Fan Forum, part 3 and Cleveland Saturday

Well, the highly anticipated Cleveland Fan Forum has come and gone and well...no fireworks. Everybody behaved themselves and the highlight was the guy with the t-shirt that read "Tony George is an a**-hole" which was acknowledged by everyone on the panel, all had a laugh, as did the crowd, which then burst out in cheers. I will hand it to Bobby, he appeared prepared to face tough question and appears to have a sense of humor about the whole thing. Eric Mauk, who was hosting, did a good job of keeping the crowd in check, as we all expected them too. I brought out my camera to capture some of the potential melee, but none happened. Danny Sullivan is the man though, no question about it. He's just so cool, calm and funny. At one point he wouldn't stop asking PT about the track, to the point where I was looking at Mauk telling him to get the mic away from Danny! Danny would make a good talk show host, that's for sure. The rest of was very interesting. My favorite part about these types of things is the natural banter between drivers. these are all hall of fame quality drivers reminiscing about the good old days. it was fun and the crowd loved it!
AJ is on the pole. How do you top a win for your new boss? how about a pole position! This is what I said over the PA on Friday and I will tell you this now: the next three tracks are AJ's. If you consider what he did last year in Cleveland, then in Toronto was on his way to a podium and, well we all know what happened in Edmonton. That ain't going to happen again this year. The pressure is off. he's got the win. He's third in points, far back. He's driving with a renewed passion and confidence and considering how good he was last year on the next three champcar tracks, I really believe these next races are his. We shall see though, long races and so many things could happen. Sebastian Bourdais just continues to impress. he is so doggang quick, no matter what car you give him, it seems. Its a shame for Paul Tracy (he crashed in the 15 minute practise session and the spun all around the track during qualifying in his backup). he's still starting 5th and I expect him to make a move at the start. I fully expect something bad to happen on the opening green, simply because it always does. I hope not. But it seems to inevitably do. For about the last 25 years, that is.

Spoiler Alert:
The Atlantics held their first race with a standing start since 1998 and, well everything turned out okay. I know a lot of the drivers were very nervous prior to the race because of the standing starts. The European drivers are more used to them, not so the North American. Graham Rahal had the best car of the group and won the race in style, passing Pagenaud in a classic move. Unfortunately the race ended under yellow, but that's racing and it wouldn't have mattered, cause that car was the best!
question before I sign off: now that Graham Rahal has made it clear he will turn down the 2 million dollars, should he win the championship, unless the series merge and head off to Europe instead, do you still cheer for him as much? think about it for a second.