Saturday Morning at Long Beach

Welcome back to Long Beach, where word butchers sneak into media centers and pretend to belong. (Shhh!) The Firestone Indy Lights qualifying is going to begin soon, so before I race back out there here are some pics I snapped for your morning enjoyment.


The first bit of news is Helio's arrival, and Mr Fun-tastic was eagerly greeted with big hugs from Jack Arute and others. (Check the twitter feed to note that your humble host also got a hug from Arute, but not for anything related to jury deliberations.)


Team Penske gave Helio a round of applause on his arrival, and he was definitely his bouncy exuberant self in anticipation of getting back into a race car.


Even Rick Mears was looking giddy to see Helio. Love is all around today.


Meanwhile, Will Power's ride was being prepped nearby. I think the car is black but I couldn't tell since the sidepods were being hidden in and undisclosed location.


In other news - Tony Kanaan is powered by the Doctor. Fetching.


Rafa Matos has a cool "Air Force" and "Monster.com" livery this weekend. He'll try to keep it from going into a port-o-let this weekend.


OK, back to the track. Time for some FIL qualifying. This area is definitely secure.