Hello from Molson Indy Toronto

[Liz]

The morning was cool but the day got very warm by noon. The track was very busy when I got there -- and brother, that is one good set of sounds!

"Information" at the Toronto track is a waste of effort. Get the map they have and find your own way to where you want to go. Or ask a cop (not security). The Information guy at the front did not know where the media centre was, but a passing cop did. (Later on, the Information had never heard of Barber Dodge, much less did she know where it was!) I went upstairs and got coffee and loot and found out there was going to be a press conference with Zanardi at Noon -- so that pretty much shaped what I was going to do in the morning. There was also a press conference with Tracy scheduled in the afternoon and that was also on my agenda.

I went out briefly to look for Josh Beaulieu, Barber Dodge driver extraordinare, but though I found his car I did not see him. I'll look him up tomorrow. I did see Bruno, Cristiano, Tracy, Tags, Patrique, Mr. and Mrs. Ashley Judd, and Mario walking around loose and untended, and spoke to all of them and got nice replies and big smiles from some of them but nice replies from all. Then I had to scamper back to the media centre for the press conference, which you can read the transcript of elsewhere on this forum. It was very good, very funny, and very inspirational. Many people said it made the whole Ferrari thing dwindle down to a side show and Tony George to an irrelevance.

Then it was lunch (and believe that the Molson Indy Toronto does very very well toward its journalists!) and off to the pits to scope out the cars and follow qualifying. Now that I am the Pit Rat of Sports Cars, I can't imagine being trapped in the grandstands behind a fence while everyone else gets to be down among the cars seeing just what they are doing and how. Grandstands are for mugs.

However, I must mention that everyone in the grandstands behind the pits cheered PT to the echo and all of them said, "You're the winner, Paul! You won the IRL 500! Real fans know who won!" and you should have seen him beam. PT may say he is putting that behind him, but our support means a lot to him and if you go to a race this year, be sure to voice or sign your support.

A brief tour around the paddock and then back upstairs to see the post First Qualifying and get a look at Ronaldo and Ronaldo Lite with their terrrifying haircuts -- Cristiano is effectively bald now, and Bruno looks as if someone shaved his head in the dark. I hope it was worth it! Obviously they were best friends and were razzing each other on the dais. Some reporter asked Bruno what he had to do to beat Cristiano and Bruno said "I was thinking of locking him in the washroom!" Then Cristiano pretended to take notes and said, "Yes, tell me how you think you are going to beat me tomorrow!"

Paul Tracy was third, so instead of holding a separate press conference he just dealt with the IRL 500 thing in that PC; he was forthright and not bitter in tone, but he said it was a very sad day for racing and that he had won the race but lost the political and financial battle and it was a shame that racing had come to such a pass, that politics and money were spoiling it for everyone. I wanted to stand up and cheer! He also said that it proved what a large gulf there was between the two series and that he thought it proved that gulf would never be bridged.

Later on he said in response to a question that "I could have offered him $1 million but it was stolen from me ."

And that was essentially the end of my day. I met up with some people from the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame and one of them insisted on returning something to me that my grandson had left at Mosport, which meant I was too burdened to go anywhere else but home.

On the way home the streetcar was stopped as someone had stalled their van across the tracks and we all had to walk to the subway. No cops in sight of course. They were all at the Molson Indy.

Tomorrow I will have more to report as I will get in early and see more of the outside world of the race weekend.