Fast Friday

Here in the home of the Indianapolis 500 I might as well admit that neither Andy nor I are really race fans. Most of you know that we really enjoy horse racing, especially the Derby! Auto racing, well, it's just not the same and I have never been very interested in it. Andy knows a lot about it, from growing up in the area and sort of follows the major news, but he's not a big fan either. He's been to races and if the chance to go to one comes up, he basically feels like he's "been there, done that" and doesn't have any desire to go fight the crowds. Before last Friday I had been to the track exactly once. But I do have a favorite driver, Helio Castroneves, ever since he was on Dancing With the Stars and became heavily covered by the local media. He seems like such a nice guy! Good thing he was acquitted on that nasty tax evasion stuff...

So, we were spending the afternoon at the track. I still have to remind myself that around here, 'the track' does not involve horses. Weird. Anyway, last Friday I was invited to represent my employer at Fast Friday, the last day of practice before Indy 500 qualifications begin. It was really fun! I learned quite a bit, thanks to a coworker who is a seasoned race-goer and has lived here all his life. We were there as guests of National City Bank (whom I used to work for, ironic, huh??) at a very nice lunch in the suites and then had garage passes or could watch the cars run on the track. One really fun part was that I was able to see and chat with several former coworkers who I hadn't seen since I left the bank. It was nice to reconnect. Anyway, back to the Speedway...

Above is the Pagoda, a tower type structure in the infield where the commentator, the George family (who own the Speedway) and other VIPs sit.

I can't believe I actually got a racecar in the picture! It took several tries and I was using a cellphone camera.

While wandering around Gasoline Alley we spotted Sara Fisher (above), Danica Patrick and several other drivers that we didn't recognize by name.

Helio was still out driving so we didn't see him in person, so I took a picture of his garage!