Boy am I under the weather. I don’t know why, probably something I ate, but I have been throwing up all night. In fact….there, I just threw up again. Of course, drinking coffee isn’t helping right now, but it tastes so good. Especially that burning sensation as it goes down my esophagus. Hmm, burning esophaguses…

The good news that I am not a professional athlete, and there is no urgency for me to get better, other then the fact that I look forward to feeling better. Pro athletes don’t have time to get sick. And when they do, then need to nip it in the bud before the next contest. Most sports, a player can get away with feeling a bit queasy. He can take some medication and play 50 percent. If he feels terrible during the game, he calls it quits and is replaced by a teammate. Okay, its not that simple, but you get what I mean.

Slightly different for racecar drivers, isn’t it? If they have a bad meal or catch some sort of bug, they can’t be easily replaced. And if they do get replaced (by having a driver standby), it has a lot more serious consequences. They don’t get the points, the prize money, etc. Kurt Busch was feeling ill two weeks ago prior to the race in Texas and had a replacement driver ready to go. I remember a couple of years back in Monterrey, Mexico, both Tracy and Carpentier were very ill all weekend. I remember they even brought in Max Papis as a possible replacement for Carpentier. Despite their illness, they jumped in the car, not wanting to waste a race, since every race is key in the hunt for the championship. But where do you draw the line?

This isn’t an ordinary sport. These drivers put their lives on the line every time they hit the track. Not only that, they put the other drivers’ lives on the line too. One lap in concentration can have disastrous results. Imagine feeling queasy while battling opponents at 200 mph.

Champ Car drivers and Formula One drivers are especially vulnerable to illness, simply because of the exotic locations of the race events. Constant climax changes, foreign foods, its difficult on the human body. But how sick is too sick? When does it become a supplemental danger? Of course, every series has a medical team who can put their foot down and prevent a driver from participating. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, a driver has to make that decision. It must be the toughest decision for them. Damn human body! Perhaps it’s psychological too. We hear of people having super strength during extreme circumstances. Maybe a driver can put physical pain out of their minds, drive the hell out of their car, then collapse when its all said and done.

That’s what Paul Tracy did in Monterrey anyway. He stepped in his car, won the race, stepped out and immediately threw up. I had to interview him right after the race so we could get the tape back to Canada in time for the evening sports news. Poor Paul, he literally couldn’t give an interview without throwing up and, well you know…the other thing. He demonstrated a superhuman ability that day. It’s probably something that we mere mortals couldn’t understand. Maybe at 200mph the body doesn’t feel pain. The mind is elevated to a Zen-like status, putting everything else out of the way. Maybe I’m just still feeling sick from last night. Speaking of which…I gotta go throw up.

Champ Car baby! Champ Car for Life!