by Aaron Polburn

Random Thoughts

INDY

I got to watch the Indy Pole Position on TV and I found it engaging. There were several reasons why, even though there was just one car going around the track at a time.

The aero package made the cars look like rockets. I understand it was done for safety reasons, but it was just flat cool. The cars looked like they were going 230 mph standing still. Remember when Mike Kloeber worked like a mad man on an aero package for Top Fuel cars? Think of how our sport might have been changed for the good if his ideas had been adopted instead of being relegated to the fantasy aisle at the drag racing supermarket.

These cars were going flat out. I mean for each lap the accelerator was never below 100% and braking was nonexistent. And this was happening within 36 inches of a 6-foot concrete wall. Does that remind you of anything? How about drag racing? Why not have a device that measures how close the car came to hitting a wall or for that matter each other at 300-plus MPH. It's all in the presentation. And right now IndyCar has drag racing beat in presentation. 

More than anything I was stunned by the interview by Ed Carpenter. About five hours earlier he was involved in a horrific practice crash. What Carpenter did was extraordinary. Did he lament the loss of a car? No. Did he blame some mechanical failure for the crash? No. What he did was apologize to the fans who may have wanted a photo or an autograph. I mean the man could have lost his life and all he could think was that the crash took away time to interact with the fans. Amazing. If you don't think that driver/fan interaction is the key to motorsports success, you better find a new job.

IT"S A GOOD DAY/BAD DAY

It's a bad day when you leave for the track and the weather says 80% chance of rain. It's a good day when the rain misses the track and you win Super Pro because most of the regulars decided not to come.

It's a good day when your first round reaction time is .001. It's a bad day when its .100.

It's a good day when that pretty girl is pitted just four spaces away. It's a bad day when your wife finds out that that the pretty girl is pitted just four spaces away.

It's a good day when a pound of ice cream is just a dollar. It's a bad day when the fat content from that pound of ice cream rips your colon to shreds and you are a quarter mile from the nearest restroom.

It's a good day when you drag race. In reality there are no bad days when you drag race. Except for that ice cream thing.

MUSIC MAKES THE MAN

I decided to set my iPhone on random music selection and here are the top 5 as they played. As I often say, "This explains a lot."
1. Good Vibrations, Beach Boys
2. Hall of Fame, Script
3. Higher, Creed
4. Demon Speeding, Rob Zombie
5. Santorini, Yanni

FACTOID: Did you know the Pretenders had a song called Dragway 42? It has nothing to do with drag racing. The tour bus must have been roaring down State Route 42 and they were looking for a song title. If they had come about another 10 miles they would have passed my house and the song might have been called Aaron Polburn.

GODSPEED... RACE SAFE.