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May 29, 2005
Race Day
Seeing as how I'm blogging from Birmingham, Alabama, you may think that this red-blooded Republican male is also a NASCAR fan. Truth is, I'm NOT. I really dislike NASCAR, I don't think it has near the difficulty of other forms of auto racing, and the "NASCAR" mentality leaves something to be desired by your humble author.
INDY RACIN' is a totally different story, and today's the holy day for IRL (Indy Racing League). The Indy 500, the race of races is going hot and heavy right now. Actually in truth, it was hot and heavy until about the 140th lap, now things are in slow motion after 4 yellow flags.
Why do I like Indy racing? It's simple actually. The "rubbins' racin'" is gone when you get to the big 650-hp open wheel indy cars. The slightest touch usually means one or the other car is about to spin out, crunch the wall or dive into the infield. Another high point for me, is that when crashes do occur they usually create a domino effect and chaos for all the cars around the offenders.
Now I don't want you to think that I only watch for the crashes, that's far from the truth, I like Indy racing for the surprises, the hole shots, the importance of drafting and the technology involved in the cars themselves. Sure NASCAR has drafting, and hole shots and high tech cars, but it's an order or magnitude higher in Indy racing and even higher still in Indy's older bigger cousin, Formula Racing.
So there you have it, I'm out of the closet and I've said publically that I like auto racing --- I'm just a snob about it.
I also like Rally Racing, most people don't actually know what rally racing is, but I have to say that I REALLY enjoy rally racing because it's as close to watching a blind man race as anything. Bascially a Rally Race car consists of a car, driver and a navigator. The cars are usually beefed up smaller cars similar to many consumer models out there. They of course are stripped and highly customized, and lately most are all wheel drive. These hot rods are then thrown around a course carved out of the countryside on winding uphill, downhill, forest and village roads as hundreds or thousands of spectators line the course.
The nature of the courses mean that a driver needs a little help in course management, with anywhere from 100 to 1500 turns in a Rally course, a driver could never memorize the course to take the turns at full speed. Instead, Rally teams rely on a navigator whos plotted out the course and constantly feeds the driver information on what's coming up. Changes in road surface, number of degrees in a turn and even placement of wayward telephone poles are all things on the navigators list of things to warn or inform the driver about.
Rally racing isn't exciting in terms of passing and hole shots and drafting. Rally cars generally race in a timed stage format. The excitement comes from knowing that the driver is coming around a blind turn at 90 mph to negotiate two back to back hairpins with spectators standing just a few meters off the course with no walls or barricades between them and the action, but maybe there will be a hay bale or two there.
So there you have it. My take on Sunday racing. I'm enjoying the Indy 500, really liking Danica Patrick's run right now. Could this be the first female win of the INDY??? Who knows, but it's fun.
Lap 174 out of 200 and the Chick is out front.
Do Danica Go!!!! Woot. Ok, it helps that she's attractive.
UPDATE: Well, she couldn't hold onto it. Seems like earlier problems with the front wing of her car forced her to pit out of series and coming into the last laps she was simply running out of fuel. Oh well, she made a good run and I'm sure she's gonna be scaring the bejebus out of the boys for a few years to come (after all, this is her just her ROOKIE season). Not bad for a rookie to take fourth in the INDY 500. I take back MOST of what I've said in the past about woman drivers. For the record, the winner, Dan Whelden, ran out of gas on the victory lap, HAHAHAHA. Good show.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at May 29, 2005 2:36 PM
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