Wishin' We'd Go Again To Michigan
Wishin' We'd Go Again To Michigan
Life can be good out here in the boonies ... no traffic, fresh tomatoes, friendly people, squirrels in the backyard, people actually waving and smiling when you meet them on the road. You get the idea. Thing is, if you're a motorhead, it's roll-your-own. You spend your Friday, Saturday or Sunday night at the local dirt track, and you catch your big-time racin' on the televsion.
That's why an unsophisticated guy like me gets puzzled. Here we are, about a month in to all the news about CART abandoning Michigan, and we're at the big oval, and what do we hear the TV announcers prattling on about? The great racing at Michigan ... the exciting two-mile oval ... the wheel-to-wheel racing and passes for the lead on almost every lap ...
The only thing that kept me from running out to buy some stock in Michigan's owner, ISC, or even in CART itself was my bank account can't support a trip to Mickey D's.
But, man, the talkin' heads were telling the truth. What a race! Team Rahal drivers Kenny Brack and Max Papis rocketed to the front -- well, Papis did anyway. Brack was already there because a qualification rain-out meant the grid lined up on points. And then the old hands started weaving their way forward. Guys with the touch, a little experience, but still with a need for speed ... guys like Paul Tracy and Michael Andretti ...
This is racin'! I'm thinking, Someone in CART or ISC who watched the parade on the streets of Belle Isle should be watching this and kickin' themselves in the fanny for wanting to drop Michigan.
Then came the first round of pit stops and the first round of trouble. Trouble in the form of a reluctant mating of the fuel filler nozzle and tank receiver on Paul Tracy's ride. Trouble in the form of a pit stop nearly a minute long.
There goes one of my favorites ...
Where's Gidley? Memo in the Target Chip Ganassi ride had been hanging back at mid-pack, but, after the first round of pit stops, he moved to the front.
Everything then seemed to run smoothly until it was time for the second round of pit stops. Unless, of course, you count Adrian Fernandez leaving early on and Gil de Ferran a little later, both with mechanical troubles.
Then came a caution for debris around Lap 100, and -- hey, I saw this on television so I know it's true -- Memo Gidley somehow passed the pace car as it came on track, but he didn't get penalized. It took 'em a few laps to get it sorted out, but he was put back at the front of the field.
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