Memorial Day Salute
Indy 500 Threatened by Storms
The forecast is not looking good for the Indianapolis 500 this coming weekend.
Karl Schneider of the Indianapolis Star reported Thursday morning the National Weather Service, Weather Underground and AccuWeather all are predicting 80 percent or greater chances of rain, including thunderstorms, for Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
How would rain affect the race? Scott Horner, in another Star article, compiled a very informative Q&A with three important facts:
- While the full race is 200-laps on a 2.5-mile oval, the race can be declared official after 101 laps.
- It can take between 90 minutes and 3 hours to dry the track once rain ceases, depending on variables like sunshine and humidity.
- The Indy 500 has been shortened or postponed 12 times in 107 races.
If you review the starting grid on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway website, you will see that Team Penske (Scott McLaughlin, Will Power and Josef Newgarden) took the entire front row during qualifying and Chevrolet secured the top eight positions. Felix Rosenqvist will start on the outside of Row 3 (9th) in the fastest qualifying Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. Curt Cavin, a former Star sportswriter now working for NTT IndyCar Series, reports that fast qualifying times don't necessarily translate to victory, however, as 10 of the last 13 winners have come from behind the front row and six were actually double-digit qualifiers.
The focus is now three pronged: getting to Indy, getting some Sunday sunshine and getting to see a good race.
Pacers Lose Game 1, but It Wasn't the Focus
The Boston Celtics beat the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals Tuesday, but the HOTPO staff was taking a break from the rigors of covering this intense playoff run.
Tuesday night was spent at a concert instead of watching basketball.
The band Lucero was playing the Birchmere in Alexandria, Va. It was a can't miss event. It was worth the midweek effort.
The Birchmere is a classic musical hall seated entirely with tables. Since every event is general admission, you arrive early, get a table and put in a dinner order to their full-service kitchen and bar. Attendees are generally older and more reserved at the Birchmere, but Lucero definitely brought out a slightly livelier crowd.
The unique Birchmere set up and chill vibe, led to a lot of interaction between frontman Ben Nichols and the crowd. Lucero played an energetic set with a modified encore since the Birchmere shuts down the music by 10pm on weeknights. The older I get, the more appreciative I am of the 10pm end time, and this time, it allowed us to get home for the disappointing end of the Pacer loss.
I know I will see the Pacers play again soon and sure do I hope I see Lucero play again soon, but we need to see the sun in Indy this weekend more than anything else.
The Close Out: No matter what is happening in sports this weekend, recognizing Memorial Day appropriately is the top item of the weekend.
"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God such men lived."
- U.S. Army Gen. George S. Patton
Comments
Post a Comment