The Track, Part III

It’s been about three weeks since I took my little Mia the Kia in to get some much needed life support. Since then 33 cars and drivers have qualified for the Indianapolis 500 mile race. This weekend hundreds of thousands of people will pour into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to drink, eat, bake in the sun, and pack into hot, hard bleacher seats like sardines all for the “love” of Indycar racing. Does that sound like fun?

Since I have made this trip to the Speedway track many times I can’t say that it is exactly the most fun thing to be a part of, but old traditions die hard. I was going to go to the track today to witness the Carburation Day festivities, but even my Dad, the biggest Indycar racing fan I know, is bailing out on this day too. So, this morning I slept in ‘til 8:00, woke up, surfed the net, and finished reading a book. It’s a far better pastime than plopping my butt onto a hot, hard bleacher and getting a sun burn watching a couple cars zip past me over and over again.

Over the years I have come to understand that it is not the cars or even the race itself that makes a person want to go to this place. It’s the people. When you walk in to the 2.5 mile round arena that is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway you are thrust into a community that is larger than what you have experienced before. Several hundred thousand people all gathered in one spot to share the same experience gives you an awesome energy rush.

Once you take a seat on one of those hot, hard bleacher seats you need only look around you at the human eye candy to see just how small or large your existence is. If you look off into the distance and see masses of people rising, falling, and milling about like ants making honey you realize just how small and insignificant the life of an individual can be. However, if you look closer you can see perhaps a driver in the race, a white collar business man with an expensive beer in hand, or the roofer with his shirt off and sweat glistening off his deeply tanned back. The track becomes a place where you can disappear, imagine a different life, or simply celebrate a life through one of the largest communal activities known to man. It’s a place to reflect.

However, today I chose to reflect on life in a different way. I checked Mia out of the hospital yesterday and we are going to have some alone time this afternoon to get reacquainted with ourselves and one another. Ahhhh! Happy travels lie ahead ….