The Bear did a Petit Paddock Poop, but didn’t much write about his adventures at and around Road Atlanta. Perhaps because many had concluded that the event might be something of a “high water mark” for the American Le Mans Series (and much of the racing industry), many of Murphy’s buddies made the trip. The Bear was at the Turn 10 party in the woods, of course.
Gus the Gator was there working the pits during the race.
Fred was at his usual station. Fred is special because he was another of Jeannie’s close friends.
Tabby the cat made it, too, helped the Lizards with a flag, got a hat signed, then let the Bear wear it at Paddy’s on Friday. Life is good.
Kieran the little Celt busied himself with the rocks on the terraces above the Turn 10 complex.
Bobbystareyes lost a drinking contest on Friday night, but was recovered enough (barely) to hang out with Murphy on race day. As has become routine (but is still humbling) the little Bear was greeted with a shout of “Hey! Is that Murphy the Bear?” at the sports bar tent on the hill. Followed by the usual photo op, of course. Nice shirt.
Murphy made a special visit to the back straight to see ol’ Jungle Cat and Mrs. Jungle Cat, just about Jeannie’s favorite people on the planet. Here’s Susan at Paddy’s in 2005.
Connor the Beaver worked the paddock for Paddock Poop and watched the race from above the Turn 10 complex (photo redacted). Doc Michelle (below, right) made it to Petit, at least her third this season.
The Peninsula
Murphy got to Laguna Seca late Thursday morning. After faster hot laps in the Safety Car than it managed in Saturday’s race, and chats with Jörg, Wolf, Timo, and Lucas, he headed for some old haunts he once shared with Jeannie and other friends.
Wolf’s on board at Porsche for next year. Jörg’s two year contract is up. Neither will have any idea what they’re doing until after the Porsche banquet. Murphy mentioned Audi unintended acceleration to Lucas (it’s what he had a Detroit). He’s too young to have any idea what the Bear was talking about. Dave and Rod certainly remembered the marque’s North American near-death experience.
After a brush with the liquor control authorities late last year, the London Bridge Pub is once again open at Wharf Number 2 on Monterey’s historic harbor. Beer – British, Belgian and others – is the thing here. A couple of Fat Tires started the evening.
Then it was off to the Sardine Factory on Wave Street above Cannery Row, where Big Mike patrols the bar that once served as the Bear’s office. After a little walk-about in Carmel, dinner was the bar fare – a great hand-ground burger – at the Mission Ranch near the mouth of the Carmel River. Murphy and friends then settled in for a little pop and jazz with Gennady Loktionov at the piano before calling it a night. According to the liner notes for the film score of Mystic River “Clint (Eastwood) was working at home by himself, improvising possible melodies and with the help of Gennady Loktionov made some arrangements to get an idea and sense of the music.”
We were back at the track by morning practice on Friday. In the pits, Murphy got some input from a leading tire manufacturer, “you can’t show up a week before an event and expect to buy tires. That’s not the way it works.” From a team director, “The cost of tires from a leading manufacturer for an ALMS season for a single GT2 car is a quarter million dollars.”
Elsewhere, there was some talk about jail time, and unrelated to that, “A Lexus dealer just went out of business; didn’t sell a single new car in a month.” A former auto dealer in the paddock was grinning from ear-to-ear describing how he’d sold his dealerships a couple of years ago.
A bit later Murphy heard, “The call at Mosport could have gone either way.” Remarkable for who said it.
When the Bear speculated there may be no Spyders in the ALMS next season, he was corrected. There may be, it seems. On balance, though his stuffed head couldn’t put it together so completely or succinctly, Murphy’s take is in line with that of veteran scribe Jonathan Ingram over on motorsport.com.
Friday
Friday night has lately been a night for grazing on the spread in the Flying Lizard pit suites, with catering by ….. This year, Farnbacher Loles had a nice reception at Petit Le Mans, but the Lizards passed on the celebration (though it would have been fitting with their first team championship) at Laguna Seca. The good news in that is that the Bear would be able to join his friends in the campsites for a whole evening of beer, brats, (that is with an “a” Tony, brots is bread, as in “brot knodel”) conversation, and general hilarity.
The Bear was wondering what was up when he got an email the week before asking if he liked dogs. He answered a bit tentatively – he’s had some dog friends, notably Maggie and Turbo, but they have a habit of dragging Murphy off.
Well, with brats on the grill, and cold beer in hand, Murphy got a little present, a copy of The Art of Racing in the Rain. The Bear can’t tell you how excited he was. A book written by a dog! Really! Enzo the dog. He’s started reading, and It’s wonderful. Here is some of the front flap description:
“Enzo knows he is different from other dogs; a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he had educated himself by watching television extensively and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Enzo…sees that life, like racing, isn’t simply about going fast….On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life…”
A Little Poop
Here’s what Murphy thinks the prototype grid will look like in 2009; actually, not much has changed since the Bear’s last Poop. A two car team will be entered in P1 by a former rally driver from Trinidad. A Salt Lake City businessman will continue his hybrid program. The Zytek count could be two if “The Ticket” goes for the sensible upgrade. That could depend on the media holdings (the Dolphins are back) being more up than that real estate is down. But that’s the way it’s going to be in 2009.
The scion of a famous department store name puts one Acura on the track. He’d like to put two out there, but once again, we’re dealing with business realities. The same is true for the former 500 winner.
There’s still some buzz about a Toyota – or Lexus – hybrid of some sort. There have been hints for months. Murphy’s written about it before, and it was a current topic within at least one prominent team. We’ll bump it up above fifty percent.
If the man from Pahrump (is the laundry lady still in town?) is able to complete a deal to field a prototype, it won’t be with his former Las Vegas sponsor.
Others may want to enter – or continue. Murphy suspects from what he hears that financial reality – or prudence – will dictate otherwise.
A pair of Mexicans will return in LMP2. For now, that appears to be the only P2 Acura.
They’ll paint a pair of Poughkeepsie coupes blue and white. Beyond that, the Bear has concerns about the small Saukville construction company in this business environment. They’ll have to get more moola from big oil and the car company, too.
Volgens een goede bron, kan er Porsche Spyder zijn.
If you’re keeping score at home, that’s just ten with a fair amount of certainty, with an upside of about plus five. We’ll update the GT prospects in the Bear’s next poop.
There will be stories throughout the winter. Some will add to this total and some will subtract. This is, after all, a moving target, more so this year than any other. Stick with Murphy. He’ll be here on the job through the winter.
As for Grand Am, there are a whole lot of excuses going around for why the October test entry isn’t representative of the 2009 grid. Time will tell, won’t it?
Murphy, it was good to see you at PLM. Unfortunately the Usual Suspects pulled rank again and decided to leave following Thursday nite practice, so was I unable to show for the Turn 10 get-together.
My sense is 2009 won’t be as bleak as some think – at least not for ALMS. The ACO’s rules announcement next month should shed a bright light on all this.
I’m curious though, with Mr. Dyson going the coupe route, has he settled on a powerplant? LMS’ Speedy Lola-Judd last season appeared to show the AER brigade a clean pair of heels. Perhaps that had more to do with the chassis, I’m not sure, but we were deprived a possible answer at PLM when the Lola-Mazda crashed during warm-up.
Todd
You’re going to have to find a better class of people to hang around with, Todd. The Bear was absolutely crushed by the news of the loss in your life. It’s a big “hole” isn’t it?
I can’t help but remember what Dyson Racing was able to do with a little AER four-cylinder turbo against the vaunted R8; in fact a close look at the same team’s first season with the AER V8t in the B06/10 was pretty immediately competitive with a pole in their very second race. To be honest, the “AER brigade” hasn’t since featured any talent to write home about, in Murphy’s view
The Bear doesn’t know what the final decision will be in this case, but…another bit of honesty…he hasn’t been impressed with Judd engines. They seem to him to be a nice “almost made the podium” motor, but haven’t shown much potential to “go for the gold.”