portland friday

With the Internet working (barely) in my hotel room, I have the opportunity to write on this blog this weekend, which is great. Seeing that its Friday night, its only natural I talk about what happened today at the track.

First of all, a first rate PA announcing team is upon me once again. These guys are fun, knowledgeable, are spread out across the track (including a pit reporter) and are experienced. It’s a breeze working with people of their quality and since the race is actually broadcasted on radio on Sunday, its only natural that they be pro.

All anybody could talk about was the big three way trade and when it was all said and done, we all know who sits at the top! The interesting aspect was that DaMatta was in great spirits afterwards during the autograph session and he really did look like he had a new lease on life. Its important to note that moving from DC to RuSport is a lot more than just moving to a better car. you have a PR rep, you have people who look after you, you have a lot less to worry about and more time to simply focus on the car. despite his poor start, I expect him to bounce back sooner than later. Having said that, wouldn’t it be something if he didn’t? Dominguez looked in good spirits and was offered a lot of ‘relief’ from the fans for remaining in the series. Clearly a track like this doesn’t favor the small team. Nonetheless he did a decent job today and overall cannot be completely upset about his situation. Tonis surprised me a little, although ultimately he was less than 2 seconds behind the leader. Good for him. I hope he improves rapidly.

The crowd seemed higher than normal Fridays, which ultimately I am sure the crazy week leading up to it had something to do with. Lots of merchandisers too.

The Atlantics were pretty darn exciting themselves (at least practice was) as multiple drivers took their time at the front of the pack, including Lewis who was there with his team for the first time. Their qualifying session was mostly rained plagued, so little was actually solved, other than Pagenaud getting the point and the provisional pole. That kid is fast, plain and simple. Like I said today, must be something in their water (France, that is).

Tomorrow is a bizarre day with Warm up taking place in the evening. Not sure I agree with that, but my understanding is that with the early starts, it would push the warm ups too early on Sunday morning. I guess I understand and I guess it saves me from being at the track at 5am, so selfishly, I don’t mind. But the teams have a decision to make. How many changes to do you make after the warm up? Cause although time is on your side, track-time isn’t.

Saturday night, myself and Erik Mauk are speaking at the Inner Circle Fan club dinner. That should be a riot and I believe that they decided to let Eric and I talk at the same time as opposed to the usual one after the other procedure. I guess they think we have good chemistry together. We’ll find out. We also have the first Fan Forum this year with the CTE drivers and Tony Cotman. It’s the first time this season and with all the talk of a possible merger, its going to be interesting what a team like CTE thinks of one.

Alright, although its barely 8pm here, its time for me to hit the hay. Tomorrow is a very busy day and Sunday is going to top it. I hope everybody has a fun weekend!