So what really is the story behind Project Delta Wing?

I find it very interesting that I’ve now been approached by three of the four entities regarding the Delta Wing Indy Car project, although I suppose I should clarify that only Swift and Lola (twice!) have actually sent Press Releases to the No Fenders mailbox, while a third party simply seemed intent upon soliciting some positive “Spin” (my assumption) regarding the Delta Wing project with an offer of video footage of the Chicago Auto show unveiling.

And I find that I’m not able to sit back ‘N let things sink in before speaking, or in this case typing away somewhat furiously, (or is that laboriously?) as I’ve already given my initial thoughts upon the Delta Wang thingy, as in IT SUCKS!

Indy Car’s newest racer unveiled

Thus I decided to tune into the Kevin ‘N Cavin Trackside Show last Thursday night to see what the Pied Pipers of IndyCar Racing had to say. (Although apparently Kevin was forsaking Indiana’s snow in favour of the tropical Bahamas’…) As I must admit I was quite impressed with Curt Cavin’s abilities to remain overly neutral towards this most fervent subject, as a wry smirk came over my face when he told his first guest Ben Bowlby that there were some names towards the project he’d refrain from mentioning… As Meesh’s Ode to the Penis Car immediately sprang to mind!

Now I’m not an Aficionado on the history of Indy Cars, as I’ve only been following them since 1985-ish, so I don’t know all of the history behind them, Err Mr. Donald Davidson is on line one… Although a reoccurring theme seems to be innovation, which many claim has been lost over the past decade, as I’m starting to grow overly tired of the EXCUSE towards NOT being able to allow more than one manufacturer’s design, which I’ll go out on a limb and say the majority, including myself are pining for… As I understand the economic reality behind this, but let’s be truthful and admit that a monopoly is always the best business practice possible!

Thus I don’t know if Streamliners raced at The Brickyard in the years prior to the Rear Engine revolution, but I do know that Formula 1, arguably the pinnacle of Motorsport ultimately OUTLAWED Streamliners, nee closed coupe bodywork after the all conquering Mercedes W196 of the mid 1950’s era. Other advances in technology have also been BANNED over the following decades, such as four wheel drive, active suspension, launch & traction control, four wheel steering, ABS, Fly By Wire/Digital controls and four rear driven wheels (along with six wheeler’s) to name a few items that would potentially advance the commercial innovations of Automobiles. Not to mention the recently scrapped KERS systems, as the “Greening” of Motorsports is another topic I’ll need to sit down and get off of my chest someday, eh?

So I’m sure that Ben Bowlby is quite the accomplished Engineer, having after all designed the Lola B2K which resurrected Lola’s floundering Champ Car prospects after being beaten into submission by the all conquering Reynard Chassis. Yet, Bowlby himself admitted what I consider the key fault in the Delta Wing’s design process, by stating that in every aspect of his radical design: Form follows Function and it was NOT a styling exercise which is quite obvious to my somewhat jaundiced eye.

Cavin’s other guests were Keith Wiggins, Head Honcho of HVM Racing, the newly hired IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard and Dental Plan Dan “Spike” Wheldon, to which I enjoyed Wiggins comments toward knowing absolutely that Bowlby’s designs work and are quite track worthy. Although Wiggins did confess that the Indy Racing League has to keep in mind it, like almost every stateside racing series is in the Entertainment Business.

Which makes it even harder to swallow for myself, (GROAN!) the fact that the 800lb Gorilla, nee NASCAR (which I DESPISE!) has acknowledged that it is an Entertainment based series and thus is IMPORTANT to give the Fans what they want, as in the return of bump drafting, larger restrictor plates and the return of the rear spoiler, instead of the somewhat futuristic rear wing as they attempt to turn around the SS RASSCAR from the current TV ratings iceberg in order to keep their lofty position in North America…

And Randy Bernard claims he’d like to use Focus Groups to help direct the future of the Indy Car Series, which if Cavin’s claims of negative responses towards the Delta Wing concept running at a rate of 100-1 are true, then Indy: We’ve got a Problem! While Danny Boy (Wheldon) simply put on his ‘Dancin Shues and gave Cavin the ‘Ol Driver-speak “Soft Schue” Positive Spin toe dance…

As I cannot fathom The Cheepster, a.k.a. Chip Ganassi simply setting Bowlby loose to conjure up the future of Indy Car’s just to see what he can come up with? As chip doesn’t exactly have a reputation of throwing out blank checques… Unless it’s his subtle way of trying (Wink-Wink, Nudge-Nudge!) to put his own indelible stamp upon the future direction of Open Wheel Racing, to which I give credit to Cavin for asking Wiggins the obvious… What happens if the Delta wing project is voted down by the IRL as it seemingly has a twinge of CART’s previous Owners vs. Sanctioning Body feel, to which Keith could only retort the obvious; that another Split is definitely not a valid option.

Thus I cannot tell if this is some sort of mythical bargaining “Chip,” nor is there some more twisted evil plot behind it? Or even worse yet, That Roger ‘N Chip are pissing themselves silly at us right now... While I do have to admit that Tony G’s Mergification was long overdue.

On another tangent that I don’t believe has been discussed yet? What in the HELL will these new cars sound like? As history notes that a large portion of this series luster is engine noise, harkening with such diversity as the scream of the Supercharged Millers, to the almighty Whoosh mobile, (the mighty Pratt & Whitney Turbine engine) the ubiquitous ‘OFFY’s, (Offenhauser) or the all time Fan pleasers, those thundering Novi’s. (Of which I’ve never heard any of the above) Yet, as a visually impaired Fan of Open Wheel Racing, sound, smell and colours have become the reality of my racing universe, as I fear the future of the starkly quiet George Jetson Astrocar era… While I applauded Indy Lights crankshaft reconfiguration to fix the hideous sounding Indy Pro Series tractormobiles!

Which brings me to another comment towards the Swift proposal which I was unaware of until Curt brought it up… And I have to say right off the bat it sounds way too GIMICKY! As he mentioned something about a novel lighting system to be mounted upon the sidepods to show us car position, braking, acceleration, etc. DON’T GO THERE Swift, Please!

Yet if you haven’t caught my subtlety yet, by far my biggest COMPLAINT towards the Buck Rogers Star Wars Pod-mobile looking contraption called the Delta Wing is it’s NOT an Open Wheel Racing Car! As I DON’T play video games, DON’T wanna see a bunch of Pod Racers SILENTLY skimming around levitated racing tracks or have to give into the whimsical demands of the sought for 18-35yr old Demographic… who I suspect DON’T know what they really want anyways? I mean C’mon, if I wanna see some really bad IndyCar Racing, all I’ve gotta do is throw on my Dolby DX Surround sound laserdisc copy of Driven! (OUCH!!!) And why is it the more I conjure up visions of the tricycle podlike Delta Wang thingy that the word Klingon comes to mind?

Interestingly, Formula 1 was going through a somewhat similar situation a few years ago whilst trying to solve the dilemma of spectator’s perceived notion that there wasn’t enough overtaking in Grand Prix racing, which one solution that the FIA Technical Working Group came up with was to invoke a split twin style rear wing minus traditional central mounting posts, in order to accomplish giving the racing cars closer following abilities. Yet I believe that the public’s response was so deafening(?) That have you noticed this design was never implemented! Although Formula One did give its Racecar’s an “Extreme Makeover” last year, to which some critics claim are ugly, yet I rather like these chassis simply for the fact that they’re devoid of the myriad of multiple “Add-ons,” i.e.; kick-ups, strakes, flip-ups, strakelets, barge boards, etc.

And they supposedly even have exposed exhaust pipes, thus is it the Swift proposal that has the exposed engine bay? And I’ll NOT even delve into the regressing to four cylinder turbocharging, as my all time favourite engine pitch is the long abandoned 2.65 liter turbocharged V-8! (Can you say CART?)

So why’ll I’m all in favour of introducing a new Indy Car chassis, lets not lose track of what got us where we are today, as in what are our core values? Do we wish to stay true to the nature, heritage and tradition of Open Wheel Racing? Or do we wish to push our beloved single seater series into the abyss? As I don’t know ‘bout Y’all, BUTT! It seems pretty clear that the Delta Wing simply denigrates all of the virtues of what an Open Wheel Racing Car should be!

Then again as George of Oil Pressure has noted as an unlikely offshoot of the Delta Wing’s unveiling, finally, at last… Both of us CART/Champ Car Crybabies ‘N Ovalheads (my words here) have finally found something to unite against… As in we DON’T want the Delta Wing! As I simply believe that I have NOT come across one single IRL/IndyCar Blogger who supports this ABOMINATION! As how can someone be so far off the market’s sweet spot, eh?

(Which kinda makes me feel somewhat sorry for Ben Bowlby… As I realize how hard it is to create something from scratch…)

So perhaps I won’t haveda bother watching IndyCar beginning in 2012?

One Positive about each Constructor

What was that Sir Mix Allot song about? Big Butts? Baby got Back? Oh Never Mind!

Seeing the Olympics

(Brian McKeever; Source: Calgary Herald.com)

Whale I’m certain there’s more then just these two fine Athletes who’ll be contesting this years Winter Olympics Up North Eh! (Vancouver, BC) Even if Mother Nature continues to wreak havouc upon the ski slopes, yet these two men have an added burden towards their pursuits of winning Gold as one is Blind and the other has a major vision disorder, of which I’ve scribbled ‘bout previously in,

Bobsledder makes Good!

As Steven Holcomb and Brian McKeever will be of particular interest to me, since after all I share a common bond with these athletes by being visually impaired. (Instead of the athletic part, eh?)

Thus I’m not sure which of these two athletes I’m more impressed by, as American Holcomb drives a Bodine Bobsled notoriously nicknamed Night Train which is currently shredding the World Cup Bobsledding Championships at up to speeds of 100mph while enduring forces of 4G’s.

Meanwhile “Kuh-Nuck” McKeever is busy combating the glare of snow while attempting to navigate the cross country course solely by memory, as McKeever has only 10% of his vision remaining, enroute to becoming the very first ever athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics and Paralympics at the same time.

Blind Canadian skier Brian McKeever makes Olympic, Paralympic teams

And although Holcomb suffers from Keratoconus and had experimental surgery performed to correct his impending vision loss, it’s McKeever who suffers from Stargardt’s Disease that I’m way more impressed by, as he qualified for his Canadian Olympic Team berth by winning a 50k Qualifying race unaided!

So keep an eye out for these two athletes performances, as Holcomb definitely has a shot for Gold, as I find it quite amusing how Holcomb now needs to keep his helmet’s face shield scuffed ‘N dirty since he was actually seeing too much!

UPDATE:
Shortly after posting this story I learned of the tragic death of 21yr old Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training accident prior to the Winter Games Opening ceremonies, which I didn’t bother watching, as I still find it very hard to comprehend why there was NO padding on the exposed steel poles surrounding the ultra high speed sliding track’s finish, where competitors were reaching speeds nearing 100mph! As his unnecessary death made me think of Jeff Krosnoff’s unfortunate accident many moons ago…

Father says Georgian luger called Olympic track unsafe before fatal crash in Whistler

A Different Mechanic’s Tale – Part II

As noted previously, Open Wheel Racing Mechanic Steve Roby worked in Formula 1 before coming Stateside to build a car for Bill Simpson, then working as Chief Mechanic for McLaren, Chaparral, Machinists Union (IAM - International Association of Machinists) and Mayer Racing…

Tomaso) so you came over and built a car for Bill Simpson, he’s a pretty interesting character; what was it like working for him and what type of car did you build?

Steve Roby: I put together a ‘74 (AAR) Eagle, with direction from Mike Devin, for Bill (Simpson) to drive at Indy. Bill is a good guy; excitable, but with a heart of gold. His products have saved many lives and he was definitely not due the hassle that he received from NASCAR. Bill thinks about improving his product from the safety perspective all the time, not from the perspective of making money.

I think I must be one of the few people who formerly worked for Bill, who are still good friends with him… He is pretty sharp business and talent wise. Although Roger (Penske) seems to get all the credit for discovering Rick Mears; it was actually Bill who first discovered him, as we ran Rick in 1976 as a second car to Bill at the Ontario Motor Speedway.

T) From Simpson you landed at the McLaren Indy Car Team; how did that come about?

SR: When Bill did not qualify for Indy in 1976, I worked that race for McLaren and they won. From that they offered me a position for 1977.

T) As you know, I wasn’t heavily into Indy Cars way back in the day. As I’m assuming you worked with Teddy Mayer, Tyler Alexander, etc. Where was the McLaren Indy Car Operation based at, and what can you tell me about the aforementioned “Head’s” of the Organisation?

SR: Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd. was actually based in England. In the US BMMR worked out of a shop shared with McLaren Engines in Livonia Michigan. It is still there; in fact we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the inception of McLaren Engines in Detroit last August

Tyler (Alexander) ran the North American side of the business and Teddy (Mayer) ran the Formula 1 side. In North America we had the Indy Team and we had a new BMW IMSA operation which developed the turbo engine for IMSA, this engine ultimately became the BMW turbo F1 engine. Roger Bailey ran the BMW operation with Wiley McCoy developing the engines. David Hobbs drove the IMSA BMW Turbo Car and Rutherford drove the Indy Car.

T) As a Chief Mechanic you’re responsible for the preparation of the whole car? What does this entail (briefly) and how many crew members did you typically oversee?

SR: I was Chief on one car and Phil Sharp was chief on the other. Each car had another mechanic and we had one general purpose fabricator and a truck driver. We planned to alternate cars but it often worked out that one car was predominantly a short track car and one was a long track car, but at each race they were in the same spec; one the race car and one the back up. When you crash on an oval there often is not much one can do at the track to fix the car so a spare, ready to run chassis, with hopefully the right engine in it is a must.

The entire team was five guys plus Tyler. For races we had one engine shop person and some weekend warriors as it took eight people to race the car. I would say the best description was that we collaborated on most things. Tyler, Phil and I made all the decisions. Physically on the car, the Chief Mechanic was responsible for building the gearbox and rear end and for being at the Dyno when the engine was run. The engines were quite different track to track. At the track the chief (mechanic) was responsible for all the activity.

Interestingly, in the off season, Phil and I built exhaust manifolds, I built and developed wastegates and Tyler built the inlet manifolds. Phil would often go back to Colnbrook (McLaren’s HQ) to help build new chassis.

T) So you were Chief Mechanic at McLaren’s Indy Car Team when Johnny Rutherford was there?

SR: I ran J.R. (Johnny Rutherford) at McLaren from 1977 ‘til 1979, but I was not crew chief in 1976 when McLaren won the Indy 500.

T) Did you enjoy your time working at McLaren and Chaparral running “Lone Star J.R.?” As I’m assuming Rutherford was a good driver to work with.

SR: Yes. One really great thing about Team McLaren was that it was really a team… We worked, lived and traveled together and pretty much lived by the rule that you either got on with one another or you left. It was a team effort, there were no Superstars; J.R. fit that ideal like a glove. He was part of the team. He gave his all and Betty (his wife) always had him ready to race when they rolled in.

He was tough and brave, as I remember one time he broke four ribs in an accident in Texas and he could only get in the car very gingerly. We kept his condition pretty quiet and resolved to just get to the end of the next race (Trenton) in one piece. Towards the end of that race, obviously in some pain; as he was pretty quiet on the radio, he asked what position we were in and who was next? Once we told him the car, which he could see in front of him was a place ahead; he sped up and passed that car to finish third or fourth… A really gutsy effort!

Most drivers need to be managed pretty tightly and from some perspectives he was no different from the others, but he was definitely a team player. He, along with Tom Sneva and Rick Mears liked a racecar that’s a bit loose which was the trick on short ovals like Milwaukee.

J.R. was hell on wheels at those short tracks; some years we won both races at Milwaukee and Phoenix. It takes a spot-on set up at all stages of the race, but it also takes a driver who can press on and keep the tyres working at all stages, keep the stagger up for the entire race and he was really good at that.

He was so good at Milwaukee that he passed Bobby (Unser) and won on about 6 1/2 cylinders one year. The tube, which seals the spark plug hole in the head has a water jacket on the outside and the plug wire on the inside, split and was spraying water on the plug which was making it short out and the engine misfire so we were way down on power and were expecting the lump to let go at any time. We still won!

On big tracks, although he had a reputation as a crasher he was exceptional. I don’t think we ever crashed at Indy or Ontario and only once at Pocono on the bump over the turn 2 tunnel.

We went through a tough time at McLaren on road courses as John has a right arm which is fixed in one position (the result of a big sprint car crash), which did not make road racing that easy for him. He could not accept being slow so he would revert to going really deep under braking whenever he had to find some speed which often got himself into trouble. I think we crashed at nearly every track for every road race but did manage to finish most races in reasonable condition. “Slow in - fast out” was our mantra and it took a few fraught practices to get that protocol through his head. He developed enough as a road racer, with a lot of help from Jim Hall, that we won a wet race at mid-Ohio which was really quite an achievement.

T) What was it like working for Jim Hall and how did the Texan’s Team compare vs. McLaren?

SR: At Chaparral my responsibilities were much greater. I was responsible for hiring and firing, the technical development of the car, the design of the car, hotel booking, budgets etc. I actually did not see much of Jim. He was at the shop only a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the afternoon.

Jim looked after sponsorship and finance and some of the tactics and strategies in the races. Jim was really helpful on the design side and he would come around after his dinner when I was doing design work and discuss various aspects of the development I was working on. There is no book to tell you what to do so we would discuss design strategies at a 20 foot long drawing board, agree and then I would execute. His basic focus was that until you were flat all the way around a track you did not have enough downforce. We tried some way out stuff and tested the ideas on the race track we had out back. If they worked then we made real parts and ran them at the track. I can see why they did not finish many races in Can Am. He loved to try new ideas and parts but never wanted to develop them to be reliable. My cars were always pretty reliable so we probably complemented each other well.

That was another physically tough deal. I would go in early in the morning to talk to England because of the time difference, do my Crew Chief and car prep management work during the day and then do design work at night. I actually worked myself to a standstill at Chaparral. At one point I could not get out of bed I was so used up!

I did have a great bunch of guys at Chaparral. Bernie Ferri, with whom I had worked at Surtees, ran one car with a new guy I had plucked out of a bagging job at a supermarket, John Tzouanakis, (whose brother Mike worked for Penske). Tom Anderson, who I knew from his Hogan days with help from the others, worked the spare car. Dennis Swan stayed with the team from the previous group and did the Gearboxes and Fab work. We hired Eloiza Garza from shooting a chopper gun making pickup truck canopies, and taught her to do carbon work so she ran the “gup shop”. (Gup is what Jim Hall called the resin/fiberglass shop; SR) Mike Fanning and Gerald Davis did the engines; a very focused group.

Although I made all the molds and some parts, at the track the guys would rightly not let me work on the car. They did a really good, focused, job as can be seen by the reliability record. What has provided me with pleasure is what these guys did after Chaparral: Bernie went back to Australia to rear sheep, while Dennis, Tom and John now have a lot of Indy wins and leadership of teams under their belts so we must have been doing something correctly on the people side.

T) Was it a whole new ballgame working upon a Ground Effects chassis?

SR: That is an interesting question as it was still just a race car, but it just developed huge downforce numbers. We were at the beginning of the understanding of the ground effects phenomenon. What it meant to us was that whereas a McLaren M24 has a nose, cockpit surround and engine cover for bodywork and the rest was tub, the Chaparral had a basically hidden tub and sports car levels of bodywork, both on top and underneath the car.

The chassis had to support the bodywork-derived aero loads and still perform functions in common with older cars. The amount of heat generated by a turbocharged engine was not an insignificant problem in a car with fully enclosed bodywork. The gearbox had as big a cooler as did the engine when I arrived in Texas! We took a slightly different route than other teams in that we developed wet lay-up carbon fiber bodywork for both top and bottom sides of the car, all done in-house. That is no small order when one considers a car which is 15 feet long. Our carbon fiber tunnels went as far as the leading edge of the rear wing. Other teams had Aluminum tunnels which terminated in front of the rear wheels. We believe we had more downforce and less drag than did our competitors.

When I first got to the car there were grooves in the tunnels which had to be caused by the tunnels sucking down on the road, unbeknownst to the team. We strengthened the tunnels and started work, with improvement coming in big chunks. This period was before personal computers were common so we had a paper roll device with two push-pull morse cables connected to the suspension. These would mark the paper roll with a pencil lead, showing the ride height. From that crude Chaparral developed (before my time) device we could ascertain downforce levels. We had a two mile track in the scrub behind the shop and Bernie would drive the car out there with the rattlesnakes to generate data for each development.

The aerodynamic development path we took was different from that taken by other teams both in F1 and in Indy Car in that our tunnels went right to the leading edge of the rear wing, and we worked at maintaining the center of pressure position by not loading the tunnels as much as other designs but maintaining the loading under most conditions.

T) And do you consider 1980 to be your most successful season as a Chief Mechanic? Since after all JR won five races that year enroute to his lone CART title.

SR: For sure. The team was a bit of a disaster when I arrived so I had to build pretty much a new team and get to understand a new car and a new technology. What I appreciated the most was that the guys were very focused on maintaining the car so I could work on development. They (with J.R.) did such a good job that until we crashed 10 laps from the end in Mexico we had completed every single lap of every race, and a lot in the lead. That was an astonishing feat considering the engine troubles that we often had in practice. In fact we, the team, did not even know that until Deke Houlgate, the Pennzoil PR guy told us.

We had a protocol of something new on the car for every race and the guys kept most of that work away from prying eyes with a lot of mis-direction. Some of the things worked and some did not. The point was that we continued to develop a faster and faster car, while helping reliability all the time.

T) How fun was it being in Victory Lane at the Speedway in 1980 as the winning Chief Mechanic.

SR: I don’t know that it was fun. Somewhere I have a photo of me, sitting on the pit wall, with my head in my hands with relief that we did it. We knew that if nothing went wrong we would win. Nothing going wrong is a few words for a very difficult task, as we were really focused in 1980 at Indy. We only ran in the heat of the day and were fastest for all but one day when Tim Richmond did a happy hour run in the cool of the evening.

But it was not at all as smooth as it looked; as I actually built a set of large diameter headers in the truck during the first week of practice to use just for qualifying. On the morning of qualifying we had a magneto fire which trashed the top of the engine in the primary car so we had to qualify the back-up, but we still got it on Pole (without the headers).

The guys were so focused on getting the car home that they came to me and asked that we not do the Pit-stop competition so they could maintain their focus on finishing the race. That was money in their pocket and a lot of sponsorship coverage but we agreed to do so.

T) Any funny stories you’d like to share about Lone Star J.R.

SR: There are a lot that I probably should not tell. But there is a common laugh that we have together. At the Ontario Motor Speedway the trophy for the Ontario 500 Pole position is a really neat copper and brass1909 Reo Coca Cola delivery truck. It stands about ten inches high and about sixteen inches long. We were on pole for both races (Short and the 500) in 1977 so J.R. promised me that the next time we were on pole at OMS the trophy would be mine.

In 1978 we missed the pole by .003 (or something) mph which is virtually nothing. We were not on pole at OMS for the 500 again. In 1980 we had the speed with a new Schwitzer turbo but decided to go for durability with the old turbo so we could tie up the Championship and missed the pole in that configuration…

John was very good on the radio as befits someone who grew up around aircraft (His father was an Air Force mechanic) and piloted his own P51 Mustang. We could talk to him anywhere on the track whereas with some drivers you dare not talk while they are in a corner. We were testing at Phoenix with the Chaparral and in my ear I hear “Damn-it!” We hear the car hit the wall, ” Damn-it, we broke a driveshaft” as the car rides the wall down past us in the pits; he is talking to us like a true fighter pilot in the right stuff as the car is dragging down the wall in front of us.

T) Did you get to see Rutherford driving the “Yellow Submarine” at Indy when he took it out for a few ceremonial laps recently?

SR: No.

T) Did you enjoy your time as Chairman of the Louis Schwitzer Award and what did you do as Chairman?

SR: Yes it was fun. As Chairman I organized the members into a committee, chased the sponsorship money, organized how the voting would take place, vetted and edited the individual reports from the interviews with the LSA (Louis Schwitzer Award) potential winners so that when the winner was selected the write-ups would be ready the next day. The time line from voting for the winner to the press release is pretty tight so a lot of pre-work has to be done to ensure that the final releases are factually correct and appropriately written.

T) Did you have a favourite recipient of the prestigious award?

SR: As the Chairman I had to remain unbiased. I did ensure that the applicants’ stories were factual which took some effort. Sometimes the committee pick was not the pick I would have made but that’s life.

T) And do you follow the Indy Car Series today? And if so, how does it stack up against the time you were involved in it?

SR: From discussions with people who work on IRL teams now I am repeatedly told that I would not like it now. I really enjoyed the car and engine development aspect and they cannot do any car or engine development now. Personally I think it is too safe and too easy.

In my day drivers were killed almost regularly and although I am not saying I want to see drivers killed, I want to see the drivers have more respect for each other. In my day the drivers tried really hard to not hit each other as the results of wheel contact were never good, now the majority of the drivers do not seem to care if they touch one another.

As for too easy, I would like to see a situation in which the drivers have to lift for corner entry. Whether that is done with less downforce, or more power I cannot say but it is a lot more difficult to apply the power once one has lifted than it is to keep your foot down and hope to make it. In my day there were sometimes some pretty weak fields also but the guys at the sharp end were separated from the lesser drivers by more margin and that margin was caused by the driver waiting until he was confident enough to put power to the rear wheels off a corner.

T) As for drivers, do you like Ryan Briscoe, Will Power or Scott Dixon better?

SR: I don’t know any of them that well although I have spoken to them all.
I like that Briscoe seems to have calmed down a bit and it shows in his results. Most really good drivers need affirm hand guiding them and Roger seems to be doing a good job in that aspect. Dixon is to me like Prost… Doesn’t do too much stupid stuff early in the race and is there running strongly when it counts. Will seems to be very intense and quite quick, still a bit mistake prone but that will smooth out in time.

T) And besides leaving out Machinists Union & Mayer Racing, is there anything else you’d like to say?

SR: The less said about the IAM the better. Never have I worked with such divisive management in my life. The only highlights of that episode were the social interactions with Ed Pink, the engine builder and Roger Mears and their wives.

Mayer Racing was fun for me. I had decided that I was done with racing/traveling and living out of a suitcase and was looking for a job in the real world. I was coerced into helping Tyler and Teddy set up MMR but I was only doing it till Indy. May grew to July but in July I left that world…

The highlight for me was getting Howdy Holmes onto the Front row. We really should have been on pole but he forgot to turn up the boost during qualification. Never the less we had Tom Sneva on pole.

Yet once again there was tumult under the perceived calm. As the fast 1984 Marches had very serious wheel bearing problems as we went faster than the car was designed to go (or they made a design error) and the night before the race both of our cars and both of Penske’s cars were sitting on stands with no axles in them as we figured out what to do.

We ran each car a little differently and only Mears and Howdy made it home. Rick (Mears) luckily won with balls missing out of his right rear wheel bearing. Howdy, who likes a pushing car, had damage in his right front bearing, and Tom (Sneva), who drives his car loose, lost the bearings in his right rear challenging for the lead with about 20 laps to go – the difference between understeer and oversteer!

Once again Steve; Thank you for taking the time to grant me this interview and for all of the excellent answers, as you certainly had a colorful career and I really enjoyed the insight into the life of Yester-year…

Gratzi!

A Different Mechanic’s Tale

As you may be aware of, ex-Formula One Mechanic and current SPEED TV Commentator Steve Matchett has previously penned a book titled: The Mechanic’s Tale. After having been contacted by an ex-Formula 1 and Indy Car Mechanic in regards to a previous story I’d written, he’s graciously agreed to give me a chance to interview him about his life in the Pit lane and whatever else I can think of asking him…

(Rolf Stommelen)
Steve Roby:
I worked on open wheel racing cars non-professionally (when I was still a student) and professionally in Australia from about 1967 or ‘68 beginning with Repco Brabham V8’s and Ferrari Formula Two (F2) 2.4 liter V6’s, then on McLaren M10A’s and M10B’s in the Tasman Series.

I guess the only car I ever worked on with fenders was a Lotus Super 7 which was where I started as a “Grunt” in about 1966. I remember that well as it was the first race I ever went to. Jack Brabham did a few show laps with the (Brabham) BT19 with which he was leading the championship and that was 1966…

I worked in Formula 1 for Surtees, Brabham, a little with Ensign over a winter break and then with Graham Hill.

I was in Australia on vacation when Graham Hill was killed along with the remainder of the team but for the “Truckie”, another Mechanic and Allan Jones, before I retired from F1; then I came to the United States where I built a car for Bill Simpson. Then was Chief Mechanic at McLaren, Chaparral, IAM and Mayer Racing, before Retiring from Indy car racing.

Afterwards I got a “real” job in industry at LABECO, along with becoming the Louis Schwitzer Award Chairman for ten years. (Schwitzer and BorgWarner Trophy) before retiring…
)Tomaso I am not sure what you mean here The Louis Schwitzer award had nothing to do with Borg Warner only that they bought Schwitzer and thus I worked for Borg Warner. The award is still the Louis Schwitzer Award)

Tomaso) Speaking of Steve Matchett; during the just completed Brazilian Grand Prix, I heard David Hobbs mention your name in reference to a lightning strike at the Interlagos circuit as you were apparently a guest in the SPEED studios… What’s it like watching the Broadcast and do you know ‘Hobbo (David Hobbs) from your Surtees days?

Steve Roby: It is fun to see how the On-air talent responds to what they see on the screen in conjunction with the Timing & Scoring screen and some communication with Peter Windsor on the ground at the track in question. It sounds like a cheap version of the real thing (coming from Charlotte instead of on-site) but in fact when I was in the live broadcast booth in past years (I did some work on CART and F1 races for NBC) the predominant feel is the broadcasters there also match their output to what is on a tube in front of them; not the action on the track.

A big difference is that when the broadcast is done live from the track (like CART IRL or F1 in the 80s) the broadcast team is responsible for both the commentary and the video.

When the Speed TV team do the commentary from Charlotte they do the commentary and some video content but the live video feed is the video feed from FOM. They are in a more relaxed studio, definitely a lot larger room and they have more data at their fingertips; it is pretty impressive that there is basically no time lag between the action at the locale and the commentary that we hear at home so the race content is pretty much real time live.

I knew David (Hobbs) from the Tasman Series where he drove a McLaren M22, then when Tom Anderson ran him in F5000 for Carl Hogan. I had been to his house in Upper Boddington (near Silverstone) and then he drove for us in the BMW so we had crossed paths a lot before his Speed TV gig.

T) Well you’ve certainly had an impressive career as a Mechanic and I’m really not sure where to begin? So I guess at the beginning, eh? Did you apprentice as a Mechanic in school before going to work on Racing Cars?

SR: No I trained in Automotive Engineering at British Leyland in Sydney. That training was part hands-on and part academic. We did apprentice type training in tool making etc. for a few years and then branched out into “engineering” tasks as we worked further into our degrees.

By the time I was at British Leyland I was working as a Gofer on the Lotus Super 7 so I leveraged that experience into two separate terms in the British Leyland Competitions Department which progressed into another period on a service vehicle on the London to Sydney Marathon, which was fun. At that time British Leyland successfully ran “Works” Mini’s all over the world in racing and rallying. For the London to Sydney Marathon we ran Austin 1800’s so I guess I did work on cars with fenders.

T) So you worked on a “Fenders” car early on in your career, which apparently served as your springboard into “Mechanicing” Professionally. Did you enjoy working on the Lotus Super 7 and do you recall who the team and driver were?

SR: I was just a kid who watched the owner/driver/mechanic work on his car. At that time we lived in Queensland and had a small beach house at Miami Beach (on the Gold Coast in Queensland) and while there on holidays I would surf in the mornings then watch Bill Page in the afternoons when he was working on his car. That grew into cleaning and polishing and that then advanced to more esoteric functions like rebuilding parts.

The first proper motor racing event (other than Speedway quarter mile) I ever saw was at Surfers Paradise where I was a team member (the team member) with Bill on his Super 7.

T) Then you worked on Repco-Brabham’s and Ferrari F2’s. Were the Repco-Brabham’s for a “Privateer” outfit and what series were they being campaigned in?

SR: Actually at that same race Bill’s Brother Brian had a twin cam F2 style Brabham or Renmax open wheeler. When we moved to Sydney I hooked up with Brian, who by then had purchased an ex Scuderia Veloce (ex Brabham) Repco Brabham V8 BT23A-1. I helped on that car for a few races till he crashed it at Warwick Farm in Sydney and then I helped Brian build a new space frame for the car and helped put it back together.

T) What was it like working on the Ferrari’s (F2) and the McLaren’s in the Tasman series? Which did you enjoy more?

SR: I had become friendly with a lot of the crews in the premier form of Australian racing and when the opportunity arose to work with Jimmy Stone on Graeme Lawrence’s Ferrari (The ex Chris Amon Tasman car) for the Tasman Series I jumped at it. Then I did more Tasman Series races with Ian Gordon on Kevin Bartlett’s McLaren M’10A’s and B’s and really learned the craft from Ian.

Ian had been around forever and at one time worked for Ron Harris Racing in England where his drivers were Peter Revson, Pedro Rodriguez and sometimes Jim Clark; he worked some with Frank Gardner also.

The Tasman may have been fun for the drivers but for the crew on an F5000 car it was a hard slog. Eight races, in two countries, in 8 weeks. Every Saturday night the base work load was a new gearbox crown wheel and pinion and two new cylinder heads for the engine, plus whatever other prep work needed to be done. This usually went into the early (sometimes late) morning; we did the race on Sunday afternoon, then loaded up and drove to the next site. The drive was often 500 miles or so. I learned a lot about the cars but also about nutrition as you had to eat to keep your energy at an acceptable level.

T) What was ‘Ol “Black Jack” (Sir Jack Brabham) like back in those days? Was he keen to have “Aussie’s” in his team and what did you do/work on the Repco Brabham (F1) cars?

SR: I did not have much contact with him but ironically we became good friends with his son Geoffrey and his wife in Indianapolis. By the time I was at Brabham in F1 it was owned by Bernie. (Ecclestone)

T) Somehow I found your name associated with Elf Team Tyrrell, but you apparently never worked there. Did you have any associations with “Uncle Chopper?” (Ken Tyrrell)

SR: I never worked with Tyrrell; my only deal with Ken (Tyrrell) was for the cricket scores. But there were lots of Aussies and Kiwis in Formula 1 in that period, in fact at least one in each team, even that most British of teams BRM (British Racing Motors) had Vern Schuppan, so the cricket scores were all-important and Ken always knew what was happening and usually his runner was Rob Walker who, despite being the epitome of the English Gentleman was pretty close to being an “Aussie.”

Rob would go from team to team telling the colonials the scores during practice or the race. When I worked for NBC on Indy Car racing, the director was always passing the college basketball scores to his broadcast team through the headsets.

T) So you were friends with Ken; what was he like in those days and any stories you’d like to share about him?

SR: I just knew who he was. I would say I was friends with Jackie (Stewart) but not Ken other than to say Hi or rib each other about cricket.

T) You worked for Surtees, Brabham, Ensign and Graham Hill in F1. Can you briefly describe some of your duties with these teams?

SR: I was always the lead guy on the car. That meant my responsibility was to build the car, prepare it, run it at the track. In those days there were two mechanics per car. The lead guy had the basic responsibility and always did the rebuilds on the back of the car (gearbox and engine) and the second guy did the front. During practice the lead guy would time and do tactics on the pit wall and the second guy hung out the board.

We made all the changes to the car sometimes engineering the change and sometimes just doing it, depending on the team. At Surtees John (Surtees) would tell us what to change; at Brabham Gordon Murray would do the engineering, but at Graham Hill I would discuss with Graham (Hill), or whoever was driving and work out set up changes. During the race we kept our own lap chart and timing and did the tactics (what tactics there were) while usually the driver’s wife would do a more comprehensive full lap chart.

When there were decisions on when to pit during a wet to dry, or dry to wet race they would come from me on the pit wall. We had no radios back then so when the driver came in the pit it was always a negative surprise and it was difficult to hear what an excited driver was yelling at you over the sound of the engine!

T) Were you in the Pit lane changing tyres during the heat of the battle in those days? Or did the cars primarily run from start to finish without pitting except for emergency repairs?

SR: In those days if you pitted you were done. I shudder to think about it now but usually we did not even have pneumatic guns but those nasty wheel hammers. If it rained it was chaotic as you had two guys changing 4 wheels and making wing and damper changes. Adding fuel was somewhat dangerous – pouring fuel from a churn into a funnel with the car hot! Sometimes it was funny to watch…

I remember one time at Silverstone with Alan Jones in the car, I waited a lap too late (in retrospect) to bring him in when it started to rain as there was trouble in the adjacent pit box. Ferrari in the next pit with all their Sports Car expertise had pneumatic guns with those long yellow curly plastic hoses. Clay Reggazoni came in and the team manager sent him off before the Left Front guy had his hose back from the car, so this curly yellow hose was wrapped around the Airbox getting longer by the moment… We all hit the deck to miss the caroming Airgun!

The Left Front guy was in shock when Niki Lauda came in and once again there was chaos, as the team manager sent Lauda on his way as the Left Front guy turned to pick up his gun to do up the nut. The Left Front wheel wobbled, Niki put the car in reverse and the nut came off and rolled to my feet! I picked it up and put it on the wheel and could see the universal “wanker” look in his eyes, expressed by his hand motion…

The unfortunate thing about this incident was that we should have been on the podium but the Red flag went out and the results went back a lap, to the lap we were in the pits!

T) And I’m assuming there was a lot less staff in those days? None of the 500+ “Mega” Organisations of today, so the Mechanics had a lot more work/job responsibilities?

SR: Oh yes. At Brabham, for three cars, the F1 team was Bernie, Gordon Murray and his assistant Geoff Ferris (who also did the F2 car), Herbie Blash, the Team Manager Keith Greene, Bob Dance the Chief Mechanic and two guys per car. There were 3 fabricators who built the tubs, for all of Brabham’s F1 and F2 Teams, a bodywork guy, and the truckie. (16 in all)

T) And did you work with the Driver’s of these various Teams? (I.e.; strapping them in, arranging their pedals, etc.) If so, which Driver’s were they?

SR: My responsibilities were everything to do with the car, sometimes even driving it to the track on a trailer if we missed the truck, or were at a test and the others came from the factory. We built up the car from the tub and suspension and a pile of parts, rebuilt the gearboxes, made a lot of parts like water pipes, brackets and hoses, made the seats for drivers, fitted the drivers, drove the cars from garages to pits and back.

I had many drivers: John Surtees, Mike Hailwood, Tim Schenken, Sam Posey and Andrea De Adamich at Surtees; De Adamich, Rolf Stommelen and John Watson at Brabham; Graham Hill, Stommelen, Vern Schuppan, Tony Brise and Alan Jones at Graham Hills Team.

T) Did you work with Sam Posey or Derek Bell at Surtees?

SR: Just Sam at Watkins Glen. (At Surtees) We have stayed friends for a long time. Their effort was hopeless as each year we wasted the first day trying to make a Firestone car run on Goodyear tyres.

T) And what was it like working for John Surtees?

SR: He was cheap and tough. He did not let the drivers get what they wanted technically; it was always his way whether it suited the driver or not. For Mike (Hailwood) this did not matter as he was disinterested in the technical side but Tim (Schenken) could not get along with this mode of running a team. I did learn a lot though; we tested at Goodwood at least once a week a lot so I learned a lot there.

T) And I’m assuming Ensign was just in its beginning stages when you went there?

SR: In Formula 1 that was correct but the team had been around in F3 for a period. My time with ‘Mo was just for a winter after a deal Bernie did in Italy to run two Brabhams fell apart. The team was built on Rikky Von Opel’s money but he did not like the basic work part of the deal. The car was actually quite good, and Ricky could be fast at times but lacked discipline and work ethic.

T) What was Maurice (“Mo”) Nunn like back then?

SR: ‘Mo was time disorganized. I remember once going down the M1 to catch a plane from Heathrow and he insisted that we were not late until the plane took off. We were still on the M1 when it took off and only then would he accept that we were late.

T) And you were at Graham Hill’s Team when he died. I’m guessing you were working for him prior to this? Did you work on the Customer Lola Chassis or the Hill GH1’s?

SR: I worked on the Lola’s, which used to break with regularity, then we built the GH1 which was really just a Lola built correctly by my buddy John Thompson with a stiff tub. It was really a mechanic’s car; simple, light and neat, and it went very well. Then Andy Smallman came on board and cleaned it up, started some real development and it went much better.

That was hard work. We crashed an absolutely brand new car at Barcelona so Allan Howell and I then had to start to build another new car from nothing, while preparing one of the old Lola’s for Graham to run at Monaco. We finished the car the Thursday night of Zolder (I think, maybe 4 weeks after Barcelona) and then trailered it to Zolder after a few all nighters on the trot. We were so tired that we were afraid to kip on the ferry for fear that we would not wake up at Zeebrugge in time to disembark. We made it to the track but slept in till about 9:00 AM and still only missed the first practice.

T) Was Hill’s Team on the upswing when his death occurred? As he did have future World Champion Alan Jones as one of his (part time) drivers, along with Tony Brise; how far do you think the Team could have gone?

SR: I think the drivers were excellent. Rolf (Stommelen) was leading in Barcelona when the car broke; once we got Alan (Jones) in the seat that car went very well and he put in some really strong drives. Tony (Brise) was every bit as strong as Alan, perhaps even faster so he would have become a top line driver. Alan and Tony were always on for a top five finish.

I am not sure the team had the leadership or funds to beat the top teams though; we used McLaren-built customer engines and would have needed control of that aspect if we were to get to the top.

T) So you worked on three World Champions Teams, how do they stack up against each other as Constructors? And did you have a favourite amongst these three?

SR: Brabham was easily the technical class of the trio. We had good cars, Gordon Murray was brilliant while still learning the business, Carlos Reutemann was very good, and Wilson Fittipaldi was replaced by Carlos Pace who also was very good so they had the best drivers of the three.

I think it’s a misnomer to say that they were three World Champions Teams at that stage as Surtees was Champion at Ferrari and walked out on that deal. The old Brabham group was gone and Bernie (Ecclestone) was just placing his mark on the Team and Graham Hill was long out of Lotus and BRM.

T) What was your favourite Formula 1 chassis to work on?

SR: During that period the Brabham was the neatest and best designed although I had more input into the GH1. Gordon (Murray) would hang around at night watching us work on the car and if something was difficult he would change the design to make it better. He was very open minded. The nose of the BT42 was designed on a napkin at the White Hart pub over lunch by a group of us.

T) Any favourite Drivers you worked with? And how do they compare with the drivers of today?

SR: For Formula One that is a tough question. For the greatest gentlemanly aspect that was definitely Rolf. He was the kind of guy who would sneak out of dinner, saying he was going to bed and you would find that the bill was paid; a really nice guy…

Hailwood was a mechanic’s driver. He would rather have a beer with the guys than dinner with the boss. Not at all interested in the technical aspect but a hell of a racer... It was an absolute shame that he died in such a stupid accident after such a wonderful (and dangerous) career. Real bike racers always say there was Mike Hailwood and then the rest.

Alan Jones was just a young guy when I got him, but he went pretty hard and then became so self-centered. Tony was so grateful for the drive he had, but I did not know him that well as I was on the other car. I liked Carlos Reutemann but he was a bit of a strange duck, really switched on in some aspects of life but completely out to lunch in others. It staggers me that he has become a successful politician. Before a race he would give me £5 and say he would finish in such and such a position. If he did finish in that position then I kept the money. If he did not then I would give it back to him. Such a deal!

T) How do you like the Formula 1 racing today?

SR: You cannot really compare one period to another. One thing which has never changed is that a great driver cannot make a bad car go fast. (Look at Chris Amon) when you see the grid, lined up row by row with team cars it is difficult to believe that the car is less important than the driver, but the press would have you believe that it is all drivers. In my day the drivers worked hard to not hit each other as they unfortunately died with great regularity. There were unwritten ethics of battle that were never broken, like giving each other room. That is not the case today and I think both Senna and Schumacher have some responsibility to motor racing in that aspect…

Colour me… Pink?

And a hearty Happy New Years to Y’all! As the just completed month of Christmas resplendent in the multitude of indoor ‘N outdoor lights, with perhaps some Silent Nights ‘O ONLY 33 Shopping Dayz left made me ponder the following upon recently reading George Phillips (Oil Pressure) story titled: The First Favourite, which sadly I cannot seem to locate in his Archives… But it was basically a story about his very first favourite Open Wheel Racing Driver; an ‘Ornery ‘Ol Coot named ‘Rufus…

And although I’m NOT gonna delve into who my very first favourite racing driver was, nor explain my current Top Two picks for Formula 1 and IndyCar… (Can you have MORE than ‘Juan favourite driver at a time?)

Although I’m not quite as OLD as George is, albeit we’re in a similar Area code… I didn’t have the privilege of being “Dragged” to the Mecca of Open Wheel Racing at the tender age of 5yrs old… And even if my earliest memories of the Indy 500 have more to do with the broadcast then any actual Car/Driver combination, I seem to harbour the thought that my first “Contemporary race via le Telescreen was the wild 1985 classic Win “N Spin when the upstart Mr. Hollywood, a.k.a. Danny Sullivan beat Mario Andretti. (Yey!)

But back to the colour me pink remark… As it’s the smorgasbord ‘O Christmas colours that got me thinking of just exactly which racing cars were my favourites over the past few decades of my brief indulgence in the world of IndyCars, as I’d haveda say that the first car I really enjoyed was ‘big Al’s (Unser Sr.) Banana yellow “Hertz Doughnut-mobile.” As I find it funny I was more drawn to this car then Rick Mears Pennzoil Special – which is every bit as striking, but like I said it wasn’t on my Kodachrome at the moment of glory…

And even though I do still recall Mr. Hollywood’s red ‘N white March 85C-Cosworth Miller racecar, I was more captivated by Penske’s stunning solid gold Miller “Highlife” chassis of ‘Sully’s title winning season in 1988, while I also found his baby blue Galles Molson chassis very appealing.

And although I was there in person and have to say one of my all-time favourites is the Porsche blue ‘N white fosters liveried entries of John Andretti and Teo Fabi; for some reason I cannot seem to mentally call ‘em up on my memory-machine!

And if you’ve read my recent More on Moore piece, then you’ll know just how beautiful I find those Players liveried Forsythe chassis to be… Hmm? Perhaps you’re starting to notice a pattern here? But although blue is a reoccurring colour choice, (having forgotten to mention the Walker Racing Mackenzie Financial Blue Scott “What Pace Car” Goodyear rides…) I certainly don’t recall ever liking any of the “KRACKOE” (Kraco) bright blue ‘N yeller cars that “Boobie Ray-X” (Bobby Rahal) and ‘Mikey A. drove.

Yet how could I not like any of the ‘BAD HABITS Carz… I mean the Marlboro colours are synonymous with winners, not to mention the team KOOL Green rides, but top ‘O the heap belongs to Players for the Smokey-smokes Carz, although I seem to recall that ‘googley-eyez” (Mauricio Gugelmin) had a pretty decent looking Hollywood ride sometime ago.

And there were the Adult Beverage wars with Budweiser being predominantly Red, with Miller in a multitude of hues, while I cannot recall the Tecate colour scheme; something to do with being distracted by the Tecate Girls I suppose, eh? Although I seem to recall that “Eating Raul” (Boesel) had a fairly decent looking Brahma ride…

And the Pacwest Motorola car of Mark Blundell was not half bad, nor was Robby Gordon’s Walker Valvoline machine, along with “Stevie Johnson’s” (Stefan Johansson) Bettenhausen Alumax being an attractive car. Also, I always liked the Team Rahal Shell Oil yellow ‘N white rides of Jimmy Vasser and Kenny Brack, but not the Brian Herta or Mike Borkawski era; go figure? (Remember him?)

And I seem to remember Steve Horn’s Tasman Motorsports having some pretty bright psychedelic looking Carz, while I always enjoyed the vibrant, solitary hue of orange the Patrick Racing team utilized during its Visteon Days, which is always the car I think of when I hear Townsend Bell’s name, not to mention Roberto Moreno doing his smoky “Zanardi” victory doughnuts in front of us at the Molson Indy Up North – Eh! Almost a decade ago in Vancouver, BC; as all of this makes me realize just how overly bland the majority of the Indy Racing League is, albeit Will Power’s Penske Truckin’ throwback scheme got my attention last season, not to mention Sarah Fisher’s Dollar General car looking an awful lot like those good looking ‘Buzzin ‘N Hornets (Benson & Hedges) Jordan Grand Prix Carz, along with the not often seen Z-Lines machine of Justin ‘BIG UNIT Wilson…

More on Moore

So recently I made the trek northwards to Vancouver, BC to visit the Greg Moore Gallery at the BC Sports Hall of Fame Museum, being Shepparded by esteemed Tacoma Bureau Chief Mary Ellen, who was my Tour guide and Chauffer for said trip, along with her trusty Canine Navigator’s & “Ferocious” Guard Dog’s…

Thus on Friday morning, Mary Ellen led Mwah & No Fenders Cub Photographer Alex Downtown on the Skytrain before a brief jaunt to BC Place, which appears to be under renovation for the fast approaching 2010 Winter Olympics; what a NIGHTMARE! That’ll be, (Larry) as it was pointed out by the Conductor on my northbound Amtrak Train that they’re increasing the number of “Checkpoint Charlie’s” (Border Crossing) stalls from three to ten at the Blaine Peace Arch, which was commissioned by Samuel Hill… In anticipation of the increased traffic flow, but I digress…

Entering the Museum, upon paying admission, Mary Ellen noticed there was a Greg Moore book on display; A Legacy of Spirit which was written shortly after his death and I’ve never heard of it before.

Terry fox
Walking thru the various hallways with photographs upon them, the first gallery we entered was for Terry fox, whom I very unwisely asked; who’s Terry Fox? What! You’ve never heard of Terry Fox? He’s only a National Hero of Canada. Having had his right leg amputated above the knee upon being diagnosed with cancer; Terry then in his early 20’s decided to create the Marathon of Hope, in which he aimed to run across the entire country of Canada in order to raise awareness (and funding) for a cure for cancer. Running with a prosthesis Terry planned to run a marathon a day in his quest to run from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans, unfortunately having to quit after 143 days when his cancer had severely invaded both of his lungs and ultimately perishing from this in 1981 at the age of 22. So I find it very cool that the “Kuh-Nuck’s” have just created a new award in his memory for the fast approaching 2010 Winter Olympics…

Terry Fox Award unveiled for 2010 Olympics

Rick Hansen
The next gallery was dedicated to Rick Hansen. (Who?) Yeah, I’d never heard of him either… As Rick is another of Canada’s National Hero’s, as Rick became intrigued by Terry’s challenge and decided to mount his own. As a young boy, Rick suffered a paralyzing spinal chord accident when riding in the back of a Pickup truck. Yet Rick, inspired by Terry decided to literally conquer the world on his Man in Motion Tour, where Rick planned to circumnavigate the globe in a wheelchair! Having set off from Vancouver, BC in 1985 to fairly low media attention, Rick covered some 40,000km over 34 Countries and four Continents and returned to Vancouver 26 months later! His gallery exhibit includes the wheelchair used for this challenge and it looks very uncomfortable! Not to mention banged-up…

Next we passed thru a small gallery with wall carvings dedicated to Aboriginal Canadians; or First Nation – Indians before getting to the marquee gallery.

Greg Moore
And then, there it was, the Greg Moore Gallery, which I’m happy to report was the largest gallery of them all and is a fantastic tribute to this fallen Hero.

After reading a few statistics revealing just how “BAD ASS” of a racing driver Greg was, as his rise thru the ranks of Motor Racing was quite mercurial, we were greeted by Greg’s Shifter Kart pointing skywards behind glass… And then the next display case featured his Junior Hockey uniform & helmet, as “The Kuh-Nuck Kid” actually played Ice Hockey with future NHL Star Paul Kariya, while I seem to recall there also being mention of Cam Neely’s name.

Then it was time to look at his ex-Forsythe Racing (CART) Champ Car chassis, which interestingly as soon as you push the button, the lights dim and the video screen behind starts playing Paul Page calling the Vancouver, BC CART Race with none other then Greg onscreen piloting the Beast!

And of course I don’t know why I was so fixated upon this aspect, but I noticed while marveling (drooling) over every inch of that wonderful blue ‘N white Player’s liveried chassis, that it was missing the ubiquitous “Pop Off” valve… (And 2.65 liter V-8 Turbocharged motor) As I’m assuming that this was due to the fact that the Mercedes/Ilmor “Lump” was leased. BUT DAMN! I’d forgotten how good those Player’s Champ Cars looked!

Next was a fantastic wall-to-wall, floor to ceiling display case chock ‘O block full of various Moore artifacts, including various trophies, awards and two beautifully deep blue (Players) “Crash Buckets.” (Racing Helmets)

There was a racing simulator game you could drive, which Alex enjoyed nestled in-between two more massive display cases, as I kept gravitating towards the display dedicated to Moore’s Indy Lights career, which interestingly had one pair of racing overalls embroidered with an USA patch sown onto it; while a second racing uniform was devoid of it.

Yet my most favourite item of the Indy Lights display was the Awesome 1/8th custom made (1 of 6?) racecar model for the winner of the Firestone Indy Lights Championship, circa 1995.

I also really liked the larger than life-size print mural of Greg with both hands overhead victoriously, along with that cheeky grin, which to me appeared to be in a golden hue, while Mary Ellen said it would make her too sad to read all of the touching comments placed around Greg, that were written by his “Posse.” (Dario, TK, Mad Max, Jimmy V, etc) As I kept walking back to look at this great mural which simply seemed to glow to me, and dare I say it? Even exuded Greg’s spirit/zest for life…

Having been told to look as long as I wanted, I made several passes thru the gallery to reconnoiter the various Memorabilia on display, which unfortunately I wasn’t able to discern any of the three (Pairs?) of red driving gloves… Of which ‘Juan even has a small sign denoting; “Red Gloves Rule!” Which Greg’s “Step-Mum” requested the Museum’s curator’s add to his display, while Massimiliano (“Mad Max”) Papis requires each racing contract to allow him to wear red gloves regardless of uniform colours…

Maple Ridge
On Sunday, we ventured over to Greg’s hometown of Maple Ridge, a somewhat nearby suburb of Vancouver, BC, which I’m happy to report he’s still well known by the “Local’s,” as we got directions to various Moore haunts from a resident Paramedic, who was very friendly towards us.

Thus, after driving down the Old Main Drag, where we didn’t spot Greg’s father’s (Rick) Chrysler Dealership, it was off to the Recreation (“Rec”) Center, which is part of a massive, sprawling complex and includes a large public library.

Popping inside the Rec Center, there was a small display case with another great Greg Moore racing helmet and small tribute/bio, as Mary Ellen inquired if there were anymore items dedicated to Moore to the nice Rec Center attendant, who directed us to check out the nearby library and Youth Center, which was just around the corner.

Youth Center
Unfortunately the Youth Center devoted to Greg Moore was closed, but thanks to Mary Ellen’s persistence, having spotted people inside and banging on the door, we were granted access to check-out the Display cabinet honouring Greg inside, where Mary Ellen read me the following statement from Richard Dean Anderson, best known as the television star “MacGyver.

Richard Dean Anderson:
“Aspiring to emulate the likes of Moss, Fangio, Brabham, Gurney and then later Senna during my driving career; everywhere I went while racing at Westwood: In the Pits, Bleachers or Paddock people would say have you heard about this young kid named Moore? As Greg was already a rising talent when I first heard of him in 1989 and subsequently followed his career.”

MacGyver has then since donated a beautiful deep blue Players liveried Greg Moore helmet, which resides in a small display case alongside Anderson’s stirring note inside the Greg Moore Youth Center… And is even more impressive as not even the next door library has any such remnants of Moore’s legacy; opting for just a baseball cap along with a nice picture of the Canadian “Heartthrob;” as next we set off in search of the town’s Mic-Dougal’s restaurant which I’d read had some of Moore’s trophies on display, but of course they weren’t at the first “Mickey-Dee’s.” And thus I was quite bemused by what another local retorted upon Mary Ellen’s inquiry at the second McDonald’s… NO! It’s gone; I mean they’ve only been there for 10yrs, as apparently the McDonald’s management had decided to not replace the Moore paraphernalia upon the just completed remodeling job, which reportedly just housed a poster, his book and other trinkets.

Yet after my enjoyable weekend of trouncing around Moore’s haunts, I was left pondering even further if Greg’s broken bone in his right hand from his Scooter incident in the Fontana Paddock, prior to being allowed to race with hand brace/splint ultimately contributed to Moore’s losing control of his racecar that fateful day on Halloween 10yrs ago.

And then there’s the irony of Greg’s car number being 99 and his death occurring in 1999…

But I strongly recommend if you’re in the Downtown corridor of Vancouver, BC and looking for something to do, then by all means check out the wonderful Greg Moore Gallery at BC Place!

BC Sports Hall of Fame Museum

Moonshot

I suppose it was destiny, eh? That the very first time in my life that I’d actually be able to see the International Space Station (ISS) would naturally occur upon the 40th Anniversary of Man landing upon the Moon…

You know the day; July 20th, 1969, when Neil Armstrong uttered those famous words: One small step for Man, One Giant step for Mankind. As I suppose it was sadly fitting that esteemed Newsman Walter Cronkite would die at the age of 92 years on the same weekend when he’d called the historic action live on TV 40yrs earlier…

And thus I set my trusty ‘Ol VCR to record the two shows being showed that Monday night on the History channel, Beginning with a 30min recap of Mr. Cronkite’s calling of the action, which is still the most ever watched event on TV, when an amazing 600 million viewers tuned-in. Or as the vigilee’s at Central Park pronounced to one reporter, they were having a “Moon-in.” Also, garnering interest from around the world, Pope John VI even went so far as to have a colour television set installed in his summer residence to watch the Moon landing, while the entire nation of Italy were still stuck with Black ‘N White Telescreens… With the half hour program being followed by the 2hr Moonshot show on how the Astronaut’s were picked and how the whole Apollo 11 mission occurred.

Yet I suppose another irony was the fact that with the Space Shuttle’s arrival at the ISS, it would mark the record for most people ever at the Space Station at one time with a total of 13 Astronauts, of which we’d soon learn that one of the two Station’s commodes (toilets) would break during this rendezvous… Not to mention the irony in just having listened to Kenny Sergeant once again dip into his bag ‘O Boyhood humour on the Speed Freaks (8/02) and dribble on about the Japanese Astronaut who just wore his “el speci-el” underpants for a whole month. BUTT! I digress…

Yet, for several years now, I’ve been most disappointed to not be able to see the various satellites screaming overhead as many Family members point towards the open skies, whilst in non obliterated areas outside the City’s overabundance of lighting. So it was with great delight while recently in La Conner, WA that I was able to pick out the whitish pebble sized object hurtling past us outta the corner of my eye as Blogmeister Miguel helped me spot the speeding hulk in the night sky before it was gone!

Of course, this in turned sparked multiple questions about said object the following morning as we drank our coffee next to the water with a pleasant breeze blowing as the sun rose. So, how high in the sky is it relative to us? How fast does it travel? What is the square footage of the living quarters, and on and on we went, even going so far as to attempt figuring out the next time it would pass by.

So thank goodness for Al Gore and his world wide web thingy, which I pestered Miguel at ze Confuzer immediately after breakfast, who found the following answers to our questions. The ISS is situated 199-220 miles above Earth and is in a geosynchronous orbit. It circumnavigates the Earth’s diameter every 92 minutes and currently has 1,400 square feet of space for its living quarters… Which makes me think it musta been extremely tight quarters with all of those Astronauts up there, eh? (I got Dibbs on the bathroom…)

So with this knowledge in hand, and the assumption that we saw the ISS at 10PM, I quickly stated that we’d see the Space Station at 11:32PM tonight… (WRONG Answer) And then for humour I sat down and attempted to write my very first story on a laptop Confuzer, to which Miguel casually noted awhile later that it looked really good, except the CAPS lock had been on the entire time, not to mention the messed-up middle paragraph, which I contemplated publishing directly beneath the posting titled Tech Trouble; when I was without my Confuzer, but back to our discussion of when will the Space Station return?

I’ll give you a hint; 24 X 60min = 1440min. Divide by 92 and you come up with the answer of 15.652173, or as Miguel said; I still DON’T know what that get’s us? So the two of us sat down and mentally counted out loud the addition of 92min for either 15 or 16 times, assuming we’d seen the ISS at 10PM the night before and came up with the answer of either 9:08 or 10:40PM. (Which I’ve done the math again subsequently and of course didn’t get the same answer)

Thus armed with this new fangled knowledge, we were poised to see if we’d even be close? And as dessert was being served, Miguel took up his position outside so we’d not miss the passing of the Station… And Holy Space-Underwear Batman! As everyone sat engorged in their three berry pie ‘N ice cream, Miguel cried out; Here it comes! Unfortunately it was at a much lower trajectory, (perhaps further away?) and your Humble Scribe wasn’t able to discern the whitish pebble object against the black sky, although everyone else saw it! As I sat in glee, laughing inwardly that Miguel & I had actually made the calculation correctly…

On a side note, I later discovered the following article in the New York Times about a side of Walter Cronkite that was unknown, that being his passion for Motor Racing, as IMS Historian extraordinaire Donald Davidson was quick to point out that Mr. Cronkite was a common guest at the Speedway “Many Moons ago.”

Cronkite; The Speed Racer

And “That’s the way it was!”

El Soundero!

Leonardo Gonzalez, No. 19; Sounder FC Defender

Hola Sounder FC Fanaticoes! As previously mentioned, I recently had the privilege of attending my very first Seattle sounders FC MLS “Fuutball” match: See No Fenders Mo Jo; as I attended the Sounders FC vs. Toronto FC MLS (Major League Soccer) game with Football Diehard Randal, who strangely has some affliction for Manchester United, but I digress…

Although the night prior to the match, Randal informed me that there were two items I needed to be aware of; First) EVERYBODY STANDS FOR THE ENTIRE MATCH! And Secondly) It’s tradition that whoever attends with him has to wear the Sounders FC Scarf given to Season Ticket holders. Uhm, Otay, I think I can handle that…

Crossing over the King Street Station railroad tracks and down the stairway towards QWest Field, I was immediately struck by the ambiance of the crowd already salivating in anticipation of the upcoming match as Randal informed me that the Sounders FC Band was playing the theme song of the original NASL Sounders along with the teams new fight song as there was a definite buzz outside of the Stadium, as I stopped for an “action” shot in front of Qwest Field.

Next we decided to enter the Stadium’s store which also seemed quite inundated with fans looking for Sounders FC souvenirs, but I decided to pass upon the $70 replica team jersey’s, before we set off for our seats…

And what FRILLIN’ AWESOME seats Randal has selected, as we were nearly at field level, just five yards shy of midfield, having stopped for another action shot ‘O Tomaso with the Soccer pitch as background, before the front row usher offered to take our picture together as we made our way towards Randal’s seats…

Over the din of the Pre-game banter, apparently Randal misheard my question as I asked him if the Sounders FC player the PA Announcer had just mentioned was a Forward? To which Randal replied: NO! He’s Black!
Which caused me to break out in laughter as I was actually inquiring about Forward Steve Zakuani, whom Randal had thought I’d asked; is he Polish?

And then it was time for the singing of the “Kuh-Naidiun” and American National Anthems… “Oh Canada!” As we simply remained standing as it was time for kickoff… As I still cannot get over the fact that everyone in the Stadium STANDS for the entire 90mins. GO SOUNDERS FC!

Even more impressive was the voracionous cheering of what I quickly nicknamed “Keller’s Crew,” referring to the Rabid fans behind what is typically Sounders FC goal keeper Kasey Keller’s box during the first half of the match, as this section would be responsible for leading ALL of the chants for the entire match… Starting off with SEATTLE as the other half of the Stadium responded with SOUNDERS!

SEAAAA… AT-TULL!!! SOUND DDDEERRRSSS!!!
SEAAAA… AT-TULL!!! SOUND DDDEERRRSSS!!!
SEAAAA… AT-TULL!!! SOUND DDDEERRRSSS!!!

As the Fans tried to excite our Homeboys who got off to a very shaky start and shoulda literally been behind 3-0; SHEISA! Thus it was even more entertaining to hear “Keller’s Crew” chant: The Ref is a WANKER! The Ref is a WANKER! The Ref is a WANKER!

As the Rabid Fans shouted their objections on questionable calls, sloppy play and handed out numerous “Air Cards,” when they thought a Yellow Card was required… As I kept mentioning to Randal how amazing the crowd’s exuberance was and how hilarious I found the sanctioning of the air-Cards to be... Whilst waiting Randal pointing out my favourite Sounders FC player: (#19) Leonardo Gonzalez; Left Fullback, as I was impressed by the Costa Rican’s *Gonzalez) willingness to come to a Foreign country and play his heart out for the Major” football league in order to get a chance at playing full time professionally… Oh, what’s that Randal? He’s really good you say? No Kidding? COOL!

And towards the middle of the second half, we began screaming BOO! BOO! BBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Booing “Del Rio” every time Toronto FC Striker Wayne Del Rosario got his boots upon the soccer ball, since apparently he’s one of Toronto’s major threats… While we also chanted Eh! Eh! Eh! Eh! Eh! Eh! Several times during the match, which although was disappointing to end in a zero-zero draw, at least it was somewhat better then an outright loss, eh?

And thus it seemed simply overwhelming that the entire 32,679 in Attendance (the ENTIRE Season is SOLD OUT!) stood gleefully thru the entire match, including the extra five minutes added for stoppage as we made our exit from the Raucous Qwest Stadium, where the 2009 MLS Expansion Sounders FC club are in quest of making the playoffs in their very first Major League Soccer season.

Playoffs
The Sounders became only the second ever MLS Expansion Team to make the Playoffs in their inaugural season, the feat having not occurred since the 1998 Chicago Fire went all the way to the finals and won the title.

Thus in their playoff grouping, the sounders hosted the Houston Dynamo in round 1 of a two game playoff match, with the first game being held at Qwest Field, where a Record 35,807 Fans attended the Sellout match that ended in a 0-0 draw.

Thus on November 8th a all or nothing Game Two was held on Houston’s home turf, where the top two defensive Teams in the League played another ninety scoreless minutes, with the two squads having completed a total of 180 minutes without a single goal having been scored!

Yet sadly in the games 96th minute, during the first of two 15min extended time half’s, Houston Striker Brian ching fired a rocketing salvo during a very brief defensive lapse, taking the shot unsighted and landing in the back of the net in which would prove to be the decisive score of the 1-0 match in Houston’s favour…

Ironically Brian Ching played his collegiate Soccer at Eastern Washington’s Gonzaga University, where he scored 34 goals for the Bulldogs before playing for the Spokane Shadow prior to being drafted by the LA Galaxy and then playing a short stint with the Seattle Sounders “A” League Team before returning to MLS action fulltime.

And this year’s Major League Soccer Championship Final, the MLS Cup was held at Qwest Field with a very impressive 41,000+ Fans attending, where some locals could be heard silently chanting Beat LA! And thus, I was absolutely thrilled to discover upon my return from Canada that Real Salt Lake had indeed defeated Messer Beckem & Donovan’s Galaxy in a sudden death shoot-out!

Yet the Sounders can be quite proud of their inaugural MLS campaign, having won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, along with Goalkeeper Kasey Keller and midfielder Freddie Ljungberg being named to the MLS All Star Team, while Forward Fredy Montero Beat out teammates Keller & Ljungberg for the MLS’s Newcomer of the Year Award.

The Sounders FC Team had a total of five members nominated for MLS Yearend Awards, with the three above and central defender Jhon Kennedy Hurtado plus Coach Sigi Schmid.

Meanwhile MLS’s 2008 coach of the Year Schmid who was once again nominated for the award, has just been released from the Hospital after a bout of Pneumonia; with Sigi having now passed US National Team Coach Bob Bradley for number of All Time MLS victories with 125 wins…

GO SOUNDERS FC and Kudos Randal!

Schuey’s legend is born

Australian GP – Adelaide; Nov 13, 1994
Winner: Nigel Mansell, Williams-Renault
Second: Gerhard Berger, Ferrari
Third: Martin Brundle, McLaren-Peugeot

1994 F1 Driver’s Championship
1st. Michael Schumacher; Benetton-Ford, 92pts.
2nd. Damon Hill; Williams-Renault, 91pts.

And yet, as the years go by and I yearn to put another log upon the fire to warm my bones beside...

I can recall less “N less from that fateful year of 1994, (minus “Black Sunday,” a.k.a the Imola weekend & Karl Wendlinger’s ensuing accident at Monaco) except for the ecstatic reaction I received in Monterey, CA for wearing a Michael Schumacher Camel Benetton T-Shirt at the Monterey Visitor’s Center while trying to learn where all of the action was during my first foray to the Monterey Historics, as the German Fraulein gushed over my Benetton T-Shirt, even going so far as to ask me where I got it; do you wanna sell it?

Along with staying up into the wee hours (Midnight) in my little house on the Prairie, Err the countryside of then unincorporated King County... Screaming at the Telescreen, as “The Deuce” (ESPN2) was then the rights holder to the F1 Broadcasts, with Bob Varsha and David Hobbs actually calling the action “Live” from the venue, when the TV Broadcasters were required to actually call the races onsite, but I digress…

Sitting there dumbfounded and shrieking over Herr Schumacher’s collision with arch nemesis (enemy) Damion Hill… As clearly the “Terminator” put his soon to be patented “Schumi Swerve” upon the unsuspecting(?) Brit, which would lead to his very first Formula 1 Drivers World Championship being cemented in Adelaide, Australia 15yrs ago, (yesterday) as I screamed in jubilation as Schuey had done it! Besting Hill by a single point with the two rivals being 50 points clear of third place Gerhard Berger; SHEISA!

Although one could argue he wasn’t so successful in ’97 trying to give Jacques Villeneuve his patented ‘LUV-tap, eh? Aye Karumba!

And I suppose I should give Damon Hill his due, like I’ve come to grant Mika the Finn. (Hakkinen) Although something about Hill (his bushy eyebrows, perhaps?) has always rubbed me the wrong way… Kinda like Jacques O’ Lantern (Villeneuve) and DC (David Coulthard) in his younger McLaren days… As this quartet seemed to be Michael’s fiercest competition whilst searching for his crown…

As the pantheon of Formula One’s greatest Piloto’s; Mansell, Piquet, Prost and Senna had all left the scene, albeit Mansell’s brief return to breech the massive void left by Senna’s untimely demise… And thus I suppose its most ironic that Michael Schumacher’s very first career pole position didn’t occur until after Ayrton’s death at Imola, as Hakkinen battled royale against the TERMINATOR for Pole position at Monte Carlo a Fortnight later.

Thus I guess it’s somewhat even more ironic, or is that karmic? Or just synergy that like 1994, a most turbulent F1 season, we’ve just supposedly come to the conclusion of another overly dramatic season of Formula 1, not to mention the irony of Schuey’s very Championship winning mount, the Benetton-Ford B194 replete with the mysterious Option 13 Launch/Traction Control software (embedded) coming up for offer on eBay, and thus, a legend was born all those years ago, as another slipped into the abyss upon scoring his very last Grand Prix victory before wankering away at McLaren the following year when his backside apparently didn’t fit the tight confines of the doggish McLaren-Peugeot…

Veterans Day - 2009

Imagine a time when it all began
In the dying days of a war
A weapon that would settle the score
Whoever found it first would be sure to do their worst
They always had before...

(Song Lyrics” RUSH: Manhattan Project - Power Windows, 1985)

At the south end of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum’s Park is a giant flowing water fountain. This Fountain of Peace was created four decades ago in 1969 in order to give prayer to all of the people who perished in the second Atom Bomb dropping while vainly searching for water. At the base of the fountain is a black stone plaque with Lines from a poem carved into it. They were written by a girl named Sachiko Yamaguchi, who was nine at the time of the bombing,

It reads:
"I was thirsty beyond endurance. There was something oily on the surface of the water, but I wanted water so badly that I drank it just as it was."

Nagasaki Atom Bomb Park Photos

The New Regime
And thus we American’s celebrate our first Veteran’s Day under the guise of new leadership, as President Barack Obama follows in the nebulous footsteps of George W. Bush, as although we haven’t dropped any Atomic Bombs to date(?) Nevertheless Obama continues Bush’s legacy by continuing to fight two LOSING Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, while preparing to increase the numbers of troops being sent to fight these USELESS Occupations!

And while I prefer to post my traditional Veteran’s Day’s thoughts which first began in my story Time Stands Still, this year I’m changing tact slightly, as something has been sticking in my craw ever since listening to the STUPID debate on Speed Freaks….

Spindrift
As sun goes down

On the western shore

The wind blows hard from the east

It whips the sand into a flying spindrift

As the sun goes down

On the western shore

It makes me feel uneasy

In the hot dry rasp of the devil winds

Who cares what a fool believes

(And) What am I supposed to say?

(Song Lyrics” RUSH; Spindrift – Snakes & Arrows; 2008)

So the debate in question on Speed Freaks revolved around whether or not Middle East money should be allowed to flow into the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) and dare (I say it?) to potentially work its way into RASSCAR?

MidEast beyond Cleveland

As this “Hot Button” topic was centered around the fact that Larry Dixon currently drives for Alan Abi Racing in the NHRA’s Top fuel division, while another “Rail Jockey” Hillary Will ran Bahrain sponsorship on the side of her Top Fueler previously…

This comes on top of the current speculation that George Gillett is planning to sell a minority stake in Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) to Saudi Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud as part of a package including Ownership in Gillett’s Liverpool Football Club; while reportedly the deal could include running a Richard Petty Driving Experience program at a NASCAR style venue yet to be built in the Desert.

And now speculation suggest that Bruton Smith of Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) is pursuing an alliance with the Emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani regarding a massive Motorsports complex similar to SMI’s “Los Wage$” (Las Vegas) 1300 acre site, as Bruton claims a design is already completed and is separate to any of Gillett’s proposed racing venues, in which he hopes to have up to 14 NASCAR-style facilities operating in the future.

Thus business is truly open in the Gulf; along with the black tar spickets being open, the region is now diversifying into Motorsports with the just completed running of the Inaugural Abu Dabi Grand Prix, along with the Bahrain GP (both Formula 1 events) plus the annual MOTO GP night race held in Qatar.

And yet while some RASSCARHEADS are blathering’ on ‘bout how we cannot have ‘dem Saudi’s in our be-LUV-ed Roundy round series, (DAMN! Weeze alreadys gots ‘dem darn Toy-Yoter’s, yuhs here?) As they shouldn’t be allowed to cherry pick the best NHRA Teams and simply buy their way into motor racing…

Yet perhaps current racing teams wouldn’t be force to look outside the box for new financial backers (money streams) if Obama hadn’t just signed a $680 BILLION Pentagon budget into law in order to keep the United States entangled in two utterly USELESS conflicts, eh? As this is just a one year budget for Military spending which doesn’t include the countless Billions approved to fund the Occupations, nor the extra $44b given to Homeland Security, and these are just the reported “Black” budgets; SHEISA!

Since it’s reported that the cost of having just One Soldier for One year in Afghanistan could pay for twenty schools to be built there; so what are we fighting for?

Greg Moore – 10 years after

So like always, its hard to believe that a decade has already passed since the fatal tragedy that claimed one of CART’s rising Stars on Halloween occurred, thus taking Greg Moore’s life in the 1999 CART Season Finale’s Marlboro 500 at the California Speedway…

As I can still recall seeing Moore’s Player’s liveried Forsythe Reynard/Mercedes Benz violently Barrel-rolling multiple times along the circuits high bank knowing that it would be a miracle for Moore to escape un-injured; especially at the unabated speed of 200mph plus!

Yet for reasons unknown, the strongest memory of the late Greg Moore I seem to harbor is his overly foolish Bonsai carnival-like maneuver into the Festival Curves at the start of the 1998 Portland G.I. Joes 200, where as “Auntie” Harriet would say… He was acting like a “Hot Head!”

As almost co medically, Moore attempted to leapfrog his way into the lead from P14 and in the process managed to eliminate seven Racers!

Yet obviously the New Westminster native, who grew-up in the Maple Ridge suburb of Vancouver, BC had unbridled talent, as none other than the legendary “Captain” Roger Penske had just inked him to a (Multi-year) contract during the summer of 1999 to become a Penske Racing Driver for the 2000 season before his untimely incident.

Like many “Kanuck’s” Moore played Ice Hockey as a youth and ironically the No. 99 would be assigned to him when he began his Karting career… Thus reputedly having nothing to do with the revered “Great One,” (Wayne Gretsky) although certainly the connection wasn’t lost to Greg, as it would become his Car number throughout his CART career...

And like most Open Wheel Racecar Drivers, Moore cut his teeth in Go-Karts, winning the 1989-90 North American Enduro Championship before progressing to Formula Ford’s, where in 1991 he was the Formula Ford 1600 Rookie of the Year after finishing fourth overall with one victory.

In 1992, Moore became the USAC West FF2000 (Formula Ford) Champion, having claimed four Poles and four victories enroute to the title, along with being the series Rookie of the Year, before moving onto the (original) Indy Lights series, which he ran in 1993 for his Family’s underfunded Team and finished ninth overall.

In 1994 Greg became the youngest ever winner of a (CART Sanctioned) Indy Lights race at the tender age of 18 when he took the chequered flag at the season opening round in Phoenix, AZ and would record two more wins that season enroute to finishing third in the Championship.

For 1995, Greg joined the Players/Forsythe Racing Organisation and simply crushed the competition enroute to the Indy Lights Championship with a staggering ten wins out of twelve races, including a scintillating five-in-a-row… And thus was destined to make his move up to the “Big Boyz” the following season.

In his Debutant season, Moore scored 84 points and finished as runner-up in the CART/PPG’s Jim Trueman Rookie of the Year standings behind somebody named “Zorro,” a.k.a. Alex Zanardi.

In 1997, Greg then became the Championship Auto Racing Teams youngest ever winner (to that date; since eclipsed by Scott Dixon and Nelson Philippe) at the age of 22 when he beat Michael Andretti to the stripe at the famed Milwaukee Mile and would repeat as winner again just one week later… As I recall screaming at the Telescreen as not one but both of my Home team’s PacWest Racing Drivers; Mauricio Gugelmin and Mark Blundell who were running nose to tail 1-2 both sputtered out of petrol on the final lap and Moore swept thru from third place to claim victory on Detroit’s Belle Isle.

In ’98 Greg was joined by fellow Canadian Patrick Carpentier as Players/Forsythe expanded to a two car operation and Moore would dice with Zanardi at the Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway (“Roval”) in Rio de Janeiro before making a spectacular pass to solidify his fourth Champ Car victory, before later that year he’d pass the Target Boyz duo of Zanardi and Jimmy Vasser to claim the Vanderbuilt Cup in the US 500 at Michigan International Speedway, which was sadly overshadowed by the deaths of three spectators from a flying tyre that bounded over the catch fencing.


The year 1999 would start off very good for the Kanuck, once again taking victory in the season opening race in Miami, this time on the Oval Track at Homestead, which sadly would become his final Indy Car career victory, as Moore would suffer fatal head injuries on his early race incident at Fontana. (As the violent crash registered an incomprehensible 154 G’s!)

And ironically the Halloween race weekend had started out ominously for Greg when he was struck on his “Scooter” by a vehicle in the Paddock, suffering an injured right hand with Roberto Moreno being called-in by Players/Forsythe as a Back-up replacement, although Greg would take the Green flag from the rear of the field, having been cleared to drive with a hand brace.

And as I’ve said before, reportedly it was Greg whom introduced the “Dashley ‘Juan,” nee Dario Franchitti to his future wife (Ashley Judd) at a party of friend Jason Priestley's… As Greg’s posse was known to include the likes of “Mad Max” (Massimiliano) Papis, “TK,” (Tony Kanaan) “REO Speedwagon” (Dario Franchitti) and others I cannot recall, (Greg Moore Brat Pack: Adrian Fernandez, Franchitti, Kanaan, Papis and Jimmy Vasser) as I was overly touched by Dario dedicating his 2009 Indy Car Series Championship at Homestead to his late, great, friend…

Remembering Gregg Moore

Stats
1993-95: CART Indy Lights
1995 Indy Lights Champion

1996-99: CART/PPG Championship
72 Starts; 5 Poles; 5 Wins; 17 Podiums.
First race, 1996: Homestead-Miami Speedway; Homestead, FL
Last race, 1999: California Speedway; Fontana, CA