Six more weeks of winter!
Dang, the Super Bowl glow coming from Pittsburgh on Monday morning must have still been shining bright enough for Punxsutawney Phil to see his shadow. I guess we’re in for another six long weeks of winter!
As thousands gathered at Gobbler’s Knob yesterday morning in Punxsutawney, Pa., the world’s most famous groundhog cast his shadow in near-freezing temperatures. An old German tradition holds that if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on Feb. 2 (the Christian holiday of Candlemas), winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, the legend predicts spring will come early.
According to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, since 1887, Phil has seen his shadow 98 times, hasn’t seen it 15 times and there are no records for nine years. Unfortunately, they don’t offer many statistics on Phil’s accuracy.
Well, I guess this gives Jarrod plenty of time to get his rides ready for spring and his upcoming “The Man Trip.” All of my toys are tucked away in the family room staying nice and warm. Unfortunately, a foot of snow outside the back door effectively blocks any temptations to take advantage of a near 50-degree day like we had this past Sunday afternoon.
Given Phil’s prediction, I guess the plan is back to six more weeks of bench racing and hanging out at local motorcycle shops on Saturday afternoons. The guys over at Ducati Indianapolis are always waiting with open arms for serious bench racers to stop by for a steaming hot cup of espresso. Travis has lots of catalogs of performance parts for you to peruse through and the 42-inch high-definition TV is usually warmed up and ready to go with lots of racing videos to satisfy your need for speed.
Another great option to wile away your time if you’re stuck in the frigid Midwest is a day trip over to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame museum out on W. 16th Street in Indianapolis. You could easily spend a day exploring the Museum’s collection of historic race cars, motorcycles and vast collection of 100 years of racing memorabilia.
A day trip to the Hall of Fame Museum also would give you a chance to peruse the vast collection of photography that spans the 100-year history of this historic racing landmark. Be sure to give Dave in the photo shop my greetings.
To top off your day, you could pick up all kinds of great racing memorabilia for your own collection at the Hall of Fame Gift Shop. Here’s a link to the IMS Online Store so you can get your shopping list compiled and ready to go. Indianapolis Motor Speedway Online Store
Oh, and while you are there you should go ahead and order your tickets for the 2009 Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 28-30.
Well, it’s time to get back to my bench racing plans for at least the next six weeks, and I’ll see you all here next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com.
Greg