After Mexico

While I missed a little of the race yesterday, mainly in the middle because of work, I was able to watch the start and the ending, and gathered enough of a perspective to share them with you. First of, I thought the broadcast was top notch. Again, I didn’t see or hear the entire thing, but I thought Derek and Rick were on their game, I thought TV azteca or whoever did the broadcast did a great job at following the action on the track. I don’t mind watching an 8th place car if they are in a close battle for seventh. Heck, I’ll take any battles on the field. If the car in first is more than 2 or 3 seconds ahead, don’t constantly show me that car. Go back to it every once in a while to talk about the car’s development in terms of when they will pit, tire ware and such, but then go back to the battles and yesterday was great. I also really enjoyed them going back to the pits during the great last few lap battles. Watching the emotions of Bourdais’ dad, the tension at both camps was riveting. It was compelling. It was great television plain and simple. I’ve only seen three broadcasts this year, but this was by far my favorite. From a person who has been involved in Champ Car his whole professional life and a graduate of broadcasting school with an eye on television production, this was almost as good as it gets. Sure, the graphics are still way too busy and eat up most of the screen, but that was the only flaw I saw yesterday.

If you read my blog a few post back, you read how good Newman/Haas are, and how fun they are to root against. Well, yesterday was one of the finest examples of the best team doing what they do best and frustrating the fans along the way. The fuel stop was brilliant and worthy of a ‘strategy of the year’ candidate. Seabass drove the heck out of that car during the last few laps to catch up to J-Wil, and then bump him on the pass. How much fun was that to watch! And yes, Bourdais does have a rabbit’s ear hidden in that car somewhere because every time he bumps another car, his car is fine. Either he’s VERY lucky or has figured out how to bump with minimal damage to his. And, the topper of all was Hampson’s interview with 5 laps left. I’m paraphrasing; “we’ll probably settle for 2nd, give Justin a lot of credit”. How wonderful was that??? Not showing your cards by false modesty. It was a great Champ Car moment. You wonder why you love to hate Newman/Haas. You got your answer yesterday.

Yesterday was a great finale, plain and simple. The whole season was great and I’ll continue to write about it throughout the off-season. It’s going to be fun and next year will be great. The Lola has been fantastic and it was sent off in a great way yesterday. Now all I have to do is try and stay with Champ Car in some capacity next season. My desire to be with the series is higher than ever.