In the real world, Memorial Day weekend is a time to remember the sacrifices made by our military over the history of this country. That’s as it should be. In the sports world, it’s a time to sit back, relax, and potentially watch up to 1100 miles worth of racing in Indianapolis and Charlotte. Though, if you were able to relax during both of Sunday’s events, I don’t see how anything could excite you.
Starting with Indianapolis. The Indy 500 has lost some of its luster over the past 10-15 years. Hurt by the split in the series between IRL and CART, along with the rapid rise of NASCAR, Indy was fading into total irrelevancy. However, the race has gotten a bit more exposure lately, mainly thanks to the popularity of Danica Patrick. Yesterday’s race was a stunner before it started, because for once, it didn’t rain. I don’t have the statistics, but I’m pretty sure that it had rained 34 years in a row at Indy, and it was weird watching the race without any weather delays.
To the actual race itself. Congratulations to Scott Dixon (whoever that is) on winning the race. It’s a great feat, though nobody will remember his name by next week. That’s because all the talk will center around Danica taking off her gloves and marching down pit road, ready to throw down with Ryan Briscoe after he clipped her on pit road, ending her day about 30 laps from the finish. It’s been quite a month for the female fireball. She won her first race in Japan, nearly killed a crew member in the pits two weeks ago, and now came within a few feet of trying to slug someone. Girl’s got spunk. Some people hate spunk, but even they are probably more inclined to watch IndyCar racing with those shenanigans going on.
As wild as the day at Indy was, the night at Charlotte was even wilder. Congratulations to Kasey Kahne on capturing the Coca Cola 600, one week after winning the All-Star race. Like Scott Dixon, though, nobody will remember that Kahne won the race. They’ll remember the chaos that led up to it. Two drivers that led earlier in the race crashed. Dale Earnhardt Jr wrecked for no reason whatsoever, extending his winless streak to 74 races. Kurt Busch blew a tire and wrecked while running 2nd. But the real story was Tony Stewart blowing a tire himself. “Smoke” was 5 seconds in front of Kahne with 3 laps left when his right front went flat. Stewart finished 18th, then stormed off the track without speaking to reporters. Not commenting was good news for Stewart, who almost certainly would have been fined had he opened his mouth, and good news for Goodyear, which has been on the receiving end of a few of Stewart’s tirades already this year. Back in March, Stewart said “Goodyear can’t build a tire that’s worth a crap.” After Sunday’s race, I can’t imagine what he would’ve said, but it wouldn’t have been pretty.
Just another wild Memorial Day on the track. The winners were forgettable, but the action was as memorable as it gets.
