From pit road to the garage area to the
grandstands, AP sportswriters will be filing periodic,
behind-the-scenes reports from NASCAR, IRL, Champ Car
and Formula One venues:
Sunday, July 9:
TORONTO -- Racing rumors never sleep.
Taking a stroll down pit lane on a beautiful Sunday
morning in Toronto, I had a series of conversations
in which I was told with great sincerity moments
and yards apart that a unification between the two
American open-wheel series' is "a done deal" and "completely
dead."
I heard that Juan Pablo Montoya will be leaving
Formula One to take a ride with former boss Chip
Ganassi in the IRL next year and that he will be
staying with McLaren-Mercedes or moving back to Team
Williams. Turns out they were all wrong. Montoya
signed Sunday with Ganassi to drive in NASCAR in
2007.
A little bird, with great glee, jumped up and told
me that local favorite Paul Tracy and new teammate
A.J. Allmendinger already hate each other and are
at each other's throats. Moments later, I saw Tracy
and Allmendinger sitting together in the Champ Car
paddock, laughing and joking and looking quite comfortable
together.
It's not only the number of rumors in auto racing
that are amazing, it's also the speed at which they
tend to circulate. A new story can pop up at one
end of the paddock and be the catalyst for an in-depth
discussion at the other end by the time I can walk
there -- and I'm a fast walker.
One story I heard this morning that is true is that
newlyweds Clare and Sebastien Bourdais are expecting
their first child. Clare confirmed that one with
a shy smile. I wish all the rumors were that easy to confirm
-- and as pleasant. |