When Today Becomes Tomorrow...

8 octobre 2008

30 ans plus tard, on se souviens...

Merci Gilles Villeneuve!

Merci Ile Notre Dame!

Merci GP du Canada!

Merci Montréal!

Un peu de Nostalgie de cette Ile Magique - Tout le monde ensembles! :-)

Un jour, un jour, quand tu viendras
Nous t'en ferons voir de grands espaces.
Un jour, un jour, quand tu viendras,
Pour toi nous retiendrons le temps qui passe.

Nous te ferons la fête, sur une île inventée
Sortie de notre tête toute aux couleurs de l'été.

Un jour, un jour, quand tu viendras
Nous t'en ferons voir de grands espaces.
Un jour, un jour, quand tu viendras,
Pour toi nous retiendrons le temps qui passe.

Dans ce pays de fable, entre deux océans,
On fait à chaque table, une place qui t'attends.

Un jour, un jour, quand tu viendras
Nous t'en ferons voir de grands espaces.
Un jour, un jour, quand tu viendras,
Pour toi nous retiendrons le temps qui passe.

Déjà la terre est verte et la brise sent bon,
Nos portes sont ouvertes pour ceux qui arriveront.

---

October 7, 2008

Flashback to Oct. 8, 1978

Gilles Villeneuve wins the first Canadian Grand Prix on Ile Notre Dame, Quebec!

Gilles Villeneuve gagne le Grand Prix du Canada dans la #12 sur l'Ile Notre Dame, Quebec!

Son temps pour 70 laps = 1h57m49.196s.

It was amazing, absolutely glorious. There were thousands of fans who showed up for their first grand prix live experience. It was a crisp usual Fall day but there was nothingordinary about it...

JPL was working weekends and I'd spend my time with my family and friends. Montreal was booming and modern. Crescent street was just starting to 'happen'. Expo '67 and the Metro line to Ile Notre Dame and Ste. Helene, a big dream, already fading andgetting old.

Until, a guy from smalltown Quebec proved to us all that your life is as big as your next dream.

Gilles Villeneuve made us all proud. And, to win in a Ferrari was ideal in a city with the biggest Italian-Canadian community outside of Italia. This was the first time in my life,where I saw mia familigia e compares, proudly waving the Italian flag openly, in the streets of Montreal. Right there, alongside the beautiful Maple Leaf and a photo of their honorary son Gilles. :-)

Madonne! Dad and Grandpapa were certainly on the island in spirit. An island they had both help build In 1967. I remember being with my father on the inaugural Metro ride to the Expo '67 site. The first underground subway tunnel in the World!

We sat with Mayor Jean Drapeau who kept telling me to look out the window. "Regardes par la fenêtre!" he said, like there was something mystical about to happen.

There, on the tunnel walls, they had painted hundreds of pictures that became animated as the Metro drove passed. Ile Notre Dame became a very special place for me. A magical place.

So, 11 years later, could we have imagined a greater driver, a greater team, a greater dream? Formula 1 had come and gone in Canada, to come back again and now, quite possibly leave again.

BUT, if we all stop long enough and remember Gilles...

Stand up and remember!

Stand up JVistes and let FIA and Mr. Eccelstone know that there is no greater race than the Grand Prix du Canada à Montréal. There is no F1 week anywhere else in the World!

Stand up 30 years later gentle-Canadians and scream the name Gilles Villeneuve!

Je me souviens...

Et, je me prépares pour mon prochain rêve. Revez Grand les JVistes.

Up yours FIA & B. Eccelstone!

Merci Gilles Villeneuve, pour nous partager ton reve... On se souviens

Merci Gilles Villeneuve, pour les souvenirs et surtout, merci petit prince du Quebec, d'avoir partage ta vie mythique avec nous.

On se souviens

Please be sure to view this great youtube video that celebrates Gilles Villeneuve's life.