Cleveland: the Anti-TMS

Musing About Cleveland

• You've got to think the race at Cleveland this past Sunday was the Anti-Texas, everything that could go right to convince CART fans -- racing fans -- that the champ car gang is capable of puttin' on a show happened. And what's that? Good racing and a good story line.
• CART sometimes begins to resemble F-1. The cars are closely competitive, and it can be difficult to make a pass on some courses. The result? A pile-up in a race's first turn. CART's had to deal with that the last two weeks, and this past Sunday, the impatient over-driving was particularly useless because there are several passing zones on the course at Cleveland's Lakefront Airport.
• Does anyone else think an inverted start might be the best way to add a little competitive edge to the series? With the rain during qualifying, some of the faster cars ended up deep in the pack when the green flag waved. Well, okay, I'm arguing against the previous point, but, maybe -- just maybe -- after about a dozen races in a row with first turn crashes, the gang would begin to believe it isn't necessary to pass everyone on the first lap.
• Two words: Memo Gidley. There's been nothing in the series that encourage a red-white-and-blue racing fan like Target Chip Ganassi Racing hiring the California fisherman's son. And he did the Chipster proud at Cleveland, starting fifth and moving to second and then first. He lead most of the laps at Cleveland before falling victim to fuel strategy. Only the race being one lap too short kept him for earning a victory.
• Or maybe it was Michael Andretti, a lap down and refusing to move over to let Gidley give chase to Dario Franchitti, who cost the Ganassi driver the victory. But according to a press release from Target Chip Ganassi racing, Gidley was too happy to hold a grudge. "This is what I have worked all of my life for," Gidley said. "To have an opportunity to be with a first-class team like this and to be leading the race for most of the day is truly amazing. For me it is all about chasing the dream. Today is the reason why I have worked so hard, trying to keep my dream alive. Team Target gave me an awesome car today. We should have won the race, but we were held up by some slower cars. But that is part of racing. I want to thank Chip, Target and the whole team for giving me this opportunity. This is an incredible feeling. I can't wait to get to Toronto in two weeks."