Although not racing related per sei, nonetheless
I'm looking forward to my latest jaunt across Thy Border for some great
comedy...
Naturally, I'd presume when Y'all ponder
Canadian Open Wheel Racing Drivers, names like Villeneuve, Moore, Goodyear, Tagliani
and Carpentier come to mind, eh? While Vancouver, BC these days always makes me
think of the late, great Greg Moore.
As I'm 99% certain that Jacques Villeneuve is
the only KuhNuck' to have ever won the Indianapolis 500, whilst Scott
"What Pacecar?" Goodyear has come Oh, So tantalizingly close more
than once! Although he's only officially finished runner-up twice - as just ask
Arie, Jacques and 'lil Al, who've A-L-L finished ahead of him.
Whilst I've had
what I consider his best ever drive at Mother Speedway, from 33rd to second by
scant inches finish depicted in an excellent Randy Owens lithograph of the 1992
Indy 500 hanging on Thy wall forever, albeit mine's right side up Scott; Hooah!
And when I said comedy, I wasn't referring to
Dudley Duright or those stoic Mounties, aka Thy RCMP, nee Royal Canadian
Mounted Police! As they don't take kindly to any Keystone Cops inferences; Hya!
Nope, instead I was referring to the great
comedian Louis Black who's the impetus for said trip, as Hey, we A-L-L need
some comedy now and then, right? As perhaps Mr. Mark Miles could take some
pointers on loosening up from the very funny, and apparently personable Mr. Jay
Frye; but I digress...
Yet
taking poetic license, this 'lil Yarn is now redirected towards Thy
plight of today's aspiring Open wheel Racing drivers, primarily spawned by that
LUV-able' Curmudgeon 'R, aka Robin Miller and his succinct story 'bout thee
Cheepster's letting go of Sage "Dangerboy" Karam in favour of Max
Chilton after one partial season behind the keyboard.
As I realize that today's a whole different
Ballgame when it comes to motor racing. As take whom presumably was Oh Canada's
first Indy 500 driver, a one Mr. Pete Henderson who contested the 1916 and 1920
500-mile International Sweepstakes races.
Reportedly, Pete and his brothers began as Duesenberg
mechanics before Pete became a driver for Captain Eddie Rickenbacker's Maxwell
Motors racing team, finishing twice in the Top-10, with a career best of sixth
place in his rookie debut.
While I only know of another "NO-NOX'
NAME" Canadian Indianapolis 500 racer; NO! Not the oft forgotten Ross
Bentley or John Jones, but Eldon Rasmussen, who contested three 500's, i.e.;
1975-77-79. Amazingly all aboard his very own racing car dubbed the Rascar;
GULP!
As I only know of Eldon's name due to his
being a regular attendee of Don Kay's 'lil Autosport Radio Show, where Don
always mentions that Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame driver Eldon's in the
House, as Rasmussen has primarily toiled as a fabricator after his racing
career in the Indianapolis area.
Thus, although originally I wasn't a fan of
Sage Karam's, finding him to be overly brash! Yet somewheres' along the way, I
realized he's a pretty decent racer and he kinda reminds me of somebody named
'PT, better known as thee Thrill from the West Hill! Aka Paul Tracy.
As nobody seems to remember how much
equipment Tracy tore-up driving for El Capitano, nee Roger Penske during his
formative years, yet Tracy, given time, turned out to be a pretty decent
driver, eh?
Yet I won't rehash Josef STUD! Newgarden's
development at Fisher Hartman Racing, or thee Mayor 'O Hinchtown's (James
Hinchcliffe) formative year at Newman Haas Lanigan Racing alongside a pretty
good team-mate named Oriel "Suitcase" Servia.
Whilst I simply hope that Conor Daly gets
more than a single season to cut his teeth Fulltime in Thy B-I-G CARZ', since
there's little time for maturation in Indy Cars these days, as it seems to be
more about how big the cheque is?
Not to mention how long will current Indy
Lights champion Spencer Pigot be given to land a Fulltime drive? Or another
talented Indy Lights lad' chasing Thy ever elusive sponsorship Dinero named
Jack Harvey landing a ride, as countless Indy Lights drivers never get their
due chance.
And then there's Formula 1, the ultimate
single seater arena, where its 'Uber critical to align ones-self with either a
F1 Constructor or even better yet a Manufacturer. As case in point is the career path Pascal
Wehrlein's taken en route to landing one of the back-marker Manor Racing seat's
this year.
Although aligning ones-self with a major
manufacturer isn't a sure-fire bet towards gaining entrance into Formula 1, as
just ask Thy Young Wicky', nee Robert Wickens who'll be contesting his fourth season as a Works Mercedes Benz
DTM Pilote' this year.
As Renault F1 and reigning GP3 champion
teenager Esteban Ocon will be nipping at Wickens heels as the newest member of
Mercedes eight-man DTM squad - which also includes the likes of past DTM
champions Paul di Resta and Gary Paffett amongst others.
Meanwhile, as Oh Canada's Dalton
Kellett and Zachary Claman DeMelo battle for Maple
Leaf supremacy in Indy Lights racing for Andretti Autosport and Juncos Racing
respectively this year, obviously hoping to join Messer Hinchcliffe as Indy Car
drivers shortly, I'm looking forward to seeing Sage Karam getting another crack
at Mother Speedway this May.
As I'm guessing Karam's car will be hard to
miss, since it'll presumably be adorned in radiant Gas Monkey Garage green,
not to mention sporting some type of
in-your-face motif!
As it appears to Mwah, that Karam's departure
for Thy land 'O Tintops' in IMSA Sports Car racing may well be Indy Cars loss,
especially if Nissan decides to follow thru upon returning to Prototype racing
in 2017 - for which Sage may have lined himself up smartly for with this year's
outing alongside one of Sports Car racing's legends Scotty Scooter' Pruett in
the Works Lexus GT3R program.
And lastly, surely I'm not the first to come up
with this, eh? But how much will Cheep' (Ganassi) be laughing over newby'
Chilton smashing up chassis? Since after all he is sponsored by that legendous'
Watermelon Smasher comedian Gallacher, right? Hooah!