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A very surprised, but joyous and definitely
delighted Tomaso poses for an impromptu Photo-op with Alex Zanardi, who scored
his maiden IndyCar victory at Portland - at Mother Speedway on Carb Day, 2013!
(The Tomaso Collection)
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Today
marks the Ninth year: Number Nine, Numeral Nein, No. 9? That NO Ford/Cosworth's,
Honda's, Mercedes or ToyYoter' (Toyota) 2.65-liter V-8 Turbocharged 'lumps bolted to
the backsides of Eagle's, Lola's, Penske's, Reynard's or Swift's will be heard
snarling in anger before the green flag waved at Portland International Raceway!
As
PIR for nearly a quarter century hosted its annual Fathers Day IndyCar race,
sanctioned first by Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) and followed by the
Champ Car World Series (CCWS) from 1984 to 2007, along with having celebrated
its Centennial over two months prior to Mother Speedway's first automobile
races 'Wayback in 'Nineteen-oh-Nine.
Hard to believe that ten years ago I was on
my second Solo outing to Portland's Champ Car World Series (CCWS) race via
Amtrak! As I too, in a different sort of way had endured my own Split, having been evicted from
my longtime West End grandstand seat, and then electing to skip the first two
years of the Chump Carz' era, probably 'cause I still wasn't willing to come
outta my shell completely and acknowledge my blindness - before resuming
attending said race now ensconced in the Festival Curves chicane; but I
digress...
Although perhaps I
wasn't alone in this experience? As I'll never forget the female concession
stand worker complementing me upon my nice walking stick! (My white cane)
Alas, for A-L-L of the good times I've had at
Portland International Raceway over two decades, it's S-A-D that whenever I
think of the '06 event, I immediately recall being STIFFED at the Drivers
Autograph session, not to mention a very uncouth female volunteer(?) telling
the ONLY Blind person in the entire line, and more likely vicinity or surely
the premises - to move along, you're holding the line up; SHIT LADY, ARE YOU KIDDING!
Yet in fairness to CCWS, albeit too little, too
late! The following year Champ Car vainly tried atoning for its past mistakes
by honouring A-L-L "Season" Ticket Holders with a Free Beer Pre-race
Fan Primer Thursday evening - which featured Mr. Chrome Horn NO less, which
totally changed my attitude towards Messer Tracy due to his NO Holds Barred
Straight Shooting, being Hilarious & congenial during his evening's revelry!
Grand Prix of Portland Presented by G.I. Joes
Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Winner: A.J. Allmendinger, Forsythe Racing
Second: Justin Wilson, RuSport
Third: Sebastian Bourdais, Newman
Haas Racing
SORRY AJ! How could I forget I was at your
Debutante IndyCar victory at my Home track NO less! As that was awesome seeing
you DEFEAT everyone that day! And must have felt especially gratifying to not
only beat your close friend Justin B-I-G UNIT' Wilson to the stripe, but show
Carl Russo he'd made a mistake!
Out of that '06 Portland field, there's a
GURR-RAND Total of two participants still competing fulltime: Team Penske's
Will Power and KVSH Racing's Sebastain Bourdais. With two part-timers, i.e.;
Oriol Servia and Alex Tagliani, while Katherine Legge had hoped to contest this
year's Magnanimous 100th running of the Indy 500 for the Female based Grace
Autosport squad.
And with the advent of this year's Boston GP
cancellation, although I knew I-T wouldn't happen, nonetheless, I can dream,
right? That Portland would surprisingly take its place, as it would have made
perfect sense to twin Indy Cars drive to the Left Coast with Portland, perhaps
a week prior to the season finale at Sonoma; Hey! If Phoenix can come back
after an eleven year hiatus then why not Portland?
Although I think
the Die's been cast, as I'm really not very sure if I'd want to bother with the
ambiguities of traveling, lodging, etc today to go to Portland anymore for an
IndyCar race...
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Long forgotten assorted Portland CART ticket stubs,
circa' 1987-96. (The Tomaso Collection)
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With the first being none other than El Zorro,
a.k.a. Alex Zanardi in 1996 followed by Mark Blundell for Homeboyz' PacWest
Racing in '97. And then the aforementioned Dinger' in '06.
OOPS! Having just
reviewed my long ago scribbled Portland Centennial post, I was reminded that
'lil Al (Unser Jr.) before his presumably free BAD HABITS "Smokey
Smokes" era won his maiden IndyCar race for Galles Racing at Portland's
inaugural CART race...
And who could forget Michael giving Poppa
Mario a Father's Day presento by running his tank dry 'O Methanol on the final
lap in 1986!
Other notable names from the past include:
Thee Thrill From the West Hill, aka Mr. Chrome Horn, nee Paul Tracy or simply
'PT! Who's now become my Numero Uno IndyCar TV Announcer.
Another driver who scored his final IndyCar
win at Portland was Shorty', aka Cristiano da Matta who took a surprise win in
'05 for PKV Racing. And on Pole for the '06 race was Bruno Whiney Bags'
Junqueira, as le 'Hamburgular's Newman Haas Wingman.
Another name from the past was the recently
demoted Mario "BOOM-BOOM!" Dominguez who'd been dropped by Gerald
Wimpey' Forsythe to make way for Allmendinger who'd just been fired by Carl
Russo's ruSport team, with Dominguez taking refuge at Dale Coyne Racing.
Also present that day were Andrew Ranger, Dan
Speedy Dry! Clarke and Jan Van Hagar Heyland to name just a few more forgotten
names. Whilst we all know that thee Dinger', nee A.J. Allmendinger's gone
Taxicab racin' fulltime instead!
IMAGES
Photo Courtesy of No Fenders ‘Offical Photographer
‘CARPETS.
Ticket Stubs from Dusty Shoebox in Tomaso Manor.
