I don’t have a MasterCard but the last six weeks of summer for me might as well be a MasterCard commercial. Although it was a mix of different family, people, races, hotels, restaurants, cities, airports and time zones, the end result regardless of the costs was simple: priceless.
Getting back Sunday morning ended an epic stretch that in six weekends covered two American Le Mans Series races for MichelinAlley.com in Utah and Connecticut, a NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Road America for Motorsport.com, two weekends in a 10-day period visiting family in Phoenix and San Diego and one weekend at home in Greendale, my adopted home and suburb of downtown Milwaukee.
It was a weird sense of déjà vu driving back from the track to a second hotel in as many days – from one in Great Barrington, Mass. on Thursday and Friday to one near the Hartford, Conn. airport Saturday night – and then wondering while in a tired haze, where am I? Another hotel? Same hotel lining? What state?
As it was, the capper to this stretch was the second in a period of four ALMS races in seven weekends, at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. Certainly the area is beautiful and the drive scenic to and from, but perhaps I suffered this weekend from unreasonable expectations I placed on myself.
Whereas at Utah I had minimal expectations, going in dreading the heat and the area, I was pleasantly surprised with the experience. I was excited for Lime Rock thinking it would be cooler and the scenic atmosphere would more than make up for the tight track. But I can’t say this was my favorite weekend of the season.
Certainly the track and drives are gorgeous and I wish I had taken more photos. That said, the weather was miserable — constant rain on Friday left everyone soaked. On Saturday everyone was soaked again, but this time from the 90-plus degree heat coupled with I’d guess about 70-80% humidity. Not to mention the media center’s air conditioning was limited to a few vents (but a major improvement from trailers they’ve had in the past, I understand). I almost didn’t miss the much-touted Phoenix “dry heat” that everyone always says they prefer (of course I usually respond, ‘Well, yes, Phoenix at 115 is still a dry heat, but so too is a 400-degree oven…’).
It was another barnburner of a finish as the Muscle Milk Team CytoSport Porsche RS Spyder driven by Klaus Graf made a move to lap some slower GT traffic, contacting Patron Highcroft Racing’s David Brabham in the HPD ARX 01-c as he attempted to overtake. Graf got a stop-and-go penalty but Brabham suffered a delayed puncture that ruined his chances. A popular first overall win then for Graf, co-driver and team owner Greg Pickett.
GT and LMPC also had tight finishes – Patrick Long in a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR holding off the pair of Rahal Letterman BMWs in GT with LMPC’s winner Gunnar Jeannette running out of fuel on the last lap but still managing to complete his final lap before the second-placed car took the checkers.
The weekend highlight for me was having the opportunity to meet racing legends Sam Posey and Skip Barber at Posey’s Connecticut cottage among other dignitaries and Posey’s friends for a Friday night dinner. Major thanks to my editor and adviser for that.
As this was a fairly busy weekend elsewhere, with F1, IndyCar, NASCAR, and MotoGP also on track, some other thoughts:
***
I never have liked Ferrari’s tactics, dating to the Michael Schumacher era of utter annihilation. Sunday’s farce of a Grand Prix at Germany — with Schumacher, “Schumi Jr.” Sebastian Vettel and their four countrymen in the field’s home race— brought back bad memories and re-anointed Felipe Massa as the role of Ferrari wingman.
The last time they pulled a stunt like this was in 2002 at Austria with Rubens Barrichello pulling over right before the flag. Massa’s engineer Rob Smedley not so subtly told him that teammate Fernando Alonso was faster and asked him to ‘confirm’ the message. What would have been a boon to the series with a popular win for the driver who a year ago to the day was struck in the face by a 2-pound spring dislodged from Barrichello’s car was instead turned into a political matter to ensure Alonso got the win he lost at turn one.
Massa, as ever, handled things bluntly but professionally in post-race. The team still would have gone 1-2 anyway for the vaunted Constructor’s Championship with Massa ahead, and Alonso is not going to leapfrog two Red Bull and two McLaren drivers in the Driver’s Championship, so why screw up the deserved winner’s race and blatantly disregard the regulations? Just a joke.
***
Oddly this was not the biggest racing scandal by the end of the day. Along with the human error of umpire Jim Joyce taking away a perfect game thrown by Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga in June, today IndyCar’s resident chief steward Brian Barnhart (I’ll refrain from negative nicknames) made his own gaffe of epic proportions. The difference between the two was the humility and acknowledgement of the mistake Joyce showed and the arrogance in Barnhart levying what was, frankly, a BS call on Helio Castroneves in the IndyCar race.
Castroneves appeared to hold his inside line, perhaps moving a fraction of a car length to the left entering the right-handed turn one at Edmonton while defending his position against teammate Will Power on a late race restart. And while anyone with half a brain could see it wasn’t a block, Barnhart thought otherwise, and Mount Helio erupted, thermonuclear style. Rightly so.
Barnhart defended the decision in a post-race interview on Versus.com suggesting that once a driver is on the inside line on a road course and not attempting to pass, that that is blocking. His inconsistencies and the lack of clarity regarding what’s blocking (apparently this) and what’s not (Danica’s near detonation chop on Kanaan at Texas) are damning and should be the impetus for Randy Bernard — a rodeo man — to pull the trigger and rid IndyCar of this man once and for all. His presence, like Milka Duno’s on track, is only hurting the series’ pub and credibility right now, not helping it.
***
This weekend (Friday, July 23) marked the one-year anniversary of starting my Twitter account. After being a vehement hater, some 3,400+ tweets and 285 followers later, plus running two other accounts, I think I can say I’ve changed my mind about the usefulness and practicality of Twitter. Thanks to those who follow (and have not yet got sick of my racing tweets), and also to those who influenced me to get off my rear end and get one going. I haven’t checked myself into “Tweet-a-holic’s Anonymous” yet…
Out for now and on to another rare stretch of a week and a half at home. Cheers.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Backwards working and thinking
It's weird but this weekend was only the second one this summer since my junior year of classes got done that I haven't either been covering a race or traveling. Every other one but the first in June, I've either been at a track, on the road, or covering a race from home.
So much of work is done during the week so the whole notion of always working weekends, in a different location but with the same sets of players, is highly opposite of most regular weekly warriors. I love it.
I'm not the office type and not having had a "normal" or "by the book" job during my high school and college summers, the nomadic lifestyle is a fun one - so much that a weekend like this having done nothing at all was hard to come to grips with. Being on the go so much, I almost feel guilty having a few days of just relaxing...
Some other weekend thoughts:
I NEED to get to Toronto at some point. Twice before (in 1998 and last year) I had opportunities to go but circumstances wound up prohibiting me from attending. Everything about Canada, particularly emphasized this year with the Winter Olympics in Vancouver plus the gosh-darn kindness of the Canadians I've met in my racing travels, has drawn me to getting there but so far it hasn't happened. That has to change.
***
Sunday marked the end of ABC's five-race run of inferior TV coverage of the IZOD IndyCar Series. They weren't nearly as off-the-ball at Toronto as two weeks ago in Watkins Glen but the few folks that tuned in I'm sure will appreciate the treatment from Versus the rest of the way.
Toronto's ratings won't receive the standard British Open bump either since it wasn't on ABC as a lead-in but rather on ESPN. I'm wondering if those will be lower since Louis Oosthuizen turned the "birthplace of golf," St. Andrews, into his personal playland and sucked the life out of the tournament. Not his fault, as Louis seemed a pleasant enough chap who was a deserving winner, but a rout of the field does not compelling TV make (in fairness, not a lot of ESPN's programming these days is).
***
So last Wednesday IndyCar unveiled the "new car strategy" for 2012. A few positives are of course, the huge cost reductions on the new tub and new jobs created in Indiana. The negatives are a lack of a rolling tub or physical proof to showcase at the announcement beyond the holograms and 3D mockups of what the new spec IndyCar Safety Cell looks like.
That's one damning thing - that it's still spec. For all the talk about open competition, I'm not sure what manufacturers will be lining up to build the aero kits on the safety cell. Why would a company like Swift, Lola (which has now been spit on twice in two years losing an F1 entry and now the new IndyCar which could have served a dual purpose for IndyCar and Indy Lights) or BAT want to dole out kits and only be able to sell at a $70K price point? Especially after they've basically been spat on by the ICONIC committee? The R.O.I. is still too small for major manufacturers, chassis and engine providers alike, to sink more money in a tight economy.
I also can't help but think if this keeps the series stagnant in its Indy-centric mantra where everything revolves around the Speedway. Picking Dallara largely on the basis of its promise to build a new facility mere miles from the track alienates the series from expanding beyond its borders. And for what, 80 jobs?
The rollbacks of $150K on the tub to Indianapolis-based teams affects Penske, Newman/Haas, Dale Coyne and A.J. Foyt's operations, the four which are not based there. Penske will be fine of course but the other three still operate on relatively smaller budgets in comparison - and say what you will about Tony George but he would have never left Foyt's team in a compromised position in the early days of the IndyCar Series.
It's a weird direction to be going because at present, the new IndyCar is going to be a glorified kit car if it gets several other manufacturers. At worst, as others have said, it's 33 kit Dallara-Hondas - again - at Indianapolis come 2012. For all the hoopla surrounding the Centennial, the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500, it will still be 33 of the same next year and a still cloudy outlook for what will be racing there the year after.
Too much of IndyCar's mantra and attitude has been big buildups and not huge, but somewhat resounding thuds, for major announcements such as this one. It's unfortunate and of course it's still more than 18 months before the 2012 opener, but hopefully manufacturers get interested in what is still an unfinished product.
It's back on the road Thursday to Lime Rock Park for the next ALMS race. Out for now, cheers.
So much of work is done during the week so the whole notion of always working weekends, in a different location but with the same sets of players, is highly opposite of most regular weekly warriors. I love it.
I'm not the office type and not having had a "normal" or "by the book" job during my high school and college summers, the nomadic lifestyle is a fun one - so much that a weekend like this having done nothing at all was hard to come to grips with. Being on the go so much, I almost feel guilty having a few days of just relaxing...
Some other weekend thoughts:
I NEED to get to Toronto at some point. Twice before (in 1998 and last year) I had opportunities to go but circumstances wound up prohibiting me from attending. Everything about Canada, particularly emphasized this year with the Winter Olympics in Vancouver plus the gosh-darn kindness of the Canadians I've met in my racing travels, has drawn me to getting there but so far it hasn't happened. That has to change.
***
Sunday marked the end of ABC's five-race run of inferior TV coverage of the IZOD IndyCar Series. They weren't nearly as off-the-ball at Toronto as two weeks ago in Watkins Glen but the few folks that tuned in I'm sure will appreciate the treatment from Versus the rest of the way.
Toronto's ratings won't receive the standard British Open bump either since it wasn't on ABC as a lead-in but rather on ESPN. I'm wondering if those will be lower since Louis Oosthuizen turned the "birthplace of golf," St. Andrews, into his personal playland and sucked the life out of the tournament. Not his fault, as Louis seemed a pleasant enough chap who was a deserving winner, but a rout of the field does not compelling TV make (in fairness, not a lot of ESPN's programming these days is).
***
So last Wednesday IndyCar unveiled the "new car strategy" for 2012. A few positives are of course, the huge cost reductions on the new tub and new jobs created in Indiana. The negatives are a lack of a rolling tub or physical proof to showcase at the announcement beyond the holograms and 3D mockups of what the new spec IndyCar Safety Cell looks like.
That's one damning thing - that it's still spec. For all the talk about open competition, I'm not sure what manufacturers will be lining up to build the aero kits on the safety cell. Why would a company like Swift, Lola (which has now been spit on twice in two years losing an F1 entry and now the new IndyCar which could have served a dual purpose for IndyCar and Indy Lights) or BAT want to dole out kits and only be able to sell at a $70K price point? Especially after they've basically been spat on by the ICONIC committee? The R.O.I. is still too small for major manufacturers, chassis and engine providers alike, to sink more money in a tight economy.
I also can't help but think if this keeps the series stagnant in its Indy-centric mantra where everything revolves around the Speedway. Picking Dallara largely on the basis of its promise to build a new facility mere miles from the track alienates the series from expanding beyond its borders. And for what, 80 jobs?
The rollbacks of $150K on the tub to Indianapolis-based teams affects Penske, Newman/Haas, Dale Coyne and A.J. Foyt's operations, the four which are not based there. Penske will be fine of course but the other three still operate on relatively smaller budgets in comparison - and say what you will about Tony George but he would have never left Foyt's team in a compromised position in the early days of the IndyCar Series.
It's a weird direction to be going because at present, the new IndyCar is going to be a glorified kit car if it gets several other manufacturers. At worst, as others have said, it's 33 kit Dallara-Hondas - again - at Indianapolis come 2012. For all the hoopla surrounding the Centennial, the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500, it will still be 33 of the same next year and a still cloudy outlook for what will be racing there the year after.
Too much of IndyCar's mantra and attitude has been big buildups and not huge, but somewhat resounding thuds, for major announcements such as this one. It's unfortunate and of course it's still more than 18 months before the 2012 opener, but hopefully manufacturers get interested in what is still an unfinished product.
It's back on the road Thursday to Lime Rock Park for the next ALMS race. Out for now, cheers.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Catching My Breath
Phew… I’ve used the term “incredibly whirlwind” quite a bit lately but since June 26, I’ve been in Phoenix, San Diego, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Milwaukee again in that order. So having 10 days in a row now in one place is quite abnormal for me this summer!
A brief recap of why I’ve been on the go as much as I have. My main job, blogging during American Le Mans Series events, involves traveling to each event. But we have just come off of a near two-month gap in-between our third race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. in May before our fourth this past weekend at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, about half an hour southwest of downtown Salt Lake City.
In the interim I covered three races, two on site. Mid-June saw sports car racing’s most prestigious event, the 24 Hours of Le Mans take place while I had technical issues covering remotely from home. My old editor at Motorsport.com told me this weekend that the other two saw me “on loan” to her for two races, the Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR Nationwide Series weekend at Road America (I’ve spent a couple blog posts on both of those).
After Road America I shipped out to Phoenix to catch up with my dad, grandparents and other assorted family – with a trip within a trip to San Diego for the fourth of July. I can’t say as I miss Phoenix much with their constant political upheaval regarding immigration reform or the barrage of attack ads from John McCain. Or the heat – the temperatures ranged from 105 to 114 for highs.
I flew back through Las Vegas on Monday and while part of me was tempted to play the in-terminal slot machines since I turned 21 last month, but opted against it since it was 7:30 a.m. and crowds at the machines were sparse.
A brief recap of why I’ve been on the go as much as I have. My main job, blogging during American Le Mans Series events, involves traveling to each event. But we have just come off of a near two-month gap in-between our third race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. in May before our fourth this past weekend at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, about half an hour southwest of downtown Salt Lake City.In the interim I covered three races, two on site. Mid-June saw sports car racing’s most prestigious event, the 24 Hours of Le Mans take place while I had technical issues covering remotely from home. My old editor at Motorsport.com told me this weekend that the other two saw me “on loan” to her for two races, the Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR Nationwide Series weekend at Road America (I’ve spent a couple blog posts on both of those).
After Road America I shipped out to Phoenix to catch up with my dad, grandparents and other assorted family – with a trip within a trip to San Diego for the fourth of July. I can’t say as I miss Phoenix much with their constant political upheaval regarding immigration reform or the barrage of attack ads from John McCain. Or the heat – the temperatures ranged from 105 to 114 for highs.
San Diego is another story entirely and looking at houses there can be breathtaking. Some views overlook the harbor, downtown, and the skyline of what is such a beautiful city. If the situation was right I could potentially see myself there in the future.
Anyway it was back to Milwaukee for a day and a half and then out again to Salt Lake City, which going into, I’ll be honest, was the race I was least looking forward to all season! But I could not have been more off with my prognostication.
Salt Lake City is actually quite a vibrant downtown and after eating some great dinners with some great people, I really enjoyed my time away from the track. And to be honest, although everyone says Miller is “out of the middle of nowhere,” it’s not very far at all from downtown – only about a half hour. It’s a fantastic facility as everyone told me going in. And the Media Center ran flawlessly allowing for everything to get done as scheduled.
Not to mention what a great race! The Michelin technical partner teams were down on straight line speed in LMP since they have naturally aspirated engines as opposed to turbochargers and couldn’t make as much power with the high altitude. But they compensated with great handling and cornering speed, able to overcome the heat for a podium sweep. Simon Pagenaud starred for Highcroft and we all enjoyed having Emanuele Pirro back as well for Drayson. Michelin took the GT win as well with Risi Ferrari dominating.
The end of the race was another eye-opening lesson in how post-race PR gets done. We were short-staffed this weekend, with a number of our team members at other events. So a few minutes before the checkered flag, I rushed down to the pits to distribute Michelin hats to podium finishers – we have to get signage of the brand up in TV interviews and for the podium. Needless to say while in my firesuit and with ambient temperatures at more than 90 degrees, it was a hot, sweaty atmosphere!
The kicker was also when one of the ALMS’ PR staff asked if I could track down the GT-winning team in the MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge, which wasn’t present! So it was running back to the pits and then realizing they didn’t even know they had won the “race within a race” that rewards the teams that travel the farthest, fastest and with the least environmental impact.
Speaking of green racing, one of the weekend highlights was trying out a Green Racing Simulator that will be present at all remaining U.S. events this season. Here’s a teaser from the blog.
Anyway it was back to Milwaukee for a day and a half and then out again to Salt Lake City, which going into, I’ll be honest, was the race I was least looking forward to all season! But I could not have been more off with my prognostication.
Salt Lake City is actually quite a vibrant downtown and after eating some great dinners with some great people, I really enjoyed my time away from the track. And to be honest, although everyone says Miller is “out of the middle of nowhere,” it’s not very far at all from downtown – only about a half hour. It’s a fantastic facility as everyone told me going in. And the Media Center ran flawlessly allowing for everything to get done as scheduled.
Not to mention what a great race! The Michelin technical partner teams were down on straight line speed in LMP since they have naturally aspirated engines as opposed to turbochargers and couldn’t make as much power with the high altitude. But they compensated with great handling and cornering speed, able to overcome the heat for a podium sweep. Simon Pagenaud starred for Highcroft and we all enjoyed having Emanuele Pirro back as well for Drayson. Michelin took the GT win as well with Risi Ferrari dominating.
The end of the race was another eye-opening lesson in how post-race PR gets done. We were short-staffed this weekend, with a number of our team members at other events. So a few minutes before the checkered flag, I rushed down to the pits to distribute Michelin hats to podium finishers – we have to get signage of the brand up in TV interviews and for the podium. Needless to say while in my firesuit and with ambient temperatures at more than 90 degrees, it was a hot, sweaty atmosphere!
The kicker was also when one of the ALMS’ PR staff asked if I could track down the GT-winning team in the MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge, which wasn’t present! So it was running back to the pits and then realizing they didn’t even know they had won the “race within a race” that rewards the teams that travel the farthest, fastest and with the least environmental impact.
Speaking of green racing, one of the weekend highlights was trying out a Green Racing Simulator that will be present at all remaining U.S. events this season. Here’s a teaser from the blog.
I flew back through Las Vegas on Monday and while part of me was tempted to play the in-terminal slot machines since I turned 21 last month, but opted against it since it was 7:30 a.m. and crowds at the machines were sparse. Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport isn't as much an airport per se, as much as it is a casino with gates attached. If I'm going to go to 'Vegas, I might as well do it in the style that Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis did in The Hangover (what would a new blog post be without a recent comedy movie reference?).
Time to rest up for 10 days, take care of some odds and ends at home and then do it all over again in Lime Rock! Out for now, cheers.
Time to rest up for 10 days, take care of some odds and ends at home and then do it all over again in Lime Rock! Out for now, cheers.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Four for the road
Happy belated 4th of July. For me, the time encapsulating our nation's holiday has offered me the rare opportunity to be in four different cities in four days, thanks to some circuitous planning from a vacation and family visiting standpoint. It's sort of a microcosm of my summer of travel.
Today was packing up and leaving one potential place I hope to be next year, San Diego, to come home to Phoenix via a six-hour car ride. Tomorrow it's flying back to Milwaukee to change out the necessary items for the next trip to Salt Lake City on Thursday - which ironically includes a pit stop in Phoenix to change planes (and for good measure, passing through Las Vegas next week on the way back to Milwaukee). Salt Lake City marks the continuation of this year's American Le Mans Series season after nearly a two-month break since the last race in Monterey at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
I've been very fortunate to have traveled a lot throughout the years, but in 2010 especially with my racing commitments that amount of traveling has intensified. This current period is the stretch of being in six different places in six consecutive weekends. Flying all becomes a bit routine, much like George Clooney's character in Up In the Air. I hope that doesn't sound arrogant or over-the-top, but just a nature of the work I have got involved with this year.
One of the things I've taken most from my college experience at Marquette, especially in the last two years, is always being on the go - and never satisfied with what I have and always looking to do better and keep my eye on the next potential challenge. Working in the ALMS this season with MichelinAlley.com has already opened my eyes more than I could have imagined.
This is when things really get crazy since the next four ALMS races are in seven weekends, after having three races in three months (not counting the 24 Hours of Le Mans) prior. And when the last of those four clicks off, it's back to school and starting senior year. It sounds weird to say now but with how fast time flies, it's going to get here quickly.
The 4th offers a great chance for reflection, and it also has the unintended consequence of signaling the second half of summer. Best to live it up and make the most of the opportunities provided.
Out for now, cheers.
Today was packing up and leaving one potential place I hope to be next year, San Diego, to come home to Phoenix via a six-hour car ride. Tomorrow it's flying back to Milwaukee to change out the necessary items for the next trip to Salt Lake City on Thursday - which ironically includes a pit stop in Phoenix to change planes (and for good measure, passing through Las Vegas next week on the way back to Milwaukee). Salt Lake City marks the continuation of this year's American Le Mans Series season after nearly a two-month break since the last race in Monterey at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
I've been very fortunate to have traveled a lot throughout the years, but in 2010 especially with my racing commitments that amount of traveling has intensified. This current period is the stretch of being in six different places in six consecutive weekends. Flying all becomes a bit routine, much like George Clooney's character in Up In the Air. I hope that doesn't sound arrogant or over-the-top, but just a nature of the work I have got involved with this year.
One of the things I've taken most from my college experience at Marquette, especially in the last two years, is always being on the go - and never satisfied with what I have and always looking to do better and keep my eye on the next potential challenge. Working in the ALMS this season with MichelinAlley.com has already opened my eyes more than I could have imagined.
This is when things really get crazy since the next four ALMS races are in seven weekends, after having three races in three months (not counting the 24 Hours of Le Mans) prior. And when the last of those four clicks off, it's back to school and starting senior year. It sounds weird to say now but with how fast time flies, it's going to get here quickly.
The 4th offers a great chance for reflection, and it also has the unintended consequence of signaling the second half of summer. Best to live it up and make the most of the opportunities provided.
Out for now, cheers.
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