Molson Indy Toronto

[Liz]

Who else will be there? I will be occupying my customary seat in Section 22 of the Silver Grandstand except when hanging over the fence at Penske Paddock ... hope to see you there! (At the race, not at Penske ... )

[Jay]

Well as usual, I will be at the top of Grandstand 32, just after the first corner.

However, I also plan to explore the circuit a lot more this year than i have in previous years in an attempt to find good vantage points for photos. The best pics are never from a grandstand. Anyone know where there are good places? I must admit that despite going for the past 4 years I have never really explored the back of the course.

Although it is a nice track, I still prefer the circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

[Liz]

I'm going to get some nice picturse from INSIDE THE PENSKE PITS ... but that's cos I have friends in high places ...

I get most of my good pictures on Friday from the front of the Silver Grandstand, but there are spots on Thunder Alley that are good if all you want are pictures of cars. If you wander around over in Thunder Alley and keep your eyes open, you will often see pilotes on scooters or Patrick Carpentier on a bicycle. But you have to look sharp.

[Jay]

Pics of pilots and cars in pieces are always good, but I am going to try and get pictures of cars at speed, which is difficult at best. I took a ton of pics at the Canadian GP, and only a few were of good quality. I was hoping that there might be some places on the back part of the course in the twisty bits that might give some good opportunities.

I have thought about just getting a general admissions ticket, but if you want to see the race you need a grandstand.

or..

I remember in the National Trade Centre there being giant windows that gave a great view of the start finish line, and the entrance into the first corner. I wonder if you could watch the race from there? Only problem for racing fans is, you miss the noise. What is racing without noise?

[Liz]

There are good spots in Thunder Alley where you can get close to the piste, but the problem there is knowing which car it is you are about to photograph, and setting up the shot in advance.

Alternatively there is a Photographer Ticket (which is very expensive) that lets you get into all kinds of really good spots! I am thinking of getting that one next yer. In fact I see there is one of those for Le Mans too, and I may spring for it as well. Only first I need a somewhat better camera.

Jay, can we get together somewhere on the Saturday?

[Jay]

I have wondered about the photopass, but it is an awful lot for some good shots. I got some pretty good ones in Montreal just with General Admissions, but then again I can be fairly rude and pushy if I want a good shot. I fit in quite well in Quebec.

I will have to see what my schedule is going to be like. I am still not sure who I am going with this year. I will probably be at the track for all 3 days. We can arrange a time and a place closer to the event.

[Liz]

Suits me - we'll be there all three days as well.

[Liz]

Update: Today was the first day of the Molson Indy, and Jay and I met up at the Autograph Line, which was slightly longer than the QEW, and he is very nice and I hope to meet up with him again tomorrow and see which autographs he got.

Me, I got Moreno, Fernandez, Blundell, Gugelman, Helio AND GIL. In all but the latter case I was able to say something sensible and/or funny as if the pilote were just a guy, and to Gil I said nothing but Thank You. I was completely befuddled! (Gil had been in a smash up and was clearly not feeling well, and I think that made it even worse.) Helio is a darling, very funny; Gugelman is much better looking in person than in pictures, Blundell was surprised that I wished him luck on Sunday - he looked utterly discouraged, but had really classy sunglasses - and Moreno had his little daughter with him, a sweet child about 5 years old who sat on his lap while he signed autographs.

Otherwise we were caught in a thunderstorm, I took some good pictures of cars with "rooster tails" spraying up behind them, I enjoyed myself and I'm going again tomorrow.

Anybody else at that race from 10-Tenths?

[Liz]

Day Two - no tornado today but uncertain weather caused the first group of pilotes to go out on a wet track. Helio took the pole but did not break Gil's lap record of last year. Roger Penske probably hasn't been hugged like that since Mrs. Penske first said "I Do."

Marketing R Not Us: Penske has a trailer with the names of Gil and Helio on it and they purport to have items for sale in support of same. Total inventory: One t-shirt for each pilote, and Helio's name is misspelled on his. Person behind counter says they will have things in three or four races from now. Says lead time was not long enough. Since Patrick Racing had Moreno stuff on sale before the official announcement of his signing, and since Gil was signed back in Chicago last year, this explanation decidedly fishy. Got Gil t-shirt anyway. Not as classy as last year's Walker Racing shirt. No motor oil on this one though. Yet.

Met up with Craig Manning who finally cleared up the mystery of how to pronounce Gil's name. Gilles. New Hobby: Learn to stop calling him Gil.

Explain to Yuppie Girl in grandstand that Helio is not JPM. This is explanation for why race suit does not say TARGET. Resist urge to slap her when she says "They're both Mexicans, though, right?"

Explain to Yuppie Couple that Hollywood is a brand of Brazilian cigarettes, and branding does not mean cars are owned by Paul Newman. Point out Newman-Haas cars.

Groan quietly when local newscaster says Mario Andretti has qualified fourth.

Groan loudly when person singing Canadian National Anthem eschews two official versions (Quebec and Canadian) to make up her own words, causing two rows of people to stop singing and start trying to remember what the lyrics actually are.

That's Merchandising II: Sign on Patrick Racing motor home says "We invite you to visit our merchandise trailer which is located at." Complete this sentence if you found Patrick Racing's merchandise trailer. The last time I saw it was in Fontana, last year.

That's Entertainment: For a good time, put on a race suit and stand in the CART paddock and punters will ask you for your autograph but will be too polite to ask who exactly you are. Go home and laugh uproaroiously as punters try to sell your autograph under the impression that you were Juan Pablo Montoya. Laugh especially when you think that you are a Swede.

Finally, stand in the CART paddock and marvel as tour guide apologizes to group of High Rollers for the fact that CART Paddock is noisy and crowded. Take secret satisfaction in seeing High Rollers nearly run down by golf cart towing two Penske cars, one of them with Helio in it... and giggle when High Roller asks tour guide if boy in car is allowed to be riding in there as he looks too young to be real race car pilote.

[Jay]

I arrived home at around 11:30 last night after taking the 6:30 bus back from Toronto.

When I arrived on Friday, it was pouring rain, so I decided to sit it out in Thunder Alley with a poncho that only went down to my knees. Then over to the 4th turn to watch the first qualifying session in the wet. It was quite a thing to watch the cars accelerating around the turn and almost always go into a major power slide and nearly hit the wall. Carpentier did it, and then backed up the little straight into the corner. I along with all of the other amateur photographers had a good laugh at that. Other great places for photos are the inside of turns 8 and 9. I got a neat shot of Dario hitting the tires there on Saturday.

I met up with Liz and her friends in the autograph line near the paddock. She was quite nice and we were joking about the apparent lack of skill in American drivers. I would have liked to meet up with Liz again, but I couldn't see where she had gone. Apparently Gil had been delayed at the med-centre, so I wasn't sure if he was around to sign autographs.

I got Franchitti, Tracy, Carpentier, Tagliani and Kurosawa during the session, and De Ferran and Moreno and Mario Andretti in the paddock. I would have also like to have gotten Helio to, but I could never find him. Of all the people I met, Dario was my favorite. We had an interesting chat abour beer. He likes Guiness and I don't.

On Friday the paddock was almost completely flooded by the early afternoon downpours. I bent down to tie my shoelace and then heard the sound of a scooter behind me. It was Baby Mikey who was riding away from silly people wanting his autograph. He then went through a giant puddle and splashed me, several other fans, and some Team Green guys in a big way. What a jerk!

While I was waiting for the Player's guys I saw a rather amusing argument between Juan Montoya and who I think was his girlfriend. They had a heated argument, and Juan even looked like he was about to slap her, but in the end they kissed and made up.

On Sunday they gave us these silly aprons that had Bell logos all over it and barbecue sauce in the pockets as our corporate gifts when we entered the grandstand. I prefered the cooler beer mugs they gave us last year.

The first race we saw was te F1600s. There were not many people in our grandstand, so we chose some nice seats near the front that had a good view of the first corner. So of course one smashes up in a big way infront of our grandstand. What a mess! It was the bigest crash of the weekend, but luckily the driver was uninjured.

I then went over to look at the merchandise again, and couldn't help laughing at some peoples comments over the die-casts. I overheard "So you see they go down in value when the car is not racing anymore."

After lunch we headed back to our grandstand for the race. There were some nice people beside us and we helped them string up a big banner that read"Forever Moore". The Atlantics were just finishing up from what seemed like an all yellow-parade. Andrew Bordin won. I have been watching him for a while now, and I think he could be big.
The CART drivers parade never seems that interesting after you have seen most of them up close and even chatted with a few.

The Greg Moore pole award was nice, but as Liz said it was given at rather bad moment. After the race would have been better.

The race was awful, except for Tracy wearing Moore's helmet to 3rd place. Much better than Greg ever did in this race.