(19) 2009 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race

Last Sunday was the 97th running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, on the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With a 30 percent chance of isolated thundershowers, we were hoping for the best as we loaded up in the Subaru sunday morning. Traffic was abnormally backed up compared to other races I've attended. It took over an hour to get from the interstate offramp to a $5 parking spot about 5 blocks from the track.

We made our way through the herd of people and got through the main gates and into our seats. We made it just barely in time for the starting ceremonies. The race was shortly underway, and we watched as we listened to the radio broadcast on 97.1 Hank FM. The racing action wasn't as exhilirating as previous years, although there were a few good wrecks. Unfortunately there was no 3-wide racing incidents as the pack pretty much stayed single file. Another major bummer was the addition of new mufflers for the 2009 season. The cars were not nearly as loud as they used to be. I really miss the roaring of the engines that you could feel throughout your body. I had come prepared with earmuff style hearing protection, as I've learned from the past there was no way one could hear their headphones with the loud cars, even with the volume turned up all the way. Well that was not the case this year. The earmuffs were not even used, and I could hear my radio just fine at a normal volume level. That is plain boring! The cars are just too quiet in my opinion.

We had a good time watching the race, and the weather kept nice for a full 200 laps. Can't wait to go again next year, but I'm a little disheartened that its just not quite as exhilirating as it used to be. Congrats to Helio Castroneves for his 3rd Indy 500 win.

Be sure to check out the slideshow to the right, and this cool video below.



Until next time...