Indianapolis 500

May 30, 2008



Rick, Becky & Michael

Indianapolis 500





The Indy 500 has been a part of my life since I was 4 years old, actually prior to that since my parents attended the race while my mother was pregnant with me. My first visit to the speedway is captured in a grainy 8 mm home movie from 1968 and since that time I have taken every opportunity possible to get to the track for practice, qualifications and the race. For the past few years I have made dual trips to Indy each May for both qualifying and the race itself.

Rick



With Rusty

It is not just the race, but the stunning array of activities that are part of the race. Among my favorites is the annual Crawfish boil & Calcutta hosted by Rick & Becky Henss. Each year it offers an opportunity to see many of my Indiana friends all together as the family friendly party draws a large crowd. In fact the party is so enjoyable that the crowd from Brugge cut short a visit to a private party hosted by Jason Priestly with the Barenaked Ladies to come back in time for the Calcutta.
Each year, Rick & Becky import a huge amount of live crawfish from Louisiana and boil them up for the crowd. Brugge & the Broad Ripple Brew Pub provide kegs of beer and the fest is on. It is a great, great time. This year, I teamed with Kevin Mattalucci to snare Marco Andretti & Marty Roth in the Calcutta. They were the first lot auctioned and we snared them for a bargain price compared to the prices for the front row drivers.

Shannon, Ted, Eli & Mary

Calcutta

Will

Race morning itself dawned clear and sunny, a major shift from the rain that plagued the event last year. This year I took my nephew Will Noel to his first Indy 500. My other seats went to my friends John & Dan who met us at the track. We also managed to obtain tickets for a friend from Key West, Bob, who drove over from Illinois and met us outside the gate to get their tickets. Our seats are high up in turn 3, the Northeast Vista and they offer a spectacular view down the length of the back stretch and through turns 3 and 4.





It was the scene of a ton of action, from Buddy Rice spinning out Milka Duno to the crash that took out leader Tony Kanaan and Sarah Fisher as well as many passes and attempted passes throughout the day. The race itself was pretty good, though there was a ton of laps run under yellow due to the many crashes. In the end, Scott Dixon held off Vitor Meira & Marco Andretti to capture his first Indy 500 win. Placing third, Marco came through for me again and my Calcutta luck held true. I can’t recall a year that I have not won something.



All in all, it was another fun-filled weekend and another chapter in the storied history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Monday morning, I was back on a plane headed south.

Carb Day

May 28, 2008

Robert Earl Keen



Carb Day

Pat & Vitor Meira

After a couple of weeks, it was back to Indianapolis to attend what is my 35th consecutive Indianapolis 500. I’ve actually been going to the track for 41 years as my first official visit was in 1968, with my grandfather & father, but as far as attending the race itself, that didn’t start until 1974. Anyway, I return each year and for the first time in some years there is an excitement about the event not felt since before the split in open wheel racing.



Kevin & Pat

The Indy 500 is actually the culmination of a month of events and activities that take over the city each May. I made sure to arrive in time for the beloved Carb Day. Carb Day is the final practice for the Indy cars, but it has also developed into a huge celebration that includes the practice, pit stop competition, Indy Pro series race and a massive concert in the infield, which featured the reunited Stone Temple Pilots this year.

Stone Temple Pilots at Carb Day

I was up and at the track early, to beat the massive crowds that turn out and to meet my friend Pat Davis, who has made the drive up from Evansville for the past few years to meet me and Kevin Love and enjoy the day. The forecast was ominous, but the rain held off through at least part of the practice and we got to enjoy at least part of the day. The rain arrived and washed out the IPS race and the pit stop competition, the concert went on as scheduled as thousands of drunken STP fans wallowed in the mud during the show.

Mike Greenberg of Mike & Mike in the Morning

Former Driver Jerry Grant



After the track, I headed over to the Memorabilia show at the Indiana State fairgrounds where I perused the old racing related junk before heading over to a cook-out at the Micheli homestead in advance of the annual Carb Day Calcutta at the K of C. The annual event involves bidding on the starting drivers and then splitting up the pot based on the top finishers and the last place team. Our syndicate, The Fisher Farts, was able to afford two middle of the road drivers, Buddy Rice & Justin Wilson.

Memorablia Show

To top off Carb Day night, Tim Micheli & I headed over to the Music Mill for a Robert Earl Keen concert. Having seen him early this month in Key West, I now got the chance to check out a full show with his band. It was amazingly good; he played for over two hours to a delighted crowd and covered all his best stuff. It was the perfect caper for Carb Day.

Robert Earl Keen

On Saturday morning, I was back at the Speedway, this time to take in the postponed Indy Pro Series race. The IPS is the minor league of Indy Car racing, but the racing is just as exciting and interesting and the race was really good, as was the weather, which had turned sunny and breezy after all the rain had passed.

IPS Driver Cyndie Allemann