Champ Car Friday: June 8th

Today is the most relaxing day of the week for me. I wasn't able to make the morning practice session, which was ok, until I heard what happened. More on that in a moment. I had to tie up some loose ends with this weeks edition of SBR and then I was able to head out to the track. The morning practice session went very well for most drivers and teams. With that said, the focus of my entry tonight is Paul Tracy. Paul hasn't been in a car since he broke his back a few races ago. I mentioned yesterday that we were all going to be excited to see him drive again. I arrived at the track, saw some old friends and made my way down to the media center on the west side of the paddock. I dropped off my stuff and grabbed the morning practice time sheet. I quickly browsed the list to find Paul. Paul wasn't in the top ten, let alone the top fifteen. He was dead last. I had to find out why. Did he not run a practice lap ? Was he not going to drive this weekend ? I grabbed my headset and scanner and headed out toward the pits. I found FCR's pit (Forsythe Championship Racing) and saw Paul standing next to his team's tent doing an interview. I quickly asked his PR guy what happened. "Paul crashed into the back straight wall on the first lap." That answered my question. So this guy hasn't been in a car and his first lap after he breaks his back, he crashes ? What kind of bad luck is that. Now on to the afternoon qualifying session. I was listening on the radio as his team fired up the back up car. Team starts the car....doesn't sound good....engine starts smoking.....team removes rear engine cover....more smoke....Paul gets on the radio and says it doesn't sound good....something along the lines of my steering wheel is messed up....team changes that....same problem....team takes off side pods too....puts covers back on....start engine again....same issue. This went on for about fifteen minutes. Paul wasn't happy. The team eventually fixed the issue and Paul was able to run a few laps. In the end, he was able to finish 13th in the first qualifying run. Saturday should be improvement to Forsythe and P.T. Saturday I will continue to follow Paul, but I will also be checking in with Alex Tagliani and probably someone with Walker Racing. I got baked from the sun on Friday ! Saturday, the forecast calls for rain.