Oilpressure

Good morning (or afternoon, depending on where you are) from Sonoma Raceway. It’s cool, which I understand is typical for the mornings here. When we woke up, it was a brisk 48°. The projected high for today is 76°, but it is supposed to be breezy. As we entered the track at around 10:15, our car said it was 61°. Our parking spot is on a hill near Turn Two. I was very glad we had our jackets with us, because we were catching quite a bit of wind up there. The main stands and the Media Center sit down in sort of a valley here. Once we went down the hill, the wind was blocked and it was suddenly much warmer. In short, it’s a perfect day weather-wise at the track.

The traffic was much better today, in fact it was almost non-existent. But last night when we left the track, it was even worse than when we got here yesterday. When we checked in at our hotel, we asked the front desk what the deal was. She said it is harvest season for grapes and there are lots of tourists here – plus rush hour traffic on Friday.

We ate a restaurant on the corner of the building our hotel is in. It was a poplar local spot that featured local seafood and wine from Sonoma County. It was pricey, but good. After a good meal and a couple of glasses of wine, I was ready to crash. We went to bed at 9:00 local time, but I feel completely ready for two days at the track.

As I type there is a Historic Trans-Am practice going on. There are some good looking cars going around as I look out the window in front of us. Early Camaros, Firebirds, Mustangs and others are roaring by.Quite honestly, it’s hard to focus on my typing because I keep watching them go by.

The third and final IndyCar practice is scheduled to start at 11:00. We are going to go and watch that. Qualifying is not until 3:00 this afternoon, so we are going to use that time to scout out other vantage points and explore this facility. I have to admit, I’m much more a fan of this venue than I was before visiting it. I’m glad we came to see it ourselves. I’m starting to think that I may have been wrong abut this lace, but the jury is still out.

OK…the cars have fired up, so we are going to go to the pits.

I’ll post again after qualifying and Susan will also have a post up here some time this afternoon. You may follow us on Twitter for photos, videos and comments. Please follow me at @Oilpressureblog and Susan at @MrsOilpressure. Please check back throughout the day.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on September 15, 2018 at 1:07 pm and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.