Counter clockwise... tight corners... Turkey's next and here's your preview!

As digital media and broadband access becomes more pervasive, sporting teams, leagues, and series need to be considering online as an option for distribution. Many of the sporting leagues (via the broadcasters) are on top of this and for the most part running a really good service. IRL appears to have attempted this on their own with a third party vendor. The result has been quite dismal.

During the last two races I have had intermittent access and choppy feeds of both races.

During the Indy Japan 300 my online experience was this beautiful white page highlighting the issue: Server is too busy.

My online experience for the Roadrunner Turbo 300 was a different white page highlighting another message: server is not responding.

IRL needs to be demanding a stable service for their online users and White Blox (the third party provider) should be throwing more resources at any upcoming race. It is clear that their servers are struggling to keep up with the audience's demands. In addition to throwing more resources at this problem, both IRL and White Blox should be tracking bandwidth, user and site errors and they should be creating base error pages for their respective sites for when issues occur. Theses error pages should tell the user what has happened and how to fix it or contact someone for support. Plus, they're a last attempt to gracefully save what face you have left as a brand.

To deliver a better service IRL may want to work more closely with the broadcasters or try leveraging their relationships with Joost. Joost has demonstrated that they can provide good quality web video, now they need to try streaming a race!

With the massively marketed 92nd Indy 500 getting closer (May 25, 2008), I hope changes are in place so every member of IRL's audience will be given the best experience possible.

Your Turn. What have your experiences been with Race Control? Are you using it? Avoiding it? Playing with the free version or experimenting with the pay per season edition? What would you like to see changed or are you happy with your experiences?

Honda Racing offers their perspective on this weekend's Gran Premio de Espana Telefonica 2008. They expect solid results and an exciting event. Check out their video. What's your call for the weekend? A repeat of 2007 with a Felipe Massa win?

You are all making a difference... well online at least. If you are a sponsor and you are looking for a web property to advertise on, the IRL's site is experiencing some substantial increases in traffic. The new season and the acquisition of the Champ Car series has seen a massive spike in visitors. Historic races like Danica's Indy Japan 300 win won't hurt the numbers either. Indycar.com has seen a three month increase in traffic of over 130%. A substantial increase!

The one downfall though is that the site is seeing much less international (Canada, Mexico, Australia, etc.) traffic than the Champ Car World Series website. An issue? MAybe not, but it will limit the number of international sponsors that are interested in partnerships with IRL. On the other hand, if you're an American brand looking for US exposure this is a good bet.

Now if we can just get IRL to manage their property a little better they could have a huge asset that is incentive enough for another sponsor to jump in.

Where are you visiting from and what are you looking for in a motorsport fan site? Leave a comment if you want to share.

For everyone that watched Danica run year after year with near wins and high hopes, your time has finally come. Helio Castroneves was forced to save fuel on the last five laps of the Indy Japan 300 and Danica pushed for the lead position. On lap 198 (of 200) she moved past Castroneves to take the white flag and hold on for the checkered. She shed tears of joy as she was greeted by her team and parents.

This is really a great milestone in open wheel racing and sets the bar for a number of other female drivers in both IRL and the many feeder series.

Photo Credit: Andretti Green Racing

Danica stated, "Finally! This is a long time coming. It was a fuel strategy race, but my team called it perfectly for me. I know I was on the same strategy at Helio and when I passed him for the lead, I couldn't believe it. This is fabulous."

Congrats to Danica and her team!

Those that want to comment on the victory can email Danica (danicafans7@godaddy.com) or leave your comments at the bottom of this post or visit the IRL Talkback forum. Also, check out Danica's official website and Andretti Green Racing for more notes on the win.

The Rexall Edmonton Indy (formerly the Rexall Grand Prix) is moving forward! IRL and the FIA are dotting the 'i's and crossing the 't's on the July 26, 2008 event. This year's date has been moved from the Sunday to the Saturday to accommodate Nascar's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. Although, it's unlikely that the open wheel crowd would lose any sleep about missing the Nascar event-there still needs to be a coordinated effort to align TV schedules, sponsor expectations, etc.

Photo Credit: Adam Jevne

The commitment to proceed from the Edmonton event team and Indy has been exceptional. This result will only bring larger audiences to the Edmonton event and increase interest in the Indy series. Since the inaugural Edmonton Grand Prix, Edmonton has had huge fan base and consistently listed as one of the top three events each year.

Check out the Rexall Edmonton Indy site for more information as it becomes available.

Indy Racing League (IRL) announced today that they have inked a deal with Coke to be a major sponsor of the series. This builds on an existing relationship the two brands had at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500. Not only will this elevate the profile of Indy in the eyes of other brands, but it also speaks volumes about the importance of a single North American open wheel racing series. Prior to the merger, major sponsors were gun shy about stepping into relationships with IRL and Champ Car because the two series were in direct competition for consumer eyeballs.

Fans, teams, drivers, sponsors and IRL will benefit from this deal and I can't wait for what the future holds.

For more on the release check out the IRL Website.

The Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix inside track by sidepodcast highlights driver standings, constructors cup, Bahrain challenges and track data. The track temperature, dirty air, and overtaking opportunities will definitely create an exciting race. Enjoy the preview and this weekend's race.

IRL needs your help! And I am really hoping that people get involved because some of what I am seeing is a little off. Now that the merger of OWS in North America is complete, the marketers at IRL are looking for your input on a new "unification" song. Actually that fact that they are calling it the unification song might actually speak worlds about how cool they really are. :)

Photo Credit: Steve Snoddy / Indy Racing League

It's hugely important that this be done right and not be the first embarassment for the series and I am hoping that those reading this can add some of the street cred that IRL needs.

One of the benefits of a now connected North American OWS is damn cheap merchandise from the now defunct Champ Car. They are claiming it is a winter sale, but we all know it's a fire sale because IRL will be damned if they sell old CCWS merch on their site. Check it out... up to 84% off at http://www.speedgear.com/stores.cfm?SID=3.

This just in... check Forsythe Racing too at http://www.speedgear.com/results.cfm?showall=1&startrecord=1&SID=3&SCID=....