Hideki Mutoh Confirmed at NHL Racing

[Chamoo]

Autosport is confirming that Hideki Mutoh will drive for NHLR in 2010.

Link Here (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81626)

This is a positive, especially since a lot of us weren't sure whether Sato was getting the Formula Dream money or not. Looks like Mutoh got it in the long run.

The best part about this whole thing is that the good people at NHL Racing, atleast some of them will have a job in 2010 as opposed to be out on the street.

[SarahFan]

whew!


it was starting to look like they might not make the grid

[TURN3]

Yeah, I seen this confirmed on Racer Mag website earlier this morn. I can't explain how depressing it is that NHL has been reduced to this. Good they are still open so they can employ people, good to have 1 more car on track to get in the way of Dixon, Dario, Helio, Briscoe, and Power...but NHL as a top tier team after what 25 years? is no more. Very sad.

[SarahFan]

Yeah, I seen this confirmed on Racer Mag website earlier this morn. I can't explain how depressing it is that NHL has been reduced to this. Good they are still open so they can employ people, good to have 1 more car on track to get in the way of Dixon, Dario, Helio, Briscoe, and Power...but NHL as a top tier team after what 25 years? is no more. Very sad.



all true....but at this point its all about meeting those 'key metrics' so the league can get thru 2010......and car looks to be an issue so even 1 more car is vital

[djparky]

it says everything about the dismal state of Indy Car that NHL can only run a rent-a-driver like Mutoh

[Chamoo]

it says everything about the dismal state of Indy Car that NHL can only run a rent-a-driver like Mutoh

These things happen. It's no good, but it's better that they run a 1 car pay driver then not run at all, agreed?

[jwhite9185]

i agree with what most people have said in this thread - good that nhl is still alive and they are putting a car on the grid, but a bit sad to see that the team that won 5 out of the last 6 champ car titles reduced to being an also ran in 2010.

[Chamoo]

i agree with what most people have said in this thread - good that nhl is still alive and they are putting a car on the grid, but a bit sad to see that the team that won 5 out of the last 6 champ car titles reduced to being an also ran in 2010.

Times change. However, I'm more happy that they will be on the grid in 2010, with the possibility of running 2 cars then I am sad about the fact that they took Hideki Mutoh who had funding behind him.

I'm actually happy to see Hideki Mutoh on the grid.

[Josh1985]

I'm not sure why it's all doom and gloom here. I think this is great news!

I can't figure out why everyone seems to be so down on Mutoh. He's a good driver, nice guy and brings international flair to the series.

[SarahFan]

I'm not sure why it's all doom and gloom here. I think this is great news!

I can't figure out why everyone seems to be so down on Mutoh. He's a good driver, nice guy and brings international flair to the series.

in and of it self its not a bad thing.....and its a great thing becuase i think folks were beginning to wonder after the Sato signing if the japenese funds had were alocated elsewhere and whether NHL was going to make the gris for 2010...


but when you consider that at one NHL ran (and paid) world class drivers like the andrettis, mansell, PT, DaMatta, bourdais etc......the fact that they look to be a 1 car team with a midpack ride buyer speaks volumes about the state of the sport

[Scotty G.]

all true....but at this point its all about meeting those 'key metrics' so the league can get thru 2010...


Which is the same spiel we heard in 2007 and 2008 and 2009.


NHL is just adding another driver who adds nothing to the sport but a car for the car count. And it keeps some good people employed for another year.

Other then that, its very insignificant. Especially, when Graham Rahal, John Edwards, Jon Summerton, JR Hildebrand, Buddy Rice and many, many others are all gone.

[Scotty G.]

Something is a bit effed up, when there are as many fulltime Japanese drivers in the sport as Americans, with one week to go until the first test. :mad:

[Mark in Oshawa]

Scott, I pointed this out on the Rahal thread. Don't blame the car owners for a crappy business model. If the only money you can get to keep the doors open is money from overseas for some faceless f1 rejecct, then that is what you take. If the IRL and their TV partners back in the late 90's had done their marketing better, maybe this series isn't in the sewer. Maybe if we didn't have two leagues chasing the same dwindling group of fans for 16 years this aint happening.

To whine about this now is just typical knee jerk nonsense.

NHL did what they NEEDED to do. I think this may be the first time in their history they hired a driver based on his check, rather than just his skills or potential skills.

[px400r]

Something is a bit effed up, when there are as many fulltime Japanese drivers in the sport as Americans, with one week to go until the first test. :mad:

So it's not fracked up if all the engines for the past few years are Japanese?

Or that all the chassis are Italian?

Or the tires are supplied by the American subsidiary of a Japanese company?

[Chamoo]

Or the tires are supplied by the American subsidiary of a Japanese company?

The tires we can't do much about. There aren't many top flight North American tire manufacturers.

[px400r]

The tires we can't do much about. There aren't many top flight North American tire manufacturers.

How about Goodyear?


Heck, why not Hoosier?

[Chamoo]

How about Goodyear?


Heck, why not Hoosier?

Sorry, your right. Goodyear, though they are quite content with Nascab.

I wouldn't put Hoosier on the same level as Firestone/Bridgestone.

[px400r]

Sorry, your right. Goodyear, though they are quite content with Nascab.

I wouldn't put Hoosier on the same level as Firestone/Bridgestone.

I remember the Goodyear/Firestone wars in CART (at the same time as 3 legit engine manufacturers plus Toyota) and interesting options besides Reynard.

Goodyear tires seemed faster than Firestone but wouldn't hold up as well.

Just imagine if those battles were at Indy as well...

[Pat Wiatrowski]

The tires we can't do much about. There aren't many top flight North American tire manufacturers.

I say bring the French! They would smoke B-F.

[px400r]

I say bring the French! They would smoke B-F.

There's also BF Goodrich, an American brand owned by the French (Michelin).

[V12]

I say bring the French! They would smoke B-F.

Yup they certainly would...then get driven out over some political BS (pun intended) and leave BS/FS with a nice cosy monopoly like F1, MotoGP (they were also driven out of WRC)

[Lousada]

Goodyear and Michelin did such stellar jobs at Indy in the past, right? I can't remember Bridgestone or Firestone ever having such heroic clusterf***s as that.

[nigelred5]

Well, sadly I have felt this had been coming for quite a while. I give it a year, maybe 2 before Carl is gone from the team as well and then Newman Haas will simply be just another team. Question is, will they have anywhere to race anyway.

[beachgirl]

NHL is just adding another driver who adds nothing to the sport but a car for the car count. And it keeps some good people employed for another year.



At the end of Day 1 testing, Japanese ride buyer in 10th place, American ride buyer in 18th. I'll take the Japanese ride buyer over the American ride buyer any day.

[Scotty G.]

At the end of Day 1 testing, Japanese ride buyer in 10th place, American ride buyer in 18th. I'll take the Japanese ride buyer over the American ride buyer any day.

Ohh, your the one. :D

[Mark in Oshawa]

At the end of Day 1 testing, Japanese ride buyer in 10th place, American ride buyer in 18th. I'll take the Japanese ride buyer over the American ride buyer any day.

I would find a way to take the guy who isn't buying the ride who can put the car up front...Paul Tracy last I heard was just that sort of guy. I bet Graham Rahal is too...but the problem is owners are not going to dig into their own pockets and be in the red to do this....and I cant say as I blame them.

[djparky]

These things happen. It's no good, but it's better that they run a 1 car pay driver then not run at all, agreed?

in terms of keeping people employed then yes-

in terms of how sad it is to see such a great team being reduced to running a talentless ride-buyer- who is simply there to flesh out the field then- no

[nigelred5]

To be honest, NewmanHaas has had difficulty landing sponsors since they lost K-Mart and Texaco. They were supposed to have a big deal with Eli Lilly and Cialis, then they ended up with an unbranded car half the year, then a minimal presence and zero activation for the remainder of that deal in what always looked and performed like an underfunded car. Most of us know Newman drug McDonalds in on the the heels of his Newman's Own deal with McDonalds and we see what happened to that deal when Paul left us. I never cared for Bourdais, and even though the team enjoyed great success with him in champcar, I always questioned the level of competition he faced from drivers and teams. It's a sad state for what used to be one of the premier teams and my personal favorite team in openwheel racing for over 20 ears.I think it also reveals what many fans knew, that Haas's relationship with Lola always got the team the best stuff and controlled what and when anyone else got new bits, and that hadn't changed appreciably when they went with the DP01. The shoe has been on the other foot in indycar. AS much as I have grown to like PT over the years, He's never brought sponsorship, it was alway already there and the teams chose him, the way it should be. He hasn't raced consistently since he had to start finding his own $ to race.

[Mark in Oshawa]

The thing that gets me about PT not finding the dough, is here is a ready made PR machine. He can be the bad boy, be colorful, but also be a decent guy too. He is far more youthful in his outlook and communication than his age would indicate. The Shaun White crowd would love this guy. The cranky rebel with the smart@ss mouth would sell to the younger generations in ways most drivers in their 30's wouldn't. Yet he cant get anything but rudimentry sponsors for the 2 Canadian races, and Geico for Indy. I don't get it...but then again, most Indy car teams are having a miserable time getting sponsors so I do put more of it down to the changing state of the racing economy.

NHL is the biggest victim of all of this, but they also lost their "unfair" advantage when ChampCar died and Paul Newman shortly after. If Carl Haas quit the sport, I wouldn't be surprised.