INDY 2007

Yeah...I know...it's been a while. But I've been a busy wittle boy so you'll have to excuse me. But I'm back now and that's what counts.

Today I bring you some stuff from this year's Indianapolis 500, which I managed to get a good credential for this year. As you can see by this first picture there were throngs of people despite an early rain that threatened to make a wash of the whole thing. But you have to remember something about Indiana. If you don't like the weather just wait a few minutes and everything will change. And that's exactly what happened on this day....all day long.

First I'm going to bring you stuff from before the race as there's a lot that goes on during that time. I must say however that when I saw this I definitely had to get a picture of it. I don't know who the guy was or even which team he was supporting but when I saw the placement of the tattoo and how the leg was positioned with the wheel it was definitely a Kodak moment. If you look close you can see the girl looking around the side of the tire. It was one of those things that nobody else seemed to notice until they saw me taking pictures of it. There was so much realism in her face that you could really believe she was looking at you from around the side of the Firestone Firehawk.

Need tires??? Or need you tires changed??? I'm very sure this guy could get the job done in a hurry. This crewman moved these things around like they were little toys. Each pit stall had several sets of the Firehawks and the crews were working feverishly to get things set up. With the threat of more rain during the day they had to push things a little more than normal. They also had to wind their way through the hundreds of people walking pit lane as well, which made it more difficult to work. Some of the safety workers did their best to make some holes for the crews to get through and it was a high stress situation for everyone involved. But the job got done and despite a few threats that they would be moved one way or other everybody seemed to be happy in the end.

Of all the pictures I took that day I think this one is my favorite. As soon as I saw this crewman for one of the Honda teams holding these air wrenches the way he was I knew it was one of those pictures you just had to have. One thing I know for sure about it. If anybody needed their ears cleaned out this was definitely the guy to get the job done. As soon as I started snapping everybody began to see what I was seeing and even stopped for me to get the shot. I thought that was just really cool, and the whole thing lasted only a few seconds.

But now it's getting closer to the time to get some business done. This flyover by by F-22 Raptors announced that it was time to fire up some engines and really get things going. (Sorry the picture isn't better but that's how it goes sometimes.) The songs have been sung, the bands have played, the cars are on the track and the drivers are in them with heart rates pegged out at about 180. Let's fire some engines.