Only 3 street courses have been around long enough to have true cred: Monaco, Macao, and Long Beach CA.

CART Champ Cars (turbocharged "Indy" cars) start their season at Long Beach Sunday 4/9 3:00 EDT(Z-4). Sebastien Bourdais has the pole. (Are there any US drivers in the series?) Live timing & scoring seem to be absent from: http://www.champcarworldseries.com/FrontPage.asp (money-grubbing bastards!)
Try "Live Timing" @ http://www.cartracingupdate.com/
TV coverage is on NBC delayed 1 hour/4:00 PM EDT.

Rolex Grand Am cars race at Long Beach, their first-ever street course, Saturday 4/8 4:00 PM EDT. With spec wings/tires and <6.0L torque; the Grand Am cars tend to slide around a lot with some laps on their tires. Sliding around + Long Beach = A bad plan. I predict an expensive weekend for many teams. I predict penalties. Diaz/Pruett have the pole. Live timing/scoring IS available: http://grandamerican.vfx.com/Rolex/GrandAmerican_800.asp
TV coverage is on Speed delayed 5 hours/9:00 PM EDT.

Speed airs Friday's IROC race at Texas MS today at 1:00.
Speed replays last week's Speedworld Challenge GT race from St. Petersburg FL at 3:00 PM. Good race!

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I raved about NASCAR at Bristol 2 weeks ago. I never said a word about Nascarbumpercars at Martinsville last week. I watched IRL live/Speedworld Challenge delayed coverage instead.

Fox has Busch racing Saturday 3:00 PM.
Cup race is Sunday 1:30 PM.

Steve, you are the greatest. Long Beach is one of my favorite courses ever, and I'm definetly going to try and catch these races. I actually checked Speed a little while ago, and it was showing the Grand am race. I was at my girlfriends house, so I couldn't watch the whole race. From what I saw, there was some sort of big crash for some team with a stream of bad luck. Then I had to change it.

But yeah, I love Long Beach. My dad saw an F1 race there back in the late 80's. He loves telling the story. "Well, your mother was pregnant with you. I could hear the cars a mile away. They screamed! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOP, WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP (I don't know exactly how to write the sound he makes, but it's really loud and embarassing). They flew around there, too". The first time I heard him tell the story, I didn't even give a second thought about it. "Yeah dad, great story". But now, when he tells that story, I become green with envy. Only now do I realize the importance of Long Beach, and only now do I realize the racing history there.

Oh, I watched a tiny bit of that short track racing. It's pretty nuts. But I haven't matured enough to sit down and watch a whole Nascar race, no matter how exciting.

In the Long Beach Rolex race, the #01 Lexus/Riley of Scott Pruett/Luiz Diaz won by almost 4 seconds ahead of the #23 Alex Job Porsche/Crawford of Patrick Long/Mike Rockenfeller(set fastest lap with 5 to go).

The #3 BMW/Riley of Shane Lewis/Bill Auberlen(ace M3 driver and two time Rolex GT class champ) finished 3rd. Lewis was originally scored as leading laps 12-18, but was "moved to the rear of the running order" after "failing to drive down pit road" during the first caution. I am unclear about this. Maybe someone else can figure it out: http://www.grandamerican.com/News/Article.asp?ID=6076
In any case; the switch from PTG to Dinan BMW engines looks like a smart move.

Andy Wallace/Butch Leitzinger brought the #4 Howard-Boss Pontiac/Riley home in 4th. This made 4 different engines in the top 4 positions.

As to the "major incident" on lap 11; the 2 laps down #8 Synergy Racing Porsche/Doran of Burt Frisselle broke its transmission for good coming out of the last turn leading on to the front "straight", actually a blind sweeper. The driver attempted to get to the inside and was clipped(doing 160?) by the #39 Porsche/Crawford of Eddie Cheever Jr. The #8 car spun to the left and pretty much had its nose removed by the #99 Pontiac/Riley of Rocky Moran Jr. Amazingly, Moran was the only driver examined for injuries(sprained ankle/contusions). Dangerously, Christian Fittipaldi drove the completely toreup(LF wheel leaning in 35 degrees!) #39 for one lap under green later to get a driver point.

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Kasey Kahne won the Texas NASCAR Cup race from the pole.

Sebastien Bourdais won the Long Beach CART race from the pole. Kudos to Katherine Legge (you can tell she is female w/helmet on!) for finishing 8th from a 17th (barely) qualifying start.

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For the record: Race cars should be on race tracks. I think street courses are an abomination. Previous such abominations have included a Can-Am race at a ridiculously dangerous parking lot course(1 fatality) at Candlestick Park (Baseball stadium) in SF CA and a Trans-Am race at Des Moines Iowa where the cars crossed a river on humpback bridges (and tried to get air) TWICE! IMSA GTP cars bottomed out/broke on 150 manhole covers on the streets of New Orleans! Drivers HATE street courses! Every turn is blind and there is zero margin for error! At least some "temporary circuits" like Albert Park have some grass margin. If I could not walk freely in an infield or around a track perimeter(trams at Barber!); I would never GO to road races. I wouldn't give an empty beer can for a ticket to sit in bleachers and watch (through catch fencing) 50 yds. of track!

IRL did their street race at St Petersburg FL. CART races on the street at Long Beach, Houston, Toronto, Edmonton, San Jose, Denver, Surfer's Paradise, and tentatively, Ansan Korea. New such abominations include an ALMS race adjacent to the Houston TX Astrodome 5/12.

Can some racing financial wizard help me out here? A street circuit requires installation of miles(TONS!) of concrete barricades, miles of catch fencing, compensation to businesses whose traffic is restricted for a week or 2, and probably enormous event insurance premiums. For the first Long Beach GP(F1), they actually bussed retirees (whining about noise) to Disneyland/Knotts Berry Farm for the day!

Wouldn't it be cheaper to bus (with a few free drinks!) lazy wimp spectators 50-100 miles to and from a real race track???

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Mopar68; I don't rag on anyone for not sitting through an entire NASCAR race. I watch few completely myself: Bristol, Dover, Daytona, Talladega, and the road courses at Glen and Sears Point(Infineon). I live 25 miles from ATL MS. I will never go back(unless somebody offers me passes to the Hooters suite, LOL!).

Personally, I like street courses. Perhaps it's because I think it gives the drivers a different sort of challenge. Perhaps it's the ancient Roman in me, thirsty for blood and death. Of course, I never watch races "just for the crashes". However, when I watch a street course race, I get slightly giddy thinking about the danger. I know it's terrible.

In short, I like street courses mainly because it doesn't allow the driver's to relax. As you said, there is no margin for error. The driver's have to perform 100% all the time. In my opinion, it seperates the good drivers from the really good drivers.

Spoken like a true tuber and gamer. Your pseudo-ancient-Roman bloodlust is naive/30 years late.

I didn't enjoy watching the deaths of Senna or Earnhardt on live TV. The loudest cheers at any race are for a driver saving his badly out of shape self from a crash; or for walking away from a crash. Loudest cheers of all come when a driver waves from a stretcher!

Street races relieve drivers of their lives and racing teams of their money at an exessive rate. I would bet that a serious career-ending or fatal accident at Monaco would harken its end.

You have a real affection for cars, but you can't appreciate racing on TV until you GO to a race. Don't miss your prom or your gf's b'day; but get your anti-hippie *** to a real road race track. 137 miles to the Rock. Vintage races are kewl. Cheap tickets include paddock access. Carry a hankie to catch the drool.

Spoken like a true tuber and gamer. Your pseudo-ancient-Roman bloodlust is naive/30 years late.

I didn't enjoy watching the deaths of Senna or Earnhardt on live TV. The loudest cheers at any race are for a driver saving his badly out of shape self from a crash; or for walking away from a crash. Loudest cheers of all come when a driver waves from a stretcher!

Street races relieve drivers of their lives and racing teams of their money at an exessive rate. I would bet that a serious career-ending or fatal accident at Monaco would harken its end.

You have a real affection for cars, but you can't appreciate racing on TV until you GO to a race. Don't miss your prom or your gf's b'day; but get your anti-hippie *** to a real road race track. 137 miles to the Rock. Vintage races are kewl. Cheap tickets include paddock access. Carry a hankie to catch the drool.

No, no. I think you have me all wrong. Yes, I am niave (I suppose) and yes, I am a tuber/gamer, but I don't like death, and I don't like crashes. I've only seen Ayrton Senna's crash twice: Once when I first saw the whole race, and a second time to show a buddy of mine. I only saw Dal e Earnhart's crash once, and I never want to see it again. So please, do not lump me into the crowd. I do like to see that intense, on the edge racing, and I feel street courses provide that for the viewer.

I have seen road racing, and that's the only racing I love. I do find it very enjoyable, and in reality, when there's a crash, it's really boring because the yellow flag comes out and the cars just drive around. I do plan on going to Limerock as much as I possibly can. Also, I'd much rather watch a race in real life than on TV.

Man, please, please, please do not group me into that sect of people who only watch races "for the crashes". I never liked crashes, and I never will.

Isn't it odd how it's just the two of us in this conversation?

Mopar68; safer racing still costs lives; if less frequently than in earlier times.