Last week during my trip to Indianapolis I was able to go one other special place besides the RCA Dome. This was something really special for me as a racing and Formula 1 fan. I was able to get on the track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, not driving though, walking. The pictures below are: 1. Right on the track surface of Turn 1 which has a 9 degree banking 2. Me on the famous Yard of Bricks. Cool stuff.

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I've been a minor fan of NASCAR for a few years but I for some reason I am really looking forward to this season. Why? I think it's a combination of things that appeal to my blogger mentality. What's a blogger mentality? For me it's an appreciation for disruptive technologies or people. In the case of NASCAR it's three things: Juan Pablo Montoya, Toyota and Red Bull.

1. Juan Pablo Montoya: I've been a fan of JPM since his F1 days with Williams and McLaren. Is he a bit hot-headed? Yes. Could his departure from Ron & Co. been done better? Yes. Never-the-less, he's in NASCAR now and I hope he does very well. The spotlight sure is on him though. This week I saw feature articles in Sports Illustrated and few other publications plus a cover story in USAToday on Friday.

Of course NASCAR loves the fact that JPM will pull in an entirely new fan base. I remember the first US Grand Prix that JPM raced in, the Columbian's were everywhere. I think the tri-color Red, Blue and Yellow of the Columbian flag almost out-did the Ferrari tifosi red. How will the 'traditional' NASCAR fan base react to swarms of Spanish-speaking Columbian fans? We'll see. In addition to the Hispanic fans, JPM will also attract some F1 fans, like me. For the first time in my life I now own a piece of NASCAR merchandise, a Montoya t-shirt.

2. Toyota: In case you haven't heard (ha) this will be the first year that a foreign car company will race in the Nextel Cup. All politics and nationalism aside this should be very interesting. Toyota, like Honda, don't take racing lightly. From a factory support standpoint they will outspend everybody else to win. They haven't had too much success in their F1 crusade, but I think NASCAR is different. I predict Toyota will get a win this year.

From a spending standpoint, Toyota and Red Bull do bring a bunch of cash to the table to hire the best talent. Whether that will translate into wins remains to be seen, however it has made a lot of other crews happy. The other teams need to up the pay of their top talent to keep them from going elsewhere. That's good for the 'employees' but not so good for the 'owners'.

3. Red Bull: I mentioned Red Bull and their money with Toyota above. Like Toyota, Red Bull brings a singular focus to racing. They also do things a bit differently than other sponsors, they own their teams. In the traditional role an independent team owner runs a series of cars and then solicits sponsors. Sponsors can change and you always have to be chasing new ones. With Red Bull they are the owner and sponsor. They control all aspects of the team.

In F1 you have independent teams, factory teams and Red Bull teams. That dynamic creates an interesting haves vs have-nots. Will Red Bull's entry into NASCAR start a change in the team make-up? Will we ever see a factory team?

Red Bull is also primarily a European brand, if I am correct it's the first major European NASCAR sponsor???

Add all these things up and we're sure to have an interesting season. Oh yeah, Formula 1 starts in four weeks.

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I received my Nikon D80 a few weeks ago and have been thrilled with it so far. This past Sunday was the first time I had the opportunity to really go out and play with it though. I posted a Flickr photoset from my play time. It's a variety of different shots including the standard flower shot.

I had heard horror stories about how Nikon would announce a product and then it would take weeks or months for suitable stock to hit the stores. Luckily this was not the case with the D80. I ordered mine in late August and had it by Sept 8th. It seems that most of the stores received their stock in the first week of September.

Up until a few days ago all I had was the basic 17-55mm kit lens that came with the camera. Yesterday I picked up a 70-300mm zoom, while I still wait on backorder for the 18-200mm VR lens that everybody raves/loves. The next purchase will be a straight 50mm 1.4.

I have also learned that megapixels aren't everything (which I had read just about everywhere when researching the purchase). I have yet to shoot anything on the highest quality settings.

I'm looking forward to playing more with the camera and then taking for a real spin at the Tour de Georgia and US Grand Prix in 2007. I might need to get this 80-400mm VR lens before the USGP though :-)

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Juan Pablo Montoya announces he's going to NASCAR over the weekend and today McLaren formally release him. Was this all part of the plan? Perhaps.

Now that JPM is a free man, the question is how soon will he appear in a Busch Series race?

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I've been a casual fan of NASCAR over the past few years (Formula 1 is my favorite) but with two things happening next year I might amp up my interest in NASCAR:

1. Juan Pablo Montoya is leaving McLaren at the end of the year to drive NASCAR
2. Red Bull is sponsoring a team

When it comes to sponsorship, Red Bull usually jumps in with both feet, just look at F1 where they sponsor two teams: Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso. Red Bull is working hard to ramp up their marketing efforts in the US and NASCAR is an obvious target.

As for Juan, he's been stagnant at McLaren, so perhaps the jump to F1 will give him a boost.

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I'm excited that the 2006 Formula 1 season officially starts tomorrow in Bahrain. What's unique about this season is that there will be an American driver on the grid for the first time since 1993. California native Scott Speed is one of the drivers for Scuderia Toro Rosa Rosso (for those who don't speak Italian, that's Team Red Bull).

What's important is that US viewers and media keep their expectations in check. Scott is driving for the former Minardi team. Red Bull bought Minardi at the end of last year and operate them as a second team under the name Scuderia Toro Rosa. For Scott to complete his inaugural race would be an achievement.

Unfortunately, many in the US don't follow F1 and don't know all the issues involved. So look out for your local TV sports guy to say 'American Scott Speed failed to win his first F1 race'. The fact that he's even driving the car is a huge achievement.

USAToday has a good introductory article about Scott.

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F1 cars are just great to look at. The new McLaren MP4-21 is amazing. I might just have to go to the US Grand Prix this year to see it in person.

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A recent article on Mark Webber at the WilliamsF1 web site reports that Lance Armstrong had expressed an interest to drive a Formula 1 car.

Mark had the opportunity to ride with Lance in Texas. “He said he wanted to drive the car himself rather than be a passenger,” revealed Mark. “I told him I wasn’t sure if it was possible but I’d look into it!”

I am not sure how this will turn out. I know that WilliamsF1 (BMW) has taken advantage of this type of cross-over promotional opportunity before. The most recent high-profile event was when Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya switched cars at Indy in 2003.

The other notable US event was when Sarah Fisher did a few demonstration laps in a McLaren back in 2002.

Although I am not sure how Subaru would react to an event showcasing Lance in a BMW-badged F1 sled. I also imagine that Lance has some stipulations in his contract about drving a 900 BHP race car during the season.

Update: From The Paceline - "I did tell him that I'd like to take a few laps with his car but it's not like I'm looking to run against him or Schumacher," he said when we recently spoke to him. "Although it is fun to dream sometimes."

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