Thursday, March 31, 2016

The Tomaso Files: Mirages in Thy Valley of Thee Sun...



Lookie Thar Ishmaels, Sufferin' Succotash! I see water; Err SWEAR I S-E-E Indy Cars goin' round in circles at Phoenix Int'l Raceway! That definitely must be a mirage, right? Oh, hope that's NOT Somme-thun simply bein'  stirred-up by another Haboob'...

It's funny how not one, but two new developments have crept over thee Horizon of Thy Valley of thee Sun, both of which are welcome additions for Open Wheel Racing fans, primarily IndyCar enthusiasts.

I first became aware of an O-L-D Name coming out of Blogging retirement from whom I've taken to denoting as thee OLD-est IndyCar Blogger, aka Geo. Phillips of Oilpressure.com fame who recently "Penned" the story; Err wrote the Post titled:


As George's Post's title makes me laugh somewhat since we've certainly needed Boats up here in Thy Pacific Northwest after experiencing the wettest winter on record, having over two feet of precipitation drench us between December-to-February, the most W-E-T stuff dating back to 1894; Aye Karumba!

As that was before the Horseless Carriage had arrived to stay, whilst most certainly Arizona's desert was awash with Wagon trains, Cattle Rustlers, Gunmen and Gold Miners in search of The Lost Dutchman Mine amidst Thy plethora 'O Saguaro cactus dotting the landscape 'Wayback then, Eh!

Thus I won't pontificate too much over Jeff Iannucci's  much welcomed return to the IndyCar Bloggeratzi, other than I've had the pleasure of hangin' out with him at Mother Speedway NO less, where he introduced Mwah to a totally unexpecting Paul Page, who surely; Don't call me Shirley! Enjoyed my Quip 'bout him and Sam Posey; Hya!

As Y'all can check out Jeff's IndyCar blog One lap down(dot)com, with his introductory Post titled: Before we go Green on thisThing

Meanwhile, everybody knows that Indy Cars are returning to The Valley of The Sun after an eleven years hiatus...

Which gives me Thy briefest glimmer 'O Hope of IndyCar someday returning to Portland; Nah...

Where surely the Indy Cars will break one of 'Ol Arie "The Flying Dutchman" Luyendyk's records - Whilst speeding round Phoenix International Raceway's one-mile banked Oval some 5-0 miles per hour faster than Dem RASSCAR Taxicabs; CRIKEYS!

As Luyendyk currently holds the record at 19.608-seconds aboard one of those year old CART chassis; the Jonathan Byrd's Fred Tredway Racing "Blown" Reynard 95i/Cosworth Rocketships! The same Beast Arie was piloting in '96 to Mother Speedway's current One and Four lap records!

The year prior to those IRL CRAPWAGONS! Paul Tracy's words, NOT mine; Hya! Becoming en vogue in the Indy Racing League...

Alas, I've only ever been to Phoenix International Raceway twice, with the first time being an eternity ago, witnessing my first ever Oval race 'Wayback in 1994. The year when I swore 'Ol Jack Vanilla, aka Jacques Villeneuve tried to take out the then Goodyear pedestrian infield walkover bridge!

For which one of the unsuspecting victims of Villeneuve's crash was local PacWest racer Dominic Dobson, along with another of our Portland Darlings 'King Hiro! (Hiro Matsushita)


And being just before The Split, and having grown-up at Thy Twisties' tracks of Kent, Washington's then Seattle International Raceway, (now Pacific Raceways) Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, BC's Molson Indy Street race, I simply wasn't  impressed by the dizzying speed of poundin' round 'N round in circles, as I've never realized a quarter of a century would pass before my second ever outing to an Oval track race, the '09 Indy 500; YIKES!

Otay, so I-T was only 15yrs instead, but! It definitely felt like a quarter century whilst I've never proclaimed bein' a Mathematician...

While my second and latest visit to Avondale, AZ was for a very entertaining, enjoyable and most Excellante ride round PIR in one of The King's, aka Richard Petty's Driving Experience 2X Seater racecars! Which I scribbled 'bout back circa 2013 in;


And my latest trek to thee Desert was so brief this past January, I simply didn't have time to go visit my Numero Uno haunt in Scottsdale, AZ, for which I've visited multiple times - Anchored in The Penske Auto Group's Mega Dealership, where rightly 'El Capitano, nee Roger Penske has located his fabulous 'lil Penske Racing Museum!


For which I've posted the story about my debutant visit many moons ago, whilst NO idea if the museum will be missing the mainstay of its exhibit since Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Hall of Fame museum is hosting a 50 Years celebration of Penske Racing for the time being...