I'll take dust any day...

First impressions of Indy. First, it's wet. Not west coast style,
which would also mean it's cold, since it never rains in California...
in the summer..

Kind of surprised by the look of the place at first. when I saw one of
the grqandstands from the road I thought it was a high school football
fiwld or something, thenrealized I was looking at the back of the turn
four stands. after a minor fiasco getting my ticket (the worst will
call experience since Miller '06) my first look inside was from the
turn one stqands down the front straight. What it felt like was
walking into Fenway Park for the first time, almost a relic of another
age, when Detroit muscle was king, and not the monstrosity I expected
- Fontana is much more impressive in terms of sheer size, at least
from the outside, and of course much more contemporary.The whole thing
feels like a midwestwrn statw fair, right down to the corndog stands
on the street and the folks selling parking spots in their front yards.

Which makes MotoGP feel quote ot of place here, in this most European
of US rounds that includes the ring-dings (also kind of relics of
another age, I have to say).

Anyway, the front straight is long but not Miller long, and turn 1
seems a bit scary, fast and not that much runoff, it seems. But that's
kind of hard to tell at the reduced wet speeds this morning. The
nagery after that is pretty rinky-dink, and I haven't yet seen enough
of the infield to tell. But they were tip-toeing around this AM. Good
to see Spies up at the sharp end much of the session, that Donny wet
time must be coming in handy. Also enjoyed Nick in the press
conference yesterday, nice to see him out from under.

This afternoon will be infield exploration, first brat now in my belly
and 125s headed out. More later...

 

Beautiful weather has erupted at Indy, and an excellent Q session just
completed. This morning it was damp and most of the guys went out on
intermediates only to pop right back in for slicks. Hayden went out on
slicks and was fast right off, really smokin' the rear on the run
through the fast lefthander right before the final chicane. At first
it seemed like Michelins were the ticket, then Bridgestones, then it
looked pretty even the rest of the way.

This afternoon it continued to be very unpredictable, surprising
groups of guys at the front much of the time. And we have't seen
anything close to dominqnce by anyone, even though it was the usual
Rossi-Stoner bit at the front in the end. Hayden missed a home front
row because of a big slide on his last try and/or being balked at the
end of the lap. Spies sits next to him in fifth spot, continuing to
embarrass the Rizla regulars plus Euro-centric Denning, and/or the
suits in Japan (whoever decided to let the best young talent outside
of GP walk).

Will be looking at the details later - 250s are out...

 

Okay, so let's assume it's dry. The pace this afternoon, when it was
pretty warm, was high 42s or very low 43s. The guys who did them were
Rossi (42.95), Stoner (42.66), Hayden (43.03), Elias (42.74), de
Angelis (42.98), Vermeulen (43.02). Lorenzo only did a 43.50 and that
was early, Spies got down to a 43.41 before going to the Qs, de Puniet
43.45, Dovizioso 43.86, Toseland 43.79 and Pedrosa never broke 44. The
general impression I had at the track was that Elias was generally
faster than Stoner today, but got screwed by his crash when it
mattered.

Rain is hard to say, because how hard it will be is impossible to say.
West was the fast guy yesterday, but he's last on the grid. The
morning was the drier of the two sessions, but guys were still
figuring out the circuit. In general the guys who were fastest in the
wet didn't qualify all that well.

I guess Rossi is the best pick, not knowing the weather. Hard to take
Stoner after the last couple rounds and his non-intimidating weekend
so far, and Elias seems like a good wildcard in the dry. Hayden looks
like a podium shot in the dry as well, but not so certain if it rains.
Hard to rule out Vermeulen if it rains. Spies seems like a good podium
longshot overall, andf maybe particularly if it rains; his biggest
problem in his previous two races seemed to be getting the maximum out
of the tires in the early laps when they're still good, and he can't
do that and get on the box.

However it plays out with the weather, it could be very good and/or
very surprising. And maybe we'll even get in some bike-swapping in the
process. 125s and 250s? Don't have a clue - who's on pole?

 

As I said, apparently it's wet at Indy. Huddled under the grandstands
with 100,000 other people at the moment, wondering if it'll ever
stop...

Actually, it seems to be slowing a bit now...

 

Pretty much the same feeling I had about Indy when I was there a few years
ago. Somehow it looks bigger and grander on TV. The track is surprisingly
narrow, too.

Here is one of my shots with that State Fair look: Folding frickn' chairs
are the best seats in the house.

http://www.motorsport.com/photos/popup.asp?N=8&I=irl/2006/ind/irl-2006-ind-bh-0150.jpg

 

Yup, I had a wtf moment when I peeked into the boxes and saw all those
chairs, complete with a decent coating of rust.

Where the place really looks old and small is from that angle, in turn
one looking back down the straight. And the track really does look
narrow, you almost can't imagine three cars going in there abreast.
What's really big is the whole layout, given that it's a 2.5-mile
oval, which is also why they can put in a pretty decent infield
course. Completely different than a place like PPIR or Phoenix.

The one view that really gave you a sense of size was during the race
looking up the straight from turn four. With the spray and the rain
mist and the wind, the bikes would eventually just disappear entirely.

Still, I don't know that the whole layout is actually as large as
Miller, I kinda doubt it. And I'll take the weather there as well...

 

Watched a little of the Grand-Am sportscar race at MMP over the weekend and
one of the guys mention that MMP is a nice track but it's tragic that at
over 4 miles it has only one straight.