I am as shocked as everyone else reading this. I don't know what happened and I look forward to finding out why AJ is no longer at Russport. To call this story shocking is an understatement. Its not the fact that he's let go, but the fact that he's been their driver since day one. He's been there from the start! I know its a business and they get a heck of a driver in Cristiano, but I still don't get it. I am confused. Hopefully AJ lands on his feet. Frankly, I wouldn't mind him going to DC or somewhere else. He's such a good kid, he's so funny and personable and fast! He needs to be in the series. Someone needs to pony up the dough and get him a ride!
But, that's the nature of this sport and I can only hope that someone fills the seat at DCR. Who is it going to be? I'm hoping for Bremer, but mainly cause he's a friend of mine and a heck of a person. I personally don't know the other candidates, so I can't comment on them.

Here's a picture of my lovely cameraperson Kelly. Well, its mostly a picture of me, but you can clearly see her and all her hard working ways! :)

The first ever Voice of ChampCar Milwaukee: Barb Giliberto!!!!
video coming shortly.

check out the video at youtube.com!!

you know, I really enjoyed calling an oval race on Sunday. Its entirely different than calling a road course, that's for sure. I mean, here you see everything at all times. You can watch the action on the track and point out good battles taking place throughout the track. I can still do that on road courses, but for that I have to look at my timing and scoring and figure out who is neck and neck and then point it out, without ever seeing the battle until they zoom past near me. I suspect watching an oval live in person is better than watching it at home on television, while watching an road course would be equally satisfying to do either.

One thing I am glad following this weekend? the lack of doom and gloom. Remember last year after Milwaukee? it was the end of ChampCar as we knew it! Everybody fan on the internet was so negative towards the series. everybody seemingly so mad at it. Of course, last year the Milwaukee race was held on Saturday afternoon BEFORE the ARCA race, therefore the fans weren't there. This year, the crowd was decent and the race was good and despite the fact that we only had 16 cars on the track, there isn't this doom and gloom outlook this week. The good news is that for Portland we will have 18 and who knows how many from now on, but I think its safe to say that we'll have 18 or more for the rest of the season.
Of course, as I write that, Andrew Ranger, if you can believe it, still was hoping to MAKE it to Portland! the kid is great! He needs a secure full-time ride so he doesn't have to worry about this every freakin' race!
Portland is always an interesting race, there's the first turn of course (but every track has that!) and the weather, i.e. you never know what you are going to get. It may be sunny and 90 degrees one moment and cold and wet the next. It just makes the engineers work that much more significant. I look forward to seeing Tonis in that Rocketsports machine. Remember, this is the track where he dominated last year in the Atlantics and it was the start of his season not just as a driver, but as a championship contender. But more importantly is that Tonis is such a nice person and his career story is a great story. One of those stories of a young man coming to America in search of a dream with little or no money at all. And the good thing is that Tonis is aggressive, but he's not a kid, so he's also mature. that's good news for the veteran drivers contending for the Vanderbilt Cup. He won't get in their way (unless its a battle for position, of course).

Sunday

Ahhh, another race at the Mile in the books and wouldn’t you know it, the flying Frenchman has done it again! And wouldn’t you know it, the jovial Englishman has once again finished second. Those two were in a class of their own today, especially Bourdais. We were joking on the way back to the hotel that maybe Bourdais didn’t actually have a punctured tire or anything, but just wanted to make things a little fairer for everybody so he decided to go a lap down. Boy can that kid drive and boy is Newman/Haas a good team to back him. Remember, on ovals its 65/35 car/driver-skill, so while Bourdais can take most of the credit for winning the first three races of the season, this win goes directly to his hard working team. Same can be said for the #9 squad. Those two will continue to battle it out and I have a feeling its going to be closer in the race points than some people might think. Justin will not give Bourdais any breathing room and you can expect Bourdais to encounter some misfortunes this year, right? Right?

But, the man of the hour is the other Frenchman in the series, Nelson Philippe. He put on the drive of his life. We know the HVM team has the right set up at the Mile, considering what RHR did two years ago. But the way Nelson was driving today, you just couldn’t keep your eyes off him. At one point he was toe-to-toe with Bourdais for about 2 or 3 laps, side by side and later was the same with Justin Wilson. But more importantly in my opinion was when he decided to hold up a little, lift the throttle and make sure he took the car home on the podium instead of needlessly risking taking himself and Justin out of the race. He had an opportunity to pass him, made the attempt, didn’t quite happen and instead of making some banzai move, he held off and gladly took his Lola to a top 3. he, in my mind he was the driver of the day.

I was reading online about the supposed NASCAR yellow being called late in the race to get them bunched up. I admit, the yellow was timely, as Justin was about to be overtaken by Bourdais and fall a lap down. The yellow prevented that from happening and bunch ‘em back together. However, that yellow (for debris) lasted an awful long time and much clean up was being done during the caution, so I really have to believe that it was a legit yellow. In fact, I know it was. Why? Because I know ChampCar would rather complete as many of the 225 laps as possible rather than cutting the race short like they had too today. Given the opportunity, they would rather run all 225 laps within the time limit even if it meant a driver winning by 6 laps over the field. Throwing that caution pretty much guaranteed a shorten race and by that time, the race was likely already going to be shorter than normal, so that yellow put them in an even more compromising position. Its one thing to finish just a few laps shy of the expected number, but the more yellows, the less laps you are going to get in. That’s why I know that yellow was legit, because ChampCar was putting themselves in a compromising position by throwing it out there. Safety first, and I guarantee there was debris on the track.

Regardless, you can’t help but be in awe of Bourdais. I have to be honest with you, this is likely the number one reason I would like re-unification; to see Bourdais beat their guys and officially be the number one open-wheel driver in America. With two series, the question will always be raised as to who is the best. One series would eliminate that question and I firmly believe that Bourdais is the best racer in America today, and very likely the world.

Well, this past weekend was the first ever Unofficial Voice of ChampCar pageant. Stay tuned for the video which I will be posting in the next few days, but essentially, I took the camera, I took my lovely cameraperson Kelly (who helped me out sooo freakin’ much this weekend I am forever in her debt) and decided that since not all can enter the Face of ChampCar pageant, well, maybe some people would be interested in entering the Voice of ChampCar pageant! (I have to throw in unofficial because I don’t want to get sued). I want to thank all the participants, I know everybody had a good time and I certainly want and hope to do it at a few more events this year, post the winners and have you vote for your favorite in what I hope becomes the first EVER Unofficial Voice of ChampCar Pageant!

oh, and the funniest moment came on the podium after the race, right after I introduce the National Anthem of France, Justin Wilson turns to me and says "how does that go again?". what a great guy he is! taking it all in stride!