|
The Smothers Brothers are the Grand Marshalls this year, and, unfortunaely, don't do any comedy to warm up the crowd. It
is a requirement that at any big sporting event in NorCal you have to include somebody who has something to do with the Grateful
Dead. And this year's no exception. Frontman Bob Weir - looking more like he should be playing for Bachman-Turner Overdrive
- belts out a respectable anthem. This was followed by a measly 2-plane flyover - at least they were big planes.
And then, FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW, some genius in the booth forgets to turn on the microphone - and the cry of "Gentlemen,
Start Your Engines!" doesn't make it through the PA! IDIOTS! INFIDIOTS! I mean, last year it was Tom Arnold, so I
could understand - but, Jeez, two years in a row???
|
| LOOKOUT MAUDE!!! The dreaded 21 T-shirt salute |
Then comes the fireworks and the annual "running of the rabbits." Poor things. Somehow the jackrabbits that inhabit
the hillsides can stand all the buzzing of autos and bikes, but set off some fireworks and they all pop out of the ground
and head for the hills! Unfortunately, the hills are full of inebriated yahoos screaming and yelling - so most of the poor
little critters turn tail and brave the fireworks, rather than face nature's deadliest foe - man.
|
| Coming down "the Chute" towards Turn 7 |
The race begins and the cars blaze up the hill double file - the last time all day they'll be two wide. The action in the
first couple of laps is fast and furious, cars spinning out everywhere. That's the most unique thing about the road course
races - a spin doesn't necessarily mean a caution. And cars are spinning everywhere!
The first major spin involves Ward up in turn 2, and I look down at my #0 T-shirt and think to myself "why?"
(I've done this more times than I care to remember). Although I couldn't tell from the jumbotron replay, I do believe he
got some help from a certain somebody... who is much in the news for his rough driving (I won't mention any names, but his
initials are TONY STEWART).
|
| Robby Gordon... with all 4 tires... |
Rotten Robby dropped out of contention early, losing a tire right in front of us and eventually driving into a wall on the
way to the pits. He was already a lap down by lap 30. Road course ringers Jim Inglebright and Klaus Graf put on a little
mini-show... dukeing it out and bumping eachother on virtually every lap. On Lap 57, Junebug spins right in front of us.
He quickly gets turned around, and is back in the hunt.
Meanwhile... Jefffie-poo just pulls away. Whatever battles there will be today will be for 2nd place. People spin here
& there, pit crews forget lug nuts, NASCAR throws cautions - they restart - it don't matter. This is Gordon Country and
it's Jeff's day!
Next Page
Previous Page
|
