As Surely, Hey Don't call me Shirley; Oh Never
Mind!
Otay, I know this won't be occurring anytime
soon, but the momentum's definitely crescendoing now, El Correctomundo, Ci?
As I find it amazing how easily I'm swayed
these days by racing drivers personalities - along with exuding natural talent
behind the wheel. Since after my newest IndyCar Numero Uno pick thee Young
Wicky', aka Robert Wickens sensational rookie season unraveled, I found myself
somewhat dejected over Indy Cars.
Yet the tide quickly shifted for Mwah after
first having the luxury of watching Takuma Sato win at Portland, and then
witnessing the newest IndyCar sensation Pato O'Ward put on a Driving Clinique
at Sonoma.
As IndyCar's been toying with returning to Mexico
City's Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the past few years now, for which I
thought the arrival of Esteban Gutierrez at Dale
Coyne Racing would seal the Dealio', Ci?
As Gutierrez
sparked hopes when Deputizing for the injured Sealmeister B', nee le
Hamburgular', aka Sebastain Bourdais at the Detroit Duelie' last year before
making his Oval debut later at Pocono.
Yet that was the last of the former Formula 1
Pilote we've seen in Indy Cars, who had taken up sporadic; Err selected
appearances in Formula E beginning last year after being unceremoniously Dumped
by Haas F1 in favour of Kevin Bacon' Magnussen.
Meanwhile, Alfonso Celis, Jr. hasn't exactly
lit the IndyCar world upon its ear with his few outings this season for the
fledgling Juncos Racing organization. With Celis simply being out of his league
at his IndyCar debut at Road America, when beginning the weekend by Somersaulting
his Juncos mount during practice; Ariva-Ariva-Ariva! Not to mention simply
being a footnote at Portland.
Although Celis mustn't be considered a total
slouch. As he's won in the now disbanded World Series Formula 3.5 V-8 Championship,
atop the podium at Spa the same season that Pietro Fittipaldi was winning the
title, before briefly dabbling in Indy Lights this year.
As Alfonso finished third Overall in the
championship with one victory vs. Rene Binder's four, with the Austrian
finishing fourth overall. As Binder was another IndyCar Rookie this season to
come out of Formula 3.5 V-8...
Alfonso also spent time being one of Force;
Err Racing Point Force India's countless Pay Drivers to fill its coffers, Uhm,
"simulator Jockey" test drivers fleet. Having even participated in a
few Friday morning Free Practice FP1 Formula 1 sessions.
While even Patricio O'Ward's ascendency to
Open Wheel Racing's top step wasn't clear cut at first, as the Monterey, Mexico
native, ironically where fellow countryman Gutierrez hails from, looked set to
be headed towards Sports Cars initially.
since his Indy Lights Debutante season was
short lived with the always underfunded Team Pelfrey, making four starts during
the season's first two Double Header weekends at St Pete and thou Oh, So
bootyful' Barber's in 2017, before focusing solely upon IMSA's Prototype
Challenge Class instead.
As Pato, at age 17 won both the Rolex 24 and
Sebring 12 Hours PC (Prototype Challenge) Class category for Performance Tech
Motorsports alongside another aspiring Lights driver named James French. Along
with winning the series final PC class Championship...
Whilst O'Ward wisely states his wishes to emulate
another past top Mexican Driver named Yo Adrian! nee Adrian Fernandez, Indy
Cars All-time winningest Driver, who's definitely not a bad choice at All!
While I still fondly remember Fernandez being
Super Cool 'N Charismatic to Mwah.
Standing up to personally greet me by name, Huh? How'd he do that? Bowling me
over with this personal touch during the 2012 Indy 500 Legends Day Autograph
session; Ariva-Ariva-Ariva!
And as I previously scribbled here on No
Fenders, the Mexican teenager O'Ward simply lit up my IndyCar season finale
weekend with his Mega Qualie' performance, which I jotted down initially
Wayback on Sept 15.
Pato O'Wards First ever IndyCar Qualifying session. Runs in
Group 2 of Round 1 on primary Black rubber - Goes straight to P1! In a group
that includes somebody named Dixon. Finishes P5 and advances to Round 2's
Top-12 round.
Next O'Ward finishes P4 to advance to the
Fast Six Shootout in his IndyCar Debut! The first time ever that his Harding
Racing team's made the Fast Six session. Pato' runs a lap good enough for second
before the team pulls him in to sit upon his time, ultimately finishing fifth
in his first ever Qualie' session.
As I just spent
the whole day marveling over his performance by repeatedly saying loudly to the
Confuzer' He's a Bad Arse!
And as we All know, Pato went onto finish an
excellent P9 at Sonoma, after experiencing the added pressures of hanging onto
the far more grippier, more powerful Dallara DW12 Chevrolet powered Harding
Racing mount, which surely O'Ward will acclimatize to during next year's
Pre-season testing.
But I've been watching & listening to
Indy Cars long enough to know that a single race outing doesn't make or define
a driver's career, albeit naturally I'm hoping Pato's Debut is a portent 'O
things to come from this Mexican Pilote. As he'll probably vault to my newest
Numero Uno IndyCar Driver next year, Ci? although I've also previously been
enthused over Sweden's Felix
Rosenqvist, which should make next year's Rookie Of the Year (ROY) battle very
interesting.
As I've rambled on long enough now, and sorta
gone off boil, as it's definitely High Time for IndyCar to Quit Mucking round
over returning to Mexico! As hopefully O'Ward can lead the way Across the
Border, welcoming back Indy Cars to Mexico's ravenous fans...
