Planes, trains and automobiles…(a travel log on the way)

Ok… so no planes this time, other than the ones that flew over head all day in preparation for the Canadian National Air show happening in my city while I fly the coop! Which is fine by me. I probably could have flown, but the added expense and inconvenience of airport locals, well… hardly time saving.

Trains? You bet! Train #79 Windsor bound from Toronto. Seat 5D. I’m in first class on this trip. I treated myself. Hey if you’re going to travel, even if it’s only a few hours away, you might as well make the most of it if you have the opportunity. I booked early enough that I was able to get the “supersaver” fare. On top of that I got a corporate discount, so I’m living large for half the price! Sweet! One of the first perks was the lounge to wait in. Since I had a bit of of wait between the end of my work day and my departure time, it was nice to have somewhere comfortable and quiet to chillax. A complimentary apple juice and free wifi and I’m a happy gal. Then we were called to board. Out we marched all relaxed and thirst quenched, past the long line of tired looking folks standing in the drafty corridor under the unpleasant florescent lighting. (I know this line well… I’m usually in it)
On to the train… It’s all dark and moody, like someone’s den. (I feel like I should be wearing a smoking jacket and holding a pipe!) Our seats are oversized with lots of leg room, and recline ridiculously!!

I have a window seat of course. I always take the window seat. I’m not a get up wander around pee every 20 minutes kind of traveler. I’m a kick off my shoes, curl up, wistful gaze out the window, ponder life kind of traveler. (if we ever travel together, I will fight you for the window seat!)
I usually have some sort of thoughtful music. (on the plane it’s to calm me down during take off and landing (I hide the headphones under my hair) and to drown out the constant noise of people and mechanical thingys. But the train is so pleasantly quiet, I’m kind of enjoying the dulled clacking of the tracks below.

Before we even pulled out of the station I had a snack in hand, had chosen my dinner (Pork tenderloin, with all the fixins) (comes with the ticket!) and had been offered a lap tray with a hard top and pillow bottom on which to place my laptop. (niiiiiiice) and now I am sipping my complimentary white wine while my dinner is being prepped. I may move in… just sayin is all.

Automobiles? but of course! the best kind in fact!! Race Cars!!! I got to watch the practice from my office this afternoon, made me a little angry to be truthful. I hate watching from my computer, knowing how close they are! Whatever the next job is, it will have a ‘Friday’ clause for race weekends. This two day crap sucks. It makes me panicky, like I have to fit it all in too quickly.

Did I mention I’m sipping chardonnay in first class on a train? Just checking…
oops.. have to stop typing for minute… my hot towel just arrived… hehehe…
and I’m back. My that was refreshing. (even gave my keyboard a little wipe down)

I don’t know what my “story” will be this weekend. I have to read through my notes. I’m open to suggestions if you have any… not that I promise to write about it, but you can suggest! LOL!

Ok… my dinner is here… more later…

edit: dudes… you have no idea how good that meal was. Pork tenderloin, roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots, the most yummiest dark sweet gravy… and an apparently bottomless glass of white wine. I’m a little tipsy to be honest! LOL! I’m now enjoying my dessert and coffee, and rumour has it they are coming around with an after dinner… oooh yes.. I see the Grand Marnier!! I’m going to fall off the train to in Windsor! bwhahaha!

edit: ok seriously. Not getting any work done. So full I’m going to explode. (just came by with truffles and more coffee) (they are going to have to drag me kicking and screaming from this train!!)
The best part is I get to do it all over again on Monday!! woohoo!

Ok… going to read my pre-race weekend notes… for real this time.

Perhaps someone could explain to me…

WHY THE FUCK PAUL TRACY IS NOT IN A CAR THIS WEEKEND????

*and exhale*

Seriously.

Paul gave Vision their highest finish this year, on a street course no less, and has actually WON at this track. Yet no one could work anything out. Fucking bullshit.

Meanwhile Marty Sloth is spinning around out there like it’s his first day in the car.
Helio is running 1:13’s… Sloth is running 1:27’s!! What the fuck???

Seriously.

I will be a walking Paul Tracy billboard this weekend. All Monster/PT, All the time. Actually there will be a few of us. It’s our own little personal protest. At least the Monster green matches EJ’s car, so I’ll fit in hanging around his pits… LOL! If my main badboy ain’t there, I’ll cheer on the next generation!

2.5hrs till I’m released to enjoy my weekend. (then another 2hrs until my train leaves… but I’m traveling first class, so I get to hang out in a fancy lounge and get fed and stuff… sweet)

Will, of course, attempt to update frequently over the weekend. This will be my last event for the season (can’t do Chicago unfortch) so I’ll be soaking up as much as I can to get me through the off season…

Ok… back to watching practice.

Edit: the Sloth strikes again!! *falls over laughing cause the only other thing to do is cry out of frustration*

Infin-ee-*yawn* the not so *live* blog…

Alright, so I was working on Sunday when the race was live via computer, so I had to depend on my DVR to tape the race at MIDNIGHT (fuck you TSN) while I slept in preparation for work the next morning. So… here is the not so live blog commentary of Sunday’s race.

So, my DVR taped for 2hrs… 12 mins in, I finally am seeing some race cars. I’m not sure yet if the race started or if this is pre-race stuff…

Ok.. so they just showed an overhead shot of what looks like a barren desert with a track in the middle of it and used the term “picturesque” to describe the track. bwhahaha! bit of a stretch there boys.

ok.. so apparently this is the 2nd pace lap. (and apparently it hasn’t rained in Sonoma County since 1972)

The theme of today’s race is apparently “all Penske, all the time!”

Here they come all lined up… sort of… Green green green! Twinkletoes looks like he was shot out of a canon. Gee, surprise, surprise, Briscoe didn’t challenge him for the lead.

OMG… were one lap in and I want to stab myself in the ear with a letter opener.

LOL Junqueira “cuts the corner” riiiiiiiight or.. how bout Wheldon squeezes him off but he recovers nicely.

Speaking of cutting corners and dirty driving, I can’t believe that they let the results stand for the Indy Lights race Sunday. Rafa snowplowed Antinucci! That was ridiculous! but I digress…
(actually that race was a lot more interesting than this one… to be truthful)

Instinctively I mute my tv and turn the sound up on my computer, but of course I don’t have the option of the IMS commentary being that it’s two days later. I want to cry… I can’t take it. Goodyear and Reid are awful. AWFUL!!! Their monotone drone is putting me into a trance. The only thing worse is the whiny drone of the car. Christ they sound particularly horrible today.

Could Monotone Marty cast any more aspersions on this race and the eventual outcome?? Made some snide remark about the start (leave that to the bloggers Martyman) now he’s using the term “hollywood ending”

commercial break: Lap 5
back from commercial: Lap 23
fuck you very much TSN

The camera work at this track is horrifyingly bad. I’m particularly impressed with the camera shot that gets blocked by the bridge each time…

“Danica also struggling with handling her race car” bwhahahaha… no shit sherlock. Why should today be any different than any other race.

Brienne is about 4 sentences away from completely losing her voice. I want to hand her a lozenge through the tv. Someone needs to teach the girl how to support her sound. (as a singer I guess I could… but would she listen?)

Ok.. the old dude doing the pit reporting (the one that’s not the Brie or Vince) is awful. Stuttering, mispronouncing names, pausing awkwardly.

OMG alert the media, Danica is coming in for a perfectly trivial pit stop!! Thank god they showed that and described it in all it’s mundane glory.

Could the ticker be any lower on the screen? Add to that the scrolling ticker on the bottom (fuck you very much again TSN) and I feel like I’m watching this race while squinting.

EJ!! You go you sweet hot young thing! (oops… was that my outer voice?)

Here here on the anonymous owner saying he would hire EJ. Damn right! You want someone who is going to go out there and race damnit! We get the EJ bumper to commercial, sweet!

commercial break: Lap 30
back from commercial: Lap 32
not bad…

The role of Sir Blocks-a-lot in tonight’s race will be played by Enrique Bernoldi

“Eric Bernoldi??” Nice. Dumbass. Wait a sec? Did Snotty just say “Jack”? Is the one making all the mistakes in pitlane who sounds about 100 yrs old Arute?? Was he drinking during the broadcast or something?! Good God man, go have a nap.

EJ doing some locks-em-up drifting in the corners! Nice save.

speaking of corners, they reeeeeeeeeeeally slow down in some of them on this track.

commercial break: Lap 35
back from commercial: Lap 36

Holy crap, that totally is Arute. He sounds AWFUL! I don’t even know (or care) what he just said.

Who WHO chose these camera angles? No really, who? I would like to know so I can find them and bitch slap them.

Hey, whadda ya know, they’re talking about Team Penske again…

wow… even I’m bored. Where are the close battles? Where is the passing?

No no NO… what was that??? Random Scott Dixon montage with that horrifying “I am Mindy” song then abrupt cut to commercial. LOL!

commercial break: Lap 40
back from commercial: Lap 42

Twinkletoes is 15 seconds ahead of the pack. LOL… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Marty Reid is taking great glee in tossing out all of the why Helio won’t win facts, while insisting he doesn’t want to jinx him. (pictures Marty with a tiny voodoo doll)

hey, did you know that Penske had a transporter fire? No really. I heard it during the broadcast. ABOUT A MILLION FUCKING TIMES!!

LOL… they desperately held on to a really bad camera angle to show Kanaan and Servia “battle” (actually they’re just driving close to each other, but it’s the most interesting thing on track at the moment)

another mention of the “pitlane bump” and the Penske fire. (should be a drinking game)

“laps in hand” what a stupid fucking phrase to overuse there Marty.

I’m pretty sure Marty just spiked a boner because Junky got squiggly on the “pitlane bump” Marty’s so fond of.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA… hey did ya know that Oriol was called into the pits for 4 tires and a full load of fuel?? Gee what would I do without that stellar pit reporting. :bangs head on desk:

commercial break: Lap 47
back from commercial: Lap 49

Marty: When did you know it was time to hang it up
Scott: when I realized how badly I sucked.
(ok, he didn’t say that, but…)

I can’t believe they are doing another on-board lap and describing it… again…

commercial break: Lap 51
back from commercial: Lap 53

Um.. since when did they start to refer to the crewmen by name during pit stops? that was weird.

Ok seriously, I’m almost too bored to type. What is the point of having 24 (26?) cars in the race when you only talk about 4 of them? Names not heard in reference to the race: Scheckter, Bell, Meira, Andretti, Camara… are they even still running?

commercial break: Lap 55
back from commercial: Lap 58

IT’S ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE! Mutoh gets his first mention of the race!

Will Power gets a drive through penalty for taking his 3rd excursion through the runoff/chicane thingy. Get your head in the game mate! You’ve got the car and the talent, you just need to take advantage of both at the same time.

EJ in the lead again! Atta boy! LOL.. for one lap, but at least he got airtime!
The HVM pit starts dancing… “nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah… gittin Wiggy wid it”

and Marty is on and on again about the Hollywood ending… and off we go to commercial. Yup. I got one exciting lap of racing, which showed… no racing.

commercial break: Lap 59
back from commercial: Lap 63

and we’re back! Just in time to show a laundry list of Nascar race dates ???? WTF??

I swear they keep calling him “Brian Briscoe”

Hey, didja hear? Penske fire! *falls over in fits of laughter* (I’m getting punchy now)

are the on-board camera’s not working? I swear I haven’t seen more than 3 onboard shots. And no pit radio discussion. Just the endless and needless non-stop chatter from Snotty and Smarmy. SNORE!

commercial break: Lap 63 (yup barely a lap that time)
back from commercial: Lap 66

according to the scrolling thingy, Darren Manning is also in this race as is Ed Carpenter! Oh, and that Scheckter guy is out. No explanation.

************************

At this point I fell asleep.
Truth be told this was my second attempt at watching this race.
I held off on posting this figuring I would try to finish it tonight, but you know what? Fuck it. I know the outcome. I can’t imagine anything remotely interesting happened in the last 20 laps (or whether or not TSN actually showed them) I saw all the post race interviews on Speed Report, so I don’t care anymore.

Now that I’ve seen this track, I agree… it’s kinda sucky. Of course the pigs that are the IndyCar’s don’t really allow for great racing, so it could be an unfair assessment as the Indy Lights and Grand AM races didn’t induce comas… just sayin is all.

Anyway, enough of that mess. I’m looking forward now. Detroit baby! 48 hrs from now I will be heading to the train station. It’s like crack this racing thing. Can’t get enough of it. Although looking at the actual schedule for the weekend, I’m not really going to get a whole hell of a lot of it. An hour of practice and 90 mins of qualies on Saturday. 1/2 hr warm up and 90 laps on Sunday. Oh and the rest of the track time goes to the ALMS and the Speed GT’s. I guess that leaves me more time to eavesdrop and write and visit and take pictures and just soak it all in.

living the dream…

So I haven’t had a chance to watch the IndyCar race yet, thus no *live* blog this week. (I was working) I’m sure it will be the usual TSN butcher job, and I won’t be happy about what I’m seeing, but I’ll find that out later tonight… In the meantime, a little personal bloggy blog…

Slowly but surely I’m racking up experience, making connections and testing the waters…

This weekend it was PR/photographer/driver wrangler at Mosport with the AIM Autosports Star Mazda team, as their main PR dude *cough* future boss *cough* was living the high life at Infineon with the AIM Grand AM team (woohoo! A podium finish!)

It was neat as this is a teeny tiny squad (3 crew,1 driver) so I didn’t feel out of place or over my head. It was also interesting to spend the entire day with the team (save for an hour or so when I visited with friends in the ALMS paddock)
I’m so used to being pulled in a dozen directions at the track and looking for the story, it was kinda neat having a singular focus and living the story as it unfolded.

I do rather enjoy the team side of things, (I knew I would) and even though I was PR by proxy only for one day, I felt immediately possessive and protective of “my” team and driver!

I love the secret language of racing.
I love being around racing people.
I love the sights and sounds of the track no matter the hour.

The minute I drive away from one track I’m already working out in my head when and where the next one is. There isn’t an aspect of it that doesn’t appeal to me. Being tired at the end if a long day only means I fall asleep quicker. The travel isn’t an issue at all. I love traveling. I’ve always been a bit of a nomad so laying down roots is not really my style. I already keep in touch with most of my friends (who pretty much all live far away) via the internet, so it’s not like it would be a big adjustment to suddenly be on the road a lot.

I guess the most important thing I learn each time I do one of these “tests” is that this is what I want to be doing.
This is what I need to be doing.
This is what I’m going to be doing in 09 dammit.

and so it begins…

So… According to Davey Hamilton, who allegedly got I straight from TG, there will be no PT in a car in any of the remaing races this season…
If this is the case I’m calling bullshit on this whole fucking scam of a situation.

I sincerely hope you took home a sweet paycheque for your spectacular effort in Edmonton Paul.
You smoked most of the field and proved all of the naysayers wrong.
I hope more than anything that it assuaged any doubts you may have been harbouring towards your own abilities.

All bets are off if this was some dog and pony show for the sake of one race.
My gloves come off in 3 races as it is. The “transition year” free pass expires then.

Don’t think you can pull the “throw a local in” bullshit next year either. I didn’t accept it in Champ Car when drivers were used and tossed aside for the sake of ticket sales, I sure as fuck won’t accept it on this side of the fence, especially when it’s my driver being flung about.

No time to put a deal together my ass. You have one of the best open wheel road racers at your service with two of three remaining races, one on the Canadian border, being road courses, and you can’t make it happen??? Funny… It was in full swing about 2 wks ago…

Something Is Rotten in the State of Denmark