LVMS Practice & Qualifying

October 16, 2011

Vitor Meira



Tony Kanaan

Pippa Mann

LVMS Practice & Qualifying

If you look at the record books in the future, you won’t see any listings for the Indy Car championship race in Las Vegas. The tragic loss of Indy Car driver Dan Wheldon and subsequent cancelation of the remaining race means that the entire event will be removed from the history books as if none of it ever happened, a decision that is fine with me considering what we all went through on the tragic race day. However, prior to the tragedy, there was a full day of practice and qualifying for the race which despite not counting in official record books did in fact occur and was pretty exciting at that.

Danica Patrick



We headed out to Las Vegas Motor Speedway early on Friday morning for a full day of activities which included practice and qualifying for the Indy Car series, the Indy Lights series and the NASCAR truck series. The weather was perfect, sunny with no humidity and temperatures in the low 90s.

Will Power

Dario Franchitti

Ana Beatriz & Danica Patrick

My friend Bob & I were able to hang out in the Neon garage area and in the pits during the practice and qualifying and we also had passes to the Indy car suite atop the grandstands just past the start/finish line. The suite had food and drinks and even better had comfy seats and air conditioning and an amazing view of the entire track as well as close-circuit televisions in case we might miss something. Not a bad deal at all.

Marco Andretti

TK

Graham Rahal

Danica Patrick

As nice as the suite was, I also enjoy being closer to the action and spent much of the practice sessions in the pits. There is something about being so close that engages all my senses as you can feel the power as the cars roar out of the pits and smell the methanol fuel with a slight hint of burning rubber, it is awesome.
The Indy Car qualifying was full of surprises. Not many would have guessed a front row that consisted of pole sitter Tony Kanaan and Oriol Servia. More surprising is how poorly the two championship contenders, Dario Franchitti and Will Power did in their attempts. They would ironically be starting side by side, but way back in 17th (Power) and 18th (Franchitti).



TK

Danica

Jamie Little of ESPN

Indy Lights champion Josef Newgarden

It was a busy day of qualifying as thirty-four cars are scheduled to start, which is a very large field for Indy Car. This is the last year for this style car and many car owners decided to make one final use of their extra cars and put one off drivers into the field. There was one scary looking incident as rookie James Jakes wrecked his car in turn two in a fiery crash. He was thankfully fine and would be able to start in a back-up car.

James Jakes wreck



The pole position by Tony Kanaan was something of a surprise as it was his first pole of the season. The relatively poor showings by the typically dominant Penske and Target teams opened the door for others to populate the top of the grid, which was pretty cool. I always like to see fresh faces at the front.

Danica Patrick

Kathy & Helio Castroneves

It was a really great day at the track and the excitement building for the race was really growing. It continued the next day when we all spent the morning at the wonderful Indy Fan fest which was held in the parking lot of our hotel, Mandalay Bay. There was a meet and greet with all the Indy Car drivers, a question and answer session between championship contenders Franchitti and Power that was moderated by Dan Wheldon that was wonderful and really difficult to think about after what happened. Wheldon keep the discussion light and humorous and was in great spirits. For many fans in attendance, it was their final opportunity to see Wheldon in person and hopefully it will be a memory they will cherish. I know it will be for me.

Las Vegas

October 15, 2011









Las Vegas

Kathy and I love Las Vegas. We have been there a number of times, but not at all in the past five years and we have been hoping to return but just haven’t gotten around to it. When the Indy Car series scheduled their season ending championship finale at the track, that gave us a good reason. We had previously attended the final races when they were held at Homestead Miami Speedway and thought Vegas sounded like a great idea. Everything was perfect until the tragedy that claimed the life of two-time Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon early in the race. I addressed that tragedy in my previous blog post, but as difficult as it may be, I now will be going back to prior to that horrible event and cover the rest of our Vegas trip.







We were joined on our trip by our Key West friends Bob and Nancy who are Indy Car fans as well. Nancy is actually from Las Vegas, so it was a trip home for her. We arrived Wednesday evening and checked in to what is one of our favorite Las Vegas resorts, the Mandalay Bay. We were thrilled to get a corner room on the top floor of the hotel that offered a spectacular view looking right down the Las Vegas strip.









The Indy Car series had a great schedule of activities for us to attend, but we also had plenty of free time to explore Vegas, attend shows, shop, lounge by the pool and hang out in the wonderful Spa Mandalay. We love the spa there so much that we purchased a pass for our entire stay. Mandalay Bay is awesome. They have an incredible pool area that includes a number of pools, hot tubs, a huge wave pool and a lazy river raft ride. There is also a great gym and the spa which is awesome.



Nancy, Kathy & Michael





Neither Kathy & I are big gamblers. I place an occasional bet on the Sports book and generally do fairly well; but we don’t play any of the other slots or games of chance. We love Vegas though; it has a vitality and excitement that goes beyond the phony facades of the casinos and the club life that permeates the place. We love the shows and the shopping and the adult Disney nature of the place.









We had tickets to see the incredible Cirque du Soleil show featuring all music by the Beatles, “Love” at the Mirage. It would be the seventh Cirque du Soleil show that we have seen, including many in Las Vegas including “Mystere”, “O”, and “Zumanity”. Until this show, “O” was easily our favorite Cirque show- though they are each amazing.



Kathy & Nancy



This show is something else entirely, something magical and wonderful and spectacular and amazing. The opening twenty minutes are the best and most enjoyable performance of any type that I have ever seen, including theatre, concerts, anything. It is impossible to describe how awesome it was or why it captured my fancy so completely.







The acrobatics, while incredible, are not as fantastic as in some Cirque shows. The music while wonderful is familiar. Yet something about the combination and the energy of the cast just transforms the show onto a special plane. We were blown away. And while the latter portions don’t maintain the incredible energy the drop off is from perfect to merely sensational. This show is worth every cent of the ticket price and is worth a trip to Vegas just to see it. I have posted a small video that comes nowhere close to capturing the magic, yet gives something of an idea of the show.

Octopus’s Garden

The show has so much going on that it is impossible to see everything on a single viewing and we hope to be able to return and see it again sometime soon. It is that good. Our first couple of days in Vegas were awesome and we really enjoyed hanging with our Key West friends in a new setting.

Dan Wheldon, 1978-2011

October 17, 2011





Dan Wheldon, 1978-2011

Under normal circumstances, I try to keep my blog postings in chronological order, as events happen, I try to document them as quickly as I am able. This week, even though Kathy and I have been in Las Vegas for five days, I was just too busy to keep up and have not posted anything. After the tragic event that we witnessed yesterday, I feel that I have to respond immediately, the rest just doesn’t seem as significant at the moment. The tragic loss of Indy Car driver Dan Wheldon during yesterday’s race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway hit us hard and I feel it imperative to try and express our feelings immediately.

Dan with Kathy at St. Pete

Morning warm up

I first want to express my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Dan Wheldon, his team, fans and the entire Indy Car community which today has to deal with the loss of a good friend, great man and a legendary driver. In forty plus years of attending Indy Car races, I have sadly witnessed or been at the track for a number of tragedies. I remember being at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a child on the day Art Pollard was killed and on too many similar days since then. They have each been horrible tragedies, but somehow this loss affected me on a much deeper level.

Wheldon (left) pulls away for his final time.

It could be that we had just seen a vibrant, happy Wheldon the previous day at the Indy Car fan fest, where he spent the day mingling with fans and really seemed on top of the world. He apparently had agreed to a deal to replace Danica Patrick next season at Andretti Autosports after only competing in a few races this year. He was also excited about the prospect of winning the five million dollar challenge, which he would win if he won the race here after starting last.

At Fan fest on Saturday

As always he seemed happy and enjoyed interacting with fans in a way that very few professional athletes do. He did a question and answer session on stage with championship contenders Dario Franchitti and Will Power and displayed the quick wit, humor and gift of gab that would have guaranteed him a long career in the announcers booth at the end of his racing career. I feel fortunate to have witnessed the two highest points of his career, his Indy 500 wins in 2005 and the amazing win earlier this year. He was one of the greatest drivers in Indy history and was a fantastic Indy Car champion.

2011 Indy 500



Yesterday, the day seemed so promising, it was a spectacularly beautiful day and the race started off well enough. The track is tragically not really suited to the incredibly close and fast racing and with thirty fours cars all bunched up together, it was evident right away that any incident would involve a huge pile-up and that is exactly what happened on lap twelve. It was easily the worst Indy Car crash that I have ever seen and probably the worst one ever. It was devastating and it became clear almost right away that something serious was wrong and after a two hour red flag delay, our worst fears were confirmed. The impromptu five lap memorial that the remaining drivers, most of whom were visibly shaken and stricken with grief, was remarkable and certainly was a small catharsis for the stunned and saddened crowd. It was a tough, tough day at the track.

Drivers three wide tribute

Teams tribute



On the brutal and sad shuttle ride back to the hotel from the track, I realized that I had captured a remarkable series of photographs of the terrible crash, yet I really have a dilemma about sharing any of them. I know that there are some readily available via media outlets, but it seems ghoulish to share such a tragedy in such vivid detail. I have opted to post a single image, which captures the carnage, yet is not as graphic as some that I sadly captured. I certainly mean no offense to those who were close to Dan, personally I will always choose to recall the way that he lived, rather than how he passed, which is why I have also embedded a video of the final few laps of his most improbable and cherished win at this year’s Indy 500. That is how I will always remember Dan Wheldon.

Fatal Crash

Indy 500 Finish 2011