Another full weekend of racing, as pretty much everyone ran a race this weekend. Let’s start with the IRL race, which we saw here in Canada at 12:30am to 2:00am. Needless to say that a 500 mile race can’t be completed in a window of an hour and a half, so we missed a lot of the action. Nevertheless I enjoyed watching the race because you can almost predict the outcome right from the beginning. And not predict because AGR wins every race. No, you can predict because their series appears to be completely controlled (including the outcome) by the puppet master. Let me explain:

All the hype following the Indy500 was on Miss Patrick. Makes perfect sense, first woman ever to drive a racecar (at least that’s what I’m getting from all the media) on the moon. So, all the hype, all the media carries over to Texas. But, they don’t need her to win right away. The media and the hype is there. Giving her a win right now would spoil an opportunity for down the road when the media starts fading. No, right now, they have bigger worries. Engine manufacturer GM potentially leaving at the end of the season, as was previously announced. So why not give them the win? This is the most exposed the IRL has ever been. They still have the ace up their sleeves with Danica. But for the time being, the IRL needed to deal with a more pressing issue. Now, all of a sudden, Chevy is saying “we said we’d leave, but we can always go back on our words”.

Anyway, of course its just conspiracy hype on my part and the race had a very exciting conclusion and those cars definitely looked fast on that oval. I really like Tommy Sheckter and glad he got his first win since 2002. But I do consider this a victory for us, since chevy is basically a cosworth engine. Way to go Kalkoven!!

The formula One race in Montreal was sloppy. It’s a good thing they only run one ‘street course’ all year, cause they couldn’t handle more. Even if these guys are supposedly the ‘best’ in the world, and even with their traction control, they can’t seem to take a corner or a chicane clean. This isn’t necessarily a shot at them or anything, but it sometimes seem that the cars are so technologically advance that a driver can afford to make a mistake and it won’t cost him too much. We saw that it doesn’t cost too much when its wide open fields, but with those barriers in Montreal, a few of those drivers smacked the wall pretty hard and ended their day. Montoya got a raw deal. Simply because the penalty was too harsh. Put him in the back, give him a drive-through. Don’t park him. I know money means nothing to the world of Formula One, but considering the cost of bringing Montoya, the car and the team to Canada is equivalent to the GNP of a small country, let them at least finish the race!

We’re off to Portland, were its always a great race and it always seems to bring out a lot of aggression within the drivers. Great battles usually take place in Portland, as witness in 2004 by AJ and Justin. First corner is always an adventure and, though they did improve it this year, I still expect it to be messy upon that opening green flag. weather has played a part in the past, but let’s hope it turns out like Milwaukee, with a lot of ‘predictions of rain, but nothing materializing’

Great job by Paul Tracy on Windtunnel last night. It’s the very best I have ever seen him. We all know he answers truthfully and often colorfully, but yesterday he was very intelligent and thoughtful with his comments, answers and questions. I liked the good-natured ribbin’ by DW, though I’m glad he made it clear that he was just having fun with PT, because I wasn’t so sure. At first, it surprised me that DW was so adamant, but once he told PT he was having fun with him, then I could look back on his comments and realize they were pretty funny and, to a certain degree, contained a lot of truth. DW is a class act, so it would have surprised me if he had been serious with his comments.
Champ Car baby! Champ Car for life!