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
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Thursday, August 24, 2006
CLEYYZYEGSJC (part two)
On the way to Montreal, hopefully not for the last time, but time now to catch up.
YEG (Edmonton Intl airport)
Again this race, held in the land where it doesn’t get dark ‘til 10:15 and so far up north that I get nosebleeds, continues to impress, both in its organization and staffing. Rudy Van Woerkom once again put in a ton of effort as the flag chief. He planned on an assistant – the way everyone else does - but had his man drop out with just a few weeks to go, so Rudy again did the work of three!
There are not a lot of experienced marshals in this part of the world, so our crew was made up of about 40% novices and people who had never marshalled before, but it was not very apparent by us in Race Control. The corner captains and experienced people who travel great distances to help us put on this event really, really come through. Just like any efficient military unit, it’s the “non-coms” (sergeants) that hold things together and they walked the fine line of keeping their corners running while at the same time passing on their skills to the “newbies”. So we all want to express our utmost appreciation to all who attended, whether veteran, novice or newbie. Great Job! You make a great team, eh?
OPINIONS, PLEASE…
The quality of the marshalling and communicating was such this weekend that it caused Tony Cotman to comment that it was some of the best information we have received this season! Could be that several of our veteran communicators are speaking up a little more when it comes to opinions on blocking and interference, and although we won’t penalize a driver without corroborating evidence, it will often lead us in the proper direction when it comes to uncovering some complaints (which we all too often hear) from the teams. Edmonton, like Cleveland, is an airport circuit where you can see great distances both before and after your post, and in one case we were investigating the video and data on a specific complaint of interference during practice. The post that saw the incident develop asked us to check the video replay from two corners before, as that’s where it all began, and when that was brought up, Mr. Cotman was immediately convinced, and the offending driver was properly sat down.
Our rule 6.17.5G states that drivers who are not running at “full pace” should not interfere with any drivers that are, either in practice or qualifying. So remember, those of you on the posts can be the key, to keeping us fair and safe. I’ll bet that there are always at least one pair of eyes on every car at all times on all laps. Anyone noodling about out there that gets in the way, please tell us or tell your captain!
ABOVE AND BEYOND
I don’t often call out an individual’s performance, but Gail Fetterman, our communicator at turn nine, more than carried her share when our land line comm system was partially felled by a car in the wall during the Edmonton race. Again that ol’ familiar crack and buzz, followed by faint voices when the 20 car whacked the wall at the exit of turn 7, one of our busiest spots, taking the land line out from turns 3 through 8. Yeesh. And for some reason, the Palmer Audio backup radios couldn’t get through, either. So instead of flying deaf, from Gail’s post at nine, she could make out most of the action from these turns and described several incidents for us until Palmer Audio got things restored about five minutes later, which seemed like a half hour. As I tell my flag chiefs when they do assignments, It’s great to have strong people in strong places!! Thank you, Gail.
SJC (Norman Mineta San Jose Intl Airport)
Well, after last year we had a lot to be wary of for this event. Thoughts went back to 2005 when we were plagued with too-long days, too-long lines for spectator bridges, and too-high flying cars over trolley tracks. But thanks to lessons learned and hard work on the part of the organizers, we left those issues behind us. We rejoined our former Race and Circuit director Chris Kneifel who headed up the construction for this track, and it showed. Chris builds ‘em “like a race director”. The City of San Jose made good on their promise to re-build the approaches to the light rail lines that the circuit crosses, plus the track was re-routed to go straight over the worst of the crossings last year. After the much anticipated first few minutes, the tracks happily became a non-issue. Schedule-wise, Tony Cotman and Champ Car’s Operations department put their feet down at the end of last season and insisted our promoters do away with 12+ hour days, which will now keep our volunteers much sharper come race day afternoon. AAAAAAmen.
A big tip ‘o the hat to Flag Chief Mike Neff, Comm Chief Barb McLellan and all of SCCA San Francisco region for putting forth great support for this event. The 2nd pre-race party at the Rock Bottom brewery even surpasses it’s sister gathering on the day before Long Beach, and SF Region’s Social Committee really puts out some delicious and well crafted dinners at the end of every race day, only a few steps away from the action in the SJ Convention center which sits in the middle of the circuit. We could get used to it. I mean, for the first time in many years our hotel was right in the middle of the track and I was 328 steps away from my bed as I sat in Race Control. It’s tough to get it built, but ahh, the joys of urban racing… Thank you everyone, near and far for helping us out!
OUT COMES THE PANOZ
On Friday evening, we saw the long-awaited unveiling of our new Champ Car for 2007, the Panoz DP01. Shorter, narrower and nimbler than its Lola predecessor, it is designed to generate much more downforce with the underwing and sidepods, thus relying on smaller wings which should create some closer racing and more passing. As part of the event, I was asked to create an original painting which prominently featured the new car and its Troy Lee paint scheme, surrounded by some of the famous Champ Car chassis that have been used and won championships since Parnelli Jones won the first race with a rear-engine Lotus back at good ol’ Milwaukee. It was unveiled on the same evening and commemorative prints were sold. Getting this done between Cleveland and Edmonton so we could then make prints and be ready for San Jose is the big reason that the month of July went by in a blur! Yes, plenty of copies are still available, but more on the art pimping later.
Back to the car – I had certainly looked at the car in a multitude of photos over the past weeks, but I was still quite amazed to see it in person and in three dimensions. And I will have to say as an artist, that a true measure of beauty is something that looks so much better in person than any photo I have ever seen of it, period. It is beyond compare to have it there right in front of you as you all soon will see come 2007.
The original art was auctioned off the next night at a Gala benefiting the Canary Fund, one of the race’s premier sponsors, an early cancer detection research fund. Tony Cotman brought me news the next morning in Race Control that he was standing next to Champ Car President and CEO Steve Johnson, who began bidding on the piece to hang in the Champ Car offices. Good idea. As the bidding edged higher, Steve and Tony realized someone at the back of the hall was staying with them bid for bid until Tony looked around to see who it was. “Forget it Steve”, said TC with a smile, “It’s Kevin.” Apparently our man KK just had to have this piece, and I guess he has a damned good eye for fine art… The framed original netted The Canary Fund a whopping $11,000.
SLAM, BANG
The race itself was yet another violent dustup plus we had the scuffle in the pit lane between Messrs. Tagliani and Tracy. Maybe we have a marketable series now with this stuff. A pal of mine was at home that weekend and was having his cable box worked on while the race was being shown. The visiting cable guy was highly disinterested with the broadcast until the fight and he then proceeded to ask every question he could about the series, mesmerized, even though he had NEVER heard of it before…When I get back from Montreal, I’ll cover the details of said print, Denver and Montreal and hopefully Cristiano da Matta’s continuing recovery. Keep Shorty, his family and many, many friends in your thoughts!
See you at the track!
JHS
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
CLEYYZYEGSJC (part one)
Yes, those of you who travel through our nation’s sometimes-friendly skies will decode the airport codes of our last four races. And that’s how they seemed to me, going by in a huge blur this year as I alternated between long days on the road and long nights on the drawing board at home. But give up show business? With you people? Never…
CLE (Hopkins Int’l Airport)
I landed Wednesday night in a huge electrical storm. Omen for the weekend.
We broke in a new flag chief this year, Bill Crowe, and he passed with flying colors. He and ex-chief turned race chairman Lauri Burkons had their work cut out for them as this is a annually a thinly attended race as marshals go. On top of that the Grand-Am Series was running down at Mid-Ohio, The June Sprints (ok, shoot me for leaving out the trademark) were up at Elkhart, and F1 was running in Montreal (although ASRQ’s Diane Dery came all the way from Quebec to be with the Champ Cars, bless her.) Nonetheless we did some prodding, recruiting and arm twisting and by Sunday we had just over 40 marshals, more than half from outside Ohio. And let me tell you and I do not say this lightly, what this crew lacked in numbers it more than made up for in talent. It may have been marshal for marshal one of the most experienced groups ever put together. I thank Bill, Lauri and each member of this Marshal crew , especially those who came down from Canada and over from the west coast, for being there and boy were you needed!!
STANDING STARTS BY THE START STAND
We chose the wide open runway to reunite the Mazda Atlantics with their much missed standing starts and both races we did with them during the weekend were right on the button. No jumps, nothing, and smooth runs through the first turn! It’s almost like a regular start, first time by, except they come to a stop on the line before the lights and then go, so it’s simpler than the FIA version. The cars grid in the pits, start engines, are led around by the pace car, the pace car pulls in, the cars pull up to their grid spots marked my a single member of their own crew, the grid clears of non-driver humans, a green flag waves all clear at the back of the grid, a 30 and a 15 sec board are shown by JD Wilbur from the start stand (who gives a nice commentary during all this on the land line) and then 4 red lights are lit in 1 second intervals, and then they all go off within 1-3 seconds and we have a race. Doesn’t take much longer to do than to read, and speaking for myself, it will be a great treat to see it done with the Champ Cars. There are some among the Champ Car driver ranks who feel we might reduce some first corner accidents by the sheer result of arriving a little bit slower and having a bit more time to make the right decision… I SAID MIGHT, DIDN’T I???
“SUNUVABITCH”
That’s right, that’s what I said on the land line as the only way to describe how the Champ Car race was going about 1/3 of the way into it. I don’t try on these occasions to mask my feelings, nor those of Race Control on such a difficult day. Wow. Incident after incident, in multiples, sometimes at opposite ends of the track and even the Sunday Atlantic race had tons of action, which certainly got us ready for the big one. You know all the hits from this one, but My Favorite moment had to be that now famous “CRACK” that is heard on the land line immediately followed by a loud buzz and some forlorn voice calling faintly that some poor soul has smacked the wall big time and taken part of the system down. Joysville. So this time it was Car 9 crunching the wall at turn 4, which had to be called in by turn 9 which is right behind turn 4 as turn 4’s landline went kablooie as a result of the impact. Not 5 seconds later, Car 4, who was leading at the time pulls off out of fuel over at turn 7… 4?... 9?... Turn 9?... Wha?... Who? Needless to say they were called in together while turn 4 was desperately trying to be heard at the same time. It took a while to figure out, and for about 30 seconds I just assume that 4 and 9 had hit each other, which was not the case. Sunuvabitch.
But sometimes those days are to be endured and looked back upon as days that make us all stronger and again my supreme thanks go out to all who helped us through a long weekend.
110%
One closing thought that I will share was an incident in turn one during the race after a restart that left a piece of sharp debris on line. While the cars were over on the other side of the circuit, we asked turn one if they had enough time to retrieve it and they said yes. So out went Brendan Crowe (Bill’s son,) and it turned out he made a hell of a long run there and back as the posts are located so far from the runway surface. He went out with a backup plan, hustled as hard as he could and made it all the way back albeit sans whistle (which I now have and will send back his way,) and some scuffed knees. It turned out to be a mighty ask and was responded to by a mighty effort. It’s not something we want to do all the time, but it was the supreme effort that went noticed. We don’t take unnecessary risks in this series, not after what we have been through, and that’s why we seldom do interventions with marshals (and only under well-controlled circumstances.) Brendan was dispatched by race control after we and turn one had sized up the situation.
On occasion, Race Director Tony Cotman, is questioned about using these “old school” ways of dealing with these matters when we could just throw another yellow, or leave it be. His specific response to this incident was “We don’t use the Marshals a lot for these things, but when we do we have very good results. If I see fit to call upon them, we will.”
Thanks, Brendan for your 110% effort.
YYZ (Lester Pierson Int’l Airport)
On to TO. The new hip moniker for Toronto, one of my favorite (excuse me, favourite) cities on the tour. For those of you who have never been, think of Chicago, only cleaner and everyone gets along.
My heartfelt thanks go out to our brothers-in-white who turn out in good numbers under Flag Chief Peter Corley’s direction. You all have a great attitude and you get the job done, enjoying yourselves at the same time (A number of years ago Gil de Ferran asked “can we take these people everywhere?”) The general culture of the Canadians just seems to be gentler than in the US, and I have a friend who jokes that the Canadians can even make the Swiss look mean.
I had the rare pleasure of having my wife Diane at the track, but I can’t say honestly she was 100% there for the race. One of our favourite groups, Great Big Sea, www.greatbigsea.com kind of a folk-pub-celtic-rock band from Newfoundland were playing Saturday night just across Lakeshore Blvd. from the racetrack at the Molson Amphitheatre, just within earshot of turn three. They brought the “houwse” down (as the Canadians say it, eh) as it was the end of their summer tour. A great way to forget about the stresses of the racetrack for one night! Thank you dear…
CHECKERED PAST
On occasion, when the moment warrants it, we will stop and recognize a job very well done and it was my pleasure at the Sunday briefing. Nick Fornoro was the original CART starter, who did 200 events, I succeeded him with 171, and JD Wilbur is up there now and I haven’t counted his up yet. We figured that after us three, and all of our assistants who waved checkered flags at Champ Cars in an “official” capacity, that the “civilian” who holds the record for most checkers displayed to Champ Cars has to be Toronto’s Peter Zigomanis. We presented him with a Champ Car Driver autographed checkered flag in front of his home crowd in recognition of his work, not only here in TO, but also other to the other events he works with us. Peter has been stationed at several of the events he travels to each year at the “Timeline” which is the point just before the pit entrance where the cars are timed from on Friday and Saturday, eliminating cool down laps. I thank Peter for his skill, timing, reliability, flexibility, endurance and good humour in this task. We’re all countin’ on ya!
to be continued...
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
QUOTE OF THE DECADE
I know it's only 2006, but I sincerely believe that this quote CANNOT be topped...
PAUL GENTILOZZI, Champ Car team owner while referring to FLOYD GANASSI, Father of Champ Car, now IRL, team owner, Chip Ganassi. Paul is convinced that ISC, and—at least in perception—NASCAR, have underestimated public opinion in the racing community in Phoenix when they tried to kill the proposed Champ Car street race.
“Arrogance,” he reiterates. “It reminds me of something Floyd Ganassi used to say: ‘The higher the monkey climbs up the pole, the more you can see of his ass.’ ”
PAUL GENTILOZZI, Champ Car team owner while referring to FLOYD GANASSI, Father of Champ Car, now IRL, team owner, Chip Ganassi. Paul is convinced that ISC, and—at least in perception—NASCAR, have underestimated public opinion in the racing community in Phoenix when they tried to kill the proposed Champ Car street race.
“Arrogance,” he reiterates. “It reminds me of something Floyd Ganassi used to say: ‘The higher the monkey climbs up the pole, the more you can see of his ass.’ ”
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
WILL WE NAE COME BACK AGAIN?
Bonnie Charlie’s now awa’
Safely owre the friendly Main;
Mony a heart will break in twa’
Should he nae come back again.
Will ye nae come back again?
Will ye nae come back again?
Better lo’ed ye canna be,
Will ye nae come back again?
The words to this old traditional Scottish song of farewell from the eighteenth century seem fitting here don’t they? We aren’t sure right now if Milwaukee or Portland will be visited again on our 2007 schedule. Milwaukee is our longest-running venue and has hosted the most CART/Champ Car races of any track in history, dating back to 1979. Likewise, Portland has occupied our Father’s Day date since 1984.
Tony Cotman always cautions us to “never say never” in this sport, so I will just leave up the big ol’ question mark. We are bringing a brand new chassis from Panoz online next season, and for only one oval now remaining on our schedule, building an “oval package” into the new car may not be feasible. The crowds at both tracks, although somewhat up from last year, are nothing in comparison to their salad days in the eighties and early nineties. On top of that, there is a political group in Portland trying hard to make the track go away. The Sunday morning noise restrictions were not lifted this year, resulting in an odd feeling day where the first on-track event was “Gentlemen Start Your Engines” for the Mazda Atlantic race! A lot like the old days of CART when the final practice was not a warmup, but held late Saturday afternoon. Mix into this uncertainty the still-on-the-table reunification talks, which will have a lot to say towards where we will be running in 2007 or beyond…
Coincidentally, both places really mean a lot to where I have been in this game. I first worked Milwaukee as an Observer in 1984, but three years later got the nod to assist Terry Walsh on the start stand for the American Racing Series, which became Firestone Indy Lights – so I got my first starter’s stand experience there. Portland, back in 1990, was the first race I was paid to travel to as the new ARS starter, so each time I return it feels like another page turning on my fiscal officiating calendar.
THE MILWAUKEE MILE AND 83 THOUSANDTHS (look it up)
But outside of all that, the events clicked along fine and I want to thank everyone involved who came out and supported us! First year Milwaukee Mile Chief Observer Dennis Muise took the reins from Ray George and held on well, despite taking Saturday off for the rather inconvenient (for us) wedding of his son. Had it been his daughter, he’d have been a basket case I think! Stepping in to help us out in Race Control for that Saturday was Tim “Chips” Day, who spent so many years at the Mile across the street from me at Center Pit. It was really convenient to be able to lean over and swat him one when I needed to!
The weather was great, and the food always suits my Eastern European palate, but the great pain about this place is the radios! It’s the only venue we have left that uses them, and since it’s an oval, it’s where we need a land line the most! A strange, difficult, but not insurmountable set-up indeed, as our boys and girls on the ground proved out. No one hurried, we got all of the info we needed, although sometimes it takes longer that way. We were very pleased with the performance of the Mile’s Observing crew, as we have been since I moved upstairs, and they came through for us again. But I want to take the time to especially recognize two great performances under fire. The first from longtime veteran Bob Bocher, who held on to the call for the no-contact spin of Speedy Dan Clarke until the car absolutely stopped, hoping rightly that Dan could keep the car moving. Great touch, great awareness, great timing. The second was Marie Eggert, who handled our Pit Closed/Open boards all day and weathered several changes from closed to open to closed again when we needed it. It sounds simple, yes, but those actions are totally beyond the scope of that position as I had described it. Marie stayed with us on the Champ Car Radio – with no direct prompts – reacting to the messages given to our teams. Another great job!
TALLY HO
On to the great Northwest. If we nae come back again, these are 5 things I will miss about this place and it’s people:
The Start Stand: Although I don’t work there anymore, the nicest looking one there is. Actually designed by an Architect, but maybe for that very reason had to be installed backwards to fit.
Emails from Ken Killam the Flag Chief: The man can write like Shakespeare and has a nickname for every post ala Keith Berman from ESPN.
The dedication and hard work of the Marshals: They don’t come much better, or heartier, standing around for long days in all kinds of weather, even in the height of Summer.
The Light: The beautiful long twilight that stretches well past nine.
One of the best evening cookouts of the year: The local region puts on this traditional fest in the middle of the worker camping area on Saturday. There is a GREAT band there that gets better every year!
And, 4 more things I will miss about this place… NOT!!:
Getting the damned race started: I’m glad I don’t have to try to get these guys down a loooooong wiiiiiiide straightaway any more! Sheesh! Just remember that the race starts at the drop of the green now. Period. And both JD and Tony knew that Bruno was out in front when the flag fell. Take that to the bank.
The Rain: It always shows up a little somewhere, no matter how well the day begins or ends.
The Crossovers: One just past start and and another in the back, I think this is the only major raceway in America without a vehicle bridge or a tunnel. Gotta leave fast during a session? Think again!
The Land Line: Some years the bleedover is there and some years it ain’t, and this year we had a little of both, but the Marshal’s land line runs together in the same conduit with the PA system. It’s a novel way to always know what’s happening but it has been known in the past to be as loud as the posts calling in!!!
FORD (Fathers On Race Day)
The Atlantic race saw a lot of action at the start, and again at the end as the leader Mr. Lewis went sour at the end and was passed for the win on the last lap by James Hinchcliffe. The Champ Car race saw a new winner (the second A.J. to do so) and the blue flaggers had their hands very full with lapped traffic - there were NO full course yellows. We call that a “no-hitter” in Race Control, but unfortunately JD had to wave off the first attempt, so we actually had one lap of yellow. The walkoff race at the end of the day Sunday was FF2000, which had to be called before the finish due to a huge multi-car incident on the backstretch that blocked the track with debris. As there were no cameras running, it was all handled between the comms, Gail Fetterman the chief comm, and the FF2000 Steward in the old-fashioned way… without a hitch, with guts, gumption and just words… yes, we noticed!
So I’m on the way to Cleveland now and… wait a minute… wow… I’m caught up!
Better not tell anyone…
(psst! see you at the race track!)
JHS
Monday, June 19, 2006
CELEBRATING CLEVELAND'S 25TH
25 Years of the Grand Prix of Cleveland
OK, everyone, above is an image of the 25th Anniversary print from this weekend's Cleveland GP. The 18x24 print features some memorable moments and accomplishments from the event and includes images of legends such as Rahal, Unser and Andretti as well as some modern day faves like Moreno, Gidley and of course, Bourdais. The central image is an aerial/plan view of all 24 winning cars streaming thru Cleveland's notoroius Turn One.
If you are interested in obtaining one, my website is still not up and running, but we can use the old fashioned way... just send me a check for $20 for each print ordered and add just $5 for shipping and I'll send it back to you via FedEx Ground in a nice, triangular tube. What a deal...
Send me an email at jhs@champcar.ws and I'll give you my studio address!
Saturday, June 17, 2006
HAMMER TIME AT THE FOUNDRY
Up in the air again and time for another update…
HOLA AMIGOS
Off we went to Monterrey for the first of our three back-to-back weekends this season. Alas, I remember a time – not too fondly, however – when we had numerous “doubles” and even some “triples” on our schedule.
A big warm U.S. gringo “Gracias” must go out again from the entire Champ Car family to Fritz Herrmann, Hector Gomez and their 100 strong crew from “Oficiales del Pista de Mexico” or OPM. The dedication and sacrifice that these marshals make – enduring two all night bus rides to and from Mexico City where most of them live – is phenomenal. This year there was also a third bus from Puebla, where 30 or so “new recruits” of OPM have been found due to the World Touring Car race that happens there in the fall. The first Mexico City bus arrives mid-day Thursday, and for those who can only squeak out but one day off, the second bus leaves at dusk Thursday night and arrives at the circuit only a few hours before the first green flag! And remember, the distance between Mexico City and Monterrey is approximately the same as Chicago to Washington DC!! Carrrrrrumba! (Nobody down there ever says that.)
I must also take time to point out that OPM was more than ready after the shoddy treatment they received from the organizers in Mexico City. They took charge of securing their own provisions, which was a relief to all, but we owe yet another debt of gratitude to Champ Car’s Billy Kamphausen for providing a pickup truck and three vans to ferry marshals out to their posts each morning, one of which expertly driven by myself… “Proximo puesto, por favor?”
EL DIA DE CARRERA
As I am not the prime communicator on a non-English land line, I spent more time than usual tuned in to watching the various battles up and down the field on our race control TV monitors. There were plenty at this race, and off track excursions and mishaps were at a bare minimum, so the race had an “old school” feel. Race Director Tony Cotman and our stewards were very busy, handing out hinderance penalties during qualifying and three drive-thru penalties during the race for blocking. No warnings, no regrets, just in you come. Done. It got a lot of attention in the paddock, and Tony is now trying to get out from under a new Race Control nickname of “TC Hammer”… It’s not that we enjoy handing out penalties, but it was all at the request of the drivers this time!!
But despite the TVs, we certainly cannot see it all. So just a reminder again that the marshal calls during the race do get noticed whenever you see signs of blocking – remember any driver during the race that alters his normal racing line due to the presence or actions of a following competitor is blocking, and when Race Control can verify it the trigger gets pulled. Our Mexican marshals are not overly aggressive, but they aren’t shy either when they see something irritating! They were all over our blue flag calls from Race Control, and promptly verified to all on the line when the crucial passes were completed. So I would say that with each race (and they are the only collective group that does two CCWS events a year) their skills get sharper, they get more in tune with our operations, and I daresay they even think a little more like us in Race Control each time!
BUT YOU CAN TOUCH THIS…
When I return from Portland, I will be putting up an image of the 25th Anniversary Cleveland GP print I have spent most of the month on. Although I know that all but 33 of you are NOT working the event (ahem,) The 18 x 24 print will be sold that weekend by Speedgear at the Champ Car Merchandise Trailer. After Cleveland, I can ship them to any of you who may be interested for a MERE $25 via FedEx Ground. The concept is similar to the 20th Anniversary piece I did last season for Toronto (which sold out) that features scenes and moments from some of the great races we have had there, and the central organizing element in the composition is a stunning aerial plan view of a field of Champ Cars streaming though the infamous Turn One. So please just drop me a line at jhs@champcar.ws for more info!
Talk to you next month, and see you at the race track!
JHS
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
KEVIN KALKHOVEN ON WIND TUNNEL
Kevin Kalkhoven was Dave Despain’s guest Sunday on Wind Tunnel. Let's Just say this is pretty newsworthy stuff that affects all of us. Read on...
DESPAIN: Temporary circuit racing in a major metropolitan area plays an increasingly important role in the Champ Car World Series. But their latest street race proposal has put them at odds with the promoter of the two big NASCAR races at Phoenix International Raceway. Why? Well, Champ Car wants a downtown Phoenix race a week after the November NASCAR date and that has lead to something of a war of words. Kevin Kalkhoven joins us now, and Kevin we thank you for doing so on a busy day in Milwaukee. You have some pretty harsh words to say for what you call “big, bad NASCAR.” Their promoter out there fired back about your ‘Tinker Toy’ race. Lots of headlines, lots of hostility, what the heck is going on here?
KALKHOVEN: It’s really simple, Dave; there are two promoter businessmen in Arizona and Phoenix. One of whom owns majority of the Diamondbacks and is the minority owner of the Suns … also does property development. They wanted to develop a 10-block area of downtown Phoenix into an entertainment complex. And as part of that, they wanted to hold a festival by using the Long Beach model … they wanted to be able to have a race. Sounds really simple. It does not involve any government money, or taxpayer money, it would all be done on their own dime. They would pay for everything, with a significant inflow of revenue to the city, both on a tax and revenue basis … so that is the original program.
The next thing I know, there are letters flying off from ISC to the (Phoenix) city council containing a number of falsehoods. But more disturbing, within two weeks, there is a motion being passed at the state level – well, trying to be passed -- which would, in fact, ban all forms of motor sports if it isn’t on one of the ISC tracks. Whether it be karting, all across motorcycling, MotoGP -- you name it, anything that has (decibel levels) more than 90 decibels would, in fact, be banned. We’ve gone from a simple case of promoters trying to do downtown development … they wanted to use the Long Beach model … to all of a sudden, all motor sports in Arizona which aren’t being run on a permanent facility are being banned.
DESPAIN: Do you have evidence that this was NASCAR’s work or ISC’s work?
KALKHOVEN: This is all a passing coincidence (said with a chuckle) … of course, one of their employees has been actively involved in it. I assume that he was not doing it on his own accord.
DESPAIN: I am told that bill has been tabled. What do you think is going to happen with that, and what are you doing to insure your race can go forward?
KALKHOVEN: We are doing two things. First we are trying to protect the interest of motor sports … not just our race. Let me also say, it’s not us who are holding the race, there is a promoter who wants to do this … a very respected developer and citizen of Arizona. What are we doing? First of all, we made it perfectly clear to various members of the assembly exactly what the implications of this bill were. I think that many of them were horrified about this, and that is why the bill got tabled. This is not a bill which openly insinuates itself as being a motor sports activity bill. It was, in fact, an add-on to a marriage license bill which had already passed. And therefore if it would have gone to committee, it would have been made law. It was the ultimate stealth tactic. And that is what we were really upset about.
DESPAIN: Is a surprise to you that the track is upset? By running a week after them, you are going to be competing with them for local sponsorship, local media time. Did you not expect them to put up with some kind of stink about this? Whether we believe that it was under-handed and below the belt, you must have expected some resistance from them?
KALKHOVEN: Just to remind you, in Southern California, where Long Beach was the dominant race for many years, they never objected to building in Fontana. So, what goes around, comes around.
DESPAIN: Touché! For the record, there has been an exchange with NASCAR. We invited them on here, to give their side of the story. The essentially forwarded us the statement released earlier in the week. And it says: “Neither NASCAR, nor any of its representatives, agents, or employees, has taken a position on Champ Car’s proposed event in Phoenix or participated in any conduct that would impede Champ Car’s ability to run an event. Nor is it in NASCAR’s best interest to do so, NASCAR understands that in order to keep motor sports healthy and vibrant in North America, it is imperative that race tracks and race fans have a broad ‘product list’ from which to choose.”
DESPAIN: Let me ask you about the much discussed business of reunification. When you and Tony George basically asked the media to butt out, leave you alone and let you work on it. Wind Tunnel did that. We abided by that until Robin Miller broached the idea a couple of weeks ago. That you, Champ Car, would consider opening up your May schedule and allowing your teams to do the Indy 500. That caught me off guard. Are you in fact willing to do that?
KALKHOVEN: It kind of caught me off guard as well. The talks with Tony are being very fruitful. There is no doubt about that at all. They are being held in a real atmosphere of trying to accomplish something. I can say that we don’t have a time scale on the results that we are trying to achieve, but in good faith both sides are talking. As part of that, if suitable arrangements were to be a stepping stone for unification, then sure we would consider stepping stones for unification. If it helped both sides, provided a positive influence to where both sides are trying to get to.
DESPAIN: Would clearing your May schedule, and enabling your teams to lease equipment and race in the 500, would that meet the criteria in your mind … meet the criterion for moving things forward?
KALKHOVEN: It’s part of a bigger picture, Dave. If it really does move things forward as part of a bigger picture, then sure, we would consider it. In fact, we have discussed it. We are still concentrating on the bigger picture for the moment.
DESPAIN: I read a lot of opinion, that timing is critical. That is has to happen now, or it can’t happen because of your new equipment formula and all of that, you will have simply gone too far apart. It is simply dooms day. Do you buy that in any way?
KALKHOVEN: It is interesting to see the opinions on this. The people that have sat in the room with Tony and me and listened to our discussions … they realize that we don’t have a time scale. We are trying to do it right. We are really talking in good faith. That, I think, is the important thing. I don’t think that any specific timing matters here. I do think that we are trying to move toward unification in a positive way that meets the requirements of our partners …we are concentrating on the bigger picture first.
DESPAIN: As you go forward, what is the message that you will send tonight to the fans of both series, yours and the IRL, about the future of American open wheel racing?
KALKHOVEN: I think the answer is really very simple … there have been many years of conflict. But certainly, at this moment in time, there is a strong desire I think on both sides, to achieve some degree of unity. And to be able to move forward in a way that encourages the desire of both sets of fans. I think that it is possible to do that. I don’t know what exactly what the time scale will be. But I think what we’ll try to do is find something that satisfies all of the fans and try to create new ones.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
NIGHT FIGHTERS
Champ Car’s return to Houston was a lot tougher of an event than I was ready for this early in the season, but the Houston Region organized marshals “warmed” to the task, and gave it their all, despite heat and humidity by day and darkness and intensity by night. A good number of marshals on hand had not done a CCWS event since we last came downtown in 2001, but their numbers were bolstered by a contingent of veterans from California, Canada, the Midwest and even some visitors from the Netherlands, Norway, and Mexico.
I would like to heartily thank all those who participated and put up with the long days (starting with the ten o’clock meetings,) while working very deep into the evenings. And an extra-extra special thanks to Flag Chief Jim Lowe who busted his butt from laying out the posts in the weeks leading up to the event, through the weekend which saw him create and staff two entire posts that were required just hours before the first session. An incredible, highly dedicated leader who really cares about his people – thanks, Jim
A CHICANE FROM WHOLE CLOTH
Even though the layout was on the books for some time, you just cannot get a feel for a place until you see it in three dimensions. The pit straight was long and had some gentle bends, but due to the location of the Reliant Center at the end of it (turn two,) there just wasn’t an adequate runoff for such a long straight. This did not go unnoticed by a small faction of CCWS drivers who effectively lobbied late Wednesday afternoon for a remedy. Chris Kneifel, our former Chief Steward/Race Director/Circuit Director, who is now consulting as a circuit builder, stepped up to the problem with Tony Cotman fresh with the knowledge gained last year getting San Jose off the ground (get it?) CSK led the construction crews all night – even the Grid Girl competition stage had to be picked up and moved - to create a mini version of the old Festival Curve in Portland – a sharp 90 left followed by a 120 right and a 60 left back onto the straight to set up for turn two. Posts 1A and 1B were created, landlines were dropped by Palmer, flags and equipment appeared, Jim Lowe did some very quick reassigning and we were ready to go – very much on time – by 11 on Thursday morning!
1B HAS BINGO
Just like its namesake in Portland and its cousins in San Jose and Australia, this chicane generated many opportunities to bail out and run straight through it, putting extra pressure on our crews to catch all the short cuts. I cannot speak for ALMS or Star Mazda, but the combined shortcut totals for CCWS and CCAC were easily over 100 for the three day event. Yeesh. But while irreverently poking fun at the whole affair on Friday, a brainstorm hit me, and I only wish I’d have thought of it earlier in the weekend. Later that night, I drew up two different sheets of car numbers in a 5 x 5 square, one each for Champ Cars and Atlantics, and presented one each to the keepers of said dreaded real estate, posts 1A and 1B – For the warm-ups, they were gonna play SHORT CUT BINGO!!! The CCWS card featured a #12 Jimmy Vasser Free Space. Sure enough, near the end of the Atlantic warm up, ol’ 1B came through for us - good show! I’m gonna check to see if they play Bingo down under and get three cards ready…
SCARED OF THE DARK?
As night fell, the joint took on an entirely different character. The CCWS has done night events before, but either on ovals or the vast wide-open spaces of Cleveland’s Burke Lakefront Airport. But this was an honest-to-goodness STREET race, with walls and fences and banners and signage, replete with the shadows those pesky things create. Some of the darker colored cars, and especially the metallic charcoal grey of the CTE cars were VERY hard to see as they darted into the shadows. Downright spooky if you ask me, and I was glad again to be inside. But our comms and flaggers did the job we expected and I neither heard nor had any complaints. One scary incident involved Paul Tracy moving over on Dan Clarke (in one of the dark CTE cars, you guessed it) and they had a coming together on the ultra-fast long, blind sweeper that skirted the edge of the Astrodome. Wonder if Tracy lost him in the shadows?
IF IT’S HOUSTON, THAT MUST BE A.J. (no, not that one…)
We had the great pleasure on Friday morning to witness a first in CCWS Marshaling history as our morning briefing featured an actual Champ Car driver stopping by to say a few words. We have done some things at the end of the day in Montreal with Quebecois drivers, and in Mexico with Mexican drivers, so I thought it only fair to nab an American for this big moment. So a big ON COURSE tip o’the hat to A.J. Allmendinger for helping us out and sharing his thoughts about the circuit and the series. What made it even easier was the late morning meeting start time and the 75 or so steps it took to walk over from his transporter - which was in the same corner of the expo center as the SCCA compound!
LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT
So back to the chicane again. The race start, and how we were gonna get everyone through there on lap one, became a huge discussion point at the drivers’ meeting. I’ll just say there were wildly different opinions and very few had the confidence that it could be done. One suggestion was to watch the ALMS start on Friday night, and it was damned impressive! Yes, yes, they have fenders – good on’ em. But there was a palpable air of “let’s help one another out and get through here, boys” and it worked. They singled up at the drop of the green and they went through with hardly a bump. And they only created one full-course-yellow in nearly three hours of racing!! For a tow-in!! ALMS is an endurance series and all its participants bring a very calm, cool “endurance” mentality to the table. A huge credit to them.
So CCWS Race Director Tony Cotman spent the better part of race day morning lobbying this same approach. The idea in brief was to pair up early, beam back a nice picture of some orderly two-by-two rows for the international audience and voluntarily thin in out upon the acceleration of Mario Dominguez the pole sitter. And for the most part it worked, the only casualty being Justin Wilson losing some parts in a side-to-side. Fair enough, but no big melee or shortcut extravaganza. Some times (actually oft times,) the true meaning of Power is not “power over” but “power with.” (Where was this thinking in 1996?) Enough philosophy, it was a great thing to experience.
The race itself seemed to take three hours, like we were doing a 500-mile race in the dark. I think up in race control we girded ourselves for a very busy and troubled race and when you heighten up your senses for a period of time, time seems to slow down. I was on the edge of my seat the whole way. Sebastien Bourdais qualified only fifth but Newman/Haas got him there again for the win. But the long day ended on a pretty freaky incident in turn three, so maybe that’s what I had sensed.
We were coming off a yellow with one lap to go til the green after yet another shoving match at the chicane. On the straight between turns two and three, Alex Tagliani gassed it to clean his tires and then to the naked eye appeared to deliberately accelerate straight into the tires in the turn three runoff. Of course he gave the land line cable running behind the wall a massive belt and the insidious hum appeared on contact, signifying a big problem. Tag hit right at the seam between two wallblocks and caved them back about two feet, obliterating the front nosepiece and burying himself in the tires. I saw the tape thereafter, which was incomplete as he also took out the cable for the TV camera as well! So we were in the dark for a while until we got the word from the post that he was out and appeared fine. But when something that weird and unexpected completely startles you (remember we were under full-course yellow) it’s a disturbing thing to see… The short story is that the pump that feeds his water bottle came loose and was rattling around in the pedal box area. It is actually mounted forward of the pedals in the nose box, but it shook loose and somehow got to a location behind the pedals toward Tag. He tried many times to move it toward him so he could grab it but could not do so. SO under caution the pump got lodged in between the throttle pedal and the heel rest, it caused the throttle to stick and that is what sent him into the tires.
So from here in the dark in Houston it’s off to the sun and heat and dust in Monterrey. More in a couple days.
Adios,
JHS
Sunday, April 23, 2006
SUNNY BEACHES! (parts one & two)
OK, It’s bloggin’ time again. Finally.
First starting off where credit is due. Cal Club again did an outstanding job for us. They really have written the book on how to conduct a street race. Race Chairman Andy Porterfield and Flag Chief Ceci Smith deliver a walloping 1-2 punch when it comes to skill and rugged determination. Makes for an easy way to start the season.
And I get to sleep in my own bed here, which I will never get used to.
The start of the 2006 season, as seen from JD's armpit.
PASS THE CRUEX, PLEASE
Race Control got the mighty ka-bosh placed on it when our crew (aka Gary and Beaux) arrived to get it set up. There are two locker rooms for visitors under the stands in the LB arena. Last year we were in the larger of the two but Security coveted it away from us, leaving us the smaller. Wow. I think the Apollo astronauts had more room on their trips to the moon. It wasn’t that hot, but still had that dirty sock smell, so akin to rooms of this ilk. The one by-product of it all was that the eight of us that run the joint were so close we could hear what everyone was saying which actually made things run smoother, especially during the first race of the year when we are a little stale. Add to that – there was NO room for that pesky spectator gallery of muckety-mucks that like to observe us squiggle around like an operating theater on race day, so we could be a little more liberal with the –ahem – locker room humor!!
Ops Communicator Paul Leyton scoped out a better location next year however - the Ice Dogs home locker room. Tons of space, lockers and benches. Mmmm, can you say gang showers? The room is empty this time of year, and the Ice Dogs may move anyway – to Ontario – no, the one in California… so it looks like we will be in better shape next time ‘round.
YE OLDE HAIRE PINNE
The “Stewards Award” which goes out annually went to turn 11, the fabled hairpin. Flagging and communication are critical here and both excelled in every session. They patiently waited as a six-car gridlock filled their corner to end qualifying on Saturday, and then drained itself on its own of all but the two protagonists that started the situation. Our cameras (which were a bit of an issue all weekend) didn’t show exactly how the first part unfolded, and the comm. and the flaggers pieced it together for our stewards in an audio report quite nicely. As I say time and again, we lean on the cameras heavily – you would too, if you had them – but they will never show us a complete 3D rendition and we often need you to fill in the blanks! On race day, they cleaned up debris during gaps in traffic and also put out a fire in the World Challenge race.
Eleventh Heaven - Notice that 60% of the cars in this photo are red and white.
An honorable mention here must go out to the four posts after Start Finish, namely Rock Garden, Pit Out, Pine and 1 (yes, Rock Garden… only in Southern Cal, folks!) They deserved combat pay after Memo Gidley stuffed his Grand-Am car into the Turn One runoff at top freakin speed first thing Saturday morning, and then had to endure, flag and cleanup a HUGE three-car smash during the Grand-Am race later that day. Thanks to all of you!!! I’m glad I work indoors!
DAY OF DAYS
As much as I like getting back in the Race Control saddle after a winter’s rest, I usually dread the first day as I’m always rusty and it seems like such a long grind, not unlike the first day of school. I had a decent day, because the Marshals and the Comms had an excellent day, far exceeding expectations for the first day of the season (with so damned many red and white Champ Cars.) Several communicators in this group also have the ability to communicate with a tone in their voice, which can allow them to speak a volume about a given situation with just a few words. The comms respond well here as well and are funny and loose when I am, but can also pick up my tone and be quick and short when they hear me talk quicker and in shorter phrases. Thank you all for a good day and then improving thru the event!
ATL IS WHERE IT'S AT
All of a sudden, the Champ Car Atlantic Championship (yes, “Champ” is in there twice) seems to be the hottest series on the track. I happened to be standing in the lobby in the arena as the Atlantic driver’s meeting was letting out and they came past me on their way back to the garage area. Ok there’s a couple… followed by three more… and then a bunch… and a few more… and then another big bunch… then a gap followed by three more… wow. They just kept coming out! Folks, it has been a while since I saw 29 drivers in a meeting and it felt just great. And all but maybe two or so are young lions headed up the ladder (yes, I include Alex barron in there!) I think the grid had the top 14 cars separated by a half second and there should be a few more present come Houston!
WE HAVE A WINNER
At the race day Marshals briefing, Race Director Tony Cotman made his first appearance at a US meeting, making good on a promise that he would attend more of these things. After thanking all assembled, he boldly offered up a prize to the first person who could look up on the internet where Tony was born and email Tony the answer. Actually took a long time, although people had starter working on it wireless during race day. Vancouver’s BONNIE HEALY emailed Tony the correct answer of Manukau, South Auckland New Zealand just this morning, April 27 after enlisting the help via email of a Ms. Cynthia Wu of the Auckland NZ Public Library!
Bonnie will be on hand in Houston to happily accept her prize, something Tony muttered to me about a steering wheel or signed set of racing gloves by one of Tony’s chargees back when he was a team manager… Good man, this Cotman.
BY THE NUMBERS
Turn one’s apex was widened this year, making it a faster corner and prompting the slogan “Turn Two is the New One.” Ceci Smith beefed up the forces at Turn Two this year, but the threat of the grand squeeze at the fountain turn never materialized. The Atlantics made it through in fine order on the first lap, but Richard Philippe found the tires in One about 7 laps or so into the race, which begat the first Full Course Yellow of the young season, and then a few more after that on subsequent restarts and thereabouts. They are young hotshoes, these things will happen this year…
Forsythe Driver Andreas Wirth (and a client of mine) won the race from the pole. As soon as the race finished, Ohio’s Bob Griffith (with his F&C License reinstated after an unwanted and unnecessary exile) looked at his lap chart and pointed out to all that the first three Full Course Yellows were all caused by what was then the seventh place car!
The Champ Cars fared much worse on the first turn of their season. It wasn’t the tight start we’d hoped for coming on to the front straight, but once let loose, it didn’t help matters. It appeared Mario Dominguez tapped the back of his teammate Tracy under braking and the cars went a-flyin, eliminating Paul, Servia, Allmendinger and Junqueira on the spot.
So we had a… Forsythe car run into the back of…another Forsythe car to start the Champ Race and the first yellow in the ATL race was caused by a… Forsythe car! (Did I say that out loud?)
Off we go, into the Wild Blue Mutha
GOIN’ BACK TO HOUSTON
…or so the ol’ Dean Martin tune goes. Should be nice, and Flag Chief Jim Lowe has plenty of Marshals lined up.
For those of you who will be attending, I would like to cordially invite you Saturday morning to the Grand Prix of Houston Breakfast for Champ Car Inner Circle members and friends at the Holiday Inn Hotel Astrodome @ Reliant, in the Maple Mesquite Meeting Room, 8111 Kirby Drive, Houston, Texas 77054. It’s located right next to the track at the northwest corner. JD Wilbur and I will be the featured victims/speakers and we hope to entertain with some tales of working together in the heady days when we both occupied the start stand. A hot breakfast will be served buffet style and will be $15. Starts off at 8 AM promptly, we should be done by 10 AM and the morning meeting is at 10:45.
Seating is limited to 60 and I understand there is still room galore, underlining what a big draw us two losers must be. To reserve a spot, please drop an email to Scott Fay in Houston at ccic_houston@sbcglobal.net Pay at the door. Mention you are a Marshal in your email and ask to be seated on Jimmy’s side of the chapel.
Then, do yourself a favor and join the Champ Car Inner Circle Club on the CCWS website at http://www.champcarworldseries.com/CCIC/Default.asp
It cost nothing to join, but I’m promised some sort of kickback if I bring in enough souls…
EPILOG
So for our first event, things went pretty lively and fairly well. Thanks again to all of you stalwart Marshals in Cal Club and a few more from the world over for sticking by us another year as we continue to grow in strength. You are a tremendous asset!
If you think I will write this much for every race, forget it. I will try my best to add something in groups, once a month or so. Don't know why I'm so lucid on this one.
And for those of you who have asked, I am getting much closer to the website I have been promising myself since the winter of 2004. I’ll let you know right here when it’s ready. By early summer, it oughta feature a gallery of my recent stuff as well as an opportunity to purchase original art, custom made prints, posters and some other rarities from my archives.
Thank you for your attention and see you at the track!!!!
God bless,
JHS
Site Counter
First starting off where credit is due. Cal Club again did an outstanding job for us. They really have written the book on how to conduct a street race. Race Chairman Andy Porterfield and Flag Chief Ceci Smith deliver a walloping 1-2 punch when it comes to skill and rugged determination. Makes for an easy way to start the season.
And I get to sleep in my own bed here, which I will never get used to.
The start of the 2006 season, as seen from JD's armpit.
PASS THE CRUEX, PLEASE
Race Control got the mighty ka-bosh placed on it when our crew (aka Gary and Beaux) arrived to get it set up. There are two locker rooms for visitors under the stands in the LB arena. Last year we were in the larger of the two but Security coveted it away from us, leaving us the smaller. Wow. I think the Apollo astronauts had more room on their trips to the moon. It wasn’t that hot, but still had that dirty sock smell, so akin to rooms of this ilk. The one by-product of it all was that the eight of us that run the joint were so close we could hear what everyone was saying which actually made things run smoother, especially during the first race of the year when we are a little stale. Add to that – there was NO room for that pesky spectator gallery of muckety-mucks that like to observe us squiggle around like an operating theater on race day, so we could be a little more liberal with the –ahem – locker room humor!!
Ops Communicator Paul Leyton scoped out a better location next year however - the Ice Dogs home locker room. Tons of space, lockers and benches. Mmmm, can you say gang showers? The room is empty this time of year, and the Ice Dogs may move anyway – to Ontario – no, the one in California… so it looks like we will be in better shape next time ‘round.
YE OLDE HAIRE PINNE
The “Stewards Award” which goes out annually went to turn 11, the fabled hairpin. Flagging and communication are critical here and both excelled in every session. They patiently waited as a six-car gridlock filled their corner to end qualifying on Saturday, and then drained itself on its own of all but the two protagonists that started the situation. Our cameras (which were a bit of an issue all weekend) didn’t show exactly how the first part unfolded, and the comm. and the flaggers pieced it together for our stewards in an audio report quite nicely. As I say time and again, we lean on the cameras heavily – you would too, if you had them – but they will never show us a complete 3D rendition and we often need you to fill in the blanks! On race day, they cleaned up debris during gaps in traffic and also put out a fire in the World Challenge race.
Eleventh Heaven - Notice that 60% of the cars in this photo are red and white.
An honorable mention here must go out to the four posts after Start Finish, namely Rock Garden, Pit Out, Pine and 1 (yes, Rock Garden… only in Southern Cal, folks!) They deserved combat pay after Memo Gidley stuffed his Grand-Am car into the Turn One runoff at top freakin speed first thing Saturday morning, and then had to endure, flag and cleanup a HUGE three-car smash during the Grand-Am race later that day. Thanks to all of you!!! I’m glad I work indoors!
DAY OF DAYS
As much as I like getting back in the Race Control saddle after a winter’s rest, I usually dread the first day as I’m always rusty and it seems like such a long grind, not unlike the first day of school. I had a decent day, because the Marshals and the Comms had an excellent day, far exceeding expectations for the first day of the season (with so damned many red and white Champ Cars.) Several communicators in this group also have the ability to communicate with a tone in their voice, which can allow them to speak a volume about a given situation with just a few words. The comms respond well here as well and are funny and loose when I am, but can also pick up my tone and be quick and short when they hear me talk quicker and in shorter phrases. Thank you all for a good day and then improving thru the event!
ATL IS WHERE IT'S AT
All of a sudden, the Champ Car Atlantic Championship (yes, “Champ” is in there twice) seems to be the hottest series on the track. I happened to be standing in the lobby in the arena as the Atlantic driver’s meeting was letting out and they came past me on their way back to the garage area. Ok there’s a couple… followed by three more… and then a bunch… and a few more… and then another big bunch… then a gap followed by three more… wow. They just kept coming out! Folks, it has been a while since I saw 29 drivers in a meeting and it felt just great. And all but maybe two or so are young lions headed up the ladder (yes, I include Alex barron in there!) I think the grid had the top 14 cars separated by a half second and there should be a few more present come Houston!
WE HAVE A WINNER
At the race day Marshals briefing, Race Director Tony Cotman made his first appearance at a US meeting, making good on a promise that he would attend more of these things. After thanking all assembled, he boldly offered up a prize to the first person who could look up on the internet where Tony was born and email Tony the answer. Actually took a long time, although people had starter working on it wireless during race day. Vancouver’s BONNIE HEALY emailed Tony the correct answer of Manukau, South Auckland New Zealand just this morning, April 27 after enlisting the help via email of a Ms. Cynthia Wu of the Auckland NZ Public Library!
Bonnie will be on hand in Houston to happily accept her prize, something Tony muttered to me about a steering wheel or signed set of racing gloves by one of Tony’s chargees back when he was a team manager… Good man, this Cotman.
BY THE NUMBERS
Turn one’s apex was widened this year, making it a faster corner and prompting the slogan “Turn Two is the New One.” Ceci Smith beefed up the forces at Turn Two this year, but the threat of the grand squeeze at the fountain turn never materialized. The Atlantics made it through in fine order on the first lap, but Richard Philippe found the tires in One about 7 laps or so into the race, which begat the first Full Course Yellow of the young season, and then a few more after that on subsequent restarts and thereabouts. They are young hotshoes, these things will happen this year…
Forsythe Driver Andreas Wirth (and a client of mine) won the race from the pole. As soon as the race finished, Ohio’s Bob Griffith (with his F&C License reinstated after an unwanted and unnecessary exile) looked at his lap chart and pointed out to all that the first three Full Course Yellows were all caused by what was then the seventh place car!
The Champ Cars fared much worse on the first turn of their season. It wasn’t the tight start we’d hoped for coming on to the front straight, but once let loose, it didn’t help matters. It appeared Mario Dominguez tapped the back of his teammate Tracy under braking and the cars went a-flyin, eliminating Paul, Servia, Allmendinger and Junqueira on the spot.
So we had a… Forsythe car run into the back of…another Forsythe car to start the Champ Race and the first yellow in the ATL race was caused by a… Forsythe car! (Did I say that out loud?)
Off we go, into the Wild Blue Mutha
GOIN’ BACK TO HOUSTON
…or so the ol’ Dean Martin tune goes. Should be nice, and Flag Chief Jim Lowe has plenty of Marshals lined up.
For those of you who will be attending, I would like to cordially invite you Saturday morning to the Grand Prix of Houston Breakfast for Champ Car Inner Circle members and friends at the Holiday Inn Hotel Astrodome @ Reliant, in the Maple Mesquite Meeting Room, 8111 Kirby Drive, Houston, Texas 77054. It’s located right next to the track at the northwest corner. JD Wilbur and I will be the featured victims/speakers and we hope to entertain with some tales of working together in the heady days when we both occupied the start stand. A hot breakfast will be served buffet style and will be $15. Starts off at 8 AM promptly, we should be done by 10 AM and the morning meeting is at 10:45.
Seating is limited to 60 and I understand there is still room galore, underlining what a big draw us two losers must be. To reserve a spot, please drop an email to Scott Fay in Houston at ccic_houston@sbcglobal.net Pay at the door. Mention you are a Marshal in your email and ask to be seated on Jimmy’s side of the chapel.
Then, do yourself a favor and join the Champ Car Inner Circle Club on the CCWS website at http://www.champcarworldseries.com/CCIC/Default.asp
It cost nothing to join, but I’m promised some sort of kickback if I bring in enough souls…
EPILOG
So for our first event, things went pretty lively and fairly well. Thanks again to all of you stalwart Marshals in Cal Club and a few more from the world over for sticking by us another year as we continue to grow in strength. You are a tremendous asset!
If you think I will write this much for every race, forget it. I will try my best to add something in groups, once a month or so. Don't know why I'm so lucid on this one.
And for those of you who have asked, I am getting much closer to the website I have been promising myself since the winter of 2004. I’ll let you know right here when it’s ready. By early summer, it oughta feature a gallery of my recent stuff as well as an opportunity to purchase original art, custom made prints, posters and some other rarities from my archives.
Thank you for your attention and see you at the track!!!!
God bless,
JHS
Site Counter
Thursday, March 30, 2006
FINAL TEST DAY IN CALIFORNIA
FONTANA, Calif. (March 30, 2006) - The teams and drivers of the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford have done all the testing they are going to do before the 2006 season opener, wrapping up a busy preseason with a second day of testing at California Speedway on Thursday.
Thanks to John Proctor, Karen and Ian Cook, Rod Dykhouse and Jumpin' Joe Sepanik for marshalling the test!!
"Hey - I drove an Indy Lights car on that banking over there!"
The fastest times over the two days:
1) Justin Wilson
(#9 CDW Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) - 52.090seconds
2) Sebastien Bourdais
(#1 McDonald's Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) - 52.325
3) Oriol Servia
(#6 Gulfstream/Bell Micro Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) - 52.396
4) A.J .Allmendinger
(#10 RuSPORT/Red Bull Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) - 52.417
5) Paul Tracy
(#3 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) - 52.425
6) Bruno Junqueira
(#2Newman/Haas Racing Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) - 52.485
7) Mario Dominguez
(#7 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) - 52.798
8) Cristiano da Matta
(#19 Dale Coyne Racing Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) - 52.818
9) Jan Heylen
(#11 Sonny's BBQ Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) - 53.448 (Thu)
10) Jimmy Vasser
(#12Gulfstream/Bell Micro Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) - 53.469
11) Charles Zwolsman
(#34 Mi-Jack Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) - 53.525
12) Andrew Ranger
(#27 Tide/Mi-Jack Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) - 53.555
13) Katherine Legge
(#20 Gulfstream/Bell Micro Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) - 53.686
14) Nicky Pastorelli
(#11 Sonny's BBQ Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) – 54.128 (Wed)
Check below for Lineup updates! We are just about set for Long Beach. 209 hours til "Gentlemen Start."
JHS
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
UPDATED CCWS DRIVER LINEUP 3/31/06
(confirmed drivers in bold) looks like we are down to 1 or 2 seats left...
AUSTRALIA – Alex Tagliani & Will Power
COYNE - Cristiano da Matta & Jan Heylen? Nicky Pastorelli?
(Should be an announcement before LB)
FORSYTHE – Paul Tracy & Mario Dominguez
CTE/hvm – Nelson Philippe & Dan Clarke
MI-JACK/CONQUEST – Charles Zwolsman & Andrew Ranger (LGB & CDN races)
NEWMAN/HAAS – Sebastien Bourdais & Bruno Junquiera
PKV – Katherine Legge & Oriol Servia, also Jimmy Vasser will drive selected races
ROCKETSPORTS - Antonio Pizzonia (One car for LB only - should be 2 cars for HOU)
RuSPORT – AJ Allmendinger & Justin Wilson
AUSTRALIA – Alex Tagliani & Will Power
COYNE - Cristiano da Matta & Jan Heylen? Nicky Pastorelli?
(Should be an announcement before LB)
FORSYTHE – Paul Tracy & Mario Dominguez
CTE/hvm – Nelson Philippe & Dan Clarke
MI-JACK/CONQUEST – Charles Zwolsman & Andrew Ranger (LGB & CDN races)
NEWMAN/HAAS – Sebastien Bourdais & Bruno Junquiera
PKV – Katherine Legge & Oriol Servia, also Jimmy Vasser will drive selected races
ROCKETSPORTS - Antonio Pizzonia (One car for LB only - should be 2 cars for HOU)
RuSPORT – AJ Allmendinger & Justin Wilson
ATLANTICS ATLANTICS ATLANTICS
'Tis the first week of spring, and the Yokahama Presents the Champ Car Atlantic Series Powered By Mazda cars hit the track en masse on the road course yesterday at beautiful California Speedway. Our thanks go to John Proctor, Dan Cain, Rod Dykhouse and Joe Sepanik for stepping out to help man the 4 marshal posts set up on the 17 turn road course this week.
Simon Pagenaud in a cold pit lane
Some people may even claim that the Atlantic series has a more deeply talented field than even our Champ Car World Series... there certainly are gonna be more of 'em!! There are some really outstanding young drivers here from all over the world. 40 new Swift 016.a chassis were delivered to the teams on time on March 8, and all the assembly in the shops was done since then, yesterday being the first track outing for everyone.
Below are the lineups for each team as they stand now. Expect over 30 cars for Long Beach! I will be working on a visual spotters guide for the Atlantics this year!
TEAM AUSTRALIA:
JAMES DAVISON AUS
SIMON PAGENAUD FR
BITE:
BEN JAMINI NL
CHRIS SOULIOTIS CDN
BROOKS:
LUIS SCHIAVO VNZ
NORBERT SIEDLER AUT
CONDOR:
DANILO DIRANI BZ
FORSYTHE:
ANDREAS WIRTH DE
LEO MAIA USA
RICHARD PHILIPPE FR
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE CDN
GELLES:
ROBBIE PECORARI USA
STEPHEN SIMPSON RSA
JENSEN:
TIM BRIDGMAN GBR
NICK JONES (testing)
MCAFEE:
KYLE KELLY USA
MATHIASEN:
JUSTIN SOFIO USA
MCATEE:
BRIAN MCATEE USA
MI JACK/CONQUEST:
GRAHAM RAHAL USA
NCDL TECH:
RYAN SPENCER-SMITH USA
NEWMAN/WACHS:
JOE D’AGOSTINO USA
DANIEL GAUNT NZ
POLESTAR:
ALAN SCIUTO USA
ALEX BARRON USA
PR1:
JONATHAN BOMARITO USA
MIKE FOREST CDN
ROOM STORE:
DAN SELZNICK USA
SIERRA SIERRA:
RAPHAEL MATOS BZ
TRANSNET:
CHARLES HALL GBR
TONIS KASEMETS EST (testing)
UNICO:
CR CREWS USA
US RACETRONICS:
DAVID MARTINEZ MEX (testing)
Here are the two day combined practice times. Expect the Long beach grid to have this hue:
1 Jonathan Bomarito, PR1 Motorsports - 58.311/92.298 mph
2 Stephen Simpson, Gelles Racing - 58.389/92.175 mph
3 James Hinchcliffe, Forsythe Championship Racing - 58.396 sec/92.164 mph
4 Graham Rahal, Mi-Jack Conquest Racing - 58.508/91.987 mph
5 Raphael Matos, Sierra Sierra Enterprises - 58.551/91.920 mph
6 Norbert Siedler, Brooks Associates Racing - 58.556/91.912 mph
7 Andreas Wirth, Forsythe Championship Racing - 58.630/91.796 mph
8 Leonardo Maia, Forsythe Championship Racing - 58.632/91.793 mph
9 Simon Pagenaud, Team Australia - 58.694/91.696 mph
10 Robbie Pecorari, Gelles Racing - 58.771/91.576 mph
11 Richard Philippe, Forsythe Championship Racing - 58.778/91.565 mph
12 Danilo Dirani, Condor Motorsports - 58.906/91.366 mph
13 David Martinez, US RaceTronics - 58.947/91.302 mph
14 Alan Sciuto, Polestar Racing Group - 58.963/91.278 mph
15 Charles Hall, Transnet Racing - 59.060/91.128 mph
16 Alex Barron, Polestar Racing Group - 59.117 sec/91.040 mph
17 Tim Bridgman, Jensen Motorsport - 59.121/91.034 mph
18 Mike Forest, PR1 Motorsports - 59.137/91.009 mph
19 Luis Schiavo, Brooks Associates Racing - 59.179/90.944 mph
20 Daniel Gaunt, Newman/Wachs Racing - 59.571/90.346 mph
21 Joe D'Agostino, Newman/Wachs Racing - 59.571/90.346 mph
22 James Davison, Team Australia - 59.700/90.151 mph
23 Tonis Kasemets, Transnet Racing - 59.795/90.008 mph
24 Justin Sofio, Mathiasen Motorsports - 1:00.690/88.680 mph
25 Kyle Kelley, McAtee Motorsports - 1:00.934/88.325 mph
26 Nick Jones, Jensen Motorsport - 1:00.951/88.300 mph
27 Dan Selznick, The Room Store - 1:02.105/86.660 mph
28 Ryan Spencer-Smith, NCDL Tech - 1:04.880/82.953 mph
29 Brian McAtee, McAtee Motorsports - 1:05.337/82.373 mph
A much nicer second day. Brought to you by King Taco.
Top 19 within 1 second, 23 cars within two seconds. Have not heard the full report, but one of our marshals got to view the bottom of a race car in the turn one chicane! An exciting second day.
Let's go motor racing!
JHS
Simon Pagenaud in a cold pit lane
Some people may even claim that the Atlantic series has a more deeply talented field than even our Champ Car World Series... there certainly are gonna be more of 'em!! There are some really outstanding young drivers here from all over the world. 40 new Swift 016.a chassis were delivered to the teams on time on March 8, and all the assembly in the shops was done since then, yesterday being the first track outing for everyone.
Below are the lineups for each team as they stand now. Expect over 30 cars for Long Beach! I will be working on a visual spotters guide for the Atlantics this year!
TEAM AUSTRALIA:
JAMES DAVISON AUS
SIMON PAGENAUD FR
BITE:
BEN JAMINI NL
CHRIS SOULIOTIS CDN
BROOKS:
LUIS SCHIAVO VNZ
NORBERT SIEDLER AUT
CONDOR:
DANILO DIRANI BZ
FORSYTHE:
ANDREAS WIRTH DE
LEO MAIA USA
RICHARD PHILIPPE FR
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE CDN
GELLES:
ROBBIE PECORARI USA
STEPHEN SIMPSON RSA
JENSEN:
TIM BRIDGMAN GBR
NICK JONES (testing)
MCAFEE:
KYLE KELLY USA
MATHIASEN:
JUSTIN SOFIO USA
MCATEE:
BRIAN MCATEE USA
MI JACK/CONQUEST:
GRAHAM RAHAL USA
NCDL TECH:
RYAN SPENCER-SMITH USA
NEWMAN/WACHS:
JOE D’AGOSTINO USA
DANIEL GAUNT NZ
POLESTAR:
ALAN SCIUTO USA
ALEX BARRON USA
PR1:
JONATHAN BOMARITO USA
MIKE FOREST CDN
ROOM STORE:
DAN SELZNICK USA
SIERRA SIERRA:
RAPHAEL MATOS BZ
TRANSNET:
CHARLES HALL GBR
TONIS KASEMETS EST (testing)
UNICO:
CR CREWS USA
US RACETRONICS:
DAVID MARTINEZ MEX (testing)
Here are the two day combined practice times. Expect the Long beach grid to have this hue:
1 Jonathan Bomarito, PR1 Motorsports - 58.311/92.298 mph
2 Stephen Simpson, Gelles Racing - 58.389/92.175 mph
3 James Hinchcliffe, Forsythe Championship Racing - 58.396 sec/92.164 mph
4 Graham Rahal, Mi-Jack Conquest Racing - 58.508/91.987 mph
5 Raphael Matos, Sierra Sierra Enterprises - 58.551/91.920 mph
6 Norbert Siedler, Brooks Associates Racing - 58.556/91.912 mph
7 Andreas Wirth, Forsythe Championship Racing - 58.630/91.796 mph
8 Leonardo Maia, Forsythe Championship Racing - 58.632/91.793 mph
9 Simon Pagenaud, Team Australia - 58.694/91.696 mph
10 Robbie Pecorari, Gelles Racing - 58.771/91.576 mph
11 Richard Philippe, Forsythe Championship Racing - 58.778/91.565 mph
12 Danilo Dirani, Condor Motorsports - 58.906/91.366 mph
13 David Martinez, US RaceTronics - 58.947/91.302 mph
14 Alan Sciuto, Polestar Racing Group - 58.963/91.278 mph
15 Charles Hall, Transnet Racing - 59.060/91.128 mph
16 Alex Barron, Polestar Racing Group - 59.117 sec/91.040 mph
17 Tim Bridgman, Jensen Motorsport - 59.121/91.034 mph
18 Mike Forest, PR1 Motorsports - 59.137/91.009 mph
19 Luis Schiavo, Brooks Associates Racing - 59.179/90.944 mph
20 Daniel Gaunt, Newman/Wachs Racing - 59.571/90.346 mph
21 Joe D'Agostino, Newman/Wachs Racing - 59.571/90.346 mph
22 James Davison, Team Australia - 59.700/90.151 mph
23 Tonis Kasemets, Transnet Racing - 59.795/90.008 mph
24 Justin Sofio, Mathiasen Motorsports - 1:00.690/88.680 mph
25 Kyle Kelley, McAtee Motorsports - 1:00.934/88.325 mph
26 Nick Jones, Jensen Motorsport - 1:00.951/88.300 mph
27 Dan Selznick, The Room Store - 1:02.105/86.660 mph
28 Ryan Spencer-Smith, NCDL Tech - 1:04.880/82.953 mph
29 Brian McAtee, McAtee Motorsports - 1:05.337/82.373 mph
A much nicer second day. Brought to you by King Taco.
Top 19 within 1 second, 23 cars within two seconds. Have not heard the full report, but one of our marshals got to view the bottom of a race car in the turn one chicane! An exciting second day.
Let's go motor racing!
JHS
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
MARCH MADNESS?
DRIVER LINEUPS UPDATED 3-20-06
Hey everyone!
Time for some March ramblings. Plenty has been going on, and a half bottle of Columbia Crest Grand Estates Chardonnay has persuaded me to share some of the excitement. Not the least of which is Champ Car's selection of a Race Director for 2006. It's gonna be Tony Cotman again, and hopefully 'til kingdom come. I didn't ask for any details as I don't wanna know any details, but I know it's great news for the paddock, for me and you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
OK... Also of note, we have had the new Swift Atlantic chassis unveiled, a big news Champ Car driver signing, plenty of silly season rumors, and some fresh talk about reunification with the IRL.
NEW ATLANTIC CHASSIS DEBUTS
The new Swift 0.16.a Mazda Cosworth Atlantic
The unveiling took place at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. A well-kept secret was that Mazda North America has signed on to be a marketing partner of the series and will power the car with its Mazda MZR engine, to be serviced by Cosworth Engineering. You can read more about it here:
http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=9959
Also on hand that evening, Kevin Kalkhoven announced that 2005 three-time Atlantic winner Katherine Legge has been signed to drive a PKV Champ car for 2006:
http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=9958
Performance-wise, the new Swift 0.16.a will be 10mph faster at the top end, has a 3" longer wheelbase, will have 60 more horsepower and even more cupholders than the previous model Swift 0.14.a. It has already undergone testing at Firebird Raceway with two-time champ Jon Fogarty behind the wheel. Over 30-car field averages are expected, based on the number of cars that have been ordered, and beginning at Cleveland, the series will return to standing starts whenever track conditions allow. Smell a little change in the air?
CHAMP CAR SILLY SEASON RAMPANT
Yeah sure, five weeks before the Long Beach opener and team lineups are far from set. Par for the course in this economy. I'm sure the last shoe will drop on the morning of the first practice as it did last season. Here's the current rumor update about who might drive for whom - and I underline rumor!
(confirmed drivers in bold)
AUSTRALIA – Tagliani, Will Power
COYNE - Ricardo Sperafico, TBD
FORSYTHE – Tracy & Dominguez
CTE/hvm – Philippe, Bremer, Jan Heylen
MiJack-CONQUEST –Ranger, Heylen
Newman/Haas – Bourdais & Junquiera
PKV – Legge, Servia, also Vasser will drive selected races
ROCKETSPORTS - Franck Montagny, Antonio Pizzonia, Enrique Bernoldi
RuSPORT – Allmendinger & Wilson
That is where we stand now, but remember, with 2006 being the last year for the Lola chassis, it’s gonna be another tough year, car-wise and sponsor-wise. But I had an odd dream last month that we had 32 cars for the final at Mexico City...hmmm. Once the new Panoz comes on line for 2007, then we will see how far we have come…
HOLD YOUR BREATH…
Two weeks ago, Autoweek ran a news story that Kevin Kalkhoven and Tony George had met several times in the last months to attempt to work out an agreement to combine both series. Have a look at these:
http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060221/FREE/60221006/1001
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060221/SPORTS01/60221031
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/autoindustry/auto/22207/
The most telling quote of all is Kevin Kalkhoven, who says: "If people truly care about open wheel racing in America, then please go away and leave Tony and I alone."
And I think that’s great advice for all of us, big and small alike. With so much to be worked out, it is liable to take a long time, and I won’t hold my breath, but if anyone can make things happen, it’s certainly KK. Our last two seasons are a sure testament.
Meanwhile, we have plenty of breathing ahead of us as the season opener bears down, 5 weeks away. The very first turn of the season has been widened at the apex this year- the City of Long Beach announced improvements to the intersection of Shoreline and Aquarium that should ease the annual a##es-and-elbows bottleneck into turn one for all the races.
Hope to see all of your a##es at the race track too!!!
JHS
Hey everyone!
Time for some March ramblings. Plenty has been going on, and a half bottle of Columbia Crest Grand Estates Chardonnay has persuaded me to share some of the excitement. Not the least of which is Champ Car's selection of a Race Director for 2006. It's gonna be Tony Cotman again, and hopefully 'til kingdom come. I didn't ask for any details as I don't wanna know any details, but I know it's great news for the paddock, for me and you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
OK... Also of note, we have had the new Swift Atlantic chassis unveiled, a big news Champ Car driver signing, plenty of silly season rumors, and some fresh talk about reunification with the IRL.
NEW ATLANTIC CHASSIS DEBUTS
The new Swift 0.16.a Mazda Cosworth Atlantic
The unveiling took place at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. A well-kept secret was that Mazda North America has signed on to be a marketing partner of the series and will power the car with its Mazda MZR engine, to be serviced by Cosworth Engineering. You can read more about it here:
http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=9959
Also on hand that evening, Kevin Kalkhoven announced that 2005 three-time Atlantic winner Katherine Legge has been signed to drive a PKV Champ car for 2006:
http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=9958
Performance-wise, the new Swift 0.16.a will be 10mph faster at the top end, has a 3" longer wheelbase, will have 60 more horsepower and even more cupholders than the previous model Swift 0.14.a. It has already undergone testing at Firebird Raceway with two-time champ Jon Fogarty behind the wheel. Over 30-car field averages are expected, based on the number of cars that have been ordered, and beginning at Cleveland, the series will return to standing starts whenever track conditions allow. Smell a little change in the air?
CHAMP CAR SILLY SEASON RAMPANT
Yeah sure, five weeks before the Long Beach opener and team lineups are far from set. Par for the course in this economy. I'm sure the last shoe will drop on the morning of the first practice as it did last season. Here's the current rumor update about who might drive for whom - and I underline rumor!
(confirmed drivers in bold)
AUSTRALIA – Tagliani, Will Power
COYNE - Ricardo Sperafico, TBD
FORSYTHE – Tracy & Dominguez
CTE/hvm – Philippe, Bremer, Jan Heylen
MiJack-CONQUEST –Ranger, Heylen
Newman/Haas – Bourdais & Junquiera
PKV – Legge, Servia, also Vasser will drive selected races
ROCKETSPORTS - Franck Montagny, Antonio Pizzonia, Enrique Bernoldi
RuSPORT – Allmendinger & Wilson
That is where we stand now, but remember, with 2006 being the last year for the Lola chassis, it’s gonna be another tough year, car-wise and sponsor-wise. But I had an odd dream last month that we had 32 cars for the final at Mexico City...hmmm. Once the new Panoz comes on line for 2007, then we will see how far we have come…
HOLD YOUR BREATH…
Two weeks ago, Autoweek ran a news story that Kevin Kalkhoven and Tony George had met several times in the last months to attempt to work out an agreement to combine both series. Have a look at these:
http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060221/FREE/60221006/1001
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060221/SPORTS01/60221031
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/autoindustry/auto/22207/
The most telling quote of all is Kevin Kalkhoven, who says: "If people truly care about open wheel racing in America, then please go away and leave Tony and I alone."
And I think that’s great advice for all of us, big and small alike. With so much to be worked out, it is liable to take a long time, and I won’t hold my breath, but if anyone can make things happen, it’s certainly KK. Our last two seasons are a sure testament.
Meanwhile, we have plenty of breathing ahead of us as the season opener bears down, 5 weeks away. The very first turn of the season has been widened at the apex this year- the City of Long Beach announced improvements to the intersection of Shoreline and Aquarium that should ease the annual a##es-and-elbows bottleneck into turn one for all the races.
Hope to see all of your a##es at the race track too!!!
JHS
Friday, February 03, 2006
ROBIN MILLER ON TONY COTMAN
This Robin Miller article is posted without comment. I will let Robin tell the story.
MILLER: Champ Car Wants Cotman Out
If you took a poll in the Champ Car paddock, the overwhelming majority of owners, drivers and mechanics would tell you that Tony Cotman's rookie season as Race Director was as good as it gets.
Hired as vice president of operations, Cotman also assumed the responsibility of running the races because, frankly, it was a good way for Champ Car to save money. A longtime team manager/mechanic in CART and IRL, he packed plenty of racing savvy but had no experience at enforcing rules, running driver's meetings or making those snap decisions on blocking and contact between drivers.
The general feeling was that he couldn't be any worse than other guys before him but the nearly universal sentiment following the 14th race of 2005 was that Cotman was a keeper.
Not only did he enjoy the most thankless job in motorsports, he aced it. His firm yet fair way of treating people and situations earned him immediate respect. Hell, the drivers even shut up and paid attention in their meetings. He used common sense and didn't panic, regardless of how bad things looked (we're talking San Jose's terrible track conditions).
When Paul Tracy and Sebastien Bourdais collided while exiting the pits at Toronto, Cotman correctly ruled it was one of those racing incidents and nobody got penalized.
When Timo Glock shortcut the chicane at Montreal for the second time (after being warned) to keep Oriol Servia behind him, Cotman made the tough, but correct call and had Glock move over and allow Servia past on the last lap.
When leader Tracy got speared in the gearbox and spun into the wall by Bourdais at Las Vegas, Cotman looked at the replay and judged that P.T. did not properly indicate he was pitting (like instructed in the driver's meeting) and therefore there was no penalty.
When Tracy swerved across the track to keep A.J. Allmendinger behind him at Mexico City, Cotman invoked a penalty which, afterwards, Tracy agreed was fair.
Cotman wasn't perfect, he should have parked or penalized Bourdais for punting Tracy at Monterrey, Mexico because P.T. did everything he could to avoid contact in that one. Yet his hiring technical cops Paul Harcus (Champ Car) and Eric Haverson (Atlantics) to police the paddock was also sound thinking.
Unlike what's about to happen.
Champ Car wants Cotman replaced as race director."It's the owner's decision and they are seeking a replacement for me in race control," said Cotman on Thursday. "Am I disappointed, sure I am? But I'm tired of dealing with this so I guess I'll move on.
"I'm not leaving Champ Car, though."
Kevin Kalkhoven, who co-owns Champ Car with Gerald Forsythe, claimed that Cotman has too many other things on his plate and it was always the intention to replace him as Race Director.
"Tony is a very valuable member of our team but he's got plenty of other projects on his plate. Trust me, we'll find somebody just as good," said Kalkhoven recently.
Forsythe, who officially protested Cotman's ruling at Vegas and stormed up into race control following Tracy's penalty at Mexico, admitted his displeasure.
"I disagreed with three or four of his calls, absolutely," said Forsythe. "Why was nothing done to Bourdais at Monterrey? And why was the penalty on Paul so severe at Mexico City? Why did he have to go to the back of the field? Why couldn't he have simply got behind Allmendinger?
"Listen, Tony is a tremendous asset to Champ Car but he got this job as Race Director because there was nobody else. I want somebody with more experience because if we can improve the position, we should."
And while nobody can question Forsythe's loyalty, commitment or passion to Champ Car, several owners are questioning this decision.
"In the 40 years I've been in this business I can count on one hand the guys who could do that job (race director) correctly," said Derrick Walker, who intends to make Cotman an agenda in the upcoming owner's meeting Feb. 15-16. "Champ Car has a gem in that guy and we should hang onto him.
"It's sheer madness to take him out of that position."
Forsythe and Kalkhoven have spent a lot of money keeping Champ Car afloat and they're certainly entitled to run their business any way they choose. But taking Cotman out of race control sends a real bad message because it's so unnecessary.
Not only does Cotman like this God-forsaken job, he's good at it.
"It's not a done deal at this point," said Forsythe. "If we don't find somebody better..."
Here's a prediction. They won't.
MILLER: Champ Car Wants Cotman Out
If you took a poll in the Champ Car paddock, the overwhelming majority of owners, drivers and mechanics would tell you that Tony Cotman's rookie season as Race Director was as good as it gets.
Hired as vice president of operations, Cotman also assumed the responsibility of running the races because, frankly, it was a good way for Champ Car to save money. A longtime team manager/mechanic in CART and IRL, he packed plenty of racing savvy but had no experience at enforcing rules, running driver's meetings or making those snap decisions on blocking and contact between drivers.
The general feeling was that he couldn't be any worse than other guys before him but the nearly universal sentiment following the 14th race of 2005 was that Cotman was a keeper.
Not only did he enjoy the most thankless job in motorsports, he aced it. His firm yet fair way of treating people and situations earned him immediate respect. Hell, the drivers even shut up and paid attention in their meetings. He used common sense and didn't panic, regardless of how bad things looked (we're talking San Jose's terrible track conditions).
When Paul Tracy and Sebastien Bourdais collided while exiting the pits at Toronto, Cotman correctly ruled it was one of those racing incidents and nobody got penalized.
When Timo Glock shortcut the chicane at Montreal for the second time (after being warned) to keep Oriol Servia behind him, Cotman made the tough, but correct call and had Glock move over and allow Servia past on the last lap.
When leader Tracy got speared in the gearbox and spun into the wall by Bourdais at Las Vegas, Cotman looked at the replay and judged that P.T. did not properly indicate he was pitting (like instructed in the driver's meeting) and therefore there was no penalty.
When Tracy swerved across the track to keep A.J. Allmendinger behind him at Mexico City, Cotman invoked a penalty which, afterwards, Tracy agreed was fair.
Cotman wasn't perfect, he should have parked or penalized Bourdais for punting Tracy at Monterrey, Mexico because P.T. did everything he could to avoid contact in that one. Yet his hiring technical cops Paul Harcus (Champ Car) and Eric Haverson (Atlantics) to police the paddock was also sound thinking.
Unlike what's about to happen.
Champ Car wants Cotman replaced as race director."It's the owner's decision and they are seeking a replacement for me in race control," said Cotman on Thursday. "Am I disappointed, sure I am? But I'm tired of dealing with this so I guess I'll move on.
"I'm not leaving Champ Car, though."
Kevin Kalkhoven, who co-owns Champ Car with Gerald Forsythe, claimed that Cotman has too many other things on his plate and it was always the intention to replace him as Race Director.
"Tony is a very valuable member of our team but he's got plenty of other projects on his plate. Trust me, we'll find somebody just as good," said Kalkhoven recently.
Forsythe, who officially protested Cotman's ruling at Vegas and stormed up into race control following Tracy's penalty at Mexico, admitted his displeasure.
"I disagreed with three or four of his calls, absolutely," said Forsythe. "Why was nothing done to Bourdais at Monterrey? And why was the penalty on Paul so severe at Mexico City? Why did he have to go to the back of the field? Why couldn't he have simply got behind Allmendinger?
"Listen, Tony is a tremendous asset to Champ Car but he got this job as Race Director because there was nobody else. I want somebody with more experience because if we can improve the position, we should."
And while nobody can question Forsythe's loyalty, commitment or passion to Champ Car, several owners are questioning this decision.
"In the 40 years I've been in this business I can count on one hand the guys who could do that job (race director) correctly," said Derrick Walker, who intends to make Cotman an agenda in the upcoming owner's meeting Feb. 15-16. "Champ Car has a gem in that guy and we should hang onto him.
"It's sheer madness to take him out of that position."
Forsythe and Kalkhoven have spent a lot of money keeping Champ Car afloat and they're certainly entitled to run their business any way they choose. But taking Cotman out of race control sends a real bad message because it's so unnecessary.
Not only does Cotman like this God-forsaken job, he's good at it.
"It's not a done deal at this point," said Forsythe. "If we don't find somebody better..."
Here's a prediction. They won't.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
MMMM, THAT NEW-CAR SMELL!!
Even though it be the dead of Winter, exciting things still continue to stir. I have posted two photos below of the scale model of our new Panoz DP01 Champ car which is in the wind tunnel now, and should be ready for testing in late summer. Swoopier, narrower, shorter, more nimble and now about the size of an F1 car.
Here's the scoop from Champ Car:
As the 2006 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season continues to sneak closer, officials from Élan Motorsports Technologies (EMT) and Champ Car have their eyes even further down the road as EMT put a scale model of the 2007 DP01 chassis in the wind tunnel for the first time.
EMT engineers and officials from Champ Car were on hand at the Penske Technology Group wind tunnel for the debut of the half-scale model of the Panoz DP01 chassis. The group put the model through its introductory tests and were pleased with the results they achieved.
“We are still in the early stages of developing the new car,” said Champ Car Technology Director Scot "Puddin' "Elkins. “We did everything we wanted to do during this first test and the results are outstanding. This first test is where we are creating a baseline set of data for the model. We concentrated on creating aerodynamic balance throughout the car the so we could then start the detailed development we are planning.”
The new Panoz DP01 takes much of its look from the current Champ Car chassis, keeping alive the style that has made the series a favorite of racing fans around the globe. But the cutting-edge technology designed into the package incorporates many new aerodynamic features that make this car better suited to the urban race tracks which host Champ Car's highly successful three-day festivals of speed. The design will also lead to more competitive racing on the permanent road courses and ovals that mark the Champ Car World Series as the most diverse racing series in the world. The Panoz DP01 is smaller than the current Champ Car in both length and width and weighs 165 pounds less than the current machine, providing a more nimble and quicker machine that will put driver skills at a premium. The aerodynamic changes on the new chassis will allow for more passing via smaller wings and bigger tunnels which will create less turbulence for cars in traffic.
Champ Car announced in October the Panoz DP01 would replace the current Lola chassis at the beginning of the 2007 season. Engineers at Élan Motorsports Technologies will continue development of the Panoz DP01 chassis with the first prototype expected to hit the track in July. Champ Car
Here's the scoop from Champ Car:
As the 2006 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season continues to sneak closer, officials from Élan Motorsports Technologies (EMT) and Champ Car have their eyes even further down the road as EMT put a scale model of the 2007 DP01 chassis in the wind tunnel for the first time.
EMT engineers and officials from Champ Car were on hand at the Penske Technology Group wind tunnel for the debut of the half-scale model of the Panoz DP01 chassis. The group put the model through its introductory tests and were pleased with the results they achieved.
“We are still in the early stages of developing the new car,” said Champ Car Technology Director Scot "Puddin' "Elkins. “We did everything we wanted to do during this first test and the results are outstanding. This first test is where we are creating a baseline set of data for the model. We concentrated on creating aerodynamic balance throughout the car the so we could then start the detailed development we are planning.”
The new Panoz DP01 takes much of its look from the current Champ Car chassis, keeping alive the style that has made the series a favorite of racing fans around the globe. But the cutting-edge technology designed into the package incorporates many new aerodynamic features that make this car better suited to the urban race tracks which host Champ Car's highly successful three-day festivals of speed. The design will also lead to more competitive racing on the permanent road courses and ovals that mark the Champ Car World Series as the most diverse racing series in the world. The Panoz DP01 is smaller than the current Champ Car in both length and width and weighs 165 pounds less than the current machine, providing a more nimble and quicker machine that will put driver skills at a premium. The aerodynamic changes on the new chassis will allow for more passing via smaller wings and bigger tunnels which will create less turbulence for cars in traffic.
Champ Car announced in October the Panoz DP01 would replace the current Lola chassis at the beginning of the 2007 season. Engineers at Élan Motorsports Technologies will continue development of the Panoz DP01 chassis with the first prototype expected to hit the track in July. Champ Car
ATLANTIC
Along with that, the 2006 Atlantic season continues to balloon. Orders have been taken for over 50 cars. Forsythe Racing recently announced a four-car Super Team made up of 2003 Barber Dodge Champ Leo Maia, 2004 Formula BMW Champ Andreas Wirth, 2004 Formula BMW runner-up James Hinchcliffe and 2005 BMW Champ Richard Philippe, younger brother of Champ Car Driver Nelson. You can read more about it all at http://www.toyotaatlantic.com/News/Article.asp?ID=1979
Front view of the 2007 Panoz DP01 half-scale model
11 weeks to Long Beach...
JHS
Sunday, January 01, 2006
CCWS FLAG CHIEFS FOR 2006
TOP OF THE NEW YEAR TO YA!
Below is our tentative list of Flag Chiefs/Contacts for all of you who are considering traveling to one of our road or street races. They may change as the winter progresses. There is only one oval race left, and is limited by the fact that the Milwaukee Mile has its own observer group. Send me an email if you want to take a crack at this event (which may turn out to be our last oval for a while, but that's just MY opinion...) and I will form up a list to present to the Milwaukee Mile group. Space is limited, and I make no promises!
Houston is new for 2006 and planning is well underway by the good people of Houston Region SCCA. WE WILL NEED HELP IN CLEVELAND AND EDMONTON, where our numbers were really thin last year. I'm not attempting to draw any marshals away from other events, but if you still have choices remaining, have a thought for the two nifty airport circuits, where the racing (and the terrain) is wide-ass open!! Toronto marshals, this is a great opportunity to see and work the Champ Cars two weeks prior to your home event.
JHS
CHAMP CAR FLAG CHIEFS - 2OO6
Long Beach: Ceci Smith
race.flaggers@Verizon.net
Monterrey: Fritz Herrmann
fritzipaldi@yahoo.com
Héctor Gómez
hgomez@dutymexico.com
Houston: Jim Lowe
jtlowe@swbell.net
Portland: Ken Killam
orsccaf-c@comcast.net
Cleveland: Dale Strimple
rubberchicken74@msn.com
Toronto: Peter Corley
gavia.paradox@sympatico.ca
Edmonton: Rudy van Woerkom
Rudy@vanwoerkom.net
San Jose: Mike Neff
proraly@sbcglobal.net
Denver: Stan McLaughlin
stan@ucar.edu
Montreal: Claude-Olivier Malepart
com@asrq.com
Elkhart Lake: Peter Allen
sccapete@sbcglobal.net
Gold Coast: Margo Jones
jjmsm01@hotmail.com
Mexico City: Fritz Herrmann
fritzipaldi@yahoo.com
Héctor Gómez
hgomez@dutymexico.com
Friday, December 23, 2005
MERRY CHRISTMAS, INDIANA
Sitting around yesterday looking at our Christmas decorations and listening to Jimmy Buffett's Christmas album - (which was inspired by the purchase of a light-up palm tree we purchased for the front porch this year) and I was taken by the words to his song "Merry Christmas, Alabama" about all the places he has been over the years and how all those places become a second home after a while. Those of you who know the song will enjoy, but I've made a few changes and posted the lyrics here, as they seem to fit how I feel at this time of the year, reflecting on where we've been, where we are going and some of the places we may never see again:
Merry Christmas, … Indiana
Merry Christmas,… Motegi
Merry Christmas,… to Fontana
To Detroit and to East Germany
Merry Christmas,… Indiana
Where I started this wild and crazy run
Such a long way …from that first birthday
Merry Christmas, everyone
And Merry Christmas, …California
Though far from you all I have roamed
'Tis the season …to remember
All the faces, And the places that were home
'Tis the season …to remember
And to count up all the venues I have known
And to thank God’s mercies tender
For I'm never far from home
Merry Christmas to my saints and guardian angels
Who protect us …as we roam
'Tis the season …to remember
All the faces And the places that were home
Guess my life's moved …at near light speed
Since I started this wild and crazy run
Such a long way …from that first birthday
Merry Christmas, …everyone
'Tis the season …to remember
No we're never far from home
Merry Christmas, everyone.
The Winter solstice has just occurred and we are, as I like to quote, "Halfway to Portland!" which traditionally happens in late June. This is the quiet time of our racing Spirits, when our energy retreats within to await the coming of another season. At the end of the year, we reflect on the seasons and cycles of our own lives. We sometimes recall our triumphs and our own dark periods. Times when things seem difficult. And yet, there is always the spark of hope rekindles as we head back towards warmth. The cycles turn and change, and Yule is just such a moment. Even in the darkest night, there is the seed of rebirth.
As I often say at the beginning of each race on the Land Line, "God Bless You ALL."
Signing out for 2005,
JHS
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Merry Christmas, … Indiana
Merry Christmas,… Motegi
Merry Christmas,… to Fontana
To Detroit and to East Germany
Merry Christmas,… Indiana
Where I started this wild and crazy run
Such a long way …from that first birthday
Merry Christmas, everyone
And Merry Christmas, …California
Though far from you all I have roamed
'Tis the season …to remember
All the faces, And the places that were home
'Tis the season …to remember
And to count up all the venues I have known
And to thank God’s mercies tender
For I'm never far from home
Merry Christmas to my saints and guardian angels
Who protect us …as we roam
'Tis the season …to remember
All the faces And the places that were home
Guess my life's moved …at near light speed
Since I started this wild and crazy run
Such a long way …from that first birthday
Merry Christmas, …everyone
'Tis the season …to remember
No we're never far from home
Merry Christmas, everyone.
The Winter solstice has just occurred and we are, as I like to quote, "Halfway to Portland!" which traditionally happens in late June. This is the quiet time of our racing Spirits, when our energy retreats within to await the coming of another season. At the end of the year, we reflect on the seasons and cycles of our own lives. We sometimes recall our triumphs and our own dark periods. Times when things seem difficult. And yet, there is always the spark of hope rekindles as we head back towards warmth. The cycles turn and change, and Yule is just such a moment. Even in the darkest night, there is the seed of rebirth.
As I often say at the beginning of each race on the Land Line, "God Bless You ALL."
Signing out for 2005,
JHS
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