Now with Photos!

Almost every Memorial Day since high school, I’ve gone with my dad to the Indy 500. This year the four of us made a weekend of it, and we got pictures.

It starts the night before the race at smaller track outside of Indianapolis where they hold a series of races called The Night Before the 500. Original, no?

Those blurs are called midgets. Tiny roller-skate-looking cars.

That hand stamp says NHRA, ya’ll. We’re not in Kansas anymore. (Actually, we might as well be in Kansas. Ha!)

These high school kids were selling raffle tickets. Their shirts say “We do it in the community.” Geh heh.

Mmmm Bop.

Sunday morning started out rainy and sucky. It cleared up early, pretty much by the time we all got to the track. My dad has great tickets and gets us into pit lane and the garages, where I got to see Dario Franchitti.

Oh, Dario. Why must you be so Scottish?

Then we watched to Parade of Stars. There’s the wee one from Hall and Oates.

Not him, the other one. (p.s. I was named after a H&O jam)

And Ray Liotta. This one’s for you, mom.

And Rupert from Survivor. Signing some girl’s hump.

And this guy. We still don’t know who he is, but everyone else seemed to.

And Peyton Manning. He’s surprisingly fast. And also, I think that’s Moses right there in the mid-ground.

McDempsy on the Jumbo-tron. He’s an elusive one, Patrick Dreamy is.

<warning: tearjerker> As a Memorial Day service before the race began, members of the US Army walked the track from the Pagoda to Gasoline Alley as a serviceman played ‘Taps’. The crowd was dead quiet, all standing, and as the trumpet got quiet at the end, someone up in the stands shouted “Bring our troops home!” Men cried and hugged in the stands. Whoa. <end: tearjerker>

You wish you had our awesome seats. Pagoda and balloon release, people.

This guy, explaining the finer points of Indy Car racing to his son, was kicking it in Sponge Bob boxer shorts.

Dario’s wife, Ashley Judd. Whatever. She can have him.

Although it was sunny in the beginning…

It was pouring by lap 113. Good thing we had ponchos.

All this kid had was a Nordstrom bag.

We took off at that point, power walking 2 miles in the rain. (Good Training.) Two hours later they dried the track and ran 40 more laps. Dario won. Did I mention he’s my favorite?