Denver Grand Prix

August 14, 2006







We are back in Manitou after one of the busiest weekends we have spent in a long, long time. Packing so much in is exhausting and I’m thinking we will be taking it somewhat easy today as we start to look ahead to another fun and crazy week ahead.

Yesterday, we spent the day at the Denver Grand Prix, this time for the actual races. We were up and at the track early, walking around the paddock and seeing all the preparations for the big race. We also toured the activity are, where tons of vendors and events were taking place. By far the coolest was the Red Bull BMX Moto-Cross exhibition. Two guys took turns launching their motorcycles up this huge steep ramp, then performing amazing and crazy stunts high above the crowd prior to making perfect landings. It was truly incredible to witness and difficult to truly capture on film. At times they were completely off their bikes and the variety of aerial maneuvers they performed was spectacular.





Our seats for the race were great, right in the first turn past the start/finish line and the site of most of the important passes as well as most of the accidents and spin-outs. There were two races, The Formula Atlantic race which is sort of the minor league was won by 17 year old Graham Rahal, son of former champion and Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal. The main event featured the Champ Cars and it was a truly thrilling race, with lots of action and passing, most of which occurred right in front of us. Sebastian Bourdais dominated early, but A.J. Allmendinger came on midway through and charged for an exciting pass and eventual victory. The real excitement came on the final lap, when in a battle for second place, Paul Tracy crashed out Bourdais and they got in a scuffle after getting out of their cars.

Allmendinger gives Tracy a lift after Victory.

Drivers Will Power (4th place) and Katherine Legge (9th place) with Michael

After the race, we headed into Boulder for a great dinner at a Japanese restaurant on the cool Pearl Street Mall. The mall along a street that has been blocked off and made pedestrian only is a cool collection of restaurants and shops and is what Duval Street in Key West could be, if people there were as visionary as the folks in Boulder. We next headed back to the Chautauqua Auditorium in a Déjà vu experience for the Nanci Griffith show. This time, the power was on and the show went on. She was fantastic. The best part was that because so many people didn’t return for the Sunday night show, we were able to move up from our seats way in the back, all the way to the 4th row. It was great. Photography was strictly forbidden, but I did manage to sneak a few pictures, none of which came out too great as you can see. Nanci played for almost 2 hours, digging deep into her amazing 20 year catalogue. She seemed really thankful that people had been so patient and had returned a second night to see her performance and it was reflected in her beautiful story-telling and singing.