Guess it just wasn't my day!

Oh what heart break...not even a full lap was Marco able to finish. In the first turn in the first lap of the Indy 500 the inexperienced Mario Mares pushes him to the wall and takes him out. Not one pit stop by Tom did I see in the entire race (that was our motivation for going). We had gotten seats directly behind the Venom pit and we were set up perfectly for a long race and many pit stops. Once Marco was out of it we decided that our seats were not very good for watching an actual race. We could have gotten general admission for $20 and seen more, when the cars are going 200+ miles an hour you can't really see much of anything.

As if Marco crashing was not bad enough my other favorites, Graham Rahal and Tony Kanaan also wrecked and were out. I feel especially bad for Tony because something happens to him every year and he is always a true contender. There were some great crashes though, I would be lying if I said I didn't like a great crash, the best one was about 25 laps to finish between Raphael Matos and Vitor Meira. Raphael and Vitor touch and both head for the wall (same wall as Marco) with fire sparking everywhere (earlier in the race during a pit stop Vitor and the car were engulfed in flames), Vitor's car turns backwards, goes on it's side and rides the wall for the remainder of the turn. He ended up staying the night in the hospital and we are wishing him the best.

All-in-all my Indy experience was wonderful. Tom was able to hook us up with garage and pit passes for the days leading to the 500. We had hospitality access and got to see a lot of the behind the scenes happenings that most people are not able to see. I met Graham Rahal and saw so many of the other drivers and team owners. Matt never again saw Danica up close and still doesn't have a picture so I guess you could say he is going home empty handed. I had to drag him here but now I think he has a new found love and respect for the sport and I couldn't be happier. I don't think either one of us could have asked for a better time. We are hoping to hit up the Sonoma race in August and maybe see Tom in action. By the way, Tom is currently holding a 3.1 second time for a pit stop...the Andretti Green Racing record is 3.0, he is giving it his all to hit the 2.9 and make a record of his own.