Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Indy 500, Cont.

Where did I leave off? Oh yes, the Colts stadium.

Saturday night, after a lovely dinner at the hotel, we were bussed down the road to the local Indiana Live Casino. Bryant gave each person a $50 voucher to gamble with. How generous! In retrospect, I really should have just cashed it out and gone home. The casino was lame. Despite the luxurious atmosphere of toothless rednecks, and smoking hundreds of second-hand cigarettes.
Apparently there is a law in Indiana which prohibit gambling with real money, or real cards. So, we had to get special card that recorded the amount of money we had/lost. And all of the tables were digital. It was basically just like glorified video poker. BORING!
So, I gave C my $35 voucher, and kept the $15 slot card for myself. It took me about 20 minutes to lose that $15 playing the penny slots, but I did win $4.39 back. SWEET! And I won a free T-shirt. SCORE!!
So, we took the early bus back to the hotel, and C went down to the hotel bar to watch the Lakers game. That didn't sound like fun to me, so I stayed in the room, thinking I'd just watch some TV. But there was nothing on.

This is what happens when you leave me in a hotel room, alone, and bored, with a camera.


Don't judge me. That's how bored I was.

Sunday morning we caught the fun bus bright and early, to head out for the race. We even had a police escort. See? We really are special. I felt like I was in a herd of cattle, there were so many people. They even had troughs in the bathroom to wash your hands. Cattle.



We stopped to get our headsets, and little radio thing-a-ma-jigs to listen to the pits/announcers, then entered the stadium.
Bryant was so kind as to supply us with a sack lunch and all the beer coke we wanted, so we didn't have to worry about lines. We found our seats and settled in. Luckily we got covered seats, so it wasn't too hot.



Now, I've never been a big racing fan before, so I had no idea how huge this thing is. Let me tell you, I'm fairly certain that half of the country was in that stadium. Seriously.
There were 350,000 people there. THREE-HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND! That is a lot of people! Makes for some good people watching. I'm pretty sure I saw Lou Feriggno walk by.

I tried to take pictures of the cars going by, but they were just way too fast for my slow camera.

Tony's pit crew
Danica's pit crew Dan's pit crew
After about half way, the constant whirring of the tires on the track, and the purr of the engines literally lulled me to sleep. I started nodding off right there in the middle of it all. I guess, at that moment, all of the week's activities finally caught up to me. But, then, sadly, our driver, Tony Kanaan, who had made his way into 3rd place, crashed. We were sad, he was out the race, but glad he was OK.

Tony's car was so banged up they had to tow it in some kind of tarp thingy. Crazy.




In the end, Helio Castroneves (who was on Dancing with the Stars) won the race, with Dan Wheldon (who Clint bet on before the race and won $50) in 2nd, and Danica Patrick in 3rd.



Helio pulled his car right in front of us after he won, then climbed the fence and waived to the fans.

14 comments:

Lisa said...

Love the toes!

wendy said...

OK, those photos of you in the hotel --Bored -----so stinking funny. I was giggling ---you sure do take some fun trips girl.

* said...

Is that a pedicure I see? Small world, I just got my first one last Saturday and guess what? Same colors: fuschia polish w/white flowers!! (and I'm addicted to pedicures now!)

Mikki said...

Sher you are so funny!!! I love the bored hotel pics. Too cute. Love the pedi too.
I'm kind of jealous--Helio? He's such a cutie. That would have mad it worthwhile for me.
Danica would have made my hubby's day too.

Just SO said...

Cute toes! And I do that all the time when I'm bored. Take pictures of myself. No judgment here.

And I'm pretty jealous that you got to see Lou Ferigno and that you got wash your hands in a trough. Pretty cool!

Heidi said...

boy, that's pretty bored--but you have cute tootsies!

Me (aka Danielle) said...

That's pretty bored. I should try that sometime..taking pictures of myself. And the trough..how does that work?

mCat said...

I like the bored-Sher-in-a-hotel-room-with-a-camera.....
and I really likey the toes!

Andrea said...

Lots of comments on the toes, but I have to say that was one good hair day! It seems to me like anytime I have to do my hair in a hotel room, it never comes out right... And as to the first Indy 500 post, what was that 1st artist smoking? The second one got it pretty good, but the first guy? Seriously the nose? the ears? Sounds like a fun trip though. Too bad C didn't have to be the Bryant man. I know how much you/he was looking forward to it.

Chas Hathaway said...

Fun! I've never been to an Indie 500. We used to live only a few miles from Bonneville Raceway, but I never went... I guess it's hard to get around to going places that are close to home. Why is that?

- Chas
http://music.willowrise.com

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

Wow, I just had to say that I figured out how to do the widget on my blog of your CD and was so excited!
Hope you are having fun and trying NOT to be bored.
Cute toes!

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

Oh, my heck you commented on my blog! A famous person!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOW!
Hey, I love your music by the way.

Becca said...

I'm so impressed with the toes--I could never do that, no matter how hard I tried. And I can't even tell you how much I love the bored in a hotel room pictures!

kado! said...

Wow...GREAT seats!