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NASCAR on Fox delivered a 3.6/7 Saturday night for Primetime racing from Darlington Raceway. Saturday’s 3.6/7 is down -16 percent compared to last year’s 4.3/8 for the same race. That -16 percent skid nearly matches FOX’s overall -15 percent decline for the NASCAR season (4.6/10 vs. 5.4/11). |
All eleven of FOX’s Sprint Cup points races have been down double digits compared to last year in the metered markets. It’s too early to call a definitive winner in the Saturday night Primetime battle. FOX’s race averaged a 3.5/7 from 8-11pm, which ranked third among major broadcasters behind ABC’s 3.9/8 and CBS’s 3.8/7. This came from the jayski.com webpage. Also, in another blub on jayski, NASCAR is supposed to be looking into why there’s been a double digit decline in the ratings.
To preview the 2009 Indianapolis 500, the race’s 33 drivers will visit New York City on May 18 for an annual photo and interview opportunity. The 33 drivers, in Race Day uniform with helmets, will line up in the traditional Indianapolis 500 lineup – 11 rows of three – for a photo in Herald Square, the area made famous by the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Following the photo opportunity, all drivers will be available for interviews during a media luncheon at the “Indy 500 Lookspace.” The Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for 1 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 24 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race is the fourth event on the 2009 IndyCar Series schedule
The Powerboat P1 World Championship, the Federazione Italiana Motonautica (FIM) and the Italian Powerboat Series (IPS), have agreed to joint-host an race in Italy this summer.
The venue will be San Benedetto del Tronto, where the P1 World Championship hosted its first event last year. The race will take place on July 3 to 5. In a press release, the P1 World Championship said further discussions were taking place with the FIM and the IPS for an additional joint event in Sicily in September. The P1 World Championship began at the weekend in Valetta, Malta, and has five more rounds planned this year, in Istanbul, Gothenburg, the yet-to-be-confirmed Sicily event, and Manama, Bahrain.
The Super Aguri Formula One team has said there is “absolutely no chance” it will return to the series, after media reports last week that a comeback was on the cards. The Japanese team pulled out last year due to financial difficulties. ”Even without the world financial crisis and its effect on Japan’s economy we couldn’t afford it,” said former co-owner Fumio Akita, speaking to Reuters. The rumors of a return came as the sport’s governing body the FIA are pushing through plans to introduce for next year a budget cap of $60 million, excluding driver salaries and marketing costs.
“Even if we had $60 million to spend we would have to start from scratch again,” said Akita.“We don’t know where these newspaper reports came from but Aguri has also said there’s no chance (of a return).” Both items came from Sports Business International.
Also from Sports Business International comes this item which isn’t a surprise.
Italian constructor Ferrari has said it will quit Formula One after this season if the sport adopts a budget cap for 2010. Last week the International Automobile Federation (FIA), motorsport’s governing body, announced there will be a voluntary budget cap of £40million per team starting season. Those teams that sign up to the cap will be limited to spending that amount minus driver’s salaries, marketing and hospitality expenses, fines and engine costs.
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo had previously said the cap would bring “a fundamentally unfair and perhaps even biased” championship. “No Formula One in 2010 if the rules do not change. Ferrari confirms its opposition to the new rules imposed by FIA and does not intend to register cars for the 2010 F1 world championship,” said an official team statement yesterday.FIA president Max Mosley has stressed the budget caps are being put in place to safeguard the future of the sport and to encourage new teams to join the championship.
Last weekend Toyota also threatened to leave the sport over the proposed budget caps. The FIA has a deadline of 29 May for teams wishing to race in 2010 and to state whether they want to compete under a budget cap or not.
Kyle Busch, on his career goals. “I’d like to be able to win 200 races over all three (NASCAR national) series. I think that would be a good number. It’s a pretty big number. It’s not as good as Richard Petty’s 200 in the Sprint Cup series. This came from the Valvoline Track Talk Newsletter.
And speaking of Richard Petty, his driver John Andretti, made it into this Sunday’s Indy 500 at the last minute while Alex Tagliani saw his effort run out of time when the final day of qualifying came to an end.
Here’s the major highlights of TV action this week right into the busy Memorial Day Weekend. Monday through Wednesday ESPN2 offers NASCAR Now at 5 p.m. Thursday begins a ramp-up to the weekend starting at 8 a.m. with F1 Practice from Monaco.At 1 p.m. Speed has Nationwide Practice from Lowe’s in Charlotte then Sprint Cup Practice at 3 p.m. ESPN2 offers NASCAR Now at 5 p.m. Speed comes back at 6 p.m. with Nationwide Final Practice followed by Cup Qualifying both from Lowe’s.
Friday has VS kicking in with the IRL Indy 500 Carb Day at 11 a.m. Speed offers the SCCA World Challenge from Long Beach at 2 p.m. and comes back at 8 p.m. with the WoO from Charlotte.
Saturday has a 1 a.m. offering of NASCAR Now on ESPN2. Both Speed and TSN offer F1 Qualifying from Monte Carlo at 8 a.m. Speed airs the Grand Am go from Laguna Seca at noon. Then it’s Nationwide Qualifying at 3:30 p.m. from Lowe’s on Speed and at 6 p.m. Final Cup Practice on the same channel and venue. Both ESPN2 and TSN offer the Nationwide race from Lowes at 9 p.m. Speed airs the AMA MotoX from San Bernadino, CA at 9 p.m. followed by the AMA Superbikes from Sonoma, CA at 10 p.m.
Sunday goes like this at 6 a.m. it’s the GP2 Series from Monte Carlo on Speed. TSN and Speed each air the F1 GP of Monaco at 8 a.m. ESPN2 returns with NASCAR Now at 10 a.m. At 1 p.m. ABC/TSN both air the 100th running of the Indy 500. At 5:45 Fox and TSN combine to air the Coca Cola 600 Cup race from Lowes. Speed goes with the Speed Report at 8 p.m. for a big wrap-up of the weekend while Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain follow at 9 p.m. (END)
NOTE: INFORMATION FOR THIS COLUMN CAME FROM VARIOUS REFERENCED SOURCES, PRESS RELEASES, NOTES AND OTHER SOURCES.
