Saturday morning-Vegas

It is Saturday morning, some time after 7 and it is about to be a beautiful day here at the track. Frankly, not to cheerlead too much but the entire weekend has been spectacular thus far. It started on Thursday at the charity gala and while I wasn’t actually invited inside the thousand dollar a plate dinner, I was working the red carpet, dawning my best Entertainment Tonight cap and asking drivers who they were wearing and how much they looked forward to, well whatever I don’t know what else I did. I did talk to Tiffany Thiessien, aka Kelly Kapowski, and aka my schoolboy crush growing up. That was quite a thrill? Actually it wasn’t a particularly big thrill in the sense that she’s no longer sweet Kelly but grown up Thiessien. We talked about racing and…I forget what else. I never got around to asking her about Kelly, but I did manage to say something to the effect of “you look even prettier in person”, failing to mention that I haven’t actually seen her on television since that shot lived Fox series about stealing cars many years back. I couldn’t remember the name of the series.

On Friday night it was the big street party and boy, what an event. The concerts, the shows, the people, it was quite spectacular. I didn’t stay too long of course, this is a business trip after all, but it was really well put together.

Its very difficult not to sound like a cheerleader when it comes to this event because the track is fantastic. We walked the track on Thursday and took a golf cart yesterday and its spectacular. The elevation is amazing, great passing areas as they made it wide enough in many places and going under the tracks is just a great great sight. This is one of the tracks that will look very very good on television and if my job was to place the cameras around the track, then I would be like a kid in a candy store. So many fun possibilities.

Great for Paul Tracy to have captured the provisional pole and his quote is very funny (watch the video). He did go on the reds though, but good on him to capture a front row start and thus he’ll be able to dictate his own pace on Sunday. One interesting thing was the lack of track time the drivers actually had. I believe its because they wanted to allow the streets to be open as much as possible to the public. Today both series are given more track time and that will help guys like Mario to learn the track and the DP01. Also, the track was very slick yesterday and it should be grippier today, thus making for even greater speeds.

The talk though is of Team Australia. Pagenaud finished in second and Will was on his way to a top 3 had it not been for brief contact on his final lap. I spoke with Pagenaud afterwards and as happy as he was, one of his first questions was “did Bourdais use the reds?” which shows me that this guy doesn’t want to compete, he wants to win. That is confidence my friends. That is the sign of a winner.

6 days left

Well, I will admit that I was just as surprised as anyone when I read that Mario Dominguez was joining Forsythe for the first three races of the year and hopefully the full campaign. Initially I questioned the move on Forsythe’s part, mainly because of what happened last year. But If Gerry Forsythe can bring him back, then Mario should be very happy to come back. With the new car, it’s going to be difficult for Mario to want to resort to his old style anyway. Therefore he’ll be able to help Paul in the set up and vice versa. I think Mario should be in Champ Cars anyway. He’s been around for a long time, is a race winner and without a doubt one of the more popular racers in the series. I don’t know a young woman who doesn’t love Mario. I’d actually like to see Mario contend for the Championship. There is no reason why he couldn’t at this stage of his career. He certainly has plenty of experience, plenty of knowledge of the tracks he visits and a keen sense of the car. If he can race clean and get some good results for the first three races, hopefully he can continue on to Portland and build some momentum heading to his home race in Mexico City.

Paul Tracy makes some valid points in his recent article when he states that guys like Oriol and Bruno should be in the series since they have stuck with Champ Cars for so many years when they could have very well gone to the IRL. Frankly, I never thought of it that way. In my previous blog I posted what Wiggins wrote about needing new blood and I agreed with him, as you know. But then I read what Tracy said and it really does make a lot of sense. Especially with those two (and Dominguez). I hope we see Oriol and Bruno on the grid in Vegas and beyond.

Speaking of the article isn’t it great how Tracy plays mind games ALL the time. He’s a lot smarter than some give him credit. Questioning Bourdais’ prowess by making note that Graham was pretty darn fast too is brilliant. It’s no big secret that this might be true. I recall a lot of drivers saying something similar when Oriol jumped in that number 2 spot. It’s a great way for Paul to start the season, but initiating doubt on Bourdais. But, with all due respect to Paul, you don’t win 3 championships in a row without being the clear-cut best driver in the series.

So I counted 17 cars for Vegas (with Dale Coyne having two cars and Conquest 1). I am still holding out hope that we will have 18, but I don’t know where that 18th car would come from. You never know though and we still have a couple of days left. But it looks like 17 will be the number. Bottom line, it’s going to be a heck of a race. It’s too much of a big event not to be.

By the way, congratulations to my Raptors for making the playoffs. This team is special and could make it fairly deep into the playoffs. I’ll be there all the way.
And my Senators are easily making the playoffs again. Best team in the 2nd half of the season. Yeah, this is going to be a fun playoff season for me!