Surprise, Surprise!

Well in my last blog I was talk about how excited I was for the CHI LAN and how I still had one big event, the 311 concert, beforehand.  But lo and behold the weekend didn't pass without some new action!  Free tickets to the Brickyard 400!  I have never followed NASCAR other than watching an occasional race in HD now and then if I was bored and hearing the updates on the radio.  But living in the racing capitol of the world, Indianapolis, you are just overwhelmed with racing news of all kinds.  After a while I wanted to experience a race if only to know what its really about since it's such a big part of our city.  So I was very excited about it.

Ends up that we not only got to go to the race on Sunday, but we got to go have dinner with driver Kasey Khane at his racing headquarters here in Indy.  Even Better! :)  It was a very neat experience, a really cool facility, and Kasey was a very gracious host.  Very down to earth, looked you in the eye, and answered a lot of questions from the dinner guests. (See pics below)

Sunday we got down to the track early.  Neither my buddy or I had been to the Indy Motor Speedway before so we weren't sure where our tickets were or how best to get there.  After finding some $10 parking next to the High School, we walked about 3/4 mile to the track (it was $30 within a block so we were happy to have saved the money).  The cooler I packed with drinks felt like a ton by the time we got there.  Iniatially I was a little underwhelmed by the track.  No real outer facade, just high fences and then you can see the backs of all the grand stands.  With this being such a major venue, I figured it to be a little more elaborate.  I found out later they are getting ready to invest almost 50 million into it and surrounding developments, so I guess I am not the only one thinking that.

Once inside we found our seats with ease.  HOLY COW!  We were in the main straight away about row 16 from the starting line.  We could see all the cars as they were getting lined up, all the pits as they setup, and all of the straight away from turn 3 to 4 and then the main stretch.  What a view!!!  We were about 2 hours early despite sitting in traffic for an hour at the exit.  So we took a lot of pictures of what was in front of us and then took off down the track aways to get some more pit shots and pics of some of the drivers' cars that my buddy liked or he had friends that wanted a pic.  (see pics below)

The race was a good race, you may have watched it on tv.  Lots of cauitions early but then they got in a real groove.  Unfortunately one of those cautions was Kasey Khane, our gracious host from the night before.  He was out of the race at lap 42.  Other memorable moments were Jimmy Johnson's car bursting into flames, Ricky Rudd's Snickers car getting taped up like a mummy and pitting every other lap, and Jr's car just blowing a gasket and putting him out.  But most memorable was how Tony Stewart was driving.  Love him or hate him, that man can DRIVE!  From the get go, you could tell his car was running well and he was taking full advantage.  He was passing 1-2 cars every lap and would hold the lead until he had to pit or there was a caution.  And then he would just reclaim it again.  Very impressive.

All in all, it was a good time.  I wasn't "converted" or anything but I can see why so many people enjoy it.  250,000 people packed in that place was quite impressive and once inside I had a new respect for it.  It's just massive!  Not worth the $140 ticket face value but I am thankful for the opportunity nonetheless.  Here are some pics from the race.  Enjoy!!

I could get used to this!














Stryker likey!




My buddy Ron


Funny cars!