A weekend of fast pursuits
Wow. The weather gods blessed central Indiana with a spectacular string of perfect days this past Memorial Day weekend. Of course, all the local weather forecasters were patting themselves on the back for their forecasting prowess.
Friday, May 22, saw record crowds out at The Brickyard on W. 16th Street in Speedway for the Indianapolis 500 Miller Lite Carb Day. Now there’s an interesting bit of memorabilia in today’s world of automotive technology. Indy cars haven’t had carburetors for decades now. Even all my motorcycles are carb-less with advanced electronic fuel injection systems, as are most all the vehicles we drive today. Some things should never change for nostalgia’s sake!
Another major event occurred across North America Friday evening with the national premier of the new Ducati Streetfighter sport bike. Our friends up at Ducati Indianapolis in Zionsville, Ind., hosted an unveiling party at the dealership complete with lots of Italian food and beverages. Oh, did I mention gastronomic delights again? Remember, that’s always an important part of many of my experiences!
Friday evening was also a memorable experience for me. I took delivery of a new Italian stable mate for my other two Italian stallions. To commemorate their third World Superbike championship with Troy Bayliss last year, Ducati released a commemorative edition of their 1098 R model early this year: 1098 R Bayliss LE. OK, I’m weak, no willpower, no restraint and no level of conservatism when it comes to exotic two-wheeled toys. Yes, I bought one and picked it up this past Friday evening during the Ducati Streetfighter premier party. Number 217 of 500 is now residing comfortably in my garage!
Saturday dawned clear and bright with a forecast any weatherman would be proud to proclaim. With lots of fan activities around town surrounding the Indianapolis 500 out at the Brickyard, our friends up at Ducati Indianapolis continued their event-filled weekend with a demo day. Friday evening saw the unveiling of the new Ducati Streetfighter, and Saturday was the opportunity to test-ride one, along with an assortment of other Ducati models. My duties for the day consisted of leading or trailing groups of test rides and attempting to keep these swarms of Ducatista aboard demo bikes within the “rules of the road.” This was kind of like herding cats!
To wrap up the perfect weekend of Ducati experiences, Ducati Indianapolis and Commonwealth Motorcycles in Louisville, Ky., hosted a track day at Putnam Park Road Course in Mount Meridian, Ind. While 33 drivers were experiencing the 2009 Indianapolis 500 at the Brickyard, a larger group of sport motorcycle enthusiasts were fulfilling their own pursuits for speed on Putnam Park’s 10-turn, 1.766-mile (2.843 km) road course.
I spent Sunday morning exploring various twisty back roads on my new Italian steed, eventually finding my way out to Mount Meridian in western Indiana to hang out with the folks at the Ducati track day. Riding up to the Ducati Indianapolis pit area, I was greeted with several of the guys approaching me with rolls of tape to prep my new 1098 R Bayliss LE for a little track action. No, I held my ground and averted the temptations to break in my new toy on a racetrack. See, I do have a little bit of self-restraint!
My congratulations go out to Helio Castroneves for his spectacular month of May, culminating with his third victory at the Brickyard, becoming only the ninth driver in “500″ history to win the race three times. Everyone who participated in Sunday’s track day at Putnam Park Road Course also fulfilled their own pursuit for speed in a safe and controlled environment.
Oh, did you happen to catch a glimpse of an old, gray-haired guy in Al Unser’s pit stop or a flash of a bright orange Nicky Hayden Repsol replica motorcycle on that famous 2.5-mile oval on W. 16th Street at the start of ABC’s broadcast of the Indianapolis 500? I’ll save that story for a future installment of The Experience.
I hope you all had a memorable Memorial Day weekend, and I’ll see you next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com.
Greg
Off in the wild blue yonder, again…
If you remember from a couple weeks ago, I shared some more milestones with you all from 40,000 feet during a five-hour flight to Los Angeles. Well, it’s another Monday from way up yonder as I make my way out to Oregon for a week of work in the great Pacific Northwest.
Believe me, all this airplane seat time gets OLD! To top it off, yesterday in Indy was cold, wet and miserable, so I ended up watching a marathon run of the old “Airplane”/”Airport” movies. Now how’s that for an inspirational precursor to a travel day of airports and airplanes!
There was one bright spot to start the day off, though. Our friend Liz at the South Bend Chocolate Factory Chocolate Café in Terminal A at the airport greeted me with a steaming hot cup of chocolate raspberry coffee this morning as I made my way to the departure gate. That’s always a welcomed experience to start off a day of travel.
Actually, the weekend wasn’t a total washout. Saturday was pretty much hit-and-miss clouds and a few spots of blue sky throughout the day with somewhat mild temperatures. I made my Saturday sojourn up to our friends at Ducati Indianapolis in Zionsville, Ind., to check out some new hardware rumored to have arrived this past week.
You may have noticed the new banner photo for The Experience. That was taken several weeks ago at Pro Italia in Glendale, Calif., and was my first viewing of the new 2009 Ducati 1098R Bayliss LE motorcycle. Guess what was sitting up in Zionsville this past Saturday? That would sure make a nice stable mate to the two Ducatis sitting in my garage!
Well, after copious amounts of drooling, I helped myself to a sampling of Bill Carr’s latest culinary exploration of a new jambalaya recipe he brought back from New Orleans during his recent 5,361-mile, two-wheel odyssey from Indianapolis to Daytona to West Texas and back. Wow, that’s a keeper!
Fellow “old racer guy”, Gene Burcham, was also at Ducati Indianapolis Saturday afternoon. His mission was quite different than mine, which usually involves new toys and testing the extremes of my palette. Gene’s recent reactivation of his road racing adventures during the launch of a historic new era in AMA Pro Road Racing at Daytona International Speedway revealed an urgent need to find some more ponies out of the only eligible Ducati to qualify and finish the new middleweight production class format Daytona 200 by Honda event.
Ducati Indianapolis and Carr Moto co-owner and performance wizard, Matt Carr, is assisting with Gene’s search for some big kahona’s out of his AMA Pro Daytona SportBike spec Ducati 848. After a week of magic potions, top secret incantations and countless dyno runs, we’ll see how Gene does next weekend at the round three event, Suzuki Superbike Showdown at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga. Make sure you tune in to AMA “Pro PrimeTime” program coverage at 10 p.m. (ET) Saturday, April 11 on the SPEED Network to cheer on Gene.
With another successful Saturday of eating, daydreaming and pot-stirring, it was time to make my way back to the ole homestead to make a feeble attempt at some household chores. I did successfully find another diversion, swinging through the downtown Indianapolis area to see how Mel Harder’s project was progressing. Mel, I thought the idea of moving into a condominium was to eliminate yard work!
Well, my laptop battery is about to expire, and I hear the beverage trolley rattling down the aisle. So it’s time to sign out and I’ll see you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com
Greg