There was something missing from the race.  Clearly, the lack of IndyCar’s bronze butterfly, Jack Arute, was the reason for the sub par performance, at least relative to other Versus broadcasts.  Either that, or the crew realized they were trying way too hard and decided to lower their standards to that of The Mouse.

In fact, I had to wonder if the play-by-play booth was actually there, or if they were in a remote studio like last year’s awe-inspiringly sucky Edmonton broadcast.  In fact, I just fast forwarded through a bit of qualifying, and they weren’t shown on camera. I didn’t have the race on TiVo, but I did watch the race itself and the rebroadcast, because apparently I felt like channeling my inner Kung Fu, and I don’t recall seeing them.  I could be wrong though.

They were just off, though. I mean, I guess they’re dependent on the cameras, and I’m guessing like last year, at least some of the resources must have been in Indianapolis for that worthless cup race. I have no idea how long it took them to actually catch that Dixon got by Briscoe, because I was in my own little world by then, but they (and the camera folk) missed it.  They kind of seemed lost.  I’d even go as far as to say that they were so moved by the past few performances of the master of IndyCar play-by-play, that they decided to channel his mystical powers for the weekend.

That said, the pit crew was pretty sharp.  Lindy was right on the TK.  Kevin Lee did as good of a job as could be expected when you’re filling in for the bronze butterfly.

That said, we were not completely without The Jack Attack.  Somehow, he managed to lure Scott Dixon into a small, dark room filled with the smoke of those little brown cigarettes he’s always smoking.  That interview, actually, was probably the most interesting part of the race, as Scott basically sold himself to investors to get out of New Zealand, and they had only paid them off about four years ago.

Similarly, though the passing wasn’t ample, it was there.  Sure, we didn’t see any of it because of the shoddy camera work.  We did, though, see a great pass by Helio, getting by Scott Dixon while using the battling Ed Carpenter and Ryan Hunter-Reay (or someone, I was kind of out of it at this point).  That one pass gave it exactly as many as Laguna Seca has ever had in American Open Wheel Racing, and one more than Infine-yawn.  I mean, Edmonton has probably had some other good passes, but the coverage the past two years has been shameful, and I don’t really remember the Champ Car races there.

Well, we’re back to an oval next week, and I’m done with vacations for a while, so regular updates should be forthcoming.  Some stuff happened while I was away.  Barber has been confirmed, but the only thing they’re doing to the track is adding some catch fencing.  If I don’t do Brazil next year (which as of now, I thoroughly intend on doing), I’ll probably hit up ol’ Alabama.  I mean, I used to live there, so I guess I know it won’t kill me even if I’m afraid of bursting into flames by reentering the state.  Also, Joie Chitwood stepped down at the speedway for what looks to be little more than a career move.  I guess he’s from Florida. I couldn’t pick the guy out in a lineup, so I don’t expect this change to be much.  TG released another statement on the Vision site, which does nothing but incite the fear mongers, stating that he doesn’t know why he was removed.  Blahblahblahblahblah.  Something probably happened with Danica too.

All I know is that we get Jack back next week, the bronze butterfly will rise like a bronze phoenix from the bronze ashes.

P.S. If anyone knows Jack Arute personally or sees him at a race, I’m getting to the point where I’d almost (but not quite) consider paying for a high resolution picture of him against a solid background.  I have no idea why, but it has been, in the nearly two years of this site, impossible for me to find a good base picture of his face for photoshopping.  I mean, if there’s any one person who just screams photoshop me, it’s Jack.

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