Somewhere out there in America
There’s a long haul driver filling up
And a welcome-back-home party twelve ounce toast
Carolina toes on a California coast to coast
The Sun going down
Fields lightin’ up in two-lane towns
Heart’s on a hood down airport road
Seeing how high they can go
Yeah American nights comin’ out of that dash
Goin’ big time on a little bit of cash
Raisin’ one up, and singin’ along
Living the words to all those songs
American nights slidin’ off that sky
That “vow that I’ll be going home” look in her eyes
Ain’t nothing better, no there ain’t nothing like
American nights
Yeah these American nights
– Parmalee
Friday 24 May, 2024
Carburetion Day aka Carb Day is a long-held tradition at the Indianapolis 500. It’s the final practice session for drivers and teams – a 2-hour session these days – that resembles a race given the way drivers are testing their cars in traffic. Cars that look good today, tend to look good in race day. Back in the day, it was also the last chance for teams to check their carburetors.
In more modern times, it has become a BIG party, and there are a lot of very drunk people by the end of the day, many embarrassing themselves in myriad ways. Come to that, there were a lot of drunk people embarrassing themselves in myriad ways when we reached the track, shortly before 11:00am.
By sheer luck, the first seating section we walked into – on turn one – happened to be just below where one of my IndyCar Radio friends, Nick Yeoman, was calling from. So naturally, I took a photo and sent it to him, accompanied by a waving emoji. A minute or so later, I hear some yelling and someone waving. I look up and it’s Nick. (We later found out that he’d rolled out the “Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!” chant, but we weren’t quite close enough to hear it, unfortunately).
We watched the first half of the session from turn one then headed into the infield for a snack and watched the rest on the enormous big screens in the Pagoda Plaza, and were treated to a performance by the famous Gordon Pipers, who are a big part of Sunday’s pre-race festivities. Will Power looked very good in traffic, so I left thinking that he could be a big factor on Sunday. We’ll see.
Following the end of the session, we went into the Sid Collins Broadcast Booth on the front straight, where Mark Jaynes leads the radio broadcast (there are also announcers in each of the four turns, and four pit reporters) and hung out with the guys there whilst the pit stop competition played out in front of us. The booth is also in a great location for people watching, and let me tell you, there was a lot of people watching to be done. (Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, defending Indianapolis 500, won the pit-stop contest – a good omen for Sunday?)
In the afternoon, we left IMS and drove out to Indianapolis Raceway Park, a small bullring of an oval where the feeder series for IndyCar were racing. My friend Rob Howden (an IndyCar Radio pit reporter in another life) had organised us passes for the night that included access to the hospitality tent, and they came in very handy when the heavens opened and a huge thunderstorm swept across the track. A second storm about an hour later put an end to any chances of racing but I still got to see Rob and hang with him a bit, which is never a bad thing!
Early night home due to the storms. Long, hot day at the track(s) but so much fun.
kitchtrips 