THE ESTROGEN PAGE

 

There's a popular misconception floating about the race track that a sufficient amount of gas, extra air for the tires, Rain-X and a couple of easy to replace spare parts are about all one really needs for a successful race weekend.  Excuse me,. but it is clear that none of you have been around the chateau during the packing ritual.

Packing preparations take place in four different areas at the chateau.  The garage holds all those things a racing garage is supposed to hold and somehow most of it finds its way into the trailer.  The basement refrigerator - not to be confused with the kitchen refrigerator -  holds bulk beverages, recycled milk containers that are now blocks of ice and the Gulliver sized portable water container required for mixing with my scotch.  It has long been my contention that water is useful only when improved with an additive.  In my youth it was Kool-Aid crystals and I am eternally grateful I've gotten over that addiction. The kitchen is a veritable gold mine of packing possibilities and since you are smart, I think you have probably surmised where we are headed in this chapter.

I believe there is a direct correlation between driving around a race track and food.  I also believe that the amount of food available  or potentially available with the application of either heat or mayonnaise  is specifically linked to the number of racers that show up to visit.  This is the good news!

The purist believes that racing is about engine preparation, tire pressure and a decent qualifying position.  I don't think so.  Racing is really about food, heaps and heaps of food.  Some filling, some gourmet, some fun -  but all nourishment to meet a vast variety of needs.  Being well-equipped at a race means being able to carbo-load without having to run a marathon.  Now here's the other good news...our dear friends and pit mates are just as obsessed with food as we are..as Martha says,  It's a good thing!

After a couple of years of practice one tends to figure out what levels of culinary experimentation one can pull off at the track without total embarrassment.  While burgers and dogs are always fool-proof they are also boring and label the chef as one who has ignored the possibilities lurking in the gourmet section of everyone's grocery store.  But be cautioned, there is a fine line between creative and obnoxious.  Broiled Chicken Liver wrapped in bacon with water chestnuts is creative, - those silly little marinated corn cobs sized for a squirrel are obnoxious.  Hollowed out pumpernickel rounds filled with any form of sour cream dip is creative, sushi in ANY form is obnoxious.  You get the idea.  Don't you?

You can say what you will about the French but they have got the whole issue of food solved with amazing simplicity and panache.  To the French, food and it's presentation is as simple as color and as complex as texture, it is an art form that requires only the proper amount of ingredients, applied at the proper time, for the proper length of time. Ergo, French cooking is completely compatible with that other art form -  car preparation.  When one checks fluids on a race car it is the same thing as the French chef adjusting for taste.  When a racer increases or decreases tire pressure, the French Chef is raising or lowering the heat under his creation to insure stability during presentation.  Our dear friend Carol Hamilton, and her vertically impressive husband John, have got all these formula's figured out.  She adds shrimp, he adds brake fluid, she adds peppers, he adds high octane gas, she adds okra, he adds air,.... to the tires.  Carol creates buckets full of magnificent jambalaya and feeds the masses, John, well perhaps he may want to consider a Peugeot. (ouch, that'll leave a mark,....he drives a Volvo)

Cook wins!

So, there is a lesson here.  Prepare your car - be ready for any eventuality go on out there and give it your all.  And when all is said and done, stop by the Vain Glory - Wolf Creek paddock area.  I'll be the one trying desperately to hold a candle to Carol!