8/18/08

I guess we can all breathe a little easier now.

Everyone at JFR has now locked up a spot in the Countdown to 1. When you look at the weekend in Maple Grove through that perspective, you have something to feel good about. When you just take the race by itself, it wasn’t a big “Yippy!”

All four of the cars were out of the program by the end of the second round.

But John, Ashley, Robert, and Mike have now all clinched berths in the Countdown and everyone can start getting ready for the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indy in a couple of weeks. And let’s not forget that John, Ashley, and Robert (Sorry, Mike!) are all qualified for the Skoal Shootout on Sunday in Indy that pays that extra cool $100,000.

Now, $100,000 certainly seems like a lot of money to most people, and in reality, it IS a lot of money. But while the NHRA was in Maple Grove over the weekend, I was 3000 miles away in Monterey, California shooting a new series of “Russo & Steele Collector Car Auction” shows for ESPN and I saw more than a few cars which were worth a whole lot more than one-hundred grand.

The auction was held as part of the world famous Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance and I’m not exaggerating when I say I saw many, many classic and exotic automobiles which were worth anywhere from $250,000 to $5,000,000! If you’ve never been to this incredible show held at the Pebble Beach Country Club on the Monterey Peninsula, you cannot imagine the level of automotive excellence which assembles there each year. Just beyond your imagination.

I couldn’t possibly list all of the cars I saw which would have broken the bank accounts of most of the people reading this column, but just to give you an idea of what I mean, the Bugatti Veyron is an extraordinarily rare super high-performance exotic car which has a 1000-horsepower engine, a true high-tech, space-age chassis and body, and is claimed to be the fastest production car in the world with a top speed of 230 mph. Prior to this weekend, I had never seen one in the flesh and really didn’t know if I ever would since those cars have a list price of over $1,000,000.

I saw four of them.

A $7,000,000 Ferrari, a $2,500,000 1917 Rolls Royce, and a $1,500,000 Ford GT40 were other examples of the wildly valuable cars which were sold at auction in Monterey. There was some real star power there as well with Jay Leno mingling with the crowd at the Concours on Sunday and TV comedian Adam Corolla buying a Ferrari and a Lamborghini at the Russo & Steele auction Saturday night  for a combined total of over $1,000,000. This was an experience that any true gear head would never forget.

And, no, I didn’t buy anything. Not that I didn’t want to but I just couldn’t seem to find anything in my price range. Don’t ask what that range is, OK?

Meanwhile, back at JFR…

The teams will get a little break from the road for two weeks before the race in Indy—along with the Skoal Showdown—arrives on our doorstep. The “Big Go” will be even bigger this year because it’s the last chance for qualifying for the Countdown to 1 and there are a few drivers in danger of missing the cut. This is the kind of drama the NHRA was hoping for when they went to the Countdown format and this year they’re getting their wish. Expect huge crowds at O’Reilly Raceway Park and plenty of TV’s to be tuned in to the coverage of this year’s event.

In the meantime, I’m planning on getting to Indy on race day Monday to catch eliminations since on Friday and Saturday; I’ll be in Auburn, Indiana shooting another auction series, “Bidding Wars”, and plan on driving to Indianapolis for Monday’s action. Nobody should miss the U.S. Nationals if they have any opportunity at all to be there—and I’m no exception.

I’ll be knocking out more from “In the Groove” right after Indy so if you care to boogie on by in a couple of weeks, I’ll have something here waiting for you. Until then, buckle up and don’t text message while you’re driving. Let’s all get to where we’re going….safely!

Thanks!