Ya heard about Marvin Gaye, we got him
Can I get a witness?
Talkin’ bout Hitsville USA we got it
How sweet it is
We got those fine, fine super Supremes
The kind of girls ya see in your dreams
When ya hear our thunderin’ sound
Ya know it comes from Detroit town
Talkin’ ‘bout Rosa Parks we sent her
Talkin’ ‘bout Henry Ford, the inventor
Talkin’ ‘bout Aretha yeah we got her
The Queen of Soul
Bob Seger yeah we got him
And that old time rock n roll
Slim Shady set the world on fire
The Big Three baby and the finest cars
George Clinton’s P Funk all stars
We spend our days on the line and our nights in the bars
Detroit, Michigan, yeah
-Kid Rock
Friday 31 May 2024
Arrived safely in Michigan after a road trip of just over 4.5 hours, taking us on the scenic route out of Illinois and through Indiana, Ohio and into Michigan. We passed near or through major Midwestern cities like South Bend, Indiana (home of the Notre Dame University) and Toledo, Ohio, before reaching the Motor City.
This is the third weekend in a row of being at a track. Circuit of the Americas in Austin a fortnight ago, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway one week ago and now the bumpy, tight and twisty confines of a temporary street circuit right in the heart of downtown Detroit, in the shadow of the General Motors headquarters building, the iconic Renaissance Centre. The IndyCar Series drivers will have their work cut out for them this weekend: this is a very unforgiving circuit.
Our accommodation is so close to the track that we can look out any given window in our eighth floor apartment and see racecars in two locations. We can also see the river and across to the casinos in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Gotta say, that’s pretty cool. (We saw plenty of signs coming into Detroit for the tunnel and bridge over).
Took an Uber over to the Motor City Casino to meet Ryan Myrehn for dinner. I’m sure he’ll be pleased to go to a racetrack next weekend and not see us there! Had a great meal and some drinks and talked a lot of racing, both last week’s Indianapolis 500 and what’s ahead not just for IndyCar but the big GT races taking place in Europe starting this weekend with the Nürburgring 24 Hours.
Halfway through the meal, Ryan went to the bathroom and somewhere en route ran into Mark Jaynes and his wife Desiree who “crashed” our table for half an hour or so. First time a Hall of Famer has crashed any dinner I’ve been at! Always a pleasure to hang with my IndyCar Radio buddies.
Back at the apartment at a reasonable time. Tomorrow is IndyCar qualifying and the feature 100-minute race for the IMSA sports car series that is running as support. Some of the same GTP/Hypercar prototypes and GT3 cars we’ll see on the track tomorrow – Porsche, Cadillac, BMW, Corvette, Aston etc. – will be racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a few weeks’ time. Excited to see these cars in person for the first time.
kitchtrips 