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.
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