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Great day at the 500.....Indy that is


Fonzie

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My middle boy has finally "officially" entered teenage-dom, so his brother & I took him to the track yesterday for something special to celebrate this milestone birthday. Hopefully he remembers this day fondly the rest of his life. Did the same thing last year with my oldest, as his fell on Carb Day right before the race. Seemed like the appropriate place for a boy to enter young-manhood......with the smell of race fuel & burnt rubber wafting through the air!! :cool:

Weather was lookin' a little iffy, but we decided to chance it, and fortunately the rain held off until just as qualifying was over & we were leaving anyways. VERY windy, and mid 50's.......but at least dry! :) In fact.....the track announcers put a weather map on the vid screens near the end, and were laughing at how, literally, the whole track was surrounded by rain. It looked like those hurricane maps you see, and we were dry in the eye!

Shot over a 100 pix. Had gotten the boys some IMS hoodies for the trip, and they proceeded to have the drivers that would oblige, autograph them. Got some cool pix of the boys with said drivers, including Marco Andretti, who was gracious enough to do it even though his "handler" or whoever kept yellin' from the back of the cart that they had to hurry & go.

Danica Patrick & Tony Kanaan, on the other hand, were a different story. We were 2 arm lengths away from both, by the pit wall fence & as they turn to walk down Gasoline Alley, while my oldest was asking each of them for their autograph. They completely ignored him. He proceeded to jog alongside the concrete barrier with them, as there wasn't really anyone else there, & he had the room, and they continued to ignore him, even while I'm shouting "it's his brother's birthday". This was right before 6:00, when most fans had already left, so it's not like they were being mobbed. I guess they're just too famous for the little people now :rolleyes:

Fast lap yesterday was 223.7 mph!! :eek: Kinda funny.....the announcers were talkin' about one of the drivers who was goin' 218 mph, and said his best time was...................3rd worst out of all 35 drivers! :confused:

Only the infield & those stands were open yesterday. Pic of right after we got there & parked........

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Garage area with the tower in the background..............

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This IS a bike board, right?!? ;) Lost count of how many Ducks were in there......I think it was 6, along with a Beamer, several Yami's, scooter, etc.........

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The most famous tower in racing...........

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Some shots overlooking the front straightaway from the grandstands. Hard to time the shots right to get the cars in at 220+. Finally remembered to use my "High Speed" option....Duuuhhhh :rolleyes:..........

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"Her Highness" blowin' by in the background............

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Was tryin' to get a shot of the vid board showin' the lap speeds in the background of this one, but not clear enough.............

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Had to get in on a few pix with my boyz :)

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Hard to get a good pic of the Wii car while pitting. They were either having a LOT of problems with this car, or making a LOT of adjustments........

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Winner's Circle.........

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The "Bricks" at the Start/Finish line..........

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If you look REAL close between their ears, and next to the crewchiefs arm, you can see Danica in her car waiting for her turn to go back out........

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Better shot...........

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Pic of Marco pitting in his Indiana Jones car...............

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Danica done for the day & talking with her crew chief.........

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And getting ready to leave the track...........

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More to come, but got a b-day party to get ready for.

Pix are the property of the Fonz, and all that other copyright infringement stuff ;)

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yea ive gone to the race since i was about 4 its a great time kinda expensice but well worth the money for awhile there we thought it was going to go under when the big split happen but when everyone got back together it really came back to life big time i really enjoy it down there

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Marco is a peice of shit. sucks at racing, wouldn't of wasted a pic on him. imo

As a dad, I guess I view it a bit differently. He was nice enough to give up a minute of his precious time to pose with my boys, when a few of his colleagues couldn't be bothered, even though his crew was yellin' at him to hurry......So he's definitely OK in my book :)

How'd you end up getting such CLOSE pics of Danica?
Like I said......we were right up against the pit wall fence....Maybe 10 yards from the cars as they sat in their pit spot on the track, so just used a little zoom to pull her in nice & close
Hahaha. Someone is in love! :lol:

Not at all! :roll: Sometimes she looks good, other times she does absolutely nothing for me.....Especially when she opens her mouth to speak :p I've always gotten the vibe she's full of herself, and her behavior yesterday just proved it to me

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tony kanan and danica patrick were both about a foot away from me at mid ohio. my friend yelled "HEY TONY!" at him, but he didnt even look. we also saw tony george sitting on a bench.

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more pics here if anyone cares

http://s149.photobucket.com/albums/s72/harperlou/Honda%20200/

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you can view the vids i took here

http://youtube.com/351cleveland

but they arent that awesome.

i do have some videos of a combine demolition derby in there though

the ALMS pits were the best. dudes working on vipers and ferraris and you could just walk up to them and check em out..

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Nice goin Fonzie. a day at the track is a nice b-day present. I used to go and enjoyed the time trials days almost as much as the raceday. Are they still $10? did you guys do the museum?

Nice pix John. Glad to hear we're not the only ones Kanaan blew off

Max.....I think we lucked out. I pulled into Gate 2 like the lady told me.....hadn't bought our tix yet. Guy asked for our tix, and I asked if we couldn't just buy them inside. He called some other guy over, asked to see my ID, handed me the parking stubs & took my $10. I asked if that was just for parking, and they told me that was for everything. Website said tix were $5 each ;)

And I agree.......Qualifying is just as good as the race to me anymore. Been to Indy 'bout half dozen times now, one of them bein' the actual race back in '91. Obviously race day is a spectacle to behold & something everyone should experience at least once, but there's something to be said for having free run of the place & not being squished like a sardine.......not to mention 6 hours of continual action :D I think the track website said there were almost 2,200 total laps run yesterday

Missed out on the museum. By the time we got done on Pit Lane & made our way over there, it was closed. I'm not even for sure it was open yesterday.....They didn't have the hours listed on the doors.

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Fonzie I just wanted to let you know that those boys look like they fell out of your rearend.

I've been to Indy for a buttload of races, it's always a good time. I can't wait till my 8 month old boy is old enough to enjoy racing at its fastest.

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Fonzie I just wanted to let you know that those boys look like they fell out of your rearend.
:confused: Never heard that one b4 Jeremy......Is that a W. Harrison-ism??? ;) What's that mean.....You think my butt looks big?!? :D
I've been to Indy for a buttload of races, it's always a good time. I can't wait till my 8 month old boy is old enough to enjoy racing at its fastest.
Yeah.....It's definately been nice, the older they've gotten, to start sharing/introducing some of these things to them
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Some good shots Fonz. I think you achieved your goal - those boys'll remember that trip. I've never been the the 'yard myself. I guess hearing those cars scream out of turn 4 is a sound to behold.

I've watched them out at Mid-Ohio more times then I can remember though. I'm hoping to catch an ALMS race there - I think those cars and great. I've always been more of a full-bodied car fan - GT class cars.

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As Paul Harvey says.........And thiissss IS the REST of the story................

Pix of some of the cars as they were coming & going from the Garage Area, starting with E.J. Viso's........

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Enrique Bernoldi, who seemed to be runnin' pretty consistent at 222mph all day.........

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Vitor Miera....I really like this shot!

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Marco's car...........

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Pictures of Marco after he got out of the car for the day, goin' over data on the computers with his crew.......

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And here's the picture he posed for with the boys, even though the guy in the back kept yellin' at him........

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Here's some of the other drivers that posed with them, & gave autographs too.

The McDonald's driver, Justin Wilson...........

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Oriol Servia...........

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Jaime Cabrera ..........

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Davey Hamilton........

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Here's Davey's car bein' hauled down Gasoline Alley.........

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We're not sure who this guy is. I think he's still competing for a spot??? Looked like he came from the Mennards car........

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'Nother pic of them in front of the tower with the date on top, for posterity...........

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Yuppp.....They're definately MY goofballs!!

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Self explanatory...........

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Helio's garage area with tower in background (Daddddd.....Are you DONE taking pix yet?!? :icon_wink: )

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Danica, Tony, & Marco's garage areas...........

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Garage Area Gate.............

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Front entrance to the Hall of Fame.........

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Memorial plaque outside the Hall of Fame, with one of the tunnels in the background...Turn 1 & 2 IIRC........

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Think that's all the noteworthy pix I got......... Shot 107 for the day!! :icon_razz:

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The boy on the right in the last one, you better watch that one, every pic looks like a mug shot. That, or he just looks bored by the end. Whos b-day is it?

Ummmm....Geeeee.....Thanx Max....There's a comment every dad wants to hear about his child

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Cool pics of a day they'll always remember.

Anyone going to the race? I'll probably head out for the start and then go back home for threst on the radio.

I've been to the race before. Much better on TV. Except the appearance by Hayden might be worth seeing in person

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