Well, I really enjoyed the Monterrey race this weekend. It was fun being able to watrch from my couch and not have a worry in the world. The pace of the race was incredible and a lot of credit has to be given to the these drivers for getting through the long event. It’s a credit to their fitness regiments.

What can you say about Sebastian Bourdais? There is little much to say and his numbers speak for themselves. But at the very least, he’s fighting harder than before for these wins it seems and if Forsythe can get to the level of Newman/Haas, then at least we could have a three-way dog fight instead of a two team dog fight. It was pretty obvious yesterday that Newman/Haas and Rusport were in a class of their own.

But its great to see Andrew Ranger do so well this year (he’d better stay put in that car all season long- I like Manning and all, but don’t take Ranger’s seat!). Three races in a row where he has won the most improved driver point? Did I read that correctly, that’s unbelievable considering the two tough races to begin the race and the relatively smooth race yesterday, meaning less strategy had to be involved and more “giddy-up” and Rangers just climbed the ladder and got the job done!

I had a interesting conversation with a driver in Houston and I was talking about Bourdais and asked said driver what his thoughts on Bourdais were. Well, I am paraphrasing here, but he said something like Bourdais is good, but look at his team. And Servia proved it last year by jumping in that number 2 car and finishing on the podium just about every race. Said driver suggested putting Bourdais in a Dale Coyne car to see what kind of results he would get. This driver made a very good point. Oriol did have unprecedented success last year after he jumped to Newman/Haas.

Take this example for what it is. Mario Dominguez, a fine driver, a race winner himself, jumped to Forsythe last year in what was then an 11th hour deal. Mario Dominguez now had an opportunity that few drivers have had. Bring mild success to a team that has had plenty of it. This was a golden opportunity for him and while he did have some success, it was hardly worth mentioning. I bring up Dominguez because, in my opinion, his stats are comparable to Oriol Servia’s. they have been in the league roughly the same amount of years. Dominguez has won twice, where, prior to last year, Oriol had a couple of podiums under his belt. Both jumped to new, big powerhouse teams last season with very little prep time, if any at all. And their respective results speak for themselves. My point here, of course, is that a lot of credit has to be given to the driver and while Bourdais does hold a coveted seat, its arguable that at least three other drivers in the series hold a similar seat than he does and yet he is still dominating. The seat helps, no question, but its not automatic.

Now, here is my suggestion: recently we have heard of inverted starts and whatnot. Well, for one race (not Milwaukee, but somewhere like Portland or Cleveland) we switch Bourdais and Swozlman. Let Bourdais drive a car for a mid-team. A team that definitely competes every weekend, but is not on the financial rung as Newman/haas. Give Bourdais the 34 and Charles the number 1. Here’s the best part: they pretty much look alike so we won’t even have to change the media guide! One race, one switch.
Well, my laptop should be arriving to my apartment shortly, in the next couple of days. But the bad news is that I am heading out of town for a couple of days. I know it has been frustrating this year with the Overheard at the Track and trust me, nobody has been more frustrated than me. Having a full week with no access to footage that I could have edited and shipped is not good. Hopefully things will change in the near future…until then we all have to wait.