I spent a very delightful weekend at MIS (Michigan International Speedway). After a five year hiatus I returned to attend an open wheel race. This time it was the Firestone Indy 400. Oval racing is normally not my favorite type of racing (real race courses, and real roads are more to my liking). What made this trip so special was that on Sunday, my son Vincent was with me. we had a blast, we saw all the cars, saw plenty of racers (Danica Patrick, AJ Foyt IV, AJ Foyt himself). We saw a crew guy in the pits get hit by a tire during the race, we saw 4 engines blow up, and we saw a 4 car accident. We also saw a very good sprint to the finish, and Bryan Herta won. Well deserved, his car was running best all weekend long.
On Saturday, I spent all day in the pits and pattock, during practice and qualifying. There's nothing better to show you that racing is a team sport, than to be with the teams during that day. You immediately see that the drivers become less important. Danica, for example, had just trouble with the car. The engine sounded bad (it blew on Sunday then), and she had problems winding the car up for a fast qualifying time. I already knew on Saturday, that she wasn't gonna make it Sunday. And that's not even her fault. Neither the team's. Racing like that, everythings gotta work perfect, and it's such a fickle thing. It's not like you can sit down, say, you're gonna do this and that, and that will get you the win. You gotta work hard to catch the right setup, and then have the right tires (hello Michelin) and then the driver needs to know what (s)he's doing, and so on.
Anyway, it was well worth the money to have a weekend like that.