Continued from Part 1
5-27-18
Unlike previous Memorial Day racing recaps, this one starts with
the Indy 500 for me. Since ESPN/ABC has apparently picked up F1
races and would be rebroadcasting it after Indy, forget waking up at 5:00am
this time. Let me put in an
uncharacteristic “Thank you,” to ESPN for not running a sports ticker during
Indy and spoiling the Monaco race.
I enjoyed the pre-race show. It
was quite lively. According to a
newspaper article, this is ABC's last year of broadcasting the event. I haven't had this confirmed, but if it is,
they're going out on a high-note. Nicole
Brisco was an energetic host.
Speaking of women with racecar driver husbands (Nicole's married to Ryan
Brisco), I also caught a glimpse of Lauren Bohlander, Tony Kaanan's
wife. I miss her Indycar reporting and
skits, like impersonating Danica Patrick to some fans. Speaking of that, this was going to be
Danica's final race. If you're a bit
sick of her (like I am), it seemed like she felt the same way about racing in
her pre-race interview.
There were some good segments like the drivers reading fan tweets. My favorite one was to Kaanan, “I know you're
really Vin Diesel with a bad accent.”
Teammates Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden had a
hysterical segment where they were pranking one another by autographing each
other's stuff, such as uniforms, cars, their houses, giant posters on the outside
of the track, and Josef's mom. (Josef is
absurdly handsome, by the way. It even
came up in the tweet segment.)
After the great traditions at the start of the race, we were off. I saw the first couple of the laps, when my
dad called. I'd invited him over and
offered to buy lunch. He came by and
picked me up to go to Raising Canes, where we brought back delicious
chicken fingers meals. On the way back,
I saw a horrifying sight. There was a
complete pizza that had been dropped off by the side of the road. If you know how I feel about pizza, you know
that this upset me greatly. Thankfully,
I think it was only a Dominos or Little Caesars pizza and not
something good.
I missed the first wreck, which took out last years' winner, Takuma Sato. The car in front of him stalled in a turn and
Taku plowed into him. Danica crashed for
the last time not too much later. She
spun out by herself going around a turn.
A consistent comment before the race from the drivers concerned the
record heat at the track. They hadn't
had that all week in practice. It had
also rained last night, washing the surface clean, and the cars have less
downforce this year.
Danica was actually the second car to get taken out like this. She wouldn't be the last. Danica hit the wall pretty hard. There were shots of her anxious mom running
down pit lane. There was an obvious
question: Where was Aaron Rodgers? Are him and Danica not going out any
more? You could pretty much see Danica’s
reaction to the wreck as she got out of the car. I'm not going to miss this.
Scary moment about halfway through the race (as if all of the in-car
views aren't frightening). Zach Veach's car caught fire in the
pits. His crew chief told him to go
anyway. So, his flaming car went down pit
lane. This did extinguish the flames
though. I was reminded of the time Michael Schumacher's car caught on fire
and he went on to win the race. Dad was
reminded of the time when he was a boy and accidentally set caught the
lawnmower on fire when he splashed some gas on it. “Dad wasn't very happy about that,” he said, being
able to laugh about it now. Polesitter Ed
Carpenter, paced the field early on.
Kaanan was the only one challenging him.
By 300 miles in, Will Power
was leading.
About 60 laps to go, cars were going four-wide down the
straightaway. I told Ron about it later
and he said, “That won't fit four.” I
know, that's why I was standing and gasping while I was watching. Alexander
Rossi, who had started next-to-last, had an epic run to the front. On one move after a restart, he passed five
cars on the outside. He made some other
tremendous wheel-to-wheel moves. What
did I say about one-car spins? Helio Castroneves and Tony Kaanan were
both taken out, so it could happen to anyone.
Helio even took a spinning trip down pit lane.
Four laps to go and the two cars up front had to peel off,
out-of-fuel. While the drivers were
leading, they each had interesting stories about them told. One was the brother of Justin Wilson, who had died in a racing wreck. If I could recommend one sporting event to a
non-sports fan, it would be Indy, because each of the drivers has a backstory
that makes this more than just a race; it's personal and the accomplishment of
a lifetime. It's like the Olympics, but
way less corrupt and, not some stupid sport nobody cares about, except for
every four years.
The car assuming the lead was Will
Power's. He's a former series
champion and I've seen how exciting he gets over winning. This took it to a whole new level. Of course, he had no trouble bringing it home
for three laps. His wife in the pits
nearly hyperventilated. In Victory Lane
his expression was a priceless I can't believe I just won the Indy 500! He accidentally sprayed the Indy Queen
(whatever her title is) with his milk shower and apologized. Will's wife was still hysterical. It was another cool Indy with breathtaking
action and true emotion.
Nicole Briscoe came on afterward and said, “Here's your Monanco coverage.” And with that, it cut right to the green flag
dropping at the principality. There was
no pre-race. Daniel Riccardo started on pole and won. That's pretty much the whole race right there
(and virtually every other Monte Carlo GP I’ve seen). Sebastian
Vettel blew a chicane to get in front of Riccardo briefly and then had to
give the spot back. (Riccardo just about
did the same in getting it back.) That's
as much passing as there was in the race.
The race call was hysterical, not in a ha-ha sort of way, but in a
panicked sort of way. It didn't do
anything for the drama, of which, there wasn't any. But it was all very glamorous, which is why
we tune in. (They should make them drive
go karts for the race. It would be much
more interesting.) Hey, it was pointed
out to me in the paper later that a pair of Aussies won two of the big races
today. G’Day mates!
As for the Coca-Cola 600, I
had it on, though I wasn't really watching for the most part. The WAC Baseball Championship was on the
radio during the F1 race and then I switched to the ESPN Sunday Night baseball with the Cubs and the Giants. (I also peeked in on today's Rangers’ game
for a couple of minutes.) Mostly I was
eating dinner and writing stuff up, not paying much attention to anything
else. I even got confused watching the
race, thinking it was about to end early, but there was a fourth stage to this
very long race, instead of the usual three.
Kyle Busch won the race, pretty much dominating the end of it. There were only nine cars on the lead lap by
the end. It was typical Charlotte. I wonder how that road course is going to
work in the “playoffs?” With this win,
Kyle is the first NASCAR driver to
win at every current track. In Victory
Circle, he was appropriately humbled by the accomplishment. I can momentarily feel good about his
win. It also finished in under
five-hours.
Also finishing in just under five hours, was the ESPN game. The Giants went up by 3 to start the game and
lost 8-3 to the Cubs. Bored by the proceedings, the hosts chatted
about Lebron and Kato Kaelin? Kato is
apparently a big Brewers fan, he once won a 50/50 lottery at the Milwaukee
ballpark, and he wears out Craig
Counsell on Twitter everyday for his managing. Fascinating.
It's your usual Memorial Day weekend Sunday: a great race and some
peripheral sporting events that weren't as cool.
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