All about the "Pack"

I had two diametrically opposed encounters with "packs" last week, and will now attempt to relate the two within the context of one blog entry. Forgive me in advance if this is as lame an attempt to connect two things as how NBC attempted its six degrees of separation on how Nightly News' Michael Douglas and Michael Jackson were forever inextricably linked...

I mentioned last time I had some very cool internship news last week, and I have had yet another incredible opportunity in the last few days. My enthusiasm for going to Green Bay for the Packers' shareholders meeting - not so much for the meeting as a trip to Green Bay and doing something for TMJ4 outside the newsroom - was nearly deflated by having to wake up at 5:45 a.m., stopping by the station and then going to a park-and-ride in Cedarburg to meet the station's sportcaster and photographer.

It was raining and I am not a morning person. I haven't seen 7:45, let alone 5:45, in a loooong time.

Nonetheless we arrived at Green Bay in a separate loading dock to cover political bigwigs in suits talking finances and the state of the Packers' football team. I'm still getting chills as I'm walking through the tunnel where thousands have walked onto "the frozen tundra" - or on this day the spongy tundra - complete with a media pass and standing next to one of the architects of the team's success in the '90s, Bob Harlan, a Marquette grad.

Lambeau oozes mystique and aura far more than any other stadium in the National Football League. To be on that surface was just incredible. From there we hit the press room, another awesome experience, and then to St. Norbert's to talk to some of the players as they arrived in advance of training camp.

All told, a very successful eight hours and an awesome Saturday at TMJ4 tracking a lot of games, filling out a couple record orders and cutting some highlights made for a great couple of days.

***

The other "pack" of the week? What some might call a return to "pack" racing in IndyCar this weekend. The series tweaked its aero package to allow for tire ramps and sidepod extensions and added a Champ Car knockoff, Honda "power to pass," for an additional 20 pushes of between 5-20 extra horsepower. Like many who have followed the series this year, especially its series of parades on ovals this year, I was skeptical the changes would make any difference.

For one night at least - and I will stop far short of saying the IRL is back as Tony Kanaan did, because it never was to begin with - the racing was pretty damn good. The irony was not lost on me, or Jon Beekhuis who astutely pointed it out in the VERSUS broadcast booth, that Tony George had only just been ousted from his IMS posts but now his team was actually in contention for a win. With Ed Carpenter. Yes, that Ed Carpenter (left, in 2008).

Carpenter can't hold much of a candle to the veterans on road and street courses but he proved on this evening he can hack it on ovals, giving Penske a run for their money that NOBODY has given in years. He spent the last half of the race dicing side-by-side with Will Power, then Ryan Briscoe, for the lead! He raced clean if wide between turns 3 and 4 and fell all of .0162 of a second away from his first win and a highly unlikely one for both him and the team.

Oddly I found myself rooting for Ed, despite everything that TG has wreaked on open-wheel over the years, because it was that all-too-rare story in IndyCar of a minnow rising against the Goliaths. Briscoe won but Carpenter was special on this night, and I mean that in a good way, not like the negative connotation it sometimes has attached...

Elsewhere the series released its 2010 calendar and to nobody's surprise, races in Alabama and Brazil were added while Richmond and my home track of Milwaukee were jettisoned. I can't even begin to hide my disappointment on this one.

It was obvious that the financial issues stemming from the previous promoter carried on to the new ones, and then when word got out neither NASCAR nor IndyCar got paid in full for its races this year, it was time to sound the alarm bell.

Racing in Milwaukee the week after Indianapolis is as old a tradition as any in motorsport and it is a crushing blow that it won't continue in 2010 - or likely forever given the abandonment of history that the IRL has for many of its races. Sure, while 10 of the 17 races may have had prior CART or Champ Car history, it still goes without saying that races at Cleveland, Road America, Portland, California, Michigan, et al have all been lost. I hate for Milwaukee to join that list.

My review of the schedule is here: http://motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=339092&FS=INDYCAR

Off to Mid-Ohio this week for the IndyCar/ALMS events there, then Road America the week after that. Out for now, cheers.