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Thru Noggles Goggles .::. October 28th

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The “Race Chaser’s” 3rd annual trip to Winchester Speedway was as successful as any we’ve ever had. Forty-six attendees had a wonderful time driving the high banks of “The World’s Fastest Speedway” in their own cars as well as enjoying a scrumptious, catered meal in the track’s hospitality room. Track owner Charlie Shaw shared many experiences of owning a small track and also how he came about getting into that position. Drivers Merle Bettenhausen, Brent Whited, Tom Bigelow, Gary Irvin, and Butch Wilkerson also shared stories about competing at the track, much to everyone’s delight. 
Brian Gerster and girlfriend Kelly, also made a brief visit before leaving to attend a family obligation, over 100 miles away. TNG would like to thank Connie and Dave Adney (parents of Brian) for helping this writer at the registration table. It was greatly appreciated. After expenses, a total of $220 was raised for the DARF “Injured Driver’s Fund”, a charity chosen by Mr. Shaw.
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The next “Race Chaser” luncheon will be held on Saturday, November 23rd at the Target Chip Ganassi Team Shop, 7777 Woodland Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46278 (on Indianapolis’ west side), with Team Manager Mike Hull as our guest. A shop tour and catered luncheon will take place at noon. It’s quite a privilege to be able to see the shop up close where the team of the IndyCar national champion is headquartered. The facility is limited to 40 guests so RSVP now. If we’re not full by Saturday, Nov. 16th, registration will still close on that date so the caterers may be notified. Cost is $20. Mr. Hull has selected the profits to go to St. Jude’s Childrens’s Fund. 
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Readers respond:
Terry Gobble
Urbana IL
“I’m a little confused with the recent post about the doom and gloom of OWR with the Indy Cars.  As I have been following this sport for over 40 years. I have seen a lot of changes some for the good, some for the bad. But that happens in all sports. With the powers in hand now instead of car owners. Even though AJ calls it CART Lite and other readers saying the ICR is following CART old plan and ICR is heading to an end. It will only end if we the FANS let it end ! It is all up to us the fans. Yes I miss some of the old days also but in the last two years with the DW12 I’ve seen some damm good racing.
I also believe that even if the split would not have happened. The TV ratings would have gone down anyway and the lack of fans at ovals also. Today’s parents and their kids have so many other opportunity’s to do other sports and with camps and all that is involved. Back in my day there was not that many sports offered  and very little sports for girls. Look at what is on today’s TV compared to “back in the day” I grew up with 3 channels and had to get up to change them. How many channels do we have today with our remote in hand ?
YES, ICR still has some work to do. Yes, I miss “ And it’s a newwwwwwwwwwwwwwww track record” Life changes and so does ICR and again, we the fans control what is going to happen to ICR
For me I will attend races that I can. Oval or road courses and I will watch ICR on TV till the day it all goes away but till then, I will support ICR the best way I can. Because it still beats those damm taxi cabs that they call Nascab.”
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Chuck Burns 
Lafayette, IN
“ I read the seemingly Nascar point of view of the Indy Car finale sent to you last week, but here is a short out take from the Q and A with Robin Miller from Racer Mag. Just to give another perspective: –
Q.) That was one heck of a race at Fontana. Like you were saying, if you didn’t enjoy that race, you don’t like IndyCar. A lot was made by the local news about all the crashes but that was some of the best racing I’ve seen in a long time. The crowd was cheering all night long, especially when Helio Castroneves was in the lead. By the way, I haven’t seen any attendance number from the weekend but there were a lot more people than last year. I think the lower temperatures helped a lot. There were more people on the Friday, too. My wife really enjoyed herself and thought the racing was exciting. Of course, she was pulling for Helio (“Dancing With The Stars” and all) but I just smiled and said I’m glad she had fun. She was actually talking already about going to Long Beach next April so needless to say, I was pretty stoked. The new Dallara has won over a lot of naysayers so I think next year should be another winner. I’m openly optimistic about the Indy road course. More racing is always a good thing. I think this car will showcase that track well.
Doug in Murrieta, Calif.

A.) Robin Miller: Twenty-nine lead changes, non-stop passing and five-abreast restarts usually make for a great show and that’s what we got. I could hear the crowd (even though I was wearing headsets) go wild when Helio went from 12th to first and a lot of you folks stood for most of the final 30 laps. It was priced reasonably and there were more people than 2012. Glad you’ve made a fan out of your wife.”

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The IndyCar Ministry sends this notice on the passing of Bill Stewart:

 

A memorial service will be held Wednesday, Oct 30th, 2013 at 7pm with family greeting from 6-7pm at St Joseph Catholic Church, 1375 S. Mickley Ave, Indianapolis, to be followed by a meal and refreshments in the church hall. William (Bill) Stewart, 67, died Oct 25th, 2013 at home surrounded by loving family and friends. Bill graduated from Mt Vernon High School in Ohio and went to Southwest Missouri State University.  Bill was a member of the United States Air Force and served in Vietnam.  He is a member of The American Legion. In later years Bill worked for Speedway Engine Development as a Track Support Engineer.  Bill loved his racing and some of his favorite memories were his years working with PDM Racing. In 2006 Bill married his love, Jenny and especially enjoyed the years they got to travel the world together racing.

 

In 2012 Bill was diagnosed with ALM Leukemia and was awarded 100% service-related disability as it was a direct result of his service in Vietnam and coming in contact with Agent Orange. Bill was preceded in death by his parents John & Freda Stewart. He is survived by his wife. Jenny; his brother, Dave; his sister, Beth; his son, John (Heather); daughters, Dana (Matt) and Jeanine; his step-daughters, Nikki and Kelly; and his grandchildren, Emma, Julia and Grey.

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“National Speed Sport News” reports from India:

Sebastian Vettel wrapped up his fourth consecutive Formula One drivers’ championship in style with a convincing win in Sunday’s Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh Int’l Circuit. The German, whose victory also secured a fourth straight constructors’ crown for Red Bull, finished half a minute clear of Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, with Lotus’s Romain Grosjean an impressive third after starting 17th. Vettel jumped into the lead at the start of the race, but dropped back through the field after making an early stop to remove the less durable soft tires. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa then moved ahead, followed by the Mercedes duo of Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. But when they too stopped, the second Red Bull of Mark Webber moved into P1, the Australian having started on the medium-compound rubber.

Vettel, meanwhile, stormed back through the pack until he was in a position to reclaim the lead from his team mate when Webber was forced to use the soft tires. When both men had completed all of their stops, Vettel held a 13-second lead over Webber, but the Australian was soon ruled out of contention when an alternator problem forced him to retire. Vettel was then left with a healthy lead over Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen, and although the Red Bull team was nervous a similar problem to Webber’s might bite Vettel, the 26-year-old cruised to the checkered flag to record his sixth successive win.

Raikkonen, who had tried an ambitious one-stop strategy, fell back towards the tail end of the race. He lost positions to Rosberg and then begrudgingly to team mate Grosjean, who’d charged through the field after starting 17th. Massa, McLaren’s Sergio Perez and Hamilton also found their way past Raikkonen as the Finn’s tires continued to lose performance and in the end he was eventually forced to pit, emerging in seventh where he stayed to the finish. The top ten was completed by the Force India pair of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil in eighth and ninth, and Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo in tenth.

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Saturday’s Dan Wheldon Pro Am Karting Challenge in New Castle, IN raised $100,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association. After a final lap incident involving three karts, Big Machine Records’ Marino Franchitti and Machine of Awesome’s Ed Carpenter were declared co-winners of the 100 minute race.  Marino was substituting for his injured brother Dario. 

 


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