Sometimes I hate being a night person. It's 12:15 in Aurora and I am still up as usual. Oh what I would give to go to bed at 10 p.m. some night! You people who think it's bad to be old and have to go to bed early? No, you've got it all right, trust me.
Insomnia rant over, staying up late does have benefits sometimes. Besides getting to see great 80s movies and Rocky marathons, I sometimes get tidbits of news several hours before the old people. So I have that going for me, which is nice.
Tonight it appears I get to celebrate Leap Year Day with the news that Rubens Barrichello will be joining the IndyCar series in 2012 as a part of KV Racing. Robin Miller "confirmed" the news in a story on SPEEDTV.com, and it appears that the presser will be Thursday in Brazil. Miller tried to contact all of the principals involved, and believes they are unavailable due to being en route.
If the info is correct, he will join a team with "brother" Tony Kanaan and crash test specialist E.J. Viso. The trio will be wheeling Chevy power and Barrichello will have sponsorship from Brazil Maquinas, a South American construction firm.
With his test at Sebring and again over the weekend at Sonoma, we could kind of see this coming, but it is welcome news. Many of the drivers in the series are looking forward to competing against a racer who has made a record 322 Formula 1 starts and was runner-up for the F1 championship twice.
It's good for the series in terms of competition, and even better when you consider the media implications. Now, I'm not going to be delusional in thinking it will bring a wave of fans into the series, but with 1.4 million Twitter followers Barrichello has the numbers that can help add eyes on IndyCar, and hopefully some of them like what they see. Let's also remember, he is an international personality. That carries weight.
Now that many pieces are in place, the question remains what will he do with the ovals? Honestly, I wonder if that is even an issue. The guy loves to go fast, and loves to compete, and regardless of what others may say or believe, the ultimate challenge of both lies on the west side of Indianapolis. He'll be there.
Look for KV to take a huge step forward this year. With an even-more-than-usually motivated Kanaan driving with his usual vigor and his best friend riding shotgun, don't be surprised if they make a huge impact on the series.
This just gets better every day.
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