Monday, May 05, 2008

And Now On A Much Cheerier Note

Another short vacation looms ahead of me the remained of this week. I've put up the postal uniform until next week and am now donning my annual Indianapolis Motor Speedway duds and heading up the world's most famous racetrack for a few days of opening week of practice for this year's Indy 500.

This should prove to be a more eventful year this year since the two major open wheel factions have bonded together under one umbrella for the first time in over a decade and the Indy Racing League is now the premier series in the United States. New faces, new names, new teams and most importantly new drivers will take to the track this year adding more cars to the task of filling the field of 33 starters.

The price for practice at the Speedway is very nominal. You can carry in your own food and beverage, saving you more money, and for me, the major expense is what it usually is: GASOLINE! But I won't bitch or moan this year, because when you only live an hour's drive away from the Speedway, you can save back in advance for the expense of driving back and forth.

Mother Nature may rear her ugly head this year, once again. The forecast for Wednesday and Thursday sounds like it might be wet, but Tuesday should be beautiful, as well as Fast Friday, although temps on Friday sound unseasonably cool. That, however, is better reason to partake of warming beverages, and I'm not speaking about coffee, either.

The crowd will be small until Fast Friday arrives, and that makes it even more fun, actually. You can pretty much sit where you want and it's simply a great atmosphere for the most dedicated race fan.

Hopefully this year with the rejoining of Champ Car teams to the Indy Racing League, interest might climb and more butts in the seats might start happening again.

Regardless, I still swear that there is no other thrill greater than the start of the greatest specatacle in racing, The Indianapolis 500.

I just can't believe it's been a year since the last one.

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