It's been a while since I posted anything on here. Getting back home Monday from Canada marked the end of a
manic two-month stretch where I spent nine of 10 weekends either working and/or
traveling. Here’s a recap, in bullet points:
·
o
Positives: Team’s first podium, good media
outreach, great to work with Katherine Legge, Andy Meyrick (drivers) and team
led by David Price. A successful sign-off for me, because it made sense for both of us to move in other directions after my first two races.
o
Negatives: We broke with 20 minutes remaining of
four-hour race while trying to hit 70 percent mark for points, which led to a
flurry of backlash on social media. Also, missed my connecting flight in DTW
from SFO and spent night in an airport Holiday Inn Express “In the D.”
·
o
Positives: New city, got to experience the Mall
of America for the first time.
o
Negatives: It pissed like hell for the entire
five-six hour drive there, and the hotel didn’t have NBCSN for Indy 500
qualifying. Luckily, NBC Sports Live Extra streaming, Twitter, and INDYCAR 13
app came to the rescue.
·
o
Positives: It’s Indy. The race and its record
lead changes. Monday morning pic with winner Tony Kanaan. First Mug ‘N Bun
experience. Coffee with Alex Lloyd where we solved the world’s problems.
o
Negatives: I guess I made it rain at the Night
Before the 500 at LORP, and I forgot what a shitshow Broad Ripple is.
·
o
Positives: Holy cow does Roger Penske put on a
first-class event. Conway and Pagenaud winning, Jakes starring. Absolutely
loved this race weekend. And how can you beat IHOP for dinner near our hotel?
Coffee back in Indy with Martin Plowman, who went onto win the 24 Hours of Le
Mans in LMP2 with Bertrand Baguette and Ricardo Gonzalez a couple weeks later.
Gotta love the positive juju.
o
Negatives: Not many if I’m honest, but I will say there are
definitely certain parts of Detroit you don’t want to be in at the wrong time
of day.
June 12-15, Milwaukee IndyFest, NBC Sports
o
Positives: Great race advances (lunches,
celebrity bartending, go-karting, Street Fest) by Andretti Sports Marketing.
Sitting in the Turn 1 grandstands for the race. Will Buxton’s fever for the city, the race, and his
epic goldenrod pants.
o
Negatives: Anytime you’re sat next to “Chinzilla”
in the media center, you do everything you can to spend as little time there as
possible.
·
o
Positives: Getting the opportunity to work with
Dave Kallmann, AJ Allmendinger scoring a popular win and Billy Johnson’s
post-race quotes to me. I have yet to get a sound bite better than his bit
about growing up in LA traffic and using it to his advantage to slice through
the field. Oh, and SJB stand, double brats and Spotted Cows.
o
Negatives: Deadlines! Man do I have a lot of
gained respect for NASCAR print and other deadline writers. The race wrapped at
7:30 p.m. and our deadline was 8:45. I haven’t had such a mad rush to get
quotes to make a deadline since my Marquette Tribune days.
·
o
Positives: All of it. Food, family, ambience,
location, music, ceremony, reception. Just perfect in every aspect. Oh, and surviving my first trip to the Jersey Shore was also a bonus.
o
Negatives: Trenton-Mercer Airport. Literally,
there is just one gate. It is hotter than Hades in there. There’s no air
conditioning, no bathrooms past security and just one airline, Frontier. The
parking lot is twice as big as the terminal. It might be in the running for the
worst airport in America. That said, it was cheap and convenient, so I’ll cross
it off my airport bucket list.
·
o
Positives: New work opportunity and fun dinners,
great series car and driver content and seeing the sports car paddock once
again.
o
Negatives: Zero cell service, long drive to/from
hotel, cramped paddock space. Oh, and Thursday with eight on-track sessions for my first day. Here’s your baptism by
fire, Batman.
·
o
Positives: Where do I start? My first trip ever to
Canada more than lived up to expectations: the downtown, the public transportation, the food, the drinks, Porter Airlines and arriving into Billy Bishop Airport, the track, the
hospitality, Timbits and a double-double, were all phenomenal. Seeing Turbo
and following it up with Chipotle with Josef Newgarden on Thursday wasn’t bad either.
o
Negatives: The time in T.O. ended too soon, and I didn’t get
outside the media centre very much. Also, it took a little longer than
anticipated to enter the country to pass border security, but all was well at
the end of the day.
Oh, and that doesn't even factor in seeing Sir Paul McCartney on Tuesday. But in a word, wow. At least one home weekend this weekend and
possibly back on the road for another three in a row next week. As for now, I’m
out. Cheers.
