Baltimore delayed…

I had every intention of sitting down tonight and doing a mega wrap up of what was truly an extraordinary weekend. Unfortunately my race weekend “happy place” bubble was cruelly burst upon walking through my door in the wee hours of this morning.

My beloved furry companion of 21 yrs took his final sleep over the weekend while I was away, and it has left me feeling rather unraveled at the moment. While I knew he was on the white flag lap of his journey, I had hoped to be there with him when the checkers waved.

So I ask for patience my friends, as I sort through my emotions alongside my photos of the weekend and collect my thoughts.

Life’s gonna be a little sad for a while…

Baltimore Sunday am – Quick thoughts

It’s funny, as the weekend progresses, you get more tired, your call times are earlier, your evenings are later, and your schedule gets tighter and tighter, very little time to just sit and reflect. So, as I prep for my day, I’ll briefly dump some quick thoughts while I have a quick moment.

Thursday when I arrived, I was filled with anticipation, then awash with dread. Things were not looking good for this event. Track not built, staff either not in place or so clueless about what was going on that it was frightening.

Friday morning, with hours of “non action” ahead, I had a knot in the pit of my stomach. Not because of that, but because there was an enthusiastic crowd that had begun spilling into the grounds, and we had nothing to show for it. It was like inviting a bunch of people to an awesome party and not serving food or drinks.

Thankfully the cars finally took to the track, and as each session got underway, the weekend began to look more and more promising.

For every one thing they got wrong this weekend, there were 10 things that they got very very right.

Patience has been the buzz word behind the scenes. Those of us who are series veterans have had to pitch in with some guidance and policing of the newbies, and remind ourselves that this is a first time event and to quell our own personal frustrations.

Honestly though, other than the entrance/egress issues due to the overwhelming amount of people trying to move about (and really, EVERY event and IndyCar fan should be happily bitching about that problem and welcome it!) I haven’t run into anything warranting an epic Meesh rant, which is saying a lot.

Gonna put it out there now, even before the race is run or complete: this is now an annual race for me. 100%.

Alright, must grab some food, put the hair in race mode, format my cards and set about to enjoy the Inaugural Grand Prix of Baltimore.

Duff, Crab, Camden Yards and a brand spankin new race!!

So here’s the thing… I haven’t been this excited about going to a race in a long time. Not even my own home race. I’ve been trying to figure out why…

I think it’s all the newness of it.

I’ve never been to Baltimore first of all, and I am always just thrilled to travel somewhere new! I am over the moon excited that I got to go to a baseball game at Camden Yards!! I real American open air baseball stadium! And as luck would have it, my Toronto Blue Jays were playing a series there this week! Ha! Oh, and though I haven’t had any yet, I am anticipating a fabulous helping of Maryland Crab at some point. Baltimore is also home to “Ace of Cakes” Duff Goldman! If by some chance I get to meet him, my life will be complete! 😉

I’m meeting a 2D friend in 3D for the first time after many years of online friendship! How cool is that?!

And of course, and brand spankin new Race!
I’ve been to a few “inaugural” races. They are adrenaline filled, almost trying too hard events. Usually, because of the novelty, they are well attended.

Admittedly this one is getting off to a rocky start. A few changes at the top of the Baltimore GP organizational food chain, a hurricane, and the usual “new event” fly by the seat of your pants hurdles to jump over, and well, we’re a little behind the eight ball on the official 1st day.

So, the bad news is that we’re about 4hrs behind getting things actually moving.
The good news, there are a lot of people milling about out there, and those that aren’t pissed off about their grandstand seats being “adjusted” or the traffic/parking situation, are pretty excited about the circus coming to their town…

more later…