Scrutineering Day One

We’re one day into the week at Le Mans. A needed nine hours of sleep helped alleviate some of the drowsiness I felt on Saturday and scrutineering got the juices flowing of adrenaline. It’s the first sign Le Mans race week is well and truly underway.

Much like 2009 when I was here for the first time, there was one star greater than any driver or team — the rain. Again, periods of sun and clouds interrupted the deluge from the heavens. I would have thought this level of rain would occur when I went through the U.K. to get to France, not actually in France after the locals have said it hasn’t rained that hard in two months.

Two things I take away from today:

-The adoration of the locals. Michael Waltrip is the big star from a North American and media perspective, but for the locals, it seemed as though Henri Pescarolo nor David Hallyday (right) could go anywhere without being mobbed. The pair who fly the “tricolor” are legendary for different reasons. Pescarolo, who drove F1 in the 1960s, has been a local icon as a team owner and driver the past 30-odd years.

Nothing special to the rest of us, but the French are infatuated with the man. After a year’s absence, Pescarolo is back in 2011 with a pseudo-new team, the renamed Pescarolo Team, instead of Pescarolo Sport. Secondly, Hallyday is the son of French singer Johnny Hallyday, who I learned today from Daily SportsCar’s Graham Goodwin is the French Elvis if you will, and the comparable example is Priscilla Presley in the U.S. Wonder what she would do behind the wheel of one of those prototypes …

-The dedication of the locals. Despite the rain, they were utterly devoted to coming out. So many people had their rain gear, their umbrellas and their cameras—just clamoring to even get a glimpse of their favorite car. And mind you, this was the short day, before the two major heavy hitters come on Monday, Audi and Peugeot. Tomorrow promises to be another packed day for the fans in downtown Le Mans.

It’s pushing 12:30 a.m. here local time, now Monday morning, so will have more to post later including links to stories. Today I have a blog featuring Waltrip running on Motorsport.com which is not yet live, and have also posted Rick Dole’s first batch of images from scrutineering on the MichelinAlley.com blog site.

Out for now, cheers.