Oilpressure

Good morning from a sunny, breezy and extremely cool Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The tornado system that went through the Midwest overnight, bought cold temps to the area today. We had two large purple and red cells go through last night. Both contained lots of hail. Fortunately, my car sustained no damage that I’m aware of. Other parts of the country were not so lucky. St. Louis was slammed yesterday afternoon, and Somerset, Kentucky was devastated last night. I have friends that live there and hope they are OK. Prayers go out to all of those affected.

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Fast Friday for 2025 is now in the books. With the boost turned up, it didn’t take long for eyebrows to be raised. Scott McLaughlin set the bar high on only his second lap of the day and just a few minutes after the green flag flew opening practice. It looked as if we were in for some major speeds. As it turned out, it was the fastest time of the day.

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Welcome to a warm and sun-drenched Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We have been to many Fast Fridays over the years, but I have never seen traffic lines for parking lots like I saw this morning. With all of those years comes experience of knowing a few short-cuts around the neighborhoods just west of the track. I imagine a lot of the people we bypasses are still sitting there waiting.

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And just like that, it’s already Fast Friday. It’s always amazing how quickly this week passes. I will admit to watching some of practice from work on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then we were able to get here shortly after the start of practice yesterday. It seems like practice just started and qualifying is tomorrow.

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Susan and I arrived at the track about 1:00 pm local time. When we stepped out of the car, the first thing I notice was the heat. We live in the south, but this afternoon was the most stifling heat we have experienced this spring.

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Depending on the time you read this, Mrs. Oilpressure and I will either be on our way to Indianapolis, or already there. For the past few years, I have taken vacation time to spend the entire week of Indianapolis 500 practice at IMS. We would drive back from the Grand Prix weekend on Sunday, I would work on Monday, then drive back up on Tuesday by myself. Susan would take a cheap flight up on Friday.

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With every triumph, there is agony. Each and every year, someone gets their heart broken in the Indianapolis 500. Maybe it’s in practice, and a crash causes enough injury to make you miss the race. Two years ago, Stefan Wilson suffered heartbreak. He had already qualified for the race, but an injury on the final Monday practice sidelined him from the race. He hasn’t been back in an Indy car since. Wilson’s heartache, was a lucky break for Graham Rahal. He had been bumped from the race by teammate Jack Harvey just a day earlier. Rahal was hired to drive Wilson’s car in the race.

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