They are working overnight, 24/7 to get this track up in time for tomorrow. I look forward to seeing this little puppy. I like the squareness of the track. The atmosphere (and temperature) is definitely reminiscing of Miami. Frankly, I loved the Miami track because it brought out a lot of aggression in the drivers. I remember it was way too hot and humid. But aside from that, I enjoyed the setting. I remember watching the ALMS race from my hotel room. It was very cool.

The back stretch of this track looks wide enough, but there are some REAL narrow spots and corners. Its going to be a very tricky track to master and it will be near impossible to gauge the track without traffic. That, in it-self, will make things more interesting. But, regardless of how well a car might be working tomorrow morning, the true test will be when others cars are on their own flyers and how they deal with each other. It could be another expensive weekend for team owners. The pits are so narrow that they may be an issue also, especially during the race and the possibility for drag racing.

I will reserve much more judgment until tomorrow, cause its like Jeremy Dale said “we can speculate and analyze all we want, but we won’t know anything until the cars actually get on the track.

I got a feeling that Danica Patrick may get the call this weekend. Why not? The IRL is back on ABC, they are running a big track where weight plays a factor. What better exposure for the IRL than have Miss Patrick steal one? Regardless, she will be on the pole position, I think its safe to say. Again, one of those big horsepower tracks where her weight factors HUGE in qualifying. But how will the AGR guys handle that?? Ahh the Soap Opera that is the Indy Racing League. On a track like Michigan, I just hope everybody walks away clean. They should get good ratings. No question. Which is amazing that one person can add millions of viewers.

Darren Manning out at Ganassi? Seems odd, this late into the season to dump him. That team is just terrible, but I doubt that getting rid of Manning will help any. The guy has a great attitude and could only be beneficial to a team. I don’t know Briscoe and Dixon can be quiet and somewhat demanding at times. A lot of people are down on him for leaving CART like he did. I sympathize, cause he didn’t have an offer in Champ Car and getting an offer from Chip Ganassi would be very hard to turn down for a driver in his position. Of course, the way he got the ride is somewhat bleak, but also a reality of racing. I hope things work out for him in the future.

We are half-way through the season already!! Dang! 7 races, 5 winners. It’s a long cry from my prediction that Bourdais would win every race. Sometimes its good to be wrong. Now its time for these drivers to turn it up! Bourdais and Tracy have made it personal (on the track) and Newman/Haas and Forsythe are full of bad blood toward each other. Rusport is right there, with Justin becoming a legitimate threat and if Bourdais and Tracy get carried away, the big benefactor could be Wilson. Now drivers are not simply driving for podiums and wins, but a few will start driving for a seat in 2006. Oriol Servia comes to mind. He’s doing great right now, but nothing is guaranteed for 2006. Although, I would imagine he’s used to that uncertainty by now and just takes it all in stride. He’s making good money now with all those podiums, so he must be happy. A bunch of other drivers are now driving for the future, so the intensity will be kicked up a notch.

I heard this 12 Champ Car drivers at Indy next year, but don’t quite understand all the details and have made it a point not to get too absorbed about this. We all have different feelings about the Indy 500 today, what it means, how dangerous it is, etc. But find me one racecar driver would doesn’t want to drive the Indy 500 and I’ll show you a guy with little regard for history. We’ll put this ‘story’ in the ‘wait and see’ category before we all get caught up.

I think its at this point that the NASCAR season seems to get long. It’s a good thing they introduced the ‘chase for the cup’ to basically add a new ‘season’ because the current one gets long in the tooth. Its nobody’s fault obviously, but what NASCAR goes through right now is a lot of repetition. Races held on tracks already seen this season. Good fight in the standings, but there’s too many races left to make the points standing an issue right now (save for the 400 points off the leader-thing). It’s also such a complicated points system that its very hard to do quick math during a race. The announcers are very very good at telling the story that is NASCAR. But if I’m watching Newman, riding in 18th, its hard to do the quick math in my head to see how many points he needs to move up to a certain spot in the standing. I think that’s why NASCAR introduced the Chase for the Cup. To eliminate all the points and start at zero. Basically so we can all take a breath and start over after counting in the low thousands.

I apologize for my lack of blog entries this week, I took a ‘weekend’ off where I turned my cellphone off and enjoyed some nice ‘holiday’ time. Lots has happened in the world of motorsports and its good to be back. Maybe I could get a guest writer. anybody wanna apply?


First of all, I read that Panther Racing will not be joining the Champ Car World Series following talks with the owners. I have to say I am disappointed. I really thought they would be joining the ranks of the Champ Car family. But they have apparently chosen to stay put in the IRL, but field a Champ Car driver for the Indy 500. Many people saw this as an opportunity to ‘steal’ a big team from the IRL and hope that it would have had a domino affect. What disappoints me the most, I must admit, is not seeing Thomas Sheckter run our tracks. His father was a legend. These things tend to run in the family. He’s doing a good job over there, but it’s like watching a master chef work at a fast food joint. There’s only so much that chef could do with the equipment. Maybe some day we’ll get to see what the chip off the old block can do.

This San Jose race looks to be quite interesting, as the Champ Cars officially enter the second half of the season. 5 winners in 7 races and nobody taking a commanding lead in the chase for the V. The series should easily beat last year’s total attendance and will beat it in the number of better races too. They are on a roll. Now they need to return to network.

Pocono 500 or any NASCAR race at Pocono is the longest race in history. I’m fairly sure that the Coca-Cola 600 is shorter. I don’t know what it is about that track. The action is good, but dang it they seem slow.

I am truly shocked at AGR’s action in Milwaukee. Remember when they boycotted the mandatory autograph session because Danica had her own Security guard and line? Why is it that every story I read about this always wrote that the AGR team boycotted a ‘mandatory autograph session. Or ‘the mandatory autograph session’ at 4:30. we got it, it was Mandatory!! Anyway, it is extremely pathetic on their part and its frankly something that shouldn’t be excused lightly. I mean, bottom line is that they attacked Danica directly. No matter what they say about the reasons for the protest, the team completely pitted itself against her. She has enough to deal with on any given day on top of concentrating on her rookie campaign. She’s still fighting for ROY and credibility from her teammates and skeptics. This is something that AGR could have addressed privately. There was no reason to shun Danica and maybe more importantly, the fans who waited in line. I know, they had their own session later, but was it addressed over the PA? did anybody who didn’t happen to walk by know about this?

Mr Dave Despain addressed the negative emails he received on account of calling the Edmonton race a ‘festival’ and that San Jose will be the same. He has a point. Its true that most people who will attend San Jose will not go see a race at Laguna Seca. But what Dave fails to see is his admittedly ‘past’ bias is not proper for today’s world. What he fails to see is that today’s street tracks have become some of the nicest tracks made in the USA (or Canada). What he fails to see is the current track layouts which offer room for passing, clean run-offs, safe pits and a nice combination of straight-aways and turns. He’s old school. He admits it. he has no problem with it. he’s entertaining because of his old stubborn ways. Doesn’t mean he’s always right. J props on his part for addressing the issue though.

I have sent Champ Cars the latest installment of Overheard at the Track and ‘This or that. This OHATT is called ‘Overheard in Canada’. Hope you enjoy and remember: I’m Canadian. I’m allowed to make jokes.