It's that time of the year where we kick off the beginning of Summer with the Memorial Day Holiday. In addition to what Memorial Day is really about, race fans celebrate the weekend with three prestigious races that Sunday.
In the morning, the Grand Prix of Monaco begins and the Formula 1 drivers spend the day running through the streets of the Principality inches from the wall being watched by royalty. Here's Monaco then in 1955.
And here's last years race in Monaco. Apologies that it's in another language and even though the two videos are 17 minutes long, it was a good race.
Here is one of the most classic races in Monaco, in 1982, the rain came and the leaders kept wrecking in the final laps.
In the afternoon, the legendary Indianapolis 500 Indy Car race begins and is still one of the most traditional sporting events ever. This year is the 100th anniversary of the opening of the speedway and 500,000 people come to the track every year. Every year, the pre-race festivities give such traditions as the playing of "Taps" and Jim Nabors singing "Back Home Again in Indiana."
The next two videos are from the first ever Indianapolis 500 in 1911.
Back then, the track was layered with 3.2 million bricks, hence the name the "Brickyard." Now the track is covered in asphalt, but there's still a yard of bricks exposed at the finish line.
As the day concludes into night, the longest race in NASCAR is beginning. The Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte is 600 miles and is meant to test both driver and machine. When the Indy 500 was on an hour earlier, drivers attempted to race both Indy and Charlotte in the same day. The last person to do this was Tony Stewart in 2001 where he finished 6th at Indy and 3rd at Charlotte. In the history of drivers doing the double, Stewart was the only person to complete all 1,100 miles and finish in the top-10 in both races.
I wrote this because I got to go to Charlotte to see the NASCAR race in 2006. My dad and I went down for the week and "roughed it" in a tent from Wednesday to Monday. Because Charlotte is where all the NASCAR teams have their race shops, we went to every teams shop on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday afternoons. Roush racing had a memorabilia sale and for $5, I bought Mark Martin's tire that blew in this wreck in the 2006 All-Star Race the previous week, watch the #6 car. It was the left front tire which my favorite driver, Kasey Kahne (#9) went into. It's all broken apart, but it looks cool. I want to get both their autographs on the tire someday.
Friday night, we went to the World Premiere of the movie "Cars." We got to see all the stars of the movie and everyone sat in the stands and watched the movie on a huge screen in the infield. Earlier that morning, "Regis and Kelly" were filming their show at the track close to where we were camping. If we had known about it, we would've gone there.
Saturday night, we went to the Busch race there and witnessed probably the worst racing weekend of Tony Stewart's life. In this race, he hits the turn four wall and injures his shoulder blade. He was right about the fans, it was pretty silent until he got out of the car. We were sitting after the finish line about a few hundred feet down the track. The one thing I remember from the wreck was Kahne running over the spring Darrell Waltrip mentioned and made a high pitched noise right in front of us because it must've popped the transmission into 1st gear.
Then on Sunday for the "600," Stewart plows into the wall and finishes off breaking his shoulder blade. The car came to rest right in front of us in turn two and again took Stewart a while to get out of the car.
I'm getting a little ahead of myself from that Sunday. Because the race is at night, a lot of the drivers hang around with the fans outside. Over the afternoon, I got to meet Richard Petty, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, and Dale Earnhardt Jr just walking around the facility. I came back to the campsite for lunch and we watched the Indy 500. It was a "blast from the past" because we watched the race on a tiny portable black and white screen. The duel between Sam Hornish Jr. and Marco Andretti has become one of the greatest finishes in Indy history. Here is the color version.
After that, we took the walk to the Lowe's Motor Speedway to watch the Coca-Cola 600. It was a long race, but when you pay the money required for tickets, you get your money's worth for 600 miles. My driver, Kasey Kahne, had a good car but it wasn't good enough to lead. As the race wore on, Kahne kept charging up the standings and was now a contender for the lead. Kahne kept pulling away and won his first Coca-Cola 600 race. Last year, he won his second race, but I'm glad to say I was there for the first. Here is a video of his burnout after the race.
There's nothing like Memorial Day Weekend. On Sunday, 18 hours of racing will take place among the three greatest races in motorsports. A total of 207 of these races have been run on this day. This year will be the 67th in Monaco, 93rd in Indianapolis, and 50th in Charlotte and this experience never gets old for a race fan.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
What Grinds My Gears #3
You know what grinds my gears, the person or people in the Obama Administration who approved Air Force One to fly over the Statue of Liberty for a photo op. Regardless of political beliefs, this is a dumb move by the Administration regardless if the President knew of it or not. I have a plan to save millions of dollars, military equipment, and the sanity of people in New York City who thought they were under attack because they didn't know what was happening and still get convincing real-life pictures. It's called PHOTOSHOP. After giving the Prime Minister of Great Britain DVD's and the Queen of England an IPod, maybe they can chip in together and buy the President the software. Just goes to show you, people in Government may be smart, but some (probably most) have the common sense of Paris Hilton. And that's what grinds my gears.
Monday, May 11, 2009
What Grinds My Gears #2
You know what grinds my gears, the newer episodes of The Simpsons. I grew up on this show and I feel like anytime I see a show made past the year 2000, I die a little inside. You know there's problems when Bart is actually helpful and good to people, and when in the hell did he start playing Little League? I started watching the show when I was a few months old when it was on the Tracey Ullman Show and loved it. Some of the jokes and situations were more for adults, but I didn't have to get every single joke to love it and seeing those older episodes now, I have a new appreciation for those episodes. Now it's just catered to a younger audience with absolutely no depth when it comes to jokes and that's okay as long as Fox makes money. Fox and The Simpsons have spit in the face of every Simpsons fan who watched them through those first few unpopular years when the show was criticized by George H. W. Bush for it's content. In 1989, The Simpsons was edgy and controversial. In 2009, The Simpsons is probably the most appropriate family show in prime-time tv and it's obvious they can't get the jokes to make it work. And that's what grinds my gears.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
What Grinds My Gears #1
If you watched the Family Guy movie, you know what I'm talking about. Peter Griffin's "What Really Grinds My Gears" has a lot of truth in today's society. This will be a new feature that will be updated once a week. These 1 paragraph rants should be fine to keep up. The things discussed are the things that rub me the wrong way.
You know what grinds my gears, Reality TV. Some reality shows are good and actually help the contestants (The Amazing Race, The Biggest Loser, and The Mole are examples). But have you seen these other shows. Primarily reality shows that are on VH1 other than Celebrity Rehab. All those shows do is exploit the people on them because they think they'll make it big by being on the show. Even shows like American Idol and Dancing With the Stars are farces. Think about it, it's not really about who the best singer or dancers are, it's about who's popular and gets the most votes. In American Idol's case, usually if you're truly good enough, you'll get a record deal with or without winning which completely defeats the purpose of the competition. I'm still not convinced that some of those shows are fixed (I'm looking your way The Bachelor). And that's what grinds my gears.
You know what grinds my gears, Reality TV. Some reality shows are good and actually help the contestants (The Amazing Race, The Biggest Loser, and The Mole are examples). But have you seen these other shows. Primarily reality shows that are on VH1 other than Celebrity Rehab. All those shows do is exploit the people on them because they think they'll make it big by being on the show. Even shows like American Idol and Dancing With the Stars are farces. Think about it, it's not really about who the best singer or dancers are, it's about who's popular and gets the most votes. In American Idol's case, usually if you're truly good enough, you'll get a record deal with or without winning which completely defeats the purpose of the competition. I'm still not convinced that some of those shows are fixed (I'm looking your way The Bachelor). And that's what grinds my gears.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Formula 1: The Most Popular Sport You May Never Seen: Part 3
One of the attractions of Formula 1 is the danger. There's a small part of every Formula 1 fan that is attracted to the danger and incredible risk the drivers take every race. Here are some of these dangerous situations where all the drivers walked away.
Biggest crash in F1 history.
Hard impact during the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Martin Brundle narrowly escapes injury in 1996 in Australia.
The only race where everyone crashed, or crashed before the race except for the winner at the 1975 British Grand Prix.
Sadly, all the drivers didn't walk away. When Formula 1 started in 1950, safety was the furthest thing from everyones minds. The only forms of safety were an open faced helmet, and an "optional" lap seat belt. It wasn't until the 60's when Sir Jackie Stewart spoke out about everyone doing their part to make the sport safe. In a time where team owners, track operators, and even fans pretty much told the drivers, "Shut up and drive!" he stood up against them and formed a drivers union. He once said that back then, if you were a Grand Prix driver, you had a 2/3 chance you would not see your career end because of a fatal accident.
WARNING: The next videos do contain footage of fatal accidents, mostly at the scene. I mean no disrespect and only post these because of it's historical accuracy and if it's tastefully done. Even though the footage may be hard to bear at times, it's necessary to paint a realistic picture of Formula 1 and what risks the drivers go through.
Sir Jackie Stewart paints a picture of the dangers of Grand Prix racing in the 60's.
Part 1 of a well-done tribute to all the Formula 1 drivers who have lost their lives racing from 1950-1967.
Unfortunately Part 2 was taken down by the FIA. There was another video, but after watching that, I thought it was way too graphic and it contained scenes that no one should ever see. I'm just going to mention the people who have died and the drivers who have been killed during Formula 1 races.
Bob Anderson 8/14/67, Test in Great Britain
Jo Schlesser 7/7/68, French GP, unavailable video
Gerhard Mittner 8/2/69, German GP practice
Piers Courage 6/7/70, Dutch GP
Jochen Rindt 9/5/70, Italian GP qualifying (Rindt is currently the only posthumous World Champion)
Jo Siffert 10/24/71, Exhibition race in Great Britain
Roger Williamson 7/29/73, Dutch GP
This was at the same part of the track Courage had died. This video proves the drivers took care of their own. Fellow driver David Purley stops his car, sacrifices his race, and sacrifices his own life to try and save his friend.
Francois Cevert 10/6/73, United States GP qualifying
Cevert was Sir Jackie Stewart's teammate and protege, his death occured in Stewart's last race (Stewart was to retire after the race). He withdrew and didn't race his last race in respect to his teammate.
Peter Revson 3/30/74, Test in South Africa
Helmut Koinigg 10/6/74, United States GP
Mark Donohue 8/19/75, Austrian GP practice
Tom Pryce 3/5/77, South African GP
I decided not to post a video for this crash because it was too graphic. A car broke and was on fire. Two track marshalls crossed the track tending to the fire. Pryce drove over the hill and couldn't avoid one of the marshalls. Both were killed instantly.
Brian McGuire 8/29/77, Exhibition race in Great Britain
Ronnie Peterson 9/11/78, Italian GP
Amazingly he didn't die at the scene. His fellow drivers who were in the crash pulled him out. He died after surgery when bone marrow seeped into his bloodstream after doctors reset 7 fractures in one leg and 3 fractures in another leg. His teammate Mario Andretti won the World Championship that day. Ironically the only 2 American drivers to have won the World Championship won during the same race where their teammates were killed in racing accidents. Phil Hill won and Wolfgang von Trips died in 1961 at the same track.
Patrick Depailler 8/1/80, Test in Germany
Gilles Villeneuve 5/8/82, Belgian GP qualifying
One of the greatest drivers to never win the championship hit another car at such an angle, that the front of the car broke apart and he was launched (while still strapped in his seat) 30 feet in the air.
Riccardo Paletti 6/13/82, Canadian GP, Murray Walker says it all in the video
Elio de Angelis 5/15/86, Test in France
I wanted to write this for today because of what happened 15 years ago today 5/1/94. Three accidents occured that weekend that forever changed the way Formula 1 is viewed today. It started on Friday the 29th, where Rubens Barrichello had a horrible crash that resulted in injuries. He currently races in F1 today for the Brawn GP team.
Saturday, during qualifying, Roland Ratzenberger crashed after his front wing on his car was failing. Not knowing it was failing, he took a turn at full speed and the car wouldn't turn. He hit the wall head on and died. This begins the controversey that is the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
After the many deaths at Monza, Italy passed a law stating that anyone who dies at the scene during a race weekend, the event is automatically cancelled and the track is closed for investigation. In the live footage of qualifying, the camera zoomed in on Ratzenberger and he is clearly not moving. His time of death would suggest that he died at the hospital, but Doctors at the track are coming forward saying that Ratzenberger died instantly. The cancellation of the race would've saved what happened on the 1st.
Three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna was affected deeply following Ratzenbergers death. F1 Head Doctor, Dr. Sid Watkins, told a crying Senna that he shouldn't race if he doesn't want to. Senna did everything possible and that he can take off and no one would be mad. Senna replied, "There are certain things over which we have no control. I cannot quit, I have to go on."
At the start of the race on the 1st, 9 fans were hurt after a tire and parts went into the crowd following a crash.
On the restart, leader Senna took the green flag. On lap 7, Senna's car bottomed out on the track and veered straight into the wall. One of the greatest race car drivers ever was dead.
Although he took a massive hit, it didn't look as serious as the previous two wrecks of the weekend. How he died was his right front tire broke apart. At the same time, a small piece of the suspension pierced his helmet striking him above the eye, a larger piece of the suspension also struck him in the head and the right front tire forced Senna's head to violently crash against the headrest. All three impacts played their part in the death.
Again, Doctors were for some reason forced to say that Senna died at the hospital. Now they are coming forward that Senna died at the scene. Dr. Watkins, who was performing an emergency tracheotomy on Senna on the track said in his book, "He looked serene. I raised his eyelids and it was clear from his pupils that he had a massive brain injury. We lifted him from the cockpit and laid him on the ground. As we did, he sighed and, although I am totally agnostic, I felt his soul depart at that moment."
Here's a report from the BBC about Senna's death.
One of the more heartbreaking observations was when Doctors pulled Senna out of the car, they found an Austrian flag covered in blood. It was later revealed that if Senna had won the race, the Brazilian would've waved the flag in honor of Ratzenberger.
Although this was a horrible day in motorsports, many improvements came about because of it. Tracks were made so they are slower and have proper runoff areas, drivers now use the HANS device to prevent someones neck from snapping from high impact, and tethers attach the tire to the car to prevent it from flying off and hitting anyone. No Formula 1 driver has died since.
Biggest crash in F1 history.
Hard impact during the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Martin Brundle narrowly escapes injury in 1996 in Australia.
The only race where everyone crashed, or crashed before the race except for the winner at the 1975 British Grand Prix.
Sadly, all the drivers didn't walk away. When Formula 1 started in 1950, safety was the furthest thing from everyones minds. The only forms of safety were an open faced helmet, and an "optional" lap seat belt. It wasn't until the 60's when Sir Jackie Stewart spoke out about everyone doing their part to make the sport safe. In a time where team owners, track operators, and even fans pretty much told the drivers, "Shut up and drive!" he stood up against them and formed a drivers union. He once said that back then, if you were a Grand Prix driver, you had a 2/3 chance you would not see your career end because of a fatal accident.
WARNING: The next videos do contain footage of fatal accidents, mostly at the scene. I mean no disrespect and only post these because of it's historical accuracy and if it's tastefully done. Even though the footage may be hard to bear at times, it's necessary to paint a realistic picture of Formula 1 and what risks the drivers go through.
Sir Jackie Stewart paints a picture of the dangers of Grand Prix racing in the 60's.
Part 1 of a well-done tribute to all the Formula 1 drivers who have lost their lives racing from 1950-1967.
Unfortunately Part 2 was taken down by the FIA. There was another video, but after watching that, I thought it was way too graphic and it contained scenes that no one should ever see. I'm just going to mention the people who have died and the drivers who have been killed during Formula 1 races.
Bob Anderson 8/14/67, Test in Great Britain
Jo Schlesser 7/7/68, French GP, unavailable video
Gerhard Mittner 8/2/69, German GP practice
Piers Courage 6/7/70, Dutch GP
Jochen Rindt 9/5/70, Italian GP qualifying (Rindt is currently the only posthumous World Champion)
Jo Siffert 10/24/71, Exhibition race in Great Britain
Roger Williamson 7/29/73, Dutch GP
This was at the same part of the track Courage had died. This video proves the drivers took care of their own. Fellow driver David Purley stops his car, sacrifices his race, and sacrifices his own life to try and save his friend.
Francois Cevert 10/6/73, United States GP qualifying
Cevert was Sir Jackie Stewart's teammate and protege, his death occured in Stewart's last race (Stewart was to retire after the race). He withdrew and didn't race his last race in respect to his teammate.
Peter Revson 3/30/74, Test in South Africa
Helmut Koinigg 10/6/74, United States GP
Mark Donohue 8/19/75, Austrian GP practice
Tom Pryce 3/5/77, South African GP
I decided not to post a video for this crash because it was too graphic. A car broke and was on fire. Two track marshalls crossed the track tending to the fire. Pryce drove over the hill and couldn't avoid one of the marshalls. Both were killed instantly.
Brian McGuire 8/29/77, Exhibition race in Great Britain
Ronnie Peterson 9/11/78, Italian GP
Amazingly he didn't die at the scene. His fellow drivers who were in the crash pulled him out. He died after surgery when bone marrow seeped into his bloodstream after doctors reset 7 fractures in one leg and 3 fractures in another leg. His teammate Mario Andretti won the World Championship that day. Ironically the only 2 American drivers to have won the World Championship won during the same race where their teammates were killed in racing accidents. Phil Hill won and Wolfgang von Trips died in 1961 at the same track.
Patrick Depailler 8/1/80, Test in Germany
Gilles Villeneuve 5/8/82, Belgian GP qualifying
One of the greatest drivers to never win the championship hit another car at such an angle, that the front of the car broke apart and he was launched (while still strapped in his seat) 30 feet in the air.
Riccardo Paletti 6/13/82, Canadian GP, Murray Walker says it all in the video
Elio de Angelis 5/15/86, Test in France
I wanted to write this for today because of what happened 15 years ago today 5/1/94. Three accidents occured that weekend that forever changed the way Formula 1 is viewed today. It started on Friday the 29th, where Rubens Barrichello had a horrible crash that resulted in injuries. He currently races in F1 today for the Brawn GP team.
Saturday, during qualifying, Roland Ratzenberger crashed after his front wing on his car was failing. Not knowing it was failing, he took a turn at full speed and the car wouldn't turn. He hit the wall head on and died. This begins the controversey that is the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
After the many deaths at Monza, Italy passed a law stating that anyone who dies at the scene during a race weekend, the event is automatically cancelled and the track is closed for investigation. In the live footage of qualifying, the camera zoomed in on Ratzenberger and he is clearly not moving. His time of death would suggest that he died at the hospital, but Doctors at the track are coming forward saying that Ratzenberger died instantly. The cancellation of the race would've saved what happened on the 1st.
Three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna was affected deeply following Ratzenbergers death. F1 Head Doctor, Dr. Sid Watkins, told a crying Senna that he shouldn't race if he doesn't want to. Senna did everything possible and that he can take off and no one would be mad. Senna replied, "There are certain things over which we have no control. I cannot quit, I have to go on."
At the start of the race on the 1st, 9 fans were hurt after a tire and parts went into the crowd following a crash.
On the restart, leader Senna took the green flag. On lap 7, Senna's car bottomed out on the track and veered straight into the wall. One of the greatest race car drivers ever was dead.
Although he took a massive hit, it didn't look as serious as the previous two wrecks of the weekend. How he died was his right front tire broke apart. At the same time, a small piece of the suspension pierced his helmet striking him above the eye, a larger piece of the suspension also struck him in the head and the right front tire forced Senna's head to violently crash against the headrest. All three impacts played their part in the death.
Again, Doctors were for some reason forced to say that Senna died at the hospital. Now they are coming forward that Senna died at the scene. Dr. Watkins, who was performing an emergency tracheotomy on Senna on the track said in his book, "He looked serene. I raised his eyelids and it was clear from his pupils that he had a massive brain injury. We lifted him from the cockpit and laid him on the ground. As we did, he sighed and, although I am totally agnostic, I felt his soul depart at that moment."
Here's a report from the BBC about Senna's death.
One of the more heartbreaking observations was when Doctors pulled Senna out of the car, they found an Austrian flag covered in blood. It was later revealed that if Senna had won the race, the Brazilian would've waved the flag in honor of Ratzenberger.
Although this was a horrible day in motorsports, many improvements came about because of it. Tracks were made so they are slower and have proper runoff areas, drivers now use the HANS device to prevent someones neck from snapping from high impact, and tethers attach the tire to the car to prevent it from flying off and hitting anyone. No Formula 1 driver has died since.
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