House guests should arrive tomorrow.
... but THE RACE IS ON!!
It has been a few years since I attended The Indianapolis 500.
I am crunk!!
OMG now I want to go too!! 
Should have been there!!
Following post moved from where it made no sense to here, where it makes a little more sense:
It's a good thing, a sheltered existence, you know.
So, you would never have gone with me yesterday. (Sorry, I am still pumped up!! It was fucking AWESOME!!) You would not have gone with me into a crowd of over two hundred and some fifty or more thousands to watch the "Greatest Spectacle In Racing?"
Two hundred twenty six miles per hour, average speed around the track to take the pole position. That is approximately 365Kph for just over 4km around the track average speed, readying for a race that is about 800Km, according to google - that is over one hundred meters per second in a four wheeled, self contained vehicle, pal, for several hours all at once. I know you get the math, but FUCK!! It IS amazing to experience this first hand! Does this not intrigue people anymore?
How about watching in real time while the "yet to be winner" takes the lead for the last time at well over that speed down the straightaway at only BARELY a hand width apart from each others tires, winning or sheer disaster the outcome from four mens' abilities to keep their nerve or lose it and crack them all up? They were SO fucking CLOSE together!!
I am honestly feeling that I am getting way to old to ever miss another thrill like this, ever again.
I have missed many Indy 500s over the years, but I am re-thinking my priorities today.
(Hell, I have lived here since the early nineties and only just experienced my ninth Indy 500)
But I would. I'd *love* to experience Indy 500.
I am actually glad to hear that.
You make it sound sometimes as if taking out the garbage is as far as you are willing to go.
BTW, I wear massive "gun shooting style" hearing protectors (kind of wise considering the decibel level of exhaust noise those incredibly powerful vehicles can create and witnessing them from only a few meters away while the ground shakes as they blast by - you will need something. They actually have active noise canceling radio-phones which connect you to the track announcer and cut down the outside noise at the same time. They are expensive.) to make sure that no one even thinks of trying to talk to me, I also carry a camera to further hide behind.
NO one ever tries to talk to me, unless someone I know happens upon me (rare, but it happened twice Sunday. You might have a greater chance of remaining unmolested, yourself, being just another foreigner at the race and all.)
I am planning to not miss another one.
Honestly, earlier in the month they have a "Grand Prix style" road race at the same place where they use all they can of the "infield" (all that area between and inside of where the main track surrounds). That race does not go as fast but it is more about setting a car to turn in "BOTH" directions and having a crew that can do everything in the pits with fewest errors and greatest speed. Similar cars, but the race is more like start,stop, turn, go, turn, fly, etc, rather than just start and go as far and as fast as you can and finish first.
I have only been to one "Road Race" style race at this track with these types of cars, but I saw two others with Formula cars and one with "stock cars - Nascar, ", but it was still amazing. Those were actual Formula 1 cars; only time I have been very close to real "formula 1" cars. Those things (another style of incredibly amazing car - fairly light in weight) sound more like a pissed off flock of angry mosquitoes than a herd of raging bulls.
My understanding is that Indy cars are a couple of hundred pounds heavier than Formula, use larger engines which do not turn at as high of an RPM and as a result, produce fewer horsepower than the super high-revving Formula car engines. Indy cars are designed more for really long endurance races on so called "super speedways - many of their tracks are one and one half to two and one half miles long and are basically oval" with only a few road races thrown in for the fan interest.
Most of the Formula 1 tracks are road courses and demand that the car turn in both directions and accelerate like a BANSHEE out of each turn while still being able to drop (sometimes) two hundred Kph, decelerating in a short distance to prepare for the next turn.
Very different cars, both very interesting to me.
The only Formula races I have ever seen were both here at Indy (2000 my daughter was born that winter and one a bit later that I can not remember exactly - do remember it was the year before my nephew was killed) and as far as I have been able to find out, they will no longer host Formula races at Indy.
