Racing Eagles

Wohoo Force India!

True, creditors are chasing them all over Europe. True, the idea of a Indian Grand Prix is in question. True, they are more Force McLaren-Mercedes India now.

But what a result. Yeah baby. Fisch on poll and Sutil placed at 11th. For the old Jordan / Midland F1 / Spyker team, it's a glorious result.

Good luck tomorrow. I've haven't been this excited for a F1 race in a while. I for one want Force India to win. Good luck Fisch. Good luck Sutil. Good luck locking yourself in the garage and hiding from the bounty hunter VJ.

Drivers Debate: Sebatian Loeb

Two letters... N... O.

I'll expand. This just doesn't make sense. Loeb, as great as a driver he is, has nothing that USF1 needs. He doesn't have even a wink of F1 experience. Unless he becomes an American citizen, I just don't see it.

It's sad because I want to see Loeb on the grid. His talent as a rally driver is emmense. USF1 is just not the right team for both he and the team.

SpeedTV: Belgium GP Roundtable

Book Review: Memories of The Bear: A biography of Denny Hulme

Move over Oprah, I'm starting a book club.

I get a lot of dead time traveling. In the age of laptops, PSPs, PDAs, iPods, iPhones, and such; I do the old fashion thing... I bring a book. Many of the titles I've read over the summer are Formula One related books. With that in mind, he is my first in a series of Formula One book review starting with Eoin Young's 'Memories of The Bear: A biography of Denny Hulme.'        - Dan

Title: Memories of The Bear: A biography of Denny Hulme

By: Eoin Young

Publisher: Haynes Publishing (August 15, 2008)

Misc: Hardcover, 416 pages with both black / white and color illustrations

Price on jacket: $34.95 (USD)

Price on Amazon: $26.56 (USD)

Review: There are several reasons why I picked up Eoin Young' Memories of The Bear: A biography of Denny Hulme in May at Powell's bookstore in Portland, Oregon. First, Denny Hulme is a dead ringer for my father. Second with as many hours I've spent playing the video game Grand Prix Legends, I figured it was about time that I read about the guy who won the championship that season.

There is a certain mythology about Formula One racing in the 1960's. It was the last decade before sponsors, big TV deals, wings, and advertisements. The era is viewed as the most dangerous time ever for a Grand Prix driver to race when safety was considered as hay bails along the road and American football helmets. It was also a era stacked with talent with the likes of Jack Brabham, Jim Clark, Dan Gurney, John Surtees, Pedro Rodríguez, Lorenzo Bandini, Graham Hill, Chris Amon, and Bruce McLaren all behind the wheel.

It's easy to see why Denny Hulme seems lost in the crowd... dare I say almost forgotten. Which is really too bad because his journey to the 1967 World Championship was so fascinating. What compounds this lack of knowledge of Denny is the fact he died when he did in 1992. It was before he could be appreciated by the world's motor sports community in the same way as such elder statesmen of the sport such as Stewart, Brabham, and Surtees.

Eoin Young is no stranger to this era or Denny Hulme. He was in the amazing position to cover the Kiwi invasion of Hulme, McLaren, and Amon to the Formula One grid in the 1960's. He has published biographies on Chris Amon and Bruce McLaren which I've not read yet but will be picking up one of these days. Based on Young's performance in this book, they should be fascinating.

SpeedTV: Ken Anderson and Chad Hurley Interview

Ken Anderson and Chad Hurley were interviewed on SpeedTV's Windtunnel program on Sunday. A few notes from the interview.

• So they've had 6,000 inquiries for employment so far. I guess I don't have a shot then.

• Ken Anderson and Chad Hurley win the silver metal in the 'F1 Deflective Answer Olympics' in front of third-place Bernie Ecclestone. Ron Dennis, while he has breath in his lungs, will always been the champion with his world famous 'Ron-speak.'

• Ken Anderson looked pretty uncomfortable. That said, he is a lot better a choosing his words than Peter Windsor is. Sometimes Peter has a tendency to well... get himself into trouble with the "call it as I see it" perspective he has. (On a personal note, that's one of the things I like about the entire SpeedTV F1 broadcast team whenever I watch a race. They're reasonably opinionated and good at making light of situations. For example, their commentary during the whole live timing fiasco at Hungary had me crying laughing. Great TV. Compare that to BBC's Jonathan Legard who could put a speed addict who just did the same amount of cocaine as John Belushi to sleep.)

  Back to Windsor. Being outspoken and opinionated is great when you are a journalist but it will get you in trouble in the private sector. Believe me, I've seen it way too many times when reporters and columnists leave newspapers to work in public relations. Ken seems a little more deliberate in what he says and follows the best public speaking advice I ever received; "Less is more." He also seems a lot more grounded then most Formula One people in the paddock today.

• I get the feeling that many are over-stating Chad Hurley's role in the team. From various sources, he really wasn't an F1 fan before Ken and Peter talked to him about investing in the team. I think he is viewing in the way which he said in the interview. Nothing really more than that. It's an investment opportunity. It's also way to explore new media how fans and organizations (sports teams and companies alike) interact with consumers.

  Companies are struggling to deal with the who new world of real-time, opinionated, and decentralized culture of commentary which we now live in. For companies like YouTube's parent company Google, there is a lot on the line to provide an answer. It's funny for a sport that is technically advanced as Formula One is, the way it uses technology is awful. I am glad Hurley is coming and showing Bernie what these new tools can bring to F1. I would go into more but I am stepping over a column which I will be writing soon.

• It's nice to see Krista Voda in the hot seat in hosting Windtunnel. She does a really good job on the NASCAR shows whenever I watch. It's nice to see her expand her wings a little bit and do more than just NASCAR. No one beats Dave Despain in that seat but she is a very good fill in.

SpeedTV: EuropeanGP Review

The SpeedTV team gives their review of the European Grand Prix. It was nice to see the cars at speed again. However this race was just an appetite wetter. We get a feast next week with Spa Francochamp. From all reports, it is supposed to be rainy. Oh Yeah!

SpeedTV: Chalk Talk covering wheels and nuts

Here is a really good video of all the engineering that goes into wheel design in a F1 car. Well worth a watch or two.

SpeedTV: European GP Roundtable Q&A

Bob Varsha, David Hobbs, and Steve Matchett take some e-mail questions on the latest news and views of F1.

I still cannot believe everything that happened over the last three weeks. With BMW leaving and the devil known as Michael Schmacher almost coming back, it took a bit out of me.

It is going to be nice to see some racing again even if it is Valencia.

Williams F1 "Inside Track" and their other multimedia presentations

Before every race SpeedTV posts "Inside Track" which is a race preview program produced by Williams F1. Out all the team on the grid, the team that I believe does the best job with new media is Williams. In addition to the "Inside Track" program, there are several other things they produce that I enjoy:

The AT&T Williams Team podcast: Unlike Force India and Renault's podcasts, Williams produce their podcast in-house. It's hosted by Clair Williams and interviews the drivers and various other members of the team. They however make the podcast more than just about how they did on the track. They get into the personalities behind the team and gives us mere mortals a glimpse into the life of a F1 team.

Their blogs: The team and each of their drivers have blog which is featured on their site. What's nice is the material they present is very diverse. What other team could say they've done a blog post on their accounting department?

All the little thing: There is a bunch of little stuff which I enjoy. For example, I can't imagine how much work it took to complete this interactive factory tour. On the other end, I really like how simple and vast their photo gallery is. Overall I really like Williams' web site. It simple, gives fans a lot material, gives sponsors proper recognition throughout the site, pretty well designed, and simple to navigate.

The USF1 team discussed when they launched that they were going to be a more interactive team with in-house TV production facilities and such. Well Mr. Windsor and Mr. Anderson, here is the bar. I am really interested to see what you come up with.

Chad Hurley (finally) named as major backer of USF1

Finally, an announcement of the worse kept secret with USF1. AUTOSPORT.com has reported that YouTube founder and CEO Chad Hurley (see right) is a major financial backer of USF1. Said Hurley in the article:

"Getting in on the ground floor of a project of this size and scope is a tremendous opportunity, and I look forward to helping shape the US F1 vision and corporate strategy for years to come."

What I like about this is the tone. It is reflection of realistic expectations for the team. In a way, Hurley and the rest of the USF1 team are the anti-British American Racing who promised big things and never delivered a decade ago.

 So things are starting to come together. Not only that, everything coming from the USF1 team seems absolutely reasonable. In the world of F1, that is a rarity.

A question I have this. Why would YouTube paint its' logo on the side of a race car? I don't know what YouTube would gain by advertising with the team. They are already one of the most viewed websites in the world that brings in millions in ad revenue. What new viewer could they gain through F1? To me at least, YouTube advertising via USF1 doesn't make sense. What does make sense is Google setting up a partnership with USF1. Hurley would be a great bridge to that.

Think of it this way. Google has phones, software, and other products which they need to advertise. What does YouTube have to sell other than ad space?

Outside of that minor question, it a good day for USF1. Thanks Mr. Hurley for helping make the dream of an American-based Formula One team a reality!

UPDATE: AUTOSPORTS.com has this exclusive interview with Chad Hurley discussing why he got involved with the team. It's an interesting read. Especially this quote:

"I hope so, and I hope it goes beyond Silicon Valley," he (Hurley) said. "I am definitely going to be involved in helping the team with sponsors, helping the team with business relationships, and helping the team with integrating technology - ways that they can leverage and benefit from social media and the Internet broadly. So in many ways I hope to add benefit to the team and what they are trying to accomplish."

This is really good to hear. I really hope this makes FOM take notice and lead the sport down a more reasonable approach in how they deal with new media and the internet.