Toronto Monday

Well, less than a week away, therefore this town (Toronto) starts gearing up towards the big event. This week you’ll see at various places racing-themed events, from the “GSYE” contest judged by some of our Atlantic and ChampCar drivers, to the fancy gala that they have every year that we don’t know much about because its too fancy. The truck parade is on Wednesday, the Miss Grand Prix pageant continues at different places. I have seen many ads on television for the race on Sunday and yours truly will be stopping by XM radio to plug the race, being broadcast on the channel 360. And this year, the story lines are even more intriguing than usual. The only downfall is that the World Cup finals are on raceday. Who cares you ask? Well, unfortunately Toronto does. Big time! I have said this to many people, Toronto is the 2nd best city on the planet to watch the Cup. The 1st being the host city. This city is so very multicultural, you see flags on every other car representing a country. So, that could affect ticket sales no question. Now, the last time it happened they played the Cup final on the big screens after the race. Brilliant idea, in my estimation and I hope they do it again. If the cup final is at 3pm, the race should be done by then or shortly after. If the cup final is at 11am, then the game should be done by 1pm or so, just about the start of the race. I think it would be fantastic if the Grand Prix played up the World Cup and invited everybody to stay after to watch it on the big screen. It would be a great party! Not that I care much about the Cup, but lots of people do!

So, what is going to stop AJ? And is what happened to Seabass considered the big one? Some drivers never recoup from the big one, others bounce back right away. How will Seabass handle this? Its easy to assume he’ll bounce back, that it wasn’t that big of an accident, that he’s a warrior. Normally I would agree with that except for one new factor: he’s a family man now. He recently got married, as you all know, and the lovely Claire is pregnant. His priorities are different now. Its not Seabass that is number one, it’s the family. Can you consider that factor? I think you have too. A person with responsibilities other than themselves makes them act differently. Still, one has to believe that he’ll bounce back. I have said it in the past, I firmly believe that he’s the fastest driver in the world. He is the best in my opinion and therefore I fully expect him to return to his dominant form. Not necessarily win every race, but compete.

Toronto is such a fun track because of its unpredictability. Sure there’s turn one (there’s always turn one!), but the track is so narrow in some places that one slight mistake and you are done! They do have great run-off areas, so you can salvage it a little during practice and qualifying. But come race time, that run-off can be mighty costly. Of course, we have seen drivers (Andretti) be in last place at the middle of the race and end up winning the darn thing. So, its incredibility difficult to pick a favorite to win the race. Right now though, you’d be hard pressed to pick anybody else but AJ.

What about Paul Tracy? He’s the best story line coming in, no question about it and is going to be in tough with the reporters asking all sorts of questions regarding his new teammate winning. Paul will answer all the questions with grace, no question about it. But the topic will continue to be brought up wherever he goes and that will get annoying after a while. I certainly hope that Paul has a good result this weekend. He really is popular in Canada and a spot on the podium would salvage any malaise that he’s had over the last couple of races and would put Forsythe at the top of the ladder.