EMauk

Well, I found out my good friend Eric Mauk is leaving the series while surfing the web and I have to say I will miss him, I always respected him and he always seem to respect me. We had a very interesting relationship given his military background and my just-about-anything-but-conformist-background. But it always played well together, as was evident when we both were the guest speakers at last year’s fan forum dinner in Portland. It was the race where AJ had switched to Forsythe and I knew that Eric had inside information on how it happened and I was determined to get it out of him. What better place to do it then in front of some champ car fanatics with a microphone in our hands? I prodded and he spoke and eventually gave the fans some real good insight, not to mention funny, knowledge on how the whole deal came down. It ended up going splendidly well and although he gave me a hard time afterwards, I knew that we’d be back being guests together during future events because we had chemistry. Most telling of all was that he showed up in his Gray Champ Car shirt and black slacks, while I had a black t-shirt and jeans on. Pretty much paints the picture of our ying/yang relationship right there. Eric’s been around Champ Car at least as long as I have and I will miss him. I wish him and his family the very best of luck over at RLR. And I don’t know when he starts his gig there, but as of this writing (Saturday afternoon) he sure as hell has a lot of explaining to do given that the RLR cars were penalized and have to start at the back of the XMradiowhateveritscalledrace at Homestead.

As I am reading the forums on his leaving, it’s obvious some of you are unhappy with his move and have categorized him with the Fernandez/AJ’s of the world. I am not going to critize you for your opinion at all. You are a passionate champcar fan and don’t like when a member of the family leaves to, of all places, the IRL. I can and do respect that. It can feel like a slap in the face and many of you have made that quite clear. Good on you for having an opinion. Whether it’s the right or wrong one, well that question may never be answered. I know Eric is a proud family man and perhaps an even prouder Buckeye, so a move back to Ohio could not have been a very difficult decision for him and his family. What will be difficult for him will be watching Ohio State lose in the Tourney, maybe as early as by the time you have read this. But that is neither here nor there right now. Hee.
The point is, from a personal standpoint, the move had to make a lot of sense for him. Again, I wish him well and hope that he isn’t too heartbroken when Oden and his boys choke.

Here’s one thing I would like to point out, based on what many of you have written in the forums. You cannot put Champ Car employees on the same level as drivers and owners. It is simply not realistic to do so. CC and IRL employees are regular folk trying to make a living with absolutely no animosity amongst each other. Quite the contrary actually, as Indianapolis is a small city and the racing community is a small one, therefore many know each other. Eric is certainly not the first employee to leave CC for the IRL and vice versa. Eric is in the public spotlight, so that’s why we know about it. But I assure you there have been many leave CC for the IRL and many leave the IRL for CC. Both CC and IRL employees are just hard working individuals trying to do the best for their respective companies. But when they punch out, they can easily for a beer together and shoot the breeze. Remember, the split didn’t happen THAT long ago and a lot of the teams that you have today are the same teams you had back then, in one form or another. And, a lot of them have or were or still are based in Indy. On both sides. My point is, at the end of the day, it’s the head honchos who go to war and the soldiers who fight the fight. But there is little hatred or disrespect amongst soldiers on both sides. Quite the contrary actually.

On a lighter note, I did certainly enjoy the champcarfanatic discussion, where for a brief instant, somebody thought it was ME who was leaving and thus proceeded to call me every which name in the book. Luckily that was clarified quickly, but at least now I know what kind of reaction to expect should a similar situation happen to me. Somehow though, I doubt that TG or anybody else from the IRL wants a guy who has publicly made fun of them in his videos and blogs for 5 years now!! My dad always taught me never to burn bridges. I’m afraid I’ve already dropped the match on this one. but hey, who knows Dad, maybe they have a sense of humor! :)