Maybe it was the amazing crowd which you hear about but until you see in front of you, you just don’t expect. Maybe it was the thrill of a brand new adventure/mission for these teams to conquer. Maybe it was the fact that Champ Car is in the middle of its busiest stretch and everybody is losing their minds! Whatever it was, it was difficult to take the smile off the drivers and teams today in Edmonton. An absolutely phenomenal crowd was here for practice! The track proved even faster then expected and as difficult as predicted. Todd Malloy was right; teams are on their way to a very expensive weekend as there were a few hard collisions with the wall in both sessions. Nevertheless, there was the sense of proudness in the paddock, a sense of amazement as teams had difficult getting through the anxious crowd. Every person I spoke with today, whether affiliated with a team or with Champ Car was just amazed at the sight. Like I said, you expect these numbers on paper, but you don’t get a grasp of it until you see it in front of you. And the knowledge of these Edmontonians! These weren’t people going to a ‘festival’ with fast cars! (ha ha, as I’m writing this, I can hear some crew members in the hotel room next to me talking about today’s amazing crowd compared to the evidently dozen who showed up for IRL’s qualifying). During the autograph session (which was incredible), Vivian Tracy suggested we take a photo and send it to Tony George. We are family!

The track itself is going to be tough on these drivers. Luckily, the weather for Sunday calls for Partly cloudy and about 20 degrees (for you Americans, I deal with Celsius, since we are in Canada. :) ) so that I’ll be easier for the drivers to handle. Rusport, so far, are miles ahead of everybody. They have definitely found the right setup for the cars and everybody else is playing catch-up. Handling and finding the right balance seemed to be the biggest issues within the teams. On a track that combines a road course, a street track and an airport track all into one, its little wonder that balance is an issue. Tracy had a good run, qualifying 3rd, but had trouble in turn 10 all day. These qualifying times could be critical, as the forecast calls for rain tomorrow. The session will not necessarily get washout, but on a track like this one, even a bit of rain will dramatically slow the times down. We saw it in the Atlantics, who suffered rain during the 2nd half of the first practice session. The cars were still out there on their slicks, but the light rain caused the times to slow down. Most teams (champ Car teams) ran on their Bridgestone Reds today and likely won’t want to use them again tomorrow.

The good news is that since there is still a point and a spot on the provisional pole, the drivers will be battling out, no matter if they aren’t setting new track records. Speaking of that, congratulations to A.J. Allemdinger for setting a brand new track record at the Finning International Raceway. And he did on just his first time visiting the track. Truly amazing!
I’ll try and write again tomorrow night and drop a prediction or two for Sunday, but I am a ‘speaker’ at the fan club dinner so I may not have the time. Nevertheless, I really like having the internet in my hotel room and being able to share my daily experiencing with all you readers. Go internet!

Champ Car baby! Champ Car for life!