 |
|
2015 Austin American Statesman & Circuit Of The
Americas F1 Preview Program. (The Tomaso Collection)
|
As one of my loyal No Fenders readers Quipped to me
over the USGP weekend: You'll definitely have something to write about...
PERSONALITIES
·
Mark
Danner
·
Whitey
Johnson
·
Sir
Elton John
Tues, October 20
Flew
"The Friendly Skies" once again to Austin via Houston, as it seems
"WEIRD!" To have to land at Houston for a second 30min flight, which
basically as soon as the Big 'Ol Jetliner, nee Airbus A321 got to its low
altitude ceiling immediately began its descent!
As my
only issue with my four flights was being given a window seat for A-L-L 4X flights,
which makes I-T extremely difficult to discern when the Flight Attendant's
talkin' to Mwah, for which I asked twice on my first flight from Seattle when
the Drinks cart came round before she said: "MR. WINDOW!" For which I retorted
I CANNOT S-E-E!
ARSE-sumin' the
man in the middle seat next to me didn't want' an OJ Bath, right?
Arrived
at 10PM to what our second flight's captain said was 76 degrees-f with 10mph
winds and was surprised by how busy the airport was at that time 'O night...
Thurs, Oct 22
Claudio
took Mwah to hear Mark Danner speak at "UT," the home of
"Bevo," University of Texas at Austin's school mascot, who's
longhorn's reportedly inspired the "Hook 'N Horns" tradition.
As
Danner, an Author, Journalist and Professor at UC Berkley was promoting his
upcoming book Downward Spiral in UT's Courtroom...
Friday, Oct 23
Some
of Y'all might have already read my previous No Fenders BLOB' (Blog) post 'bout
how Camels would have been Mucho appreciated at the Circuit Of The Americas
(COTA) racetrack during the USGP weekend, although one family member's just
noted how she wasn't real crazy 'bout smelling Cameley; Hya!
And
although the Friday morning's FP1 (Free Practice) was devoid of any major WET
STUFF! We got absolutely SOAKED both days we went to the track.
Since
Y'all know that Hurricane Patricia sent a miserable Deluge 'O Precipitation
thru Texas for 3 solid days - dumping a record 5.2-inches of RAIN on Saturday
alone, a record for that day; YIKES!
As your humble No
Fenders scribe was the only person who knew NOTHING 'bout the impending
Hurricane before leaving for Austin, only hearing a late weather prediction of
Thunderstorms for 3-days after the preceding week a record high of 98deg-f had
been recorded...
 |
| Alexander Rossi driving for Manor Marussia F1 during practice for this year's USGP in Austin. (Source; f1fanatic.co.uk) |
Yet
after Friday afternoon's FP2 session got cancelled due to heavy RAIN! (and
lightning) Which we wisely left after being soaked whilst the practice session
went into "Hold" before ultimately being scrapped! Nelie saved my bacon
as always! By having spare ponchos for us to utilize whilst it was 75-degrees
& humid before pelting rain cascaded down upon us, albeit the Mucho
appreciated poncho covering me down to my shorts kept my upper torso relatively
dry, while my legs & feet were a different matter, especially my SOAKED
shoes & Backpack!
Saturday, Oct 24
After
Claudio pronounced I'd need to really, really, really plead with him to take us
to the track Saturday, I elected for us to NOT even think of attending the
predicted RAINFEST - since it was forecasted to be the WORST of the 3-Days!
Thus,
I was relieved when we finally discovered at 5PM Saturday that Qualifying had
been cancelled after vainly trying to hold out hope of running for 3+ hours -
while it just rained & rained A-L-L Day long!
As the steady
downpour made me reminisce 'bout sitting up into thy 'Wee hours at Blogmeister
Miguel's Housianna during the Korean Grand Prix when Yeongam
was experiencing a Typhoon and some clever F1 Mechanics
idly passed the time by floating paper boats down Pit lane from the shelter of
their garages!
That
evening Claudio pronounced to us that we were going to see Whitey Johnson
perform at the Saxon Pub. As his band plays excellent Blues and
"Whitey," whose real name is Gary Nicholson plays a wicked slide
guitar, along with the lead vocals and various stories introducing the songs.
As it was funny hearing the following song which Claudio had pulled up on Zed
Internetz before our departure.
While the most poignant song of the evening for
Mwah was when Whitey told us the story of how he'd gotten his nickname during
the racially divided 1960's, which his five piece band played an awesome version of - for which
I can only find the solo version (below) that has the exact same moving
intro...
VIDEO: The Blues in Black and White
For
the conclusion of this year's USGP outing, see; USGP: Neither Mud nor Raincan stop the Fans from witnessing an Entertaining Race at COTA during 2015 F1weekend
(Program Courtesy of
Austin Hostess Nelie)
