We went down to Columbus the night before so we could pick up Rachelle and drop off Maggie who was going to stay with Grandma :) Sunday was quite a long day. We got up a little before 6 (Chris got up earlier so he could go run), had our lunches and tons of waters packed, and were on the road by 7:15. I think we got parked by around 8:30. Some people (including me) may ask why get there so early? Well, there's a lot to see and it's kind of nice to get there before there are so many people! (The gates actually open at 6.) So we got the chance to just walk around and see the speedway, especially since Rachelle and I had never been. We went down to Gasoline Alley (but not in it), saw a new Indy concept car, went by the area where the singers stand and the drivers' trophy is presented, and saw the track from our seats. After we settled into our seats, Rachelle and I went back out to Gasoline Alley to see if we could catch a picture of anyone famous. Well, I think we may have seen a couple drivers, but I'm not sure :) We decided to head back to our seats when we were tired of being in the sun.
Thankfully, our seats were in the shade! It was definitely a huge blessing. I'm pretty sure I would've been burnt even with putting on tons of sunscreen and we definitely would've been hotter too! It was interesting because that day there was a record temperature. It got up to about 95 degrees air temperature, and 130 track temperature! We were sweating in the shade!
Overall it was a great experience to be at the Indy 500! The atmosphere at that track is pretty awesome. The zooming of the cars going by just creates this energy! Even though I'm not too excited about watching racing on tv (and the time creeps by), it felt like the race went by pretty quickly. And there were several crashes that kept it interesting. The only thing I wish we would've had was a radio. It would've been kind of nice to have some kind of announcer in your ear since you didn't always know what was going on. You could eventually kind of figure out what was going on. And the people without ear plugs...their ears are probably still ringing! I can't imagine not having them since I could still hear a fair amount of the car noise even with my ear plugs in! It was crazy once you thought about how many people were really there that day - there are 250,000 permanent seats and the stands were nearly full!
It was a great day that I got to spend with Chris and Rachelle at an unforgettable event. Maybe we'll go back someday!
Enjoy A LOT of pictures that I took!
Stopping by Caterpillar to get some ear plugs before leaving town on Saturday
We're here!
Bro and sis
One of the 2012 Indy Car concept cars (made out of foam I believe)
Lots of RV's!
Georgetown Road - this road was absolutely full of people after the race - yes, they covered the entire road!
Purdue's band was there!
the evolution of cars (I'm assuming) and the winner's trophy
Sis-in-law and me
looking down the homestretch to turn 4
Chris and I in front of the start line
Bro and sis
So pretty!
a reporter from Channel 13 (Indy) interviewing one of the celebrities :)
a few of the cars before the race with the seats covered by umbrellas
waiting...
2 of the Kardashian girls were there :)
guys from the championship Butler basketball team - they were marshalls of the parade on Saturday
introducing the drivers...
Jack Nicholson was helping with the flags (at least at the start of the race, then he probably went to his air-conditioned box) - he's the goofy one in the blue shirt :)
Danica Patrick before the race - she was booed when they introduced her because she made a nasty comment about her team being at fault for her bad qualifying time!
Florence Henderson (Mrs. Brady) singing America the Beautiful
Jewel singing the National Anthem (nearly barefoot)
Jim Nabors singing Back Home in Indiana
Pretty balloons!
It's starting!
looking down to turn 1
Jack waving the flag :)
peeling out after a pit stop
time for some pit stops!
oops!! lost a wheel!
Sarah Fisher is out of the race :(
view in front of us - you can see the other straightaway far in the distance
the eventual winner!
The cleanup crew put down some sand to clean up some oil that was spilled during a crash!
Aftermath of a crash between turns 1 and 2. Look at the marks left on the wall!
I think this was almost a collision!
under caution...
Dario Franchitti coming to meet up with his team after he won!
Awards!
Franchitti with the huge wreath around him and Ashley Judd (his wife) in the hat :)
trophy presentation
taking a victory lap! it was pretty neat that one of the Target cars won (because I like Target a lot)!
Danica being nice and coming out to congratulate Dario and Ashley.
Yes, Dario gets to take that car home!
Waving to the crowd...oops, someone was waving back :)
Nice view of all the butts while they're doing the traditional kissing of the bricks!
Goodbye to the track!
