By Jamie Makin
July 1 2005

Friday at the US Grand Prix started with the same beautiful weather as Thursday. I couldn't wait to get to the track to get the weekend's first taste of the cars in action.
I'm continually amazed that despite this being my fourth visit to the event, I am still finding new vantage points that I had not tried out in prior years. For the morning's first practice, I chose to sit in the "Corner Six Terrace". This is one of two temporary infield grandstands first used last year. This year was my first time using it though.

It provided a great view of the first half of the infield. You can follow the cars all the way from turn one to turn seven (the start of the Hulman Blvd. straight) from here. I watched most of the session from the seat there, but towards the end wandered down to the fencing so I could get even closer to the cars as they screamed out of turn six.

If you have never seen the SAUBER's in person then you are missing a real treat. As beautiful as they are on tv and in photos, they are even more stunning in person. The blue has such a depth to it and seems to change it's shade depending on the lighting conditions. This year's C24 is by far the most beautiful SAUBER yet. It's round, sleek shape combined with a less cluttered livery this year make it one sexy machine. It's a shame its unique beauty will disappear from the track after this season.

There are several hours between F1 practice sessions on Friday so I decided to try to meet up with some friends for the final session. I first tried to find the new friend I had made on Thursday with no luck. So I called up another friend whom I had first met last year. He told me where he was so I set off on the long hike to the other side of the track. I found him along with his wife and brother on the opposite side of turn seven on the spectator mounds. It wasn't far from the Corner Six Terrace in a straight line, but to walk there you have to go to the far end of Hulman Boulevard and cross over via the pedestrian bridge before making the long trek back in the direction you came from.

I met a few other friends in passing along the walk. That's one of my favorite aspects of going to Indy versus Montreal. In Indy I know a lot of other people, mostly from internet forums, so every year it's like a reunion as we run into each other. We all had plenty of time to catch up on things between sessions and we watched the Infiniti Pro series practice as well.

The friends I was watching with are all diehard tifosi but they've been kind enough to let me, a diehard Sauberian, hang out with them. We talked a lot about Sauber's future. We knew the team was likely to be sold to BMW and that Red Bull would take on the Ferrari powerplants for next season. My tifosi friends are cool and they root for Sauber too because of the Ferrari association but said they would follow Red Bull next year instead. We also talked about Scott Speed and his potential future in the sport and the impact that could have on its popularity in America. At the time we were predicting the sport was about to take off in America without having any clue as to the series of events that was about to transpire.

It seemed like mere minutes had passed and then the F1 cars took to the track for the second practice. Watching from turn seven is quite an experience as the cars accelerate hard down the straight. You can hear (and feel!) the traction control as the drivers nail their right feet to the floor and you get a good idea for the differences between some of the cars and engines.

Early in the session Ricardo Zonta went off in turn six. We could barely see it because of the trees and fence blocking our view so we didn't know exactly what had happened. The nearest jumbotron was mostly obscured by tree branches so you're fairly out of touch with the parts of the track you can't see. When you get a break in the cars screaming by you can hear the PA system announcer but that's about it. So we were fairly in the dark about the first event that would set the tone for the weekend.

A few minutes later we did get a break in the cars streaming by and I heard the PA system talking about Ralf Schumacher's crash in turn thirteen. As the announcer described it I figured they were talking about last year's shunt, one which brings up some sad memories as I was at the race too when it happened. But then I saw the red flags wave and realised they were talking about a crash that just happened which was a virtual repeat of last year for Ralf! My blood ran a little cold until I heard he was okay but it still brought back all the emotions I had gone through during last year's race.

The track was quiet for a while as they cleaned up the mess so I got to hear a lot of what the announcer said. That's when it became clear that a tyre failure was behind both Ralf's and Ricardo's shunts. This year's tyre rules have bothered me since their inception and my worst fear has always been that a driver would be hurt or killed because of them. Kimi Räikkönen's crash at the Nurburgring was a close call and raised my fears to new heights. I knew coming to Indy that if something was going to happen it would happen here and that fear had been gnawing at my subconscious since Räikkönen's shunt.

Now my worst fears were starting to play out. I wondered even on Friday would the teams protest the tyre rule. Would exceptions to the rules be granted to allow safe running? The last thing I wanted this year was to drive home with the same sick feeling I had last year of knowing a driver had been seriously hurt (or worse). But despite playing out these scenarios for controversy in my head, I could not come up with anything quite like what would happen on Sunday.

Despite these nagging worries, it did little to put a damper on the fun we were having at the track. After practice we returned to our respective hotels to get showered and changed for the Speed TV party downtown.

This is the third year of the Speed TV party and I really looked forward to it, having attended the prior two. There was only one problem this year; I didn't have an invitation. The last two were fairly open to anyone but had resulted in chaos as people were packed like sardines into some very small areas. Speed had wisely decided to limit attendance this year but my invitation was sent out while I was at the track in Montreal. By the time I returned to my hotel that day and RSVP'd it was too late, the party was full.

It seemed I was out of luck this year but that's the plus side of having so many friends out at the track. A pal that had found me in front of the Sauber garage mentioned he might have an extra invite as one of his guests had decided not to go. So thankfully his generosity got me into the party. I met up with him at the Malibu on Maryland restaurant/hotel suite and got in with no trouble. My tifosi friends had already gotten in along with several others I remember from last year. We were hanging out on the balcony having a great time catching up on things.

Unfortunately, being outside meant I missed Bob Varsha, David Hobbs, Peter Windsor and Steve Matchett as they kept their appearances much briefer than in prior years and I was so caught up in conversation that I simply missed them. The good news is I got to see outgoing Speed TV president Jim Liberatore one final time and wish him well. Jim is a wonderful, down to earth and approachable type of guy. We first met in Cleveland 2003 at the Champ Car race when I had lunch with him and Bob Varsha. I then saw Jim at the next two Speed parties and he always remembered me and made a point to chat with me. It's a great tragedy that Fox has effectively fired him and I believe Speed TV will be poorer without him. To see him and thank him for everything was my main mission for the party and I accomplished it.

That wrapped up Friday and I returned to the hotel exhausted but happy. The tyre issues were forgotten for now and I got a sound sleep ahead of the next day at the track.

To be continued . . . .