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I joined Sal, Chuck, (ChumpCar) and Robb Dobbie (MMS) in the CTMP control tower while the race was in progress. Sal, who has been running on few hours of sleep for the past several days, indicated that there had been no unexpected issues leading up to this event. There had been some speed bumps yet they had not been unexpected. Sal aand Wendy's motto is to 'Expect the Unexpected'. Without meaning to, I added to the unexpected during the weekend. Unlike the team owners who made many changes to their cars over the winter, Chuck knew that the timing system was functioning flawlessly so he left well enough alone.
They (Sal red shirt on the right, Wendy right beside him) are both self-employed and ChumpCar is one of several businesses this couple own and operate. Planning is integral to the smooth functioning of their lives and businesses – and this can be seen in the daily operation of ChumpCar Canada. They also understand that you need to treat your participants well – and a large BBQ is a regular at their events! Observing the burgers before selecting his choice for custom grilling is Chuck, the series timekeeper and computer guru.
While Sal and I were chatting, Chuck was monitoring an intense battle between Team Biohazard's MR2 and Mopar4Life's Neon. At the outset of this race, returning participannts knew that this would potentially be the cars that battled for first. Everyone hoped that their winter improvements would mean their car would put them ahead of this battle, but that was not the case. At least, not on Saturday. Team Biohazard got the top podium spot. Sunday was Team McQueen's win.
On the other side of the room, Robb Dobbie was working with his marshals via radio. The view from the new tower is expansive, but the tower must rely upon radio communications to have a clear picture of what is happening around the ten corner track. The pictures do not reflect this, but while I was listening they were dealing with a large chunk of sign that strong winds had picked up from somewhere and then dropped right on the driving line through the hairpin corner called Moss Corner.
In quick order the pace car – Wendy's truck, in this case – was out to slow traffic to allow a worker to safely grab the windblown sign and remove it from the track. 
Robb had to call the flatbed out three times during the day because cars left the track and made contact ith the wall – I believe it was turn 2, turn 3, and turn 4 that collected cars on this day. Robyn was busy on Sunday as well.
