not good

my video camera is busted. I have no explanation for it. It worked fine this morning. I want to thank Mike Cockrall for volunteering to be my cameraperson while we filmed some this or that. And boy did we ever film a lot. Bourdais, Tagliani, Clarke, Heylen, Junquiera, Kasamets. It was a great time and then I came back to my hotel room ready to edit them together and send them off. But for some freakin' reason my camera won't turn on. I have ZERO reasoning for it. all I know is that it can't have happened at a worse time because we have back to back events, not to mention the unveiling of a certain new product in San Jose. not good.

the rest of the event I can tell you is going to be magnificent. the crowd is going to be nice, the place looks good, everybody is a little more confident this year because they did it last year (i'm talking about the Edmonton staff). Everybody is real excited, that's for sure. well, everybody but me because of my darn camera. Oh well, I hope a miracle happens and it turns itself on again. But for now, it looks like no Overheard at the Track this weekend.

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?

What’s the deal with brown sugar? Why does it get rock-hard after a day or two? Its morning, I am trying to enjoy a cup of coffee, I recently purchased brown sugar, falsely thinking its healthier and I end up stomping and mashing it and basically wrestling with it so that a little chunk comes out which I can put in my coffee! I need an ice pick, except I don’t think it would be strong enough. If anybody wants to repave his or her driveway, I have extra brown sugar, which should do the job just fine!

Anyway, I’m packed; I’m all set for Edmonton. I am feeling a bit better, the cold is disappearing. Although I think it’ll probably stay with me until I decide to turn down the air conditioner. But its 40 degrees outside, so logically it should be –30 in here as a balance! Just don’t get me started on the proper diction when it comes to air conditioning use. I bet marriages have ended in the past because of the miscommunication of the AC lingo. “What do you mean turn it down? I did, Its 5 degrees less then it was 10 minutes ago. Oh, you mean turn it up? As in warmer? Well, am I turning it up or down? Forget it!” so confusing!

So, AJ looks to make it 4 in a row. Can you believe in a series built on a form of parity we are 7 races into the season and have seen only 2 winners? It really demonstrates the powerhouses that are Newman/Haas and Forsythe. Yet, at the same time, it demonstrates how important driver ability is in this series. What AJ has done at Forsythe, clearly Dominguez couldn’t do and while Bourdais dominated the first 4, his teammate only cracked the top 10 twice (two 10 place finishes). So does that make Bourdais and AJ exceptional talents? Definitely! They are in a league of their own; there is no question about it. Sure, you can throw Justin Wilson in there and maybe Paul Tracy. Sure, you have a handful of drivers that are threats every weekend to take the checkered. But until that happens, I don’t think we need to look anywhere else but the #1 and the #7.

Justin Wilson is quickly becoming one of the more popular drivers in the series and with good reason. He’s nice, he’s intelligent and he’s fast. But, suddenly A.J. has more career wins than Justin. Isn’t that odd? Prior to Portland it looked like A.J. wasn’t even in the same class as Jwil. Is there a driver facing more pressure than Jwil this weekend? I’m not sure. Bourdais is still cruising and although they are closing the gap, it would take a couple of more Clevelands for him to feel any real threat from the competition. (And by Cleveland I mean finishing 18th, not having a car roll over his head). A.J. feels no pressure at all anymore. With his whole Agent thing working on deals for him, with his whole three wins, he’s on cloud nine. Eventually he’ll get back to earth, but I don’t think it will be in Edmonton. I suspect at least another podium finish. Then he heads home (or close too) in San Jose. Things just keep getting better and better for Allmendinger.

I kind of wish Servia would step it up. I’m not particularly impressed with him this year and I can’t find the reason. Is it him? Is it PKV? Sure, they are still a young team, but they have the proper resources for a two-car operation. They have the experience in Jimmy Vassar and they have the willingness to make it happen in Kalkoven. Yet, it’s not happening. Legge is a rookie and battling for the ROY title, so she is doing what is expected of her. But Servia should be battling for the championship, no? That one podium aside, he’s only got 3 top 10 finishes this season. Is this acceptable? Didn’t we think he could win a couple of races this year? Its as if the team is in a rut. And have become complacent, setting their goals midstream. Looking for top 10’s, maybe top 5’s. Compare Philippe and Servia. Right off the bat, who do you think is doing better this season? You’d be crazy not to immediately say Nelson. Yet, he’s only got 4 top 10’s and one podium. So why is it perceived that Nelson Philippe is doing so much better than Oriol? Because the bar has been set high for Oriol and he’s not living up to it. Come on Oriol, start challenging for the win. I want to see you on the podium again! We spent a lot of time together there last year. Was it something I said?

A whole week without an update? What kind of blogger are you? You better have a pretty darn good excuse as to why you are wasting cyberspace with an empty blog site while thousands of others are waiting for room to free up on the Internet. It’s like owning a parking space downtown and never using it. So what’s your excuse wise guy? Well, nothing really. I have been doing very little this week in terms of computer-stuff. Save from the Overheard at the track that came out last week, I have pretty much done nothing. Yes, I considered this week my vacation week. What do people do when on vacation? They go somewhere with their loved-one. Maybe down to Cape Cod, or Florida. Well, I did neither. You see folks, recently my life has changed. It may appear to be a little change, but it’s had a major impact. You folks know how hot it can get in Toronto. Well, for two years I was living in a one-room apartment on the 15th floor with no AC. Then, right before the Toronto Grand Prix I decided it was time to get an air-conditioner. So I did and it has changed everything. So, why did I do for my week’s vacation? Stay right in! I went nowhere! Sure, in the evenings I would venture out with some friends on patios and whatnot, but that wasn’t the point of this vacation. Staying I was the point! As I write this, it’s about 9am on Monday at its nearing 30 degrees (about 112 degrees for Americans). It’s hot in Toronto. So, I loved my week of doing NOTHING! Did I get a bad cold because I put the AC wayyyy to cold and now am suffering through one? Maybe. Yes, in fact. But I still love my AC!!


Now, its time to get back in the game and I’ll tell you this much, Sunday was about as good of a way to get back to business as possible. What a race-fans paradise day on television. Throw in a Champ Car event in there and Sunday was the best day for racing on television ever! ALMS, F1 and NASCAR? Not too shabby. Needless to say, I didn’t much leave the couch on Sunday.

Edmonton, one of the most successful first-time events of all time. Will it be the same this year? Tough to say. The ‘newness’ is gone, but I believe the ‘it’ factor is still there. I believe that its still going to be the place to be this weekend and ticket sales and attendance should be where they were last year. Can we expect 200 thousand over the weekend and 90 thousand on race-day? Hmm, not sure about that one. But I have to believe the measure of success would be Toronto-like numbers, somewhere north of 160 over the weekend.

The big talk these days is the 2007 schedule with the possibility of an oval being left out. Hmm, that’s a tough one, isn’t it? No ovals for the first time in Champ Car’s schedule. I don’t know the details, I don’t know the back-story, but I have to believe that if it’s not Milwaukee, then its somewhere else. I know that we don’t have access to most ovals given who owns them and who is in bed with whom. But, there must be one oval out there that we could run on a weekend. Doesn’t have to be Milwaukee, doesn’t have to be a moneymaker, just be an oval. Make it a two-day weekend at huge discounted ticket prices. Practically give them away. Just have an oval to keep the diversity of the series going. Again, I don’t know the situation and I am not a businessman, but I have to believe that you need to spend money to make money and if it means a cost-spending race to keep the series’ traditions alive, then I have to believe its for the betterment of the sport.