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| ALMS memorabilia: now a collectable. |
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| ESM's security system |
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| "We're like an old married couple!" -Pat Long |
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| Traffic jam |
To discuss every detail about the 62nd running of
the 12 Hours of Sebring would take more time than fans saw of actual green flag
racing. Needless to say, it was
not a great race. Sure, there were some great moments when the cars were
circulating at pace - when they ran at pace. Which could almost be transformed
into a question: when did the cars run at pace? The first six hours after the
green flag fell on Saturday morning felt like a bad trip to the dentist’s
office. The last 20 minutes provided excellent driving, in more than one class.
The trouble was with what happened in that period in between 10:15am and
roughly 9:50pm.
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| A rare sight during the weekend: a green flag! |
There were a couple of big points that stood out during the
course of the race. The first was the broadcast. Everyone has butchered a name or two in their broadcasting
careers. It’s learning from that experience that shows how dedicated you are.
Mispronouncing a very complex and foreign name might be forgivable once or
twice, but on two separate occasions spaced out over 6 weeks is just poor. With
the radio broadcast being played out over the speakers in the media center,
everyone couldn’t help but notice that during the first two hours of the race,
even the name of the track was said incorrectly. “Seb-bring” is how it was
pronounced by the lead commentator, until the color guest corrected on track
and a few driver names.
In fairness, I have mispronounced names as well. At Daytona
last year, I was unsure of how to say Alex Popow’s name. Was it said Pop-POW or Pop-OFF? Instead of saying it the wrong way and
then asking forgiveness after, I went and asked the man himself (for the
record, it’s pronounced Pop-off). Easy solution to avoid a problem. Before
going on the air with new names, I will typically sit down with someone who’s
been in the business for a while and go over the pronunciation. And I always
ask before an interview if I’m saying their name the correct way. Every now and
then, we all slip up and I’m sure my mistakes are many. But at least I make an
effort to correct them. Most of the drivers whose names I heard butchered were
people who competed at Daytona. That’s more than a month to learn. But that
effort wasn’t put forth.
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| One of the PC crashes |
Okay, stepping off the soap-box. The next unavoidable area
to discuss is flags. 11 cautions periods, 1 red flag. During a 12 hour race.
That’s too many. I’m not saying race control flew too many flags either. The
driving standard was pretty iffy in some areas. The PC category needs a solid
looking over. That’s not to say all PC cars caused issues. Quite to the
contrary, the RSR and CORE Autosport entries gave us some great entertainment
as Bruno Junqueira, David Heinemeier-Hansson, Colin Braun, James Gue, Jon
Bennett, and Duncan Ende battled it out for the win. It’s the other cars in the
class who caused some headaches. Even the 3rd place PC entry
finished 7 laps down on the lead battle. 10 PC cars started, and by my count,
four had race ending crashes, two more had incidents that took them out of the
running, and two others weren’t without their share of misfortune. Spins reigned
common as even some of the more experienced drivers found themselves facing the
wrong way on course. The PC cars are anything but easy to drive, given their
current set ups and it really needs to be reexamined if this class should be
driven by “gentlemen” or if for now, more underrated experienced drivers should
take the helms.
The other cautions, not caused by PC cars, also stemmed from
some questionable driving. The main one that comes to mind was in the middle of
a series of cautions, when it appeared something broke on the Risi Competizione
Ferrari. The #62 went careening
off T1, snapping right in the middle of a left hand turn. It was what happened
after Malucelli managed to limp the car out of the tire barrier that caught
everyone’s attention. Instead of waiting for a gap or the marshals to give him
the all clear, the Ferrari pulled into a gaggle of cars, subsequently making
contact with the #30 GTD Porsche and ending the race for the Momo NGT team as
well. This caused another yellow and brought more stress to the Risi team that
has already suffered enough bad luck for a lifetime. This is the same crew who
had to pick up the pieces after that horrific crash at Daytona and now it
appears they’ll have to do the same again. Florida hasn’t been kind to them.
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| The Viper fire, as seen from the media center |
Another team who comes away from Sebring with less than fond
memories is the Viper Exchange team, led by Ben Keating. While Keating was
driving behind the safety car, his own GTD Viper started to get a little warmer
than usual. Well, fast-forward about 30 minutes and his car was smelling like a
barbeque. I saw the charred remains of the #33 as it was brought via flat bed
and then carried by fork lift into it’s garage. It was a crispy shell of the
car it once was, with the windshield disturbingly fried and crumpled. The car,
as everyone is most likely aware, burned for far longer than it should have.
Now, the marshals close by reacted as they should have. But a lack of IMSA
safety crew left a stench through the paddock stronger than the charred Viper. It
took too long to put that fire out. It’s easy to say retrospectively what
should have been done. But as the car was burning, several murmurs through the
media center about how this could have been avoided had the IMSA safety crew
been on the job.
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| Who ordered theirs well done? |
Everyone at the track is friendly, and we are one big
family. Sometimes, we get mad at a cousin or brother who might do something we
disagree with. Someone who took a lot of negative energy at Daytona (and
unfortunately again at Sebring) was the race director Paul Walter. Paul is one
of the most approachable guys at the track, someone who will make time for a
race discussion. I saw him less than an hour before the race started, when he
was in the pit lane. When I went over to wish him good luck for the race, he
pulled me aside to talk about Daytona. Paul wanted my opinion on what happened.
After a few minutes, he explained how they had issued a new bulletin (of which
there are more than 70 and we are only in March, which is pretty funny) that,
for one thing, details avoidable contact. He said that leaving racing room is
one thing but you must respect your fellow competitors, a point he pushed in
the drivers’ meeting at Sebring. I won’t go through detail by detail what we
discussed but know this: when I walked away after talking to him, I felt much
more confident in his decision-making. Even after the Sebring debacle, I feel
that a big reminder is necessary. It isn’t just ONE guy up in race control
making all of these calls; it’s a group. And if ONE person disagrees with the
rest of the group, majority still rules. The calls are unanimous, but when was
the last time everyone fully agreed on something?
Beyond the behind the scenes politics, the attitude of the
fans was outstanding! It seems as if the troubles we talk about online and
those we constantly complain of were temporarily suspended while the cars were
running around the track. People were appeased by the sights of their
favorites, the sounds of the engines, and the smell of the tires and brakes.
There’s something magical about racing that can bring us all together and it
never fails to amaze me how once the cars are out, a peace settles over the
viewers. Same can’t necessarily be said for those on the pit wall, but for the
fans, all is good with the world when the cars are on track. After a race like
that, it isn't only the track that goes cold once the race is done…the fans grow
cold too.
