We've had rain, but it was fairly dry and mostly sunny this morning as Jay, E.T. and me drove to the track. We parked in the North 40 for free and walked quickly to the outside of turn 4 with our beer coolers. We hiked up to the very top and sat in the furthest back corner of the deck. The IRL cars were out and practicing. What a beautiful view... One benefit of not having a raging party in the infield is esthetics. Instead of a bunch of mud and trash, the infield is now almost garden-like. Funny what happens when you remove the people... As you can see from the photo above, a fleet of old Indy race cars were lined up on the F1 track in preparation for taking some parade laps around the oval after practice was over. The following pictures show some of them. Unfortunately, I missed filming the highlight of the parade - a 6-wheel racer that someone had re-created this year. It had two sets of rear tires - Woa! Pit Stop Competition After the cars were done on the track, we hiked down to the tower terrace (in the infield, along the main straight). We cruised along the fence that runs the length of the pits. The area was packed with thousands of people. We eventually worked our way high up into the stands where we could watch some of the pit stop challenges. They line up two cars side by side and let them sprint a hundred feet or so and stop and have their tires changed, then sprint off another hundred feet and stop. I think they need do some work on this so that the fans can see more of what is happening. Although I had prime seats, much of my view was blocked by people standing around; especially of the inside lane car. Also, it didn't seem that many got off the line at similar time. Jay broke open the shrimp and cocktail sauce which caused a stir among the seafood eaters around us. Here's Buddy Lazier and his foxy wife. How many IndyCars can you count? I wanted to get down to the Pepsi Stage to get a good spot for the concert, so we left the pit stop competition before it was over. I heard later that the pole sitter, Scott Sharp, won it. On the way to the stage, I stopped in the bathroom and there was Robby Gordon! I exited the restroom and waited down the hallway and had my camera ready in case he walked my direction. Go to Carb Day Concert photos Carb Day Concert crowd - 30 second video (format = mpg, filesize = 1.4 Mb)