IndyCar gears up for Fourth of July affair at Watkins Glen

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06/30/2010 - Watkins Glen, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: IZOD IndyCar. Date: Sunday, July 4. Race: Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen. Site: Watkins Glen International. Track: 3.4-mile, 11-turn road course. Start Time: 3:30 p.m. (et). Laps: 60. Miles: 204. 2009 winner: Justin Wilson. Television: ABC. Radio: IMS Radio Network/SIRIUS XM Satellite.

Watkins Glen International kicks off five consecutive street/road course races for the IZOD IndyCar Series. The series will run in the Canadian cities of Toronto and Edmonton before returning to the United States for Mid-Ohio and Sonoma, CA. The next IndyCar oval event is scheduled for August 28 at Chicagoland.

After a fourth-place finish two weeks ago at Iowa, Will Power from Penske Racing reclaimed the championship points lead. Power holds an 11-point advantage over Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon, while Dixon's teammate, Dario Franchitti, dropped to third in points (-14) after his disappointing 18th-place finish at Iowa. Franchitti led the most laps with 69, but suffered a gear-box issue late in the race, which put the defending series champion 36 laps behind.

Power won two of the first four street/road course races this year. He kicked off the season with back-to-back victories at Sao Paulo, Brazil and St. Petersburg, FL.

Ryan Hunter-Reay from Andretti Autosport won the most recent street/road course event held in April at Long Beach, CA. Hunter-Reay's first win in the series came two years ago at Watkins Glen. He drove for the now-defunct Rahal Letterman Racing team at the time.

Last year at Watkins Glen, Justin Wilson put on a dominating performance and easily held off Ryan Briscoe and Dixon in the final laps for the win. Wilson not only scored his second career IndyCar victory, but also gave Dale Coyne Racing its first win in open-wheel competition.

"I think it's one of the best tracks in the world," Wilson said. "Having won there last year I'm going to say that, but it's just a great, fun track. There are a lot of fast corners, and it hasn't lost any of its character with the safety improvements. That's key. When you come out of those fifth-and-fourth gear corners, you know when you've got it right."

One year ago, Wilson became the first non-Ganassi or Penske driver to win an IndyCar race since his victory at Detroit in August 2008 when he drove for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. He is now behind the wheel of the No.22 car for Dreyer and Reinbold Racing.

"I'm focused on this year, hoping we can go back there and be as competitive," said Wilson, who currently sits eighth in points. "It's a different team, but I want to get back that same level of competition. Hopefully we can work it all out and repeat."

Wilson had three top-10 finishes, including two second-place runs, in the four early season street/road course races. He also has started on the outside pole in the last two Watkins Glen races.

Canadian Paul Tracy will be Wilson's teammate at Watkins Glen. Tracy is substituting for the injured Mike Conway in the No.24 Dreyer and Reinbold car. Conway continues to recover from injuries he sustained in a horrifying crash during the final lap of the May 30 Indianapolis 500.

Tracy previously announced that he would drive in the two upcoming Canadian races.

"It's obviously a good feeling to get more races, especially being able to race at The Glen and building up momentum before going into the Canadian events," Tracy said.

Twenty-five teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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