Since I was an adolescent, I was a fan of English Premier League, NBA, MLB, NHL and Auto Racing. My favorite professional soccer team is Newcastle United of England; my favorite NBA, MLB and NHL teams are Toronto Raptors, Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto Maple Leafs respectively. You may wonder why I am a supporter of the teams in Toronto. It is because I watched their games growing up and they brought a lot of fond and sour memories to me for many years.

I am a casual fan of Nascar and F1, I know a few names in the industry through media and websites; Schumacher brothers, Damon Hill (retired), Juan Motoya (now in IRL), Alonso in F1; Jeff Gordon, Junior, Jimmy Johnson and Kevin Harvick in Nascar. I did not pay any attention to Ferrari until the team signed Michael Schumacher under contract. When he was still an active driver in the circuit, I watched a few races on TV but race results became so predictable because he always won. Michael led the standing by a large margin at mid-season and his peers played supporting roles year after year. Even though the races were not very exciting, I alway liked the color and logos of Ferrari racecars. It was tough to miss two red blobs in a 20-car track on aerial view. When Alonso emerged in the scene last year, the championship got slightly interesting because I rooted for Michael in his final season, hoping he exited as a winner. Well he did not win but he was one of the greatest of all time.

This year, F1 features four equally skilled contenders; Alonso, Hamilton, Massa and Rakkinon.  Four of them belong to McLaren and Ferrari respectively, I am looking forward to a dogfight in driver standing and constructor standing this year. Hamilton is super rookie and he is challenging Alonso for the title, leading by as many as 10 points. The champion needs to push himself harder, otherwise, he may have to hand the big trophy to his teammate. I still think Alonso is a very talented driver but Hamilton is giving him all his money worth. Furthermore, Alonso does not earn as many pole position as he is capable of, losing both points and advantageous position in the grid. 

With four of them fighting hard throughout the season, I am anticipting memorable finishes and drama all year long. To me, it is more entertaining to have four men work their butts off to win a pretigous trophy than a one-man show. Since I am rooting for Alonso of McLaren to defend his title, I start surfing McLaren site to see all models the manufacturer produces.  

If I lack the gift to race for a racing team worth million dollars, I may as well be a collector of racecar models to fulfill my fantasy. It is why I trade model cars and their accessories on eBay.