In the preliminaries to the presentation, Mario Andretti himself stated that one of the biggest factors in considering the nominees was winning.  Let’s take a look at the 2011 records of each of the three racers:

• Tony Stewart won 5 of 36 races – a 13.8% winning percentage
• Casey Stoner won 10 of 18 races – a 55.5% winning percentage
• Sebastian Vettel won 11 of 19 races – a 57.8% winning percentage

When you look at the winning percentage, it seems to me that it’s not even close.  You can take a closer look at the wins and see that Tony Stewart won all of his races in the final 10-race “Chase” of the Sprint Cup season after barely making into “the Chase.”  Stoner and Vettel’s races were won throughout the course of their seasons.  Furthermore you can’t describe Stewart’s 2011 season as dominating (although you could describe his “Chase” performance as dominant) but there is little question that Stoner and Vettel had dominating seasons.

To me, there is no question that the award should have gone to either Stoner or Vettel. Which one of those two?  Now that would truly be a hard decision to make.

Michael Shank Racing took the overall and DP win after a terrific race long battle with Starworks.  The 60 Shank Car driven by AJ Allmendinger, Oswaldo Negri, John Pew, and Justin Wilson topped the 8 Starworks car of Ryan Dalziel, Lucas Luhr, Allan McNish, Alex Popow, and Enzo Potolicchio.  Even though Dalziel took pole for the race I’m not very many expected to see these two cars fighting for the win. Most probably expected to see a fight between the Ganassi 01, Sun Trust Racing, and Gainsco racing. The Sun Trust car went out very early and the Gainsco car experience problems during the night that took it out of contention but to be honest the new Corvette DP cars were never really in contention for the win.  The Ganassi car ran into problems after 23 hours taking it out of contention but even though it ran in the top 3 it wasn’t as strong as seasons past. They deserve the win. The Shank team has steadily improved each season and this year they not only had a fast car, they stayed out of trouble and kept it one piece. The win was also a feel good story when you consider that Justin Wilson won on his first race after a broken back last season and Oswaldo Negri finally won a big one.

Magnus Racing defeated TRG in a Porsche dominated GT field.  The Brumos Porsche was also a factor in the GT race but at the end it came down to Magnus and TRG. Magnus was definitely a competent team last season but they needed just a little extra to make that next step up; the addition of Andy Lally was that little extra they needed.  Something went sour between TRG and Andy Lally in NASCAR at the end of last season and I don’t think you can count that out as a factor either. I have to believe that Lally was out to prove something after being a TRG driver for so long.

At the end of the day, there were two keys to victory for Michael Shank Racing. First, Lucas Luhr ran off of the course Sunday morning and damaged some of the rear bodywork on the Starworks 8 Riley Ford.  The team simply ripped it off and the result was that car was no longer as fast on the banking as the Shank Riley Ford was.  Even if Starworks had replacement body work, I think that if they took the time to replace it, the time it took would have hurt them just as much.  Second, Michael Shank Racing made the right call at the right time when they put AJ Allmendinger in the car to drive the final stints of the race.  They had the faster car and it meant the other teams had to make longer stops to change drivers.

Some other discussion points from a most interesting race:

• Are rules changes coming for Ford in DP and Porsche in GT? Clearly, Ford was the superior engine in the DP field and the Porsche was the fastest car in GT this year.  Will Grand Am make adjustments in the rules to try balance the field more.  Scott Pruett was already complaining loudly that he didn’t think it was right for for one manufacturer to be so much faster in a straight line.  Funny he didn’t feel that way last year when the BMW engine was superior.
• After a very positive test, the Corvette DPs weren’t a factor in the race.  The Sun Trust team suffered early engine problems that kept us from seeing their true pace but the rest of the Corvette teams were never in contention for the win.  They simply didn’t have the pace to keep up with Riley Fords and the Riley BMWs.  The new Riley was definitely the faster of the new generation DP cars. I wonder if that is a result of the Riley being a single body/single chassis combination as opposed to the Corvette program being the Corvette package on a variety of chassis? It seems that the Riley program would be the easier one to develop.
• Audi was uncompetitive.  Some suggested that Audi was sandbagging during the test but it became obvious during the race that the R8 Grand Am was not as competitive a car as the R8 LMS.  Speed reported that the two R8s had muliple clutch issues that were the result of using a stock clutch that is normally used with traction control, which is not allowed in Grand Am. The clutch was obviously not strong or durable enough. The R8 needs a lot more development for Grand Am before it becomes the weapon it is in Europe.
• Marco Andretti was extremely impressive.  I understand that the officials have the discretion to allow it but I didn’t agree with allowing Andretti to race without meeting the practice requirements and I still don’t.  His impressive race performance doesn’t change my mind.  That doesn’t, however, take away from how fast he was in a car he hadn’t driven before on a track he hadn’t raced on before at night. It didn’t surprise me though, remember how fast he was capable of being when the Andretti team was running the Acura LMP2 cars in the ALMS.  If Marco Andretti can carry the performance he exhibited at Daytona into the IndyCar season, watch out.

Initially, I was going to put the HF antenna on the driver’s side of the rear hatch and the VHF/UHF antenna on the passenger side of the rear hatch.  The reasoning was to keep the shorter antenna on the shoulder side of the road to keep the taller HF antenna from striking tree limbs, etc.  Instead, when I realized the dual band mobile have to go on the driver’s side of the car I decided to put the VHF/UHF antenna on the driver’s side as well to reduce the feedline run.  Bad idea.  It seems that I’ve struck enough tree limbs and other things with the HVT-400B to put a bend in it and I think I’ve damaged it because the performance has gone down.

This morning, I took things partially apart and reversed the mounting with a new HVT-400B; things are now where I intended them to be in the first place.  Reducing the feedline run in the mobile installation shouldn’t have been a consideration because the additional piece I had to add this morning hasn’t made a difference.  It would, however have kept me from messing up an antenna.

Callsigns
AB 1## – F/A-18F, VFA-11
RIPPER – F/A-18F, VFA-11
AB 2## – F/A-18F, VFA-211
NIKEL – F/A-18F, VFA-211
AB 3## – F/A-18E, VFA-136
HAWK – F/A-18E, VFA-136
AB 4## – F/A-18C, VMFA-251
TBOLT – F/A-18C, VMFA-251
AB 5## – EA-6B, VAQ-137
ROOK – EA-6B, VAQ-137
TRON – EA-6B, VAQ-137
AB 60# – E-2C, VAW-123
SCREWTOP – E-2C, VAW-123
SWEEP – F/A-18, CVW-1
PREVAIL – JTAC(?)
SHARK – FAC-A
STRIKER – JTAC
ZAGS 8# – KC-135, 92nd ARW)
OMEGA – Contract Tanker
ECHO PAPA – Strike Commander
ECHO WHISKEY – Air Defense Commander
STEELJAW – E-2D, Pax River
BRONCO – A-10, 23rd FG
DEATH – B-2, 509th BW
ADVANCE – JTAC
KOMODO – E-8C, 461st ACW frontend
VULTURE – E-8C 461st ACW backend

AMBUSH – F/A-18, VFC-12, Opfor
SNAKE – F/A-18C, VFC-12, Opfor
VIPER – F/A-18C, VFC-12, Opfor
AERO – Opfor
COUGAR – Opfor
DIAMOND – Opfor
KNIGHT – Opfor
PANTHER – Opfor

Frequencies
227.175 – ECHO WHISKEY Net
328.425 – Marshal
342.075 – ECHO PAPA/ECHO WHISKEY Net
371.050 – Red Crown
298.475 – Button 10?
314.375 – Button 13
363.650 – Rep
233.325 – “Yellow”
338.750 – ISR, heavy encrypted use
5.723 USB – ECHO WHISKEY Net
8.974 USB – ECHO WHISKEY Net

236.075 – VMFA-251 Tac
246.800 – VFA-136 Tac
303.450 – VFA-11 Tac
343.325 – VFA-211 Tac
239.975 – VAW-123 Tac
371.125 – VMFA-251 Tac

120.950 – SEALORD North Primary
267.500 – SEALORD South Primary
284.500 – SEALORD North Primary
349.800 – W-157 Discrete; Air Intercepts
376.900 – W-157 Discrete; Aerial Refueling
318.600 – SEALORD Discrete; Aerial Refueling

225.350 – Pinecastle Range
261.250 – Rodman Target
289.200 – Pinecastle Range

235.325 – JSTARS Discrete
341.750 – JSTARS Discrete

229.975 – Opfor
381.400 – Opfor air-to-air
320.500 – BRISTOL Discrete; Opfor

TG 287 is Port Wentworth Fire Department.  It is the same thing as TG 4592 on the Chatham-Effingham TRS.  There were test transmissions made by what was probably radio service over several days along with calls from a SSFD EMS unit and a PWPD unit to PWFD units which went unanswered.  It seems that PWFD might not be using the SEGARRN yet but someone who is is scanning their talkgroup.

TG 297 is Thunderbolt Fire Department, the same as TG 4752 on the Chatham-Effingham TRS.  All that was noted during the time period were some test transmissions and some very garbled transmissions.

TG 313 is Garden City FD 1, the same as TG 5008 on the Chatham-Effingham TRS. Likewise TG 315 is Garden City FD 2, the same as TG 5040 on the Chatham-Effingham TRS.  On TG 313, test transmissions from what was probably radio service were recorded over several days.  On TG 315, there were test transmissions along with some traffic from GCFD units and personnel. The number of hits don’t indicate that GCFD is using the SEGARRN yet but someone who is likely is scanning their talkgroups.

TG 5061 may possibly be a Bryan County Fire Department first responders talkgroup.  I only had a handful of hits, but they formed a conversation regarding one unit on a call standing by for EMS arrival and a second unit telling the first to cancel the fire department if they aren’t needed.

TG 5114 may possibly be a Bryan County Fire or EMS talkgroup.  I had only a few hits including traffic between Central (Bryan Dispatch) and EMS 6 along with some test tones.

TG 12831 is Liberty County Fire Departemt, probably the Station 1600 talkgroup.  There was traffic regarding “16 Substation 1″ and unit to unit traffic between 16## units.  It seems to fit the same pattern as TG 12827, which is probably the Station 1200 talkgroup and TG 12828, which is probably the Station 1300 talkgroup.  This could possibly indicate the following layout for some of the Liberty County FD talkgroups:

12827 – LCFD Station 1200
12828 – LCFD Station 1300
12829 – LCFD Station 1400
12830 – LCFD Station 1500
12831 – LCFD Station 1600

Due to my home location in relation to the CSX and Norfolk Southern yards, I recieve CSX much better and was able to make better sense out of what was recorded, hence  I have more possible indentifying information on their frequencies.

CSX
160.590 – Ch. 32, Road Channel
160.320 – Ch. 14
160.485 – Ch. 25, Southover Yard?
161.100 – Ch. 66, CSX JA Dispatch?

Norfolk Southern
160.950 – Ch. 56, Road Channel
160.275 – Ch. 11
161.010 – Ch. 60
161.490 – Ch. 92

Information found on the internet helped ID the CSX and Norfolk Southern Road Channels and they are both VERY active.  Additionally, I’ve found the frequencies that seem to be the CSX Southover Yard and CSX JA Dispatch are very active.  If I understood what I was hearing better I might be able to identify them better but I imagine that will come with time.  For the most part, the Norfolk Southern frequencies don’t come in as strong so it’s hard to determine what they might be.

The USS Enterprise (CVN-65) and Carrier Air Wing 1 (CVW-1) carrier strike group continue to train off of the Florida coast using the offshore warning areas and Pinecastle Range complex.  Since I’ve been in Brunswick this week, I’ve been going to Jekyll Island to listen to the air activity but yesterday I decided to drive down to St. Marys, GA to get a bit closer.  I’m glad I did.

Once I got to St. Marys, the first order of business was to get some lunch because it was almost 1400 local.  I stopped by the Riverside Cafe across from the ferry for the Cumberland Island National Park. I began listening with the HT while having an excellent gyro and greek salad (if you go, try the Riverside Gyro – you won’t be disappointed).  Immediately it was obvious that business was picking up.

On the drive down I-95, I had begun to hear some JSTARS activity and by the time I got closer to St. Marys I could tell that it was Enterprise related.  VULTURE (the JSTARS) was working a TBOLT flight (F/A-18C, VMFA-251) for tasking.  While eating lunch, things really got interesting; I began hearing VULTURE tasking DEATH 01 (B-2, 509 BW) on another frequency. We don’t get to hear B-2s around coastal Georgia very often!  I understand from a friend in Florida that prior to the B-2, JSTARS was also working with some F-15Es from Seymour Johnson.  Multiple flights of CVW-1 aircraft continued to work VULTURE as well.  Multiple E-2Cs were up coordinating with JSTARS and the carrier group.  It made for a great afternoon of monitoring.

After yesterday’s monitoring, here is what I’ve been able to hear:

Callsigns
AB 1## – F/A-18F, VFA-11
RIPPER – F/A-18F, VFA-11
AB 2## – F/A-18F, VFA-211
NIKEL – F/A-18F, VFA-211
AB 3## – F/A-18E, VFA-136
HAWK – F/A-18E, VFA-136
AB 4## – F/A-18C, VMFA-251
TBOLT – F/A-18C, VMFA-251
AB 5## – EA-6B, VAQ-137
TRON – EA-6B, VAQ-137
AB 60# – E-2C, VAW-123
SCREWTOP – E-2C, VAW-123
SWEEP – F/A-18, CVW-1
PREVAIL – JTAC(?)
SHARK – FAC-A
STRIKER – JTAC
ZAGS 8# – KC-135, 92nd ARW)
OMEGA – Contract Tanker
ECHO PAPA – Strike Commander
ECHO WHISKEY – Air Defense Commander
DEATH – B-2, 509th BW
KOMODO – E-8C, 461st ACW frontend
VULTURE – E-8C 461st ACW backend

AERO – Opfor
AMBUSH – F/A-18, VFC-12, Opfor
SNAKE – F/A-18C, VFC-12, Opfor
VIPER – F/A-18C, VFC-12, Opfor

Frequencies
328.425 – USS Enterprise Marshal
342.075 – ECHO PAPA/ECHO WHISKEY Net
371.050 – Red Crown
298.475 – Button 10?

236.075 – VMFA-251 Tac
246.800 – VFA-136 Tac
303.450 – VFA-11 Tac
343.325 – VFA-211 Tac
239.975 – VAW-123 Tac

120.950 – SEALORD North Primary
267.500 – SEALORD South Primary
284.500 – SEALORD North Primary

225.350 – Pinecastle Range
261.250 – Rodman Target
289.200 – Pinecastle Range

233.325 – Check In prior to working with JSTARS
235.325 – JSTARS Discrete
341.750 – JSTARS Discrete

277.800 – Fleet Common
338.750 – ISR
349.800 – Air Intercepts
376.900 – Aerial Refueling

229.975 – Opfor

I also saw something interesting at the National Park Service Cumberland Island Ferry Dock: a landing craft type vessel that belongs to the National Park Service.  It’s the first time I’ve seen it docked there so I’m not sure if it’s assigned to Cumberland Island or whether it’s there to support the wildfire on Cumberland Island.  I did some searching while I was in St. Marys and I didn’t come across anything that seemed to be related to the firefighting efforts on the island.

National Park Service Landing Craft Type vessel moored at the NPS Cumberland Island Ferry Dock in St. Marys

The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) and Ofcom — the British equivalent to the FCC — have authorized radio amateurs to use special prefixes during 2012 in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games.

To celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, all UK radio amateur and club stations can apply to use a special prefix for a five week period, from May 5-June 10. This will add or substitute the letter “Q” in the place of the regional identifier in the call sign. During the Summer Olympics and the Paralympic Games, radio amateurs and club stations can apply to use the letter “O” in the same fashion for a seven week period, from July 21-September 9.

Amateurs in the United Kingdom who choose to apply for these special call signs will be using GQ, MQ and 2Q prefixes to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee, and GO, MO and 2O prefixes to celebrate the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In addition, calls in the series GB2012aaa will be available for Special Event Stations relating to the Olympics. Licenses will also be issued for four “flagship” stations using the prefix 2O12a (that’s the letter “O,” not a zero, and “a” is a single letter relating to the location of the station).

From NWS Charleston:

NOAA WEATHER RADIO ALL HAZARDS TRANSMITTER KEC-85 OPERATING ON A FREQUENCY OF 162.400 MHZ WILL REMAIN OFF THE AIR DUE TO COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. YOU CAN TUNE TO STATION WXJ-23 AT GREEN POND ON A FREQUENCY OF 162.450 MHZ OR STATION WWH-25 AT METTER ON A FREQUENCY OF 162.425 MHZ TO GET YOUR LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION. WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE THE OUTAGE MAY CAUSE.

Those in the southern part of the Savannah transmitter’s area could also try WXJ28, 162.450 out of Jesup.

The USS Enterprise (CVN-65) and Carrier Air Wing 1 (CVW-1) carrier strike group are currently training off of the Florida coast using the offshore warning areas and Pinecastle Range complex.  I’ve been in Brunswick, so I’ve gone out to Jekyll Island on several afternoons and listened from the coast, here’s what I’ve been able to hear:

Callsigns
———
AB 1## – F/A-18F, VFA-11
RIPPER – F/A-18F, VFA-11
AB 2## – F/A-18F, VFA-211
NIKEL – F/A-18F, VFA-211
AB 3## – F/A-18E, VFA-136
HAWK – F/A-18E, VFA-136
AB 4## – F/A-18C, VMFA-251
TBOLT – F/A-18C, VMFA-251
SWEEP – F/A-18, CVW-1
PREVAIL – JTAC(?)
SHARK – FAC-A
STRIKER – JTAC
ZAGS 8# – KC-135, 92nd ARW)
ECHO PAPA – Strike Commander
ECHO WHISKEY – Air Defense Commander

AERO – Opfor
AMBUSH – F/A-18, VFC-12, Opfor
SNAKE – F/A-18C, VFC-12, Opfor
VIPER – F/A-18C, VFC-12, Opfor

Frequencies
———–
328.425 – USS Enterprise Marshal
342.075 – ECHO PAPA/ECHO WHISKEY Net

236.075 – VMFA-251 Tac
246.800 – VFA-136 Tac
303.450 – VFA-11 Tac
343.325 – VFA-211 Tac

267.500 – SEALORD South Primary
284.500 – SEALORD North Primary

225.350 – Pinecastle Range
261.250 – Rodman Target
289.200 – Pinecastle Range

277.800 – Fleet Common
338.750 – ISR
349.800 – Air Intercepts
376.900 – Aerial Refueling

229.975 – Opfor

Radio Hobbyists further south are hearing more, but I imagine the above isn’t bad for just a mobile station.  If you’re near the Florida or South Georgia coast, this is a good opportunity to catch activity from the Enterprise; she’s working up for her last deployment so there won’t be many more opportunities to catch her in action.  I’ll go out to Jekyll a couple more times in the next week before going back to Savannah so I’ll try to post an update somewhere around mid-week.