May is an important month in Indianapolis. On most any day this month, if you head over to 16th Street and Georgetown Road, you will hear what sounds like several jets involved in some sort of dog fight. The sound you hear is emanating from the two-and-a-half mile racetrack known as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
I spent last friday at the speedway watching cars travel over 200 miles per hour...
The day started with the obligatory tour of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.
As you may know, or will find out by reading my blog, I am a fan of classic motorcycles. This being the case, I was extremely excited to see this beautiful Manx Norton.
The Manx was a race bike that was built by the Norton company between 1932 and 1962. This single cylinder, 500cc engine outperformed many of the larger twin cylinder bikes of the time. Its chassis is made up of what is called a "featherbed" frame and roadholder forks. The featherbed frame was the best handling frame of the era. Combined with the roadholders and the powerful manx engine, the bike was unapproachable on the racetrack. This led to the nick name "Unapproachable Norton."
The Triton that I am building is based on this bike. It will have the Norton featherbed frame and roadholder forks, but the power source will be a Triumph engine. The finished bike will look have a similar style but with a few custom touches.
This car was the 1962 Indianapolis 500 winner. It was driven by Rodger Ward and reached race speeds of over 140 miles per hour.
Check out those pipes!
This car just looks fast...
...and mean.
It was a beautiful day to be at the track. The sun was shining and it wasn't too hot: A great day for racing. The wind started to pick up later in the afternoon but the breeze felt good.
Indy car driver #11 Tony Kanaan gets ready for a spin around the track.
Mario Moraes - KV Racing
Helio Castroneves discusses the finer points of racing with his crew.
Tomas Scheckter - Dale Coyne Racing
Another shot of Scheckter.
Mike Conway - Dreyer & Reinbold
Ryan Hunter-Reay - Vision Racing
Mario Moraes again.
Oriol Serva - Rahal Letterman Racing
Alex "Pink Lloyd" - Chip Ganassi & Sam Schmidt Motorsports
I've seen this guy in past years at the speedway. He always looks so bored.
Michael Andretti stood by the fence and signed autographs for several minutes before speeding away in his golf cart. Something must have stunk. I don't think it was Michael.
Tomas Scheckter getting out of his car...
...getting ready to rob a bank.
This concludes my trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I'm not going to the race this year but if anybody is interested, I have a friend with an extra ticket. He would appreciate someone taking it off his hands.
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