Helio Castroneves, Jack Roush, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso and Bobby Labonte made for one strange week in racing

What a week. 

Secret fines, driver rage, a phony F1 finish, Sprint Cup driver changes, and to top it all off, Jack Roush crashing another plane and defying death again, thank goodness.

Wow. Where do we start? Let's begin with NASCAR's double-secret fines to drivers who fail to follow the company line.

All sports fine participants for criticizing officiating, but others do it publicly. By keeping it private (which never works for staying private), it leads people to wonder what else NASCAR isn't telling us.

There was no secret about how Helio Castroneves felt when IndyCar officials took away his victory at Edmonton for blocking while leading the race with a few laps to go.

I'm with the lean, mean dancing machine on this one, although grabbing an official by the shirt was a bit much. That was a big guy. He deserves some kind of award for keeping his cool. He could have snapped little Helio like a broken axle.

Speaking of broken, it applies to Ferrari's brain trust. When will these guys learn you can't fake the outcome? Once again, they tell one driver to get out of the way so his teammate can win the race.
This time, it was Felipe Massa making way for Fernando Alonso in the Grand Prix of Germany. Can you imagine what would happen if Joe Gibbs told Kyle Busch to pull over so Denny Hamlin could win a race?
F1 officials did fine Ferrari $100,000. Let's see, I think that's about the cost of a floor mat on a Ferrari.

Silly Season has some real movement this week instead of the usual wild speculation. Bobby Labonte will take over the No. 47 Toyota in 2011, replacing Marcos Ambrose at JTG Daugherty Racing.

This is great news for Labonte. He gets back in a real car, you know, one that can go the entire race and have a chance to finish in the top 20.

And it could be even better news for Ambrose. He's probably heading to Richard Petty Motorsports in 2011 (although he's still saying no deal is done) to take over the No. 9 Ford for Kasey Kahne.

Ambrose is getting in a car that won at Sonoma in 2009, so keep that engine running, Marcos, and you'll be fine.

And then there's Jack "Nine Lives" Roush. How many people have piloted in two plane crashes and lived to talk about it? This time he walked out of a jet that was cracked in half on landing.

Roush has some facial lacerations that required surgery, but he's going to recover and be OK. He's NASCAR's version of Houdini.

Roush is 68 and has survived two plane crashes in the last eight years. Maybe it's time to just enjoy the ride and let someone else sit in the cockpit. 

So, other than that, nothing happened this week. Who said racing is boring?


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