DIY rally racing

A “racing freak” named Bill Caswell bought an old BMW off of Craigslist for $500, fixed it up, and entered it in a rally car race against teams with new $400,000 cars and support crews. He came in third in his class.

Some kids threw boulders in the road on a transit and I punctured my gas tank losing nearly a half tank in 24 km on the next stage. Best part, the officials pointed out our leak and showed a handful of gas to us when we asked how big it was — I knew we were screwed, but they said we could start the stage so we did. I patched it with just stuff in the trunk — RTV and balls of duct tape — twenty feet after the stage finish, on the side of the road, with the officials watching. Didn’t have time at service to fix it so five stages tomorrow with RTV patch.

• autoracing
• Bill Caswell
• sports

Indy 500 car tracker

The Indianapolis Star did a really nice car tracker for the Indianapolis 500. Just push play and watch the race unfold. I was struck by how few changes in position there were…you’d think people would be passing each other all the time but that’s just not the case. (thx, nathan)

• autoracing
• indianapolis500
• infoviz

Race car driver Robby Gordon says he

Race car driver Robby Gordon says he won’t compete against Danica Patrick because her small stature gives her an unfair advantage. “I guess driving around in circles must have made Gordon a bit dizzy because his reasoning sucks.”

• autoracing
• danicapatrick
• indianapolis500
• sports