Top 5 Most Remarkable Indy 500 Pace Cars

VROOOM

Enormous Scalextrics passed down from me & my brothers, to my son, to my nephews- we've got miles of track & treasured home-made scenery. It's set up in my sister's basement at the moment & will get passed on to the younger generation in due course.

If  we  make  Indy  500  a  soap  box  racer  track,   we  could  be  environmentally  friendly,  and  have  just  as  much  fun.    The  Brickyard  is  great  to  experience....once.    Seems  that  many  come  with  the  morbid  desire  to  see  accidents,  the  bread  &  circuses  mentality  of  ancient  Rome,   keep  the  common  folk  distracted  so  they  don't  revolt.

With names like Dario Franchitti & Helio Castroneves & Power, this has to be a thrilling sport. Love the cars and love one of the best restaurants in the world. St Elmo Steak House, an Indianapolis landmark. Having a race with European flair in the heartland has all the makings of a John Mellencamp song., another Indiana native who will release soon, No Better Than This "recorded over the course of a few break days
afforded Mellencamp when he was on a tour of minor league ball parks last year,
sharing the bill with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. The album was recorded on
vintage equipment – a 55 year-old Ampex tape recorder with just one microphone
-- in Savannah at the First African Baptist Church, in Memphis at Sun Studios
and in San Antonio in room 414 of the Gunter Hotel." American traditions hold us together as a culture, be it sport, music, food, & long weekends. 

BERT... please tell me that you're kidding????? About the environmentally correct thing. You're kidding, right? Right.........
 
I would love to go one time. My husband loves Formula 1 racing. I will be racing to town to get the Sunday Times.....
 
VIVA Fernando Alonso!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bebe~ Sunday Times? You need a wheelbarrow to get the thing home.
 
Did any of you recycle your little brother's sisiter's prams & pushchairs -especaially the ones with ball-bearing racers in the wheels to make Go-Karts that would give 'elf'n safety apoplexy? I don't think my knees & elbows saw the light of day for years, they were always covered in Elastoplast.
I'd really rather attend a demolition derby with the local kids having fun- you still get the aroma of RedX & all the thrills & spills. I suspect that big-time motor racing is just another front for big time money manipulation.

Bert~ I think you are right about the gladitorial, blood & guts aspect of the motivation of people to attend sports events. I was talking to a group of young football (soccer?) fans recently who said they go to the match for the fight afterwards & if you don't come home with your shirt covered in blood, you haven't had a a good night out. The daft thing is that their dress code is really "cool" expensive clothes! In gentler times, people took a trip to the seaside on Bank Holidays, which puts me in mind of the first verse of a poem I have half forgotten:
 
There's a famous seaside town named Blackpool
That's noted for fresh air & fun
& Mr & Mrs Ramsbottom went there,
with young Albert, their son.
They didn't think much of the ocean,
The waves was all tiddlin' & small
There was no wrecks nobody drownded,
'Fact nothing to laugh at at all.
 
If any of you Internet whizzes can track down that poem- Albert ends up by being eaten by a lion in the zoo, having prodded the lion with a "Stick with a 'orses 'ed 'andle, the finest that Woolworth's could sell"- I'd love to find the words again. I used to read that to kids before a painting class & got some brilliant work from them.

Bert,

 I'm already" revolted".

Hazel: Try this . . . www.emule.com/2poetry/phorum/read.php?7,154740

Hazel: Sorry, I just checked that and it doesn't want to work. However, I entered "poem", "ramsbottom" and "zoo" and I found the poem quickly. Cute poem. By the way, I love your daily comments! I don't often speak up but I'm here every day and enjoy all the conversations.

 
Once, in the fifties, I attended a stock car race at the Milwaukee Mile which, now that I think about it, was/is located in West Allis, Wi.

It was hot, noisy and required trust in others at all times to know who was who and who was where. 

Long before the finish, it was clear that it was an experience unlikely to be repeated.

Beebs~

The Times: for years an odd but likable man stood outside a bank downtown often in weather many of you have never experienced (-25°) and sold it, the Trib and more.

I felt bad when it became cheaper, by hundreds of dollars a year to read it online and pay for the downloadable crosswords. Then, he died and rather young.

Houghton, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula, is home to the highly regarded Michigan Tech and remarkable as well for about nineteen feet of lake effect snow each winter.

Traveling through with friends, we spotted a Bookland bookstore where I was pretty sure I could score the Sunday paper.

My request was met with a blank stare by the clerk who first, hadn't heard of it and second, reckoned that the solution might be to go to New York.

He wondered if my silence weren't a failed search for a snappy comeback.

"No," I mumbled, "I was just trying to imagine a bookstore employee template into which you would fit."

"I am," he proudly announced, "third best employee every month in register errors."

"Well, there is then," I pretended to understand while wondering if there were more than three persons working there and why any register errors would be tolerated.



 

 

Albert and the Lion by Marriott Edgar
There's a famous seaside place called Blackpool,
That's noted for fresh air and fun,
And Mr and Mrs Ramsbottom
Went there with young Albert, their son.

A grand little lad was young Albert,
All dressed in his best; quite a swell
With a stick with an 'orse's 'ead 'andle,
The finest that Woolworth's could sell.

They didn't think much of the Ocean:
The waves, they were fiddlin' and small,
There was no wrecks and nobody drownded,
Fact, nothing to laugh at at all.

So, seeking for further amusement,
They paid and went into the Zoo,
Where they'd Lions and Tigers and Camels,
And old ale and sandwiches too.

There were one great big Lion called Wallace;
His nose were all covered with scars -
He lay in a somnolent posture,
With the side of his face on the bars.

Now Albert had heard about Lions,
How they was ferocious and wild -
To see Wallace lying so peaceful,
Well, it didn't seem right to the child.

So straightway the brave little feller,
Not showing a morsel of fear,
Took his stick with its 'orse's 'ead 'andle
And pushed it in Wallace's ear.

You could see that the Lion didn't like it,
For giving a kind of a roll,
He pulled Albert inside the cage with 'im,
And swallowed the little lad 'ole.

Then Pa, who had seen the occurrence,
And didn't know what to do next,
Said 'Mother! Yon Lion's 'et Albert',
And Mother said 'Well, I am vexed!'

Then Mr and Mrs Ramsbottom -
Quite rightly, when all's said and done -
Complained to the Animal Keeper,
That the Lion had eaten their son.

The keeper was quite nice about it;
He said 'What a nasty mishap.
Are you sure that it's your boy he's eaten?'
Pa said "Am I sure? There's his cap!'

The manager had to be sent for.
He came and he said 'What's to do?'
Pa said 'Yon Lion's 'et Albert,
'And 'im in his Sunday clothes, too.'

Then Mother said, 'Right's right, young feller;
I think it's a shame and a sin,
For a lion to go and eat Albert,
And after we've paid to come in.'

The manager wanted no trouble,
He took out his purse right away,
Saying 'How much to settle the matter?'
And Pa said "What do you usually pay?'

But Mother had turned a bit awkward
When she thought where her Albert had gone.
She said 'No! someone's got to be summonsed' -
So that was decided upon.

Then off they went to the P'lice Station,
In front of the Magistrate chap;
They told 'im what happened to Albert,
And proved it by showing his cap.

The Magistrate gave his opinion
That no one was really to blame
And he said that he hoped the Ramsbottoms
Would have further sons to their name.

At that Mother got proper blazing,
'And thank you, sir, kindly,' said she.
'What waste all our lives raising children
To feed ruddy Lions? Not me!'
    Email This Poem to a Friend

One of our favorite stories was of the GrandMotherly lady,proudly walking with her grandson along the beach.   Suddenly, a giant wave came and washed the young lad out to sea.  "OHH"  said the startled lady, "OHH,OHH,OHH" she wailed, louder,and louder, and over and over, imploring to the Lord "HOW COULD YOU DO SUCH A THING?   OHH, OHH OHH"  She wailed on and on,louder and louder, for what seemed an eternity.....   Suddenly, the waves parted,and with a gentle gush, the lad was returned,hardly a hair on his head disturbed. The Lord,it seemed could no longer take the terrible wailing,and wanted eternal peace....   .   The GrandMother,looked to the heavens and said      "HE HAD A HAT!"

 Yay, Roady!     Now we're cooking with gas!

www.poemhunter.com has several "Albert" poems and other funny subjects by Marriott Edgar.

Memories..... The highlight of my youth was Memorial Day Weekend and the annual 'Tour of Somerville' bicycle race.  With our primitive transistor radios we'd stand along Main Street watching the bicyclists whiz by again and again (getting sunburnt!) and listen to the going-on's at 'The Indy'.  Memorial Day weekend marked the final stretch for 'summer vacation' which (in those days) actually started on June 20th or 21st, the first day of summer.  The inspiration behind 'the tour' was a crusty old codger named 'Pop Kugler'.  Wanna know more?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_of_Somerville

Oh, and another link.... http://www.tourofsomerville.org/news.html

I've only been to one road race, a couple of oval track races, and a figure 8 demolition derby. I have to admit the demolition derby was the most fun. Otherwise you just wait to see a car flash by for a few seconds. My hat's off to real fans.
 
My fave old cars are the Sunbeam Tiger with the Ford 260 ( got to drive one as a teen-for about an hour. You couldn't get out of second gear between the lights), and the original AC (Shelby) Cobras. I got a ride in a 427 and never forgot it. I also love the Corvette with the quad lamps in front (I think there were 4 tail lights too.) My new raves are for the Veyron, BMW M5 and M6, Audi R8, and a few others that I'll never be able to afford. (Watch "Top Gear" on BBCA!) Back on Earth, I'm very happy with my trusty, never have had a mechanical problem with it, 1999 Chrysler Sebring convertible (sorry, ragtop.)

HAZEL.... Not only a wheelbarrow, but a bank loan! In this new economy we all have the thing or things we can't /won't give up. This is one of them.........
 
Stoney..... I laughed out loud....... So, did you go to NY for your paper? Bwaaaaaahahahaha.....
 
MISS BLUE..... homerun comment!

When I was a cubscout, in full uniform,standing alongside my father in full dress uniform,at the cemetary,where the VFW was giving the real 21 gun salute for their fallen, I still remember the silence after the shots were fired.  My ears still reverberating. I would stoop to pick up the spent shell casings,still hot to the touch. The smell of gunpowder smoke.   The men there were not jolly,not at all like other events in the year.   I dressed in my cubscout uniform because it was all I could do to imitate the reverence of my Dad, in his Screamin' Eagle patched dress uniform.   Dad was a Purple Heart Vet, a Paratrooper,at the Bulge.There are car races all year,but Memorial day,those memories are reserved .....

When I was a cubscout, in full uniform,standing alongside my father in full dress uniform,at the cemetary,where the VFW was giving the real 21 gun salute for their fallen, I still remember the silence after the shots were fired.  My ears still reverberating. I would stoop to pick up the spent shell casings,still hot to the touch. The smell of gunpowder smoke.   The men there were not jolly,not at all like other events in the year.   I dressed in my cubscout uniform because it was all I could do to imitate the reverence of my Dad, in his Screamin' Eagle patched dress uniform.   Dad was a Purple Heart Vet, a Paratrooper,at the Bulge.There are car races all year,but Memorial day,those memories are reserved .....

Well said, RoadYacht.  I had my preschoolers make cards that they painstakingly printed "Thank You" on to send overseas.  (A coworker's boyfriend in the military knows firsthand how to get them out to people.)  And we spent all week talking about thanking, honoring and respecting those who keep us safe and protect those who cannot protect themselves.  I asked them to bring pictures in of people in uniform and so they got some stories from grandpas and uncles which, I hope, will help them start making some connections.  

Thankyou, kind people, for finding Albert & the Lion for me. The sequel to this poem is the tale of Mr & Mrs Ramsbottom putting in an insurance claim on Albert.
Wallace, the lion was
 
"Sorry as soon as he'd done it,
for with children, he'd always been chums.
Besides, he'd no teeth in his noddle
& he couldn't chew Albert on gums."
 
Isn't it strange, the bits of stuff that are tucked away in your head & something like Peterman's Eye triggers a memory? BUT, who is going to tidy up after we got all the toys out of the box?
 

RY~ Must get myself an American calendar. It's just Whitsun Bank Holiday here, our Rememberance Day is in November. RESPECT to all who serve, in whatever capacity.

Bebe:   I  live  on  a  lake.   Sometimes  it  gets  boring,  doing  the expected  thing,  fishing  where  "everybody  who's  anybody"  knows  that  the  lunkers  can  be  found.   So  I  float  a  cast  onto  strange  lily  pads,   gently  tug  the  line  until  it  plunks  into  the  water,  like  a  small  frog  launching  into  the  water.   Ya  never  know  what'll  happen.   Same  with  the  "environmentally  correct"  comment.   Nothing  about  stock   car  racing  is  consistent  with  "being  green,"   unless  of  course  you  mean  the   color  your  face  gets,  if  the  wind's  not  pushing  the  exhaust  fumes  away  from  the  stands.  Kidding!
 
Miss  Blue:   I'm  making  a  careful  marginal  note  on  the  hard  drive  of  my  brain:  
                          "As  to  Miss  Blue,  for  30  May  2010,  she's  already  'been  there,  done  that,
                           bought  the  t-shirt' -  or  so  she  says,  but  beware,  she's  crafty!"

Stoney,  I once ran into a guy who wanted to know why anybody would read the New Yorker magazine if they didn't live there or plan on visiting soon.  But here is something important.  Agricultural surplus will soon be upon anybody who has or lives near a garden.  Today I am (already) awash in basil, having topped a bunch of plants that looked like they wanted to bloom.  Aside from pesto ( which is coming up soon) does anybody have suggestions for about a pound of fresh leaves?  Thanks, y'all,                               willie

Willie Trask~ Basil with very thin sliced layered tomato & onion, with a teeny bit of sugar, salt & oil on each layer. Refrigerate for a few hours. Great with garlic bread & cheeses.
Whizz up the rest in the blender with a drop of water, put the resulting sludge in an ice-cube tray & you have mini-zingy Basil cubes to add to salad dressings in the winter.

WILLIE TRASK:  Cut up into managable sized pieces, Basil leaves are great in a Salad, especially if one has a few Nasturtium Leaves to toss in with everything else ... or chop the leaves up to small bits and put it into Bread Dough ... A taste delight with lots of Butter on a fresh, warm slice ... and of course, there is always a proper pot of Red Gravy to put over Pasta or Rice, or to slather a Meatball Sandwich with, particularly if one prefers to eat open-faced sandwiches with a knife & fork ...

Every time I see basil, I think of Fawlty Towers

Bert~ Back to yesterday. You just transformed in my mind's eye to Jeremy Fisher.

Aaaaggggrrrrr! Me again, Willie, just pinch out the bits that are threatening to flower so the plants make more side-shoots.

Thanks, everybody.  I have maybe a dozen basil plants and they are thriving in amongst my tomatoes. I also have several dozen seedlings which aren't quite ready to transplant ( other varieties).  I gave away a lot of seedlings from that first wave and also have some in pots to either give away later or to coddle past  frost.                                                            I have never grown courgettes / zucchini, because I once worked for a man who had to carry a stick every time he went into his garden. The zooks were so big and plentiful that he was afraid of them.  I expect  I may run into the same thing with tomatoes, but that day is a month off, at least.   It puts me in mind, though, of people with kittens to give away, especially since everybody's tomatoes tend to ripen at the same time...

The local VA hospital has a 2-day long event on the Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day, where local Revolutionary and Civil War re-enacting groups set up their camps and the veterans who actually live on the campus give tours of the place and the national cemetery. We didn't go this year because of family commitments but when we went last year, my kids were very reverent and respectful as they listened to the old veteran's talking about serving their country and what it is like to see your friends make that final sacrifice so that liberty might be preserved.

We'll have to plan on going there again next year...

{I'm not into racing, so the Indy 500 is just another TV event to avoid for me.}

ROADYACHT:  A truly funny Show ... I was disappointed when it was cancelled over here ...

Willie!!!!!! Grow zucchini- the flowers (big yellow things) are great, deep-fried in batter made with fizzzy water & the zucchini, that you will have too many of, help out your tomatos that you have too many of & you can make gallons of ratattouie for the freezer that gives you a base for all sorts of meals- or just with pasta.

Hazel:   Jeremy  as  in  "Bullfrog"  Jeremy?  Beatrix  Potter?
 
Going  to  race  myself  on  the  12th  of  July,  a  rally  race,  timing  and  accuracy  regarding  designated  series  of  checkpoints  more  important  than  speed.   Nobody  gets  the  exact  route   early  enough  to  program  gps.   Charity  is  the  beneficiary,  Concours d  Elegance,  Cincinnati.   Mercifully  my  term  life  policy  is  paid  up  through  end  of  June,   and  this  cannot  quite  be  construed  as  a  form  of  suicide.   If  ir  rains,  I  swear  I'm  having  the  navigator  hold  an  umbrella,  I  won't  run  in  a  closed  car.  Last  time  I  did  this  it  was  in  Wisconsin,  somewhere  vaguely  near  Lake  Geneva,  the  car  was  a  pristeen  Le  Mans  red  1958  MGA......

Right hander?

Willie*** What a lovely "problem" to have.  I have the uncanny ability to either drown or destroy by slow thirst every plant that crosses my path. 

Bert~ Jeremy Beatrix Potter.
Really? Your'e going to rally race? Navigator holding brolly in event of rain is not a good idea- the co-efficient drag etc. OMG....  a red  1958 MGA.... maybe I'll turn you into Toad of Toad Hall. Poop poop!
 
RY~ Me being a tad dyslexic, my driving instructor had a felt-tip pen & wrote L & R on my wrists before we set out. I can only do right hand drive, manual. I can change gear, double de-clutch, laugh a lot on a skid-pan where people are saying "left, right" Automatic drive? No, horrible.

Formula One, aka Indy Cars, is real driving. Left and right turns of all angles combined with hairpins, make a race so fascinatingand fun to watch. Along side Grand Prix, it's the only true driving sports. However, I do enjoy my yearly pilgrimages to the dirt track and the demolition derby, south and east of here respectivley.

good day all! hope your having a happy sunday.  i'm a nascar fan. 

Willie, Best recipe for excess basil.  Take all excess basil (any quantity will do), place in a brown paper bag, add excess tomatoes, squash, zucchini and a pinch of covert ops.  Proceed to town square and look for first unlocked car.  Open door, place bag inside, close door and run.

Willie, if you can stand one more... Mix basil into grapefruit juice, add a little vodka. Pour over ice. Weird combination, but really nice!

Willie,  How lucky you are.  The snails have always eaten my basil in the garden...so I buy a plant at Trader Joe's and put in the window sill. I try to keep it thriving, but that black thumb of mine won't let it...so it's good for quite a while and then ppfffttt.  Here are some simple uses...basically the same 3 ingredients, though onions can be added.....stacks...layered slices of tomatoes, fresh mozzarella drizzled with olive oil and topped with basil...yummy....can also just toss together, Bruschetta...same thing on nice sour dough toast, fresh tomato and basil marinara sauce, Margarita pizza...which is topped with slices of fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil.  I've had some luck freezing fresh basil leaves. ...pulling a few out when needed for sauce.
 
Ivan, Fawlty Towers is on DVD... all 12 episodes.
 
Funny, I had a different take on Miss Blue's remark about being revolted. No nuance here to go by.
 
When I was young and careless, I drove my mom's Alpha Romeo up I-95 in the wee hours of the morning so there were no other cars..Wondering what it would feel like and since the dial had 140 on it, I floored it. I made it to 130 MPH before I came to my senses, which was pretty much instantantaneously at that speed, but I realized it was a completely stupid risk to take.... Last year, 40 plus years later I got my first speeding ticket....
 
Bert, racing yourself? hope you win.

zoom zoom
 
 
 
 
Hope ya'll are enjoying this lovely weekend!

Paolos, that's the best recipe for surplus vegetables I've ever seen! LOL!

I'm hoping to have excess basil this year... last year it didn't go so well.

Seacrets here in Ocean City has a great fireworks display at 9 pm tonight. They were terrific last year. Lucky for me I can see them from my condo and I don't have to go out on the highway and down to the club to watch. I can beat the crowd and have a great view.
Happy Memorial Day everyone.

KORTHAL...... I'm coming over w/ an appetizer & some wine to watch the fireworks w/ you!

When I lived in NC, a professional international-racing speedway was being built just across the line in Virginia. Over a period of months, the paving was complete but the park not yet finished, and there were no barriers to entry. I loved driving up there on weekends in my BMW and taking the car to maximum speed. In fact the only limitation on the fun was that there wasn't a fuel station close by.

Does this lyric seem eerily prophetic to anyone else:

Fixing a hole in the ocean,
trying to make a dove-tail joint, yeah,
looking through a glass onion.

Unfortunately, KSS, it sure does.  Eerily prophetic.
 

 
Karma~

I won't watch one more second of that Damn leak.

"Well here's another place you can go
Where everthing flows."

and flows and flows and....

I'm sure that somewhere someone has made a screen-saver out of footage from the spillcam. The footage sets off a sense of alarm in me in part because I am a gastroenterologist and it looks like a bleeding vessel in the stomach or esophagus. Scale an endoscope up to an appropriate size, and I bet I could stop it from spewing further. The pipes look exactly like bleeding varices, from which one can exsanguinate quickly.

Hazel leese:

Circa 1970, "Up the 'pool" was a catchy blues tune about Blackpool by Jethro Tull. It's the antepenultimate track on "Living in the Past." The lyrics are quite colloquial.

 
"Exsanguinate" Really? As long as one doesn't bleed to death or anything.

I'd feel a hell of a lot better if I thought you'd ever had to look this stuff up... like I do. 

  "antepenultimate"  ??  You're kidding, right?

I've been to two races.  The first was a greyhound (dog not the bus) race.  The second an Indy car race not in Atlanta.  I watched a few races and then picked a dog to wager on.  It came out of the gate fast, chasing the rabbit, and went into the first turn way ahead of the pack.  As it came out of the turn it fell, rolled over on its back and lay like a turtle with its legs flailing in the air.                                                                                                                                       I had some comp tickets to the Indy race for some work that we had done for the race team.  No wager this time, I learned my lesson with the dogs.  But I was naturally pulling for the team, I was a guest in their box.  Somewhere in the early laps of the race, the driver hit the wall and it was over for that race.  I think the race gods are asking me to stay away. Good night all. 

 
I am, of course, joshing with my dear Swaimish friend.

In answer to a lurker's phone message: "Why are you guys so hard on thr (which she pronounced thur)?

I splained:


"You don't tug on Superman's cape,
You don't spit into the wind
You don't pull the mask off that ol' Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Jalop- kin."

In '69 I was nine years old. Dad was the service manager at the local Chevy dealer. We lived some 75 miles south of Cincinnati. Norwood is a suburb of Cincy where the plant that built the Camaro and Firebird was in '69. Dad and I along with the owner of the dealership visited the Norwood plant one afternoon/evening. It just so happened that day that all the lines were building '69 Camaro pace cars. A sea of white and racing orange as far as a nine year old boy could see. At 50 I still remember that day as if it were yesterday. Now, reading that the '69 Camaro pace car is considered the best...I could have told them that in '69.

STONEY...... your response to the phone lurker was : 1) much wittier than mine would have been & 2) much kinder! Thank you; great response!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!