Monday morning quarterbacking.

What a freggin’ race. Pardon my French, but what a freggin’ race! I know I am a cheerleader, but when I see a race like the Denver Grand Prix, it absolutely amazes me that anybody on this planet could care about the IRL. It totally and utterly amazes me when I watch sporstcenter and they do an in-depth analysis on the IRL in Kentucky. I know they showed Champ Car highlights, but I think we know who to thank for that. I know that the IRL has a contract with ABC/ESPN, so ESPN needs to promote their products, but I also have to believe that a lot of executives at ABC must roll their eyes watching the commentators pretend to be excited about Danica’s 8th place finishes. I am not saying that the IRL doesn’t produce the exciting finish on occasion. In Oval racing, the finishes tend to be closer. But that doesn’t mean its good racing or exciting. The Champ Car World Series is producing unbelievable drama on and off the track and it looks like SportsCenter is starting to pick up on it. Yet, we all know full well that they aren’t going to promote the sport while they still have the IRL on their schedule. I feel bad for them and for the potential fans that only see the IRL. Frankly, I can see why they turn to Stock cars if all they see in terms of open-wheel racing is the IRL. Who wouldn’t?

At the beginning of the season, with all the merger talk, I was careful in treading carefully, knowing that perhaps we would all be one happy family in 2007. But since that isn’t going to happen, then I can be honest with my feelings. The ultimate tell-tale is Graham, who now looks to secure a third seat at Newman/Haas racing in 2007. Isn’t that the ultimate stab at the IRL???? If I am a fence sitter and I am trying to decide what is better racing, or if I am an IRL fan and I see that the team owner’s son (not to mention a legendary driver himself) chooses the rival series for his son to compete in, shouldn’t that be enough to open my eyes???? Forget about all the Formula 1 crap, because we have heard Dixon and Wheldon to name a few over the last couple of years show interest in Formula One and they seem to have no problems with racing in the IRL in order to get there. It is completely telling that Graham is in Champ Car in 2007 and not the IRL. I would be insulted if I was an IRL fan and say “oh, the IRL isn’t good enough for Bobby’s son!” and then open my eyes and realize that, no, it isn’t.

Alright, let’s get to what is important, and that is the continuing drama that is the life of PT. They say PT was blocking Seabass coming around turn 5. He might have been. But he also was battling for position. Of course he’s going to try to do whatever it takes and he’s going to try and get away with it. If the officials deemed him to have blocked, they would reverse spots and Tracy’s attempt would have been denied. Again, no harm no foul. Then Seabass gets the jump on Tracy coming down the backstretch and makes the pass on the outside. Throughout the race and in all the other series, we had seen this all day. A driver comes around the outside on turn nine to make the pass, while the passee comes on the inside and tries to get the spot back on the acceleration. We saw Jwill do it with his many battles with Tracy. We had seen it all freakin’ race long. Tracy may have hit the breaks a little late, but that was the point in attempting to get that spot back. It goes without saying that Tracy wasn’t going to give up that spot easily. I didn’t see Bourdais give Tracy much room, but I also don’t blame him since giving him too much room would have given him the inside lane. They hit. They both were eliminated from the podium. That was it. Now, looking back, who do you blame? You have to look at Bourdais and think, what was he thinking? Two measly points. That was the difference (and about 5 grand in prize money). Regardless of who you blame for the race incident, you have to blame Bourdais for creating the situation. He didn’t need to finish 2nd, he should have settled for third. Now, I like the fact that he went for it, it shows his aggressive nature and it shows he wants to win or finish as high as possible. But, with that aggression comes consequences. The consequences happened in Denver. Deal with it. You win some, you lose some. The shoving and all that was cool, I enjoyed it and certainly glad it didn’t go further than it did. It was just perfect. Two pissed off drivers. If anybody is going to fine Bourdais, its not going to be for shoving Tracy, its not going to be for the wreck. It’s going to be for running through the race track while it was hot. He got out of his car, waited for Will Power to drive by him. Now, Will is a rookie. He’s a fine rookie at that, but you can see in the replay that he came fairly close to Bourdais. Nothing to worry about close, but still close. It’s a slippery track; turn nine had been notorious all weekend. What if Will would have slipped? If there is a fine, it’s going to be for crossing the track. He should have left the track completely.

But, all in all, I thought it was great. I felt pretty bad for Tracy actually, because that run that he had was mighty fine. From 16th to 2nd in Denver is pretty incredible and reminiscent of another driver who accomplished a similar feat. But it was a good old racing incident in a race that had long been over for some laps. Clarke was awesome on the podium and very deserving. That whole team struggled all weekend and went home with a 3rd and a 5th. Congratulations to them.

I tell you; my favorite reason for AJ winning is that he’s so much fun on the podium. It’s just a treat to have him up there!
oh and there's a recent This or That on youtube.com that I posted last Friday. go check it out! it was from Edmonton