A Hero Is No Braver Than An Ordinary Man


That’s the beginning to a Ralph Waldo Emerson route that finishes: ” Except He Is Braver Five Minutes Longer”

This quote is being used by Champ Car this year to market the series and their drivers who every week fight tooth and nail basically for the pure love of Champ Car racing. That is where this blog was headed until early this evening. The original subject of the piece will be listed below separately.

As much as the original subject moved me, this evening Robby Gordon made the phrase hit home even harder. In Montreal Robby was racing for the win in The NAPA Auto Parts 200 held at The Circuit Gilles Villeneauve in Montreal Quebec. Lying in wait in fifth position until late in the race, Robby made his charge. Around Harvick in turn eight where nobody had really passed in all day he was on Ambrose’s tail with four or five laps to go.

Ambrose was meat.

Despite all the talk you will here about Jeff Gordon being NASCAR’s best road racer. The fact is that Robby Gordon is NASCAR’s best road racer with JPM ,Tony Stewart and Scott Pruett tied for second. Where Scott is such a finesse driver, Robby can simply muscle a car and make it perform tricks nobody else In NASCAR can.

Don’t believe me? Go back to when Robby slid his car through the bus stop at Watkins Glen ready to devour Kurt Busch when the caution flew saving Kurt from being passed for the win. Then go to the Cup Date the following day when the announcing crew was flabbergasted at how Robby could get through the bus stop and pass cars at will. Robby pushing a road course or street course is something to behold.

The media will contend that Marcus Ambrose was on his way to his first Busch win. The reality is Marcus was on his way to a really nice second place finish and a good day where he led some laps. We knew it and Marcus Ambrose knew it.

That’s why as Robby Gordon cleanly cleared Ambrose and the caution came out for Kevin Harvick muscling Scott Pruett into the infield, Marcus Ambrose turned Robby Gordon. If Marcus. who came with a tough driver image from his Australian resume, had followed racing at all he should have known better. He had just messed with the wrong cat.

Robby was able to turn his machine around and rejoin the procession as it went by. Then he was given orders to proceed to the second spot on the grid for the restart. Robby complied and let Ambrose know he was there and both drivers were gesturing on who should be number 1.

NASCAR then ordered Robby back to 28th or something with Gordon’s pit then arguing that was wrong in their eyes Robby should have had the lead since he was when the caution flew or at least no worse than second when the field was frozen and they had not crossed the next scoring loop.

NASCAR then reviewed the tape again and decided to put Robby in the teens some place. Not even close to what he blended in at.

The truth is NASCAR was under pressure as laps were winding down with cars fuel and television time both near empty. They really didn’t know where Robby blended in at but they did know if they did not separate the two Robby was going to wreck Ambrose who they should have black flagged when he punted Robby.

Robby refuses to go back in the pack and surrender the win.

Starting behind Ambrose when NASCAR dropped the green flag, Robby punted him and off he went. He newer looked back. Had Robby looked back, he would have seen Harvick who had become the race leader in NASCAR’s eyes fighting of Patrick Carpentier. Then again he may have been looking backwards because he continued to ignore all the black flags until the checkered flag dropped and he had completed his victory burnouts with two other guys doing their victory burnouts.



This is the official statement from Ramsey Poston NASCAR Spokesman:

Ramsey Poston wrote:

These are the critical passages: Ramsey Poston wrote:

Ramsey Poston wrote:

While Ambrose may have been the leader and that should be scrutinized as well, Ambrose was still physically behind Gordon.

Robby at this time had passed Ambrose and had slowed to maintain a cautious pace as the flag man is clearly shown on the tape. This is where Ambrose punted him.

Clearly Ambrose even if he was the leader by reverting to the last scoring loop did not maintain a “Cautious pace” when he turned Robby. What Joe Balash seems to want to have us believe is that the leader by his position of being leader can not improve his own position and therefore has the right to wreck anybody under caution.


Ramsey Poston wrote:

Well, that was because he was wrecked by the leader under caution while maintaining a cautious pace.

Even if NASCAR tries to claim Robby passed Ambrose under caution. it does not hold water because obviously Gordon slowed to caution speed after and Ambrose did not.

Ramsey Poston. wrote: “

And that race fans is where “the braver for five minutes longer” was displayed.

Robby Gordon had stood up and refused to be NASCAR’s whipping boy one more time. He had stood up for what was right. That bravery is what made him the hero of the day and made the internet and media light up.

The fans in Canada were cheering Robby on believing he had rightfully won the race. The media except for Jenna Fryer (surprise, she is the one that twisted the Danica Patrick weight story out of proportion) thought that Robby had won the race.

The simple fact is that according to NASCAR precedent Robby should have been started no worse than second.

The anti Robby Gordon fans were lighting up the internet as well.” Gordon should be banned from NASCAR”! These are the same groups that worship Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt who happened to have punted one more than one driver for a win.

But Robby will be forever stigmatized as an outsider even though The Intimadator thought highly of his skill.

Today though we were treated to see Robby’s heart. For five minutes he was braver than an ordinary man.


That bravery though pales to who the original subject of this blog was to be.

It was a year ago Friday that 2002 Champ Car Champion Cristiano da Matta struck a deer in his open cockpit Lola at 100mph-120mph while testing at Road America..Cristiano had just come off his best podium of the season at San Jose and was getting practice in before Champ Car’s date at Denver.

Cristiano does not remember the accident or the hospital stay but the crux is The Champ Car Safety Team extracted him, loaded him on a chopper and he was flown to the nearest trauma center. This is where a doctor cut away nearly a third of his skull and just let his brain swell out of the case in hope the least amount of damage could obtained this way.

This also is a technique that was used for ABC’s Bob Woodruff.

We did not know if Cristiano would: Live, Wake Up, Vegetablize, become functional in some capacity. But low and behold he walked out of the hospital speaking three languages and playing a little guitar.

After returning to his Miami home for awhile he then went back to Brazil to finish recuperating. That is also where good fried and fellow Champ Car driver Oriol Servia had noticed while playing video games da Matta’s reflexes had returned.

Now Cristiano had already made some heart warming appearances such as Las Vegas to start the season and made it known last season after gaining consciousness he needed a ride for 2007 nobody really took him seriously.

Then all of sudden last week Cristiano showed up at San Jose the site of his last podium finish in great shape and riding bikes with his friends with the announcement he was seeing a doctor about getting cleared to go racing.

No Joke Folks, Cristiano is serious. When asked how soon he would be in a go kart if he was cleared? “ The Next Day” I have not heard if he was cleared yet or not and my feelings are mixed. I remember being vehement about Steve Park returning too soon. With Steve it was clear he speech was off but his left side strength was nowhere near normal either. Jerry Nadeau was in worse shape.

The issue of risk re injury after a traumatic brain injury remains the same. However I wish I could see the likeable young man known as “Shorty” wheeling that go kart around here at Miller Motorsport Park.

If he is not cleared to race then Cristiano says he is ok with that as well.

Cristiano is definitely braver than an ordinary man.

Two men, one fire and one tranquility but both with the heart of champions.

Champ Car Mt Tremblant: Everybody Loves Roller Coasters.

Sunday, The Champ Car World Series ran its sixth race of the season at Le Circuit Mt Tremblant in St Jovite Quebec. St Jovite is a resort center about 80 miles north of Montreal in The Laurentian Mountains. This race replaces the date Champ Car lost under dubious circumstances to The NASCAR Busch series on Circuit Giles Villeneuve in Montreal.

Like the weather this weekend their was a cloud over this date since it was announced last year. It had been forty years since Champ Car had raced here last and to listen to the popular opinion, the track was in dire need of repair. Whether it could be brought up to standard by race day was doubtful. St Jovite was in the middle of nowhere with little more accommodation than Road America. Would anybody come?

Sunday all the doubting Thomas’s were proven wrong and we were left wondering why weren’t we here sooner?

The track is absolutely stunning. A natural terrain road course approximately 2.621 miles long with 15 turns the announced elevation changes of 162ft. What we didn’t comprehend is the drastic elevation changes in the course. There may not be a quarter mile of it that is level. You are constantly going up and down hill while turning right and left, accelerating to 170mphs or 185mph and then having to descend or climb right or left after eyeball relocating downshifts.

Picture an old low wooden roller coaster bent into 8 different directions, the car going 180mph and you have pretty much got the picture. Like Road America you can sit anywhere around the track on the grass or use the strategically located grand stands.

As far as accommodations go it’s a full blown first class resort that looks like the Disney Castle just bigger with a real honest to goodness lake to play around in. Not the settling pond at Daytona International Speedway.

Race weekend would see drastic changes in the weather everyday. Raining at times, sunny at times or raining on one part of the course while it was sunny on the other parts. PKV Racing’s rookie Tristan Gommendyin his Pay By Touch Panoz DP01 set the fast time for Friday qualifying before a weather change and held that time for the pole for Sunday’s race.

The weekend would be stormy for several of Champ Car’s competitors. Past champion Paul Tracyof Forsythe Championship Racing and last weeks winner at Cleveland had a steering rack replaced Saturday night. It must have been the rack he shunted a couple of cars with last week because when Paul went to turn in the warm up session he had a 20 degree deflection in the wheel, went off course and wrecked his car. So PT went to a back up and started last on the grid.

Bruno Junqueira and Katherine Legge of [url=Dale Coyne Racing]http://www.dalecoyneracing.com/Dale Coyne Racing] suffered from the ongoing problem with the new gearbox. Katherine suffered during practice and qualifying while Bruno suffered early race day. They were not the only ones though and hopefully Hewland will find an answer soon.

Champ Car did get to their standing start but only after pole sitter Tristan Gommendy’s car failed to start. When the lights went out current three time champion Sebastien Bourdais had already jumped the start with lead car Will Power of Aussie Vineyards Walker Racing stalling his Panoz DP01. Also failing to fire were his teammate Simon Pagenaud and Conquest Racing’s Jan Heylan. That ended up as four cars out of the start with Sebastien jumping it. I thought series director Tony Cottman should have restarted the field myself.

The field re started after caution after Power, Pagenaud and Heylen joined the field. As they roared down the front stretch they dipped downhill into the chicane that is a right hand entry and a climbing left hand exit bouncing off the rumble strips all the way through. Then they dropped down hill again into a right, righter, hard left that is the turn three, four, five complex. This complex saw action all day.

The short straight to the turn six left hand sweeper up the hill to turn sevens right hand bend at about 175mph then back downhill into the carousel turn that is turn eight. Out of eight climbing through a slight bend called turn nine then the right hand turn 10 dropping into a short chute to turn 11 climbing uphill and hooking left in turn eleven short chute and climbing while turning left out of turn 12. Passing a blip called 13 which leads to a falling sharp right that is turn 14. Her is also the entrance to pit lane. Ths short left that is turn 15 then start finish.

Hell! I get dizzy just typing the course layout!.

NO WORRIES FOR PAUL TRACY! By lap five The Thrill From West Hill was in 11th place. Bruno Junqueira was tenth and going for ninth on lap 11 when his gearbox failed. Some racing was going on! PT however would suffer from Cleveland Karma when on lap 14 he was spun by a brave but not prudent Will Power.

Lap 15's running order was: Bourdais, Doornbos, Wilson, Jani, Clarke, Tagliani, Rahal, Servia, Dalziel, Power, Heylan, Figge, Legge, Tracy, Pagenaud. Think being at the end of the pack would ruin your day? Not so for Simon Pagenaud and Will Power. By the end of the day they would be contending for the win.

On lap 24 Belgian sensation of Conquest Racing Jan Heylen found the wall with the rear wing of his beautiful black Grand Prix of Belgium Panoz DP01. This brought out the days second caution. Jan had been having a decent race and considering that he came to the series late this year while his drives have been frustrating he has shown some real speed.

With Sebastien Bourdais in the lead it had started to rain through turns 14, 15 and the front stretch. When Sebastien came to take the green for the restart on lap 28 he hit the throttle at the top of turn 14 with his car finding the wet track not to its liking and just went off the pavement into the gravel trap and back on course losing four or five spots in the process.

Meanwhile Paul Tracy had cooked a motor and was stalled on the track. A Cosworth representative off the record said the leased engine was “elderly”. Or it may have been spun backwards when he was turned by Will Power.

Robert Doornbos inherited the lead and held it until lap 37. When he came to the pit lane for a caution brought out by teammate Dan Clarke of Minardi Team USA when he had gone off track with an engine or electrical failure at lap 34. Alex Figge, Who had been fighting a brake problem all day, spun on lap 36 bringing out the caution. The mechanical ruined a pretty decent day for Speedy Dan Clarke the young Brit who has been struggling a little.

Justin Wilson and Neel Jani short filled passing Doornbos in the pits. Graham Rahaland Will Power of Team Australia Walker Racingstayed out. Rahal ofNewman Haas Lanigan then inherited the lead. Power who had stalled on the race start was now in second place with both Rahal and Power set to make it a two stop race instead of everybody else’s three.

Young Graham Rahal had a great day and found himself in strategic position to win when after a caution at lap 44 when Alex Figge spun again. The precip was now enough to switch to rain tires and Graham came to pit lane for fuel to the finish and four Bridgestone rain tires but stalled the car after getting them! Newman Haas Lanigan could not get him started!

RSports Justin Wilson now inherited the lead with Simon Pagenaud, Will Powers Team Australia teammate and who had also stalled on the grid in second place. Power had gone off course and fallen back in the pack.

The re start at lap 47 saw the order with Wilsonas the leader ready to re live his dramatic drive at Mexico City last year. Simon Pagenaud was in second Neel Jani who had passed Robert Doornbos on pit row the previous stop was third. Then it was Doornbos, Bourdais, Power, Tagliani, Dalziel, Servia, Rahal, (finally started) Legge, Figge and Gommendy who would make one of his two laps up..

Wilson almost went off course coming down the mountain in turn 14 for the restart and would eventually surrender the lead to Simon Pagenaud when Justin missed turn 8. Which was too bad because Justin had made several outstanding passes during the race including one on Sebastien Bourdais.

The action between laps 42 and 48 was fast and furious and it just got faster. Turns three through eight ,the carousel type right hander saw plenty of action. Meanwhile since water runs down hill, the up and down changes in the course saw the cars kicking up some impressive rooster tails. With the new car and its increased down force via tunnels and a diffuser, the cars were just vacuuming water off the track and throwing it..

So Pagenaud and Will Power are now first and second, Wilson is third. Robert Doornbos passes Neel Jani in turn 5 Bourdais gets Jani in turn 10. The next trip around Justin and Alex Tagliani swap spots in turns 5-8.

Champ Carraces are timed affairs, this race was one hour forty five minutes. While the lap counter was stuck for several laps, time was running out. The start of Lap 52 saw the young French rookie poised for the win. That is until he reached turn 14 where feeling some pressure from Dutch rookie Doornbos he broke late and missed the turn. Doornbos to the lead to start lap 53 of the 62 laps run. He was followed by Sebastien Bourdais. This leading to some controversy at the end of the race. So now its Doornbos, Bourdais, Pagenaud, Power, Jani, Tagliani, Wilson, Rahal, Servia, Dalziel, Legge, Figge and Gommendy.

Figge’s day ended on lap 56 when his car succumbed to the sum of its faults.

Doornbos controlled the restart and his father who sounds and looks a lot like Arnold Schwarzenegger watched his son cruise to his first Champ Car win, Team Minardi USA’s first win and his fifth podium finish in six starts. Bourdais finishes second and the rookie Simon Pagenaud completes the podium.

The post race interviews were pretty interesting. Doornbos was pretty jovial and complimentary to his crew and engineer Mike Cannon.

Bourdais was a different story.

Back along lap 42 he had let Doornbos by since blocking is illegal in Champ Car. Sebastien felt for the last twenty laps Robert had been blocking him. On lap 42 I felt Sebastien had a point there were probably two or three laps beyond that. The last seven laps I don’t think Seabass got close enough.

The bad part was in his post race interview he came off as a prissy Frenchman right out of Talladega Nights.(No I have not seen the movie) He was even booed by the crowd his fellow Frenchmen in French speaking Quebec. Not one of his finer days.

Pagenaud had a great interview and this kid is the real deal.

My Darling Kate had worked her way to fifth on pit strategy but her car just went south on rain tires. She did manage to finish and given her three previous DNFs that is an improvement. Dale Coyne had not practiced here and it was their first look at the track. Things will be better next week in Toronto.

Which leads us to the question: “ Why were all you guys watching that dumb COT race at Loudon when you could have been watching another Champ Car dogfight where the cars go 180mph and actually have the ability to turn??”

Next Sunday people the race to watch is on ESPN2, The Steelback Toronto Grand Prix I hope you take time to watch because it should be exciting.