whoa. New interface for blogger indeed.

(shrug) Whatever :)

Hi all,

Hope you've had a good weekend! I've had a very tiring Sunday, but it was definitely fun.

Today, Drew and I went to the Firestone Indy 400 at the Michigan International Speedway in none other than Brooklyn, Michigan (yeah, don't ask me where it is exactly, beccause it's still a mystery to me). We pretty much just magically drove our way there and back. Never a dull moment, I tell ya ;)

Anyway, Drew got us the major hookup with tickets to this race. With all the fixins. We got lunch, the race program, got to meet / see some of the drivers and whatnot (more on this later), and most importantly, ear plugs. If we had gotten our butts there earlier, we could have had breakfast, gotten to go down to the pits, and a few other things. No biggie though.

When I checked the weather yesterday, The Weather Channel had predicted scattered thunderstorms the entire day. In the typical Michigan weather fashion, it changed and cycled from cloudy to sunny. When it was cloudy, I was a little worried that we'd get rained on (never the case). When it was sunny, it was freakin hot.

Luckily, Drew's friend Kara had brought along sunblock so I didn't burn as badly as I would have without any protection at all. My skin still feels hot on the neck, so I'm sure I'll feel pain tomorrow.

I don't know how the people that drank beer did it, but I was unsuccessfull in fending off dehydration. Despite all of the super crazy loud noise from the cars, I managed to take some catnaps. With all of that noise going on, you know that I had to be pretty tired to be able to fall asleep. The funny thing was, when I looked over at Drew, I saw him nodding off as well. Heh.

About the 150th lap (or somewhere in the neighbourhood of), we decided to get out of there. We were pretty tired, and we wanted to beat traffic (or something like that). Riiight. We were just pretty lame ;)

For what it's worth, we did at least listen to the rest of the race on the radio. :)

So would I do it again? I dunno. Probably not. Car racing as a spectator sport (especially on an oval track) is best done at home. Kicking back in your favourite chair (and not the hard metal bleachers of the grandstand), with filtered water in one hand, and munchies in the other. That way, if you get tired, you can channel surf to MTV or something.

Yes, watching the race at home would have been nice...

But then I wouldn't have met her.

2 words: Sarah Fisher.

The only reason why I'd continue following the IRL (Indy Racing League).

Although the entire race day experience was fun, the highlight was actually meeting Sarah. It was kind of on accident, really. We were sitting there eating in the hospitality tent, and she was there meeting fans and giving autographs.

There was some other racer/driver dude there to whom I paid no attention, but of course, my ears perked up when I heard her name announced (you shouldn't be surprised). It's nice to have a young lady in a sport that's so dominated by dudes.

After her line looked like it was dying down, I decided to see if I could get an autograph. At first, I was too late - there was a worker dude at the end of the line saying that he was the end of the line. But he felt sorry for me and let me cut in front of him (thank you, sir). Now here I was in line, waiting to talk to this lady that I had no idea who she was (other than some lady that drove a indycar). Actually, I don't think I even remembered her name at the time. Anyway, I was behind all sorts of "superfans" that had her t-shirts and other fan gear. There were young kids in line, parents, all saying how she was an inspiration, and that she was the only reason that they watched the sport, etc., etc.

And then there was me.

She signed my program booklet thing (with her car #, 23) - which I will keep hermetically sealed forever in the plastic pouch that it came in.

I thanked her and wished her good luck :)

Unfortunately, even with my good luck wished upon her, she only placed 15th. But that's ok. :)

If you ask me nicely, I may show you her autograph ;)

-Kirk