The Indy 500 *is* Today!

[TLK]

JENSEN READY WITH CANADIAN CHAMP CAR TEAM
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
By: Robin Miller

The newest team owner to join Champ Car comes with major sponsors, plenty of racing heritage and a passion that mirrors his homeland.

"Champ Car has always interested me and I'm excited to become part of it," said Canadian native Eric Jensen, whose Montreal-based Jensen Motorsports will officially unveil its driver and crew in a March 30 press conference. "I would do Formula One but I don't want to live in Europe and NASCAR has a lot more value but I don't have any general interest in stock cars.

"I couldn't sell anything in the IRL and I wouldn't want to be in it anyway.

"But I can sell Champ Car. I think it's future is great and I've thanked Kevin (Kalkhoven) many times for keeping it alive."

Unlike many of his fellow car owners, Jensen's main business is motorsports. He's competed in F2000, Indy Lights and Toyota Atlantic as a driver, fielded teams in Atlantics and serves as his own marketing and promotion agency.

It's a small business but it's all me and it's what I do for a living," said Jensen, who went to business school in Toronto. "It's always been in my family to go racing. My dad (Bruce) was a pretty fair racer in Atlantics when Keke Rosberg and Gilles Villeneuve were in that series and then he helped out Brian Stewart in the early '90s.

"I attended the Jim Russell School at Laguna Seca in 1989 with Mario Dominguez and then started racing Formula Fords and 2-liter sports cars. My dad bought me an old Ralt to run the SCCA and then I moved into the pro series.

"I got tired of giving money to other teams for crappy deals so I went out and got some good guys to work for me. I've still got three good guys who are my nucleus but I know a lot of good people and I just hired one away from BAR."

Jensen nearly jumped into CART in 2003, but backed off at the last minute.

"They promised me the world but didn't deliver and I think I made the right decision," he continued. "CART's bankruptcy in 2004 killed me because I had some decent sponsors and suddenly it was like, What are we selling?' You have to be able to create value for your sponsors and Kevin did that buy doing a deal with NBC and CBS.

"And Champ Car also goes to big cities where there is commercial value."

Jensen has already revealed that Konica and Minolta of Canada are on board as sponsors and has two other American companies to announce next week. There's speculation that the first Canadian team in 20 years of major open wheel racing might be leaning towards Vancouver's Michael Valiente, who made an impressive Champ Car debut last year at Mexico City.

"I've received a bunch of emails from fans thanking me for doing this," said Jensen. "And that makes me feel good but they don't have to thank me for something I've wanted to do for a long time."

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/...cle.asp?ID=8768

[TLK]

a day late but....

Champ Car series set to stage Beijing race in 2006
March 25, 2005

INDIANAPOLIS, United States (AFP) - Champ Car signed a deal with a Chinese auto group to stage a race in China in 2006, officials of the series announced.

Champ Car's memorandum of understanding with the Beijing Auto and Motor Sports Association, the government-supported auto sport regulatory agency, allows both groups to decide upon a promoter and exact location for the race.

This year's 14-race schedule begins April 10 at Long Beach and includes seven US races, two events in Mexico, three in Canada and October races in South Korea and Australia.

"This is a major step forward for the Champ Car World Series as we continue to establish our presence in the Asian markets," said series co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven.

"We believe these markets are fundamental to our series growth and future success. Adding an exciting new event in China to go with races in Korea and Australia solidifies our presence in a very important region of the world."

September, which could lead into the typical late-season Australia trip and the projected Korean date, and May are considered the likeliest times for the 2006 race but the final decision has not been made.

Kalkhoven indicated the deal could lead to Chinese racers competing in the open-wheel series.

"We are excited because it is about more than just a race," Kalkhoven said. "The warm reception we have received here could lead to even bigger things in the future, including the potential to bring Chinese drivers and teams into the series."

The race would be another jewel in Beijing's sporting crown as preparations continue for the city's 2008 Olympics.

"The city is now working towards becoming an international sports center and to hold world renowned auto races is an important part towards accomplishing that goal," said Zhang Junyu, the Beijing auto group's secretary general.

Updated on Thursday, Mar 24, 2005 7:53 pm EST

http://sports.yahoo.com/cart/news?sl...=afp&type=lgns

[TLK]

George fair game, or unfair target

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO and IRL founder has stayed calm amid a 10-year maelstrom of controversy.

By BRANT JAMES, Times Staff Writer
Published April 1, 2005

---

	[Getty Images]
	Tony George talks at Indy with Michael Andretti, one of many who left CART (now Champ Car) for the IRL. Andretti, now a team owner, is helping to promote the St. Petersburg race.

There is no end to Tony George's ability to conjure contrast. Or opinion.

The Indy Racing League's founder and CEO had made it clear on this afternoon at Homestead-Miami Speedway he doesn't really want to talk about the latest lightning rod atop his wavy-haired head. Yet he wears a slick blue team shirt bearing the logo of his new Vision Racing team, which he fields for his stepson, Ed Carpenter.

George, the grandson of Tony Hulman Jr., who bought Indianapolis Motor Speedway from Eddie Rickenbacker in 1945 and restored its pre-World War II glory, considers much of the criticism he has absorbed for breaking North American open wheel racing into two pieces to be fair. He just wants to make decisions that are good for his family and company and avoid the fray.

But lying across the dash of his motorcoach for all passersby to see is a photocopied caricature proclaiming, "Whether you agree with his attitudes and motives, Tony George is in the driver's seat of open wheel racing in the United States."

Now that's provocative.

"I keep doing what I believe is the right thing," he said, "and more often than not I believe my moral and ethical and personal values are correct and all I can do is what I believe is the right thing. If others have a problem with that, then it's their problem, not mine."



* * * He was born Anton Hulman George on Dec. 30, 1959, to retired driver and IMS vice president Elmer George and Mari Hulman George, heiress to the Hulman & Co. grocery, media and racing empire. Now the lanky godson of four-time Indy 500 winner A.J. Foyt is either a forward-thinking entrepreneur who secured his family's hold on the Indianapolis 500 and spawned a racing league that has reached its 10th anniversary, or an overmatched trust fund baby whose bold grabs for respect and power have been bankrolled - as Champ Car co-owner and self-described friend Paul Gentilozzi said - by "continuing to spend the Hulman family trust money."

Oh, and many say he destroyed open wheel racing in the United States.

The Indy Racing League, critics say, has failed in its promise to promote American racing or contain costs, and, according to legendary driver Mario Andretti, ruined the Indy 500. George's decision to bring NASCAR to IMS has proved a bigger financial success than the Indy 500 in recent years, but is still reviled by open wheel purists who see it as equivalent to a tractor pull at Churchill Downs.

"I don't care what theory, what philosophy was behind the thought," Andretti said of forming the IRL. "It put a chink in that armor. It violated something so sacred in our sport."

But there are those who acknowledge George's initiative, or at least recognize piling on when they see it. Roger Penske, an IRL team owner who raced in CART before the split, said George receives too much negative publicity.

"I think Tony gets a lot of criticism no matter what he does," Penske said. "He seems to be at the butt end of a gun."

Brian France can empathize. The grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France took over as CEO in 2004, replacing his father, Bill Jr., who took stock car racing to unimagined heights of popularity.

"The expectations are high," he said of running a very public family business. "There is a lot at stake. ... I know I have some job security, but at the end of the day, unlike anybody else, I have to answer for what I've done."

George gets a lot of that back home in Indiana. His family has been to the Hoosier State what the Kennedys have been to Massachusetts: builders, benefactors, fodder for gossip.

Details concerning the shooting death of George's father by horse trainer Guy Trolinger on Indy 500 day in 1976 (Trolinger was not indicted) and George's drug use, as detailed in a 1989 divorce proceeding, are repeated as if breaking news. He's critiqued in the media and lampooned by what he calls "CART fanatics." An essay on deepthrottle.com once asked in a headline, "Are George Bush and Tony George Twins Separated At Birth?"

That George's demeanor appears to flit between relaxed and vapid only adds - fairly or not - to his critics' anger over what they think he is doing to their sport.

"Tony George is an extremely bright guy who, for the most part, shuns the limelight," said NASCAR vice president of communications Jim Hunter.

But after 15 years "in the drivers seat of open wheel racing in the United States," George said he is used to the flak. That doesn't mean he likes or accepts it.

"I guess it's something I realize comes with the territory," said George, easing into the kitchen nook of his coach, occasionally gazing through a window as Infiniti Pro Series cars zoom over the track. "It's not that I don't care, but it's not something I let consume me or bother me.

"But I understand to a certain extent that I'm a public figure - at least I'm told I'm fair game. I don't always believe that. I believe there are times when people cross the line."

George became Indianapolis Motor Speedway president at age 30 and immediately tried to expand the voice of promoters and tracks, and control costs in CART, then North America's open-wheel sanctioning body. After his proposal to reorganize CART's power structure was rebuffed by a majority of the board of directors in 1991, he announced plans to bring NASCAR to IMS. And after resigning his non-voting seat on the CART board in 1994, he announced plans for what would become the IRL. This year he became a team owner, much to the amusement of those who recall his plan in 1991 to move power away from car owners and toward IMS.

"It's kind of nice to be involved in a privately owned family business where you can make entrepreneurial decisions and take some risks you might not otherwise be afforded in another job," said George, who gave up the title of IMS president in 2004 and now track CEO. "Frankly, I'm not sure and I'm sure others might agree, I might not be able to hold another position in another company."

That was the general mood after NASCAR used IMS's legendary yard of bricks as a launching pad to increased national exposure and credibility. But the Brickyard 400 also proved to be an attendance success and a financial boost for the speedway and city of Indianapolis.

"There's part of me that I would like to take (critics) to task, but it's often the case my critics are people with a journalistic slant or background or fanatics of Champ Car in particular," he said. "The others, again, I don't know that they feel passionate about some of the comments they make or the statements they make, but I do believe that some of the journalists, critics and Champ Car fans genuinely believe what the say, write, do. Some of it bothers me, some of it doesn't. More often than not I don't pay attention to it anymore. It's something I learned over time, it's best to ignore most of it and go with your gut and heart."

His gut thought in creating the IRL was simply wrong, Andretti said.

"I can excuse Tony from being disgruntled with the political side of the sport as it was," said Andretti, a former CART board member, "but what I cannot excuse is the strategy, to me, to fix it was wrong. You have to fix the problem. The product was working.

"What he did by trying to come up with a new series, I think, it created so much uncertainty, it created forced loyalties, it forced everyone to make choices and the biggest travesty of it all was it diminished the value of Indianapolis 500 as an event. No one can dispute that.

"And it all happened almost simultaneously. It gives NASCAR the Brickyard, which is fine, I think that was great, but at the same time it diminished the value of the Indianapolis 500 by having the new series. That's why I felt to fix this thing, he should have tried to fix the politics of it. Buy out the owners, do whatever, it probably would have cost him 1/50th of what he spent since."



* * * Fingering through a bowl of snack mix, then shaking in his hand the peanuts he has culled, George pauses for a long moment. He knows his company and his sport will look much different in 10 or 15 years than they do now, that he might not be in a position of power then. But he's confident he will have a hand in shaping it.

"I've always been brought up around an environment where you reap what you sow and sometimes things work and sometimes they don't," he said. "But fortunately, our family has been involved in a lot of different things in the last 150 years and at one time or another, they've all been successful ventures for us."

Like it or not.


http://www.sptimes.com/2005/04/01/Sp...ame__or_.shtml

[TLK]

Here's the essay that was referenced in the previous artice....

Are George Bush and Tony George Twins Separated At Birth?
By Russell Jaslow
10/30/04 One has to wonder. The similarities between the President of the United States, George Bush, and the president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Tony George, are unnerving. And, we're not just talking about the fact they share the name George.

Both were born into a life of privilege. Tony George was born into one of the richest families in the Midwest. George Bush entered life into a rich Texas family.

Both came from a previous generation that made their mark from World War II. Tony George's grandfather, Tony Hulman, turned IMS around after purchasing the Speedway after years of neglect during WWII. George Bush's father was a war hero, shot down over the Pacific, and rose to prominence in politics.

Both spent their youth partying with mind altering substances. Tony George's use of cocaine became public knowledge in court documents during his divorce proceedings. George Bush has acknowledged his fondness of alcohol during his younger years.

Neither were particularly successful before going into their family's business. Tony George's attempts at becoming a race car driver was nothing more than a midpack effort in Indy Lights (then, the American Racing Series) while driving for his godfather's team, A.J. Foyt. George Bush's attempts at being a businessman didn't excite the editors of Forbes magazine, and his only publicly visible deed was firing manager Bobby Valentine when he owned the Texas Rangers.

Both finally arrived in the public's eye by riding the coattails of their family's name. Tony George took over the top spot at IMS simply because he was the only male left in his family, and his sisters did not care for the job. George Bush parlayed the success of his father and his Texas roots to become Governor of the Lone Star State, and then took over as the Republican's favorite presidential candidate simply because he was the only possible choice that could garner the fund raising and public perception necessary to beat the Democrats.

Both are considered to be lesser intelligent men (whose supporters hold their breath every time they make an unscripted public statement) who have been manipulated by those around them fighting an old battle. It is alleged that Tony George was swayed by the "Old Guard" still stewing over the revolt by the team owners who formed CART and changed the direction of open wheel racing. It is alleged that George Bush was swayed by those still wishing that the job in Iraq had been "completed" back in 1991.

Both never learned from their predecessors who knew when it was best to shy away from a fight. Tony George's grandfather knew when it was no longer worth fighting CART and lived with an uneasy peace so the greater good of IMS and the sport could be fulfilled. George Bush's father knew when it was no longer worth continuing to fight Iraq once they were kicked out of Kuwait and lived with an uneasy peace so the greater good of the country and the Middle East could be fulfilled.

Both apparently had destructive agendas from day one. Soon after Tony George took over IMS, he proposed to CART a plan that would essentially have him take over the sport, dumping the goals of the team owners. He later used Penske's Mercedes killer engine as the impetus to go ahead and form the IRL in an attempt to take over open wheel racing. George Bush, soon after taking office, allegedly looked for a reason to topple Saddam Hussein. He used the events of September 11 as the impetus to go ahead with those plans.

Both are unable to realize their goals and vision are not working. Tony George is unwilling to admit that declining attendance, empty stands on Pole Day, and rapidly falling ratings of the Indianapolis 500 have anything to do with his actions in splitting the sport and forming the IRL, while his minions spout off one ridiculously glowing press release after another. George Bush is unwilling to admit the inability to create stability in Iraq, the formation of terror cells in a country where they didn't exist before, and the rapidly declining opinion of the United States by the rest of the world had anything to do with his actions in splitting world opinion and attacking a country that was of little threat, while his minions spout off at one ridiculously glowing press conference after another.

However, don't assume I'm advocating the other choice. That's not necessarily any better either.

Because John Kerry reminds me of Joe Heitzler.

http://www.deepthrottle.com/Essays/bush_george.shtml

[TLK]

linky

Answers elusive for open-wheel woes

As NASCAR zooms into the distance in popularity, a decade of divided loyalties plague open-wheel teams and fans.

By BRANT JAMES, Times Staff Writer
Published April 1, 2005

Roger Penske just doesn't understand. Mario Andretti is highly agitated. Tony George isn't sure he needs to worry about it anymore.

Nothing purses the lips in an Indy Racing League or Champ Car garage like the question that underpins both series' very existence:

How do you fix this open-wheel problem?

As the dilemma barely flickers on the periphery of racing fans' consciousness, NASCAR has roared into a dominant position, the Daytona 500 holding the place of prominence once reserved for the Indianapolis 500.

That's all part of the problem - or opportunity, depending on your point of view - created when George, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO and president, broke away from Championship Auto Racing Teams in 1996, creating a league that would control the cars in the race his family stewards. With CART reconstituted through bankruptcy in Decemeber 2003, as Champ Car, the IRL might be in its strongest position to advance its cause as it goes road and street racing for the first time.

But what is that worth? The IRL, too, has problems, with spotty attendance and dwindling car counts at the Indy 500.

Two series, many say, confuse fans and weaken everyone.

"It needs to filter down to one, I think," said 2003 IRL champion Scott Dixon. "Now, they're just shooting each other and no one is getting anywhere in terms of popularity. I'd like to see it be one and full budgets and good full fields, but who knows what will happen?"

So how do these very rich men with very fast cars and grandstands to fill fix this thing?

"First we've got to get everyone under one tent," said Chip Ganassi, who owns teams that have won four CART titles and one in the IRL with Scott Dixon in 2003. "Everybody has their idea of what racing should be. And at the end of the day the fans make the real vote what racing should be. The fans and the sponsors have the votes. It's a dangerous thing for someone to make racing what they think it ought to be."

It will not be as simple as 22 IndyCars and 16 Champ Cars showing up at the same place on the same weekend. The IRL's North American slate - excluding a race in Japan - and Champ Car's far-flung schedule with races in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South Korea and Australia, gives each a unique niche and individual importance to sponsors. Mexican owner-driver Adrian Fernandez lost his Mexican sponsors and eventually his full-time ride after switching from Champ Car to the IRL for last season. The leagues share just one common venue - Milwaukee - in their combined 31 races.

Some markets with races - like St. Petersburg, which hosts its first IRL race Sunday - would be highly scrutinized unless the combined leagues doubled their schedules to NASCAR proportions, which would be highly unlikely.

"I don't necessarily believe that we'd have guaranteed success by having one open-wheel championship or not," George said. "It appears we're more focused on domestic venues and they're more focused more on international venues, so it may not really matter."

Then there is the matter of matching equipment. The IRL has Honda, Toyota and Chevrolet (until the end of this year) as engine manufacturers, while Champ Car uses league-owned Ford Cosworth power plants.

But the biggest impediment could be ego and power. George and Champ Car counterparts Gerald Forsythe, Kevin Kalkhoven and Paul Gentilozzi - who purchased CART's assets in bankruptcy court and will launch a second season as Champ Car at Long Beach on April 10 - now enjoy autonomy.

So perhaps it's not fixable, especially considering that Penske tried and failed last year to bring the sides together. CART's first championship owner and an original board member, he has turned a penchant for resurrecting failing businesses into a $14-billion-per-year empire. His team has won a record 13 Indy 500s. He has friends and associates in both series. But he was soundly rebuffed when he made overtures toward heads of both series last year about reunification.

"I'm not sure there's anybody out there who has the power tie them together," Penske said. "I tried to talk with Gerry Forsythe and the people involved in (Champ Car) They have a vision, and they're willing to commit their own capital to go racing, and they've made it work."

In 1999, a group of then CART team owners including Barry Green - now head of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg promoter group - Derrick Walker and Bobby Rahal "got very, very close, but in the end there were issues on both sides and we couldn't get it done," Green said.

George isn't sure if he has the power, or if he'd be willing to wield it anyway.

"At different times over the last 10 years I think I've said both, that "yes' it needed to (be one series) and today I'd rather just not comment on it because everyone has an opinion, and I'm not sure mine matters any more than anyone else's," he said. "The reality is, they're in business, we're in business and we're competing not just against each other but against a lot of other sports-entertainment properties. It's tough out there whether there was one, two, or three."

By all appearances, however, he tried to put Champ Car out of business when he made a $13.5-million bid on all of CART's league-owned engines and the sanctioning rights to the Grand Prix of Long Beach - Champ Car's marquee event - in U.S. Bankruptcy court, citing in legal papers a desire to create a "unified, market-driven North American open-wheel series." Judge Frank Otte accepted a $3.2-million bid from Forsythe, Kalkhoven and Gentilozzi, saying the IRL bid could be devalued by litigation from cities whose races George intended to fold.

Penske said the dwindling number of engine manufacturers might eventually provide the impetus for reunion.

"To me, people are going to have to get together and maybe it'll be engines that ultimately drive them together," he said. "The cars are not that different. Cars are cheap, but they all have power plants. We all have trailers. We all have drivers. We all go stay in motels, so it's just a few things. But it's like trying to merge two companies and if the CEOs at the top are not interested in getting together, then it's pretty hard to merge them. That's where we are today, the top people see things with a different vision."

Racing legend Andretti, a former CART champion and board member, remains bitter about the split. Now, he said, could be the only opportunity to reunite before the equipment becomes too different between the leagues.

"The only answer right now for things to come around, for both sides to find an answer, is for both sides to maintain enough equity in themselves so they can maintain autonomy. Each side has something to offer," he said. "Each side separately does not have enough to be a force in this sport, to be anywhere where they used to be."

Andretti proposes treating the IRL (with its mostly ovals regimen) and Champ Car (mostly street and road courses) like conferences in the NFL. The series would have three to five common races - including Indianapolis - to determine a unified champion and still crown separate champions with points from their own events.

"If you combine the two series at Indianapolis you will have almost 40 bona fide cars competing for 33 places," he said. "Back to the glory days."

[SunDancer]

Thanks for the update King....Care to post a schedule of the ChampCars?

[TLK]

2005 Open Wheel Racing Combined Schedule

March 5 F1 - Australian Grand Prix - 9:30 PM SPEED
March 6 IRL - Homestead-Miami Speedway - 2:00 PM ESPN
March 19 F1 - Malaysia Grand Prix - 1:30 AM SPEED
March 19 IRL - Phoenix Int'l Raceway - 3:00 PM ABC
April 3 F1 - Grand Prix of Bahrain - 7:00 AM SPEED
April 3 IRL - Streets of St. Petersburg - 3:30 PM ESPN
April 10 CCWS - Long Beach, California - 4:00 PM NBC
April 24 F1 - San Marino Grand Prix - CBS**
April 30 IRL - Twin Ring Motegi - 12:00 PM ESPN*
May 8 F1 - Spanish Grand Prix - CBS**
May 21 CCWS - Monterrey, Mexico - 3:00 PM SPEED
May 22 F1 - Monaco Grand Prix - 7:30 AM SPEED
May 29 IRL - Indianapolis Motor Speedway - 12:00 PM ABC
May 29 F1 - Grand Prix of Europe - CBS**
June 4 CCWS - Milwaukee, Wisconsin - 2:00 PM CBS
June 11 IRL - Texas Motor Speedway - 8:30 PM ESPN
June 12 F1 - Canadian Grand Prix - CBS**
June 19 F1 - U.S. Grand Prix - 1:30 PM SPEED
June 19 CCWS - Portland, Oregon - 4:00 PM CBS
June 25 IRL - Richmond Int'l Raceway - 7:30 PM ESPN2
June 26 CCWS - Cleveland, Ohio - 1:00 PM CBS
July 3 F1 - French Grand Prix - 7:30 AM SPEED
July 3 IRL - Kansas Speedway - 1:00 PM ESPN
July 10 F1 - British Grand Prix - 7:30 AM SPEED
July 10 CCWS - Toronto - 1:00 PM CBS
July 16 IRL - Nashville Superspeedway - 7:00 PM ESPN
July 17 CCWS - Edmonton - 3:00 PM SPEED
July 24 F1 - German Grand Prix - 7:30 AM SPEED
July 24 IRL - The Milwaukee Mile - 2:30 PM ESPN
July 31 F1 - Hungarian Grand Prix - 7:30 AM SPEED
July 31 IRL - Michigan Int'l Speedway - 3:00 PM ABC
July 31 CCWS - San Jose, California - 4:00 PM SPEED
Aug. 14 IRL - Kentucky Speedway - 3:30 PM ABC
Aug. 14 CCWS - Denver, Colorado - 3:00 PM SPEED
Aug. 21 F1 - Turkish Grand Prix - 7:30 AM SPEED
Aug. 21 IRL - Pikes Peak Int'l Raceway - 3:30 PM ABC
Aug. 28 IRL - Infineon Raceway - 3:30 PM ESPN
Aug. 28 CCWS - Montreal - 1:00 PM NBC
Sept. 4 F1 - Italian Grand Prix - 7:30 AM SPEED
Sept. 11 F1 - Grand Prix of Belgium - 7:30 AM SPEED
Sept. 11 IRL - Chicagoland Speedway - 1:30 PM ABC
Sept. 24 CCWS - Las Vegas, Nevada - SPEED*
Sept. 25 F1 - Brazilian Grand Prix - 12:30 PM SPEED
Sept. 25 IRL - Watkins Glen Int'l - 3:30 PM ABC
Oct. 8 F1 - Japanese Grand Prix - 1:00 AM SPEED
Oct. 15 F1 - Grand Prix of China - 1:30 AM SPEED
Oct. 16 IRL - California Speedway - 3:30 PM ESPN
Oct. 16 CCWS - Ansan, Korea - SPEED*
Oct. 23 CCWS - Surfers Paradise, Australia - SPEED*
Nov. 6 CCWS - Mexico City - 3:00 PM SPEED

[maximus]

The 2005 Indy 500 is on right now (ABC).

[sterlingice]

Shouldn't there be another thread for Indy or not?

SI

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by Karim

I was listening to a theoretical physicist from Cornell. He covered several topics but two that stood out for me were:

1) He had no way of explaining free will. The smallest component of our being (the vibrating strings of string theory) are all governed by the laws of physics as we understand them. Free will, personalities, consciousness are unexplainable with modern day physics. He accepted free will on 'faith' (in a non-religious sense) just as a way of living day-to-day.

2) There is the possibility that our known universe exists inside a black hole and we are approaching the singularity. Obviously there is no way to stop such a reality. If stellar phenomena all start growing/stretching/expanding, well... I don't know why but this possibility (of all the possible possibilities) depressed me even though it has no actual bearing on our lifetimes.

And this affects the Indy 500 how?

[Karim]

Obviously an accident... ignore.