Grand Prix Wizard

CHAPTER TWO: SILLY SEASON

"Don," Harry Potter said to team owner Don Nickels, "we're honored and flattered that you've thought of us. Obviously, a new team is a bit of a gamble, but then, taking a chance on James is a risk for you as well. Poppa, what do you think?"

"I think it's a brilliant opportunity," Arthur Weasley enthused. James Potter was playing with his silverware.

"Obviously, there's still quite a bit to sort out," Nickels warned. "We have the money, and we have an engine deal with Voltage. They just clinched the Moto GP bike championship, and are ready to focus on the auto market once again. As you know, Voltage was quite a force to be reckoned with early in the century, but motorcycles were their roots. They've shown me a very promising ten-cylinder, however. And James, I'm sure you know that the new Voltage engines use the cross wizard/Muggle technology developed by your Aunt Hermione Weasley."

"We've also got the facility and the staff, although we are currently in Indianapolis. We almost certainly will build or buy a factory in England. I don't think you can run an international motor racing team from America."

"We might be able to help out there," said Harry, with a wink at Arthur. James picked up his napkin, folded it, unfolded it again, and placed it back on his lap.

"We expect to run two cars. I believe the second driver will have a great deal more experience than Jimmy, but not nearly as much success. For several different reasons, I'm hoping to bring over a US driver. He'll be a Muggle, but he is from one of the most famous racing families ever. His great grandfather won the World Championship in 1978, and he's been racing so long it's hard to believe he's only thirty-eight. His father flamed out in his Formula One shot, so the family has been a little gun shy about trying it again."

"So, now that Marco has finally broken the family jinx at Indianapolis, they're ready to try Grand Prix racing again, eh?" said Arthur, who would be the one in the room to know who Nickels was talking about. Jimmy reached out both his hands in fists, causing his elbows to pop. He shifted again in his seat.

"Jimmy will blow his doors off," Harry boasted. "Put this boy against anyone in equal cars, and he'll always be faster. He's proved it over and over. And he's great with the sponsors, you know. We probably can bring in the Wheezes and Gringotts both as associates. They've been with us from the start. Jimmy can work his tail off."

"Uh, guys...still in the room," Jimmy said.

"So listen. How does Wizard Products fit into the deal? Do they own the team, or are they just the main sponsor?" Jimmy asked.

"No, I own the team! That's an absolute. That's just like Arthur running your car; it's not negotiable. I've spoken at length with Draco. He is not even interested in being around. We may never see him at a race."

"Well, that's good," Jimmy replied. "I know Dad and Uncle Ron have a nodding acquaintance with him going back to school and the war, but I hear the bloke is a prick. I'd just as soon not have him around."

"The company will be represented, Jimmy. That's why I asked Arthur about your cousin and Scorpius Malfoy. It's my understanding that Draco is putting up the money because Scorpius asked him to, and that the conditions are that you are one of the drivers and he is the corporate program manager," Nickels said. "Would you be OK with that?"

"Yeah. Think so. Scorpius was a year behind me at Hogwarts, but I thought he was a really good kid. Nothing like his old man is supposed to be, and of course, not even a hint of dark stuff like his grandfather was into. He and Rose got together practically on the train to school first year, and haven't been very far apart since. I think we pretty much consider him part of the family by now, don't we Poppa?"

"Oh, I think so, son!" Arthur said. "This is sounding better and better all the time, wouldn't you say so Harry?"

"Haven't heard much I don't like, that's for sure. Can't imagine it could hurt to have Rosie and Scorp on the road with James. Now, if it was Al, I'd be concerned!" Everyone at the table roared at this. It was well known that Jimmy and Al Potter, combined, could be destructively lethal to anyone without a world-class sense of humor and a tolerance for practical jokes.

"Well, do we have an agreement in principle, then?" Nickels asked.

"I believe so," said James Potter. "My dad and grandpa will want to help get all the agreements drawn up. There are still two races to run with AVS, and I am going to give them my full attention. I think we should all keep this quiet until after the season, and then if everything plays out the way we talked about it tonight, it sounds wicked."

"All agreed then. Mum's the word. Get the solicitors moving; avoid the silly season." Each grabbed a glass of wine, and clinked them in a toast.

<<**>>

Of course, this meant that by the time the Grand Prix circus arrived at the penultimate round in Shanghai, China, everyone in the motor racing world knew that Jimmy Potter was going to personally finance the brand new Phoenix Formula One Team. Not for nothing is it called the "silly season".

The time period at the end of every motor racing season, no matter what the type of racing or level of competition, has been known as the "silly season" since the end of Muggle World War II. It is a time when old teams pull out of the sport, and new teams enter. It is a time when manufacturers trying to market automobiles or motorcycles or boats or airplanes jockey for positions in racing series where they feel they get the most promotional value for the gigantic gobs of money they must spend.

With teams changing and technical support always in flux, it's no wonder that drivers and important team personnel are also moving around; sometimes from car to car within the same series; just as often jumping from one form of racing to another. The "silly" parts of the silly season are the hundreds, maybe thousands, of rumors that go flying about who is going where, why, and for how much.

The fact that the team was actually called Phantom Racing, and that only a few people actually knew the truth about Phantom Racing, didn't matter to those telling the tales. James and Harry knew that it had gotten out of hand when veteran Formula One writer Herb Cook bothered to make his way out of the Grand Prix paddock to visit with the GP2 denizens.

"So mates," said Cook, acting like he had known the Potters forever, when in fact he had never even been introduced either of them, "I hear you're ready for the big step up. What's this Phoenix deal all about?"

Herb Cook was not their favorite person. Of course, very few writers had ever been favorites in the Potter household, given how they had been consistently treated in the tabloids. But Cook was a specialist. The only thing he wrote about was automobile racing, and so far, he had never bothered to introduce himself to the Potters. Despite Jimmy's apparent success, it seemed he did not exist in Cook's world.

Cook was a short man, only about five-foot-two. In his late sixties, he had been the leading motor sports writer in the world for over forty years. He had a round face, perpetually rosy cheeks, a red nose, and wore the thickest glasses anyone had ever seen. He had very little hair, and what he had was worn in the worst possible comb-over. It was a joke in the paddock that he only had one hair, but that it was 100 feet long and wound repeatedly around his skull.

He also was an egomaniac to rival Rita Skeeter. He had made and broken so many driver and engineering careers that he probably believed it was he, and not the team owners, who decided who failed and succeeded in Grand Prix racing. Part of this stemmed from the fact that Cook had actually climbed up from the bottom. He had actually been a mechanic, and then a team manager. As chief press office for one of the leading Formula One teams, he had been driving the passenger car the day it crashed and paralyzed his team owner from the waist down.

Fired, and deservedly so, from that job, he had moved on into both print and electronic journalism; and he had written and reported for virtually every important English language racing publication and television network.

"Nice race today, Jimmy," Cook said. "Of course, all your races have been nice."

"And nice of you to finally notice," Harry shot back. "And it's not Phoenix Racing; it's Phantom Racing. Phoenix Racing was our family karting team."

"Dad!" Jimmy was not anxious to offend anyone in the media. His years of marketing education had not been wasted. "It's OK. Mr. Cook is an important man, and Formula One is much more important than any of the support formulae. I'm gratified he's had the time to notice me at all."

"Think nothing of it, my boy! You're sure to be the next big thing, and you can be sure I'll make everyone very much aware of it. I haven't seen anyone as good as you since Lewis Hamilton, and I've always thought that man uses voodoo on his competition." Hamilton, from Barbados, had burst on the Grand Prix scene in 2007 and was an overnight sensation. Veteran observers who had seen drivers like Jimmy Clark, Jackie Stewart, Ayrton Senna, Mario Andretti and Michael Schumacher all agreed they had never seen anyone as good as Hamilton.

"Right then. Phantom Racing it is. Is this the same group racing in the States? Saw Marco win at Indy! Very well turned outfit, although I know nothing about this Nickels character," Cook said.

"Really Mr. Cook, there's nothing to know right now. We were approached in Japan. We expressed an interest, but that's all. There are no details," Jimmy said. "My main focus is, and will be, AVS Racing, today, and in Brazil. Then, if everything works out in GP2 the way we hope it will, we will all sit down together and see what looks right for next year."

"But Jimmy, there must be other opportunities. Vesputi is retiring at Ferrari; McLaren can't keep a number two as long as Hamilton is there. Even a driver with your talent goes backwards if he chooses the wrong team."

"I'm not sure Jimmy is going to be a number two anywhere," Harry said, a bit more politely. "I think we're looking at things where he can come into the team as the lead driver. Better to be a big fish in a small pond that a little fish in the ocean."

"What about AVS moving up?" Cook asked.

"Sure. Always a possibility, isn't it? But it's also a matter of resources. There's a reason they call this the 'silly season' as you know as well as I. By the time the lights go out for the first time next March, there will be a lot of rumors. Some will be true, and some will be ... well ...silly," Harry said.

"Well mates, you've neatly turned my attention away from Don Nickels," Cook said. Jimmy just stood there and smiled. The next one to speak would lose. There was a very long pause, a trademark Cook interviewing tactic. Finally, however, he broke. "OK. You blokes play it as close to the vest as you want for now. But when you have something to say, please remember I came looking for you before any of the other guys. Oh, and Jimmy...Harry...Arthur...please call me Herb!" The little journalist turned and began the long walk back to the Formula One paddock.