The recent Indy Racing League whirligig at Richmond Int’l Raceway, at which eight yellow flags were displayed before the halfway mark was reached, showed, if nothing else, that the tight Richmond Int’l Raceway requires skills beyond the ability of some IRL regulars. Of interest was the classification by our latest Indy 500 winner, New Zealander Scott Dixon, of Danica Patrick as “a menace,” which lost him some friends stateside. When the Richmond checkered finally waved, Danica was not only the best-placed American driver among those finishing, but was the top American driver in IRL series points heading into Watkins Glen this weekend. Name-calling is new to the IRL. Will it continue? The Glen may well provide the answer.

Beyond the announcement that retired World Driving Champion Michael Schumacher has been named chairman of the newly created Motor Sport Safety Development Fund, no details of the organization’s objectives or goals have been received.

It should be fun and games for Indy Racing League members come Nov. 5 as its annual awards banquet will be held at The Palms in Las Vegas.

Seeing obituaries for leggy dancing star Cyd Charrise reminded Ye Ed of auto racing’s very first national convention, organized by this newspaper. It was in 1939 or 1940 at the hotel New Yorker at 8th Avenue & 34th Street in Manhattan. Its planning was elaborate and grandiose and the hotel management had gone out of its way to cooperate. Attention getters in the lobby included a few midget-racing cars — static exhibits — including the beautiful California-built Rudy Adams JAP. A day or two into the convention, which was highlighted by an endless succession of cocktail parties, a few spirited delegates decided to fire up the Adams JAP in the hotel’s main lobby. One partygoer climbed behind its wheel while other partygoers — including Ye Ed — became a push-start crew. Back and forth, forth and back across the lobby we pushed and pushed until it finally fired. The car had no clutch, but an in-and-out gearbox lever on the lower-left outer side of the cockpit, which the driver — whose name cannot be recalled — managed to disengage just as the engine roared to life. Now, idling loudly, the driver engaged the gearbox lever and, instead of the car lurching forward, it gathered huge sheets of the lobby’s carpeting, depositing it in a huge pile against the hotel’s registration desk before the car moved. Across the spacious hotel lobby, the car sped, swerving into a hallway leading into the hotel’s celebrated “The Room,” at which guests were enjoying the dancing of Cyd Charisse and singing of Tony Martin while partaking of dinner. The midget racing car bumped down two steps, nudging open doors to “The Room” just as it stalled. At this point the bluecoats, called by hotel security, arrived and we participants fled. Shameful? Yes, but always fond are such memories.

Talent rewarded. Chris Powell, general manager at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a Speedway Motorsports, Inc. property, has been elevated to the presidency of the big oval. This track has been in the news of late, due to SMI’s headman Bruton Smith making noise about a second Sprint Cup Series date for the track. In addition, LVMS may be part of a five-track package of IndyCar Series events, SMI is attempting to negotiate with the Indy Racing League.

The announcement that German carmakers Porsche and Audi will cooperate on matters technical has car types wondering if they will adopt a similar look. Insiders say the cooperation will be on hybrids, rather than standard models. Audi makes no bones about its desire to become the world’s most successful premium automaker by 2015. Audi exec Frank Dreves has said Audi will expand its production to 40 models by 2015 from 25 today. Porsche, now the major shareholder of the Volkswagen group, now has a seat on Audi’s board.

With Joey Logano generating widespread publicity for teen-aged drivers, after his Kentucky NASCAR Nationwide victory in his third start in that series, drivers at the other end of the age spectrum are getting some ink, as well. Atlanta Motor Speedway’s summer series, Thursday Night Thunder, now in its fourth week racing around a quarter-mile oval using the start-finish line portion of its big track’s main stretch and pit lane, is attracting drivers aged 40 and higher to its Masters Series in which Legends cars compete. Star of the month is 51-year-old Jim Daniel, who recently won his first Thursday Thunder Masters Series feature. Atlanta Motor Speedway President Ed Clark is also a frequent competitor at the track in both the Legends cars and roadsters.