This is normally my big sports viewing day of the
year. The Indy 500 is usually the highlight, though there have been a few
years that I haven’t been able to watch.
Those have been some upsetting Memorial
Days. This time there was no problem
watching. I did get up late, which
messed up my schedule a bit. I was set
to watch the race with dad. He seemed
completely ambivalent about it. He also
said he didn’t want to eat out today.
Fine. I brought my own hot dog
for lunch. I was planning on eating on
eating a hot dog at some point this weekend anyway.
I was making a sacrifice. There were three ball games on at the same
time as the race. If I’d stayed at home,
I would have listened to the Rangers
on the radio, had the Tigers game on
the computer, and watched Indy on TV, occasionally flipping over to the Minor
League game that was on. I would have
also gone out to get something to eat afterward, obviously exhausted from
over stimulation.
Just to get it out of the way, the Rangers lost to the Orioles in a tight 3-2 game. I like both teams, so I’m conflicted. The Tigers beat the White Sox, 6-5, with a walk off in the tenth. So, I was missing out. Elsewhere of note, my Aunt Judy texted dad during the race. She was excited about a Cardinal home run, but they lost 4-3 to Cleveland. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to watch the Rays beat the Dodgers, 11-10. That must have been a heck of a game. Likewise, the Rockies beat the Mets by the same score.
I did get to peek in on the Minor League showcase game on
Stadium between the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders and
the Worcester Red Sox (the Woo
Sox). I have to admit I was super
impressed with the Railriders’ stadium, PNC
Field. It’s set against a forested,
rocky Pennsylvania hill in a picturesque fashion. I hate to give more love to a Yankees’
affiliate, but I liked their announcers, too.
The guy had a great voice and worked well with the woman he was paired
with. He sounded professional, but
conversational in tone. The team had Josh Donaldson and Oswald Peraza with them on rehab and won 11-4. The fans there also
got to see a nearby air show going on with the Blue Angels.
Was just basically watching the race worth missing the
games? Read on.
Like I said, I woke up a bit late. I did turn on the TV and watched some of the
prerace before going over to dad’s. I
caught an interview with Tony Kanaan. This was going to be his last Indy. About his race strategy, he said, “I’ve got
nothing to lose. What are they going to
do? Fire me?”
As always, the spectacle of the pageantry and the crowd
was awesome. Over 300,000 were present
and were especially giddy, as reported by all the drivers and others
there. The drivers fed off that and
seemed jazzed, too. The flyover for the
Anthem and Back Home in Indiana was a
New Mexico fighter unit pleasing myself and dad.
Graham
Rahal was nearly the race’s first casualty. His car wouldn’t start. Eventually, he made it out on track, but two
laps down. Scott Dixon made an early pit with a tire vibration. The in-car camera view was hellish. There were a couple more early pits with the
same problem.
NBC
was mostly running side-by-side commercials, which I appreciated. The commercials were mostly classy, which I
appreciated even more. My favorite was
definitely the one for Perdue University featuring the band playing
at the race. Kyle Larson was there in the pits.
He’s planning on doing the “Double” next year. I doubt he was worried about getting back to
Charlotte for his race. (More on that
later.)
On-track action for most of the early race was Rinus Veekay and Alex Palou trading the lead to save fuel. Katherine
Legge slid leaving her pit stall and nearly had an accident. She had to return to the pits and ended up
being the race’s first retirement. After
another mechanical retirement, the first on track accident was Sting Ray Robb hitting the wall. (I don’t make up names.) During the mass pit stop afterward, Veekay
and Palou hit each other coming out.
That pretty much took them out of the running for the victory.
The race restarted on Lap 101. The “gentlemanly” racing from the first half
of the race was over, as cars started going three and four-wide jockeying for
position. TK got one more career Indy
highlight. He made a pass through the
grass for position. The race pace slowed
by 20mph as the teams tried to save fuel.
Another pit lane incident. Teammates Colton Herta and Romain
Grosjean collided. Grosjean and his
groomer pride DHL car later crashed out on Lap 151. Lap 160, the iconic-looking Santino Ferrucci took the lead in the Red,
White, and Blue AJ Foyt car. The rear of the field was involved in a
continuous dogfight. With 31 to go,
there was a near disaster for Ferrucci as a tire got loose during a pit
stop. He didn’t have to make a penalty
drive through, but lost the lead anyway.
What happened next was a phone call that my dad insisted
on taking from the state of New Mexico Health department polling him about drug
abuse in the Land of Enchantment. They’d
called him yesterday and he’d told them to call back the next day. It was a loud call that went on for over 10
minutes. There were no questions about
the drugs coming over the open border with illegals or about the numerous legal
weed dispensaries in the state. (I think
there are six in my reasonably nice neighborhood.)
This of course happened during the most interesting 10 minutes of the race, when I’d turned down the sound. With 18 to go, Pato O’Ward also touched grass on a pass on Felix Rosenqvist. Pato was pretty likeable guy in the prerace. Two laps later was The Big One. Rosenqvist hit the wall a couple of times before spinning in the middle of the track. Kyle Kirkwood’s left rear tire was clipped going by. The tire flew off. The tether must have been cut. It just missed going into the stands and went into the parking lot. Kirkwood went airborne, hit the wall, got flipped over, and skidded down the track in a shower of sparks.
Kirkwood was okay.
When he was interviewed coming out of the care center, his hair wasn’t
even messed up. There was a car hit in
the parking lot by the tire. It belonged
to Robin Matthews, pictured here in
the center. Her car had to be towed
off. IMS officials gave her a ride in
the pace car after the race and let her kiss the bricks. They also gave her a ride home.
The race was red flagged. The fans in the massive stands did the
Wave. The F1 race replay from Monaco
was starting on ABC around this time.
Gone are the days when I was going to wake up before the sunrise to
watch this race anyway. I missed the
start, which is always functionally the entire race. Max
Verstappen started on the pole and won.
It did rain later in the race.
Usually that makes F1 races more interesting, but not here. Even the nominally histrionic Sky News race announcers were obviously
bored.
Indy restarted with 8 to go. Pato was leading briefly, but crashed out as Josef Newgarden took the lead. Another damaged car ran into Pato after he’d
stopped. Agustin Canapino’s steering was gone and he couldn’t help it. This brought out another red flag.
The restart happened with 4 to go. The resulting wreck happened in the rear of
the field before the cars had even crossed the line. Last years’ winner, Marcus Ericsson had taken the lead on the restart. His newlywed wife was crying at the prospect
of him winning. At this point, Race
Control had about a half lap to decide whether the race would finish under
caution.
While the crowd had already gotten a great race, it just
didn’t seem right to end it under yellow.
The fans there deserved a green flag winner. The race was red flagged for a third time
with 2 laps left. This left an
unprecedented 1 lap shootout. The cars
left pit lane, drove around to the line, and took green and white flags from
the stand.
What happened next was what everyone wanted for the end:
clean, hard racing. Newgarden made a
great pass for the lead and successfully defended it coming to the checkered
flag for the win. Josef became an
instant hero, as he then got out of his car, went under the fence, and waded
into the crowd. In the interview
afterward, yes, he’d always meant to do that if he won.
That was worth waiting for. This was also Penske’s first win since buying the track. There he was on the pagoda jumping up and
down as his car won. Ericsson was bitter
afterward in an interview about the decision to red flag the race. He’s not wrong. Danica
Patrick in the closing commentary was also against it. Dale
Earnhardt Jr. said he was for it and was glad for the great finish, but
felt lucky that nothing bad had happened.
I’m sure Race Control felt the same way.
Forget anything topping this race today. I went back home and indifferently watched
the rest of the F1 race. The Coca-Cola 600 coverage started with
images of rain coming down. So much for
that. They’ll try it again
tomorrow. I didn’t bother watching the
rain delay theater. It was raining bad
enough that they didn’t even try to fake the viewers out.
There were two more ball games left for me tonight. The Braves
and Phillies started first on ESPN Radio. The Braves scored 5 runs in the first and did
not look back. I switched to the Chihuahuas game when it came on. They had a live band there for the
Anthem. They didn’t say who they were
though. The Reno Aces also scored 5 runs on the pups in the first.
The game had 7 straight half-innings of scoring, but
Chihuahuas gave out first. As the Braves
won their game, 11-4, the Aces won
in El Paso, 15-6. The crowd was still loud and cheering in the
bottom of the ninth. They also wanted
their postgame fireworks.
Lastly, on TV I was flipping around and ran into a Mexican League soccer championship
game. This usually comes up around this
date. I decided to watch the Chivas versus the Tigres for all of the enchiladas.
About the first 5 minutes in, the Goats had already scored twice. Well,
this one is over, I thought and flipped channels. Over two hours later, I was flipping back
around and they were still playing! And
the Tigers were up 3-2 in extra
time! Holy cow! Did I miss one! While the victorious players were humping
each other on the ground, their trophy was being engraved on the field. (Certainly, I was getting uncomfortable
watching these guys.)
On to Monday.
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