The Racing Capital of the World

Living in Indianapolis, it would be wrong for me to have a sports blog and not mention or go to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As shown earlier in the year, I go to the Indy 500 rather frequently, but it has been a long, long time since I have been to the IMS Hall of Fame Museum. So, on a Sunday afternoon with nothing to do, my Father suggested, "let's go to the IMS Museum." And what a great idea it was!

Here are the pictures of our little trip through the History of Speed:

Really classy tickets to the Museum. I really like how there's not a bar code or any other garbage. Real clean look.

Beautiful day! Outside the Museum - notice the flags are the different flags used for the race. Checkered Flag is in the middle.

My lovely Mother and me - clearly happy to be here!

View from the steps of the Museum - You can see the stands, which are on the other side of the track. 

A re-creation of a 1950s garage at the Speedway. It's incredibly accurate - right down to the soda bottles in the upper right.

Ray Harroun's car - The Marmon Wasp. Winner of the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911.

Wilbur Shaw's Maserati - winner of the 1940 Indy 500. 

Portrait of 2-time winner Emerson Fittipaldi. He's famous for drinking OJ instead of the traditional Milk after winning in 1989. Public backlash ensued and he made sure to drink the Milk after winning again in 1993.

A.J. Foyt's winning car for the 1961 race. This was Foyt's first win of his record 4 victories. 

The Borg-Warner Trophy. The prize for winning the 500 is getting your face on this guy.

Mario Andretti's winning car from 1969. This was his only win despite his legendary status at Indy.

1991 Winning Car  - the win was Rick Mears' 4th, tying Foyt's record for most wins.

View from the stands between turns 1 and 2. You can see the Pagoda on the right side of the picture. This is the general direction of our seats for the race. 

It was a great day of racing history. Always love going to the track. Thanks for looking and hopefully I'll be back in May to see the 96st running of the Indianapolis 500.

Summer Day at Wrigley

This past weekend I traveled up I-65 to the North Side of Chicago to see the Cubs play the Cincinnati Reds. It was a perfect Saturday for Baseball. It was sunny, mid 80s, with a slight breeze coming off Lake Michigan. A small rain shower early in the morning really helped in cooling everything down.

The game itself was fantastic (at least for a Cubs fan). The bats were hot as both teams combined for 15 runs with the Cubs winning 11-4. In a disappointing year for Cubs fans, this was a wonderful day. After a win like that, it didn't matter that we were 15 games back and practically eliminated from playoff contention.
Carlos Zambrano had a great game, getting the Win, striking out 6, and hitting a monster Home Run in the 3rd inning. Every Cubs starter, except for Marlin Byrd, had at least 1 hit with youngster Starlin Castro picking up 4 RBIs. Over all a great game of ball.

Here are the pictures I took:

Up in the upper deck, but still a great view of the field and the Scoreboard.

View of the infield - Beam and all.

The Cubs at bat - I believe that's Alfonso Soriano at the plate.

A Closer view of the Scoreboard welcoming us to the Friendly confines.

Across the street - The World Series Counter and Eamus Catuli signs. The counter is on: AC0265102 - That is After Championship, 02 (years since winning the division-2008), 65 (years since winning the pennant-1945), and 102 (years since winning the World Series-1908). Eamus Catuli is Latin for 'Let's go Cubs!" although it literally translates to "Let's go Young Bears!" - same thing, right?

The Cubs have the bases loaded! 

Cubs Owner Tom Ricketts talking with fans. He was hanging out near our section for about 20 minutes. 

Game Over! Final score: Red-4, Cubs-11

After every Cubs win, they play Go Cubs Go over the speakers at Wrigley. They show the words up on the Scoreboard so everyone can sing along. This is part of the Chorus: Go Cubs Go, Go Cubs Go, Hey Chicago What'd you say, The Cubs are gonna win today.

The W flag flying proudly. 

So there you go. It was a great trip and a great time with friends. I can't wait to go back sometime. Probably next year because next year is going to be the year!