Oilpressure

Welcome to a very damp, but drying, Road America. The temperature is roughly 70-degrees and the skies are sunny. That’s in serious contrast of the severe storms that tumbled through the area overnight at around 2:00 am. Our hotel is only about five minutes north of the track. We were both awakened from a deep sleep to loud thunder. It was the kind that was accompanied by the constant flicker of lightning.

I pulled out my iPad to check the radar. There was a huge system crossing Wisconsin. A small purple cell was bearing down on the track and was going to brush us some. There was a special weather statement for Sheboygan County (where we are), calling for winds up to 50 mph and large hail. All I could think about were the enthusiastic campers we saw yesterday at the track, setting up their elaborate campsites. It made me grateful to be in a hotel with walls, a ceiling and a dry bed.

The track activity began with USF2000 hitting the track, before Radical Cup practice at 8:45. The full Road to Indy program is here this weekend, so today will be crammed full between USF2000, Indy Pro and Indy Lights along with Radical Cup. The morning will be practice sessions, while the early afternoon will be qualifying for those series.

There was an interesting press conference taking place when we arrived this morning. Arrow McLaren SP was represented by Team President Taylor Kiel, along with drivers Pato O’Ward and Kevin Magnussen, who is replacing the injured Felix Rosenqvist. As you can imagine, most of the attention was focused on the former Formula One driver, although O’Ward got some attention as well, as the current points leader.

I also have something that is too funny to not share. Longtime reader and occasional guest-blogger, Matthew Lawrenson of the UK, read that I had picked Alexander Rossi to win Sunday’s race. He quickly made up a very creative meme that pokes fun at my inability to pick winners, and to curse the ones I do pick. Well played, Matthew.

The NTT IndyCar Series will finally take the track for their first practice session today at 4:15 CDT (local time). Following that will be Race One for the Radical Cup cars at 5:25, so it will be a full day if track activity.

We are going to go dry the seats of our trusty golf cart, and ride around a bit to check out all that is good about Road America. One or both of us will have posts here later today. In the meantime, please follow us on Twitter for comments, photos and videos. You may follow me at @Oilpresureblog, or Susan at @MrsOilpressure. Please check back later.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on June 18, 2021 at 11:36 am 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.