Wednesday, May 27, 2009

At the Race, Race . . .

in the month of May -- come to the race! As Bob Kevoian sings, Sunday I went to the race! I took my friend Mike and my Mom -- both Indy 500 "virgins"!! (And ya know ya got a love a good virgin - ha!) We had a great time!

A friend of mine from work gave me FREE tickets and an excellent parking pass (we were one block from the track!!) -- thanks again, Pete and Dianna!!! Our seats were in the Southeast Vista which put us at the entrance to the second turn. So we could see the drivers coming into the first turn, taking the second turn, driving down the back straightaway, and going into the third turn. The pic above is of the pace car leading the pack right before the start of the race.

Looking down the back straightaway into the third turn. This photo was taken right before the start of the race -- there really were people sitting in these seats when the race began!

We were directly across from the snakepit. Unfortunately, this was the calm end of the snakepit, so we didn't see anyone getting really out of control. Just a couple of fat guys without shirts on. I didn't take any pictures of them -- no one wants to see that. You can thank me later!

This was my 7th time going to the 500, but only the third time seeing the entire race. In my earlier life, I went to the race three times -- twice it was rained out. One year I bartended at the track. Didn't see the race, but made lots of $$$$. In 2007, Christopher and I went to the race. It was rain delayed twice but that didn't stop our fun. We sat in the rain in our rain ponchos and garbage bags with our umbrellas up and ate chicken, talked and had a terrific time. Dario Franchitti won that year in a race that was eventually called because of the pouring -- and I do mean pouring -- rain!

This year was sunny, the race (although delayed by accidents I think 9 times) was completed and won by Helio! I've already checked out the date for next year and hope to be able to go again! Love it!!!