XingTheRubicon
6/1/2007, 01:45 AM
Well, Bunny actually.
The Indy 5 hunnert.
I have never been to any kind of major auto race. No NASCAR, nothing.
A distant relative of mine has been to the Indy 500 every year since 1962. He invited me to sit near the bricks at Indy. I had no freaking clue what that meant, but he had been inviting me for years, so this year I finally relented.
When do we fly in? I asked.
Oh, we don't fly. he answered We don't?
No, for 45 years we've driven to Indy. (He's from Wichita)
Why? I said
Cause that's what we do.
So we all met up (16 of us) and drove to Indianapolis.
FYI, 10 years ago at Christmas, he was talking about A.J. Foyt in '77, going on and on and I was for some reason inclined to chime in: you mean the go-cart race where they go in circles for 3 hours...
He looked at me like he wanted me to burst into flames, but he simply said, "Yeah that one."
Now for 600 miles we BS'd about everything that guys talk about....life, sex, murder (scared) and everything in between. I made a decision concerning the whole INDY thing. I was going to say it was great and all no matter what because that was the right thing to do.....and I felt as if they might kill me for sport. There was a plethora of testosterone flowing.
Morning of the 5 hunnert:
I was told that Peyton Manning was going to wave the green flag. I ate my eggs and nodded my head. There was also 3 "split tails" (not my words) that would be in the field of 33.
We sat in our seats.
A fleet of Emergency vehicles were speeding around the track for no apparent reason.
A nice salute to our military, very respectful quarter million fans.
Florence Henderson sang "God Bless America"
Gomer was sick and missed "Back home in Indiana"
and then
Ladies and Gentlemen......start your engines.
Crowd went bonkers.
What followed was simply unusual.
The Castroneves lead troop of Indy cars trudged a couple of single file laps.
Then as they entered turn #4, Peyton Manning got his flag ready. People were starting to lean. And there it was, the green flag was franticly waving........
and all hell broke loose. The cars fanned out in an attack mode and sped by where I was sitting.
I can't describe what my eyes and ears went through on that first pass but it was similar to an anxiety attack.
It was so ******* fast.
I had watched this on ABC, but television does this event very little justice.
All I could think of was Planes, Trains, and Automobiles when that guy was yelling "You're going to kill somebody" as they went by.
There's no way to describe the pure shock to your senses while viewing it live. All I can say is figure out a way to see it for yourself at least once.
My ears are still ringing, btw.
The Indy 5 hunnert.
I have never been to any kind of major auto race. No NASCAR, nothing.
A distant relative of mine has been to the Indy 500 every year since 1962. He invited me to sit near the bricks at Indy. I had no freaking clue what that meant, but he had been inviting me for years, so this year I finally relented.
When do we fly in? I asked.
Oh, we don't fly. he answered We don't?
No, for 45 years we've driven to Indy. (He's from Wichita)
Why? I said
Cause that's what we do.
So we all met up (16 of us) and drove to Indianapolis.
FYI, 10 years ago at Christmas, he was talking about A.J. Foyt in '77, going on and on and I was for some reason inclined to chime in: you mean the go-cart race where they go in circles for 3 hours...
He looked at me like he wanted me to burst into flames, but he simply said, "Yeah that one."
Now for 600 miles we BS'd about everything that guys talk about....life, sex, murder (scared) and everything in between. I made a decision concerning the whole INDY thing. I was going to say it was great and all no matter what because that was the right thing to do.....and I felt as if they might kill me for sport. There was a plethora of testosterone flowing.
Morning of the 5 hunnert:
I was told that Peyton Manning was going to wave the green flag. I ate my eggs and nodded my head. There was also 3 "split tails" (not my words) that would be in the field of 33.
We sat in our seats.
A fleet of Emergency vehicles were speeding around the track for no apparent reason.
A nice salute to our military, very respectful quarter million fans.
Florence Henderson sang "God Bless America"
Gomer was sick and missed "Back home in Indiana"
and then
Ladies and Gentlemen......start your engines.
Crowd went bonkers.
What followed was simply unusual.
The Castroneves lead troop of Indy cars trudged a couple of single file laps.
Then as they entered turn #4, Peyton Manning got his flag ready. People were starting to lean. And there it was, the green flag was franticly waving........
and all hell broke loose. The cars fanned out in an attack mode and sped by where I was sitting.
I can't describe what my eyes and ears went through on that first pass but it was similar to an anxiety attack.
It was so ******* fast.
I had watched this on ABC, but television does this event very little justice.
All I could think of was Planes, Trains, and Automobiles when that guy was yelling "You're going to kill somebody" as they went by.
There's no way to describe the pure shock to your senses while viewing it live. All I can say is figure out a way to see it for yourself at least once.
My ears are still ringing, btw.