Oilpressure

Greetings from a surprisingly dry Indianapolis Motor Speedway! We arrived about fifteen minutes before the practice ended, due to getting caught behind a wreck in downtown Louisville.

Josef Newgarden led the Carb Day practice with a speed of 228.342 mph. ECR’s Christian Rasmussen was the second quick with a speed of 227.474 mph. David Malukas, Conor Daly and Takuma Sato rounded out the Top Five.

The three cars involved in Monday’s crash had mixed results. Romain Grosjean was eleventh quick in his repaired primary car, but Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi dod not fare as well in their primary cars. O’Ward was twentieth quick at 224.202 mph, and Rossi was thirty-first on the speed charts at 222.291 mph. The only two drivers slower than Rossi were Sting Ray Robb and Katherine Legge.

I said it was surprisingly dry, because it poured on us constantly from the time we left Nashville to just north of Columbus, IN. The rain was coming straight out of the south, so it will most likely catch up to us later today. Once it gets here, I think it is here to stay for the day.

The Weiner 500 will run regardless of weather, at 2:00 on FOX. But the Pit Stop Competition will probably not run in the rain.

The place was packed and getting rowdy as the concert-goers have already made their presence known. I would be lying if I said that CarB Day was my favorite day of the month. We almost totally missed the best part – the practice. The Weiner 500 was funnier than I was expecting last year, and Susan is really looking forward to Version Two this afternoon. Hopefully the rain will hold off until all scheduled track activities are completed.

We are meeting our friend Paul Dalbey and his son at Dawson’s for a very early dinner, then will go check into our hotel and call it an early night. We have early reservations for the IMS Museum tomorrow morning, then breakfast at Charlie Brown’s in Speedway. Dinner tomorrow night will be at The Coachman in Plainfield – a place we discovered about five years ago and added it to our rotation. Then it will be an early night before the race.

Please check back here tomorrow and through the weekend for updates.

George Phillips

First of all, I want to express my shock and condolences to the family and friends of NASCAR two-time champion driver Kyle Busch, who passed away unexpectedly yesterday at the age of 41. We learned Thursday morning that he had been hospitalized for a severe illness, and would not race in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. But I don’t think anyone had any idea it was this serious. Please keep his family in your prayers.

Continue reading →

By Paul Dalbey

Note from George:  Today we welcome an old friend back to this page, to delve into an interesting topic. There is one disclaimer; I don’t necessarily agree with Paul on  couple of these. But the good thing is, I don’t have to agree with him. In fact, disagreeing makes for more interesting dialogue. I appreciate the time and effort Paul put into this. Readers should also be appreciative that they are not being subjected to another video appearance by the both of us. Come back tomorrow for my Indianapolis 500 Preview. – GP

There is a reason the Indianapolis 500 is the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. There is a reason why 300,000 people will stand shoulder-to-shoulder this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and remember the legacy and the stories of the 109 previous runnings of the Great Race. There is a reason why tickets, traditions, and tales are passed, literally, from generation to generation of family who trace their lineage amongst IMS history back to the very roots of the race in 1911. It’s because the history of the race is celebrated each and every year, woven into the very fabric that makes the event what it is. It isn’t a new race, or a “new tradition” (a term I completely despise), but this weekend’s race stands on the shoulders of the races that have come before it, the men and women who have given their last out of blood and sweat, bones and dollars to win this specific race.

Continue reading →