Pre-race chat. I always enjoyed the Portland circuit in the CART heyday of the '90's. Anyone going there live this weekend?
I was fortunate to go out to Portland to photograph the CART event there in 1997. Interesting track and have a great memories of the experience, mainly the rain. Portland's reputation as being a rainy place is well earned. In the 1997 race, it rained most of the time making getting around a bit of a muddy mess. After the race, making my way back to team hospitality, looking a bit like a bit of a drowned rat and splattered in mud, everything soaked one of the guys took a look at me and said "What happened to you?" "I was working" I replied. It took the entire night of having my photo equipment taken apart and laid to air out to dry. While a pain to work in, rain images are spectacular and some of my best work of the time emerged from that race, notably an image of Raul Boesel in the brilliant orange and yellow Brama beer sponsored cars which won me "Best Sport Image" at my college reunion photo exhibition later in the year. Beautiful part of the country though and some good friends out that way, looking forward to the race today. BHW
Wow, sure looked dry out there today. The dust the cars kicked up in the first lap shunt and subsequent events, it looked bone dry in areas where in 1997 you'd be up to your ankles in mud. Interesting race, enjoyable to watch vs. the disappointment at Monza today. Love it when Sato San wins. But, this championship, which Dixon will win, will certainly mark his best championship ever and ensconce him among the best drivers of this generation. BHW
Typical great late-summer Northwest weather. I always liked the Portland layout, even if there is only one place to pass, unless you're bold enough to pass on the backstretch, which a few drivers were! Hopefully they'll keep the September date. I like the fact that the first 7 finishers were all on different teams. People may complain about "spec" racing series, which IndyCar certainly is, but it does make for competitive racing.
But....is it spec racing............or 'push to pass', and full course yellows for minor incidents? I haven't watched the race, but attended RA's June race where there were no yellows..................and no racing, either. Was Portland different?
Rahal got punted off on the first lap. He returned a bit later and did a couple more laps. The only one who got away with the first lap shunt was Dixon who emerged from the dust like a miracle. Pity about the opening lap incident when Veach got together with Hinchcliffe and causing a multiple-car pile up and extended yellow. The cars being spec (even though there are two engine manufacturers involved) doesn't really take away from the on-track competition. And, as was pointed out when Ferrucci came to a halt on the track, Indy Car race control wisely delayed the caution until after everyone had the opportunity to get their pit stops in. Would Indy Car be better if/when more engine and chassis manufactures come in? Absolutely. However, the racing is fun to watch and produces unpredictable results which cannot be said for F-1 currently. Sato won from 13th on the grid. Dixon came back from the first lap carnage, had a pit lane speed violation and drive through penalty and still finished fifth. In another world class drive, Bourdais had a huge shunt during qualifying necessitating an overnight rebuild and came back to finish third. Those are great stories. Portland International Raceway looked in good shape. They've added some elevated grandstand seating behind the pits which I don't remember being there before. Crowd looked decent, crowded in some areas and plenty of room to spread out in others. Hard to gauge the size as the layout of the facility is bit awkward and a river runs right through it. Hoping the Indy Car race was a success for them. BHW
Robin Miller's report on Racer... https://racer.com/2018/09/03/miller-portland-questions-answered/ BHW
Thanks for posting this. Robin Miller is truly a straight shooter when it comes to reporting, so this carries a lot of weight. Now, would Green and Savoree like to take a swing at promoting the Milwaukee Mile?
I'd love to see IndyCar back at the Mile, preferably the weekend after Indy. is the track/facility in good enough condition to be used?
It could use a total repave. The rest of the facility is top notich. A brand new grandstand with brand new "facilities" was built recently. The place is the Wisconsin Fair State Park, so it is lavishly maintained, no question!
Sounds as though what Milwaukee needs is a real promoter. The Andretti Group failed them miserably. BHW
There certainly is room for improvement. Road America, for example, has advertised a couple events this year, over several weeks, in the local weekly newspaper. This is NW Wisconsin, 4.5-5 hours away. I have never seen the Milwaukee Mile do this once. Others know more about roundy round races than I do, but in the past, both the MN and WI State Fairs hosted a couple of races during their runs. No more.
Back in 2013, I wrote a fairly long, multi-part article about growing up in Sebring titled "Sebring: Evolution of a Tradition" (Anamera) highlighting my personal experiences with The Race and airport facilities over the years. This was an opus which was culled from my own memories and the assistance of drivers and promoters from over the years, it turned into a rather long article. A guy who worked with the Andretti group reached out to me to inquire if I could do a similar type article about the Milwaukee Mile. Hmmmm, well, I didn't grow up in Milwaukee and having never so much as been to the track, I couldn't really write such a piece on the evolution of what amounts to the oldest continuously operating track in the country with an over 100 year history. The offer was interesting enough but it would be a seriously huge undertaking and so my reply was sort of "What is in it for me?". The Andretti guy's reply was "We'll fly you up and give you tickets to the race". It didn't seem like a very good trade-off so I politely declined. Since being paid to write an article like this wasn't in the cards, I recommended that there must be someone in Milwaukee like a track historian who'd have first hand knowledge of the facilities and events over the years or even Robin Miller would have some perceptive. But, evidently, no one was willing to do business with the Andretti group so the whole notion fizzled. The Andretti group gained the reputation of demanding huge amounts to put on their events but then did everything on the cheap as seen here in Miami when they promoted the Formula E event a couple of years ago and imagine this was the case at Milwaukee as well. BHW