Vrooooooooooooom

Seeing as we live in Indy, we figured we better see what this whole race thing is about. This year marks the 91st running of the Indy 500. I'm pulling for the #8 car driven by Scott Sharp. Not because I'm a diehard, but because this is the car owned by David Letterman. Melissa is pulling for Danica Patrick. At least I reckon she is because people tell her she looks like Danica. Also, she keeps saying stuff like "I'll just die if Danica doesn't win."

In an effort to better understand this event, we stopped by the Speedway for the qualification trials. You'll notice Melissa is wearing ear plugs, these cars are fast, 225 miles per hour fast (if you're good), and loud. You can hear these cars racing from a few miles away. And this track is huge, 2.5 miles around or so. What we can't understand is what the appeal of watching a race in person is. You can't see the entire track from any seat, just sections of it. And the seats are all benches, seating 257,000 people, so I can't imagine how you can get comfortable for an entire race, in 90 degree weather, sucking in the fumes of 33 cars. Plus, since you can only see about 1/4 of the track (at the most) from any given seat, your chances of seeing a wreck are pretty slim (let's face it, race fans love the wrecks). The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the largest sporting event stadium in the world, the stands seat the 257K and the infield grass bumps up the amount of people on race day to over 400,000. Businesses nearby have signs up advertising that you can pre-pay and reserve your parking spot now. So where will we be next Sunday when the engines are fired up? On the couch, watching from home.

Stick around, we may have to go check out the Brickyard 400 action when nascar rolls into town in August. Melissa keeps telling me she is intrigued by Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s departure from DHI racing, and what his next move will be. As for me, I'm a Tony Stewart fan, I mean, you gotta pull for the local boys.