At the home of Mototrsport - Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Saturday 18 August 2012 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway Home of US motorsport

Day 128 and 30 to go

It was 8.45am by the time I woke up. Paul was already up and getting breakfast, he hadn’t slept that well. I got out and showered, dressed and ready. I ate breakfast before sorting out the things I needed. Paul made up sandwiches to take and with our bag packed we were heading to the track by 9.45am.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is only 5 min away and being early we were able to find parking just across from the main entrance. Once parked we crossed the road and made our way in to the complex making our way around the back of the stands as the Moto2 were out practicing.

Paul picked up a programme and then we had a look in the official Indi merchandise stand picking up a few pins to commemorate our visit. With these things we made our way to our stand to sit and watch the MotoGP practice. From up here we had a good view of the main straight and a few of the first corners.

We moved up to the upper level to see if the view was in better. It did give us more of a glimpse of the tracks continuation. When the practice ended we went to leave but were stopped by an usher who wanted to have a chat for a while.

We then made our way around the back of the stands to the paddock entrance and followed the tunnel into the centre of the track. Here there was so much going on. A noisy band was playing to the gathering crowd. We checked out the Yamaha tent and the biker build off entries, filling out competition entries as we went along. A Jagermeister tent was set up where Paul earned a shirt for spelling the name loudly rather than doing star jumps. We made our way to the vendor area stopping in at a few of the shops to pick up shirts and other apparel. 

We walked on to the Ducati Island where there was a display of Ducati race bikes from way back to now. We stopped to pick up another shirt before devouring our rolls. I got talking to a bloke who wanted my Jerez hat, turns out he lives in Laguna Seca and I think he was looking for reciprocal housing for the Phillip Island race.

As Paul and I returned to the stands to watch the MotoGP Qualifying we were almost run over by Danny Pedrosa who was racing through the crowds on a scooter. Paul also spotted Colin Edwards taking refuge near the riders motorhomes.    
15 min into Qualifying Casey Stoner had a very nasty high side accident that saw him calling for a stretcher after he came down hard on his feet. BUGGER! The race was called off while the track was cleared and then began again we stayed on for a short time and then decided to head out to beat the traffic.

We were in the car and back at the hotel by 2.45pm. Easy. We dumped our things, had a drink, checked the net and then decided to go into to the city to check out what there was on offer.

We found a place to park and began walking towards Monument Circle. We found many of the roads blocked off and many people on bikes. There was obviously something going on. There were also many people dressed in ridiculous costumes, turns out there was GenCon going on in the city. Paul was worried he was going to get weirdo germs. I just thought it was so funny.

We wandered around Monument Circle where many bikes were parked. We then went in search of a bookstore. We wandered into a mall thinking we would find one there only to find it had been closed. Obviously people here don’t read. We wandered out of the mall and back onto the streets passing the public theatre. We eventually asked someone where a bookshop was and were given the location of a Barnes and Noble that was a bit further out. We decided to make our way back to the car and drive to the IUPUI, the Indianapolis Uni where the bookstore was, but it was already closed by the time we got there so we returned to the hotel.

We sat watching TV for a bit then decided to find a local Red Lobster store for dinner as they have an all you eat shrimp for $15. As we made our way there we could see the nature of the buildings change. Many were rundown and shabby looking. The cars we passed were also beat up and crappy looking. We saw many of the square Lincoln looking things and we kept thinking they should be jacked up and bounding down the road.

We found the restaurant but had to wait 15 min before we could be seated. We indulged in the shrimp, bread and salads. It was quite enjoyable. Once we had our fill we returned to the car before finding an ATM to grab some more money and then it was back to the hotel where we watched some TV, had a bath and then it was time for bed.