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Well, I said at the end of last year that somebody needs to take over this gig, because I’m not bringing any luck.
3-day weekend, warm summer days, and we get a big high pressure sittin’ on top of us.
SAT: Negligible chance of afternoon thermals on Erie / Ontario, but some chance.
SUN & MON: L&V
To satisfy my need for speed, I’m going to see the Indy Cars at Watkins. Won’t be as good as riding the wind, but it should be quite the hoot.
GEM
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Yeah. And it’s September!
Follow-up on Watkins Glen…
The Indy Cars are freakin’ amazing. Being offspring of parents from the Terre Haute, IN, area, home of Tony Hulman (founder of the Indy 500), I’ve kind-of always wanted to see Indy-style car racing…the Indy 500 is a big deal to Hoosiers. Much of my Indiana family used to go to the Indy 500 every year, but I’d never been to see it. And I’d never been to Watkins Glen racetrack, so I wanted to see that and find it to be very impressive. As a XC runner, I think REAL cars need to be able to go left AND right.
The Ferrari Club of America was there (originally, they had the weekend reserved for the club), so it was interesting to see folks doing their thing too. Not everyone on the track had a Ferrari, lots of other brands, including three Fiat Cincocentos (500s), a modest number of Porshes, some Mazda Miatas, some BMWs, etc. I have a friend who does this kind of thing with his Cooper Mini, so it was interesting to see general citizens out doing their equivalent of wind sports. On our tour, we stopped to hear a presentation by a Firestone spokesman about the tires, and got to feel the difference between the red and black tires (you can see which car is running which tire by the color of the sidewall…and the difference in handling is subtle but visible during intense turns).
We went early to scope out the whole track, figure out where to watch the race, and that worked out really well – saw lots of cool stuff (4 spins – amazingly no accidents). Watched the start and 6 laps from the grandstands at turn 1 (we thought there would be a high probability of difficulty on the first turn, in traffic….and were correct), and then moved all the way to the other end of the track to “the boot”. We’d decided the boot is where the really skillful driving would happen (plus, there are trees and you can stand in the shade). Also, it’s a place where, due to surprisingly big hills, you can see a lot of turns and straights all from one spot.
Near the end, we moved to the hairpin turn on “the boot”, and ended up looking down on the cars from the infield, where you ‘re probably not 30 yards from the car and thus can see the driver’s head and hands and can even see them steer. We were not 50 yards from a spin, in heavy traffic among the top 10 drivers, just 3 laps from the end! Very dramatic! Indeed the guy (too fast for me to have any idea of who it was) got sideways in the last 1/3 of the hairpin turn, the 2 cars (inches behind him) got to either side and by, the guy who spun ended up doing a 360 and never came to a stop….he followed in hot pursuit. Those 3 guys did some REAL DRIVING.
And, yes, my God the cars are insanely fast. Just mind-numbingly fast. Perhaps more impressive than the speed is how fast they go into descending turns and how heavily they brake. Engineering on a level I’m not familiar with, coupled with the skill of drivers to take those tools to the limit.
Can’t say that I’m converted into a car-racing fan but I’ll probably go again. One thing I’ve found in life is that it is I’ve never been disappointed when I’ve gone to watch the folks who’re the best in the world at what they do. Even if it’s not “my thing”, it’s always worthwhile to see the limits of human endeavor.
Watking Glen IndyCar racing, next Labor Day weekend. They have a 3-year deal, and if we don’t support them it’ll go away again. It shouldn’t, it’s impressive. Take a day off from wind sports and go see it. You won’t be disappointed. Get there early, wander around to see the whole track and the “show”, and hopefully they’ll keep it general admission so you can find the seat in the grandstands that appeals to you.
Now let’s pray for some good autumn wind…
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PS
I would be remiss if I didn’t post this…
During one of the interregnums when the engine noise was gone, the announcer on the PA system was talking about all the attractions in the Finger Lakes region, and – with my friend Deb as my witness – he actually said WINDSURFING is an attraction here. Perhaps they could use some advocacy training to learn about KITEBOARDING, too, but I really didn’t expect to hear Watkins Glen International giving our sport a plug. As one who thinks a rising tide lifts all boats, I’ll be supporting organizations that are pulling for me too.
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