Race Weekend Central

Slipstream Saturday: Whither Ferrari, Force India Woes, & Hungarian GP

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Ferrari logo outside the factory in Maranello (credit: Getty Images)

This weekend, Formula 1 is ripping around the Hungaroring, the final race before the series takes a four-week break.  With this race, the series will have been in action for five out of the past six weekends, which for F1 is rough schedule.  The sense in the garage is that the break is much needed …

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Happiness Is: Crickets, Compounds & Hungary

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PJ1 Trackbite - the saving grace for NASCAR? (credit: PJ1)

A reader noted that last week Happiness had posted information about the wrong Formula One grand prix. I made the error and corrected the column as soon as I saw the response, but it says something about fans of motorsports. You could call it being keen-eyed and passionate. The focus here isnʻt to note a …

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Happiness Is: Track Length, Kenseth & Germany

#78: Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing, Toyota Camry Auto-Owners Insurance leads the field Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

The Cup race at Kentucky (Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

No fluff this week, just happiness. Enjoy. Letʻs get happy.   Happiness Is…Distance.  The adage is that distance makes the heart grow fonder. Thatʻs a positive spin on the problems that distance can bring in any relationship. Of course, distance can also encourage a wandering eye and dissolution of the relationship, that one where distance …

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Happiness Is: Numbers

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Martin Truex Jr, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano(Photo: Zach Catanzareti)

The major motorsport shows were all on stage this past weekend as NASCAR, Formula 1 and IndyCar all played around, made some noise and laid some rubber — with a little bit of carnage included. Combined, all three provided an interesting, disparate and engaging display of racing and culture. That seems like a pretty good …

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Slipstream Saturday: The British Grand Prix, the Last Stop on the Triple Header

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Lewis Hamilton (Credit: Getty Images)

The British Grand Prix marks the end of the much ballyhooed Triple Header.  The past three races have been the first time in the sportʻs history that the series has run on three consecutive weekends.  The takeaway seems to be that, well, it really wasnʻt all that different for any of the races than it …

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Happiness Is: Fireworks, Family Fracas & Roots

#42: Kyle Larson, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet Camaro Credit One Bank spins after contact with #18: Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry Skittles Red White & Blue Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

Kyle Busch & Kyle Larson at Chicagoland, 2018 (Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

The Fourth of July gave many people a midweek summer respite, a chance for food, fun, family (however you consider it), and likely fireworks of some sort.  For those who are able to enjoy taking the rest of the week off, cheers. For everyone else whoʻs back at the grind, do what you can. The …

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Slipstream Saturday: The Austrian Grand Prix

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The Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria (credit: Getty Images)

Welcome to the second race in the Formula 1 Triple Header.  The travel from Le Castellet, France, to Spielberg, Austria, is not too bad for a back-to-back weekend schedule, tallying around 700 miles.  Usually, the series would break and everyone would recuperate for the next stage of the worldʻs leading racing circus. Instead, teams will …

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Happiness Is: Axioms, Divos & Bowie

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Chase Elliott (Photo: Danny Peters)

We just had an interesting weekend of racing with Formula 1 returning to France, IndyCar racing at Road America in Wisconsin and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series running rampant near Californiaʻs wine country. That put all three series on road-course specific tracks, and all three seemed to bring about a similar sense of racing. …

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F1 Slipstream Saturday: The Return of the French Grand Prix

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Daniel Ricciardo (credit: Getty Images)

This weekend marks a return of Formula 1 to France, the most popular tourist destination in the world.  The series took a 10-year break from racing in the country after financial troubles scuttled the event in 2008.  Prior to the eventʻs departure from the schedule, the race had been held at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours …

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Happiness Is: A Break & Open Wheel

#14: Clint Bowyer, Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet Camaro Haas 30 Years of the VF1 celebrates in victory lane Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Since when did Michigan become Pocono — aren’t rain-shortened races the pride of the Pennsylvania track?  No matter. So now we head into an off weekend with that race at Michigan being the last memory. No wonder people are concerned about the ratings.   No worries, race-winner Clint Bowyer is here to keep things interesting: …

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Happiness Is: Half, TTs & Maple Leaves

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(Photo: Zach Catanzareti)

No pithy babbling to get the column going this week.  Just meat and potatoes. Or kale and tofu. Enjoy. Let’s get happy.   Happiness Is…Half.  The Cup race last weekend at Pocono Raceway signaled the second half of the ‘regular’ season has begun, and with it the top of the pecking order has become rather …

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