Institutionalized: 1940

Waiting for the race in Vancouver

The remaining signs of winter have disappeared. Spring is around the corner. I am happy for this because the warmer weather is coming once again. Also it is one season closer to seeing our friends race again. It is quite exciting that we will be able to watch a race without going too far from our home. The race will be downtown Vancouver, which is only 20 minutes away from our place. We asked Ric to drive us down for the race weekend. He told us it was not a problem. The race is only a few months away.

A few days ago, we received special letters. Two letters personally addressed to each of us. The letters were from Dario and the others. The letters were wishing us a happy birthday to both of us. There were also personalized messages we kept private.

It is already the end of April. May is only two days away. We are getting closer to July and seeing our friends. We can hardly wait. One season to end and the next to begin until we see them, May has flown by without any excitement. June is here. It feels like the days are slowly moving to the next. Our anticipation for next month is making is antsy. We are going crazy. The excitement is making us feel that way.

The race weekend is only a few weeks away now. We cannot stop talking about it now. We tell one another to stop talking about it because it will come soon enough.

A few weeks have passed. Today is the start of the race weekend. Ric will be coming to get us in a few minutes. We are excited to see our friends race. There is a knock on the door. Greg opens it and it is Ric ready to drive us to the track. We are in the car. The 20 minute drive feels like an eternity because of our excitement.

Once we arrived at the track, Dario and Ashley were waiting for us. When we got out of the car, they told us that they were the welcoming committee. They were going to take us to see the others. I told Greg that I wanted to meet Zanardi again. Greg thought it was a good idea. "More friends the better", Greg said. I agreed with him. We went over to see the others. When we got to where they were standing, Patrick called Tagliani over, Tagliani was happy to see us too. We heard Patrick call Tagliani a nickname we never heard him say before. Patrick called Tagliani, Tag. We asked Tagliani how he got that nickname. He told us that he did not know. All he could think of is that some people may have a hard time pronouncing his last name. We told him that it was a good possibility. I even have a hard time pronouncing it because of my English accent, which I still have almost seven years in Canada. I guess it is because I left England as an adult. While we were talking, we noticed that Alex Zanardi came to talk to us. He told Greg and I that he is happy to see us again. We told him that we were happy to see him also.

Then the guys told us it was time for them to practise, we wished them luck. They thanked us and off they went. The practise session was 90 minutes long. In the practise session, Patrick was fastest and Dario was after him. It is only practise. We will know tomorrow how the guys would do in the qualifying session.

Today is qualifying. Ric picked us up once again to take us to the track. It was Patrick and Tony to greet us today. They brought us to the others. We talked a few minutes then it was time for the guys to qualify for the race tomorrow. Patrick went out first to set a time. After Patrick, Tag went to beat Patrick's time, but he did not. After a few other drivers qualified, it was Tony's and after him it was Dario's turn. Tony could not beat Patrick's time, but he beat Tag's time. When Dario went out, I was sure he would beat Patrick's time and he did. The final driver to qualify was Alex Zanardi. He had no chance at beating Dario's time. He did not beat Dario's time, but he ended up behind Tag on the grid. After qualifying, the guys came back to chat with us. Ashley joined us. We congratulated Dario on getting on pole. He told us if he wins the race, he will dedicate it again to Greg because it is his home track. Greg smiled.

Today is race day. We are excited to watch our friends' race. For the final morning, Ric picked us up to drive us to the race. Once we got there, Ric parked the car. He told us that he was going to watch the race with us. Ashley was waiting for us. Dario and the others were getting ready for the race and would talk to us after the race ended. So, Greg, Ric, and I went to find a seat with Ashley to watch the race.

Once the race started, Dario drove quite ahead of the others. There was a battle for second between teammates. The battle was between Patrick and Tag. Tag was nice enough to let Patrick pass him.

Then a few laps later, Tag had another battle this time it was between Zanardi. This time Tag kept his ground and his position.

One quarter of the race is finished. It is time for pit stops. Dario went in and out. He kept the lead. After the pit stops, Dario still leads the race. Tony is behind him in second. Patrick is behind Tony in third. Tag is behind him in fourth. The top five ends with Alex Zanardi. What a close race between friends after 100 laps. Another round of pit stops is coming up.

All the pit stops have been completed for this part of the race. Dario is still leading. Patrick is in second. Tag is in third. Then comes Zanardi, finally it is Tony in fifth. It has been an intense race so far. There are only 50 laps left of the race. The final pit stops of the race have been completed. Dario is still leading. Tag is in second. Tony is in third. Patrick is in fourth and Zanardi is still in fifth. So, as it stands Dario, Tag, and Tony will be on the podium at the end of the race. There are only ten laps left in the race. Dario is still leading. He is three car lengths away from second place who is Tag. Ashley is excited that her husband will win another race in Canada. Greg and I are excited as well. The final lap of the race, Ashley's excitement intensifies. Dario is now only a quarter of a lap away from winning again in Canada. He is only a few seconds away from the finish line. The race has ended.

Once Dario crossed the finish line, Ashley, Greg, Ric, and I ran down to the podium to congratulate him. The others that were on the podium were Tag is second and Patrick is third. Team mates ended up on the podium. We congratulated them as well. During Dario's speech to the media, he said that the win means a lot to him because he won in his best friend's home town. That made Greg smile and Ric as well.

After speaking to the media, he came over to talk to us. Tag and Patrick followed him. Then Tony and Zanardi came down to see us as well. We congratulated all of them for a great finish and an exciting race. Tony introduced us to Zanardi. I thought he was a nice person. Then Tony told us that he and Zanardi are good friends. I told him that was great.

After that Dario came up to us, he gave Greg something really special. Dario gave Greg his helmet. Greg asked him why. Dario told him that the helmet was to celebrate his win in Vancouver and to honour a special friendship they shared. Greg beamed when Dario said that.

After Dario gave Greg his helmet, Ric told us it was time for us to go.we said our goodbyes and told them we were looking forward to seeing them again next year. They thanked us and we left.

Once Ric dropped us off at home, we said goodbye and thanked him for driving us this weekend. He told us that it was not a problem then he left. Greg was in awe about the helmet. He was touched and honoured to have a great friend like Dario. I decided to go buy a shadow box for the helmet to be displayed in and protected.

A few days later, I phoned Ric to drive me to the store to get Greg's surprise. Ric thought the shadow box was a great idea. Once I bought it and arrived home, I put the helmet in the box while Greg was preoccupied with something else. Once I was done, I called Greg into the room. He was so happy, he was beaming. I am glad I made Greg really happy.