Toronto PODCAST HERE

well, it was quite a Tremblant race and what better co-host than a man on the inside like Jim Swintal. He knows everything that goes on at race control, so I asked him about Bourdais' start and Doornbos' blocking.

Also, before you listen to this, you might want to check out my interview with Justin Wilson on champcar.ws. The man makes interesting points on Doornbos' driving.

Well, we have ourselves some fun, new rivalries developing in the Champ Car World Series, don’t we? And just how much pressure is Bourdais feeling these days? The man has to test with Toro pretty soon and suddenly; he isn’t leading the standings anymore. Well, its tied and technically he would win should the season end today. But the perception, if you just read the news is that Doornbos has all the momentum and that he’s taken this series by storm…kind of like Bourdais did a couple of years ago. This will not bode well for his bid at a Formula One ride. He needs to obliterate the competition like he has done in the past if he wants to impress them. Especially this year, with the likes of Doornbos and Jani, guys he’d be competing for jobs with overseas. I suspect it may have had something to do with his recent complaint of Doornbos.

But did Doornbos drive dangerously and run drivers off the road? The overwhelming response is NO. It was wet, it was slippery, everybody was going off, and it was every man for himself. Nothing will come of this, except the fact that a lot of people probably lost respect for Bourdais as a result of his public complaint, the fact that he wouldn’t shake hands with Robert and his obvious unhappiness on the podium. Personally, I don’t get this guy. He makes it difficult to cheer for him. He’s such a joy to watch in the car and then to get a 2nd place finish and then complain over the loud speaker in Tremblant about Doornbos is just low class. The boos were so loud, it was something I had never heard or seen before. And he didn’t care, he just kept going as the boos were getting louder and louder. His relationship with the fans (that day anyway) really didn’t matter to him. He was pissed and was hell-bent on telling everybody about it. I liked the way Doornbos and Stoddart just shrugged him off. They were not going to let his whining ruin the fact that they got their first win of 2007.

With apologies to Michael Vick, the Toronto GP is going to be one heck of a dogfight. I have mentioned this in the past that Toronto always brings out a little extra aggressiveness in the drivers. Is it the heat? The layout of the track? Tough to tell, but for the last several years, this has been arguably the craziest race on the calendar. Now, add the fact that it’s the 3rd in a row. And the newly developed rivalry between Minardi and Newman/Haas/Lanigan. This is going to be one heck of a race!