In 1911, Ray Harroun won the first Indy 500. Yesterday, they drove his car around the track celebrating 100 yrs of the Big Race. Pretty cool if you ask me. Mr. Harroun had a nice write up in the Saginaw News this weekend. He lived here for many years and had an interesting life. He was one of the old school racers. A guy who designed and built cars, even starting his own car company. Hard to imagine anyone doing that today.
The race has always fascinated me. When I was a wee lad, we would watch the race, wherever we were that weekend. Why? Because my Dad is a race fanatic. In some ways, I am a bit of one too. Oh not like my Dad, or the hordes of Indy or NASCAR fans. Nope. I am more of a casual fan and like the local short tracks and dirt racing and none of the fancy schmancy stuff you see on TV nowadays. Call me old fashioned.
I have yet to see the Big Race in person, maybe some day. My folks went to one years ago and it must have been awesome to see in person. We did make a sheeple trip, back in the day as part of a vacation, to Indy and took the tour. I remember the day well, the museum was ultra cool, and although it was raining so hard you could barely see, we did take the bus tour around the track. It was pretty neato.
Yesterday, the techno-kid watched the race and I do believe he has the bug, like his grandpa. He loves NASCAR and really got into the 500, which is cool by me. Sure the race has changed, and racing is big business today, not like the old days when a fella could build a car and go race. But, it is what it is I guess. It is still racing, and that is the most important part.
Oh and you know who my fave driver is? Yeah.. Danica Patrick, and no, not because she is easy on the eyes, but because she has guts. She is fighting on all fronts just to get into the car, let alone go compete in the racing world, which is hard enough. So yeah, she is tough and has a few mountains to climb. I have no doubt she will one day chug the milk in the winners circle.
It is a long way from cheering for AJ Foyt and the old guys, but like I said, its all good. Racing is racing and cars still excite. The t-k has a huge collection and the racing bug. Thats pretty cool too.
Oh my God... Those time also there was the trends of racing. I was not aware of till now. But this blogs describes the excitement of old days. Its really superb.
Posted by: wordpress developers for hire | 05/31/2011 at 02:36 AM
1/4 mile ovals and feeling deaf when you got home and Dad never letting us sit on the fourth turn because, "They gun it out of the turn and if there's a wreck a tire could come through the fence."
Posted by: Chikuba | 05/31/2011 at 11:04 AM