Dear Off Cambers

[Sean Malone]

Dear Off Cambers,

This was honestly a truly tough decision and I haven’t officially bought my ticket as of yet, but I am in the process of making plans to attend…I can hardly say it…the St Pete IndyCar race with my wife and daughter, my sis and her boyfriend. The worst part is I won’t be able to catch the ALMS race on Saturday because of work. I’m going to try my best to not vomit each time the cars go by, or yell obscenities at Mikey, or ask Danika how it feels to be slower than a GT car. Ok, so I’ll do the last one. I’m also going to dig up some of my old CART swag just to feel a little better about myself.

I wouldn’t blame the bosses if they banned me. I deserve it. I feel so traitorous and dirty. This sucks. I'm going to try my best to have a miserable time. Seriously.


Signed,

Kicking and Screaming.


P.S., I was going to take my boat down but the trackside slips are between $7000 to $13000 for the weekend. Now who the hell pays $13000 for a weekend at an IRL race?


:yuck: :yuck:

[Don Quixote]

.

[dando]

Dude....

:yuck: :tony: :eek: :saywhat: x11

-Kevin

[RusH]

Do I get bamified too? Or do I get a pass because I live so close I can spit at the track?

My pics from today. :gomer:

http://f1rush.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!5E73812D357B6B40!163/

[extramundane]

I wouldn’t blame the bosses if they banned me. I deserve it.

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/829/35086024.JPG :flame: :D

Let us know if you can find the Media Center.

[WickerBill]

No, but can I ban RusH for using Microsoft's web tools?

[Andrew Longman]

I was going to take my boat down but the trackside slips are between $7000 to $13000 for the weekend. Now who the hell pays $13000 for a weekend at an IRL race?

Enjoy the day and give a full report.

As for paying for those slips, my brother anchored his boat there by the airport for 10 years in the 90s and I would come down every spring for a week of sailing. I wonder what we could have sold a seat on his boat for.:gomer:

[RusH]

No, but can I ban RusH for using Microsoft's web tools?

:rofl: it`s free, unlimited, and all that good stuff.

You don`t like me boss.:(

[Cam]

No, but can I ban RusH for using Microsoft's web tools?

Do it!!!! 4! :D

[Cam]

As an added thought after looking thru those pics, keerist those things are fugly! :yuck:

[Gnam]

Do you have to buy tickets? Weren't the gates wide open last year?

[anait]

...those things are fugly! :yuck:

:yuck: They most certainly are. :irked: :(

[Ed_Severson]

Dear Off Cambers,

This was honestly a truly tough decision and I haven’t officially bought my ticket as of yet, but I am in the process of making plans to attend…I can hardly say it…the St Pete IndyCar race with my wife and daughter, my sis and her boyfriend.

Do it. Go. Seriously.

IndyCar or not, there are few things better than a day at the race track with your family. And in 2008 you can finally do it without any of the ******** politics hanging over your head any longer.

Just make sure you cheer for Wilson, because he's the balls. :cool:

[Sean Malone]

Do it. Go. Seriously.

IndyCar or not, there are few things better than a day at the race track with your family. And in 2008 you can finally do it without any of the ******** politics hanging over your head any longer.

Just make sure you cheer for Wilson, because he's the balls. :cool:

Yep, JW all the way!:thumbup:

[SurfaceUnits]

you have to make out with this man-ugly creature

http://byfiles.storage.live.com/y1pNgjwa_bUn4B3Wgtce_Z5aGLTYnm9n5fMip2sUuC_YqlSnHi IsBXOfW42f8odzVznGfviC_f60xE

too bad the cross she is wearing didn't ward off the ugly

[Sean Malone]

you have to make out with this man-ugly creature

http://byfiles.storage.live.com/y1pNgjwa_bUn4B3Wgtce_Z5aGLTYnm9n5fMip2sUuC_YqlSnHi IsBXOfW42f8odzVznGfviC_f60xE

too bad the cross she is wearing didn't ward off the ugly

Isn't that the Orc chief from Lord of the Rings?

[extramundane]

http://byfiles.storage.live.com/y1pNgjwa_bUn4B3Wgtce_Z5aGLTYnm9n5fMip2sUuC_YqlSnHi IsBXOfW42f8odzVznGfviC_f60xE


Ronnie Dio's holding up pretty well.

[opinionated ow]

wasn't it vop or someone like that who called that hot 12 months ago?

[nrc]

http://www.lazydork.com/movies/frightnight.jpg

[Sean Malone]

Karen Black?

[SurfaceUnits]

And you have to engage in group sex with the Divas of Indycar as well:





http://www.indy.com/photos/standard/2008/03/57097.jpg

[DagoFast]

And you have to engage in group sex with the Divas of Indycar as well:





http://www.indy.com/photos/standard/2008/03/57097.jpg

Zous fraulein's need much, much more of ze punishment.

[Elmo T]

IndyCar or not, there are few things better than a day at the race track with your family. And in 2008 you can finally do it without any of the ******** politics hanging over your head any longer.



We had already opted out of Cleveland in favor of M-O this year. Cleveland was great, but the facilities are not as family friendly as M-O, where the littles ones can run around the infield and I still get to see some racing.

FWIW, I also no longer have to explain race politics to a 7yo. Though, given school yard politics, I guess it is about the same.

[G.]

Do I get bamified too? Or do I get a pass because I live so close I can spit at the track?
Move. ;)

[dando]

Rain. The C^RT Gods cursed you. :laugh: :p :tony:

-Kevin

[Dirk Diggler]

Do I get bamified too? Or do I get a pass because I live so close I can spit at the track?

No. You should be punished for not spitting at the track.

[Sean Malone]

Welp, I went. Had a decent time. The weather kept everyone on their toes but also added to the 'drama'.
Of course it was my first time hearing a crapwagon in person. At first I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt and I admit they look slightly better in person than on TV or pictures. But that sound, oh, the sound. Once they went green and we got to hear the pack under full throttle the db level is probably twice that of a Champ Car. By lap 10 the sound got so annoying that each lap was like nails on a chalkboard. They reminded me of the Indy Lights of old, loud and slow. I noticed they are calling the IPS, Indy Lights now.

Speed, or lack there of was obvious to even my sister's boyfriend who is new to racing. They looked like they were doing 80mph down the front stretch.

I thought the actual race was good especially considering that I preached to my group how we were all going to cheer on Justin and Graham. So while we passed by Danickle's trailer in the paddock where there were 10 people deep surrounding it trying to catch a glimpse of her majesty, we found an empty NHL trailer. Not a single fan was at the rope. I thought that was rather strange. Huge crowd at Dankicles, large crowd at Helio's and a small crowd at Kanaan's and everyone else's was vacant.

We watched them prep the cars for a few minutes, but with no sign of JW or GR we went to explore the rest of the paddock and merchandise area. Wow, lame. I remember in the CART days when practically every driver had his own merchandise truck. For this race I saw a TCGR truck, a Danikle truck (which I assume had other AGR stuff) and of course a Penske truck. They had an 'offical IndyCar' tent with lots of stuff and I did notice that all day long, I never saw "Indy Racing League" anywhere. Everything was IndyCar Series, which does help make it slightly more palatable. Overall it wasn't that much different than a Champ Car race at Cleveland except for the crappy cars.

So to my sisters boyfreinds confusion, we went back and stood around the NHL trucks after they wheeled the cars to the pits. "Just wait a minute, you wanted to see some drivers, well, just wait" I told him. Sure enough, right on cue, Justin and Graham come out of the trailer making their way towards their waiting scooters and, conveniently right past us. Since we were the only people standing there they stopped and said hi which had the result of my 17 year old daughter falling head over heals for both of them. Now she says she wants to marry a race car driver. Oiy vie!. So bro-in-law and daughter were super ecited and became instant Wilson/Rahal fans with the added bonus that Graham won put a nice exclamation point on a decent day at the track.

Final thoughts;
Now I know where all the brazilionaires are racing. There are more amazonian monkeys racing IndyCars than ever.
Danikle sucks. Oh, my little Dankilce story... So after Justin and Graham drive off to their pits we are standing around down about four trailers from the mass of people awaiting the princess's appearance. Out of the corner of my eye I see three people scoot under the ropes right beside us, it was Danika and two of her handlers. I gave her a casual "hey Danica", and in return she threw me an icy stare that said "how dare you mention my name" and they scurried away without anyone at her trailer knowing. Elvis has left the building folks. My sister felt sorry for her. Bah! How many times did Justin have to pass her during the race. He had to be fed up with being behind her all those times.
Marco is smaller than Danica. He was driving his girlfriend around on his scooter all day and no one knew who he was.
Gene Simmons will take his picture with anyone.
Phil Nelson watched the race with his girlfriend at AJ's pit.

if the next car is better than the flying crapwagons things might be Ok.

At the beginning of the race the announcer made a very nice speech about the 'merger' which also helped smooth over the ruffled feathers of this old grumpy Champ Car bird.

Paul Newman wasn't there (that I saw) but Carl was very visible, as was KK and JV.
It's not the same without Forsythe and Tracy.

[extramundane]

Paul Newman wasn't there (that I saw) but Carl was very visible

Perhaps Paul was blocked by Mike Lanigan's shirt-busting girth all weekend?

http://www.motorsport.com/photos/indycar/2008/sp/indycar-2008-sp-lb-0376.jpg

[JLMannin]

if the next car is better than the flying crapwagons things might be Ok.

Perhaps. Now if Honda would just pull he plug after this season instead of picking up the 2009 option, the series will have the chance to get another formula one year sooner.

[Sean O'Gorman]

extramundane :rofl:

I thought that Lanigan bought into NHR because of the fact that Newman and Haas are getting up their in age. I'm pretty sure they'll both outlive that guy.

And,,,great,,,news,,,about,,,your,,,daughter, Sean M.

[Don Quixote]

Yikes, that is a heart attack waiting to happen.

[dando]

SM, glad you enjoyed the race. I hope you took a shower afterwards. :) Y'all lucked out, as rain was training just north of the track. North Tampa must have been deluged. You shoulda yelled 'nice win' to Danicle. :gomer:

-Kevin

[Sean Malone]

SM, glad you enjoyed the race. I hope you took a shower afterwards. :) Y'all lucked out, as rain was training just north of the track. North Tampa must have been deluged. You shoulda yelled 'nice win' to Danicle. :gomer:

-Kevin

yeah, it poured the entire drive home.

I was also impressed with what I perceived to be a fairly race savvy crowd, especially for a street race. I saw a lot of F1 t-shirts/hats and the fans in the stands all seemed to have a favorite they were cheering for. The rain didn't send anyone home either. I did see quite a few 'red hats' and they were all waiting for Helio outside his trailer.

[oddlycalm]

Marco is smaller than Danica. Apparently why he's called Micro. :D

Nice report Sean, it was a dirty job and someone had to do it. :thumbup:

oc

[grungex]

Speed, or lack there of was obvious to even my sister's boyfriend who is new to racing. They looked like they were doing 80mph down the front stretch.

Interesting. When we were watching the recording of the race both my GF and I commented on how slow they appeared, indeed we had to check to be sure the green had actually flown. I thought it was just bad (long) camera angles.

[Sean Malone]

Interesting. When we were watching the recording of the race both my GF and I commented on how slow they appeared, indeed we had to check to be sure the green had actually flown. I thought it was just bad (long) camera angles.

I think it comes down to acceleration and braking distances that give the cars the appearance of being fast or not so fast. I've heard it mentioned in terms of F1 for many years. The F1 cars stop and accelerate faster than any other like car which really gives the appearance of speed. The IndyCar just doesn't have that breakneck slow to fast acceleration so by the 3/4 mark on the front stretch they may be doing 175, but it took them over half the track to get there as opposed to a DP01 or F1 car where they are getting to full song much much earlier. Same applies to the braking.
They need a new car.

[Andrew Longman]

Understand too that they were lapping a second or two slower than the P1 and P2s on Saturday.

And they are 3-4 seconds a lap slower than the DP01 at Sebring.

These are not your father's champcars. ;)

[cameraman]

These are not your father's champcars. ;)

True but then again neither was a Lola...

http://www.rumbledrome.com/images/ted37vand.jpg

[Dirk Diggler]

http://www.motorsport.com/photos/indycar/2008/sp/indycar-2008-sp-lb-0376.jpg

Looks like somebody ate all the chocolate and left poor Graham with a bunch of plastic grass.

[Andrew Longman]

True but then again neither was a Lola...

http://www.rumbledrome.com/images/ted37vand.jpg

The Champcars of near and the roadsters of old were the fastest, baddest ass cars of their time. By definition. Competition demanded it.

Today's Dallara's is not, and by choice is much less than even today's financial times require.

[ferrarigod]

P.S., I was going to take my boat down but the trackside slips are between $7000 to $13000 for the weekend. Now who the hell pays $13000 for a weekend at an IRL race?


:yuck: :yuck:

what kinda boat you got, and where does it usually stay?

[Sean Malone]

what kinda boat you got, and where does it usually stay?

The kind that floats and it usually stays where I park it. Usually. ;)

[dando]

The kind that floats and it usually stays where I park it. Usually. ;)

Aw c'mon, post that pic of yer boat and ol' lady again. :)

-Kevin

[Ankf00]

there was a race this weekend? who knew?

[meadors]

Perhaps Paul was blocked by Mike Lanigan's shirt-busting girth all weekend?

http://www.motorsport.com/photos/indycar/2008/sp/indycar-2008-sp-lb-0376.jpg

Where'd they drag up the old foto of Cristian Fittipaldi?:gomer:

[emjaya]

Looks like somebody ate all the chocolate and left poor Graham with a bunch of plastic grass.

At least Graham has a trophy he can put on display somewhere, unlike the boombox Dixon got from Homestead.

[ferrarigod]

The kind that floats and it usually stays where I park it. Usually. ;)

thats mean. inquiring minds want to know. i hope its better than spickies lake trash mobile.

[extramundane]

thats mean. inquiring minds want to know. i hope its better than spickies lake trash mobile.

Well duh. Indeeyanner ain't exactly the hotbed of watersports.


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