The Hottest Race in the History of the Indy 500

Seriously, Mother Nature??? You had to go and get all super stinkin' hot the day I'm going to outside baking in the sun next to diamond-grinded asphalt while 30-some tons of metal race by spewing gas fumes?? Really???

They took a moment to announce that the temperature had hit a high so that it really truly was the hottest race in the history of the Indy 500.  You have got to be kidding me!

Actually it wasn't too bad.  We had coolers full of ice and we used that to cool ourselves off.  Plus I used any excuse to go to the bathroom.  Oh you have to go to the bathroom? I'll go too.  Oh you have to go now too? I'll go again.  Anything to spend a few more moments in the shade.  WOW.  HOT!  But I survived. 

So on to the pictures...

Every year we go to the Keele's residence for the race pre-party.  There is food, fun, and an annual beer pong tournament.

Here is our annual bracket on the chalkboard.  Katie and I played together.  I have to say that I'm really really bad when playing sober.  Not that I'm any good after drinking but I was especially bad this night.  Katie really held it together for us.  It came down to 1 cup per team.  But they won out and we went on with our lives.

Andrew and Travis made it through a few rounds (they were the 08 Champions, by the way).  But they were knocked out by some college kids.  Imagine that!  Then they said that there should be a rule that at least 3 cups should be added if you are still in college.  I laughed and said, "You guys are old."  HAHA!

The game is set up on the ping pong table and we had two games going at once.  I love how Andrew is the only person looking in this picture.

The next day we load up our vehicles and head down to Speedway for the race. On the way, we stop by Kroger to pick our lunches.  We decided to run in for a few things and saw this in the aisle.

Suncare... you've got your dark tanning oils, your tanning sprays... and oh yeah, Mustard.

Then we park at a friend's house in Speedway and do a little tailgating before we walk to the track.

We have quite a large group.  But this tradition is 20 years in the making.  The second generation is now filling in the tradition of going to the race year after year.  It's really a cool thing. 

This is a picture of all the gals at the race.  We're not so sweaty just yet.  This was when we first got there. 

Katie and I, before we got too hot.

This is Travis's dad Kevin holding up his homemade sign until we got Jack Nicholson's attention.  We waited until the music died down and then we screamed, "JAAAACCCKKK!"  He finally turned to our side and looked and waved!

SWEET!! Jack Nicholson was there to wave the green flag, which he was having a really good time doing.

See the guy in the yellow shirt? He looks to be the same age or possibly older than Jack.  Well HE climbed the ladder up there.  Did Jack Nicholson climb the ladder??

Hell no! He's Jack Nicholson.  He's going to have a machine lift him up there and bring him down again.  But hey, good for him, right?

Here's Kevin and Joe wearing the official gloves, wearing headphones hooked into Race Control, and holding the yellow flags.  They are serious!

Every year as another tradition we draw names of drivers for $5.  Andrew drew Mike Conway and I drew Davey Hamilton.  Davey Hamilton was the first one to wreck and go out of the race so I got my $5 back.  Mike Conway... well you'll see what happens a little later. 

The race was fairly exciting. The ending could have been a really exciting finish because the front runners barely had enough gas to finish but Mike Conway got in a horrible wreck at the end of the race so they finished on a yellow flag.   Sad face.  But wow, I cannot believe he survived that wreck with only a broken leg.  Watch the replays at the link.  You can see people running for their lives when the car hits the fence and shatters into a million pieces.  Crazy!

The really sad thing is Mike Conway lead the race for several laps at the end.

So on to the winner...

Dario Franchitti won the race.  This is his crew sprinting toward the finish line.

Here is Ashley Judd sprinting toward the finish line to see her husband with no shoes on!!! What is wrong with this woman?? Oh yeah, she's thinking, "Yay, NO MORE MOVIES!!"

This is Dario, Ashley, and the team owner doing their victory lap.

Here's our victory toast.

Here's Jack Nicholson getting the hell out of town as soon as the race was over.

The next few pictures are some of the "sights" you can see at the Indy 500.   

This guy came straight from a wedding and forgot to change his shoes and socks. 

This man had the skinniest hips I've ever seen.

This man craftily put the tower and tiny race cars on the top of his hat. 

Don't forget the matching shoes!

You can see many many people eating a giant turkey leg at the race.  Mmmmm hot turkey leg on the hottest day of the year.  Gross.

Andrew spotted Summer Santa and had a nice conversation. 

Did we spot any celebrities besides Jack Nicholson??

Well I hoped I did.  But when I was able to see this picture on the computer screen I realized this is not Kim Kardashian.  I really hoped it was.  It fooled me.  But she was wearing jeans and a Quick Trim racing jersey that day.  (Side note: Much to the dismay of one of the people in our group, the Quick Trim product is not for bikini area grooming.  But that struck me as extremely funny.)  But darn, I really want to see a Kardashian!

Other traditions in our Indy 500 adventures---

The random phone shot:
For some reason, in 2008 I made Andrew pose with some random phone we found near the bathrooms.

So when we came across the same phone, I made him do it again in 2010.

Only this time, the security guards came up and said, "Are you using that phone?"  Andrew said, "No."  They said, "Good, because we need to use it."   Estoy embarrassada! (Haha! Spanish joke!)

I started looking through my old Indy 500 pictures and I have a lot of repeats, or year to year traditions besides the phone pictures.  I won't bore you with those.

The new tradition now is who is going to be pregnant each year.  Katie was pregnant last year and it was my turn this year.  Who's next?

But besides the extreme heat, we cannot ask for a better way to celebrate our anniversary year after year.