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| Carb Day - Indianapolis Motor Speedway Friday, May 24, 2024 |
Rain and thunderstorms have been threatening leading up to race weekend.
E.T. showed up from Michigan at 1 a.m. last night. We stayed up late and partied.
This morning, I was hung over, tired and dragging, so I didn't hurry to make the 11 a.m.
IndyCar practice.
I had a 4th-turn infield parking pass and when we finally showed up, there was no traffic.
To enter the inside of the track, you have to go through a tunnel under the track.
We got stopped before entering and had to wait because a vehicle was stuck in the tunnel.
When they finally waved us in, no one checked our tickets and E.T. got in free! I had bought
my ticket in advance, but E.T. had not, and saved $50.
As we drove through the tunnel, we saw that this black shuttle van had turned into the wall, it
was still stuck in the exit lane. I've never seen that happen before.
As I drove out the other side, I had to creep along as there were people walking all over the
place. We could hear the pit stop competition going on.
I told someone directing traffic that I needed to park in the 4th Turn and she told me it was full!
Ack! I noticed some open spots in the grassy field right behind her and asked if I could park
there. She glanced around, then gave us the nod to pull into an area reserved for Tower
Terrace Suite. Yay! Now we were close to the exit and right on the edge of the main drive.
We walked to the Tower Terrace bathroom, then back to the car.
We could hear that the concert had started, so we grabbed our coolers and the two folding
lawn chairs I'd purchased for this occasion, and set off on foot for the 3rd Turn concert area.
We were halfway there when we realized we forgot to put food in our beer coolers. That was
a bummer, but we decided to keep walking.
The walk was a bit much for E.T. I think, as he'd damaged his knee and was wearing a brace.
Once inside the gate, it was very crowded. I had hoped to sit on a hill, but it was packed.
We found a spot near two other lawn chairs in the back, and set up there.
We were so far from the band that I could barely see them. The giant monitors on either side
of the tall stage helped a lot. We had missed the warm-up band and the Gin Blossoms were
playing. The sound volume was decent.
I drank beer, smoked and enjoyed the music.
Regularly, small groups of people zigzag through the crowd in single file, trying to avoid hitting
people or tripping over coolers.
The crowd was mainly white, but there were all types and ages.
There were lots of funny T-shirts.
We got hungry. Last year on Carb Day, we were hungry and I failed to bring
any food. This year I remembered to bring lots of food, but left it in the trunk!
I was amazed when I found two food packages in a pocket as I don't know
how they got there. They were these tiny bread sticks and fake cheese dip -
like you would give a 4 year old. We enjoyed them a lot. ET wolfed his down
in seconds, but I nibbled on mine, trying to make it last. Ha.
Back in 2013 when I visited the new Snakepit on race day, I noticed lots of young people
wearing American Flag clothing, many printed with the words "'Merica. F*ck Yeah!"
I'm not sure how that all started, but American flag clothing seems to have remained a staple.
This year some guys were wearing American flag overalls, but these overalls had short pants
like a toddler's! Ha.
George Thorogood and the Destroyers came on next. George looked younger than he is
and sounded pretty good.
Before he finished, it began raining and everyone started leaving, including us.
E.T. showed up from Michigan at 1 a.m. last night. We stayed up late and partied.
This morning, I was hung over, tired and dragging, so I didn't hurry to make the 11 a.m.
IndyCar practice.
I had a 4th-turn infield parking pass and when we finally showed up, there was no traffic.
To enter the inside of the track, you have to go through a tunnel under the track.
We got stopped before entering and had to wait because a vehicle was stuck in the tunnel.
When they finally waved us in, no one checked our tickets and E.T. got in free! I had bought
my ticket in advance, but E.T. had not, and saved $50.
As we drove through the tunnel, we saw that this black shuttle van had turned into the wall, it
was still stuck in the exit lane. I've never seen that happen before.
As I drove out the other side, I had to creep along as there were people walking all over the
place. We could hear the pit stop competition going on.
I told someone directing traffic that I needed to park in the 4th Turn and she told me it was full!
Ack! I noticed some open spots in the grassy field right behind her and asked if I could park
there. She glanced around, then gave us the nod to pull into an area reserved for Tower
Terrace Suite. Yay! Now we were close to the exit and right on the edge of the main drive.
We walked to the Tower Terrace bathroom, then back to the car.
We could hear that the concert had started, so we grabbed our coolers and the two folding
lawn chairs I'd purchased for this occasion, and set off on foot for the 3rd Turn concert area.
We were halfway there when we realized we forgot to put food in our beer coolers. That was
a bummer, but we decided to keep walking.
The walk was a bit much for E.T. I think, as he'd damaged his knee and was wearing a brace.
Once inside the gate, it was very crowded. I had hoped to sit on a hill, but it was packed.
We found a spot near two other lawn chairs in the back, and set up there.
We were so far from the band that I could barely see them. The giant monitors on either side
of the tall stage helped a lot. We had missed the warm-up band and the Gin Blossoms were
playing. The sound volume was decent.
I drank beer, smoked and enjoyed the music.
Regularly, small groups of people zigzag through the crowd in single file, trying to avoid hitting
people or tripping over coolers.
The crowd was mainly white, but there were all types and ages.
There were lots of funny T-shirts.
We got hungry. Last year on Carb Day, we were hungry and I failed to bring
any food. This year I remembered to bring lots of food, but left it in the trunk!
I was amazed when I found two food packages in a pocket as I don't know
how they got there. They were these tiny bread sticks and fake cheese dip -
like you would give a 4 year old. We enjoyed them a lot. ET wolfed his down
in seconds, but I nibbled on mine, trying to make it last. Ha.
Back in 2013 when I visited the new Snakepit on race day, I noticed lots of young people
wearing American Flag clothing, many printed with the words "'Merica. F*ck Yeah!"
I'm not sure how that all started, but American flag clothing seems to have remained a staple.
This year some guys were wearing American flag overalls, but these overalls had short pants
like a toddler's! Ha.
George Thorogood and the Destroyers came on next. George looked younger than he is
and sounded pretty good.
Before he finished, it began raining and everyone started leaving, including us.
| The crowd was backed up all the way to the entrance. |
Once back at the car, ET grabbed a bucket of chicken from my trunk and started chowing
down as I tried to drive out. We got stuck in a line immediately not far from our parking spot.
There were so many cars all heading to the one exit, I was concerned we could be stuck there
for a long time. But in about 15 minutes, we were able to reach the main drive to exit back
through the tunnel and out onto Georgetown Rd.
Traffic was pretty slow until I got several miles away.
down as I tried to drive out. We got stuck in a line immediately not far from our parking spot.
There were so many cars all heading to the one exit, I was concerned we could be stuck there
for a long time. But in about 15 minutes, we were able to reach the main drive to exit back
through the tunnel and out onto Georgetown Rd.
Traffic was pretty slow until I got several miles away.
| Here are a couple of the speedway's photos from Carb Day - |
| The photos below are all the photos E.T. took with his phone. I wished I'd brought my camera when a "Perfect 10" walked by. E.T. missed her. |
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