2007 Photos from Indy 500 Practice

Indianapolis 500 - Race Day
Sunday May 27th 2007

Like last year, and once again this week, for like 4
days in a row, we stayed up really late till almost
dawn.

The race starts at 1pm and we left my house after
noon. We parked and were walking along
Georgetown Road when four F-22 Raptors flew
overhead.

I got the same great four tickets that I had last year,
but I ended up giving them to a family from New
Mexico who were attending their first Indy 500.
Marlboro had sent me a offer in the mail for two
free tickets. Since there were only two of us, we
decided to take them up on their offer.

After parking, we walked a long way and found the
Penske Marlboro tent. I was carrying a lawn chair
as I figured they would give us general admission
tickets, but they gave us seats up high in the middle
of the North Vista. They also gave me a gift bag
that contained a pair of Bushnell binoculars among
other things. Very nice!

By the time we got to our seats, we'd missed the
start. We were in Section 43 Row Z. Evidently
Marlboro gave away all the tickets around us
because everyone was smoking.

When sitting in the North Vista, you can see the
cars entering Turn 3 and Turn 4, however you can't
see them as they go by because they are up by
the wall. Down along the edge of the race is
wheelchair seating. You are as close to an Indy
Car there as you are going to get anywhere. It's
really loud and exciting down there.

Panaramic Photo I took from North Vista

There had evidently been a lot of rain in the
morning, but they got the race started on time.
There was concern that another rain cloud would
blow in during the day. If the rain stops the race
before lap 101, and it is not possible to restart the
race that day, it will be ran on the following day.

After we passed the half-way point, it began
raining. Tony Kanaan, who very much deserves to
win the 500, was leading. Behind him was Danica
Patrick and Marco Andretti in 2nd and 3rd. If the
race was over, then this would be a very popular
end.

People pulled out their umbrellas and ponchos and
most everyone left the stands. I setup my lawnchair
underneath the stands, out of the rain. It looked like
everyone was leaving, but ET and I stayed to see if
the race would be restarted.

It stopped raining after an hour or so. I ventured
over to the food court, and got flashed by a good
looking girl who I assume was drunk.

ET and I went and sat in the handicap area and
watched them dry the track - red trucks rolling
around as well as jet-dryers.

People started coming back to the stands. I
thought everyone had left, but as the race restart
neared, I was surprised to see most people return.

I spotted some empty seats up high in section 1 of
the NW Vista, so we decided to go there to watch
the restart. These seats are awesome. (I noticed
that if you are in seats 16-20, you are right up
against a fence, which I would not have liked.)

The race got under way about 3 hours after it was
stopped by rain. We saw some crashes of drivers
coming out of turn 4.

We got to about lap 166, when another rainstorm
blew in hard. The Indycars had to make a few laps
at very slow speed in what looked like an inch or
two of water.

The race was stopped. The drivers who looked
like they might win, had pitted or crashed, and
the guys with a different pit strategy finished at
the top.

Dario Franchitti won and Scott Dixon finished 2nd.
Tony Kanaan finished 12th, Danica finished 8th and
Marco was in a wicked crash that sent him upside
down on the back straight. Fortunately he was ok.

We had no rain protection with us. We stood
under the NW Vista deck out of the rain until the
yellow shirts kicked us out. I set up my lawn chair
under the bleachers and watched people leave.
We waited around a few hours until everyone was
gone and the traffic had disappeared, before we
left. I didn't get home until 9 pm.

It was a fun day despite the rain.