St. Pete Grand Prix

March 29, 2010

Danica Patrick

Ryan Hunter Reay

Winner Will Power

St. Pete Grand Prix

Race day itself dawned clear and sunny, sadly it was not to last as the forecast called for major rain to hit St. Pete later in the afternoon. In order to beat the rain, I skipped the wonderful B & B breakfast at the Larelle House and headed down the street to the track to watch the final Indy Car warm-up practice. The place was virtually deserted so early in the morning and I was able to roam freely about the paddock and get nice and close to the action.







Kathy remained and enjoyed another wonderful meal at the Larelle House until I joined her late in the morning to check out and get ready for race day. We had a few hours until the race was scheduled to start and opted to skip watching the Indy Lights support race in order to spend some time exploring St. Pete on our bicycles, which we had brought along with us from Key West.



Ryan Briscoe



We rode along the waterfront, exploring the area around the Pier and much of the downtown area before settling on going to the Florida Holocaust Museum. The museum, while not having the emotional impact of the incredible National Holocaust Museum that we went to earlier this year in Washington DC, still has a number of excellent exhibits that educate visitors about the horror of the Holocaust.

The centerpiece of the museum is an original box car that was used to transport prisoners by the Nazis to the death camp at Treblinka. It is one of only 3 such cars in the United States and has been left virtually untouched in its original condition. Seeing it really brings home a tiny portion of the incredible suffering that Holocaust victims endured.

Florida Holocaust Museum

It was somehow fitting the mood that as we left the museum, the rain began to fall. Small drops became a torrent and Kathy & I sought shelter in a small deli for lunch. The sheer amount of rain made it impossible to even consider starting the race.

Milka Duno






We decided to join the crowd of Hoosiers at the Ponce de Leon hotel who were waiting out the rain with food, drinks and even a little gambling. It was a fun diversion, one that Kathy & I enjoyed until they eventually called the race, late in the afternoon.



Rain soaked track





We had already made plans to travel on to Brooksville to visit friends that evening, so we made the decision to not stay over to watch the race. The race was rescheduled for 10 AM Monday morning, and I was able to watch it in comfort in Brooksville. Will Power came through with his second straight IRL win, beating Justin Wilson and teammates Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves.








Florida Holocaust Museum

St. Petersburg

March 28, 2010



Helio Castro Neves



St. Petersburg

Spring Break officially arrives for the Key West schools and Kathy and I are on the road again, taking advantage of the week break from school to take a mini-vacation that began with us hitting the road again on Friday afternoon and heading up to St. Petersburg to attend the annual Indy Car race, the St. Petersburg Grand Prix.

Ellen & Larry



We attended last year and we had an amazing time, so we are going to try and make this an annual stop. The drive is long, but we made it up to check in to the cute little B & B called the Larelle House at about 9 PM. We were met by the owners, Ellen & Larry and shown to our adorable room, The Hemingway Room. Located in the beautiful oak-lined, brick paved historic district just north of downtown, the Larelle House was quite a great find. The breakfast that Ellen prepared on Saturday morning was fantastic and she topped it off with delicious Key Lime pie that rivaled anything found at home.





Graham Rahal & Sarah Fisher

Saturday morning, we rode our bikes the short distance to the track, which runs through the streets of downtown St. Pete around a small municipal airport and the marina. The practice and qualifying took place during the day on Saturday and we roamed around the paddock and pit area and took in all the action.



The Indy Crew

We ran into a large group of friends from Indianapolis. They had rented out basically the entire top floor of a hotel that overlooked the track and were enjoying the festivities as well. They invited us to join them later in the evening at Ceviche restaurant and bar, which we eventually did.

Marco Andretti

Dan Wheldon & Kathy

In the meantime, we watched the Indy Car qualifying. Penske driver Will Power captured the Pole for the race, with Tony Kanaan qualifying second. Of great interest to us was the excellent performance by Andretti Autosports driver Marco Andretti. Our good friend Jason works on Marco’s team and they made it to the final “Fast Six” round of qualifying and will start in 6th place for the race.





The schedule in St. Pete allows us to go out to dinner with Jason in the evening and once again we enjoyed a wonderful evening catching up at the British themed pub, The Moon Under Water. The food was good and it was a wonderful evening listening to tales from the road with Jason, who also drives the Andretti team semi with Marco’s cars across the country from race to race.

Jason

Michael, Tim & Sharon

After dinner, we headed over to Ceviche to join our Hoosier friends who were in a celebratory mood after watching the Butler Bulldogs make it to their first ever NCAA Final Four, which will be held in Indianapolis of all places.



The Larelle House

The Moon Under Water

St. Pete Grand Prix