This is for Christine, who in the comments section of a couple of blogs back asked what the mood of the teams were in Vegas with regards to the car and the race. To be frank Christine, the mood wasn’t all that rosy. It is one thing to paint the picture of a fantastically fast DP01 that breaks records at historic tracks, which the car is/was. But it’s also another thing to see it on the track at high speeds in heavy traffic for an hour and a half. I ‘m sure you all heard about the potential fueling problems that the cars had (some of them) where they couldn’t get that much methanol in the system. And of course there is Seabass’ weird problem of the coils that kept burning up all weekend. Bottom line is that the crews were worried somewhat and knew that they would be working long hours throughout the weekend because this was it. Testing was over, Spring training was over and a screw up now or a malfunction would cost them valuable points on Sunday. Some were more cautiously optimistic, others were rather pessimistic. I think the bottom line was that the teams would have liked more testing. But then again, what team doesn’t want more testing?
Also, the fact that there are 3 street races in a row was cause for some apprehension, given how little time between events there would be to fix any tub or whatnot. On road courses, if you get off the track, you most likely go on the grass. There is no such luxury on a street course. Evidently a whole bunch of spare parts arrived on Saturday (though I can’t confirm that, I just heard it did) which I’m sure eased some pressure.
Also, because the streets of Vegas had to be opened at certain times, this was a race where track time was held to a minimum. Where they usually have an hour and a half (at least) on Friday morning, this time they barely had an hour and then it was right to qualifying. So, I think that had something to do with it.
All in all, I am happy that the first race (as I’m sure they are) is done and now everybody knows exactly (more or less) how the car performs under those circumstances. What I like about it right now is that Dale Coyne seems to have figured out the DP01, while Newman/Haas/Lanigan haven’t. Not that I cheer for one or the other, but it’s interesting how things are turning out. Although I do expect NHL racing to be back in fine form this weekend.

I think everybody will breathe a little easier now that the car has been put to the test so to speak. Scott Elkins, the director of technology especially. The poor guy (he had a major part in the development of the DP01) was stressed all weekend. Understandably for sure. I think the focus will change this weekend, it’s going to be “how can we push it to the limit” compared too “will it get through a race”.

I want to see Graham on the track. I want to see what he can do in a Champ Car. I hope he’s able to last longer than a lap cause the kid is for real.

For the record I didn’t do any track announcing at Las Vegas. It was hard sometimes cause I wanted to run to the booth and start yapping away like I used too. But I held back. I let the new guys have their day.


With regards to my videos, we have decided that it makes more sense to add some fresh videos during the 6 week break then packing it all in during a race weekend. So, except the “This or That” and “me or my teammate” to rise during the 6 week break. With three races in a row, I think the video content right now will be specifically race related, while during the break it’ll be more timeless stuff. My producer Tom McGovern is a smart man.