Sometimes I wonder about Danny Ric. Village People or just a drugstore cowboy?

The zippered boots tho...

Bless his heart.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1634845258.jpg

I could make a shirt out of Pelican stickers so other Pelicans could find me :)

I'd wear that cowboy shirt in a heartbeat

I, on the other hand, would have to lose my heartbeat forever to be caught in it.

_

The hat might be worth keeping. The rest? Nope…

I like the guy, he’s got a great personality. I bet he’s a hoot to hang out with. Unlike several of the others…

I agree. He likely is a fun guy. For him that is just dressing in the local costume. The cost of those clothes is completely insignificant for him. He knew it would generate talk and publicity, and all drivers want to be talked about and their names remembered.

I would love to have a few beers with Danny Ric , I imagine he's got some great stories to tell .

Danny Ric sure is a funny dude. I really think he should just join NASCAR though. No way your average NASCAR fan would use the term 'livery' to refer to sponsorship stickers and the overall color of a race car. Edit: In the longer version he talks about the '84 car' and the 'livery', didn't know this was a shorter clip.

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Think of the shoeie he can do with those boots! :eek:

Fingers crossed for Dani and Lando. I’d love to see them up front again. May not have the fastest cars, but it sure seems like they are having the most fun!

I agree, I’d love to have some beers with Dani. He seems like a fun guy that doesn’t take himself too seriously

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/96924/no-doubt-about-it-andretti-has-bought-sauber-alfa-romeo.html

Anyone else hear it's a done deal ?

Everything I've read goes to lengths to say they have no idea if it's even close to being a deal. The Alfa head engineer knows nothing. The drivers know nothing. Gunther (granted he's not Alfa) knows nothing.

But does this mean Colton Herta has a spot?

edit: I checked with a friend whose family has got ownership ties to a couple of the Andretti Indycars, including Colton's. He admits he's not tight with the F1 news, but confirms that Michael wants to go into F1 with Colton.

Seemed packed at COTA today. You wouldn’t know they reduced seats by the crowd. Way to go Perez in practice 2.

We always sit in turn 12 but this year our seats are at the start of the braking zone rather than the end of it. We see less of turn 12-15 but watching them brake from top speed after the 200 meter board is awesome!

Announcers said it was 100k plus in attendance today. From what I saw it was 80 to 90% in the general admission areas. A large amount of grandstands were a little thin on fans, especially on start/finish straight.

Yea it was. I was very surprised. Its good to hear that it may not be much more crowded on Sat and Sun. The track and cars are far more awesome in person than what is conveyed on TV. They sound like race cars! ;) Behold crappy cell pics.

Obligatory view from turn 1 pic.
https://i.ibb.co/G0GG87C/02637-E3-A-...C6-B172627.jpg

Me and my bro. I’m the Jordan fan.
https://i.ibb.co/k6632tm/0-E367121-F...14139-E614.jpg

Panorama from our turn 12 seats.
https://i.ibb.co/9WfFjt2/D7-BC3-C8-E...-B7-A5-AFB.jpg

Max into Turn 12 during FP2.
https://i.ibb.co/6W5Pvvp/3-D803-A93-...33-C24-AA6.jpg

I’m really surprised by how many people I talked to who are at the race due to Drive to Survive. Like almost 100% at least for the younger crowd.

Qualifying was very exciting today. Can’t wait for tomorrow!

We’re at the far right of grandstand 12. Hoping for a clean race with overcast skies.

I enjoyed watching the race , great crowd in attendance. They announced 400,000 attendance for the weekend . Congrats to the winner .

Yeah, baby.

You guys chose the best race to go and watch, hope you both enjoyed the show :cool:

Great race today!
I couldn't believe how many people were there too.

Great race and wonderful to see such a close finish. 400,000 fans cheering.

I thought the English screamers were bad announcers, then I was subjected to Danica. Volume off again .

Thanks. It was a great weekend.

From our seats the greatest dynamic was braking. Its was nuts how strongly the cars were slowing into 12. And it was so smooth too. Not many lockups he entire weekend.

Thankfully the cars on track were great. The rest of the (normal) fan experience (concessions, ingress/egress, walking, weather, etc) is not for the weak.

Agreed x100. This is my 7th F1 race to see in Austin. I don't know if this year was better organized or I'm just used to the chaos by now but you have to really want to see F1 to put up with it. I know all major sporting events are a crowd and traffic mess but this always seems worse.

The race was great! There really is so much more to see in person. Tracking the ebb and flow and Max and Lewis' battle as seconds are gained and lost. Plus all the other battles on track which really do result in passes (usually into turn 12 or coming out of 13).

I'm not hearing much about the condition of the track from F1. Must not have been much of an issue for the drivers.
MotoGP riders have said they'll boycott next year if the bumps aren't removed.
Just an observation.

Sadly, Danica was not good at all. Her questions to Toto were less than stellar, as if she just blurted the first thing that came to mind. Also, the 'tell us something we don't know about Max' question to Horner was abysmal.

I was surprised to hear her say this was her first F1 race. She said the engines sounded great. She should have heard the V12s and V10s.

Lots of angst on social media regarding the 'celebrities' that were present and several were fairly rude in ignoring Martin Brundle when he tried to get an interview. I really don't see the point of them going. Serena Williams's presence will not influence me to buy an Aston Martin, in fact would have the exact opposite effect.

That said, Shaq was great. I saw him on the Bear Grylls show a few years ago. He seems to be a genuine nice guy.

I can't remember the last time I was on the edge of my seat for most of the race. Even though it was a strategy race it was great!

The highlight for me was Willie T (Willie T Ribbs) I cheered for him everytime he raced

Willie T
 

My favorite race was the W series, I'm going to try to follow it now.
Shaq did a 45 minute DJ set after the race which was actually really good, he had a captive audience for that, and had the winners up on stage getting stupid.

Billy Joel was kick ass, we ended up about 8 rows back, he really seemed to be enjoying himself.

We were in the new Turn 9 stands, we had a clear view from turn 7 almost to turn 12, including the heavy braking zone at the turn 11 hairpin and the long back straight. There was a section of track there that everyone was avoiding (and going WAY out on the stripes, for a few hundred feet, cars were wiggly out there), I assume it was a bump they were avoiding.

Before the race, one heard many comments about COTA being a track where overtaking was possible. However in the race itself, Sainz dogged Ricardo through most of the race, much of the time within DRS range and couldn't make it by, eventually dropping back with damage, which left him vulnerable to Bottas. Bottas clearly had a faster car but spent the whole race getting from 10th to 6th, some of which was achieved through pit stops.
Maybe next year's cars will provide better racing.
Max and Lewis did however put on a heck of a show.

Best
Les

I'd like to see Ricardo on the inside passing Sainz again near the end of the first lap in the 3 apex sweeper.
Ricardo looked really aggressive.
Red Bull driving and strategy were perfect.
The Mercs got beat.

"Future arrangements that benefit everyone"! Hah hah!

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Toto: 'future arrangements'

I guess that's what you call it when you control half of the drivers in the paddock.

I'm surprised that Bottas hasn't grown a pair and not complied with team orders now that he has been shuffled off to Alfa.

Wow that didn't take long !

Miami pre-sale tickets sell out in just 40 minutes

Prices were insane, too.

From the San Antonio newspaper yesterday thanking folks for attending the race.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1635804660.jpg

And there was this too, COTA screwing Lot Q customers who were screwed by the lack of shuttle service. People had to walk three miles to get to their cars.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FC5yNJPVgAA_gAD.jpg

The possibility of Porsche or/and Audi joining F1 when the new engine regulation are introduced in 2026 seems to be gathering momentum

https://www.planetf1.com/news/porsche-are-seriously-considering-entering-f1/

Would be great for the sport and more importantly fans if it does happen