A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Detroit
10 June 1998
On Wednesday last week I left the warm weather of Florida with the intent of a final destination of Detroit, Michigan for the FED-EX CART CHAMPIONSHIP. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, I did not make it to Detroit. A detour trip to the east coast was required. Rather than whine and pout about missing the event I decided to look upon my amazing good fortune. On this particular week-end five major races were scheduled: Le Mans, NASCAR at Richmond, IRL at Forth-Worth, Formula One in Montreal and finally CART in Detroit. With the help of an old family friend, who, by the way, is just as fanatical about motorsports, I was presented the alternative of utilizing the wonderful tools of technology. Specifically, true satellite television. My friend's house, aside from being a beautiful place to stay, also came equipped with a purpose-built television viewing room. Watching motorsports on a large format screen with stereo surround sound is the only way. It was better than any movie house and besides access to food and adult beverages was available. When's the last time you watched a movie while sipping a glass of Merlot while nibbling on canapes? On Saturday morning, 7:00 am to be exact, with the satellite dish pointed toward the heavens, the image of sportscars gridding at Le Mans filled the over-sized screen. The stereo surround sound provided the right amount of foreground commentary and background noise to make you feel as if you were right in the middle of the show. The pageantry of the world's best known sportscar endurance race was a sight to behold. After a few hours of viewing the race from France, a break was needed before returning to check up on the status of the various leaders plus two more races (NASCAR at Richmond, VA and IRL at Fort Worth,TX) were in store for Saturday evening. The NASCAR race was it's usual short-track bumping and grinding. For Jeff Gordon, it was "paybacks are hell" time when Rusty Wallace "bumped" his car into the second turn wall. Gordon's retort in a pit area interview was restrained, but you could feel the expletives just below the surface, ready to explode. All Gordon needs to do is go to the videotape of the spring race at Bristol last year. Enough said. Oh, by the way, Terry Labonte was the eventual winner in another bump and grind incident with Dale Jarrett. The IRL race was particularly interesting. A lot of criticism (some worthy, some not) has been dumped on the IRL. None the less, the speeds that these guys were attaining was incredible in any league. Granted only a few of the drivers are household names, but it still requires a very brave person to mash his foot to the floor and hold it there. AJ Foyt's driver Billy Boat eventually won but not before he and native Texan-Greg Ray put on a spectacular show. Unlike last year's fiasco (the boxing match in victory circle), this year's version was every bit as good as any of the CART oval races in recent memory. A news flash for the CART purists. The IRL is here to stay. I did not like Tony George's method of breaking away, but he has the pocketbook to last and if they keep putting on shows like the one in Fort-Worth the series will survive. The next morning, 6:00am to be exact, a return to Le Mans. It looked like Toyota was going to attain it's first-ever over-all win at the Sarthe Cicuit. However, it was not to be when the gearbox went south with 90 minutes left in the race. This left the surviving Porsche GT-1's to sweep the first two spots. The victory was Porsche's third in a row at Le Mans. Taking another break was mandatory before getting ready for the Canadian Grand Prix. TSN, the Canadian version of ESPN, does a particularly outstanding job of pre-race coverage. A full-hour is dedicated to the week-end plus discussions of the rest of the season. The race was eventually won by Michael Schumacher, but not before a re-start that was required after a multi-car incident in the first turn. Schumacher, in the post-race interview was quick to criticize Damon Hill for some blocking maneuvers. Schumacher, like Jeff Gordon, is another candidate for the video-tape machine. He punted Frentzen into the weeds in turn one. Blasting out of the pits, Schumacher seemed to care less who was in his way. None the less, the FIA officials, instead of assessing a major penalty, looked the other way. No doubt if the same maneuver had been performed by a lesser name a full-race penalty would have been assessed The last race of the week-end was the CART race from Detroit. What looked so promising on paper turned out to be the most boring of all five races. Alex Zanardi, in his usual aggressive driving style, grabbed the lead from pole-sitter Greg Moore and never looked back. Granted Zanardi benefited from a poor pit-stop by Moore's pit crew but the drama of a nail-biting finish never materialized. Perhaps we were all spoiled by the high-drama of the previous years' race at Detroit. None the less, the race was more processional than any CART race in recent memory. Five races in thirty-six hours, what a week-end! My next stop is to see how much a real-satellite system costs and what about one of those viewing rooms with surround-sound. Well, ok how about four good speakers and a 30 inch television? You've got to start somewhere. David Treffer -- The Auto Channel
