Media Day - Part I
No Fans On Thursday
By Jim DeFord©1996 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.
PORTLAND (June 20, 1996) - It's Thursday at 9:30a.m. and the feeling is a bit eerie as I sit in the stands across from the pits in Section "E". It's too quiet.No screaming IndyCars.
No smell of methanol.
No fans.
In less than 24 hours the fans will be strolling in for the first of the weekend's activities at Portland International Raceway. But now, I am the lone person in the stands, except for the volunteers placing numbers on the aluminum bleacher-seats.
But in the paddock is a flurry of activity as the teams prepare for the Friday morning practice session. Checking the weather reports and their computer terminals to determine the initial setup.
Over the whine of the passenger jets flying in and out of nearby Portland Airport, the all-familiar sound of an air-wrench cranks a bolt or wheel-nut, tight.
The Newman-Hass crew delicately installs the fuel supply tank that will soon fill Michael Andretti's Lola/Ford with methonal. Ensuring that it's perfectly balanced and solid, this process takes 20 minutes.
By this time, the flurry behind me is the rest of the media checking in for the weekend. I stand up to take one last look.
This will be a much different place over the next three days. 89,000 fans are predicted on Sunday alone.
Then on Monday morning, the fans, the cars, the methonal and the media will be gone. And again, it will be too quiet at Portland International Raceway.
