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Justin Wilson - Anne Proffit-photo |
On Friday afternoon I made the mistake of taking the bus to beautiful Tacoma
Now the funny part of this is, ‘Whale Yuhs see, your humble No Fenders scribe cannot see worth SHIT and ‘Aunty Harriet doesn’t hear real good which means following the 24hrs of Daytona instead of the DayToner 500 became most comical; who’s that ‘Juan? Who’s that car? What’s a Daytona Prototype, who’s that car, where’s the race at? Oh you mean the Daytona 500??? Who’s that car?
Yet I hadda agree with ‘Aunty H after sitting down Justin-time, get IT? For an overly LONG Preamble, as Harriet kept asking when’s the race gonna start? Before attempting to read her newspaper and then promptly falling asleep just ‘My-nutes before the green flag finally flew... As I was happy to see Justin Bell
Thus, I mostly sat ‘N listened in the big white easy chair with a ‘FURR-rocious lap ‘Hoond named Molly expertly positioned to take up my entire lap and keep her rival Pixie from absconding any real estate; YIKES! You’re probably sayin’ what about the race, I thought this was a FREAKIN’ Racing ‘BLOB (blog) right? Hoohah! As this was before I moved another chair just scant feet from le Telescreen, closed the shades and rejoiced in being’ able to actually make out the shapes of the racecars onscreen - especially the Porsches with there classical 911 silhouettes, albeit I couldn’t make out any car numbers, etc. Before ‘aunty woke up and said is it over yet? Who’s that car? Blah-blah-blah, as it seemed nothing really happened during the opening hour-plus stint I watched until getting up for a semi-late lunch, before we went upon our really B-I-G adventure of grocery shopping... Although I thought I’d heard Leigh Diffey say that the No. 41 had been involved in a crash and spin before leaving.
And thanxs solely to Tacoma Bureau chief Mary Ellen, who inquired Sunday morning, do you wanna watch some of the Daytona 24-hours race? I got to watch far more of the race live then I’d expected; as I’ve currently got 7+ hours ‘O Memorex awating my perusal this week - as I still don’t think the No. 60 was leading yet when I took up station in front of thee ‘Telie, as it appeared to now be a three horse race between the two ‘Feurds of Starworks lead ship No. 8 piloted then by Ryan “Razzle Dazzle” Dalziel and MSR’s lead gun - the No. 60 with Ozz Negri Jr. driving vs. that always at the forefront No. 01 ‘Cheepster-mobile with Scott Pruett at the keyboard, whilst it sounded like a raspy Booby Ruble in the commentator booth? As the senor Rahal waxed on eloquently - even musing the same story that co-driver Brian Redman had waxed-on ‘bout the day prior...
And then the calm was shattered by ‘Aunty’s awakening, whom after breakfast saw the 92-years “young” Harriet standing in-front of the ringing telephone with her walker guarding it ferociously like Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver ‘KuhNucks YELLING is anybody gonna answer the phone - imploring Mwah to attempt scoring a goal via the five-hole whilst I sat transfixed to the race...
Oh? Is there a race today? Who’s that car? Where’s it at? Oh? The Daytona 500? And So-on and So-on, as hence, from thereon until the chequered flag flew I mostly listen too thee Donnybrook brewing over who’d win ‘Somme-Oh-Dem Rolex wrist-pieces... Although I got a good chuckle over the in-car radio transcript SPEED played of the Starworks crew telling Alan thee Scottish Terrier McNish it’s “WallDinger” in the car so just keep applying pressure - HE WILL CRACK! Before switching to Pitlane where Ozz Negri was asked what he thought ‘bout ‘Dat? To which Ozz coolly replied AJ’s our Ace of Spades...
Then apparently the gloves came off as Allmendinger practiced his “Boyz Have at IT”” Rasscarland Racin’ is Rubbin’ with McNish - whilst Diffey’s voice went up an octave over the beatin ‘N bangin’ a la Mike “Yippee-Aye-Eh” King...
And with two laps to go and AJ leading the race, I pronounced out loud to myself that I’d NO longer call ‘em WallDinger, a tag AJ had earned during his Champ Car Dazes I believe... As it was absolutely FANTASTIC to watch Allmendinger cross the line victoriously, giving the well deserving Mike Shank his first Rolex24 victory as a Team Owner - along with the most deserving Justin Wilson, Ozz Negri and Jonathan Pew! As I cannot really sum it up any better then that evening’s celebratory interview AJ & Justin shared with duh Freaks...
Speed Freaks: Justin Wilson & A.J. Allmendinger interview
And adding to Mike Shanks joy after nine years of trying to win the Daytona 24-hours was the fact that his other mount, the No. 6 “Junior Mint” car with thee ‘Yak, aka Gustavo Yacaman and Jorge Goncalvez from Indy Lights with Leigh O’Gorman’s? Boy Felipe Nasr and the OLD man of the quartet Michael “Double Zero” McDowell completed a Ford clean sweep of the podium, with the Starworks Boyz being the filling in Michael Shank Racing sandwich... As it was Ford’s first win at the Rolex in 13-years...
Meanwhile my GT choices faired to resemble any sorta DP predictions as the Team Seattle No. 41 Mazda RX8 did indeed get PUNTED by a Porsche and after lengthy repairs soldiered home 27th in class. While I have NO idea what happened to my second choice, the No. 22 Porsche? And apparently the No. 62 done BLOWN UP! As Porsche swept the GT podium with the apparent Aero Brick No. 57 Camaro of Stevenson Motorsports and drivers Ronnie “Sonny’s BBQ” Bremmer, John Edwards and Robin Liddell ‘Best-of-thee-Rest in fourth place in the GT category...
GT: Dempsey Racing - Rolex 24 Race Report