If you live in Indiana and have never been to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Memorial Day at least once in your life you should be severely punished. Judge Gerry sentences you to five years of hard time living in Illinois, Crook County to be specific.
You will be cleaning Todd Stroger’s toilets and responding to 911 calls from the Englewood neighborhood armed with one small container of pepper spray.
The Indianapolis 500 may not be the Super Bowl. Then again, there is no football stadium on the planet that seats 257,325 people in the grandstands and another 100,000 in the infield. All totaled that’s 357,325 people who attend the world’s largest single day sporting event, not counting an occasional O’Bamma campaign rally.
It’s the biggest party I have ever been to.
Yours truly will be there again this year. I attend with my brother, his brother-in-law and about a dozen of their friends. It becomes a non-stop three-day tailgate party. It’s like being in Las Vegas. What happens in Indy stays in Indy.
The bro has connections. One person he is very close to works for a major sponsor of one of the racing teams. It’s as close to going first-class as you can get. Paddock passes and hospitality credentials are included too.
We won’t be in a skybox. I have been in it for time trials but I like our seats much better. They are in turn two, about halfway up and we can see the cars entering turn one, the short chute and flying down the back straight into turn three. Oh yeah, it’s loud too. Earplugs are a must.
The Indy 500 has always been a source of pride to me. In past years when I could not attend I would drag a television into the garage on race day to watch while I detailed the car or Jeep and whatever motorcycle I happened to have at the time. It’s an Indiana thing.
Motorsports is something many don’t understand. It’s almost like soccer or ice hockey. But once you “get it” you’re hooked.
I like NASCAR, watch it, and understand the popularity. But it is not a lot different than standing on the side of the Dan Ryan expressway at 35th st. just before rush hour.
Open wheel racing is true racing to me. Drivers pilot traditional race cars designed especially for racing, not something that looks like the family sedan. In stock car racing they bump each other. A lot. “Boogety-boogety, four-wide!” as Daryl Waltrip likes to say. In open wheel racing if wheels touch it could mean serious injury, dismemberment and potential death. It makes for a lot more finesse, and respect.
Speaking of respect. There have been some interesting open wheel racing developments in recent years. The kind of things that shift my stick and increase my downforce too.
While Danica Patrick gets a lot of attention and…COUGH…exposure in the media there is another driver that gets my respect these days.
I have been officially anointed to High Priest in the Milka Duno House of Worship.
Do yourself a favor...click on the photo for an enlargement. Yumm.
This is Milka (gawd, I love that name) Duno, Indy Car driver. Milka qualified in the field for the second consecutive time. I would love to get into her firesuit. Whoo-boy! It doesn’t get much hotter in the cockpit than that. Milka can take the pole position but I won’t mind if she finishes in the rear.
So I will be heading down to Indy for the weekend. I will have my camera and laptop. IF I see something interesting I may post it to LITGM on location.
Happy Memorial Day to you all in advance.
P.S. It was announced yesterday that Indianapolis will be host to the 2012 Super Bowl. I will definitely be there even if I cannot score tickets. Should be another great Indianapolis party.
P.S. II, How ‘bout those AL Central first place White Sox?
4 comments:
Heh, Carl is going to be there too, you guys should hook up - with Milka.
I always watch the Indy 500 and that pretty much ends my American motor sports consumption for the year. I will watch Formula One though - I find that much more interesting than the roundy roundy types of racing.
Gerry, you bring da funny!!
I'm passing this post around!
Yes we will have to hook up down there. I may have an extra ticket, too.
We are right by the finish line. My friends' family has had these tickets like 40 years. I will get some details and send you an email.
Bring your camera. The entire area is a target rich environment.
See you there!
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