Indy 500 ~ Opening Day ~ Rookie Orientation Day Sunday May 8, 2005 I reread these online diarys of mine a few days ago and discovered something. I noticed that often I was late getting to the Speedway because of household chores. Vowing to learn by my mistakes, I thought it best that I do no chores in May. Thinking twice, I decided to just get them done on Friday. I love May. Most of all because it means going to the Speedway, partying and hanging out in the sun with music and fun and excitement. Of course I love race cars too. I could feel my pulse quicken and my mood elevate just by turning onto 16th Street as I got closer to the track. I stopped by the IMS credential office and got my bronze garage pass pin. It got me in the gate for free. They parked me way out in the 3rd turn. Some people were getting out grills and moving up to the viewing hills to sit. I caught the trolley up to the pagoda tower. I caught it on the way back too. They have four of these trams running. I recommend using them. The first thing I did was run into Patrick Carpentier. This long-time CART driver is competing in his first Indy which means he's a rookie. While only the rookies would be on the track today, there was enough of them that there was alot of action on the track all day. What I mean is there was often someone on the track and often 3 or 4. I was standing in front of the pagoda tower by the pits when someone's mom waived the green flag for the first time this month. I believe Danika Patrick was the first out. I never saw her out of her car today. I'm looking forward to it ;-) Jeff Bucknum I headed over to the Alley Cats to say Hi to Mike. He's always there. I strolled into the garage area and saw CART driver Bruno Junquiera and his press agent. (That's a lollipop in his mouth, not a cigarette.) They were just hanging out and she came over and talked to me. She said that like last year, they needed to qualify this weekend as they would have to leave for the CART Mexican Race. His CART champioin teammage, Sebastian Bourdais, was competing in his first Indy and was busy trying to pass his Rookie test. Bruno has competed in 4 Indy 500's and had some excellent finishes. Sebastien Bourdais Here is A.J. Foyt supervising the photo-shoot of his grandson in a makeshift studio setup in one of his garages. Later I moved out toward the track to get some photos. I bought a coke on the way. Evidently Coca-Cola is the new soft drink of choice. I noticed that the Pepsi stage is now called the Coca-Cola stage. Anyway, some yellow shirts were blocking the entrance to the far south Pit Road Terrace where I wanted to go. I talked the guy into letting me up there to take a photo. Jeff Bucknum Danika Patrick Paul Dana Tomas Enge Ryan Briscoe Patrick Carpentier I move up to the top of the stands. Some dude was sitting up there next to me with headphones on spotting for Ryan Briscoe. I took some photos and then got my flask out and started doing some shots. About this time someone came up and gave this spotter some water. The spotter was obviously amused at my flask and asked if it contained whisky. I said it did. I realized with a start that it was none other than Arie Luyendyk! I was sitting next to a two-time winner! I wonder if he wanted a shot? I was surprised to be sitting next to Arie. I asked him if he was surprised by Danika Patrick's good performance in Japan last week. He said he wasn't. I asked him if he would drive this month and he said he would not. I wanted to ask him questions and talk, but he was busy watching Briscoe and giving feedback, so I did my best to leave him alone. But before I left the area, I got him to sign the bill of my ol' speedway hat. I also gave him my IndySpeedway.com business card. Maybe he'll stop by this web page one day. Larry Foyt I returned to the garage area and checked out the east end of it. There was the usual number of motorcycles lined up. Also there were these fuel tanks all lined up and ready. A Newman-Haas car: Jeff Ward Then I went out to the plaza and found some shade and listened to this great band that was playing. Within a half-hour they were done and I moved up to the stage as Tom Carnegie, Dave Colabro, Buddy Rice and his team-owner, Bobby Rahal took the stage. They had a question and answer session with the audience. Nothing much, kids asking for autographs and people giving praise instead of asking questions. I wanted to ask them why they weren't wearing their Indy 500 rings. Afterward, Buddy came down to sign some autographs, so I had him sign my hat too. Wow, two Indy 500 champs on my hat! If I'd been thinking, I may gotten Rahal's too. Then I headed over to get in line to get some autographs. Normally I don't worry about getting autographs, but I had a friend ask me today to get him some for his "race wall". An hour later, after standing in the hot sun with no drinks, I got Jeff Ward, Scott Dixon and Darren Manning's. Manning had a hot girl with him. If you stare at this photo long enough, you will see Darren Manning. There was also another line for of A.J. Foyt IV and Ed Carpenter who were also giving out autographs. My whisky gone, I bought a big beer and headed over to watch race cars from the tower terrace. The only cars on the track today were the rookies, that is drivers who had not raced in the Indy 500 before. Today and tomorrow are "Rookie Orientation", an event that is normally ran in April. IMS decided to move it back to Opening Day. I think perhaps doing this and not having the normal opening day ceremonies resulted in a light crowd at the track today. It certainly wasn't because of the weather as it was 82 degress and not a cloud in the sky. The rookies have to run laps at certain speeds. It was after 4 o'clock and the test would be closed for the day at 5. I saw Danika Patrick run the fastest time of the day - 221 mph. On the way home, I snapped a picture of this large billboard - Rookie Orientation Times Date 2005-05-08 Pos  Car  Driver  Chassis-Engine  Speed  1.  16  Danica Patrick  Panoz-Honda  221.463  2.  33  Ryan Briscoe  Panoz-Toyota  220.546  3.  83  Patrick Carpentier  Dallara-Toyota  219.010  4.  2  Tomas Enge  Dallara-Chevrolet  218.219  5.  41  Larry Foyt  Dallara-Toyota  216.141  6.  44  Jeff Bucknum  Dallara-Honda  214.657  7.  91  Paul Dana  Dallara-Toyota  211.786  8.  41*  Scott Mayer  Dallara-Toyota  206.947  9.  37T  Sebastien Bourdais  Panoz-Honda  204.177            Photo Index. | ToDo | Links | Home | Parking | Party | Schedule | Seats | Food/Drink | Bring | Maps | News | US GP | F1 vs Indycar | Email Dan@IndySpeedway.com Copyright � 2005 IndySpeedway.comAll Rights Reserved. Created May 8, 2005.