By Susan Phillips
On Qualifying Day at Barber Motorsports Park, George and I usually watch qualifying from the stands in the Fan Zone. We climbed aboard the tram and shortly after we got on, a couple with a young child got on the tram and sat across from us. They had a dazed look about them and I could tell the little girl was starting to get bored. The tram stopped at the Museum stop and they looked at each other and questioned if they should get off at this stop or was there more to see.
First of all, I must put out the disclaimer that I am typing this out on Sunday night in the car as Susan drives us back to Nashville, so there may be more than my usual amount of typos. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.
The tenth running of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama is in the books. Takuma Sato was in control all day – that is until Lap 85, when he went off course and ripped some of the underbody off of the car. That was about the only suspense up near the front. For just a second, you wondered if Scott Dixon would be able to take the lead in the last few laps and possibly win. It was not to be. This day belonged to Sato.
Good morning from a bright and steamy Barber Motorsports Park. While we escaped the rain while we were at the track yesterday, storms rolled through the area last night. Several pop-up canopies that had been set up overlooking Turn Two, had been pretty much destroyed when we rode past them this morning. Our parking lot was almost like a lake. We got here early before ruts had been formed, but it should be interesting getting out after the race.
In a bit of a surprise, Takuma Sato took the pole position for tomorrow’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. It is the thirty-first time that a Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver has won the pole, going back to the days of Rahal/Hogan Racing in 1992. Teammate Graham Rahal will join him on the front. The last time that Bobby Rahal’s team swept the front-row was at Chicagoland in 2005, when Danica Patrick and Buddy Rice swept the front row (and RLL driver Vitor Meira starting third).
By Susan Phillips
This year, fellow blogger and friend, Paul Dalbey drove down Thursday night from Champaign, Illinois and we drove to Cullman, Alabama—about an hour North of Birmingham. We wanted to get an early start and we knew we would have to arrive early to get a seat in the Media Center. George found one immediately and Paul followed soon after. I don’t know if it is my lack of aggressiveness or I don’t know the right people, but I found myself without a seat. When you arrive at races intending to write and prepare photographs for posting, it difficult to do without a seat.
Mission accomplished! We actually got here early enough for all three of us to have seats for the day in the open-seating Media Center here at Barber Motorsports Park. Of course, the major news outlets all have assigned seats, but the remaining seats are first-come, first serve. We arrived at 8:40 on Friday and Susan was the one that had no chair. We got here at about 7:45 this morning and she is sitting beside me as I type, with Paul Dalbey two rows back. All is right with the world.
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