Ladies and Gentlemen...

... I have a headache. But enough about me, start your engines and lets get this show on the road. As some of you may know, the main reason for my trip down to Indiana was to see the Indy 500 with my mom. Ever since I was a wee child I've sort have been involved in racing. It all started when my mom would ready Tony and I the autobiography of Mario Andretti. I actually got to meet him at the Mall of America one day, Mom and I went out to get autographs. After seeing the Indy 500 on TV for most of my life, and having been to a few other races, it was about time to see the greatest spectacle in racing. Seeing is a bit of an understatement, it's more of a full sensory experience. You can see the cars yes, but you can also feel them go by, the noise is exhilarating and rather deafening, and the smell of gas and rubber from the tires permeates the air. It's quite something.

Mom, her cousin Janeen, and her daughter Meagan (who's also my cousin), and I drove out to Indianapolis for the big day. Our seats were in the southwest corner in turn 2. They were up really high, so we could see a lot of the track. It was also a good position to see the 6 crashes that occurred before the rain delay.

I don't think this is the main entrance, but this is the one we went through. The sign in the lower right corner is one of a crazy religious person telling race fans they need to be saved. Most ignored them.

The pace car leading the first lap. Patrick Dempsey of a show I've never watched drove the pace car. Meagan was really excited about that. I think I'd be a bit freaked out leading all those cars.

And they're off! First lap without the pace car, everyone is still pretty close together. This is the back stretch.

Here is the second crash. The road crew guys just stand out in the middle of the track telling the drivers not to run over them or the debris. I would pee myself.

I got really excited about taking pictures of the cars and everything else, then I realized each shot kind of looked the same as the others. So then I took video, so that everyone else can hear how loud the cars are, and Janeen. This is entertaining: