to look pass some of the subtle nuances of what impacts the drivers of the IndyCar Series.

3) We have a shot at a three-peat. Dan Wheldon won this race both in 2007 and 2008 with Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Now, with his move to Panther it should make it more interesting. It will be tough to pull it off given the first oval race with a new team. Panther has been very successful in the past on ovals and given another year I think Dan could win at Kansas. My gut tells me not this year. But, just in case you wanted another reason to watch…there you go.

Recap and Prediction:

This is a great racetrack. 1.5 miles in length and a 200 lap race. The first oval of the season and a couple of drivers who are far less than full time that are entered into the mix. I expect it be a very close race and that it will come down to Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti. Who will take the checkered? Watch and find out.

The INDYCAR SERIES ROADRUNNER TURBO 300 AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY IS APRIL 26th at 4pm Eastern and is only on VERSUS! Tune in…

We will have a race recap on Monday to discuss the results.

Also be sure to check back throughout the Month of May with updates live from INDY!!!

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Team Penske will announce today at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that it has signed Australian driver Will Power to fill in for the troubled brazillian star. Whether Power will actually drive a car for Penske in an IndyCar Series race is left up to the Federal Court system. If Helio isn’t able to answer the bell due to his court case, then the reigns of the #3 will be handed over to the Aussie.

Will Power has a successful record on road courses, and was a rising star in the now defunct Champ Car World Series. He was with PKV racing last year and found himself with no seat heading into 2009. This is a bit of gamble for Will Power, considering he may not even get to race in a Team Penske car, but I think it sets clear the state of the economy. Why would he take a gamble on being used as a test driver, while Helio fights his battles? Because there is nothing else out there.

It does make the mind wonder what the end game will be. Will Penske bring over enough sponsorship to adopt a third car in the 2009 season? Is Will Power going to be used for a few weeks in testing the 2009 car, then thrown off the team when HCN comes back?

Or is this maybe the clearest sign yet, that Helio Castroneves is in a world of trouble, and there is very little chance of him escaping the wrath of our Government.

Stay tuned, its gonna be an incredible year in the IndyCar Series… Bring on the warm weather…and lets go racing!

Felipe Massa needed a host of things to happen to win the championship. If his plan was to win the race, all that had to happen was for Hamilton to finish anywhere from Sixth place on back. Half of his plan worked, as Felipe Massa won his home grand prix in Brazil. The other half just didn’t pan out.

Lewis Hamilton ran an incredibly disciplined race strategy, and ran just fast enough to finish 5th in the race; therefore sealing the deal and being able to be the youngest driver to win a Formula 1 world championship. Amazingly, it wasn’t as easy as it sounds.

Lewis Hamilton was in 6th place heading into the final corner on the final lap. The rain had started and Timo Glock had crept into the top 5 by staying on dry tires with so few laps to go. It was a gamble that cost Glock a top 5 finish and cost Felipe Massa the World Championship.

To become the first ever black Formula 1 Champ, Hamilton swept by Glock who was slipping on the dry tires. As he crossed the finish line in 5th place, the world could see it’s new world champ. Lewis Hamilton won the Championship at the age of 23 years, 8 months, 26 days, previously held by Fernando Alonso with 24 years and 58 days.

Midwest Sports Fans would like to congratulate the world’s new Formula 1 Champion! Bravo Lewis!

[tags]formula one, lewis hamilton, auto racing[/tags]

A dynasty takes a normal man, say the driver of the number 48 Lowe’s machine, and at first turns him into a Champion. Then the next year, the pressure is really on. Can this guy do it all over again? Is there anything left in the tank, or will the pinnacle of his chosen sport be enough of a reward to make him rethink doing it all over again? Yet, the #48 with Jimmie Johnson behind the wheel did in fact have enough left. In 2007, he won the Cup just like he did the year before.

And now, for the third year in a row, Jimmie Johnson stands on the verge of cementing his greatness at the top of his sport. Cale Yarborough won the Cup in 1976, 77, and 78. To date, Cale is the only driver to ever have three consecutive Cup championships. That small part of NASCAR history may get a bit more crowded this year.

It’s been exactly 30 years since NASCAR fans have had this rare opportunity to watch a dynasty happen right before their eyes. Arguably, Petty (7), Earnhardt (7), and Gordon (4) have their place in history for the grasp they held on the sport. Yet this year, the 33 year old from California is set to permanently mark his spot in history.

In Martinsville on Sunday, Jimmie Johnson was given the pole by rain, the first pit stall by points, and the win by the same disciplined driving that has gotten him on the brink of back-to-back-to-back NASCAR Sprint Cup championships. He led over 339 of the 500 laps, and not even the green-white-checkered finish was enough to make it close. Jimmie Johnson simply had too much power.

And this is precisely why I have sort of, kind of, maybe, perhaps changed my mind about dynasty drivers. Let’s just say that Jimmie Johnson, golden boy of NASCAR, wins three Cups in a row. With each victory he racks up, there are legions of NASCAR fans getting bored with the #48 car winning every damn race. And sooner or later, the same people who jeered Jeff Gordon, those same fans who hated #3, the same fans that wished Petty would just shave that ‘stache and retire, will be turning on you too Jimmie. Ride the golden boy parachute as long as you can…they’re coming for you.

As with all sports dynastys…at first they are nice and shiny..but soon they rust and the world wants something new. As with politics, the incumbent will get beat eventually.

As Dwight Schrute said in an episode of The Office, “One day, we all will fall.”

Stay tuned later in the week for my preview of the next stop on the NASCAR calendar in Atlanta! Exclusively on www.midwestsportsfans.com

[tags]jimmie johnson, nascar, auto racing[/tags]

Lewis Hamilton won the pole giving himself the best shot at the championship he could have asked for. More importantly, he won last nights Chinese Grand Prix. Yet he isn’t champion. Here’s why.

As I mentioned in my pre-race report last night, Felipe Massa was trailing him by 5 points in the championship. The running order showed Lewis in 1st, Kimi Raikkonen in 2nd, and Felipe in 3rd. If the race had ended this way, Lewis would be World Champion. Yet the two Ferrari driver’s were given “team orders” to switch places and Raikkonen let Massa slip past. With Massa in 2nd place, and not having the horses to catch the McLaren driven by Hamilton, he had assured himself of keeping the hopes of a world championship alive.

Lewis Hamilton needs just a 5th place finish in Brazil to win the Championship. This has to give him a bit of confidence going into the final GP of the season. Massa, even with a win, would be unable to surpass the point lead Lewis currently holds over the Ferrari driver.

Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari (3rd):
“Today I had a good car, but it was not quick enough to beat our main competitor. At the start and after every tyre change, Hamilton managed to pull away, while when it got near to the pit stops I was able to go a bit quicker, but it was always too late. On top of that, three times, I came up behind backmarkers who cost me valuable time. We secured a very good result for the Constructors’ classification. Now we go to Brazil where we must try and get a one-two finish and then we can see where we stand in both Championships. Felipe passing me? I am part of a team and I am well aware what they expect of me. I am out of the title fight and have to do the maximum because Ferrari can achieve both its objectives. It’s a simple as that.”

Kimi Raikkonen won the Championship last year and certainly had some help from his teammate. This time he had a debt to pay. As he says in the qoute, he knows what’s expected of him.

“Team Orders” is certainly something Americans have a hard time digesting. The fight for your life mentality of our great nation is what makes us great. However, it is also one of the biggest reasons why F1 hasn’t caught on in this Country. In IndyCar and NASCAR, though there may be some silent team orders given certain situations, Formula 1 is very open about their orders. The driver ordered to slow down so his teammate will pass doesn’t even try to make it look like a valid pass, they just slow it down…and let them by. This fundamentally goes into the face of our entire fabric as a nation. Our constant challenge of “tell me something I cannot do, and I will prove you wrong”, wouldn’t work in the mainly European racing series.

I have always viewed Formula 1 as a game of Chess with million dollar pieces and precision placement. Formula 1 is not the sort of racing we are used to seeing. As with anything, it’s often easy to brush off that which we don’t understand.

I encourage you to tune into the final GP of the 2008 campaign. The Brazilian Grand Prix is on at a more normal time than 3am…so that excuse won’t be there. Besides, just because Lewis Hamilton didn’t become the first black Formula 1 champion last night doesn’t mean he won’t in two weeks.

Being part of history, and watching it unfold is worth waiting for.

Check back here at midwestsportsfans.com for more on the world’s most watched racing series.

[tags]auto racing, formula 1, chinese grand prix, lewis hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen[/tags]

In the closing rounds of the 2007 Formula 1 World Championship, rookie McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton was on the verge of clinching the championship. It was this race, the Chinese Grand Prix, that ended his hopes of being a World champion. Instead through mistakes in the race the title slipped out of reach and it landed with Kimi Raikkonen.

365 days later we are once again faced with an historic Grand Prix.

Maybe.

Lewis Hamilton ran a clean qualifying session overnight to end up in P1 for tonight/tomorrow’s start. Ferrari teammates Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa line up behind him for the start. The Grand Prix starts at 3am Eastern Time and is being televised on Speed TV. Now, because of my disgustingly high salary from midwestsportsfans.com, I will be wide awake when the lights go out to signal the start. However, for most sane race fans, the race is going to be shown again at 4pm on Speed on Sunday afternoon.

Why so historic? Lewis Hamilton is one win away (there are actually several scenarios that could play out where he is World Champion even if he doesn’t win) from being the Formula 1 World Champion. No big deal right? I mean they have a Champion every year don’t they? Yes they do… but never in the histroy of the worlds second most watched sport (only behind soccer) has the FIA ever crowned a black man as their world champion. Truly, what Tiger Woods has done for golf, Lewis is doing for Formula 1 racing.

As a long time fan of Formula 1 racing, dating to the Prost/Senna battles, let me say I am rooting for Lewis to seal the deal tonight…and become F1′s champion. He hasn’t been given a bit of it, he has worked as hard as anyone else, and he has the talent that is worthy of a World Champion. Give ‘em Hell LEWIS!!!

If the question ever comes up…most likely in a bar bet situation…and probably in Indianapolis, Lewis Hamilton is not the first black man to ever drive a Formula 1 car. That honor goes to the American Willy T. Ribbs back in 1986. Ribbs, an Indy 500 veteran, never got a full ride in the mainly European series but had his name permanently etched in history with that testing session.

Here is the starting lineup for the Chinese Grand Prix:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Britain, McLaren.

2. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, Ferrari.

3. Felipe Massa, Brazil, Ferrari. (trails Haimlton by 5 points)

4. Fernando Alonso, Spain, Renault.

5. Heikki Kovalainen, Finland, McLaren.

6. Nick Heidfeld, Germany, BMW.

7. Sebastian Vettel, Germany, Toro Rosso.

8. Jarno Trulli, Italy, Toyota.

9. Sebastien Bourdais, France, Toro Rosso.

10. Nelson Piquet Jnr., Brazil, Renault.

11. Robert Kubica, Poland, BMW.

12. Timo Glock, Germany, Toyota.

13. Rubens Barrichello, Brazil, Honda.

14. Nico Rosberg, Germany, Williams.

15. David Coulthard, Britain, Red Bull.

16. Mark Webber, Australia, Red Bull.

14. Kazuki Nakajima, Japan, Williams.

18. Jenson Button, Britain, Honda.

19. Adrian Sutil, Germany, Force India.

20. Giancarlo Fisichella, Italy, Force India.

Stay tuned to midwestsportsfans.com for more on this historic possibility!

[tags]formula 1, lewis hamilton, auto racing[/tags]

PLUS

EQUALS

Therefore….

For the second time in as many weeks, the NASCAR Sprint Cup cars will line up from points this weekend at Martinsville. The oval track, which is just over a half mile in length, has one of the tightest pit lanes on the circuit. Jimmie Johnson, current leader in the NASCAR standings, will get the first pit stall for the TUMS QuikPak 500.

On a short track with a tight pitlane, it’s a driver’s dream to be able to fire out of his pit stall without worry of what’s happening ahead of him. With the Chase at its halfway point and just 69 points separating Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Burton, this couldn’t come at a better time for the back to back Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.

It is the 9th time this year that qualifying has been washed out for the “Cup” cars.

Here is the top five for 1pm Green Flag on Sunday. TV : ABC

[tags]nascar, auto racing, martinsville, jimmie johnson, jeff burton[/tags]