IndyCars: Maryland, My Maryland

Orioles, steamed crabs, sticker tires. (Photo: Indycar Series)

We are unabashed lovers of Maryland, land of our birth.  As children, auto racing was a sport that could be enjoyed only through the magic of television.  The nearest thing to an IndyCar race was the annual pilgrimage to Pocono.  Being all of 8 years old at the time, attending that was out of of the question.  We even sat for our first driver’s license test in the city of Baltimore, mastering a three-point-turn on an empty parking lot.  We had invented the first Baltimore Grand Prix.

Fast-forward 25 years, and Baltimore has finally played host to its first major auto race: the Baltimore Grand Prix.  An Indycar/ALMS weekend combo, the street race through downtown Baltimore featured a reasonable mix of long, fast straights and tight, suspension-busting chicanes.   A day of practice was lost converting the circuit from bumpy light rail racing to proper auto racing.  Images of IndyCars taking flight didn’t bode well for the city’s racing debut.  Especially nerve-wracking for a city like Baltimore, a place of uncommon hospitality.  A state that moves so deliberately, its state university is represented by a terrapin (a form of turtle).

On Sunday, Baltimore came through with flying colors. If the outcome was predictable – another Will Power victory, following last week’s triumph at Infineon – Baltimore’s enthusiasm broke new ground for open wheel racing.  The mid-Atlantic eastern seaboard lacks for good racing other than New Jersey Motorsports Park.  Since dumping Pocono Raceay (a great track), this part of the country has been a wasteland aside from a brief ALMS foray into Washington, D.C.

We hope this race gets a home on the permanent schedule. Baltimore can use the excitement, and IndyCars can use a lesson in Maryland civility.  Grab a crab mallet and a National Bohemian, and sit down ‘hon.

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