Hello Racing Fans...

In this country, everyone is all in a dither about Dale Jr. switching cars and sponsers -- leaving the team his daddy was with for a different one. But in the rest of the world, other news is going on.

In Formula 1, team McLaren got kicked out of the championship race for spying on Ferrari. They're still allowed to race, and their drivers are allowed to keep their championship points (they're in the number 1 and 2 spots), but Ferrari will be the manufacturer winner, and their cars will have numbers 1 and 2 next year. In fact, if a McLaren car wins another race, no representative from the team (other than the driver) will be allowed on the podium. Talk about a smackdown! All because a couple of tech bigwigs for McLaren ended up with classified Ferrari documents in their possesion. Everyone involved has been fired now (of course) but the damage is done. This actually works out well for me, because while I always root for the prancing pony, I was very impressed with Hamilton's performance in his first year. So now I can root for him to win, and know that Ferrari will still win too.

On a less pleasant note, Colin McCrae (of the computerized rally racing games) was killed in a helicopter accident, along with his son and some friends.