Betting on Formula 1 in Vegas (and watching)

Betting on F1 in Vegas is like installing a competent and corruption-free central government in Afghanistan-- nearly impossible.

Betting:
I just wanted to make a simple bet-- that Mark Webber will win the Driver's Championship in the 2010 season.  I checked out nearly a dozen casinos on the Strip, even the sportsbook at Caesar's Palace, and no one took F1 bets.  When I asked a lady at a sportsbook if I could bet on Formula One racing, she said: Yeah, you can bet on NASCAR.  Groan.

You can bet on the WNBA, and even Canadian football, but you can't bet on F1 on the Strip.

So I then went to the Hilton on Paradise Road, several blocks east of the strip.  It has the largest sportsbook in the state and is the only place I found that took F1 bets.

I arrived after the Belgian GP.  I learned that I can only bet on races, not on the season.  Plus, for each race, I can only bet from the Monday prior to the race.  I couldn't make a bet even if I wanted to since the next race was two weeks away.  Frak.

I was able to get the odds for the Spa race.  Here is the breakdown below.  (X) signifies how the driver finished the race.
Hamilton 8/5 (1)
Webber 2/1 (2)
Vettel, 5/1 (15)
Kubica 10/1 (3)
Alonso 12/1 (Ret.)
Massa 25/1 (4)
Sutil 50/1 (5)
Rubens 100/1 (Ret.)
Rosberg 200/1 (6)
Liuzzi 300/1 (10)
Hulkenberg 300/1 (14)
Schumacher 500/1 (7)
Buemi 500/1 (12)
Alguersuari 500/1 (13)
Kamui 1000/1 (8)
Petrov 1000/1 (9)
De La Rosa 1000/1 (11)
Glock 5000/1 (18)
All others 300/1

This is a non sequitur, but I saw this monstrous limo while searching for a place to bet. 

Watching:
My hotel room did not have Speed so I woke up at 4:30 and ran downstairs to watch it at a bar.  I went to a dozen places and the TVs were either pre-programmed or only had four channels.  I finally found a place-- at the Paris sportsbook-- that had the race on.  It was on a crappy projection TV and had no audio.  To make matters worse, I argued with a security guard mid-race because he thought I was sleeping (I was alone in the entire sportsbook).  Ugh.

Formula 1 Datsun 280ZX Turbo pace car Las Vegas Grand Prix

I'm reading Analysing Formula 1 and lo and behold, there is a snapshot of the 1982 Las Vegas Grand Prix (in the Caesar's Palace parking lot) and the pace car is a 280ZX Turbo!

Image courtesy.

Nick Heidfeld Minichamps 2010 collection

Though Nick got a gig testing Pirelli tires for F1, his future as a racer in F1 is still iffy.  My favorite diecast carmaker, Minichamps, neglected to make a model of him this season.  But I've got to get my Heidfeld Minichamps fix so I fudged my rules a little and expanded my collection.

I first started by collecting his Sauber BMW cars.  I then upped the ante by acquiring his 1999 McLaren and 2005 Williams.

So now what?  Well.  He is, after all, testing the Pirelli tires with the 2009 Toyota TF109.  So I got this:

And no, I am not going to paint it white.

Then, I figured: He was the reserve/test driver for Mercedes GP this year.  So I am bidding on this:

Yes, I know that is Nico Rosberg in the car.  But I have been rooting for Nico all season.  And no, I am not going to paint his helmet black.

And there you have it, the complete Nick Heidfeld F1 Minichamps collection.*

*Less his cars from Jordan, Prost, etc.

Sponsor MIG Bank Schumacher ad commercial promo

I'm sure the marketing people at MIG Bank regret this association.

Rchen's Monterey Historics week

Rchen's Monterey experience was just like mine, except he also got to go to The Quail, Concorso Italiano, and drive a new Mercedes Gullwing.  Oh, and his camera didn't crap out on him.  And I bet his best meal was not from the MVP Pizza stand at the Concours d'LeMons.

Enjoy here.

Nick Heidfeld Pirelli Toyota test driver

Later this month, Heidfeld will be testing next season's Pirelli tires with Toyota's TF109 F1 car.  At various points this year, I thought he was going to McLaren, Mercedes, Renault, even Sauber BMW.  I never would have guessed that he would end up driving a 2009 Toyota.

My Citroen ID19 Repair Manual

I went to Powells in Portland, Oregon, last week and had a ball.  First, be advised that the automotive section has moved from the main store to the Powell's Technical branch a couple of blocks away at 33 NW Park Avenue.

The selection is even more fantastic than I remembered from my last trip.  Books dedicated solely to the history of Intermeccanica, the development of the Alfa Romeo Montreal, and maintenance of your Ford Pinto can be found.  I didn't go hog wild so I ended up with just two books.

The first is Analysing Formula 1.  The author put together a lot of interesting and unusual stats, such as number of races before a driver achieves his first win versus the number of races between that driver's last win and his last race before retirement (Jacque Villeneuve "wins" with 132 winless races).

But the crown jewel is this Citroen ID19 Repair Manual.  I really dig it, even though I'll never own an ID19.

Here is the cover.  It's made out of some sort of 1960s vinyl/plastic material.  It does not appear that it was ever used.

You open the manual up and it comes in two halves.  The top half contains diagrams; the bottom half contains detailed written instructions.

See?

Table of contents for the diagram section.

Table of contents for the instruction section.  The paper is kinda thin, like wax paper.  I don't think it would have held up well after years of use.

Young Hamilton and Rosberg

For some reason, I'm thinking Fine Young Cannibals and Rick Astley.

Source.

Heidfeld, Renault F1, and Petrov

Heidfeld was spotted today at Renault's motorhome.  As Schumacher confirmed that he is committed to losing through the 2011 season, Quick Nick has to look elsewhere for a drive in F1.  Rumor has it that Petrov has until Hungary to prove that he should keep his seat.

All eyes on Petrov

3 seater F1 car (Renault and McLaren in Moscow)

Go to 1:12.

1979 F1 Toyota Celica pace car (Long Beach, Watkins Glen)

I really hope this car is still around.  I'd much rather see this than another yellow and purple limited edition Oldsmobile Indy 500 pace car.

Here is footage of the Celica pace car at the 1979 Long Beach GP (@2:19).  Bonus: The broken down Ligier is the basis for Transformer Autobot Mirage.

Vitaly Petrov's Renault Megane RS

This was Petrov at Silverstone last weekend.  That Megane is magnificent.  I'm no fan of blingy wheels but those are worth at least one kidney.

Source.

Rubens Barrichello beats The Stig on Top Gear!

Nick Heidfeld driving 2010 Mercedes GP car at Goodwood

Young Kamui Kobayashi in Ferrari powered BMW

Source.

Sauber BMW Ferrari Pedro de la Rosa Paella Valencia

What's up with Pedro and food?  First, he snagged Burger King Spain's sponsorship.  Now, this.

Via Sweet F1.

F1 Lotus T12 and T127 photo picture

Lotus is celebrating their 500th race this weekend in Valencia.  They brought out the first Lotus F1 car for a photo shoot.

Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton assemble McLaren F1 car

The teammates appear to have great chemistry in this ad.  But then again, I though Lewis and Fernando had great chemistry in their ad.

F1 beer vibrations

That's LOUD.

Via Sweet F1.

ABBA F1 car

I'm channel surfing and found ABBA the movie (1977).  It's on a channel called Palladia (who knew?).  Of course, I googled "ABBA car" and look what I found.

In 1981, Slim Borgudd was looking for a sponsor in order to race in F1.  He used to be a musician and hit up his friends from ABBA.  The ATS car with ABBA livery participated in eight races.