Tony Rizzuti Blog

If you are a sim racer or have ever wanted to check out computer racing like Dale Jr., Denny Hamlin, AJ Almendinger, and Brad Keselowski do on a regular basis, you are going to want to go to iracing.com next week.  Well you can go now.  Iracing.com opened its sim doors to the world.  I helped beta test for this group, which is essentially the old Papyrus group that brought NASCAR 1, 2, 3, 4, and 2003 to the world.  They also designed what had been considered the most accurate racing game ever- Grand Prix Legends. 

John Henry, who owns the Red Sox and Roush-Fenway Racing, bought the code from Papyrus and hired the dean of racing sim design Dave Kaemmer.  They have developed what I think (and Dale Jr. agreed) is the closest thing to real racing that has ever been developed.  Go to the site and you will see what all the have to offer.  I have been racing daily.  It is very addictive and to say challenging, would be an understatement.  Last night, I ran Skip Barber car at Summit Point and finished 5th.  Then turned around 20- minutes later and ran a Modified race at Concord Motorsports Park and finished 8th after being taken out by Dale's spotter TJ Majors.  It really wasn't TJ's fault.  He spun off of turn two and I was right on him with no place to go. 

They have various levels of cars from a showroom stock Pontiac and Legends to Silver Crown and Formula Mazda.  They have scanned a truck and was told by a source in the garage area that they have scanned a COT as well.  You'll see on the site how their scanning brings reality to your computer.

Now what makes this sim different is that everything is done online.  That means you race against real people, who make real decisions (some good, most bad).  But here is what makes this great.  In most sim racing, there is no recourse for reckless driving.  But iracing uses a liocense rating system that rewards clean driving and punishes mistakes.  For example: I started with a level 2.0 Rookie license.  That meant I had to run Rookie legends or Showroom Stock in a Solstice with closed setups - meaning they couldn't be altered.  Think IROC.  Iracing tracks any mistake and penalizes you accordingly.  Run off course - 1 pt deduction.  Spin out - 2 points.  Hit wall - 3 points. And finally hard contact with another car - 4 points.   As ther points go up, your license comes down.  Each license level allows you access to faster cars and different tracks - so you have a reason to race carefully.  Licenses are as follows.

Rookie - Legend ovals, Solstice Road Course (RC)

Class D - Late Models, Modifieds ovals - Skip Barber RC (rumor Spec Racer coming as well)

Class C - Silver Crown ovals, Formula Mazda RC

Class B - ??? yet ovals (could be trucks or Sprint cars), Radical RC

Class A - ??? ovals (could be IRL), ??? RC (could be Daytona Prototypes)

Pro Class - ??? yet (Cup COT?), ??? RC (F1 or IRL?)

There are also plans for Drag Racing, Go-Karts and Motorcycles.

I like the system, though as a Rookie you will race literally as if the trunk of your racer contained explosives.  But as you get better and get more comfortable (a couple weeks), you can go out and race pretty aggressively and not have to worry much.  Zero points is the best goal, because you will probably have had a good race.  But 4-6 points won't hurt your license too bad.  The Skip Barber race I mentioned, I had 3 points and my class C license went up from 2.45 to 2.62.  If I get to 3.0 by the end of the season (we are in week 3 of 12), then I will graduate to Class B, which will be the open cockpit Radical, similair to a AMLS car.  Over on the oval side, the crash with TJ brought me down from a 3.58 to a 3.44.  The ovals can do that to you.

Anyway, thats my rant on that.  I pay for the service like everyone else, so I have no interest in the sim other than I love it.  Speaking of costs - its not a cheap hobby.  I had to get the latest and greatest computer to run it and a good set of wheel and pedals will run $300 (Logitec G25 is the one to get.  I'm saving for one).  The service runs about $130 a year.  Plus different cars and tracks cost additonal $15.  It's not for everyone, but if you have an interest go to www.iracing.com

I gotta go race.  Late Models at Martinsville starting in five minutes and the Euro racers run during the morning (i guess that would be their evening) and they aren't great on ovals.  They'll whip your ass on road courses though.

Posted by trizzuti at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (403) | TrackBacks (0)

It raining here in the Queen City and its Monday.  Oh how I miss The Carpenters.  Did you know Johnny Sauter's favorite band is The Carpenters?  True story.

Anyway, I am getting emails about my take on Bristol.  So here we go.

I had no problem with Carl Edwards bump and run.  In the history of Bristol, it is how that race is won or lost.  Always has and always will be.  Do I think its fair?  Tough call.  I don't believe in taking someone out for the win.  What Carl did to me was fair game.  And the fact that Kyle got the opportunity to repay him one lap later and couldn't move him, makes me even more sure of the finish.

I don't race in Sprint Cup, but I would think that if I got moved late in the race, all I would pray for was a chance to get back to his bumper.  Now if I get there and hit him and he doesn't move or wreck, well, thats all I could do.  To me, if I got there and gave the same back, regardless of what happens, we are square.

Now I say that sitting here steaming over a simulated computer race on iracing.com.  I was just minding my business to get my rating up and got run over four times, killing my rating (more in another blog).  I am beside myself angry and the guy tells me I was holding him up.  Okay...I didn't hink I was, but even so, why take me out?  Just pass me for crying out loud.  The point is, if you were the one who got the short end of the stick...you will be pissed off (which is me currently).  Kyle was mad and rammed Carl after the race.  Uncalled for?  Yes.  Can I relate?  Amen.  With that said, I repeat, Carl did nothing wrong at Bristol (nor did I at Lime Rock).

So that brings us to Clint Bowyer vs. Michael Waltrip.  This is a tough one for me, which may suprise you.  I feel bad for all parties involved.  So I will take it from each side.

Clint:  He was needing a good race for his Chase chances.  He couldn't see what happened but at the time, it looked like Michael caused the wreck.  At that point in the race, MW wasn't as competitive as he was early on.  So to Clint, I'm sure it seemed like Michael had made his bad day, everyones bad day.  Now ESPN has the rights via NASCAR to air any commentary over the radio.  But, Clint in the heat of the battle made his comment.  Did he mean it?  I don't know.  But it probably made him feel better (see Lime Rock above..I cussed to my dog for an hour).

Michael:  For the second time that night and third time overall, Casey came up and crashed him.  MW slowed and nearly missed it before being plowed over by Kasey Kahne.  Did Michael cause the crash? No.  Did he slow too much after the contact, causing Kasey to ram him?  Maybe - he admits as much on Outloud!  But he didn't deserve the comment about NAPA and he's not the worst out there.

ESPN:  They are in the entertainment industry and there objective to to get as many viewers as possible so that they can charge more for commercials, which in turn makes them money.  Its a business.  However, the group over there are racing people.  They get it and want to put out the best show possible for the fan, while keeping with their objective.  So, they get a report from one of their spotters about what was said.  They play it back and for a race that at the time was lacking drama, they played the clip.  Lets face it...it got people talking.  The message boards were smoking with comments about their use of the clip during the race and in various other programming including Sports Center.  Folks, it sold papers, as they say in the news world.  Now in the end, it makes Clint look bad, Michael look bad and poor innocent NAPA look bad.  But it got everyone talking...and it grabbed the emotion that is Bristol, right or wrong.

Well, I feel better now.  I just needed some time to cool off.  Luckily nobody was there to shove a camera in my face and ask me how I felt (I hate having to ask when I'm interviewing.  Nobody really enjoys asking a crashed driver what happened.)  But I will tell you this.  If I race those same two guys again, I won't cut them any slack.  I have a feeling Kyle won't either.

Posted by trizzuti at 06:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (492) | TrackBacks (0)

At some point in time you just need to plug your nose and jump into the water.  That is exactly what I did today for Tony Rizzuti Radio. 

Still without proper equipment, I grabbed my trusty headset mic that I use for racing online and recorded a show using editing software from the internet.  The purpose was to do a show so I could figure out what works and what doesn't and to find the flow I think it will need.  So the show is up, basically for me to evaluate, but there is some good stuff about Bristol you might enjoy.

As always, I look forward to your comments.  It's still a work in progress.

Posted by trizzuti at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (411) | TrackBacks (0)

The second installment of the After Show will be posted around 7:30pm tonight for all you Outloud fans.  "Cha-Cha-Changes" were the words from David Bowie and change is what the world of MW can be full of.  Michael did an about-face and was in the studio live for the show.  That always makes it easier to chat.  Darrell Waltrip was the guest and did a great job breaking down everything from drivers complaining about the new car to JGR's penalties.

I hated to see Ron Hornaday get caught up in a wreck last night at Bristol.  For those of you that don't know, Ron was the first driver I worked for/with in the sport.  He is probably one of the most talented drivers I have ever seen.  If every driver raced like Ron on every lap, there would never be any talk about the races being boring.  I have also worked with Kevin Harvick, so it would be obvious that I pull for KHI in the Truck Series. 

But they are a Chevrolet team, you might ask.  Well, I guess deep down, I am too.  While I can't thank Toyota enough for sponsoring our XM show and more than that, I would like to see MWR thrive and wins races, I am a bow-tie supporter.  I drive a Chevy truck.  I have worked with ACDelco and GM Goodwrench - all GM companies - and my dream car is a Corvette.  When I'm on the air covering an event, I am as partial as anyone in TV.  I plug all the makes of cars equally.  Speaking of TV...did you see my friend Alba Colon of Chevrolet on E:60, ESPN's version of 60 minutes?  What a smart and cool lady.  I was happy to see her get a little recognition from outside the garage.

Speaking of outside the garage...NASCAR suspended seven members of Joe Gibbs Racing after the chassis dyno incident at MIS on Saturday.  What a shame foe Joe and JD who have one of the cleanest and respected teams in the entire sport.  And what a finish to the rise of Dave Rodgers as a crew chief.  I'm not sure how much he knew about what was being done, but my experience has shown me the crew chief knows all.  In all cases I have been around, the driver and owner honestly didn't know when something "illegal" is going on.  We talk about that a little in the After Show.

Day (insert number here folks) without my radio equipment.  ugggghhh.  Hopefully we will be up and running soon.  It looks like I will be able to get 30 minutes in a 10MB files though and have it still sound good.  Our show tonight goes 25 minutes and came is at 7.5MB, so I should be good.

Thanks for reading.  See you on The After Show.

Posted by trizzuti at 09:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (223) | TrackBacks (0)

Who's banned?  What's banned?  I'm banned apparently.

As you know, my good friend Chuck McDonald is in Beijing for the games and sent me some photos from the Water Cube.  I let him know about the new site and he said he would check it out in the media room.  Guess what?  The site was denied access.  My postings are so outragous and controversial that I have been outlawed in China.  Incredible!  I now have a tag line...

Tony Rizzuti Radio...So dangerous, so unpredictable, it's been outlawed in China and banned from the Olympic Games.  Hilarious.

Rants and Rumblings from Michigan

I thought the race at Michigan was pretty good overall.  We had some good three-wide battles that led to contact - especially between Hendrick teammates, which added to the outcome of the race.  It seemed like it was a good race for half of the Chasers and not so good for the others.  I covered Jeff Burton and the 31 really raced well until the final 20 laps.  The restarts at the end and the aggressive driving by the lapped down cars really hurt our progress and eventually led to an 11th place finish.  Burton hadn't had a top-10 at MIS since 2002 and I know they were disappointed to come up two feet short of one at the line.

Those of you who listened to the Alltel Pit Reporters show this weekend (link on home page) will realize I correctly picked Carl Edwards to win at Michigan.  It's not like I went out on a limb.  Roush-Fenway cars have won six out of nine straight races at the D-shaped oval.  Still, to the winners go the spoils.

By the way, my car won the media getwaway following the checkered flag.  Despite the fact that my channel once again stayed on longer than anyone and I had to run from the infield to the outer parking lot - we still smoked the boys that parked in the Nationwide garage and got the escort out.  Thank you John Morris for the new escape.  It was money!

Michael is in New York so he will have to call in to the Outloud show tomorrow.  So it will just be me rocking out in the XM Studio at Raceworld USA.  With Mikey gone, it will be hard to make fun of him on the After Show...But we will find a way.  Hopefully I will have my new equipment tomorrow.  I am getting anxious to start the daily show.  I am limited to 10 MB files, so I'm not sure how long I can go.  The goal is 30 minutes.  As always Stay Tuned.

Did I mention the Dodgers took over first place in the NL West...Its going to be a wild ride for that title.

Posted by trizzuti at 08:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (236) | TrackBacks (0)

It is an absolutely beautiful morning at MIS.  Traffic was light driving in at 7:00am, which makes me believe we will not see a sellout this afternoon.  In fact, most of the camping areas located around the facility are less than full. 

I have been coming to MIS since the early 80's.  The sites around Brooklyn, Michigan remind me of my youth.  The Prehistoric Forest, which has long been closed, and the gravity defying Mystery Hill were once playgrounds for vacationers heading out to the many lakes in the Irish Hills.  The area has fallen on hard times, which is really a shame.

In the garage area all the talk is about Joe Gibbs Racing and their alledged attempt at foiling NASCAR's chassis dyno following the Nationwide Series.  I expect stiff penalties to be handed down on Tuesday.  Among those, the suspension of crew chief Dave Rogers, who has been amazing so far this year.

I will be covering Jeff Burton today on Hot Pass.  Jeff qualified poorly in 28th but had a very good car in Happy Hour.  If the 31 can find a way to get early track position, Burton may be able to bring home a top-10.  It should be entertaining television watching him race his way up through the pack.  Wend Venturini is handling pit road for our channel - 798.

As usual, the best race will more than likely be to the car in an effort to beat traffic out of the track.  We parked a half-mile from the TV compound, right up next to the red barn on Highway 12.  I drove three of the producers this morning, including my producer John Morris.  They will produce the race from the TV compound behind the front grandstand.  I will be in the DirecTV pod in the infield, just behind pit road.  So once we sign off, I need to hustle across the track, through the fans and make the mad dash up to the car.  All of this carrying a backpack, that everyone claims contains a bunch a bricks.  Needless to say, its a workout.

Finally, check out my friend and Hot Pass Producer Chuck McDonald in Beijing as Phelps wins his eight medal.  Chuck is covering Diving for NBC.  The photo is in my gallery on the website.

Posted by trizzuti at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (156) | TrackBacks (0)

I am pleased to announce that The After Show is now posted! 

Check out the first of our weekly behind the scenes look at our week with Mikey.  Click the link on the website and listen away.  (I have been told that the recording equipment for my daily sports talk show is on its way here in Michigan, courtesy of Mr. Doug Rice...So I hope to be up and running Monday - Again, stay tuned.)

Posted by trizzuti at 02:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (184) | TrackBacks (0)

Where's the After Show?

Trust me it's coming...I tried to put it up last night, but it is an incredibly large file and it exceeded what I can publish on my site.  So it has gone back to our trusty producer Rich Stevens to see if he can compress the quality down just a touch, so that everyone can enjoy the show.

I am off to catch a flight to Michigan for the Cup race this weekend.  I'm will be handling play-by-play duties in the booth for Jeff Burton.  Wendy Venturini will be my pit reporter.  Please, save me the jokes about two italians being in the same place at the same time.

I will give you an update on the show and what's going on in the Irish Hill's (or Ann Arbor) once I touch down and get settled in.

Posted by trizzuti at 08:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (54) | TrackBacks (0)

This entry is going to be short and sweet because it is Madden Day.  Madden 09 from EA Sports hit the shelves at Midnight Monday and video game fans flocked to pick up the new title.  I was not one of the wacko's but I have been in that line before.  Heck, I even waited in line for Star Wars and Harry Potter books, so I have been part of that excitement.

I have yet to play a single down due to the radio show and my DTV conference call, but as soon as I hit publish on this blog...its game on!

The first After Show is in the can.  We recorded following the show today, so it should be posted by 8 pm ET on Thursday night following the Outloud broadcast.  There is some pretty interesting stuff on there, so check that out.

For those of you that watched my Hot Pass coverage of Robbie Gordon from Watkins Glen may remember the driver of the No. 7 telling Larry McReynolds during the red flag that he wasn't getting the same motors as the other Gillette-Evernham cars.  Well apparently, that has sparked some interest from the GEM group who heard that comment over Robbie's radio.  Hopefully, GEM will realize that comments made by a driver in the heat of battle should be taken with a grain of salt.  Maybe there is more to this than we know, but to say Ray and company aren't happy is an understatement.

My Dodgers took a 7-1 lead into the late innings against the Phillies last night only to give up five late runs and sneak past 8-6.  I know they have some guys injured right now, but its time to make another move and try to pick up a pitcher.  I hate giving up the future, but the time is now.  Make the move.

Okay, Madden is calling.  Game On!

Posted by trizzuti at 03:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1782) | TrackBacks (0)

Thank goodness for the Olympics. 

How amazing were the opening ceremonies?  The lighting and costumes were outstanding.  The music and dancing was inspiring.  The flame guy running in air...that was incredible.  And did they light up the entire city with the fireworks or what?

As breathtaking as the "Cirque de Beijing" was, the real excitement for me is that just when I thought my "must see" television had all but ended, the games are here to save the day. 

Hopefully they will fill the sporting void of the "Tour de France".  They may even create more drama than a Jeff Lewis meltdown on Bravo's "Flipping Out".  I certainly expect the production level to eclipse my beloved "Making News Savannah Style" and we will certainly see more tears than "So You Think You Can Dance".  Heck, I even think the 10 billion McDonalds ads may even make my mouth water like "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives".

The Olympic Games are a special event (or is it events...actually I thinks it's both).  For the majority of the athletes and spectators, it's a once in a lifetime experience.  My good friend Chuck McDonald is covering the Diving competition for NBC.  It's a nice break in his TV Production schedule that started with NASCAR and ends with the NFL.  I can't wait to hear his first hand stories from behind the wall of Communist China.  I'm sure he would be more than happy to tell us daily, but my guess is the press room is blocking media access to tonyrizzuti.com (if they even know it exists). 

So what's left once the games end?  That one is easy.  Football, Football and Entourage.  Throw in some Food Network, a occasional Anthony Bourdain "No Reservations" and any rerun of "The Family Guy", and I'm content.  Oh, and don't forget your weekends on NASCAR Hot Pass!

As T.O. would say, "better get your popcorn".  It's going to be a great second half in the television world.

Posted by trizzuti at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (698) | TrackBacks (0)

So Brett Favre is now a New Jersey, err..., New York Jet.  Thank goodness this is "somewhat" over.  No longer do we need 24/7 coverage of where No. 4 is and what is his status.  We know where he is and that's probably at Carnegie Deli having one of those giant Rueben's and a plate of pickles.  No wait...A Rueben has sauerkraut, so I'm sure he passed on anything that resembles a Brat.  So I will guess Brett went with the Beef Mania (an open-faced roast beef and gravy sandwich better known as the Adam Alexander).

Good Luck Brett Favre… And good riddance.

Posted by trizzuti at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (215) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by trizzuti at 06:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (374) | TrackBacks (0)