Don's 2 weeks leading up to my 1st Indy 500

My Two Weeks Summed up in a Blog Part 1 Practice / Qualifying

The IMS Pagoda!  So beautiful! 

So I was going to post a blog last Monday in regards to my pole day experience, but by the time I was ready to write it, carb day was about 6hrs away so I figured why not do one blog for the last two weeks.  Wow it was like 15 pages in a word document.  To save your eyes a little I split it into 2 parts.  If you want the short version of the blog here it is... JOIN ME Next May (2011) 21st-22nd for Pole and Bump day, May 27th for Carburation Day, or May 29th for the Indy 500! If you don't have fun when you go, Ill pay for your hotel room, gas share & food! Or Ill beat you over the head with a tack hammer and throw you out of the care somewhere near Lafayette Indiana in one of the giant potholes on I-65.

Practice Days:

Not much to write about these days.  Mostly watched practice at work with my month of May setup at my desk (No sound though since my boss sits across from me).  Though I added the Ipad this year as a backup for Timing & Scoring.  This was a low productivity week, as I was glued to monitor #1 the whole time.  That and I took care of most of my work the week before.  The phone was secretly rerouted to another extension as to not bother me :)

(From the Left most monitor: Indycar Racecontrol, Twitter/Facebook, Actual work tasks, and Work Email.  Ipad was for backup Timing / Scoring, Black Berry / Android were backups for Twitter & Facebook.  The laptop was if I need another computer for work)

Fast Friday:

Fast Friday (The last practice day to find speed & usually offers up a wreck or 2) I was with my great friends from Chicago and witnessed a Blackjack's victory, & lots of drinking & good times, with 2hrs of sleep before I left for Indy Saturday morning.  I really couldn't tell you what happened, except I heard there was rain coming to the Speedway, so I don't remember if it held off or not.  Move on to Pole Day!

Pole Day:

Nothing like walking into the Speedway being greeted by the Indianapolis 500 Gordon Pipers on a beautiful sunny morning!  The picture was taken over in the Pagoda Plaza.  Though when I arrived at the speedway I parked in turn 3 ran up to one of the viewing mounds with a bottle of Horny Goat Exposed beer (Free plug for my favorite beer! Follow'em on Twitter @HornyGoatBrewCo).  I was approached by a yellow shirt asking me if it was a glass bottle.  I kindly smiled and said yes :) (Why lie ya know?).  They offered me a cup to pour it into, instead I chugged it by the garbage.  No problems or arguments.  I think every year on pole day my friends & I get yelled at least once by a yellow shirt for something.  Its like tradition.  (The beer of choice gotta love that label)

Foolish me I thought it was so nice I would walk from the entrance of turn 3 to the museum gift shop around turn 2, and not take the tram.  Forgetting its not the Milwaukee Mile (1.032 miles all the way around God have mercy on Jim Doyle & Wisconsin State Fair Park Board of Directors), I walked the entire length of the back stretch 5/8s of a mile, and turn 2.  Thank Goodness Sato hit the wall so I didn't miss any action on the track.  On my way to turn 2, I ran into the Indianapolis 500 Gordon's Pipers!  Instead of trying to pass them in the walkway I like others, marched with them.  When they stopped we all stopped.  I got into the gift shop winded, looked around & bought a new shirt to replace the one I was wearing (Its tradition every race I go to I buy a program & a shirt).  Though I ordered the program, another shirt, and a brick shaped magnet from Indycar.com, on May 15th, I thought they would be at the house in time to wear on pole day.  Everything arrived at the house on the 22nd.  D'oh!  The best part was the pipers were outside of the museum and you could hear the staff in agony like Rachel Phelps from the movie Major League every time she heard Wild Thing play over the stadium PA.  The Pipers walked into the museum and the staff were covering their ears.  What could be better than the smell of ethanol, and the sound of Indycars going 230mph, with the sound of bag pipes in the morning I ask you?

While waiting for qualifying to begin I sat in the Pagoda Plaza, just taking it all in that I was back at IMS(The pipers walked by again, and it was music to my ears).  I even walked by one of the newest Indycar designs for 2013 (Though alot of people hope not). The Delta Wang (Wing).

Keep all orifices clear of this thing as it looks like its ready to pounce at any given opportunity.  Short & simple this thing scares the hell out of me in person, and don't like it.  In the beginning I was on the fence, then seeing it in person I don't like it.  It sits too low, and is too skinny.  I'm afraid to see crashes with that thing.  Moving along!! 

This was my 6th pole day. Except this one had more qualifying attempts, more drama, hot weather, beer, a touch of heat exhaustion, and a tenderloin sandwich.  To keep score 2004-2006 pole days were rained out when I went with my friends, 2007 we saw about 15-20 attempts, & 2008 was blazing hot with the same amount of attempts.  2004-2006 we stayed for 2nd day qualifying, and 2006 2nd day qualifying was rained out.  2009 we had a friends bachelor party on pole day (Hey we tried to persuade them to go to Indy but alot of them weren't fans).  I never really got what I felt was my full monies worth on Pole day when it didn't rain out.

I have to admit the 24 spots for pole day was brilliant from a fans standpoint.  I thought I read somewhere there were 60+ attempts made.  Probably about 20 of them were during the final 90minutes in the shootout for the pole.  Though everyone pretty much drew blanks against Helio.  But it was just fun watching the different attempts being made just to either make the top 9, or to withdraw your time to solidify a spot in the top 24, or just to move one or 2 spots higher than where you qualified earlier in the day so you didn't get bumped out of the field. 

In years past, qualifying would stop after two hours due to the track temperature, and teams would practice to find a faster setup for the last 2hours of the day.  Not the case this year!  I think there was about one hour of practice during qualification time.  I promised myself that if certain scenarios played out on pole day, I would stay the night in Indianapolis to go to bump day.  Those scenarios were, if anyone from Andretti Autosport , Team Target, or Team Penske did not make the field.  Well.... TK & John Andretti were the only ones who weren't in the field for Andretti Autosport at the end of the day, and I felt confident they would make it safely first thing in the morning. 

Cant forget about Danica's comments literally throwing her team under the bus like she did.  I never heard a crowd of people gasp like everyone did at the track, and then turn into boos and hisses.  Loved it!  I was hoping during the interview to see a wrench get thrown at her & hear a crew member tell her to fix it herself!  Oh & Danica I was one of the people from 5 years ago who witnessed your qualifying run where you got too low into turn one and almost lost it.  Great save, but that & a 1 for 86 record does not give you the right to treat your team like that.  Your other teammates handled themselves professionally about their cars.  I hope you learned something from Tony as it seems he is your babysitter any time you make a mistake.  Danica rant over I'm calm again :)

O yea at the end of the day I had to drop off a case of Spotted Cow for someone who is unable to get spotted cow in the Indianapolis area. 

Bump Day

I came home Saturday night around 8pm CST, and passed out until the next morning just 30minutes before Bump Day qualifying was going to take place (5hrs of sleep on Thursday / Friday too much excitement).  I popped on to Facebook & saw pictures of Tony Kanaan's wrecked race car & thought they were pictures from Saturday again.  So I went had some breakfast, beautified myself (The mirror didn't shatter so it was a good day LOL), and turned on VS.  Ah crap not again Tony!  I was freaked out the whole day and didn't want to leave the TV. 

Could it be that my first Indy 500 would not have Tony Kanaan, Paul Tracy, and Sebastian Saavedra in the field?  You could also throw in AJ Foyt the 4th in that mix, but after hearing reports of him and his grandfather getting into an argument to put it nicely (Cue Kenny Brack's Legend of the Speedway http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yquL7_E83-U ) U just don't mess with AJ even if your family.  You might end up with a wicked bump on the head from a laptop if your not careful.

I would understand if Sebastian didn't make the field as Bryan Herta Autosport was a small team, with a little budget and a rookie driver, but Tony freakin Kanaan?  I saw the practice speeds for most drivers were in the high 223s & 224 ranges & knew Milka had no shot whatsoever making the race.  Shucks ~sarcasm~

Man then the chaos began in the 2 hours, cars withdrawing their times that basically guaranteed them a spot in the race.  Sebastian crashed the car trying to find more speed incase he would get bumped out of the field, which he did.  Then he was taken to the hospital with soreness in his lower back.  The drivers withdrawing their times couldn't find the speed to bump their way back into the field so they were on the outside looking in.  Tony Kanaan made the field, but one had to wonder for how long.  What if the other guys qualified faster than Kanaan, would he be able to go back out there and bump his way back in?  What would Andretti Autosport do if Danica was on the bubble, and Tony was on the outside looking in?  Wait a minute with Tracy & Howard withdrawing their times, who comes back into the field.  Hey Sebastian is back in.  Now to hope and pray no one bumps the guy out.  ~bang goes the 6pm gun~  The field is set, depending on how Jay Howard qualifies.  Nope not fast enough.  The look on Sara Fisher's face when Jay didn't make it.  Worse yet, the expression from Paul Tracy' face that he didn't make the show.  I was upset for Paul.  But man the look on Herta's face summed it up!  The interview was priceless, saying there were literally Two Men & a Truck racing, with a rented shop! (Insert clever 11th hour idea). 

End of Part 1. 

 Now is a good time to go to grab a snack!