ROCKY MOUNTAIN FIGHTS

Off we went to Denver on the heels of the Tracy/Tagliani punchup to see what may await us during this race which is oft unkind to our machinery. We weren’t disappointed!

Once again, a great big thanks to Colorado Region SCCA, returning flag chief Dave “Animal” Ruegsegger and all of our volunteer marshals from near and far for a great three days of work. Just like Houston, there is only one Champ Car opportunity for most of these marshals per year, but they proved they were ready for anything. Gratefully, the schedule and the weather were not nearly as demanding as in 2005.

THE FLIGHT OF THE FIVE

As I mentioned, this track usually results in a hard, rough and tumble race, and the Atlantic race was all of that. After several full course yellows, we were about 2/3 the way thru when we received just a short “4A is waving yellow” call which couldn’t be good as the post is in the middle of the pit straight. Not hearing much more, I glanced up at the right corner TV monitor in Race Control only to be treated to a somewhat serene looking Team Australia #5 car sliding towards the turn 5 runoff on its rollbar. No sparking, shedding of parts, mayhem or dodging cars to be seen, almost as if it was a crash-test demo of some sort. Big Kudos to our turn 5 comm for not adding any more description to the scene until we got the full course yellow called and Safety trucks mobilized. Nice work, and I was also happy to see how calm it was handled in Race Control, as this may be the first rollover I remember since taking the helm of the landline at the beginning of the 2003 season. Maybe it was almost as if we expected it to happen, as we had been closely monitoring the upended Mr. Davison as he was in the throes af a three-way “furball” dice with two other cars, one of which was about to be warned for blocking moves. It turns out the 5 car ran up over the back of a car he was trying to pass and vaulted himself into the debris fence on the left, treating the pit lane to a view of the bottom of his car before gently returning back down to the track on his lid. Davison was soon checked over by Safety and attending doctors while hanging upside down and then calmly left in the car as the Safety Team righted the Swift by hand. James popped out of the cockpit and quickly waved to the crowd, who really eat this kind of thing up! Woohoo!!! And that’s why we place debris fencing nowadays anywhere there are objects such as bridges, utility poles and trees that can be struck by airborne cars, especially on straights. Just remember the similar incident in Toronto in 1996 that wound up much differently.


SITTIN’ AROUND TONY’S BASEMENT

We then expected the worst from the Champ Cars, but didn’t get it, aside from the annual first turn schlamozzle, this time between none other between TRACY AND TAG again! Come On!!! Remember the two or three kids in every grade that just couldn’t keep away from each other and kept getting into trouble constantly? I guess they never go away. But the happy benefactor was the race itself, as PT continued from the back of the field, creating an exciting day as he carved his way back up through the field towards the front. Couple that drive with the fact that the “reds” – the red-sidewalled set of alternate compound tires that must be used through at least one stint of the race – would “go off” (lose grip) fairly rapidly, we had the makings of one of the best races of the season.

I must admit that all this competitive excitement on the racing surface plus a lack of incidents led to a really good vibe in Race Control. We talked among ourselves as we watched the dices up and down the field almost as if Race Director Tony Cotman had invited us all over to his place to watch the Denver Champ Car race. You can still remain alert, but when you aren’t pushed so hard, the inner enthusiast takes over and it’s a great feeling of really enjoying why we are here. I tried to convey the same tone over the land line and I got a good response back as we heard a good deal of land line “commentary” in the form of blue flag advice, passes for position, and questions on strategy. Not something we would do everywhere, but when there aren’t a lot of incidents, ya still need to keep in touch! After Tracy moved back up to the front, I made sure everybody on the line knew that Race Control was monitoring his communications with his crew - who advised PT after his last stop that he was battling a fuel feed problem and they left it up to him to either come in to top off or try to make it to the finish. Wonder if y’all at home knew that.

The race ended at he last corner for both Tracy and Bourdais in the now-famous automotive (and then human) shoving match at the apex. The stewards looked at this incident long and hard as the rest of us began tearing down Race Control, and Race Director Tony Cotman decided that in the heat of the last lap of the battle, it was a “racing” incident. Was it the wisest thing for the points leader to try to go round the outside of a guy with nothing to lose at the last corner? Had PT not entered the race “on probation” from the incident at San Jose, it would have stood untouched. Yes, Sebastien after the incident ran across a “hot” race track to confront Paul, but hey, in the heat of the moment we rarely, rarely penalize for that. Remember PT after he crashed here last year…

With action like this, do we finally have a marketable series??

JHS