Shuffling Off To… Indianapolis?
Indianapolis is a funny place, to me. I both really like it and really dislike it. There’s a lot to like about Indy; the city had a very comfortable feel to it, the Speedway is deservedly world famous, The Fairgrounds are very pretty and immediately make me think of prize horses, cows and pigs, I can see families enjoying themselves while looking at blue ribbon quilts and other neat things. I see barkers selling all kinds of items from fried dough to Pork sandwiches to ears of corn; brought in by the truckload, fresh from the farm and dipped in melted butter. Back when the Indy Mile was held during the State Fair, I spent the day checking out the Fair, and the night watching motorcycles tearing around the track.
However, there’s a bit of negative to Indy, as well. There seems to be a fairly large criminal element. and greed seems to be more blatant than at other places I’ve been to. Every time I start to really like Indy, something happens that turns me off to the place.
I got to the Fairgrounds yesterday afternoon. The woman at the gate told me it was $5.00 to park. I told her that I wanted to Camp and she waived the parking fee and told me where to go for camping. The tent camping area was pathetic; it was all broken up asphalt, concrete and rocks with some clover growing where it could. I had to move my tent over because I couldn’t get the stakes into the ground. For “Facilities”, there was a pink Port-o-can of the type you see on construction sites. I figured, “What the hell; I’ve camped in worse places” so I finished setting up the tent and rode over to the Grandstand to watch Practice and Qualifying. There was a much better food selection than at Du Quoin. I got a corn dog and went and found my seat. A week of rain followed by a hot sunny day made prepping the track difficult, but eventually, it was deemed ready to race on, and the bikes came out. When the first group came down the front straight for the first time, they raised so much dust that it was like being in a real “Pea soup” fog. I couldn’t see anything. After a few laps, though the dust settled down and things got better. The maintenance crew went out between sessions and added water which helped keep the dust down, and the track got less dusty and became faster, as well. I watched all the practice and qualifying sessions, then took a break to walk the parking lot and check out the bikes. I saw the usual majority of Harleys, but there were some interesting bikes of other brands, as well. There were a few Ducatis, one neat old loop frame Moto Guzzi, several newer Triumphs and an assortment of Japanese Harley clones. I even saw two Buells; a Blast and a Ulysses that was parked with an EBR 1190 RX. Among the Harleys, there were only a very few Sportsters, which I found interesting. Another thing I found interesting was the lack of older Harleys. There were a few Shovelheads, but no Panheads, Knuckleheads or Flatheads. I guess they’ve gotten too rare to ride to some mundane event, like the Mile.
The racing was excellent, and they ran an abbreviated program; as the National Weather Service was predicting rain. They wanted to get the National in, so they ran the races in the order of Importance. There were only three heat races for the Experts, with no semis. Then they ran two heats for the GNC2 class, then the Expert Main followed by the GNC2 Main then, if the rain held off, the Dash for Cash. There were a few Red flags during the Main for crashes. It almost felt like they were tempting Mother Nature to cause them to cancel the race, but the rain held off and the race was another barn burner with a finish that was only a few thousandths of a second between the first three places. This time, Brad Baker won with Brian Smith second and Jared Mees third. I watched the GNC2 race, which was another close finish and they even got to run the dash for cash, which Smith won. Once again, the Weather Service performed up to their usual level of accuracy.
I want back to my Tent and almost retired for the night. I was just drifting off to sleep when an official from the Fairgrounds woke me wanting twenty bucks for camping. Why is it that the crappiest campgrounds want the most money to pitch a tent? No showers, no decent restrooms, not even a picnic table to sit at, nor a place for a campfire. There wasn’t even any Senior discount available. Maybe they’re trying to discourage tent camping. If I’d known how bad the Thunderstorms were going to be, I would have gotten a room at that motel I’d seen for $49.00/night. The extra thirty bucks would have been money well spent.
The Thunderstorms. I was awakened at 1:00 AM by a Huge crack of thunder, followed shortly by a patter of rain that turned into a very loud tattoo of a pounding deluge accompanied by lots of very bright flashes of lightning and booming thunder. Every time I thought it was starting to slack off, the rain would increase in intensity, and the lightning and thunder would increase in frequency. My tent, as usual leaked like a sieve, and I was soaked, along with everything else in the tent. The thunderstorms eventually ended around 4:00 AM. I slept until 5:30, and I was thinking I should get up when the rain started again. Fortunately this time, there was no thunder and the rain only lasted about ten minutes. I got up about 6:00, packed up all my soggy gear and rolled out of there by 7:00.
So once again, I’m sitting in a McDonald’s drinking my third free refill of Senior coffee ($0.69) while drying out and typing this. Now I think it’s time to meander off to Buffalo and see Don and go to the Dinosaur for BBQ.
