A fine whine

[nrc]

It occurs to me that the finest whine in the Champcar paddock is without a doubt Paul Tracy's whine about everyone picking on him. He's been aging this whine for years and he serves it up at every opportunity.

Reading his comments in the press he seems to expect some consideration from CART for his support. Tracy should give a little more thought to that. At the beginning of the season a lot of people said that this was Tracy's championship to lose. He was CART's poster boy.

If CART had allowed Tracy to pull moves like the one he did this weekend with Tagz or the one he did in Portland with Jordain, there would have been a growing sense that CART was going to hand this championship to Tracy. That's clearly not the case.

Tracy's reward for supporting CART is a series where he can truly demonstrate his talent. A series where he can where he can compete fairly without being given special consideration because he's the series favorite. A series where when he performs like he has these last two weeks, nobody can seriously say that it was because the series gave him a juiced rev limiter or a special engine.

[fourrunner]

PT Is Top Dog in CART - He will be Top Dog in CART next year!

He Loves this position, and I doubt he wants to be lost with the other downside guys in the other series! Plus I think his "Independence" which he has used to both good & bad Effect this year would be even more stifled over in the IRL.

So I basicly think that PT is just blowing smoke and just being Paul.

He'll get over it - He just wants this Championship!

[Race Dog 99]

When you step back, this whole PT/blocking circus recently is really what CWS needs. It's beginning to formulate a true "Bad Boy" for the series, making a hero who is defying the challenges and sparking rivalry. All this will begin creating a buzz that will boost interest.

[Gurneyflap]

Whatever...All I know is there are reasons why he has never seriously contended for a championship before and until recently I thought he had solved some of those "problems". Maybe not.

[Kate]

Enjoy Mr. Tracy's outspoken ways while you can; when Bernie takes over, we will get only pre-digested blather that has been vetted by men in suits, from neat little robots in two straight lines.

If some of the crybabies who seem tied to their owners' apron strings and can't fight their own battles on the track, would grow backbones and start giving Mr. Tracy as good as they get, things would be much more interesting than they are.

P.S. If you want to know why our website does not carry interviews with A.J. Allmandinger, his PR people inquired as to our traffic numbers before they would consider granting our interview request for Trois-Rivieres. We will be interviewing Johnny Herbert instead of him.

[cartcanuck]

He is now very much like he's always been....just a better driver, lighter, and more focussed on a Championship. It's just that over the past couple of years since the IRL499, he's been held up as an absolute martyr of Champ Car drivers and idolized by many. The thing is, he's still Paul Tracy. Aggressive, outspoken, and damn fast. It's just that so many people who started to like him over this past couple of years, are really seeing the Paul that old fans like me have seen and enjoyed for many years. He's not going to say what YOU want him to say, he's not going to drive the way YOU want him to drive. He's going to go out and race. What I see in him this year is that he is much more careful than he's been in years past, so he's not breaking cars as much as he did in the past. This year, he's keeping them on the road, and that road might be towards a championship.

The other problem is in our CART. There aren't a lot of drivers that are worth interviewing as much as Paul. He's the elder statesman who's won in the past and is winning now. He's the highest profile driver on the track. So he's interviewed more, he's quoted more, and he's focussed on more than ever. But he's won a lot of races in the past and said some crazy things. It's just that now, everyone pays more attention to him. If there was anyone else on the grid worth interviewing on a regular basis (i.e. qualifying and finishing near the top of the order every week) who wasn't just going to cry (yes, you Bruno), then he wouldn't be getting on anyone's nerves quite so much.

[RaceGrrl]

Manning is at least as good an interview as Paul is, and so is Carpentier. PT just needs to shut up and drive now. He's not that freaking special.

[cartcanuck]

What has Manning done to justify anyone wanting to talk to him? I like him and he's done good as a rookie, but how often do you want to hear him comment about driving around mid pack?

I alway enjoy a Patrick interview, just as much as a Jimmy Vasser interview (Jimmy is one of my favourites actually). But at least Patrick is showing some on track performance. I wish Jimmy would do the same. I'd love to hear more from Jimmy.

I'll take PT's criticisms and rants, but I have to admit that I really wish he'd stop trying to rap and talk smack. He just ain't cool enough for that :)

Has anyone noticed that PT gives better and more sane interviews to the guys at SpeetTV than he does to people like Global, TSN, etc? I noticed that after Vancouver this weekend. His interview with Speed after the podium ceremony was actually professional.

[ncmlj]

What has Manning done to justify anyone wanting to talk to him?

I am not so sure it has anything to do with what he has done, but more to do with his personality. My opinion he is a perfect match for Cart

[nrc]

Originally posted by cartcanuck
What has Manning done to justify anyone wanting to talk to him?

Sometimes he says "me" instead of "my," which is pretty good. Tracy doesn't even say "aboot" like a proper flappy head. What fun is that?

[Dr. Corkski]

Originally posted by cartcanuck
What has Manning done to justify anyone wanting to talk to him? I like him and he's done good as a rookie, but how often do you want to hear him comment about driving around mid pack?Because no one wants to hear about his teammate (using that term as loosely as possible) being too slow to be able to get out of the way.

[turn1]

Originally posted by Kate

P.S. If you want to know why our website does not carry interviews with A.J. Allmandinger, his PR people inquired as to our traffic numbers before they would consider granting our interview request for Trois-Rivieres. We will be interviewing Johnny Herbert instead of him.


Isn't AJ's team PR run by Tara Munger of 7th Gear fame?

[RTKar]

Originally posted by Kate
P.S. If you want to know why our website does not carry interviews with A.J. Allmandinger, his PR people inquired as to our traffic numbers before they would consider granting our interview request for Trois-Rivieres. We will be interviewing Johnny Herbert instead of him.


Ha Ha Ha...thats' funny, Herbert instead of Allmandinger. I've always liked Johnny...I like AJ too but let's see what he does in the big show before "his people" start getting cocky :shakehead

[pinniped]

I find Tracy's outburst a little upsetting. I am not the most politically correct person so perhaps it bothers me because I can relate. But there are times when it just isn't about "you" - like for instance at an evening event where one is a guest of honor, where fans have paid lots of cash to see your self-important butt...that is a time where you do what is best for the fans...why send the message that they made a mistake? That can't be good for Paul. And the on-screen stuff, some of it is funny (the mask and the whineritis schtick), but the criticism of CART and the veiled threats are just lame. Get on with it, Paul, act like you have the amount of class that we know you do.

[nrc]

Originally posted by RTKar
Ha Ha Ha...thats' funny, Herbert instead of Allmandinger. I've always liked Johnny...I like AJ too but let's see what he does in the big show before "his people" start getting cocky :shakehead

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that he's got a new "people".

[Lizzerd]

Originally posted by turn1
Isn't AJ's team PR run by Tara Munger of 7th Gear fame?

She does work for a team, but I don't know if that's the one. Considering the cooperation Kate got though, it wouldn't surprise me.

[nrc]

Yes, she's working with Rusport. She's been on the tube with Almendinger during the victory interviews at a couple of races.

[Turn7]

What happened to the driver layson job with CART? Does CART provide a liasion for each of the competitors in Champ Car and Atlantics?