Edmonton race weekend thread (RACE RESULTS INCLUDED)

[jondownunder]

Fascinating race, though you've got to feel for AJ - I agree with enemy-ace's sentiments. I'm sure his time will come.

Nice to have Jonathan Palmer in the commentary booth too.

[Liz]

Wilson doesn't have to kick himself -- I'm sure Timo Glock AND Paul Gentilozzi will do it for him. How can he get away with that kind of bonehead move when Paul Tracy would be suspended three races for it? I hope they kick his butt.

I kind of expected AJ to throw the race away; he's kind of a Carlos Cheka and the minute he gets into the lead or near it he seems to get so nervous he makes errors. I hope he can get over it. Maybe hypnosis? I've heard that can help. Good of him to admit that he did it though, since it was not evident right away.

The race was exciting and I am very happy to see that someone knows how to pick a venue and promote it properly to get people into the seats. I have hope that we can trust KK to do as well with any new venues we go to. Me, I'm going to Edmonton next year! What a great party that was.

[enemy-ace]

I think Rocketsports & co. need to worry more about getting their butts in gear as opposed to kicking someone else's. There is a team that has seriously lost it's way.
In regards to the incident with Wilson he probably could have been given a penalty, but I think there could be an arguement for it just being a racing incident.
I like the fact that Tony Cotman is not calling every little incident. He's letting the racers race.

[macdaddy]

Agreed, but only to a certain extent, enemy-ace.
If you get to the point where the drivers believe nothing will ever get called, then it's gonna become a free-for-all.

Wilson did, IMO, deserve a penalty.

[Mosport67]

I think Glock went wide in the previous turn leaving the door open for Wilson. Wilson stuck his nose in. Racing incident in my view.

[Snrub]

Good race, lousy result. A real shame for AJ, he deserved it through and through. I think it's fair to point out that both Wilson and AJ are still new drivers. Go back a few years and a sophmore wasn't expected to be as polished as a veteren.

Fantastic to see Champ Car succeeding in a new market. Edmonton really put a lot of effort into promoting it and the crowd was nuts. They had more people than TO!! I believe the official population of Edmonton is something like 600k and the population of the province of Alberta is ~3M. This was a BIG event for them. Practically 1/6th of the population of Edmonton showed up! (obviously everyone wasn't from Edmonton) It proves that with the right promo and cooporation from a city/promoter, Champ Car can put on a successful race. It leaves few excuses for the lack of success at events like Portland. A very good track layout as well.

I think a big part of it has to do with a medium sized city that doesn't have other big events. Champ Car was a big deal for them so everyone was on board 110%. The Edmonton Sun has run a TON of articles on the race leading up to it. The only downside is that the press/promotion accross Canada was a little weak. This seems to be a trend of the last few years with the 3 Canadian races. My local paper barely covered the TO race other than the day after, and I'm 2 hours from TO.

Did SpeedTV viewers get Paul Page and Memo Gidley? They weren't great, but for all Page's faults, he's a good announcer from the perspective of conveying excitement, etc. Both of them seemed a little out of their depth for that race, but I think Page would be a good addition to future broadcasts. eg. In Q2, Page Gidley said something about "that guy hit the other guy" refering to Wilson and Glock. During the race they had a lot of trouble talking about stuff. There were a lot of cutting and camera problems, but at least more passes were covered, granted most were in progress when the camera cut to them. They were a little too focused on the front as well. There were passes further back that weren't caught. Generally things were sloppy, but I give them credit for at least trying to show stuff instead of completely missing it.

Drivers:
Dominguez - What's the deal with him? Very slow this year in general, but particularly this race. On the final restart Bremer was all over him.
Wirdhiem - He has been doing well the last few races, but he keeps taking himself out. Stop it!
Servia - There's no excuses for your teammate to get by you when you have like 20 seconds of ground on him. IMO it should have been even more. Servia just doesn't have enough speed or he through away a win by being casual.

[Ac.]

Originally Posted by macdaddy

Never before have I seen a driver as visibly devastated as Allmendinger was. I like him, and I sympathize with him, but that was a bit much IMO.

Think back to Long Beach 2003. Jourdain was in tears after his car failed after the last pit stop and PT went by him to win. I really felt for him as it was a mechanical failure that stripped him of the chance to win.

In the case of AJ, I really do feel bad for him, but I'm wondering how much longer he can go on wrecking cars in the last few laps by himself without Russo reading him the riot act.

[Cowboy]

Originally Posted by Mosport67

I think Glock went wide in the previous turn leaving the door open for Wilson. Wilson stuck his nose in. Racing incident in my view.

Since I just got home from the track and still on the high of the Edmonton race, I figured I'd post a reply or two. Mosport, yer bang on with it being a racing incident. Wilson was on Glock's butt for a few corners and was lapping faster than him, so it was only a matter of time for that pass. If it wasn't there it would have been at or before turn 1 the next time by. Glock may have had the line but Wilson was there on the inside unless Glock forgot what mirrors are for, he knew that Wilson was there. I don't think Glock should have backed off but covering the line earlier into the corner would have made Wilson rethink what he was going to do.

[Cowboy]

Originally Posted by Liz

I kind of expected AJ to throw the race away;

Well yer real positive.

[Jordi]

Originally Posted by Snrub

Servia - There's no excuses for your teammate to get by you when you have like 20 seconds of ground on him. IMO it should have been even more. Servia just doesn't have enough speed or he through away a win by being casual.

I'm not sure whether Oriol was 20 seconds ahead of Sebastien, but Oriol's last lap was spent behind a backmarker and he came behind another one when he got out of the pitlane, and as he explained on Eurosport he couldn't pass him right away because he was on cold tyres. Besides, I think Sebastien put on some flyers there..

And also about Oriol not being as killer as perhaps PT or AJ are (not something you said, Snrub), facts are that Oriol right now has no drive for when Bruno comes back and beyond. I'm sure he'd love to win his first one, but I don't think he'll do anything silly and risk getting into a wall. As he is going, he is moving into championship contention with consistency.

Hindsight is a great thing, but I wonder how good things would be if he hadn't spun off second place at Monterrey.

Nevertheless, I'm proud of him. He's spending his Newman-Haas tenure on the podium.

[enemy-ace]

Originally Posted by Ac.

In the case of AJ, I really do feel bad for him, but I'm wondering how much longer he can go on wrecking cars in the last few laps by himself without Russo reading him the riot act.

I don't think AJ needs to be told he screwed up judging from his post race interviews and the last thing I would do with AJ is try to stifle him in any way. I would encourage him to keep pushing. I think he is probably still chasing the car. Once he gets fully on top of it he will be very strong.

In regards to Servia; the thing that bothers me is that Bourdais came out of the pits in front of him and he didn't really make any attempt at passing him. Bourdais was on cold tires and Servia had at least one lap if not two on his.
His time at Coyne proved he is a great driver, however I am seriously starting to question his ability as a Racer!

[Hazard]

Maybe he's playing the Fittipaldi style game of good team player, rather than the rivalry role Junqueria provides...in the hope of getting rehired?

If Newman/Haas have two guys to pick from of equal performance, one who runs their other guy off the road on occassion...the other helps out...it's easy to pick.

(Then he can go mad next year! It's not often Servia's had a team mate recently either)

[macdaddy]

Some quotes from various articles on the CC website:

Jimmy Vasser:
I am in awe. For a first time event I have never seen anything like it. This is one of the most impressive weekends I have ever seen in my racing career.

Cristiano da Matta:
The track is good and the fans are fantastic.

Derrick Walker:
I have been around this series for a long and I have to really think back to remember such a successful first up event like this where so many people turned up. The organisers did a fantastic job and the fans certainly got their money's worth today.

Paul Tracy:
People were saying over the winter this wasn't a place to have a race; it should have been another venue or in Vancouver. This is the biggest-attended race that I think Canada has ever had. It's an unbelievable event. I have to applaud the whole City of Edmonton for everything they've done for our sport, for Champ Car.

And a few more culled from CBC-Edmonton:

Sebastien Bourdais:
It's definitely a first-class event and it can be taken as an example anywhere else, because it's one of the best we've had anywhere.

Joe Chrnelich:
There are only two that are larger, which is Australia, which was 325,000 and Mexico City, at 350,000. I believe Edmonton is immediately number three on sheer numbers. But certainly at the top of list on energy and excitement.

-Canadian driver Paul Tracy points out that Mexico City has a population base of 20 million people to draw from.

[extreme]

Originally Posted by enemy-ace

Canadian coverage has Paul Page and Memo Gidley in the booth. What a pleasant surprise!
Welcome to the forum Suyeong.
Enjoy the race people!

I thought i saw Paul Page walking through the paddock. I guess it was him after all.... Never thought that i would see him there in a million years

[Snrub]

I can understand why Servia was being careful and that makes sense, but it appears like he was being too carefull. Servia had a BIG gap over Bourdais and blew it. Yes Bourdais stretched it out longer and put in a few smoking laps, but Servia should have been pushing harder earlier in the race. His car was capable of at least staying close to AJ, PT, Wilson, but he dropped way back. In my mind that's where he lost the race.

Just for accuracy, "Mexico City event drew 402,413 fans over three days and 221,011 on race day." http://www.champcarworldseries.com/N...le.asp?ID=7597 I don't think any of us expected Edmonton to be such a huge race. I expected it to be a decent success with more like half the number that showed up and judging from the early comments, I think Edmonton did too.

[Ac.]

Originally Posted by Snrub

I don't think any of us expected Edmonton to be such a huge race. I expected it to be a decent success with more like half the number that showed up and judging from the early comments, I think Edmonton did too.

I think even the race organizers were suprised. The only negative comment I have heard is that there weren't enough port-a-potty's to go around, a clear sign they were expecting fewer people.

[macdaddy]

When they actually start turning people away at the door, you know that the crowds exceeded all expectations. "Incredible" is a good word, especially given Edmonton's population and its distance from any other major city. Safe to assume that there'll be plenty more grandstands next year!

Not only was this race such a resounding success with regards to attendance, but let's not overlook the huge amount of sponsorship it had. Presenting sponsors presenting the presenting sponsor! (San Jose seems to have this too!) A company even bought naming rights to the "International Speedway"!

This is awesome. It's great for ChampCar. It's great for Canada. It's great for Edmonton. And it's great for the fans because it's a great circuit.

Molson is probably second-guessing their decision to not promote this one! Don't be surprised if it's the "Molson Indy Edmonton" next year, unless of course the W.E.Mall has an extended contract (I have no idea)

I wonder how much of this has to do with the fact that it was Canada, or how much is in regards to the size of the city. That is to say, as others have mentioned, perhaps it was so overwhelming because a city of this size doesn't enjoy many other "big" events during a year. There's less to choose from, therefore a greater chance that somebody's "play money" will be spent on the GP. Would CC be more successful in the States if they concentrated more on smaller urban areas?

But of course, the mammoth promotion and media-awareness played an equally mammoth part in Edmonton's GP.

[Snrub]

Another thing going for Edmonton is that there is a lot of money in the city . The average income is very high (meaning as macdaddy puts it, more play money) and there is a lot of oil money or spin off effect money. It's not unfair to call it Riyadh North, the largest oil reserves in the world exist north of Edmonton, exceeding those of Saudi Arabia. Finning (track sponsor) is a CAT dealer. Their "bobcat" sized equipment was advertised on TV, but really they're not intended for the general public. I may be wrong, but it may have been the oil patch interests that spured Finning's involvement.

I think Macdaddy makes a good point, there must be similar cities in the US where Champ Car could go. Edmonton was the perfect storm, great track located in the middle of the city (which is a geographical abnomoly), lots of money in the hands of sponsors and citizens, will from the city, will from the promoter, lack of other events.

I think the lack of Molson sponsorship may have effected the Canada wide marketing. My local paper (city of ~350k), had maybe 1/4 page coverage on the 3rd page of the sports section today. I don't know if WEM is on board for next year, but other companies would be nuts not to get involved, including Molson.

[mabs_nsx]

Another great race.

[2112]

The last few posts would explain why the Denver race is also a success.
San Antonio anyone?

[F1_KING]

it was good to see Marshall from team australia go well to finish in the top ten and starting way back in the field.

[josvandeperre]

Can anyone advise if this is a multi-year contract - ie will there be a race next yeaar (all other things being equal) and was it a good spectator (Joe Public not Corporate) event ?

[TedN]

Comments by event president HERE

Ted

[mp356a]

Originally Posted by Hazard

Maybe he's playing the Fittipaldi style game of good team player, rather than the rivalry role Junqueria provides...in the hope of getting rehired?

If Newman/Haas have two guys to pick from of equal performance, one who runs their other guy off the road on occassion...the other helps out...it's easy to pick.

(Then he can go mad next year! It's not often Servia's had a team mate recently either)

I agree. Servia is well aware that he is the replacement driver. He is an excellent team player and if it had been someone other than his teammate in front, he'd have attacked, in my opinion.

[macdaddy]

josvandeperre, I believe Edmonton to have a 3-year contract, with an additional 3-year option.