And Chasing one’s Tail in pursuit of Motor Racing.
Hmm, is it over to the right? Nope, that’s not it, Huh?
Funny how many emotions I recently experienced
over the weekend when Tacoma Bureau Chief Mary Ellen and Her recocious Hoond
Hang 10’ Hilo made an unexpected visit over Ye Gory Fourth ‘O July weekend…
Nah, No when you’re strange James Morrison or Life’s
A Bowl of chocolates Forrest Gump references here. As my emotional gambit had
nothing to do with Mary Ellen, just some internal strife I’m working thru.
And it was funny, sort Ha Ha, Not! How it was
actually Hoter here in Bumfiddle’ Florence vs. Mid-Ohio, Yikes! Even though the
Oregon coast was nearly some twenty degrees cooler than inland, which were
experiencing triple digit temperatures, aye Karumba!
Another funny thing for Mwah is how much I
still allow my No Fenders Blob’ as ‘good Ol Awntie’ Harriet called it to rule
my life! Even though this keeps me “connected” to de Vurld de Motorsporten Ja
Ja!
Thus I found myself consumed by three competing
motorsport series once again. Naturally led by IndyCar at Mid-Ohio, where the
debut of their long anticipated Hybrid system debut finally occurred…
While the MotoGP race from Der Sachsenring
weighed upon my mind. Sitting at my dining room table eating breakfast, Oh Shit
turn on thy Telie! Tuning in with nine minutes to spare before going Green for Saturday’s
Sprint race. Which my Numero Uno MotoGP rider Jorge Martin won!
And then IndyCar Qualifying began at High Noon
here upon the West Coast. With that pesky Alex Palou pipping my Numero Uno
IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward by 24-thousandths for Pole! Which naturally Pato
said was Annoying during His postQualie’ radio interview. Apparently telling
the Folks on NBC that Palou had gone to the Porta Potty just before Qualifying
began, Hya!
Whilst my Numero Doce IndyCar driver Davey
Malukas massively overperformed by claiming third overall, and making the Fast
six Shootout in only His second race of the season!
As Formula 1 felt like an afterthought, albeit
I perked up after hearing via my NFB Newsline for The Blind’s telephone service
that Boo Hoo, poor MaxiMillions had struggled at Bloody Silverstone after encountering
a gravel trap during Qualifying, Hurrah!
Having to settle for fourth on the grid behind
three Bloody Brits, ergo George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris.
Meaning this could actually be an entertaining F1 race. Enticing me to do
something “wild ‘n Crazy!” And set the alarm clock for 6:45AM in order to
“watch”, Err listen to the race live Sunday morning.
Strangely, since I’m not a fan of any of these
four drivers, with three fourths of F1’s Brat Pack represented! I supposed I
should have been rooting for the Old Goat, nee Golden Child, aka sir Lewis.
Although I didn’t want to “See” Him break another of Der Terminator’s, nee
Michael Schumacher’s fleeting records…
Thus I found myself strangely rootin’ instead
for that Cheeky Bugger Lando Norris, even though I easily tire of His wingeing!
But Max and George Russell just rub me the wrong way more for some unknown
reason…
http://www.nofenders.net/2021/04/welcome-to-formula-ones-pariah-club.html
Cannot say it was a stellar or great race, but
it was certainly gripping with the changing weather conditions and actual
ontrack passes by All of the front runners. As I enjoyed Lando coming from
fourth after dropping a place to Bosom buddy Verstappen, to taking the lead.
And then teammate Oscar Piastri made it an McLaren 1-2, before pit strategy
ruined the Aussie’s race.
But with a second rain shower approaching and
everyone switching onto intermediate rubber before switching back to slicks.
Hamilton jumped Norris on the final pit stop and never looked back!
While Verstappen and Red Bull made the right
tyre call with Max motoring past Lando on Hard Pirelli’s, with Lando
incorrectly choosing soft tyres and finishing third instead.
After the podium interviews with Bloody Jense’
(Button) where not surprisingly Verstappen failed to congratulate His Arch
nemesis Lewis! I immediately switched over to the MotoGP race and was dismayed
to hear the Pundits saying that (Jorge) Martin had crashed out while leading,
WTF!
Gifting the win to title protagonist Pecco
Bagnaia, who now leads the points standings, Sigh! While The Pinball wizard
Marc Marquez went from P13 to second, one place ahead of His younger brother
Alex.
This left me with just some 51mins; How ‘bout
that Toby Sowery, eh? Until the start of IndyCar Radio’s pre-race coverage. My
favourite part of the pre-race – when they talked to 19 of the 27 IndyCar
drivers.
The race began on a strange note, with none other than Scott
dixon’s Hybrid system deciding to rapidly deploy itself multiple times on the
parade lap, leaving the Kiwi’ stalled ontrack, and unable to restart His racecar.
As this would be the day’s only yellow flag for two laps before the race went
green.
The first half of the race seemed headed in
another boring procession with pole sitter Alex Palou running off ‘n hiding
from the field, before things finally got interesting after the first pit stop
of the day. When second place Pato O’Ward was able to Hunt down Palou and erase
the Spaniard’s nearly seven seconds advantage!
Then O’Ward and McLaren brilliantly used the
“Undercut” by pitting a lap earlier. Along with Palou partially stalling in
pitlane for O’Ward to take the lead from Palou with 24-laps remaining!
As I sat glued to thy Confuzer’s sound bar with
two sets ‘O fingers crossed chanting Go-PATO-GO! With the Mexican driver
holding off a never relenting Palou, who did everything possible to attempt
regaining the lead! Not to mention O’Ward and Palou being bottled up behind
traffic for the last 14-laps!
But a joyous and physically spent O’Ward didn’t
put a wheel wrong and won by just under a half second! Scoring His first true
ontrack victory since Iowa’s Race-2 on July 24, 2022, Aye Karumba!
Drive of the Day definitely goes to Dale Coyne
Racing’s No. 51 rookie Toby Sowery making His IndyCar debut without any testing
or knowledge of how the Hybrid system worked! Going from P24 to finishing 13th!
One place behind David Malukas…
As Malukas unfortunately stalled His engine
during the race’s first pitstop, keeping Him from a Top-10 finish. Which many
drivers struggled with the taller first gear necessitated by the Hybrid system
and gearing needed ontrack due to the track’s repaving…
And that doesn’t even include the weekend’s Madison Governor’s Cup Unlimited Hydroplane race, where a pathetic five boats showed up. And the referees were embarrassed by not knowing the Qualifying rules, Butterfingers! Hmm, wonder who won?