RACE: Unbelievably exciting for a street race. Or, for that matter, any race. Four race leaders, a record for Denver. Shouts of "U-S-A" were nearly deafening with the Allmendinger win.

TRACK: Fair to partly cloudy. Asphalt erosion on the track caused both yellows.

THE BIG PICTURE: Denver’s fifth race features excellent attendance and spectacular weather. The only cloud on this race’s horizon is the sudden pullout this past month of race sponsor Centrix for financial reasons. Hopefully, this can be remedied over the next year to secure the race’s future.

START: Clean ... till the first turn.

ALLMENDINGER: A. J. did not miss a beat all day. After Bourdais’ car started having handling problems, he took the lead and never looked back.

FORSYTHE: Gerry Forsythe must continue to feel very smart for hiring Dinger. The team and Neil Micklewright deserve kudos for an excellent performance.

TRACY: Paul is very lucky that he’s not racing in NASCAR, because they would haul him into the NASCAR trailer (or worse) for sure – especially for getting involved in public fist fights two races in a row. All in all, it was a shame that with all the good driving he did today, it came to naught. A common occurrence with Tracy this year.

JUNQUEIRA: A very lucky podium for Bruno and a satisfying result after one of the most trying ten day periods of his racing life.

CLARKE: Dan looked dazed and kept saying his results on previous races were like getting kicked in his private parts. The racing gods evened the luck balance after he looked set to podium at both Cleveland and San Jose.

POWER: Ran a decent, if unspectacular race.

PHILIPPE: It shows how much Nelson has improved when he is no longer satisfied with fifth place, even with all his problems this weekend, including a lengthy pit stop.

WILSON: A brilliant race day was utterly ruined by a mandatory stint on the reds, costing him a place on the podium and his second place in the points. At least he wasn’t involved in a brawl.

BOURDAIS: But Sebastien was. For shame, for shame. However, Sebastien can say all he wants about what he did, but he clearly did turn for the corner. A smart driver would have noticed Tracy's banzai attempt, and moved over to let Tracy fly by. Even if Tracy somehow kept the car on the track, Bourdais would have been able to get back on the power earlier, and simply drag race past Tracy to the finish line. Tracy may have been crazy, but Bourdais was not very smart in reacting to it.

NEWMAN-HAAS: Will Carl now go up to Gerry and demand something is done...?

LEGGE: A respectable ninth place finish meant that among rookies, only Dan Clarke and Will Power out finished Katherine.

ZWOLSMAN: Chachi had a rough day with some extra heat in the pits.

HEYLEN: Third fastest time in morning warm up?! It didn't translate to anything in the race, as Jan kept jumping into the arms of Mr. Tire Barrier.

PASTORELLI: Mercifully, out with gearbox problems on lap 18.

DOMINGUEZ: Unable to back up his fine run at San Jose thanks to the mechanical gremlins.

RANGER: Raise your hand. How many of you groaned when you saw "no budget" Andrew coasting down the track.

TAGLIANI: Well, well, well. Tags’ fight with Tracy carried over to this race, though more by coincidence than anything else. Unfortunately, by fighting rather than racing, he took himself out.

RUSPORT: They must be glad to get this race behind them.

ATLANTIC: A good, albeit not a great, race. Graham Rahal dominated the entire weekend and earned maximum points. Simon Pagenaud retained his championship lead with his third place finish and was joined on the podium by Raphael Matos. Looks to be an exciting series finish with just two races to go.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Encore.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 20.588 -- the margin of victory in seconds by A.J. Allmendinger, and one of the most meaningless stats of the year. The story of this race was anything but a runaway, as it contained edge of your seat excitement throughout.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Denver has a knack of producing back to back winners, and Mario Andretti is the only driver to win races in two different Colorado venues. He won the Pikes Peak Hill Climb when it counted for Champ Car points in 1969 and took a win the following year on the Castle Rock road course.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: "Push Please."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Carl Haas took a tumble from his motor scooter prompting an onlooking fan to exclaim, "Did you see that? The cigar never left his lips!" That's because it's superglued on...

SCHEDULE: Off to Montreal and be prepared for the greatest back stabbing job Kevin Kalkhoven will experience since taking over Champ Car. Be very careful Norman Legault -- KK doesn't get even, he fights back worse than he receives. Way worse.

Copyright © 2006 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.