A Different Way to Kill the Time
Some people have a lot of time on their hands these days, while many do not. I get that. I am still going in to work every day because my line of work is considered essential. My good friend and fellow blogger from Fieldof33.com, Paul Dalbey, has been working from home for weeks – but says he is working harder than ever. I believe that, because I’ve heard that same story from several people.
Paul and I are both lucky because we still have our jobs and are continuing to be paid. Many are not as lucky and I do my best to remember that these days are not just an inconvenience to them, like they are for us. They have been dealt a crushing blow through no fault of their own. While many spend a lot of time saluting the brave men and women in the medical field (as they should). I want us to remember those that have lost their livelihood – some temporarily, some permanently. If you are one of those, hopefully you can take the time to watch or listen to this video and it will ease your mind, if only for a little while.
Friday morning, Paul texted me at work with the idea that we should do a series of our Two Sites Unite videos focused on some of our personal favorite Indianapolis 500s. I thought it was a good idea for some type of diversion from COVID-19 and we decided to record it this past Friday night and our topic would be the 1991 Indianapolis 500.
To be honest, I thought this would take about thirty minutes to review. But when I looked at the timer and saw we had already been going for twenty-five minutes and we were still talking about Pole Day – I knew we were in trouble.
In the past, I used to equate the old One Take Only videos to two guys sitting in a bar talking about racing. This video came closer to reality as Paul puts away a 16-ounce Miller Lite and glass of whiskey throughout the video. I was serving as designated driver and drank a Coke during the taping. But to be fair, you couldn’t tell Paul had been drinking other than the fact that he appeared very relaxed and certainly in no hurry to wrap things up. After about forty-five minutes, I decided to just go with it and stopped worrying about how long we were going.
The video ended up going almost an hour and a half. While that may seem absolutely absurd – it’s not bad stuff. We cover important aspects like whether or not the late-race battle between Rick Mears and Michael Andretti was really worthy of being called a “shootout” and AJ Foyt’s miraculous qualifying run that put him on the front row at the age of 56. We also cover such minutiae as 1991 drivers Bernard Jourdain and Tero Palmroth, and the nuances between the Chevy engine of 1991 and the Chevy-B in 1992.
Consider this a podcast with video. If you sometimes go to work and listen to that week’s episode of Trackside, it’s about the same thing. You don’t have to necessarily watch, just listen – because nothing really changes. It’s just a middle-aged guy and an old guy sitting there staring at each other on a monitor, rarely making eye-contact with the camera. The only thing that changes is Paul’s drink level. So just put it on in your den or office and give us a listen. It’s not quite as bad as you’re imagining right now. Who knows, we may cover another of our favorite races sooner than later.
George Phillips
Oilpressure 
April 22, 2020 at 4:36 pm
So… how do I claim my shirt? And why do I want stroganoff for dinner now?
Paul’s hot take might be a little too hot, but I do think Sam Posey squealing “WOW!” oversold Michael’s outside pass, and subsequently the Mears-Andretti duel, in the 91 race. After Sam and Bobby gush over the pass, Mears does the same thing the next lap and gets muted praise from Page.
April 23, 2020 at 7:45 am
I didn’t say they were not good passes. Outside passes at that time, even with the apron, were not easy to come by, though Rick had run the high line much earlier in the race and Michael was running SO low on the apron that Rick’s pass was pretty much in the normal groove. I was simply saying I feel people tend to over dramatize those two laps as if they matched RHR/Helio in 2014 or RHR/Sato in 2017. THOSE were shootouts!
April 23, 2020 at 9:32 am
You guys make my brain hurt.
And my Oilpressure and Morefrontwings shirts in XL would be much appreciated.
April 24, 2020 at 8:18 am
When the two of you were talking you got to the subject of cars and teams that made the race that shouldn’t have. I give you 1984 when there were a record of cars entered (104 counting backups I think) the Usona Purcell car #50 a two year old March driven by Dennis Fitestone and crewed by a total (except for the drew chief) volunteer crew rebuilt the car in the garage of Purcell’s landscape buisness and eventually qualifyed on the third day with a wall scraping run to start 32nd and soldier on to finish 12th.
PS these laps were the fastest ever turned by a 1982 March I think.