Dan's IndySpeed7way.com

Dan's 2003 Speedway Journal

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Formula One
U.S. Grand Prix
Sunday - September 28, 2003

I got up about 8am, but by the time we left for the track, it was already 10:30; we were going to miss the Porsche race again. It was cold and cloudy and the weathermen said we would have scattered showers. They were right this time.

I made a big mistake, parking in the coke lot, off of 30th street. They charged me $20 and made me park all the way in the back. E.T. and I had a big walk. As we walked along Georgetown Road, directly across the street from the track, we saw $20 parking available. Doh!

I finally found a Renault hat in the souvenir stands that line the road, but it was $25 and the "Mild Seven" was blacked out. I found some shirts too, but they were too expensive ($80-$225).

We made our way up to our seats in the first row of the Paddock Penthouse. The grid girls marched down the track, holding up flags of the drivers' countries. Behind them were people with American flags and flags making a large checkered flag. The Purdue band played out on the track. Some Jazz musicians played for a while from the award pedestal. The Indianapolis Children's Choir sang "America".

I was sitting across from the pits.

Soon the pit crews brought out tires and gear. As the time for the start neared, we suddenly began to get hailed on!! Everyone was amazed. It stopped after a few minutes, then we got a little rain.

Then the drivers began to arrive on the grid.

After Michael arrived on the grid, he got out of his car took off his helmet and waved to the fans.

The track conditions changed a lot on this cold 55 degree day. We had sprinkles, and rain. The sun came out and we had a dry track. It made for an interesting race!

Michael leaving the pits.

After Michael Schumacher won the race, he gave this victory salute.

What an awesome race!!

The Ferrari fans rushed the fence.

Victory Celebration!

After the race was over, the pit crews began to break things down quickly. The cars who had stopped on the course, were brought back to the pits.

While Indycars are towed back to the pits, the Formula One cars are hoisted and placed on a flat bed trailer.

Ferrari tried to cover up their car to prevent the prying eyes of the competition of getting any more looks at their car!

Soon after the race ended, it began to rain pretty hard. E.T. and I stuck under the Penthouse roof waiting for it to end. Some yellow shirt official herded us down to the end and out, by which time it had stopped raining.

On the way out to the car, we came across some guys who were grilling and watching the Nascar race on a tv in the back of their SUV. We stopped and watched with them. We saw a pretty amazing crash, where Elliot Sadler got air under the front of his car and he went sailing into the air, flipping and crashing. I guess he was ok. The guys shared their food with us which was cool.


SEPTEMBER 25, 2003 - F1 PIT WALKABOUT
SEPTEMBER 27, 2003 - F1 QUALIFYING
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