Indy Racing League - Helio Castroneves NOT GUILTY on all charges

Good News!  Helio Castroneves, his Sister and his attorney were cleared of all charges today.  Now the IRS can go back to their regular jobs of ignoring the Bernie Madoff's of the world and wait patiently for the next "Dancing with the Stars" winner to make a mistake.  Thanks to Autoweek for the words..

AutoWeek's reporter in Long Beach, Calif., for this weekend's IndyCar Grand Prix just received a call from Team Penske's Helio Castroneves. The news: the driver was just found not guilty of tax-evasion charges in federal court in Miami.

Castroneves's codefendants--sister/manager, Kati, 35, and attorney Alan Miller, 71--also were cleared of all tax-evasion charges. Miller also was acquitted of a conspiracy charge, while the jury was hung on single conspiracy charges against both Castroneves and his sister.

Sorry their were no decent driving clips. Enjoy!

Indy Racing League - St. Petersburg - Highlights

The Danica Patrick Admiration League (aka The IRL) hosted a race this past Sunday in St. Petersburg Florida.  While I have not been a big fan of the IRL, (choosing instead to follow CART), I felt that enough time had passed that I could let bygones be bygones, and check out the action from the USA's  major open-wheel racing series.  So this is what I learned in watching from watching the action this weekend on the VERSUS network,

• People care how much a front-wing and nose assembly is.  VERSUS made a big deal that they are $35,000 each, and that on a street circuit you will probably break one or two, adding up to big bucks. Wow!
• Every event in the race has to be related back to how it impacts Danica Patrick, no matter what position she is in.
• As part of her off-season training program (and I'm not making this up), Danica received a bread maker, and has spent much of the off-season experimenting with different bread recipes.  Take that Robert Kubica with your low-carb weight loss program.
• Driving skill might skip a generation or two.  Both Andretti and Rahal family entries didn't look as strong as their non-famous counterparts.  Of note- Grandpa Mario didn't look too happy with young Marco's performance.
• The announcers from VERSUS, are completely unaware of most racing that occurs outside of NASCAR.  This was notable in the commentary about the drivers and their backgrounds, as well as the points of comparison used.

Congratulations to Ryan Briscoe on the win, and great races by both Ryan-Hunter Reay and Justin Wilson!  You can check out the highlights below. Enjoy!

IRL Live Streaming - Practice - St Petersburg

I know I missed posting a link Formula 1 Practice this morning, but here is the live feed for the IRL practice in St. Petersburg.  I know that its a poor substitute, but I have to admit that since F1 changed their cars this year, the IRL cars look less ugly.