4/8/17

I decided to hang out on Saturday of the Long Beach Grand Prix weekend with another of my friends named Marc, one I have not mentioned here before.  Marc and I are rekindling a High School friendship after 40+ years because we both have a Porsche obsession.  Marc’s is for street legal track Porsches, like the 911 GT3RS, mine is for more sedate, older, air-cooled and newer, mid-engine Porsches, though I wouldn’t kick a new, water-cooled, rear engine 911 of any kind out of my garage, assuming my 912 would allow me to make room for it.

I was never a huge fan of motorsports growing up, but as I age, I find myself more attracted to it, mainly because I like cars and really enjoy sports that are technical in nature and require tons of teamwork and strategy.  Car racing is one of those sports, a sport where the vast majority of the action takes place behind the scenes or in the pits.  So I was pretty excited as I drove my Cayman to Long Beach early Saturday morning to spend the day at the track with Marc.  Marc is fairly well connected in the motorsports world, and I suspected that I was not going to have a normal fan experience.  I was right.

As Marc and I walked to the Grand Prix course and surrounding areas, we caught up on each other’s lives.  My life is pretty low key.  I repetitively go and do the same things.  I am not complaining, as I like it this way.  Marc goes to a much wider range of places and events.  Part of this relates to his business as a lawyer with some high profile clients.  Part relates to his personality.  Either way, it was great to catch up and learn what he has been up to.

Once we got to the track and the exhibits, the real fun started.  I expected Marc to be connected, I just did not realize how connected.  Marc provided passes that let us go everywhere.  So we went everyhwhere.  And everywhere we went, Marc knew someone.  Clearly, we only went to the places where he knew someone, but we did go to a lot of places.  Though it did not come close to balancing the ledger, we did run into one person I knew.  Of course, it was my other friend Marc.  So I introduced Marc to Marc, and of course they made their mark on each other.

Behind the scenes at a major motorsports event is an absolute circus.  People wander around.  Mechanics work, sometimes all through the night.  Deals are made.  Cars and tires are transported to the track from the paddocks.  Drivers buzz around on scooters.  Horns blare.  Movement is unceasing.  Sitting and standing in a couple of the hospitality areas, eating, drinking, people watching and listening to various conversations enabled me to take in all there was to see and hear.

Through it all, though, I got a sense that change is on the horizon and motorsports as we know them are about to change in a big way.  The insiders talk about costs and rules and how too few owners own too many cars.  They talk about the insane cost to sponsor a team, and the swindling number of teams in the field.  They bemoan the rise of electric car races, with their absence of engine noise, something that I think would take all the emotion out of a race,  and the aging demographics of their customers.   But on Saturday those issues remained in the background, and the party was in full swing.

I had an awesome day.  One I will never replicate without Marc.  The highlights for me were hanging out in the pits during Indy Car practice, being driven on a Bondurant hot lap before the IMSA race, speaking with Patrick Long, one of the Wright Porsche drivers from the Pirelli World Challenge series, hanging out on the starting grid ogling the Porsches, not to mention the WeatherTech girls, before the IMSA race, and watching the IMSA race in the relative comfort of a covered grandstand with a couple of TV monitors right in our line of sight.  I met lots of people, including Motorsports TV personalities, ex Formula 1 drivers, and a host of other players in the industry.  Of course, we ate for free.  Like I said, Marc is connected.

Pam and I are planning a fall vacation, and I am lobbying for a trip to Austin, mainly for BBQ and country music, but also for the ability to spend a day at The Circuit of The Americas to watch the Formula 1 race.  Maybe I can talk Marc into meeting me there…