Mid-Ohio wrapup

11:08 PM I'm getting to this late on Tuesday night, a couple days after the races in Mid-Ohio. All told, I was very impressed with the facilities and the amount of on-track activity over the course of four 8-10-hour days at the track. The crowds were phenomenal from Friday through Sunday, and the paddock was just sprawling with activity.

The races though failed to hold much interest, which isn't too abnormal at the track. You can't fault Scott Dixon and Target Chip Ganassi Racing for basically being perfect in the IndyCar race, as evidenced by a nearly 30-second victory on Sunday, but it isn't exactly compelling theater. The same could be said for Jonathan Summerton and James Davison, the winners in Atlantic and Indy Lights without much battling except briefly.

The Atlantic Championship ran in conjunction for the first and only time this year with IndyCar and Indy Lights. I now see why that is. The difference between Atlantic, the last surviving link to the Champ Car era in terms of a series, and IndyCar, is night and day over the course of the weekend.

These guys, you can tell have a whale of fun with their weekends, and were trying to make the best out of being the red-headed stepchild. After their autograph session on Saturday I was lucky enough to ride back on a golf cart which was one of two in an unofficial race featuring a handful of drivers and a couple series officials. It was nothing short of epic, as the second cart was briefly held up by an interloper and then pedaled hard to try to catch up.

While I was riding with Condor's Borja Garcia and Max Lefevre, Summerton and Markus Niemela were among those in the second cart and those two were still laughing their asses off when we got back to the paddock. It was easily the highlight of the weekend for me.

I'd upload pics but for a technical glitch that is really affecting me. Upon returning to Chicago, my laptop power adapter decided to die so I had to order a new one, complete with a new battery as well as my battery has been on "weak" storage for a while. Technology can be very frustrating at times, as I have discovered the last few weeks.

A whirlwind summer of travel concludes this weekend at scenic Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI for the ALMS and SPEED World Challenge races. I'll take tomorrow as my last day of what has been an eye-opening internship at the NBC affiliate here in Milwaukee, and next week just decompress before moving back to campus for year three at Marquette.

A lot to dwell on and think about, but I'm out for now. Cheers.