Last week I took my first “days off” since joining the WISH-TV team, but of course, I didn’t take any time away from IndyCar racing. I visited both Kentucky Speedway, and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the past 10 days.

—-First, Kentucky. A great race, which, nothing against Ryan Briscoe, would have been even better with an Ed Carpenter victory. Carpenter takes a lot of heat as Tony George’s step-son, but he’s improved on the ovals each year, and last week showed he’s a threat to win.  He’s still a work in progress on the road courses, (which he would admit), but he put on a heck of a show with Briscoe under the lights. A Carpenter win would have been quite a story, but as it was, it was a GREAT race.

—-Speaking of Briscoe, it wasn’t that long that the Aussie had a “dangerous” label by some people on popular internet racing forums. Many wondered how Roger Penske could hire that “dangerous” guy. Now, some are asking, despite Helio Castroneves’ presence on the team, is Ryan Briscoe the “leader” at Penske Racing? Briscoe has been VERY consistent in 2009, and it might just make him a champion.

—-One of the best sights I’ve seen all year happened at Kentucky. While waiting during the Friday “weeper” delay, I saw Vitor Meira driving Ryan Hunter-Reay back to the Foyt hauler. Not many drivers would drive their “replacement” around on a scooter, but that’s the kind of guy Vitor Meira is. Vitor is, and always has been, a class act. Get well soon Vitor.

—-I have loved Mid-Ohio since I was a kid. Since I grew up in Toledo, it’s sort of my home track. Of course, Toledo Speedway was truly my home track, and while I always enjoyed watching Terry and Jerry Cook, Joy Fair, and others, Mid-Ohio has always been special to me. This weekend was another great event at a track that knows how to do things right, the fan events, such as the popular Friday autograph session went off without a hitch. And the schedule is always jam packed with racing, there are essentially cars on the track all weekend. Mid-Ohio is well worth your time.

—-Speaking of the autograph session, I am always interested to see what people bring.  Some, like legendary collectors Jim Vogel, Ed Mattson, and Kevin McAtee bring photos for the drivers to sign. Some have the drivers sign T-Shirts, (which I’ve really never understood), and some have the drivers scroll their names on unique items. One collector has had Tony Kanaan sign an empty McDonalds fry container, or a used Snickers wrapper. I guess there’s some connection between TK and McDonalds since he drove with the McD’s sponsorship in CART, but you never know what you’re going to see in the autograph world.

—-The silly season has started early it seems. Robert Doornbos has left Newman-Haas-Lanigan racing, and re-joined HVM. It was pretty obvious this was going to happen at Kentucky. Bobby D seemed extremely glum at the oval. Talking to some people connected with the team, this is just one of those partnerships that just didn’t seem to work out.

—-There’s a great level of anticipation about the apparent arrival of Gil de Ferran’s team, de Ferran Motorsports. Earlier this year, Gil appeared on SportsLocker and revealed his interest in the series. Now he’s moving closer to bringing a two-car team to the series in 2010. Gil is one of the nicest guys in racing, and everybody I talked to at Mid-Ohio was very excited about this team.There are plenty of drivers getting resumes together for this team.