Sunday 30th May Indianapolis 500

Happy Birthday to me, happy Birthday to me … this all started at 12.01 the night before on George St (a huge Party street not unlike Bourbon St New Orleans but twice as long and 5 times more drunken people) and we went through until 3.00 am. Probably not the best preparation before the big race but you only turn 27 (again) once right.
The race doesn’t start until 1.00 pm so we had a good sleep in and leisurely morning. People start arriving at 6.00 am when the gates open and there are heaps of things going on prior to the race. The build up to the race is all part of the fun, 12 versions of star Spangled Banner(at least felt like 12 times) , march pasts of all the armed forces building up to the Airforces Jet low level fly-by and a massive balloon release, there’s no doubting you are in American apple pie land, it’s fun…. Then comes the famous … Gentlemen START YOUR ENGINES … the engines erupt and so does the crowd, all 300,000 of them, we were down by Scott Dixon on the wall and it made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. We then scurried back to our allocated seats which were in a great posi right opposite the Pits at the end of the main straight. The first start up lap was waved off by Jack Nicholson (the Actor) and the sight and sound of 30 cars at full RPM 2 and 3 wide, tightly bunched is a great buzz. The first crash came within half a lap, so the pace car was immediately out, a few laps later they were back to full noise and the race settled into a pattern of pit stops and full speed runs. The race just happened to be the hottest ever recorded (96 degrees F) and so we all sweated buckets, Olivia was the water spay girl keeping everybody cool. Crashes come and go but none of the front runners are caught up in them. Scott came in for his pit stop in 5th place and left in 23rd after the left hand front wheel guy didn’t do it up properly … effectively race over for the Kiwi. From here on Dixon continued a slow but steady climb back through the field to eventually finish Fourth which was a very good result, all considering. The race winner Scott Dixons team-mate Dario Franchitti was a deserving winner, qualified on pole and leading most of the laps. The very last lap featured one of the biggest crashes that almost took out the first and second place getter, it would rate right up there for all time with a car climbing into the catch fence, how nobody died in that one is a mystery.
To summaries the event, I would have to put at or close to the best I’ve ever done. Having Scott Dixon at the pointy end of the field certainly makes a big difference. I’m keen to come back so it must have been good.