Cleveland’s hot!

It was hot, no question about it. With my gray shirt and black pants all weekend, I must have dropped 3 pounds in sweat alone. The best was during the pre-race ceremonies for both Atlantic races and Champ Car, where I had the sun right in my face, sweating buckets and trying to maintain some sort of composure. But then again, its way better than rain and its summer, after all. The Atlantic honorary starter was Robert Dole, who works for Yokohama tires and both times during his short speech he said “I know its hot out there, but I promise the action on the track will be even hotter”. Later on he turned to me and said “how cheesy was that!”

wait a minute. His name was Bob Dole? Maybe I’m getting it wrong.

Love the podium set-up in Cleveland. It’s right in front of the grandstands. It’s really intimate. The hat dance was a lot of fun, as the crowd always “awwwwww” when the hat didn’t come there way. Good fun.

The Portland edition of Overheard at the Track is up. Still waiting on the “this or that” feature. Come on Champ Car! 15 different personality questions asked to a variety of drivers and our president Mr. Dick Eidswick! Get it out there!

On Friday night I had to MC the rock ‘n’ roar party, which I knew nothing about going into it. In fact, they told me pretty much right after the Champ Car autograph session that I had to be there. I said sure, not realizing that it was a two and a half live auction! All in all, it ended up going well, and now I can add auctioneer to my resume. A lot of pace car rides were being given away and all the lovely pace car drivers were there. Some of the most beautiful women you’ll ever see. Why? Because they really are the total package!
The evening was held in the Hangar and it was hottttt in theeeeerrrrreee! At first I was sweating buckets, something that Ronnie Bremer noticed on stage! AJ was caught off guard when I called him up on stage which is always the best time! No prep, no cards, no clichés!

The IRL race in Richmond was genuinely boring. I’m sorry to say that, but I watched it in its entirety and didn’t enjoy it one bit. I am very happy for my boy Carpentier. Bout time he got a break. It was a crashfest, of course, but not even a good crashfest. Just a bunch of cars taking each other out. It was sloppy at best. I love how they continued to mention Danica’s amazing climb to a top ten finish. Let’s face it, had 8 cars not crashed out, she would have finished 18th. Actually, come to think of it, the funniest part of the race was when Harris (is that his name?) got genuinely excited about Danica’s climb from 21st to 17th. He goes on and on and turns to Goodyear and says something like “that’s pretty amazing eh Scott”. What the hell is Goodyear supposed to respond? One of the many funny things Harris said during that race. Actually, he was more entertaining than the ontrack product itself.

It amazes me watching the NASCAR show how many of these drivers are just terrible at turning right. I mean, growing up in an open-wheel environment, I guess I just take turning right for granted. For a lot of these dirt track drivers, going on a road course is a totally different experience. Must be for the engineers and the mechanics too, in terms of setting up the car. Personally, I love that race and the race at the Glen. It’s a nice break from just the oval. I love how the broadcast team talks of “ringers” brought in for that race, like they are evil or something. I guess some comments were made and Scott Pruett responded. But what? You’re going to turn down a NASCAR ride? No way. And if a regular NASCAR driver gets upset at these ringers, well, learn to drive the road course and maybe you won’t be substituted for the race.

Average Joe is on tonight baby! We’re back! NBC 8 o’clock!