2004 Australia Thoughts
RACE: Presentation is everything, and this race was probably the worse presented race in TV history. Was it an exciting race? The production was so bad, we have no clue.
TRACK: It didn't rain! It didn't rain! It didn't rain!
CHICANES: The use of tires to prevent short cutting was a start, but now they should place a line of tires across the whole curbing in order to prevent going straight through.
JUNQUEIRA: Say what you want about Bruno (and that was pretty darn stupid to let the top two pull ahead so far on a restart), but he never gives up, and for that we'll see the title chase go down to the last race.
BOURDAIS: Except for one bold move to pass Tracy early on (and even then he gave himself an out), Sebastien played it cool to maintain his healthy points lead.
DOMINGUEZ: Clearly outran his teammate this weekend.
TRACY: Only a gearbox stood in the way of Paul winning this race.
ALLMENDINGER: His Rookie of the Year crown is all due to constant improvement throughout the year to the point where he is to be reckoned with at every track especially in qualifying.
BESNARD: Sorry, Aussies (and I do love you folks from Down Under), but David's seventh place finish was nothing more than a matter of lucky pit strategy. The fact is, he qualified 17th out of 19 cars, and only posted the 16th fastest race lap.
WILSON: Seemed to have faded a bit in the last few races, but Justin is too talented to allow Allmendinger to steal all the rookie headlines.
SMITH: Still hasn't shown anything (as for his race position, see Besnard), and is actually making Philippe look good.
PHILIPPE: "I've earned my spot in the Champ Car World Series." For the second race in a row, Nelson held his own especially on such a fast, difficult street circuit he never saw before.
VASSER: Probably looking forward to having Jim McGee join the team next year.
SERVIA: He deserved better.
CARPENTIER: This is why there are officials, because teams, and especially drivers, cannot be expected to make logical decisions in the heat of the battle. Thankfully, Patrick is okay.
JANIS: The Jeopardy! answer to "How do you say Gaston Mazzacane in Czech?"
TAGLIANI: When situations like this occur, where a driver hardly losses time after so much aerodynamics and/or downforce is lost, it always makes us wonder why bother spending so much money on refining these areas.
WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Chicanes.
STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Here's a completely, totally useless stat. The first yellow flag period (the aborted start) lasted one lap, the second two laps, the third three laps, the fourth four laps, and the fifth five laps. Yeah, okay, we're desperate.
HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Yeah, we know it's been said numerous times throughout the weekend, but we still find it amazing that this race has been held for 14 years, and there has never been a repeat winner. One would think that the options for this to continue would simply run out, mathematically.
QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Derek Daly on being amazed with Alex Tagliani's speed after losing major downforce when his side bodywork blew off said after Alex tagged the wall, "He'll be just as quick on three wheels."
QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Oriol Servia on his new shave head look, "Think of how much money teams spend to trim a pound of weight from their car ... and it's weight that was up high."
SCHEDULE: From one mega-attended event to another. A nice way to close out a season that nearly wasn't.
Copyright © 2004 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.
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