Brian at the Brickyard

I have decided that this blog could use more pizazz, so I am going to attempt to add pictures and movies to this post. This works out well since I finally dug my camera out of my stuff today to download the pictures on it.

Now for the story. . . So, part of the reason I stayed behind in South Bend for as long as I did was so I could attend the Indianapolis 500 this past Sunday. My parents had seen the race way back in 1983, and they always recommended that I go. I figured this was the last time I would be in Indiana around this time of the year, so it was now or never.

Since Indianapolis is a good 3 hour drive from SB, I woke up at 5AM to get on the road early. This turned out to be a very smart decision since upon reaching the area, I had to spend three more hours just sitting in traffic to get to my parking lot. I was honestly close to slitting someone's throat. Luckily, my early start still allowed me to get to the race with time to spare before the start.

Once there, I set out looking for Emily and Rachael. They were on the infield which is tailgate heaven and full of drunken rednecks and college kids. Unfortunately, it was heavily slanted towards the obnoxious, shirtless, "Let's chug a beer bro!", fratboy demographic. I grew frustrated looking for them, so I headed back to my seat. The sheer amount of alcohol that was around was impressive. Since you could bring coolers and backpacks in with you, at least half the adults there had beer of some kind. I honestly don't know how they survived because it was rediculously hot that day. I downed the entire 3 liters of ice water in my camelbak, and I still felt like I was getting dehydrated.

Now, watching the race is actually a lot more fun and exciting than I imagined. As you can see from the video, the cars zip past quickly, and then it's watching the big screens for about 45 seconds until they come around on the next lap. However, seeing the incredible speed of the cars firsthand and hearing the roar of the engines does do a lot to bring you into the race. My seat was in between turns 1 and 2, but I started to wander, and I found a sweet spot right along the fence on the inside of turn 1.

Now for the crashes! When you watch racing on TV, the crashes are usually the most interesting part. But in person they actually take some of the fun out of it since you most likely won't see them, and the cars are much less exciting when they drive around under caution.

The first crash occurred, as expected, on the first start of the race, RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY SEAT!! Unfortunately, I was still looking around on the infield and completely missed it. Damn! Fortunately, most of the race was fairly incident free, and there was plenty of good racing. But then, towards the end of the day, the biggest crash of the race happened right in front of me, and I actually saw it this time! Now, both drivers were ok, so I feel I can safely say this, but that was one of the craziest things I have ever seen! The picture is of the cleanup crews getting the track ready to race again while the cars drive past under yellow flag.

In the end, Helio Castroneves pulled out the win after starting in pole position. As everyone was leaving, I took the time to walk around and see the sights. I was fortunate enough to catch them moving the cars from pit road to the garages. I also got to see the famous strip of bricks across the finish line. Police did a much better job directing traffic away from the race, and I got back on the road with little hastle. I would say the experience was definitely worth the trip, and I would recommend it to anyone that's interested.

So, now I am back in Rochester. It's boring and quite possibly detrimental to my health. Last night when a hunger craving hit, I ran out and got myself a garbage plate. If I make that a habit, I may get a heart attack within a year. Sorry for the very long post, and I hope all is well with everyone else.