KansasCity.com

Mobile Site RSS Feeds
Logout | Member Center
Posted on Sun, Apr. 27, 2008 10:15 PM
Comments (0)

Race day at Kansas Speedway from A to Z

More News

Andretti: Marco Andretti finished the race in fifth place.

Bikes: Transportation around the track goes in cycles. This year, bicycles were the way to get from pit road back to the pits.

Cass County Composite Squadron: This group from the Civil Air Patrol presented the colors for the IndyCar Road Runner Turbo 300.

The group of middle school and high schoolers from the Harrisonville area have been busy this week, participating in three races and three Royals games.

“This is just awesome,” Maj. Tony Belto said. “To walk across the infield and hear the national anthem and see the planes fly over is just awesome.”

The group has 26 active members and recently won a seven-state drill-team competition.

For the record, when the flyover takes place the members are instructed to look straight ahead. The sponsors of the group get to enjoy all the majesty of the prerace activities.

“They don’t get to see all the cool stuff we do,” Capt. Tammi Miller joked.

David Glass: The Wal-Mart official can’t be happy about two Target cars starting on the front row of the IndyCar race.

Ethanol: Cars in the IndyCar Road Runner Turbo 300 ran on 100 percent racing-grade ethanol fuel.

Firestones: Race teams are given eight sets of new Firestone Firehawk tires. The 32 tires must last each team the entire weekend — through practice, qualifying and the race.

Green-flag delivery: Rocketman took off from pit road and delivered the green flag for the race to the start/finish line.

Hot items: Fans near the Danica Patrick merchandise trailer were backed up nearly 15 deep.

The crowd ranged from small children to grown men to race novices such as Jody DeMarea of Grain Valley.

DeMarea and her husband, Paul, made their first trip to Kansas Speedway on Sunday. One of their first stops was the Danica Patrick trailer.

“She’s my favorite racer,” Jody said. “I’ll probably buy a shirt or something.”

The couple had plenty of options. Hot items included T-shirts celebrating Patrick’s first win and autographed copies of her recent swimsuit spread in Sports Illustrated. T-shirts went for $22, while the autographed magazines were $50.

International winner: Dan Wheldon is a native of Emberton, England.

Junior: Not that Junior. Arie Luyendyk Jr., son of the two-time Indianapolis 500 champ, finished third in the Indy Lights race.

Karaoke: Inside one of the beer tents at the start of turn one, karaoke was the order of the day. How do you think that went?

Lonely: While fans swarmed the outside of Patrick’s trailer, there was only a handful of fans near the trailer for Scott Dixon and Wheldon. Folks there seemed more interested in the NFL draft on the TV than in making any purchases.

Milka: Milka Mania may not have been quite as insane as it was last year, but fans still moved towards Duno when they saw her.

More than five hours before the race the Venezuelan racer was spotted in the pits, and fans flocked to her for pictures. Surprisingly most of the people rushing her for photos were grown men.

Nose-to-tail: Some of the best racing of the weekend came during the Indy Lights Race. The 24-car field provided three-wide racing for the lead, a tight finish and few cautions. After Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race had a record-setting 12 cautions, the 50-minute race Sunday was exactly what fans wanted.

Ounce: 24-ounce can of beer cost fans $8.

Product placement: Nearly everything at the track has a sponsor tied to it — from the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 race name to the napkins in the car owner tents.

 

Join the discussion

Share your observations and experiences about news. Lively, open, civil debate is the goal. Please refrain from personal attacks or comments that are racist, vulgar or otherwise inappropriate. If you see an inappropriate comment, please click the "Report as abuse" link.

Subscribe today!
TOP JOBS
All Top Jobs  »