No sooner than the cats left town than the mice were out. Actually not out, but “in” a meeting. With the RRIC underway in Phoenix on this past Tuesday – that’s where the Bear was – Murphy’s mole (the Moroccan Mole, some call him) reported a ‘big, big meeting’ at 1394 Broadway in Braselburg. The Bear doesn’t know if it was a sanctioned meeting or an incipient revolt, but he’s heard the subject matter was anything but trivial.

Panoz Motor Sports (PMS) Group has a new CFO/accountant. The new guy has been described to Murphy as a ‘slash and burn’ artist. The problem? Not much left to slash. The Bear’s been told the only profitable thing in the company is T-shirt sales – Anna Mae’s Trinket Truck. Nice stuff, but not a big division. In fact, profit or not, it might be on the chopping block as ‘not important enough to mess with.’ Murphy hopes like hell that’s wrong. He likes trinkets.

Cuts in other areas continue – on the pit lane and even in the safety car. Due to illness of the incumbent, new guy Jim is taking over Timing & Scoring (Murphy has been corrected, the job being taken over is Simone’s as Chief Communicator in Race Control; he’s also told she’s recovered very well - well enough to perform – not that anyone on Broadway cared enough to ask…), at least temporarily.

You need a measure of how well things are going? You saw the press release on a Haas “distributor deal.” First question – sent along by one of the elves – “what do you need a distributor for in your home market?” According to some, the real story is Champ Car – the failed racing series just keeps right on giving, doesn’t it? Murphy’s been told Haas loaned Panoz three million to build the Champ Car DP01, and was still owed a million. Cash-strapped PMS Group offered its parts business and a little cash instead, and Carl took it. According to just about everyone in the race car biz, that is pretty much the end for Panoz as a race car constructor.

As if to confirm that, just today the Bear was told the Abruzzi lives – yes, Murphy’s gagging, too. This time though, it’s as a GT2 (Autosport and autoblog.com reported that this past October), and the new story is it’s not PMS Group and it’s not Danny doing the building. It’s Tom Milner being paid by the Don to build the racing Esperante replacement (that had to go, anyway, since its road car certification was based on a Mustang platform no longer in production).

So, how does that work? The Abruzzi is supposedly a modification of the Esperante GTLM (that’s sort of déjà vu, given the constantly morphing history of the Panoz LMP). But what’s the homologation of the  Abruzzi without a street car?

Radisson Road Racing Conference

The nine tracks that host ALMS events met with the Series and with each othern the Canyon I room at the Radisson Airport North in Phoenix. The Bear was there.

Murphy was parked in the next door lobby bar when they broke at 5 pm for a reception in the 44th Street Café, and still there when they finally trickled away near 7 pm, nearly an hour later than scheduled. It seemed convivial, if subdued, in the café. Did the promoters (as predicted by as source) get “reality, no more BS, real solutions?” Time – and the International Moles’ Secrets Association (IMSA) – will tell. The Bear is disappointed to have to report that the recently appointed committee had no representation in sight. Given the current problems of the Series and of PMS Group, they could seize the initiative. Murphy hopes they aren’t solely a creature of the proprietors.

Porsche

The Warsteiners – oh, sorry, that’s the beer, Murphy means the Weissachers – announced eight werks pilots the other day; missing were Emanuele Collard and Sascha Maassen, as the Bear told you a while back. The story is in the remainder, though. It seems there’s not even enough work (werk?) for even eight. Wolf Henzler is assigned to a seventh-place (at best) ALMS entry. Ace drivers (there’s no doubt about that, is there?) Timo Bernhard and Romain (Lettuce) Dumas are assigned to, pretty much nothing. Sure, they make a big deal about the Nurburgring 24 hours, but big car and fan turnout aside, it’s a run-what-you brung event, not exactly Le Mans. Odd, isn’t it? Something has to be planned, doesn’t it?

That’s a matter of debate, some saying they’ll land in a Porsche AG (or NA)-financed Cytosport entry, others saying “ no way, they won’t lay out that kind of money, and if they wanted to, why not just hire Penske again?” Those in that “no way” camp suggest some kind of combination deal with Audi (a car for Timo and Romain at Le Mans, as there was last season), and a few “place-holder” Porsche races (one-off seats at Petit Le Mans, perhaps?). So why keep even those eight on board if there really isn’t that much work? Over-active imaginations will suspect the gestation of a new Porsche LMP to the 2011 rules (which, after all, won’t be much of a stretch from the Spyder, particularly its 3.4 liter V8). The cynics will suggest it’s much simpler; if you’ve got ‘em under contract (and have to pay them), you could just as well try to use ‘em.

Balancing Act

What’s next in the brave new world of performance balancing? Falken seems to be angling for rules to help them run their 2008 Porsche? Not just run it, of course, they can do that if they like, but to make it competitive. That’s nonsense – and besides, it won’t exactly do good things for Porker race car sales, will it? Next, Randy Wars and Grady Willingham will be back in Dick Barbour’s old R. IMSA let a couple run in 2001 after the introduction of the RS, but they didn’t change the rules to make it faster, did they?

Extreme

Or not so. Scott Sharp’s Extreme Speed was planning to run a GT Challenge Porsche along with it’s two GT2 Ferraris. Now it’s dropped the Challenge program. Some say it’s a good idea for the team to concentrate on its Ferraris.

Intersport Raids Comprent

Sources say the Dublin, Ohio team has taken two of Comprent’s former IMSA Lites customers. Meanwhile, the proprietor of the Georgia company is rumored to be buying out his partners in a 5 axis milling machine. 

Spiraling Down

Declining attendance is likely reducing ALMS sanction fees, on top of outright loss of sanctioned series (BMW’s training wheels racing), and declines in entries (and consequently revenue) from other sanctions (Cooper Atlantics had 8 entries last the Bear heard, possibly Patrón GT3 Challenge, cannibalized by ALMS’ Challenge class). Declining and stagnant television viewership is reducing ad rates, and making annual support of the series look less attractive to manufacturers and other partners.

The Rolex

Look for Murphy’s  annual Rolex preview early next week.

Twitter

When rumors surface, the Bear tweets at http://twitter.com/Murphythebear

You whined you cried, “It’s toooo hard!” Actually it wasn’t that difficult at all, as you’ll see in the following.

Here is each question, with the correct answer, and with the Bear’s comments. Less than half an hour of time and some willingness to exercise the brain was a sure winner.

1. Name PTG’s drivers in the 2001 American Le Mans Series season. (1 point for each)
Bill Auberlen, Hans Stuck, Boris Said, Niclas Jönsson, Peter Cunningham, Joe Foster, David Murry, Brian Cunningham (Joey Hand was on the Sebring entry, but did not drive.) The maximum number of points is 8 (the number who actually drove in a race) but any of the nine can count toword that total. The information needed to answer this question is readily available on IMSA’s web site. The average score on this question was 6.

2. What is the significance of Portola Road in sports car racing history? (5 points)
Location of the start-finish of the Pebble Beach Road Race. If you didn’t know this, a web search on “Portola Road” would have turned up numerous California locations – and none elsewhere. There would logically be a reason for that. A search on just “Portola” would have found Gaspar de Portolà i Rovira (1716–1784) founder of San Diego and Monterey. The spelling of Monterey (one “r”) ID’s it as the California city. Now a bit of knowledge helps: Laguna Seca was built after a death ended its predecessor, the Pebble Beach Road Race. Web searching that quickly turns up a wiki entry.

3. Who is Mel Hawkins? (5 points)
Driving partner and co-owner with Steven Knight in Knighthawk Racing, 2002 ALMS P675 team champion. This isn’t supposed to be very difficult, given that it’s about a former ALMS class champion team, and it wasn’t. Almost every entry got this one right.

4. What progenitor of a famous racing family was proud to be on Richard Nixon’s ‘Enemies List’? (5 points)
Charles Dyson, Rob Dyson’s father. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon%27s_Enemies_List Paul Newman was also on the list but isn’t the “progenitor of a famous racing family.” This is one of the questions on which Reading is Fundamental. First, if you don’t know it, look up “progenitor.” Then consider the clause the word refers to “of a famous racing family.” That should immediately rule out Paul Newman.  The easily found wiki entry reproduces Charles Colson’s original list of 20; number 5 is Charles Dyson. If you want to confirm, you can look up Dyson-Kissner; that will locate Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corporation, where you’ll find Rob.

5. Who was the winner of the first Pebble Beach Road Race in 1950? (5 points)
Phil Hill. A not-too-difficult web search will find this one. A cut and paste of the last six words finds philhill.com

6. When and where did seven time World Driving Champion Michael Schumacher last race in North America? (5 points)
Las Vegas, Nevada, November 22, 2009. Right smack in the middle of Schumacher’s Official web site is this headline/link: 20/11/09 Michael at Michael at the SuperNational in Las Vegas.

7. Who was the last driver to qualify and race a front engine car in the Indianapolis 500? What year was it? (5 points)
Jim Hurtubise, 1968. You might actually have to know this one, but most of those who entered did. If not, “‘front engine’ Indy” yields a site with a list of all drivers who drove both front and rear engine cars at the 500. Hurtubese is listed with the latest year for a front-engine car.

8. Identify the driver and the car. (3 points for each)
Consalvo Sanesi, Alfa Romeo Type 159. Murphy made this one more difficult by first misspelling “Alfa,” didn’t he? Sorry. The key to this question and the following one is to identify the car in the photo. Having done that, you’ll find its wiki page includes a box titled “Competition History.” In that are listed (under “GP”) “Notable Drivers.” Each is a “live link.” Those who wanted to do the drudgery were rewarded; the entry on Consalvo Sanesi includes the description of the incident at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1964, so the driver in the photograph must be Sanesi. The lesson? If two questions are “linked,” as these two are, take all the information from both. That cat can be skinned from either end.

9. What North American racing incident involved the driver in the photograph? (5 points)
Sanesi had a near fatal accident at Sebring in 1964 when his Alfa Giulia TZ burst into flames and he was rescued by a mechanic and driver from Poughkeepsie, New York, named Jocko Maggiocommo.

10. Name the ‘Odd Couple,’ a Silicon Valley CEO and a former college tennis player who combined to launch a sports car racing team, then drove to a podium finish at Le Mans. (5 points)
Leo Hindery and Peter Baron. Baron started playing tennis at age four and was going to be a tennis pro, “But then I figured out I’m not one of the lucky seven or eight naturally blessed people. I was not going to make a career of tennis, but I was able to go through college playing tennis. Once I got out, I didn’t want to see a tennis racket again.” You can find that information in an Orbit Racing press release published on motorsport.com. Before he ran the YES Network for the New York Yankees, Leo Hindery was CEO of Global Crossing.

11. The werks John Wyer and Porsche Salzburg (1970) and Martini (1971) teams won all but four races in which they entered the 917 in the FIA Group 5 World Championship of Makes. Name the four races in which the werks 917’s were beaten, whether points-paying or not, and the car that won in each instance. (8 points, 1 for venue, 1 for car in each instance)
1 – Sebring, 1970, Ferrari 512S; 2 – Kyalami, 1970, Ferrari 512M; 3 – Brands Hatch, 1971, Alfa Romeo T33/3, 4 – Watkins Glen, 1971, Alfa Romeo T33/3. Here’s another case where it’s important to read the question carefully in its entirety. Murphy didn’t put the phrase “whether points-paying or not” in there for the hell of it. It’s a big clue. Also, pay attention to the phrase “in which they entered the 917.” It means what it says. If those teams entered a different car in some of those races, they would not then be defeats for the 917. In fact, that’s what happened. Wyer, Porsche Salzburg and Martini parked the 917’s and started 908’s exclusively at Nurburgring and in the Targa Florio in both years.  Bill Oursler writes in his “History of the 917” for the web site 962.com, “As for the 917’s record, it was near perfect for the two seasons that it ran (in the World Championship of Makes), the only loss in 1970 coming at the hands of Ferrari, whose 512S won at Sebring after the 917 brigade suffered a series of mechanical woes. (A Ferrari 512M likewise defeated Porsche in the non-championship Nine Hour event at Kyalami at the end of the year as well.) In 1971, the 917 was defeated twice, once at Brands Hatch, and again at Watkins Glen, both times by Alfa Romeo.” Reference to Janos Wimpffen’s “Time and Two Seats confirm’s Oursler. About the 1971 Targa Florio (aka Palermo) Wimpffen writes, “As was the case in 1970, the Porsche entry consisted only of 908/3’s…”  Some might be confused by the appearance of a 917 in practice sessions at Palermo in 1970, but Wimpffen covers that, too: “Besides the spare 908, drivers also played around in practice with the original 909 Bergspyder and an out-of-place 917.

 A Ferrari source contributes this: “At the end of the 1970 season, Ferrari had won the 12 hours of Sebring, while Porsche 917 and 908 took all other nine wins of the championship season. The modified 512M had proven to be fast at the end of the season, and Ickx/Giunti also won the Kyalami non-championship Springbok 9 hours race. As the loophole for the five litre sports cars would become obsolete after 1971, Ferrari decided to abandon factory entries of the 512 in favor of developing a new three litre prototype.”

12. What Le Mans winner won a race in a Scarab?  (5 points)
Carroll Shelby, 1960 USAC Road Racing Championship race at Continental Divide Raceway in Denver, CO. Google “scarab” and there it is.

13. What driver finished second overall in NASCAR points in his rookie season, then third overall at Le Mans and third in points in the following NASCAR season? (5 points)
Dick Hutcherson. The key here is Ford; what else would cause Le Mans and NASCAR to intersect? Chevy, perhaps, but that’s recent history, and it doesn’t take much to reject that possibility. Any Google or Bing that can find the Ford 1-2-3 at Le Mans in 1966 will find the 3rd place Holman-Moody (yes, that Holman-Moody) entry and Dick Hutcherson. You’re on your way. (Murphy found an autoblog.com article on the 40th Anniversary of the sweep at the 2006 Le Mans Classic.)

14. Who celebrated a milestone birthday at Sonoma, California in July, 2000. (5 points)
Lucas Luhr turned 21. Maybe you had to know that, or be a real Porsche fan. None of those around here, are there?

15. What do TWR USA/Jaguar, Nissan Performance Technology, Risi Competizione, and Tafel Racing have in common? (5 points)
Each team employed Peter Kaczmar (aka PK) as the No. 1 mechanic on its “lead” car. Is that a little arcane? If so, too bad, sports car fakers. It can be argued that the most important position for a winner in motor racing is the car’s “Number 1,” at least as important in sports car endurance racing as your drivers. To have been that on the lead cars of each of those programs is really one hell of an achievement. If Peter isn’t the best in the sport, he’s obviously damn close.

16. Which team won the biggest ever sports car purse, what was the race and year? (5 points)
TWR USA/Jaguar, Del Mar 1989. $193,000 ($310,000 if today) paid for winning RJ Reynolds’ “Camel Pyramid.” Sports car and GT endurance racing has always been known for its lousy winner’s purses, so you were looking for something out of the ordinary. The Camel Pyramid was a scheme that allowed the purse to accrue over the season into a “winner take all.” One of our entrants got this one right.

17. What driver called a GT1 a “real race car” when asked to contrast it to the car he usually raced. (5 points).
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. when asked to compare the Corvette C5-R at Infineon Raceway in 2004 to his Cup car. You wouldn’t have read that quote in any of the many NASCAR rags (or any publication that wanted to suck up to the gorilla). Dailysportscar.com reported it, though.

18. What driver competed in six ALMS seasons with an artificial heart valve? (5 points)
Tom Weikardt, 2001 – 2006. Another tough one you’d just have to know. It’s a ‘condition’ shared by a long-time ALMS scribe, and by PMG’s CEO.

19. Murphy the Bear’s office is located in what institution on Monterey’s Wave Street? (5 points)
A stool in the lounge of The Sardine Factory. Regular readers of murphythebear.com (that’s where you are now) should have gotten this one. The Wave Street address of the Sardine Factory is on the Bear’s business cards, too.

20. Who completed a cross county motorcycle ride between ALMS races at Lime Rock and Infineon. (5 points)
JJ Lehto and Frank Biela. The 8-day cross country ride was covered by the Series’ own web site, among others, in 2005. Still lots of ways to find it.

More turbulence  for the Braselburgers?

Chief amongst those rumors is that a Braselton executive is about to move on. Since this one surfaced early in the week, rumblings have been heard from four states. Would such an event portend a change of direction, or more of the same? A significant change in management personnel is rumored to be imminent; Murphy will leave it at that.

No Farnbacher, No Loles

The Bear’s repeatedly reported rumors that pointed to the termination of the Farnbacher and Loles partnership – that’s happened now, of course. Lately he’s questioned whether Greg Loles would continue in ALMS, or even be able to bring his ambitious Grand Am plans to fruition. This week the mill has been churning. That includes a medical event earlier in the week, chattels in the Georgia shop packed for shipping to Connecticut, missed payments, and an RSR of disputed ownership.

Ganassi’s Change?

 The Bear hears Ganassi will replace his Lexus power in favor of BMW  for the 2010 Grand Am DP season. Is that another indication that Toyota will take a really big motorsport pause after dumping its Formula 1 team? 500 are being laid off in the company’s European racing headquarters (‘shop’ doesn’t seem like an adequate description for an operation of that scale).

Anderson Moves On

Completing the dissolution of Lowes Fernandez Racing, founding partner Tom Anderson has moved to Andretti Autosport as Senior VP of Racing Operations.

Downsizing Drivers

Murphy hears that two Porsche factory drivers will be tossed overboard for 2010. To be honest, he’ll be surprised if it’s just two of the ten contracted for 2009. Not that such machinations should be a shock or even mean something bad. Remember when Jörg was tossed a few Christmases ago? The next year he won two championships, added a wife and a little one, and was rehired by Weissach. Patrick’s been doing regional stock car events, for fun or…?

Farewell to PTG and Panoz Racing

As the Bear recently observed, this isn’t an economy in which you put up all your racing equipment in order to “upgrade.” So it was no surprise to read that PTG will not be racing in the ALMS in 2010. That includes the news that Panoz has “suspended” its racing operations.

Sebring, this is Houston

Murphy’s heard no reason to backtrack on his doubt that the Houston Ferrari dealer will field a full-season GT2 entry, but he does believe the team’s quite likely to contest Sebring and Petit Le Mans, as they try to contain the costs of a “transition” season against a desire to keep the core of the team together for a new Ferrari and revised rules in 2011.

Our Ford GT will Soldier on

Having raised doubts about Robertson Racing’s plans, Murphy was told that they are a certain return to the ALMS in 2010. Look for an announcement that could include some interesting development news.

Fuel Logistics Simplified for Sebring

Are some of Sebring’s safety vehicles diesel powered? If so, they’ll need to order some distillate fuel – otherwise, not so much. If there’s no Audi, there will likely be no Pug, announcement or not.

The Bear’s First Annual Christmas Quiz

Murphy and his elves are working on it, hopeful of a December 7th launch. This Paddock Poop supplement is to “clear the decks.”  Just a few more details to work out.  About twenty questions and something around 100 points (Murphy has trouble with being very orderly, so you could see some odd numbers) should be in this space early next week.

Porker Plans

Is there a 2010 ACO spec Porsche? Of course there is: the 2009 GT3 RSR with a 2010 plate. Falken has one, according to driver Brian Sellers. Don’t be surprised if Sellers is joined by a factory pilot. Porsche’s running out of places to put the boys, and Porsche doesn’t want them idle. Socrates would have classed them as idle anyway, having opined, “They are not only idle who do nothing, but they are idle also who might be better employed,” and the Porker pilots won’t be very well employed in the American Le Mans Series.

With Farnbacher reported to be a partner in name only (best source say shop shut down), if that, Murphy is less than convinced there will be a Greg Loles GT2 entry rumored by others in ALMS. He also hears the west coast reptile team will only enter a single car, with Seth at the wheel partnered by another of those under-employed Porsche pilots. Is that it, then? Just two Porsches in GT2, neither competitive? Murphy thinks it’s likely. Another source this afternoon is convinced there will still be two Lizard Porsches. Meanwhile, the entire reptilian brain trust is driving in one of Kevin’s Porsches at the Daytona 24.

Ferrari

After hearing all kinds of rumblings, and nothing convincing to the contrary, the Bear wonders if his favorite Texas Ferrari dealer will field a full-season entry. Someone said they were likely to at least contest the major enduros, but this week he heard Jaime Melo is off to Europe, and Pierre Kaffer will partner Scott Sharp at Patrón Sharp (OK, Supreme Speed, er, Excess Speed, er, Extreme Speed, or something like that), with Johannes van Overbeek partnering Ed Brown in the team’s second Ferrari entry.

Other GT2

There’s been nothing further of substance in regard to a second BMW team (believed at the time to be Schnitzer). In fact, Murphy was told the whole thing was game-playing by BMW with the World Touring Car Championship – something they’ve done before.
Corvette is likely to be back, of course. Is that causing Porsche to flee? Massive equipment sales raise questions about a Panoz entry. The Bear knows an underfunded operation when he sees one, and he certainly saw one at PTG last season. It was said around the paddock that upgrades and testing were being done on ptgboss’s nickel (certainly out of character) because the Don was being his penurious self. Those cars are old wrecks.

Elsewhere, it’s rumored that Robertson’s trip to Asia was for the fun of it and a reward for the past season more than having anything to do with 2010. Is it possible that was a au revoir? Though Murphy’s best information is that Robertson will certainly be back, he’s sharing that contrary rumor (or speculation).  Primetime shopped for a replacement to the aging and uncompetitive Viper last season, and has been mentioned in connection with LMP Challenge. A return with the snake will be a surprise. If Rocketsports holds it together – not certain by any means – it will be for one, not two, Cats.

That’s a GT2 of 9 – Murphy’s best guess of a “take it to the bank minimum” so far, 10 if Robertson is added. Add six – maximum 8 – LMP combined class, and three in LMP “C” class, and you get 19 entries before the all-Porsche spec. amateur, you-can- see-better-at-a-Porsche-club-meet GT Challenge. The Bear thinks a ticket price reduction is in order for 2010. Murphy won’t be ready to lay out his projection of the whole field until January, but it looks like doo-doo here at the beginning of December.

Krohn Krunched in Kourt

Murphy was reading a document from Delaware’s Chancery Court, a November 12th ruling on Krohn’s response to Lola’s allegations of perfidy (the Bear’s word; good one, huh?). The short of it is Krohn was krunched, and has two options: settle or go to trial. On the latter, the Bear’s no barrister, but the Texas oil maggot’s (is that speeled right?) chances seem slim and none.

Krohn is one of just 11 entries in the Rolex December test at Daytona. (Ed: Murphy relied on reporting by DSC to come up with that 11 figure. It was wrong – or perhaps just out of date, being dated November 28, two days before the Bear wrote this. The real number of entries is 24; 10 DP and 14 GT entries, here.) Regardless of the lawsuit – and it’s a nasty one – Krohn paid for the cars and can race them if he chooses, but the Bear’s not sure that will remain the case as that dispute goes forward. Brumos now admits they’ll enter just one DP in 2010. The Bear believes even that’s a bit of a stretch. Oddly (since they’re on their own) four of the five DP’s in the test are Porsche-powered.

Can’t give it away

As the boss prepares to extol the virtues of green racing to academics at Clemson, the first foray of the American Le Mans Series into such things – ethanol – is getting even an even bigger black eye. Now they can’t even give the stuff away. With the drop in gasoline sales, the congress-mandated barrels required to be sold by ‘big oil” can’t be met (another law caps ethanol in “regular” gasoline at 10%) and ethanol plants are shutting down and going belly up all over the country.

The other problem is that the all the “big media” features are about NASCAR recycling its motor oil and picking up the trash after its events, with ALMS rating a little paragraph in the middle of that non-story. So, how many cars on the grid and fannies at the track will the Clemson evening get the series? Or planting trees in California – the other big green contribution by the “world’s greenest racing series.”

The oil of racing

Is really cash, of course, and it looks as if 2010 will be tougher than 2009. It’s ”farewell, we’ll see ya (and our checkbook is going with us),” by Audi and Acura. Porsche is rumored to have likewise cut funding to the series – all of these cuts are some combination of reduction of ad buys and of other contractual payments. In Porsche’s case, Murphy thinks something is left over – a requirement of the “commercial considerations” that are keeping GT Challenge exclusively Porsche. Likewise, Michelin continues to pay for ad spots, features, and the dubious honor of title sponsorship of the Green X Challenge (what’s the “X” for, by the way).

Now it seems that for all the “green” blather, BP’s going to “walk” on Dyson. Murphy’s friend Rick reports retailers have been told of the departure. I guess they decided it was a lousy vehicle to promote their substantial investment in Butanol. Good call, after the ALMS refused to promote the two “demonstration” runs in its final two events. Would you continue to lay out hundreds of thousands after that nonsense? Murphy sure as hell wouldn’t. Dyson even begged the series to provide some coverage via participation in the qualifying session, even if the qualifying time wasn’t recognized. IMSA “wouldn’t budge,” (and yes, that’s a quote). The Bear wonders if Mazda is going to “step up,” in 2010 as hoped by the Poughkeepsie team.

It’s rumored that Castrol will replace BP on the Dyson cars. The Bear wonders what that’s worth to the team. Not much, probably.

Look for Murphy’s first annual Christmas quiz. It’s got big prizes…honest.