This week, reports came out about former Colts announcer Bob Lamey telling a story in which someone used the n-word nearly 35 years ago. That someone was said to be IndyCar driver Conor Daly’s dad, who denied it was him saying it, and Conor Daly’s sponsor backed out on his NASCAR ride this weekend because of it.
Sometimes, people want the best for others out of the kindness and love in their hearts. Other times, it’s because time’s come to pay up.
To say that a professional race-car driver running out of gas in a street car is like an NBA star missing a layup would be somewhat inaccurate. It’s more like an NBA star missing a layup on a four-foot goal with bright, illuminated signs all around the rim saying “BALL GOES HERE.”
Despite a massive crash that left him with fractures in both his collarbone and hand, Verizon IndyCar Series driver Josef Newgarden isn’t going to sit out—a mere two weeks after the wreck, Newgarden is back in the car at Road America. Not surprisingly, he said he “feel[s] the pain in the hands everywhere.”
If you thought your Evo was hard to turn around in a parking lot, try getting an IndyCar stuck in one of the Grand Prix of Long Beach’s narrow escape chutes, as Conor Daly did this morning during IndyCar practice.
Today’s United SportsCar race at Road America was insanity from start to finish, but one lap stood heads, tails and balls above the rest: the last one. Jörg Bergmeister and Pierre Kaffer were side-by-side battling for second place, and the PC leader disappeared from TV while the guy who was second took the win.
Rain is a blessing and a curse, both in the messy race it produced today at the Belle Isle Grand Prix as well as the tendency for rain to throw unexpected entries into higher than usual entries. Today, two substitute drivers—Tristan Vautier and Conor Daly—got into 4th and 6th place, respectively.
No, no. Not because Wet ‘N’ Wild makes nail polish on the cheap and Swift’s a fancy lady. Look at the track conditions at Belle Isle. Clearly, an opportunity to co-brand (read = “get more dinero”) this car was lost. Not only did Tony Kanaan wipe out in his Taylor Swiftmobile, but three other cars wiped out with him.
Unfortunately for Conor Daly, his number 43 Smithfield-sponsored “Fueled by Bacon” car was overly crispy before the race even started. Conor’s Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team said that the car’s exhaust system got hot and caused the fire.
Drivers who don't currently have a ride for the Rolex 24 at Daytona often hang around the paddock looking for open seats. There's a decent chance of this being successful, too, given the fact that drivers are totally human and get sick, come up short on funding, have family emergencies to tend to, and the like.
Racing is expensive.
Looks like Conor Daly got a little close to the Turn 1 wall at Indy 500 practice today. (H/T!)
America has not had a Formula One World Champion since Mario Andretti won the whole thing for Lotus in 1978. In fact, many argue that a competent Formula One driver hasn't come out of America since Mario Andretti.
