Postcards from the Paddock - VIR

My plan for this season was to start chronicling my impressions from life on the road covering motorsports with a semi-regular blog post following each event I worked on site, plus occasional updates when I felt I had thoughts worth sharing on a topic de jour from the sport. Like so much else in 2020, that all went by the wayside with the COVID-19 pandemic. But with racing starting up again and my first event since March now under my belt, the time seems right to debut the Postcards from the Paddock.

The obvious place to start is how the experience of covering motorsports has changed in a few short months. The SRO globally, and its American arm locally, have been remarkably proactive in handling the manifold challenges that a global pandemic presents, implementing innovative protocols as well as addressing issues with scheduling and new regulations.

Sports car racing in particular has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. In my estimation this is due largely to the global nature of the paddock as well as the dependence on a strong crop of amateur drivers whose passion and funding have long been the bulwark of the sport. Both aspects have added to the difficulties this year. Normally a strength of sports car racing, its international nature has been a stumbling block in a world where crossing borders has become immensely challenging. The amateur driver is now likely seeing his or her business suffer from the economic consequences of the health crisis which could make spending money on a racing hobby superfluous.

Nevertheless, the grids this weekend at VIR were healthy (outside of GT3, which is as much a sign of the longstanding issue of rising costs in the class as it is a result of the Coronavirus) and the enthusiasm to be back to racing was palpable. So much so that I never encountered any complaints about the stringent requirements that the series put in place : the obligatory wearing of masks, social distancing outside of pre-determined groups, medical screenings, and other initiatives that undoubtedly complicated the jobs of crews, drivers, officials, and media alike. While I did see few individual cases of people disregarding the protocols, most adhered to the new regulations. To the SRO's credit, reminders were frequently issued and individuals caught running afoul were reprimanded. Anecdotally it seemed that adherence increased as the weekend progressed as everyone adjusted to the changes.

For my part, trying to gather information while maintaining a safe distance and not intruding on teams' space was extremely difficult. The primary role of a pit reporter on the broadcast is to get information straight from the teams, and in a loud environment that is a real challenge to accomplish from a distance. For that same reason, in-race interviews were all but eliminated. Our one attempt at conducting an in-race interview came during Saturday's GT World Challenge powered by AWS race. With only eight cars on track at the time, it was the most conducive time to try but it became clear why it simply would not work. Even without cars on the track the pit lane is a loud place with generators constantly running, cars firing up in the paddock, and all kinds of other noises that make conversation at a distance a challenge. Add in-race cars at speed and it becomes next to impossible to communicate. I regret that we could not bring the normal level of insight from the competitors but I hope the viewers understand the situation, and I thank the teams and PR professionals that helped to share information digitally for us to use on the broadcasts.

Through it all, my overwhelming impression was that everyone was happy to be back to work, myself included! It has been a long layoff, and beyond the financial implications of having so many events canceled I simply have missed doing my job. My passion is motor racing and telling the stories of the people who make it the unique, captivating sport we love. If anything, the first half of 2020 has made me appreciate it even more.

Now, a few observations from VIR and motorsports globally:

***Bumper grids are always welcome, but it doesn't necessarily take a massive field to make for a good race. Case in point, Saturday's GT World Challenge race which saw an inauspicious yellow flag derail a dominant run from Shelby Blackstock and Trent Hindman and set up a thrilling run to the finish. After pitting under yellow, Hindman restarted behind his Racers Edge Motorsports teammate Kyle Marcelli and hounded the Canadian all the way to the checkered flag, and Marcelli didn't flinch. With both driving Acura NSX GT3 Evos, it was a mighty duel on even footing. After the race, both drivers (who are as fit as they come) were visibly exhausted from the chase as well as the heat which reached 130 degrees Fahrenheit in the cockpit.

***A corollary of the previous observation: a great duel doesn't need to end with a position change. Hindman and Marcelli fought each other tooth and nail, and the fun factor wasn't diminished because the running order didn't change. At least it didn't for me.

***Michael Cooper is the best kept secret in GT racing and it's almost criminal. A champion at all three levels of SRO America (touring car, GTS/GT4, and GT3) who has held factory driver roles with both GM and now McLaren, somehow he remains a relative unknown to the sports car community at large. This weekend he turned in another remarkable string of performances after a disastrous day on Friday which saw mechanical issues for both his Pirelli GT4 America Sprint and SprintX teams. A pair of Sprint wins on Saturday and Sunday, beating no less than Spencer Pumpelly to the line in both cases, have Cooper in the driver’s seat in the championship after three rounds. His charges from the back of the pack in SprintX after missing qualifying were also masterclass even if the final results (17th, 18th, 7th) don't overwhelm.

***It was strange to be at an SRO America weekend without seeing Tony Gaples. The longtime competitor in the series, and owner of the Blackdog Speed Shop team that fields Cooper's Sprint program, had to miss his first race weekend in his professional racing career after emergency eye surgery. Get well soon, Tony! Hope to see you at Sonoma next month.

***It was hard to miss the NTT IndyCar Series race weekend at Road America, my favorite North American road course and probably second only to Spa-Francorchamps globally of the road racing circuits I've been to in person. It's also the site of a major career milestone. When the series returned in 2016, I got an IndyCar Radio tryout that helped me make the transition into covering motorsports full time. Indy cars and Road America are a natural fit and I missed being there on site as I have been the last four years.

***While I wasn't there, I was doing my best to follow from afar. I think we're running out of superlatives to describe the excellence that Scott Dixon has displayed year in and year out for two decades now. Yes, being on a powerhouse team like Ganassi helps (although Scott suffered through some lean years with an underperforming Toyota engine early in his career), and the strength of their engineering and strategy was on full display in his win Saturday, but the man behind the wheel deserves all the credit he receives, if not more. With his win and championship totals and an Indy 500 win to his name already, he has established himself as one of the all time greats.

***How cool was it to see a totally different script play out in the second race of the doubleheader on Sunday? Yes, it was another Ganassi win, but this time it was Felix Rosenqvist leading the charge en route to his first win and the first non-Dixon IndyCar win for Ganassi since Tony Kanaan triumphed at Fontana in 2014. I've been bullish on Rosenqvist for years and hated to see his rise to Formula 1 sidetracked. I suspect this will be the first of many wins in his IndyCar career.

***As happy as I am for Felix, I'm gutted for Pato O'Ward who dominated Sunday's race from pole. Pato is another guy I've tabbed as an IndyCar-caliber driver since covering him in IMSA full time in 2017. I'm not sure there was any arresting Rosenqvist's charge given the tire situation, but Pato threw everything he could at the Swede, and it made for a spectacular sequence of corners. That scrap for the lead, hard fought but fair, is IndyCar road racing at its best.

***At the other end of the spectrum was F1's Styrian Grand Prix which will be remembered, if it's remembered at all, for Lewis Hamilton winning for Mercedes in its 200th Grand Prix since returning to F1 as a constructor, Ferrari continuing to be its own worst enemy, and George Russell's amazing qualifying effort to drag his Williams into Q2 in a torrential downpour. Plaudits and demerits where applicable.

***I'll admit I didn't catch much of the NASCAR weekend at Kentucky Speedway, but congratulations to first time Cup series winner Cole Custer. I had Cole on my local radio show in Missouri back in 2013 or 2014 and have distantly followed his career ever since. I love seeing a first time winner, and he didn't luck into this one. That last restart was a thing of beauty.