For Dive ...

Presenting! In person! 

The IRL Grid Girls!

Some of them anyway.

Below is the entire line-up.

There must be something to that 

"the camera adds five pounds" adage, 

because these ladies were all nicely slender 

and long-legged; the camera does make

 them seem a bit squat. 

These women reminded me a bit of Robert Palmer's 

ladies in his Simply Irresistible video.

Early Childhood Education

On Wednesday, there was a test session at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 

to check various configurations of the IMS road course. 

It is anticipated that IndyCar will a add a road course event 

to the schedule next year, to be held at IMS.

Of course, the sound of a race car engine will lure racing fans

from their homes or workplaces. Folks bring chairs and coolers to spend

the day watching and listening to the cars as they navigate

the oval or road course. They indulge in various interpretations

of fact, rumor, or fantasy as they pass their time

on the spectator mounds inside Turn Two, a pastime

otherwise known as "bench racing." 

People bring their children, introducing them to what is hoped 

will become a lifetime love of the speed, smells, and skills

involved in this sport. In the top picture, a young man experiences

his first interview, perhaps in anticipation of a future as a driver or

a chief mechanic, where development of the savvy needed

to cope with the ever-present media cannot start too early.

The second young man is observing, carefully noting how the car

is handling through the tight turns. Perhaps his future is to be that of

an engineer or as an official, observing the behavior of all the

competitors on the track.

Participants in the Wednesday session were the National Guard-sponsored 

car owned by Panther Racing and driven by Ryan Briscoe,

and the Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing team, whose Hewlett-Packard 

car was driven by Graham Rahal. During the time I was there, 

Ryan Briscoe, whose car is shown above, made most of the laps.

Among the visitors to Turn Two was the recently hired Director of

Operations and Competition for Indycar, Derrick Walker.

Walker began his auto racing career in the 1970s as 

a mechanic for the Brabham Formula One team,

then owned by Bernie Ecclestone. He eventually worked for

Penske Racing, first for Penske's Formula One effort,

then on to Indy Car racing, where he enjoyed a great deal of success, 

being involved in the team's four series championships,

as well as four wins of the Indianapolis 500.

Walker's knowledge, experience, and integrity are

well-known and respected by the racing community,

which has led to his current position.

Theme Day: Perspective

Indy '500' Day May 2011

I suppose how one feels about anything, what one's perspective is, so to speak, depends on how it's first experienced. The above photo was taken just before the start of this year's Indianapolis 500-Mile Race looking south, down the front straight towards Turn One.


I first visited the track when I was about sixteen. When we entered the property through the main entrance on 16th Street, via the tunnel beneath Turns One and Two, I thought I was looking at the main straight. I was impressed with the massive stands and smooth expanse of asphalt. In fact, it was only the eighth-mile Short Chute between the turns; until that day, I hadn't seen anything larger than the half-mile oval at my local fairgrounds.

Speedway Turn One during the early morning, before the race.
The pavement just inside the green band of grass is the
warm-up/pit exit lane, while the third, wider band is,
essentially, Turn 11 of the road course used by motorcycles.

When I moved to Speedway over thirty years ago, one of the first places I visited was the track. It was a cold, snowy day. The gate at 16th Street and Georgetown was open, there was no one there to say otherwise, so I walked up into the Turn One grandstand. Even though it was covered in snow, I felt as though the track were alive, a breathing thing. Somewhere in the distance I heard an engine, growling and rumbling. It could have been an engine being worked on in Herb Porter's garage in Gasoline Alley or a motorcycle on the street, I don't know. I did know I'd found my home.

Outside IMS on Georgetown Road looking south.

The picture above is the way the place looks on most days of the year, a gray expanse of concrete and steel that harbors legends, has for a hundred years been the scene of dreams achieved and dashed to ashes, of astounding achievement and great tragedy. It is a place where men and women challenge themselves and each other, to have their likeness added to the Borg-Warner Trophy. It is more than the money, it is the honor of having one's name associated with so many great drivers.

A section of the SAFER Barrier. First installed at the
Speedway in 2002, it has since become the standard

The picture above shows a section of the SAFER barrier in Turn One. Developed by engineers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, under the sponsorship of the Indy Racing League, it was first installed in all four turns of the Speedway in 2002 and has since been installed on all tracks where the IRL and NASCAR compete. As of 2010, most tracks in the country over a mile in length have the SAFER barrier in place because its technology has proven to decrease the severity of driver injuries, absorbing and dispersing the kinetic energy from the crashes.

A spectator, maybe in his 30s,
but more likely about 3.

Last of all, I apologize for not having pictures of the cars. My camera is small, not powerful enough to catch cars at speed, so I rarely bother with them. In a few weeks though, I expect to add a lot more car porn to my posts -- for myself as well as anyone else who might care. But mostly for myself.


To view other photographers' interpretation of today's theme, click here to view thumbnails for all participants.