Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Let me say at the outset that I am extremely sorry for the family of Kevin Ward Jr. No one deserves to die doing what they love, especially in these circumstances. However, I have on numerous occasions have had cause to remind drivers who are out of their cars at the scene of a crash that they are not immortal. They have just crashed there and so can someone else. Get over the barrier. It is unfortunate that it is part of the NASCAR and Sprint Car culture to wait and find the 'culprit" and wag the finger or throw something, all with cars going past, albeit at non-race speed. As we have seen they do not need to be going at race speed to inflict mortal injuries. This has to stop.

As with most of the expert witness cases I handle the only person who really knows what happened is no longer alive to tell the story. Only Kevin really knows what he did, I am sure Tony was not expecting it. What is remarkable is the Sheriff's involvement. I can only recall one case where the police attended, rare in itself, and conducted an investigation. Usually they decide this is a private facility and leave. On one case they did detail the fight that followed the accident and injury, but not the accident!

So why this case? Is Tony really seen to be a driver likely to run over someone on purpose? No way, he may be tough, but he lives for racing, and I for one cannot believe it. From the video I have seen it looks as if the rear wheels move away from Kevin, not toward. If it were Jimmy Johnson, Jeff Gordon, or Jr. would the police really be looking at this?

So Tony does not drive at Watkins Glen, and rightly so. We saw some great racing, especially my Aussie mate Ambrose showing them how to really drive. Some hard racing but clean. Well done AJ, fought for and deserved that first win. I still find it hard to perceive that oval racing is so different that guys like Ambrose and Montoya cannot translate their obvious world class talent into oval wins, but it obviously is.

What was graphically demonstrated was how in need of an full course update Watkins Glen is. I have offered to go up and provide a report but of course NASCAR knows better. That is why we still use sand barrels and tire walls built totally wrong. Several drivers offered the same comment but then said it would cost too much. Watkins Glen is owned by the largest track owner in the world, ISC, and they cannot afford it? I loved Alan Bestwick's comment that the track narrows near the site of the big crash due to a "natural feature," meaning the tunnel. What, it was there before they built the track? Just one of the many ill-informed comments. This layout is great, it just needs bringing up to modern standards, and yes you can accommodate different users and configurations. Even the guard rail is still acceptable, it did not fail and was a softer hit than a concrete wall. Just a pain to repair. It is just in the wrong place on most of the track.

Marquez won his tenth straight MotoGP at Indy, but who was there to see it. Red Bull must be paying for all this as the crowd certainly isn't. Same story with the Tudor Sports car race which thankfully is not to return. MotoGP needs to go to tracks that show off their product, not just somewhere that pays the most. 

Is it me or has it rained on just about every race this year at some stage? The "best drivers in the world" if you believe NASCAR are sitting it out at Watkins Glen, a road course, 'cause it's raining. Put some treads on and race, it's not an oval.

In Brno yesterday's third practice was wet and saw a number of falls, including Friday' surprise package John Hopkins who will not race due to broken fingers. Hero to zero. Stoner won handily from Dovi and Simoncelli after Pedrosa crashed out early. He just tried harder in the race was Casey's comment on the win. Lorenzo chose the wrong tire and had to settle for fourth with team mate Spies riding shotgun for him. Only 13 bikes finished, with Rossi sixth in front of his team mate Hayden. Suzuki's weekend went from looking good to disaster as Bautista crashed out of 7th place. This cannot do Suzuki's chances of running a team next year any good.

The F3 Masters was run at the Zandvoort circuit, of which I have fond memories from growing up in England. It brings together all the various F3 series runners and is part of the new FIA F3 Championship, won by Merhi despite being disqualified after making contact with Juncadella as his nearest rival had a DNF. British F3 star Kevin Magnussen finished third despite a recurrence of a misfire problem with his VW engine in practice. This has plagued him all season and it is hard to understand why VW or the plug manufacturer cannot get on top of this. A bit like Trulli's power steering.

Kevin's dad Jan also had a bad break, a driveshaft actually on his Camaro while leading the GT class at Watkins Glen. 

Checked out actually. That is what Carlos Checa did in both WSBK races at Phillip Island today, with Biaggi settling for second in both in front of Haslam Jr. and Melandri in race 1 & 2 respectively. Greg Sarni scolded me for calling Checa and Biaggi geriatrics, and as he rightly points out they can still beat the youngsters, so why should they stop? It is a sad reflection on the state of racing that they can still beat the field. Where are all the next great riders?

There were a few in the race of course, just not at the sharp end other than Haslam. Australian Mark Aitchison started his first WSBK event after limited time on the bike, and as Kenny would tell him, stayed on it and improved. In race one he was over a minute behind the winner, but halved that deficit in the second. Now there may be reasons for that but as we in the US do not actually get to watch the races until this afternoon I guess I will have to wait and see.

Not much else going on. More quotes from Bernie's story, "No Angel," about Alonso who sounds like no angel himself, but most of us knew that already. Not to be outdone by Jenson running a V8Supercar around Bathurst it now seems Lewis is going to swap cars with Tony Stewart at Watkins Glen later this year. Has Lewis ever driven something with a roof?

I guess everyone is on vacation as there is not even much spam! Very tough keeping you all entertained when there is so little to prompt the mind. It is like when I worked for Kenny Roberts in Spain and I was warned that everyone went on holiday in August, so do not plan on getting anything done. Did not treat that advice the way I should, and was pretty shocked when everything, and I mean everything, "cerado por vaccasiones" or something like that in Spanish on the door.

Great race between Montoya and Ambrose at Watkins Glen yesterday, even kept me watching. Good clean hard racing, Ambrose must have enjoyed that, like being back  in the V8Supertourers. Pity Marcus missed out on second right at the end, he deserved second. Nice to see Montoya win again, now we need him to win on a speedway.

Elsewhere Franchitti won at Mid Ohio, not that I watched. Chip Ganassi had a dream weekend, Grand Am, NASCAR and IRL victories. I had that lazy day reading a book apart from NASCAR. Vergne continues his winning ways in F3 and must be winning himself a seat in an F1 car the way he is driving. Spengler won the DTM race, and BTCC  saw Plato win a couple of races and retake the championship lead, and in a Chevrolet.

Even the motorcycle world is quiet, I guess because it is run by Spaniards and Italians and they are on vacation.

I'm off to the printers to look at the business cards and pick card stock, looking to get the video updated again with the casistas added, and the web site is also being updated. Next presentation tomorrow evening, so we roll on.

You know there is little to write about when the headline on Autosport's web site of "Montezemelo hails Ferrari fightback" has not changed for a week! Yes we have had the ALMS race from Mid-Ohio which ALMS has deigned to let us watch next week, and Dyson not only finished a race but won. Nice going, now let's see you do it some more. Four cars do not make a race for me, especially these four.

My mate Marcus Ambrose won the Nationwide race and I hope there were a few more people to watch than there were at the Grand Am race that followed. I can't imagine they all left? Piquet made his debut and did well, but I bet he never expected his life to end up trying to make it in NASCAR. Villenueve also did well, but you would expect that from road racers at Watkins Glen. The Grand Am was the usual Ganassi benefit with little to excite me in the time it was on. If the rumored takeover of the ALMS classes and cars does happen let's hope it spices up the races and we do not have one boring series instead of two. I agree with the view that we should just run the GT2 class.

The only other news of interest is that Adrian Newey crashed in a Ginetta single make race in Britain, but was not seriously hurt. Nice to see the top designer still has the passion to go out himself and have a go. Pretty good he is too.

On the Arizona front we are updating the web site with latest renderings. Check out the Casitas. For those not familiar with the term Casita, it is a garage with accommodation above, and these are exceptional, especially the ones right on pit lane.