The Indianapolis 500 @ Indianapolis Motor Speedway 05-24-09

Pace lap of the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race.

Going home for The Indianapolis 500 is more important to me than going home for the holidays.

I have seen 19 starts and 17 finishes of the Indy 500. (This was my dad's 47th consecutive.)

• My first race was when I was six years old, in 1989.
• I didn't go in 1991.
• I missed 1996 for a school trip to NYC.
  
• We went on Sunday in 1997 and it was rained-out. We went Monday and the race got started, but then postponed to the next day due to rain. I had school on Tuesday and couldn't see the finish.
  
• In 2004 the race was started on Sunday and then there was rain. My dad and I were certain the rain delay would last until Monday and we were wrong.
  

Open-wheel racing isn't as grotesque as NASCAR. Most fans have their favorite drivers but few are deathly loyal to a team. IndyCar fans are not brand loyal to the sponsors of their favorite teams, either. In fact, sponsorship plays a much smaller role in the league. IndyCar fans are a more diverse bunch; rednecks, math nerds, well-to-dos, and lots of families all attend the race.

Most races in most racing leagues are a one or two week affair. Qualifications will be the first weekend or Saturday and then the race will be the second weekend or Sunday. But teams in Indy practice for a full week, have two weekends of qualifications, and then race on Memorial Weekend. (It is a tradition to skip work or school at least once a year to go hang out at the track.) For a month the town is visited by the same owners, pit crews, and drivers. The Month of May is capitalized in Indianapolis for this reason.

And then there's the pageantry. A parade on Saturday, complete with Z-list and soap opera celebrities. Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle) and Florence Henderson (Mrs. Brady) sing songs before every Indy 500. The same bands and Scottish pipers march on the track before engines start.

Every year Florence Henderson sings "God Bless America".

There's always a flyover after the national anthem. This year was two vintage B-25 bombers.

Release the balloons!

Jim Nabors sings "Back Home Again in Indiana".

This year we had incredible seats in the Southwest Vista, on the two-row deck. Nobody in front of us and only one row above us. In racing tickets height is valued more than position. The higher you are the more of the track you can see and the easier it is to follow the cars. We could see about 75% of the 2.5 mile track which is unheard of. We saw the end of the main straightway, all of Turn 1, all of Turn 2, the back straightaway, most of Turn 3, and way in the distance we could see Turn 4. Only the bulk of the main straightaway and the 3-4 short chute was obscured. Usually you can only see one turn or most of one straightaway.

The end of the main straightaway, Turn 1, the short-chute, and part of Turn 2.

Turn 2, Turn 4 in the distance. Look at the infield party on the mounds!

Turn 2 and the back straightaway. Turn 3 in the distance.

We had about six Tulsa, OK guys behind us. They brought with them (and shared) honest-to-god Okie BBQ made in Tulsa. (They had quite a time explaining the cooler full of meat to airport security.) Really nice folks. There's a lot of assholes at The Race and it's always good to luck-out with your neighbors.

We lucked out on weather. These days The Race starts at 1pm. Around 12:30pm I could feel the air pressure change and the humidity rise. The major gulf storm pattern went west of us (weather from the gulf in Indy is rare) and the much-discussed "pop-up thunderstorm" never materialized.

Helio Castroneves won his third Indy 500, a feat only eight others have accomplished. I love Helio. He's a great driver, has a lovable personality, and he's a great winner. Helio will be near tears one moment and then laughing like a child the next. He's a very emotional winner, but a very disciplined driver. This spring he was charged with tax evasion and until a month ago it was possible he could have been in prison. He was acquitted just in time to race. His win on Sunday was not only a victory, it was vindication. Every Indy 500 winner has a story and this was a good one.

Helio Castroneves leads teammate Ryan Briscoe.

Helio wins!

Victory lap.

The Race as a whole wasn't my favorite. It had the second-fewest lead changes since 1965. Nearly everyone was able to take every pit stop on a yellow flag so there was little pit drama or lineup shuffling. Helio ran away with it the last 20 laps; there was no endgame drama. (Danica Patrick's car was running great, though. If Vitor Meira hadn't have crashed [giving Helio the yellow flag pitstop he needed] and if Dan Weldon hadn't been racing for 2nd place, Danica could have given Helio a run for his money.)