Well, now that Tony Cotman is Executive Vice President I guess I had better be careful in my podcasts with Jim Swintal since TC is likely my boss now too. J Nah, I don’t think I’ll change. If there is a questionable call, I will still challenge Jim during our show. Its what I like about Tony Cotman and shows what type of integrity he has, that he isn’t afraid to talk about his decisions, he isn’t afraid to look at the situations from different angles. He knows what the fans want and what they talk about and he knows it comes with the territory. I wish him the very best of luck in his new gig and I know he’ll be very efficient at it, just like he is over at race control. I do hope he finishes out the season as race director, as the series has had difficulty in that area. It’s the hardest job in all of Motorsports and the Tony Cotman’s are a rare breed. Hopefully bring him or her in to learn under the tutelage of TC and then go solo in 2008.

I was very surprised to see the press release issued by Derek Walker in response to some comments he made to Robin Miller about the executives at Champ Car in private. It was the right thing to do in my opinion, as its important that the team owners show solidarity with the front office. It’s the only way this business can succeed. Nonetheless, it was surprising and shows you the kind of pull that Robin Miller still has in the racing community. Like him or hate him, Robin is a big fish in the world of open-wheel racing. Now, how will this affect him? Trust has definitely been broken between these two gentlemen, so it’ll be interesting to see if other owners align themselves with Derek or if this is much ado about nothing. One thing we know for sure, the vendetta that Robin has towards CC management is stronger than ever and a few months of racing has cooled nothing.

On to fun stuff…. let me tell you about my two seater ride. First of all, I am very happy I did it in Toronto, because I wanted to get the Champ Car feel for it, i.e. between the concrete walls where 110 degree turns are common. But I must admit, the experience isn’t at all what I expected it to be. When they strapped me in and asked if I was okay, I responded that it was a little tight, to which they said “it’s supposed to be”. Fair enough. When you enter pitlane and jump to 60 miles an hour, you expect a roller coaster ride. But it’s not at all like that. The realization came at turn one coming out of the pits. You don’t even get up to much speed between pit-out and the first corner, but the breaking is unbelievable. It’s actually an unpleasant feeling, as your whole body is (seemingly) jerked around while you absorb the G’s. Going down Lakeshore was obviously the most thrilling part, but again, heading to turn 3 you brake so late and go from 200 to 40 in so little time that its unpleasant. Then you accelerate just as quickly as you decelerated, giving you the same sensation. I was fortunate that my knowledge of that track is excellent because I could brace myself for the braking. If one didn’t know the track and didn’t know when to expect a hard brake could end up with serious neck pains the following day. You end up working muscles you didn’t know you had, in your legs and stomach in particular. I was physically tired after 3 laps. I can’t imagine how these guys do it for 2 hours at a time. The back part of the track off lakeshore was very video-gameish, with its twists and turns. One thing I never felt was scared. Those cars are so glued to the ground, it never occurs to you to be afraid of anything. I also remember the smell of burning rubber. That was kind of cool. Also, the sound is nil. For such loud cars, when you are in the cockpit the sound is minimal. I naturally have always had a lot of respect for racecar drivers, but this experience took it to the next level. I imagine that a street course must be harder on the body than a road course, as the turns are so rigid. I would like to take a ride in the two-seater on a road course, with its long sweeping turns. That would be a whole new sensation of its own! I guess I shouldn’t be greedy. J

Toronto Post race

Well, what an event. What an absolutely crazy event. From that opening lap to the checkered flag, this was one of the most absurd race I have ever been part of. I was a pit reporter for XM radio (as well as across Canada) and let me tell you, if I thought Tremblant was challenging, this was an entirely different story. Todd Lewis, the other pit reporter and I split the pits in half prior to the start of the race and wouldn't you know it, all 4 drivers involved were on my side! I was a little overwhelmed and figured at least it would make the rest of the day a little easier. Boy was I wrong. It was pandemonium from the start to the end.

Its not often that one feels sorry for Sebastien Bourdais, but its tough not too after today. No less then 3 times was he punted, none of them his fault. At the end of the race, Doornbos apologized in person to Bourdais, an apology that Bourdais did accept, as he told me shortly after that he was really just dejected about falling out of the points lead. I have seldom seen him that demoralized. Then again, when was the last time he didn't lead the championship this late into the season?

And today, its safe to say Justin Wilson was the villain out there. If you disagree, just ask Ryan Dalziel. He was mad as heck and I don't blame him one bit. It was to the point where Ryan said that he thought Justin was his friend. It was clear that Justin was on some sort of mission and I asked him if he thought of making a move on Jani at the end. He said 'not really' as he figured since he passed Jani last week in Tremblant, that Jani wouldn't let it happen again.

Speaking of Jani, that little guy has one potty mouth! This is twice now that I have interviewed him following his podium finishes and he has cursed. The only difference was that this time it was on live, coast to coast radio. That boy needs to stop learning English from his crew guys. :)

I made sure, during the end of our broadcast to give props to Bruno Junquiera. The team gave him a great car, he was saying he loved it during the race and went home with a 5th place finish. You would have liked to see him finish a little bit higher, but a top 5 is nonetheless a very good result for that team.

Will Power was absolutely fantastic today. After such a difficult weekend, with the penalty on Friday and the poor qualifying, to see him win today was truly special. Like he said, this win was way more special than Vegas and after a couple of so so results a few race backs, he leaps to second place in the chase for the Cup as a result of back to back podiums. We'll see how he'll do in Edmonton.

oh, and I took a ride in the two seater this weekend. I'll make sure to write about that soon.