THE SKINNY ON KOREA

I know a lot have been wondering, so now that we think we know what we are doing, I will share it with the rest of you. I have really sat on this for too long already.

For a few years back now, the Koreans had run an Int’l F3 race, not sure where. My chums and connections over in Jolly Old England tell me that they took a handful of Marshals with them from the UK to communicate, as Race Control was run by the British with their international connections. I’m told that the rest of the work was done by a small bunch of mildly experienced Koreans and a legion of inexperienced but nonetheless enthusiastic college students!

There is an Internationally recognized Sporting Authority over there, named KARA, who have been patiently waiting in the wings all summer for the promoter to recognize them and vice versa. I have gotten very little in the way of hard numbers as to what the experience levels are over there, so to cover ourselves, at least for the first year, Champ Car has granted me a small budget to take over a handful of North American Marshals, whose job it will be to instruct, guide and help the Koreans, who should come with little or no experience, stand on their own within a year or two. In short, the better this little crew does, the less we will need them.

You have heard me preach many times that our company is still financially a long way from the heydays when we took two dozen people regularly to Mexico, South America, Japan and Europe. To keep expenses down, especially on domestic air travel, I was urged (with very few exceptions) to keep this Marshal group based in Southern California, where the charter will be leaving from.

My group is now selected and set. Certainly, I would have wanted it to be larger, but right now bucks is bucks. My first dream would have been an “executive” group made up of ALL my flag chiefs for all our events, but economy canned that idea, and it has been no easy chore to come up with JUST 13 people. We envision 10 posts, one on start with JD, one rover and one in reserve in case we sprout another post. We will place one from this team on each post, who will work with a translator to supervise the flagging, while the comm. line will be in Korean, hopefully gaining ground as the event progresses. We will have TV…

Those selected were chosen for the combined factors of their availability, experience with the series, proximity to Southern California, and what I hope will be most important, their skills as teachers and ambassadors. They will find themselves in some cases to be the only pure English speakers on their post, surrounded by those who have never done this before and that will be a high stress weekend, indeed.

Those of you who feel you could (or should) have been selected and are very disappointed, I don’t blame you. I only ask your understanding in what we are trying to do here in the context of where we are as we grow the series back to where it belongs. If you know me, then you already know how I feel about all of you.

Don’t know how to say “so long” in Korean yet.

Working on it.

JHS

TORONTO'S 20th...

The 20th Running of the Toronto Molson Indy Poster


So now I can finally get around to a review of July's events, starting with Toronto. I'm happy and proud to say I have waved a flag (or directed some poor soul to wave a flag) at all 20 races, through thick and through thin.

Up above here is the poster art that was so lovingly commisioned by the good (and very perceptive) people of Molson Brewing, and they used it as the program cover, poster and even created some 500 or so limited edition lithos for in-house use. Using the Princes' Gates as an organizing element, the composition visits some of the notable architectural features of the CNE grounds as well as some of the more memorable moments and accomplishments in the history of the race (my favorite is still the first event, where CART official Big Bill Luchow held Bobby Rahal in the pits for a long pace car penalty - shown center left.) The winner's helmets from the first nineteen years are across the top.

Many have asked, and a website devoted exclusively to my stuff is still a month or so away, and this will be on it... but send me an email at swintal@cox.net if you are interested in a copy. All the original posters are gone from the event, but I can make very tasty prints to order on heavy watercolor stock. An 18x24 will be $100.

OK - enough pimping the artwork. I want to thank Peter Corley, Scott Muir and their fine crew of Marshals for another excellent weekend. Numbers were slightly up this year, and we needed them as the Champ car race was a pretty genteel affair until about halfway through and it became Smack-Em-Up City!!

I normally can cover up the places during the weekend when I get totally, totally lost during an event. It usually sounds like a looong silence where I buffalo y'all into thinking I'm in some deep conversation with the stewards... BUT NOT TODAY!! RC was in the Automotive Hall, and we fashioned a room with temporary office walls, with a very high ceiling that didn't bounce any internal sound. So we all know leader Tracy is on his way in, and two cars happen to belt the turn one exit wall at the same time, so I knew the timing of the full course yellow call had to be timed right, so I waited... and never heard Tony Cotman call it out. So the room and the first two corners are going ape-s&it, and I'm just sittin' there in a demi-glace until Asst. Starter Andy yells "Hey Jim! What the hell are we doin' here?" as he sees JD Wilbur with the double yellows out... So I bellow into race control, "Hey, are we full course yellow? " Wow, I never saw so many heads snap around so quickly. It may have been about a 15 sec delay, so mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Other than that, we all did great, the posts here really know how to work with each other and help one another out. For the first time, Race Director Tony Cotman had the time to come out and address the Sunday Briefing. And I thank you all again, and beseech all interested Toronto marshals to make a short trip down to Cleveland next year, to help us out again, as well as get one race under your belts before ol'home week 2006.

...AND EDMONTON'S FIRST

Sebastien Bourdais takes Cosworth's 250th Champ Car victory in Edmonton

OK, more art. But I teased you two posts ago that there was a milestone a-brewin' up in Edmonton, and it was Cosworth's 250th Champ Car win, the first happening back in nineteen seventy-ought-six, as Big Al drove for Parnelli Jones to victory in that year's Pocono 500. The original art was commissioned by Champ Car and presented to Cosworth executives during the pre-race ceremonies in San Jose. Yes, we turned this one out quick, a mere nine days after the race, where I was able to get my first reference photos of the place. Seb, the skyline of Edmonton, JD, Krys Mitchell and local boy Jim on the start stand, the works. Along the top are the cars that recorded the first, fiftieth (Rutherford/Michigan/'80,) hundredth (Sullivan/Cleveland/'84,) one-hundred-fiftieth (Rahal/Laguna/'87,) and two-hundredth (C. Fittipaldi/California/'00) wins. Reproduction plans are still in the air on this one, again email me at swintal@cox.net if you are interested.

CAN YOU BELIEVE A TURNOUT OF 200,000 PEOPLE? AMAZING! We were all absolutely gob-smacked. Our product does sell well, north and south of the border!! And that includes 65,000 watching absolutely nothing on Saturday, when we had a long rain delay in the morning while maintenance workers constucted a small dam outside turn 12 to keep a river of rainwater fron flowing across the track. Circuit Director Chris Kneifel built an excellent course, one more varied in speed and texture than its counterpart down in Cleveland.

On our side of the fence, I must say that our first-time Flag Chief Rudy van Woerkom and Race Chairman Andy de Boone came up to speed quickly. They were certainly faced with the unenviable task of putting together a Champ Car-class crew of Marshals in an area that hadn't had that heavy of an event before. Yes ,there were some novices and even some first-time flaggers propping up the numbers, but you couldn't tell from inside Race Control! And most of that credit goes to the fine group of experienced Captains and Comms that came in to help - from both near and far. There were Marshals from Toronto, the Midwest, the Rockies, Vancouver, and California, and like the sergeants of an excellent military Company, the backbone of the operation out on the corners were these experienced Marshals that kept us all on the map.

On another feelgood side, we brought the map from the drivers meeting to the Sunday briefing, and we all signed it for Gordy Ensing, who contnues to improve post-hospitalization. Since Gordy couldn't be with us, we sent a small chunk of the proceedings down to him!

RACING IN THE CITY

An unforgettable event and experience, perhaps best thought of as a community weightlifting party. Getting this candle lit and rocket off the ground took one Herculean effort. Remember that the venue and layout were not set until April! And the series was rewarded with another stellar turnout, upwards of 150,000 fans, and they all have their own stories to tell.

Let me begin with a message from Champ Car Race Director Tony Cotman to all officials and volunteer staff who participated in the event:

"To All:
This weekend showed that when we put on first time events in the middle of a city, we face many challenges, some foreseen and others unpredictable. The result this weekend was incredible for both the city of San Jose and Champ Car. Fans were treated to an experience unequalled in auto racing, between on track activities, pit walks, parties and concerts, and overall an action packed weekend. I know we all faced a huge array of challenges and we learnt a lot, which we will use to improve on, at not only next year's event but also at all other events and markets we visit. I wanted to say thank you to everyone, who know the true challenges we overcame to make this event a success. This could not happen without a complete team effort, so let us continue to drive Champ Car in a positive direction for our fans, our sport and ourselves.

Tony

Mike Neff, Randy Gruening and Barbara McClellan helped transplant their organization of SF Region Marshals from nearby Laguna Seca over to an urban venue, starting with an A #1 triple-plus welcome party at the Rock Bottom Brewery on Thursday. Admittedly, it even outdid the Long Beach version that starts out the year, as the brewer in residence created a custom I.P.A. just for this event!! Just an example of the enthusiasm that we can generate at new events!

Kudos on the food and comfort patrol as well to San Francisco Region's "Social" Committee who I must say are second to none wherever we go! The circuit wasn't complete until Friday noon, and It soon became apparent that we would be racing until 8 PM or so, and The Social Comm responded quickly to make a late afternoon run with more drinks and treats to get everyone through those last few tough hours until dinner time at the end of the day! The dinners themselves were outstanding with plenty of hot food, comforting on Friday and even a little upscale on Saturday, with another meal on Sunday!

Kudos to all our Marshals on being friendly, forgiving and flexible, which is what it takes to get through a tough weekend. The first half of the course itself was a virtual test-bed for Champ Cars, as turn one was a quick chicane over very bumpy light rail tracks (which were tirelessly worked on all 3 nights by Circuit Director Chris Kneifel and Promotor Construction Chief Jim Tario and their crews.) Post 2b grew a elegantly simple little chicane on Friday night/Saturday Morning, necessitated by alterations that sped up turn one and a very limited amount of runoff at turn three, which was a Long Beach style hairpin. The exit of turn four down to another chicane at five is the narrowest chunk of asphalt Champ Cars will see all year - 24 feet - and I don't know how the Marshal crew at four held it together all weekend! There they were, with every muliple-car grouping threatening to block the course entirely if someone put a wheel wrong, and they survived with their wits very much intact after three strenuous days, even darting out to clean up some wheel pieces during a full course yellow during the Champ Car race. Thanks also to Toronto's Scott Muir and his gang at post 7 for grabbing an Atlantic into their safe haven, saving a full-course yellow.

Another story is the Starter crew, which may have been the most experienced and colorful to be assembled for a Champ Car Event by Chief Paul Einhorn, who found himself performing very well in the weekly hotseat that has become our pit exit Blue Flag. Also part of the crew was Terry Walsh, onetime Champ Car Asst. Starter and ARS Starter under my predecessor Nick Fornoro. Terry for the first time was given the honors of waving the inaugural event Checkers over Sebastien Bourdais at the finish.

And while we are on the subject, now that he has done four straight weekends, Kudos to Toronto's Peter Zigomanis, who has taken the reigns of our "timeline" checkered flag position. We now checker all sessions on Friday and Saturday at a line before the pit entrance, so cars take the checker and drive straight in, saving time and cooloff laps. So we think maybe behind Nick Fornoro, JD Wilbur, myself (and maybe Terry,) Peter has displayed more checkers to Champ Cars than anyone else...

So thanks one and all, no matter what you did in July. You in your own way, helped move our sport forward. So as Tony says: "Let us continue to drive Champ Car in a positive direction, for our fans , our sport and ourselves."

See you at the track!!

JHS