Almost two weeks after his double-barreled salute to INDYCAR Race Control made him the talk of the racing world (and a bonafide Internet meme), Will Power is going to have to pay the price for his antics.
The Team Penske driver, who sits second in the championship going into this weekend’s event at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, has been fined $30,000 and placed on probation for the rest of the 2011 season. However, he can also work off the fine by making public appearances for the series in the remaining weeks of the season.
According to INDYCAR president of competition Brian Barnhart — whose decision to re-start the MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 on Aug. 14 with eight laps to go led to Power’s spin on a wet track and, eventually, flipping off the Race Control tower at New Hampshire Motor Speedway — the “highly unusual” circumstances of the previous race’s finish still didn’t justify Power’s behavior.
However, it appears he also believes that this was an isolated affair.
“Emotions always are on display in this sport and we know these actions are not indicative of Will’s normal behavior,” Barnhart said.
In the meantime, you can expect more than one of these to pop up at the five remaining IZOD IndyCar events this season…
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The worst-kept secret in motorsports, and perhaps on the entire planet, was finally revealed yesterday as the IZOD IndyCar Series’ biggest star, Danica Patrick, announced that she would hop to NASCAR full-time in 2012.
But while INDYCAR will be losing Patrick and her star power, they’re not walking away from this empty-handed either. Patrick’s sponsor, GoDaddy.com, will continue to stay with the series and Andretti Autosport for the next two years.
The website giant will sponsor one of AA’s entries and have Mario, Michael and Marco Andretti as spokesmen for the company. According to a team release, expect to see the three generations of Andretti in TV commercials starting this winter.
Leading up to Patrick’s announcement, INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard has made some references about trying to keep GoDaddy.com in the INDYCAR fold regardless of what its leading lady would decide as far as her future racing’s concerned. Suffice to say, Bernard is pleased as punch about GoDaddy.com staying put.
“GoDaddy sticking with IndyCar is a tremendous win for our sport on so many levels,” he said in the release. “GoDaddy is a dream sponsor. They know how to create excitement and build brand buzz. This is just the kind of sponsor we need in IndyCar.”
GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons said the decision to stay with IndyCar was “pretty easy.”
“The fans are great; imagine the marketing potential,” Parsons said in the release. “Mario is an absolute icon. Michael has been GoDaddy’s partner as a team owner for five years now and Marco is a young man who is already in the racing record books. This is not your everyday sponsorship, that’s for sure.”
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Here’s your weekend schedule for Sonoma:
TODAY
IZOD IndyCar practice: 5:50-7:05 p.m. ET
TOMORROW
IZOD IndyCar practice: 1:50-2:50 p.m. ET
IZOD IndyCar qualifying: 5:35-6:55 p.m. ET
SUNDAY
IZOD IndyCar warmup: 12-12:30 p.m. ET
IZOD IndyCar Series, Indy GP of Sonoma: 4:45 p.m. ET (coverage starts at 4 p.m. ET on Versus)
