Archive for May 21st, 2025

The greatest spectacle in auto racing.

Wednesday, May 21st, 2025

Team Penske has fired president Tim Cindric, “IndyCar managing director”, Ron Ruzewski, and “IndyCar general manager” Kyle Moyer.

This is fallout from a cheating scandal:

The trouble for Team Penske began before the fast 12 shootout on Sunday, when rival team owner Chip Ganassi was among a chorus of competitors who accused it of cheating. They noticed unapproved changes had been made to the rear attenuator, a safety device designed to absorb and reduce the force of impacts, and the assumption was the modifications would have given the two Team Penske cars an aerodynamic advantage in their four-lap qualifying runs.
Further investigation showed Newgarden’s winning car from last year that is displayed in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum has the same illegal modification, as did the car Team Penske brought to the White House last month. Rivals claim to have photos indicating the modification has been in place for some time.

This is the second Team Penske scandal in a year:

…the team was caught in a push-to-pass manipulation in which Newgarden was found to have access to an additional boost of horsepower when he should not have while winning the season-opener. He was stripped of his win and Penske suspended Cindric for two races, including the Indy 500.

By the way, the greatest spectacle in racing is not the Indy 500. At least, not this year.

The Wienie 500 will also mark the first “meat-up” of all six Wienermobiles in over a decade and the first competitive race for the fleet, each sporting an all-new look. Each Wienermobile will represent a different regional dog, including the Chi Dog (Midwest), New York Dog (East), Slaw Dog (Southeast), Sonoran Dog (Southwest), Chili Dog (South) and Seattle Dog (Northwest). From custom Hotdogger racing suits to a trophy presentation in the ‘Wiener’s Circle’, complete with a condiment spray and hot dog for the wiener’s enjoyment, every moment of the race is designed to spark smiles, serving up a delightful racing event only Oscar Mayer can.

This will be streaming live on Friday, but, sadly, while I’m at work. I’m hoping that someone will try to drift a Wienermobile, and highlights show up…somewhere.

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Obit watch: May 21, 2025.

Wednesday, May 21st, 2025

George Wendt. NYT.

Other credits that don’t involve him appearing as Norm include “Larry the Cable Guy’s Christmas Spectacular”, “Columbo: Strange Bedfellows”, and the 1986 “Twilight Zone” revival.

Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D – Virginia).

Vlastimil Hort, chess grandmaster. There’s a great story about Mr. Hort. Actually, there’s probably more than one, but this may be the one he’s most famous for.

In 1977, he was playing Boris Spassky in Reykjavik.

The match was a best-of-12 quarterfinal, whose winner would be one step closer to the top title in chess. After 12 games, they were tied, prompting a two-game playoff.
Then Mr. Spassky fell seriously ill. He was taken to the hospital, and his appendix was removed. According to the rules, he was entitled to three postponements of three days each. He took them all, but was still too unwell to play.
Mr. Spassky would have to forfeit, meaning Mr. Hort would advance to the semifinals.
Then Mr. Hort did something unexpected. To give Mr. Spassky a chance to continue to compete, Mr. Hort requested a three-day timeout, which was granted. It was a choice seen for decades as one of the greatest acts of sportsmanship in the history of the game, and it ended up costing Mr. Hort the match.
By the end of the timeout, Mr. Spassky could resume play, and after Games 13 and 14 were drawn, another two-game playoff was needed. In Game 15, Mr. Hort reached a winning position, but he froze. His time expired before he had made the required number of moves, thus forfeiting the game. After the next game ended in a tie, Mr. Spassky was declared the winner of the match.
Mr. Hort lost his chance to play for the world championship and never qualified again.

…

He was a popular player among his peers, with a sharp wit and a penchant for telling amusing anecdotes; he often called himself a “chess entertainer.”

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