Well, there’s enough to tell that a Pre-Petit column seems like a good idea. Murphy didn’t know whether to call it a Paddock Poop or a People and Places. It started out as more of the latter. But then his assistants started calling with rumblings around the paddock, so we’re going to make this Paddock Poop 23. We’ll get to those rumblings in due course.
The Bear took a trip earlier this month, east to Colorado, then back to his cave East of Eden via Phoenix and Los Angeles. It was time to visit mama Bears before the snow flies in the Rockies. Sin city – Las Vegas – is a one day drive from Monterey Bay, about seven hours, and most – but not all – on freeways. Our route took us south to Paso Robles, then east on California State Route 46 past the James Dean monument at Chalome, the James Dean Memorial Intersection at State Route 41 and through the oil fields in Kern County. Once upon a time, an independent oilfield operator called Belridge Petroleum was acquired by Shell Oil Company for $3.6 billion. That was criticized as an unbelievably high cost at the time. Quaint, isn’t it? Driving through those Kern County fields brought back memories for Murphy’s friend, who worked in these fields as a management consultant in the eighties. Forests of horsehead pumps, some idle now, in the Lost Hills field, in Midway-Sunset, in Kern River, and in Elk Hills produced one percent of the world’s oil output as recently as 1999. These are high-cost steam injection fields. You have to wonder if today’s high crude prices will lead to the re-opening of capped wells. Anybody out there know what else Elk Hills is famous for? Oh, and about James Dean’s last drive. Murphy was wrong when he wrote that the actor was on his way to Laguna Seca. He was actually on his way to a race at the Salinas Airport. Laguna Seca hadn’t yet opened.
Fernandez Racing will have its Lola B05/40 Acura at Petit Le Mans, and announce its 2007 drivers on Saturday morning. Not sure why the Series’ wouldn’t have announced this by now. Perhaps Acura wanted to. But then, I’m not sure why Acura wouldn’t have announced this by now. Don’t they want to be noticed? Murphy thought that was part of the purpose of this racing stuff.
The Bear was writing this on a college football Saturday. He thought that Uga and the Dawgs were going to be upended by Ralphie and the lowly Buffs, but a fourth-quarter comeback avoided perhaps the most ignominious defeat in Georgia history. Meanwhile, his Rodents were played stupid football to lose at Purdue, sending him rummaging through his cave for whisky and beer (figure out that reference if you can). Come Sunday, Murphy settled in with a pink cap borrowed from Heidi to watch much bigger Bears than he is play the Scandinavians. The rape-pillage-burn guys looked like they were going to win it, but Murphy’s Ursidae Ursus relatives pulled this one out. This little Bear thinks he looks spiffy in pink.
It’s problematical whether Mazda’s now two-season old – OK, a bit less than that in total events – sports car racing has effort risen to the level of its advertising. After all, “Zoom-zoom,” and “sports car company” haven’t exactly been reinforced by the on-track struggles of the Courage-powered Mazda LMP2. Now Honda will field three contenders with the Acura badge, and there have been rumors that still others could enter the fray. Now the Bear hears that Mazda has made the necessary commitment to “up its game” in 2007. Not a bit too soon. Another season like these past two would likely do irreparable harm to the company’s reputation.
That night in Las Vegas included dinner at Paris, a visit to Caesar’s Palace, and a couple of football bets that will now require another trip to collect. Then we were on the way to Colorado, by way of western Arizona and Utah. If you ever get the chance, Interstate 70 runs through some stunning scenery in eastern Utah and western Colorado. We headed down to Aspen from Glenwood Springs. Beautiful little place. Definitely for the well-heeled. This is where the Bear was first exposed to Rugby a few years back. Now that’s brutal stuff. Blood, sweat, and beers, as they say. Heading east from there it’s over Independence Pass. A narrow, winding and tricky road good weather, not recommended at night, and not negotiable at all in bad weather.
Murphy hears that the Series’ effort to get new Ford boss Alan Mulally exposed to the American Le Mans Series has been at least temporarily derailed by the unexpected retirement of Ford Exec VP Anne Stevens, who it was hoped would be an intermediary in an approach to the Ford CEO.
Is the American Le Mans Series “within a cat’s whisker” once again of that elusive title sponsor? That’s what Wally the Walrus hears, anyway.
Really cockamamie stuff department. The California Attorney General sued auto companies this week for causing global warming. Hasn’t the state been writing the rules all these years? Even the Los Angeles Times, usually firmly in the eco camp, jumped all over this one.
Murphy has expressed his displeasure with the idea of a Road America doubleheader with Champ Car. Last week he softened that a little bit. Getting an entry – even if on the under-card – to the important southern California market at Long Beach might be at least partial compensation. It seems that only the length of the event at Long Beach is yet to be resolved (no, it won’t be six hours, just hope for more than one). And, since those first reports, the Bear has heard that ALMS will keep it’s Sunday headliner in a shared weekend at Road America. Some are reporting that all this is still unsettled for both series, with some Champcar Euro races a piece of the puzzle.
We’ll get a preview of some of this if, as reported elsewhere, Champ Car announces its schedule on Wednesday. News sites – dailysportscar, Pit Journal, Speed Arena, The Paddock, and of course the Series’ own site – will report the final outcome next Friday at about noon Eastern Daylight Time.
Interesting facts department. Interesting fact number one: CITGO is owned by the government of Venezuela. Interesting fact number two: Most service stations, those that sell CITGO products included, are independently owned and operated. Interesting fact number three: Independent service stations, including those that sell CITGO products, can change their suppliers, and routinely do so.
Are there more Esperantes headed for the American Le Mans Series next season? Check back with the Bear after Petit Le Mans. Amongst the “big” prototypes, the Courage – Cosworth story got more “legs” this week when some tied them to the schedule negotiations between ALMS and Champ Car, as in, “Tell you what, if you’ll agree to run a couple of Cosworth protos, we’ll…”
The eastern destination for the Bear was Pueblo, Colorado, an old steel town (the mill has since closed) in the desert below the front range south of Colorado Springs. There was family to visit there, and at the Veteran’s Home in Florence a few miles west. Florence is also home to the Federal ADX Supermax prison that houses such characters as shoe bomber Richard Reed, Neo Nazi David Lane, and the guy in the mug shot Murphy included in Paddock Poop 22. That Florence inmate is freelance hitman Charles Harrelson, the father of actor Woody Harrelson. Go back and take a look. You can see the resemblance now, can’t you?
Red herring department. The association of Dick Barbour with Aston Martin. If Barbour comes back to American Le Mans Series Racing – and he might – it likely won’t be with the green fords.
Heading west again, the Bear visited Farmington, New Mexico, where an old friend of his buddy Jeannie resides. It was a nice visit, and Farmington’s a nice place, but you’d never end up there unless you were actually headed there. It’s not really on the way to anywhere else. You can get to the Grand Canyon from there, though – a thrilling first for Murphy. It’s awesome, and beautiful. One of those places that meets even the highest of expectations.
After that the Bear visited more family in Phoenix, then spent a night on the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Some have called the old liner “the most haunted place on the planet.” The 1930’s art deco is still in place through much of the ship, most strikingly in the Observation Bar on the Promenade Deck near the Bow.
After Long Beach, the Bear stopped to visit in Malibu, where he’ll be returning for a charity event, the Dolphin Ball, the week after Petit Le Mans. He’s off for Petit in the morning.
