2006 CCWS Rd.1-Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

[mlittle]

It didn't last, as Bourdais now shoots into P1 w/a time of 1:07.191; Dominguez now P2 w/a time of 1:07.301.......Race control reporting that all 18 drivers are now under 1:10 sec.(slowest is Zwolsman w/a 1:09.724 sec. lap).


Current QS-2 top-5....Bourdais, Dominguez, Tracy, Allmendinger and Wilson.

[mlittle]

18 minutes into the session; Bourdais complaining of traffic ahead of him, slowing his current flyer.

No matter; Bourdais now under 1:07 sec.!

Junquiera jumps up to P4 w/a time of 1:07.450.

[mlittle]

Race control reporting that most drivers have completed btwn. 5-8 laps so far; Dominguez has completed 10 laps at the moment. At present, Bourdais, Dominguez, Tracy and Junquiera are all under PT's record from last year!

20 minutes into the session; Dominguez exits the pits for his final 5-lap stint.

Looking at the rookie class, Power is still at the head of the line, in 9th. The others(Pizzonia, Clarke, Heylen, Legge and Zwolsman) are 12th, 13th, 16th, 17th and 18th in QS-2 at the moment.

[mlittle]

Race control reporting that Bourdais is now on the "blacks"(the std. Bridgestone Potenzas'); he was on the "reds"(the softer Bridgestone Potenzas) when he set his fast lap earlier.

Now 24 minutes into the session; normally, the session will end in around 6 minutes, but once in a while the stewards are a little late in throwing the checkers.

[mlittle]

And the shootut begins!! Wilson now up to 2nd, just behind SeaBass. Now Allmendinger shoots up to 3rd; both RuSport drivers are on the "reds", hoping to catch Bourdais while he's on the "blacks".

Note.....in case anyone's wondering what I'm referring to, the "reds" are the softer option tires that Bridgestone, while the "blacks" are the standard cmpd. tires. Easiest way to differentiate them; the option tires have red stripes on the outside, the stds. do not.

Current top-5 in session w/less than four minutes to go: Bourdais, Wilson, Allmendinger, Tracy, and Dominguez.

[mlittle]

Red flag! Red Flag! Race control reporting that a car has spun somewhere on track; haven't said where........and that's it! The stewards have decided to throw the checkered flag, and the session ends.

All times from QS-2 were faster, so the grid will be set on this session's times. The grid for tomorrow's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach goes as follows.........


Row 1:#1 Sebastien Bourdais, 1:06.886 sec.
#9 Justin Wilson, 1:07.208 sec.
Row 2:#2 Bruno Junquiera, 1.07.225 sec.
#10 A.J. Allmendinger, 1:07.249 sec.
Row 3:#7 Mario Dominguez, 1:07.301 sec.
#3 Paul Tracy, 1:07.408 sec.
Row 4:#15 Alex Tagliani, 1:07.717 sec.
(R)#5 Will Power, 1:07.782 sec.
Row 5:#6 Oriol Servia, 1:07.869 sec.
#19 Cristiano da Matta, 1:07.982 sec.
Row 6:[R)#8 Antonio Pizzonia, 1:08.242 sec.
#12 Jimmy Vasser, 1:08.246 sec.
Row 7:[R)#14 Dan Clarke, 1:08.410 sec.
(R)#11 Jan Heylen, 1:08.641 sec.
Row 8:#4 Nelson Phillipe, 1:08.647 sec.
#27 Andrew Ranger, 1:08.855 sec.
Row 9:[R)#20 Katherine Legge, 1:08.908 sec.
(R)#34 Charles Zwolsman, 1:09.254 sec.

Saturday's observations to follow this evening......

[mlittle]

With all the on-track activity from ChampCars to Atlantics to the Daytona Prototypes, it's hard to imagine where to start. Oh...before I forget, let's say hi to RE30B#16, who's got a good vantage point from, where was it, the Trizac Bldg.? Hi!!

Now, the observations......

1}What is this, the good old days??? Seen in the paddock today....Michael Andretti, Bobby Rahal, Chip Ganassi, Eddie Cheever, Jr., and HPD's Robert Clarke all were seen at some point talking to various Champ Car offiicals, from co-owners Gerry Forsythe and Kevin Kalhkoven, to series president Steve Johnson. I wonder what they were all talking about, pit strategies, or merger strategies??

2}Record pole time......what record pole time!! Last year, Paul Tracy set the record pole time for the 2005 race. This year, six drivers demolished PT's time(including PT himself) but at the end of the day, it was Newman-Haas Racing's Sebastien Bourdais who stood on the top of the pedestal. You know, I'm starting to really understand how frustrating it must have been to Formula 1 fans whenever they saw Michael Schumacher dominate F1 for so many years.......

3}Respect....what respect? Remember HVM's explanation of why they were running A.J. Foyt, Jr.'s famous #14 on rookie Dan Clarke's car? There was another unspoken reason that they didn't mention.....It's no secret that Foyt harbors a near insipid hatred of anything related to either CART or ChampCar, as noted during the IRL weekend in St. Pete. when Foyt effectively said that if they attempted a merger, he would do whatever it took to wreck it. This isn't surprising, IMHO.....Foyt helped wreck USAC's efforts at cooperating w/CART back in 79'and 80', and then pushed Tony George to create the IRL back in the mid-1990's. It isn't surprising that anyone would revive the #14; the only number officially retired by CC is the #99, associated w/the late Greg Moore. The #14, however, is fair game.

Anyway, with all the excitement and action of the first two days, who knows what the race will bring? Well, as Greg Moore used to say......

See you at the front!!!

[mlittle]

Q:What is the best way to defeat your on-track opponents?

Is it....A}By beating them on-track, or is it....B}by letting them take each other out first?

For 2-time series champion Sebastien Bourdais(#1 McDonald's FC/L), it was B, as the Frenchman enjoyed smooth sailing to take his second straight victory in Long Beach in the 32nd running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. When the green flag fell, it wasn't even one turn in as several drivers crashed going through, and three of the expected frontrunners, Paul Tracy(#3 Indeck/Forsythe FC/L), A.J. Allmendinger(#9 Western Union FC/L), and Oriol Servia(#6 Gulfstream FC/L) found themselves watching from pitlane the rest of the race; Bourdais's Newman-Haas teammate Bruno Junquiera(#2 Hole in the Wall Camps FC/L) also suffered damage and retired in 15th place after completing only one lap.

Meanwhile, as Bourdais began to check out on the rest of the field, there were several position battles in and amongst the field, now down to 14 from 18 cars at the start. One such battle involved CTE-HVM teammates Nelson Phillipe and Dan Clarke, who exchanged 9th and 10th several times early on; finally, Clarke spins out in turn 1 and hits the tirewalls, bringing out the second caution of the day. After a round of stops, SeaBass continued to lead, followed by RuSport's Justin Wilson(#10 CDW FC/L), Team Australia's Alex Tagliani(#15 Aussie Vineyards FC/L), his teammate Will Power(#5 Aussie Vineyards FC/L) and Forsythe's Mario Dominguez(#7 Indeck/Forsythe FC/L). Meanwhile, mechanical gremlins would soon fell both Nelson Phillipe and Jimmy Vasser(#12 Bell Micro/Gulfstream FC/L) as gearbox issues put them out of the race. Once Vasser's car was removed from the track, the green flag came back out, with some new players at the sharp end of the spear.

During the caution for Vasser's mech. woes, his PKV teammate, Katherine Legge(#20 Optium FC/L), along w/fellow rookies Charles Zwolsman(#34 MiJack FC/L) and Dale Coyne's Jan Heylen(#11 Sonny's Real Pit BBQ FC/L) all came in on alternate fuel strategies, and it eventually paid off for Legge and Heylen; Zwolsman would retire on lap 68 w/suspension damage. For Heylen, the alternate strategy would allow him to lead the race for one lap(lap 47) while for Legge it gave her a top-10 finish at race's end.

Anyway.....back at the front, Bourdais continued to check out on the field and eventually won what became a time-shortened(by 2 laps) race by just over 14 secs. in fron of Wilson, while Tagliani rounded out the podium in third. There were a few surprises in the top-half of the grid; Dominguez finished fourth, while Cristiano da Matta brought home a 5th-place finish for Dale Coyne. Sixth was French-Canadian Andrew Ranger(#27 MiJack-Tide FC/L) while da Matta's teammate, Jan Heylen, finished seventh. Katherine Legge was the highest-running PKV driver in 8th(becoming in the process the highest-finishing woman in series history; the previous record was held by Desire Wilson, who finished 10th in Cleveland back in 1983). Rounding out the top-10 were rookies Will Power and Antonio Pizzonia.

Next up.....a month's rest for the drivers, then it's on to Houston for the inaugural Lone Star Grand Prix of Houston at the Reliant Park complex in Houston the night of May 13th.

Sunday's observations to follow later this evening......

[mlittle]

While everyone staggers back from an exciting Long Beach GP, here are some of the observations from Sunday's activities.....

1}Listen to the youngsters...... It's isn't just a little weird that all 28 Atlantics drivers made it through the widened turn 1 at Long Beach today, while the 18 ChampCar drivers couldn't? How's that saying go....to finish first, first you must finish.......

2}More seen and heard......how would you've liked to be a fly on the wall in some of the hospitality suites around Long Beach today? Case in point.....the new head of Ford's North American Operations, Anne Stevens, and HPD boss Robert Clarke were seen conversing with RuSport owner Carl Russo and PKV owner/CCWS co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven....Hmmm, let's see, Ford's lead in NA motorsports, Dan Davis, was there, as well......as Robin Miller said on Speed News Sunday tonight, merger talks btwn. ChampCar and the Indy Racing league could be a little closer than anticipated, but.......let's wait and see what happens...

3}Congrats, Katherine!!!! In finishing 8th today, rookie Katherine Legge did two things of importance.....1: She beat both team owner Jimmy Vasser and regular teammate Oriol Servia, and 2: is now the highest-finishing woman in series history, knocking Desire Wilson off of that honor(which Wilson accomplished back in 1983 by placing 10th in Cleveland). Some might consider her placing an "attrition" finish(i.e. because of all the first-lap carnage that took out several front-runners) but to paraphrase a certain IndyCar Series driver from 2005......"An eighth-place finish is an eighth-place finish."

[RE30B#16]

Oh...before I forget, let's say hi to RE30B#16, who's got a good vantage point from, where was it, the Trizac Bldg.? Hi!!

Thanks mlittle! We had a great time high above the course of my favorite race next to Monaco. Did not get to see much of the race however, because of the limited space with a view [plus I was busy playing guitar and singing!]. We had a capacity crowd for like the fifth year running.

Congrats to SeaBass for doing twice. Some guys just et circuits like Monaco or Long Beach which in 30 some odd race has only a handful of winners. Bourdais joins Mario Andretti, Little Al, Paul Tracy, and Alex Zanardi as a back to back winner.

Too bad the rest of the top contender all took each other out before the first turn!

Two humbs up, way up for Katherine Legge for her history setting finish. I suspect she will out do that many times over this season.

I won't be long before fans will want to see Legge versus Danica Patrick, so reunification talks are probably going to reach a fever pitch soon. I love fast cars and fast women! Go, girls!

Long Beach needs to improve its free viewing vantage points. The Detroit Grand Prix [started in the early 80s] had numorous free vantage points which help casual fans develop their love for the sport without braking the bank.

I'd love to see all the series champs go head to head: SeaBass, Dan "Well-Done" Wheldon [IRL], Fernando Alonso [F1], Tony Stewart [NASCAR], and Tom Kristensen [Sports Prototype] in identically prepared Porsches like the original International Race of Champions. Have 5 post season races: Daytona, Laguna Seca, Donnington Park, Catalunya, and Fuji. What a blast that would be!!

Cheers

Chris