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"  As we began our approach into the Edmonton, Alberta, Canada airport, the scenery from a few thousand feet up looked strangely familiar. Vast, lush green flat farmland, dotted with streams/ponds/the occasional river as far as the eye could see, surrounding an island of modern high-rises in downtown Edmonton. I know \u2014 this looks just like when I flew into Columbus, Ohio, just over a year ago.   But unlike the burg the Buckeyes built in central Ohio, there&amp;#039;s also some high-speed auto racing action in this Canadian metropolis that oil and natural gas built, thanks to an annual summertime stop by the IndyCar Series to a 1.973-mile temporary road course laid out on an always-entertaining series of airport runways. And, unlike some other runway race tracks, you really can see the entire race course from just about any seat in the house.   Canada&amp;#039;s own &amp;quot;Thrill from West Hill&amp;quot; \u2014 the always exciting and speedy rebel racer Paul Tracy \u2014 took part in the action, his first race since Champ Car&amp;#039;s swan song event earlier this year at Long Beach. He qualified on the eighth row, gridding right next to Danica Patrick (behave, you two) in 15th. He gave it is typical all-or-nothing effort and finished in a remarkable 4th place, just off of the podium.   But a funny thing happened on the way to the aerodrome-turned-race-circuit: I spotted a lot of cool things to do when I wasn&amp;#039;t going to be at the race.   My first night I took in the &amp;quot;Taste of Edmonton&amp;quot; event in downtown (about a 15-minute walk from my hotel) that conveniently lasts the whole race weekend, with dozens of local eateries offering up nice portions of their signature dishes for just a few dollars each. Chinese lemon chicken, fried wontons stuffed with cream cheese and crab, bacon-wrapped scallops, and some coconut ice cream with fresh fruit to wash it all down, and I was sufficiently satiated to the tune of about $15 Canadian, and that ain&amp;#039;t bad.   The next night, after the day&amp;#039;s motorsport activities ceased, it seemed a good idea to keep the evening&amp;#039;s activities low-key, so it was off to try the Boston Pizza about a block from my hotel. Good choice as this popular Canadian chain with locations across the country proved to have very tasty pepperoni/mushroom/sausage pie, indeed.   There are all kinds of bars and restaurants peppered throughout the downtown area that looked like they were pretty happening (the Budweiser party just down the street lasted into the wee hours).   Maybe next year I&amp;#039;ll make it a point to come in a few days earlier and check out the world-famous and humongous West Edmonton Mall (), the largest shopping mall in all of North America; I&amp;#039;d also like to pay a visit to Capital Ex (), essentially Canada&amp;#039;s giant version of the good old-fashioned county fair happening at the same time.   Enjoy this selection of photos from the weekend&amp;#039;s race action.   Odds &amp;amp;amp; Ends   Rahal Letterman Racing&amp;#039;s post-race press release starts out by quoting lyrics from a classic (aren&amp;#039;t they all) Pink Floyd song:   The time is gone  The song is over  Thought I&amp;#039;d something more to say First \u2014 and likely last \u2014 time I&amp;#039;ll ever see that.   Don&amp;#039;t call driver Bruno Junqueira by the name &amp;quot;Oriol Servia.&amp;quot; He doesn&amp;#039;t seem to like that. (Sorry, Bruno, I know who you are. Just thinking ahead to my next interviewee when this happened).   Hats off to the Subway sandwich chain for sponsoring Paul Tracy&amp;#039;s car for the weekend. The company went all out, even paying to have the team transporter done up with full Subway signage. Hopefully they&amp;#039;ll be back sponsoring Tracy for a full season in IndyCar next year. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/news/a14154/phat-alberta/>