| Dan's IndySpeedway.com |
| Dan's 2003 Speedway Journal |
| F1 Pit Walkabout Thursday - September 25, 2003 |
| I took the morning off work and headed to the speedway for a new "event" - the F1 Pit Walkabout. |
| IMS somehow managed to talk the Formula One guys into letting down their high barriers somewhat. While they still had everything blocked off behind their garages so that no fans could see in or come near, they were going to let ticketholders walk along the pit lane next to the front of their garages as they setup for tomorrow's action. While this may not sound very exciting to Americans, I believe this is unprecedented in the Formula One world. |
| I expected to see somewhere between 50-400 die-hard F1 fans like me who would take off work just to look in a couple of garages. On the pit ticket, it even said that they would park you close to the pits and to enter the main gate. |
| As I drove closer to the speedway, through the town of Speedway, I began to wonder. I saw cars parked outside the track and a lot of people walking around. Hmmm. |
| As I approached the main gate, I saw that it was closed!? I had to drive a mile past the speedway, make a U-turn and get in line. All the infield parking behind the tower and in Turn 1 was full! They directed us to turn into the Speedway Motel, where we s-l-o-w-l-y crawled all the way back to park in the third turn infield. Dang, this meant a lot of walking and it was already 11:10 and the thing was supposed to end at noon! |
| As I drove in, I noticed that IMS had installed A LOT more p.a. speakers along the viewing hills on the back straight and along the F1 infield. As I hustled the mile up toward the control tower, I was jamming to the music they were playing. As I approached the entrance to the pit lane, I found that they were wanting to see your pit pass. I'd left mine back in the car! Ack! For a second, I was thinking of the 2 miles I was going to have to run, when the guy nodded at me and let me through. Whew! |
| By some coincidence, I ran into my friend Dave just as I was entering the pit lane. I don't know who that girl is; she just walked up and starting hugging him. Girls just do that to Dave. It must be his BMW shirt. |
| There were thousands and thousands of people here, I couldn't believe it. I also heard many different languages, but French was the only one I recognized. The pit lane was packed and you could hardly get through to snap a picture. |
| MICHAEL SCHUMAK ER'S GARAGE |
| LOOKING SOUTH |
| LOOKING NORTH |
| These Ferrari stools even had the Scuderia insignia on the back. |
| Some teams had their garage doors open and the mechanics were setting stuff up. |
| McLaren |
| JARN O TRULI 'S GARA GE |
| USA! USA! USA! |
| JORDON |
| JENSO N BUTTO N'S GARA GE |
| OLIVI ER PANI S' CAR |
| Some teams were shut up tight as a drum |
| I did not see any drivers while I was in the pits. Later I saw on the Jumbotron that Michael Schumacher came out in front of people and was interviewed. |
| I walked over to the Museum giftshop and bought some shirts, then began the long trek back to the car. While I never heard an F1 engine start up, I really enjoyed my 2 hours there. Having such a big crowd made it feel like a bonafide event! I was also happy to be walking on the beautiful grounds of the speedway while enjoying perfect weather. However, I forced myself to go into work in the afternoon. |
| That's ok, I'll be back the next three days in a row! Stay tuned. |
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