Perhaps you watched the interview on Wind Tunnel last Sunday night? As always I found Paul Tracy to be entertaining and straight talking. With Dave Despain winding up the audience just prior to Tracy’s segment with the Dan ‘N Danica fodder.
It was hilarious hearing Paul Tracy’s comment on the matter as he was a guest on Wind Tunnel. PT quipped “That’s Good Stuff! The verbal exchange was better then me, Bourdais and Tagliani in a Rubber Room…”
If you’re not familiar with PT’s antics of last season, The Canuck earned the nickname of “Sugar Ray” Tracy for fighting with Tagliani at San Jose and scuffling with Bordais while punting him off in the final corner of the final lap at Denver the following race.
Then just days prior to going to Montreal Tracy was quoted saying that he didn’t understand why French drivers ALWAYS fought with their helmets on.
Dave Despain asked PT how he felt about longtime ex-teammate Dario Franchitti winning Indy. Tracy said he hasn’t spoken to him yet, since Dario’s been a little busy doing the “Hat Dance.” But he thought it was great. And he was really impressed by Franchitti’s homage to Tony Kanaan.
Then the scary part. Tracy was complimentary towards his sparring buddy, the Hamburgular. Saying the guy’s won everything there is to over here and that he hopes he gets his shot in Formula 1.
And I was pleased to hear PT put the rumours to bed concerning his potential Busch Series ride at Montreal. As Despain said what’s the deal? Tracy said that Kevin Harvick had called him and initially Tracy thought it would be really cool to race alongside fellow Canadian Ron Fellows. But the more time that went by and sponsor and owner conflicts grew. Tracy came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t happen. Tracy pointed out a little known fact. When he was 15 and purchased his first Formula Ford chassis. He bought the vehicle from a racer having hard times as an Open Wheel racer who’d decided to go “Tim Top” racing instead. The racer was none other than Ron Fellows.
And it was interesting to hear Tracy’s opinions about his latest accident. He was under the impression that because of his position inside the raised nose Panoz DP-01 and positioning of the seatbelts. His body was basically “scrunched” and broke his vertebrae. Tracy noted that both the Lola and Penske were smaller chassis, but Dr. Terry Trammel seemed to think that Tracy has just been lucky all of these years. Getting away with the “Big Ones” that should have also caused serious damage.
So I found it interesting to hear Tracy downplay any design deficiencies towards the brand new Panoz. Although Tracy did admit that they’d changed the seatbelt mounting locations as well as redesigning his seat.
I’d say Champ Car has dodged a bullet…
