Indy 500

This past weekend we had a get away to Indianapolis for the Indy 500.  I was really excited about going to the race.  Part of the package included tickets to Carb Day, which is held on the Friday before the race.  I can't really go into the details of Carb Day (we will tell you when you are older kids!), but it was one big party.  Poison was the afternoon concert, but we found the people watching to be much more entertaining!  We were able to walk all around the in-field, by the garages and pit row.  Words can't describe the size of this sporting complex - it is enormous.

We had the entire day on Saturday to do whatever we wanted.  We headed downtown and watched some of the parade.  It didn't really feel right not having the kids at a parade with us, especially since they would have loved it.  We stopped at the Chocolate Cafe and got some wonderful treats.  We did a little shopping and then decided to take in a movie and then eat some more!  I kind of feel like we ate our way through the entire weekend!  We enjoyed another night in the hot tub and played some cards.

Sunday was race day.  We had seen the last few laps of a 100 mile race on Carb Day and it was awesome.  They ended up finishing 4 cars wide and the winner won by a hair!  It was pretty exciting.  You really can't describe the speed or sound of an Indy car, you just have to experience it.  I even took my headphones off for a few laps just to really appreciate the noise.  On Friday the  stands were fairy empty and you could feel the noise vibrate off the metal bleachers.  On Sunday, with a full race crowd you felt the noise in your body.  The track is 2.5 miles around and it is just huge.  My friend's first comment was "Whoa, I didn't realize we wouldn't be able to see the other end!"  My comment was, "I have never been to a sporting event where you could park for free and bring your own cooler in!"  Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) has 250,000 permanent seats, but then there is all of the grassy in-field (Snake Pit), the driver's crews, the support staff/workers, medical, etc... there were a lot of people, yet it was all very organized.  Jim Nabors was there to sing "Back Home in Indiana" however, Florence Hendeson who was scheduled to sing "God Bless America" was a no show.  We aren't sure what happened to her.  They had a fly over during the national anthem which was really cool and they did a really nice job honoring all of the armed forces.

Protecting the ears!

The  green glag dropped at noon and we put our earplugs/head phones on and we were off to the races...for real this time!  Two records were broke.  One, a new average fastest speed and secondly, the number of lead changes....72!! There was quite a bit of action.  We were in the North Vista, which was right in the middle of turn 3 and 4.  The majority of the passing was happening around turn 1, but thanks to the video boards we didn't miss the action.  There were only 4 crashes, unfortunately the last one happened with 3 laps to go and the race finished under yellow.  Which was kind of a disappointment because it was setting up to be an awesome finish.  In the end Tony Kanan took home the milk.  It was his time, as he had finished in the top 5 several times but had never won.  The crowd seemed pleased :)  We trekked back to the car and navigated through traffic quite well.  The boys decided our trip would not be complete without a stop to the Beef House.  I am sorry to say, I had the salad bar...I felt like I had been on full feed and could not possibly look at a hunk of beef.  It was a really fun weekend and we lucked out on the weather.  Carb Day was a gorgeous spring day.  Saturday was a little cool, but dry until the evening.  There was a chance of rain on race day, but it held off until about an hour after the race ended.  It was cool.  We all wore coats the entire race, except for the last ten laps when the sun shone and we all shucked a layer.  However, we all agreed we would take a 60 degree day over 90+ in the sun.  Kids, I promise we will take you to the Indy 500 someday, it is a must see, but you have to be older!