Wednesday blog

I’ve always been a fan of consistent drivers. Drivers who are there every race, always a threat to win, but also able to bring the car home with a strong finish and most importantly, in good shape. They may not be the most exciting drivers. A driver with a run & gun attitude, with a 1st or nothing mentality may be more exciting to watch, easier to cheer for. But they are also the drivers who seldom win championships. It’s an innate character trait that we see in every day life. The devil may care attitude versus the ‘slow and steady’ wins the race. Both have their place in racing, naturally. In fact few other sports accept both of this mentality as motorsports. Some individual sports might, but nothing like racing. In tennis for example, you play for tournament wins. Then you move on to the next tourney and start over. Golf offers a little more, with the player opting to hit it over the trees and onto the green as opposed to the player who plays it safe and sacrifices a shot in order to go around to the trees towards the green. You see individuals in team sports demonstrate the win at all cost traits, but they tend to blend in because it’s how the team plays as a collective unit and not just individuals. But in racing, split second decisions often need to made, decisions that can have huge impacts down the road. For example: If I am sitting in 2nd place in points and 2nd in the race while the point’s leader is back in 7th. There are a few races to go and I am in a position to gain valuable points on him/her. But at the present moment, I am merely a couple of tenths off the race leader and I think I can get around him. There are only a few laps left. What do you do? Do you risk trying to make the pass? (I’m talking road racing here, where the stakes are high with every pass. Think Toronto or Denver or most of the great Champ Car circuits). What if I collide and take both of us out of the race? Not only do I lose valuable points, but I also just gave the series leader a likely top 5 finish. Of course, ideally I pass; get the win and even more points on the leader. But life is seldom ideal, is it? It takes incredible maturity to see the forest from the trees and take points instead of the win. A character trait like this can be developed through maturity and experience, no question. But it’s mostly instinct. Dan Clarke is a good example. His team was very happy with the guts that he showed in Cleveland. Yes, he took himself out and Mario Dominguez, but it (according to team Manager Vince Kremer) showed that the kid didn’t want to settle for 3rd, not if 2nd was in reach. Having said that, two races later and he trails Will Power in the Rookie of the Year battle, not to mention missed out on a rare opportunity and that is a rookie getting a podium finish in the Champ Car World Series. While some celebrate his (pardon the expression) will to win, you can’t help but look at the consequences of his actions.
All this leads me to the current point’s leader in the Atlantics and a victim of This Or That, Mr. Simon Pagenaud. He hasn’t won a race this year. Wirth has won twice and Rahal has won 3 times!! Yet both are looking up at him in the standings. It’s a great close race for the 2 million dollar prize and its going to be a great race to the top, but right now, you can’t help but be impressed with the driver of the #15 Team Australia machine. He showed incredible skills in Toronto when he qualified 15th and ended up finishing 5th. He’s never finished outside of the top 5 this season and that’s why he leads. A track like Toronto is very tempting. It almost dares you to make a pass. Like a dancer at a gentlemen’s club, Toronto can be a tease. It offers what appears to be an opening, but it’s only so you’ll indulged before she closes the door on you! We saw it 2 weeks ago in TO. Some Atlantic drivers were overly aggressive, making passes when there was no pass to be made. Of course, that’s the nature of racing. it’s what amazes me about these athletes, their ability to make these decisions at extremely high speeds. Over the next few Atlantic races, we are going to see unforgiving tracks like Denver and San Jose. Edmonton offers a little more give to it, but not much and certainly not everywhere on the track. Pagenaud needs to be given a lot of credit so far for being able to hold off the pedal and take the points. I think that Leo Maia and David Martinez need to be given a lot of credit too, as they are the only drivers to have completed each and every lap this season. Maia has never finished outside the top 10 and Martinez was on the podium in Monterrey. I assure you that lap completion and consistent finishes is something owners love. Remember, in this economically fragile time, if an owner can’t get a podium, he’ll gladly take a car that crosses the finish line clean and undamaged. I definitely applaud these two drivers.

Would anybody dare to call JWil’s season anything but excellent so far? Consistency baby! And it’s going to be very interesting to watch A.J. in the next few races. Beforehand he had very little to lose. Now he has a lot, since he’s a mere 23 points behind Bourdais. Go back to my earlier race scenario. What would A.J. do today if that situation comes up?