M.A.W.B. Squad

Custom Skateboard

The Boy's new skateboard arrived today.  If you're interested in that kind of thing, there are pictures after the jump.

All Danica, All the Time

TV news is claiming that viewership of the Indy was up 40% this year, which we can attribute to the force that is called Danca.  Paul Campos weighs in on the "babe" factor:

The reason Danica Patrick is supposed to save Indy racing is that she is, sociologically speaking, a "babe." A conventionally attractive young woman, Patrick has been the subject of feature stories in publications such as People, which normally pay as much attention to the Indianapolis 500 as they do to Mongolian yak races.

As the father of a 10-year-old girl, I find all this rather discouraging. The media message couldn't be clearer: despite the toppling of so many gender barriers, the most important thing about a woman remains her appearance. (As usual, the satirical humor magazine The Onion drives the point home perfectly with a headline: "Thin, Attractive Young Woman Accepted For Who She Is.")

I'd agree a huge portion of the buzz was due to Ms. Patrick's looks, but I also harbor some hope that part of the excitement was the fact that she was racing for Rahall - Letterman, a team that's proven it has the equipment to win at Indy.  False hope?  Probably.  Campos goes on to calculate how a woman's body mass affects her income, marriageability, etc.  What pleasant news to start the week!

I look forward to the M.A.W.B. ruling the world, if for nothing else than the chance to flip this equation so we can all concentrate on the "beefcake" factor in the future.  All the sexual harrassment lawsuits have forced American society to sublimate the reality of social rewards for good looks in the workplace.  As a dictatorship, we won't be constrained by minor legalities.

"So, you want that promotion, Jim?  Let's see those abs, then."

Men with ambition may want to start that workout program now.

Live Blogging - Indy 500

Previous Indy post here.

Colin Powell did a god job gettng the race started, driving the pace car.  My picks for the race:

1st choice to win:  Scott Sharp
2nd choice:  Tony Kanaan
3rd choice:  Sam Hornish Jr.

Odd that they'd all be front row, but that's not the reason I chose any of them.

Lap 18 19:  Larry Foyt goes into the wall backwards.  ABC commentators say he was out of the car waving.  First caution of the day.

Danica Patrick came out of the pits in 3rd, but may have a penalty coming for running over the air hose in the pits.

Correction:  The update is that Scott Sharp ran over their hose, not Danica.

Lap 25:  Back to green flag racing.  The leaders are Kanaan, Franchitti, Hornish Jr., Buddy Lazier, Patrick, Castronueves, Sharp by lap 28.  Larry Foyt is awake and being transferred to Methodist for back pain.

Lap 38:  Hornish passes both Kanaan and Franchitti for the lead.

Lap 48:  Hornish, Franicitti, Kanaan, Patrick, Lazier.

Lap 55:  Two cars are block flagged for not keeping pace with the field.  Jimmy Kite and Marty Roth.  They get a chance to come in and fix the car.

Hornish comes in for a green flag pit stop, followed by Kanaan and Francitti.

Danica Patrick was credited with leading a lap at the Indy, a first for a woman. UPDATE:  Lap 56.

Lap 72:   Hornish, Frachitti, Kanaan, Patrick, Wheldon.

Today's Indy menu:  Devilled eggs, Garlic cheese ball, Tostadas with chili cheese dip, carrots with dill dip, Lil' Smokies with barbeque sauce, , apple with cream cheese dip, cheesecake, neighborhood bars

Lap 78:  Second Caution:  Bruno Junqueira was hit by AJ IV and went into the wall.  It looks like a bad accident.  AJ came down on the track into Bruno.  They haven't heard from Bruno on the radio yet.  He had started 12 and made it up to 5th today.

Danica just stalled in the pits.

Still waiting for news on Bruno. AJ IV is out of the field.  (From every race I've seen AJ IV in, I don't think he belongs out there.)

Still under yellow 81 laps:  Hornish, Franchittie, Kanaan, Sharp, Scheckter (Oma's pick makes it up to #5)

Bruno had led two laps in the race.  Medical update:  He's awake, alert, and talking, being transferred to Methodist for lower back pain.  Good news.

Lap 89:  Scott Sharp has made it up to 4th.  Kenny Brack is in the pits with an unscheduled stop.

Lap 93:  Scott Sharp passes Franchittie to make it into 3rd place.

Lap 98:  Kanaan, Hornish, Sharp in the lead.

Lap 100:  Hornish, Kanaan, Sharp, franchittie, Miera, Wheldon.  Danica's back at 14 due to the pit stall.

Kenny Brack is out of the race.  Sounds like a suspension problem.  (One Rahall/Letterman car out.)

Lap 113:  Kanaan passes Hornish for the lead.

Lap 114:  Accident Scott Dixon and Richie Hearn.  Richie turned down into Dixon in turn 1.  Both went into the wall backwards.

Dixon is out of the car and walking.

Kanaan hit his pit first.  Hornish got out of the pits first.  (Kanaan is driving for Andretti Green.  Hornish for Penske.)

Yahoo has live audio on their front page.

We're back to green flag racing and Franchitti has taken the lead.

10 drivers are out.  Dixon, Hearn, Brack, Ward, Manning, Jungquiera, Foyt IV, Roth, Kite and Foyt.

Lap 132 Leaders:  Kanaan, Franchitti, Wheldon, Hornish

Matsuura makes wheel contact with Danica Patrick but it appears there's no damage to either.

Lap 140:  Franchitti, Kanaan, Wheldon, Buddy Lazier, Hornish, Meira, Sharp.

Danica is in 10th.

By the way Franchitti is married to Ashley Judd.

Kanaan and Franchitti have traded the lead again.  Lap 146:  Franchitti takes Kanaan again.

Lap 147:  Sam Hornish Jr is out.  It looks like he hit the wall.  He's getting out of the car.  Too bad.  He seemed to have a great car.  That's Indy.

Lap 150 out of the pits:  Wheldon, Miera, Franchitti, Bourdais, Kanaan, Sharp, Herta, Buddy Lazier, Patrick

Lap 155:  Big crash under caution.  Instead of covering the crash they're following Danica who lost her left wing.  Come on, people!

It looks like she started the accident.  Rahall says they slowed up in front of her.  Still don't know who else was taken out.  This all Danica all the time coverage is extremely annoying.

Lap 162:  We've got at least three other cars out in this accident and they still haven't seen fit to tell us who it might be.

Green Flag Racing Lap 162:  All the talk is end of race strategy right now.  Take fuel only on the final stop?  Vito Meira is the new leader.

Jeff Bucknum is added to the "Out of Race" list.  Was he in the accident?  It looked like Scheckter hit the inside wall and he's at the end of the running list.

Lap 170: Yellow due to Roger Yasukawa engine spewing stuff.

The field will come in under caution for the last pit stop. Fuel and tires.  Then it will be a race to the end.

Lap 172:  Danica Patrick leads the Indy 500.

History!  You'll remember where you were!  Yeah.  I'll remember how the coverage SUCKED because of Danica,.

Leaders Lap 175:  Patrick, Herta, Meira, Bourdais, Wheldon, Sharp, Matsurra

She didn't pit with the others on 170, so she ended up in the lead after the caution,  She had pitted later than the other cars because she came in twice after the accident.  They're very close on gas, but are going to try to keep her out front without stopping 'til the end.

Lap 182:  She's still in the lead.

ABC and the IRL gents are dooing backflips for joy.

I've got nothing against Danica and it would be cool to have a woman win the Indy.  But, I don't like it when rookies win and the coverage of her has been totally over the top.

Danny Wheldon passes Danica by a nose, then we go to yellow due to Matsuura going into the wall.

The field is fixed now with Wheldon in the lead until we get a green.

Andretti owns Wheldon's car.  I'd be OK with him gettng the win.

Restart with 11 to go.  Danica is in the lead.  Wheldon is in second.

Wheldon passes Danica with 7 to go.  Do it for Andretti Dan!

Wheldon keeps the lead with 4 to go.  Danica in second.

Meira and Herta pass Danica.

Yellow with two laps to go.  Danny Wheldon leads.  Final lap.

Danny Wheldon wins the Indy 500 for the Andretti Green racing team.  Congrats to Michael Andretti!  (Wanting a win for Andretti is actually why I chose Kanaan, so it's all good.) I'll be hapy to cheer for Danica another year.  (She finished 4th.) Bring on the milk!

Wheldon is out of gas so he's being pushed to victory lane.  Like I said, that's Indy!

Indy 500: Welcome Race Fans!

Tomorrow is race day, the 89th running of the Indy 500, which in our house is really the only sporting event of the year.  Forget the Super Bowl.  Forget the Sweet Sixteen.  Hockey?  Who cares!  They got nothing on 33 drivers each riding 675 horsepower and pulling 4 G's through every turn in 500 miles of racing, (the space shuttle pulls 3.5 on lift-off).

Lady and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!

Then the roar of the crowd, 250,000 spectators, the largest attendance for a single day sporting event in the world.

Here is the starting grid. We'll be printing that out to keep track during the race.  Who's out with engine trouble?  Who wrecked?  Each of us picks a winner before the race, but 33 cars never all finish.  No distractions!  There's serious racing to keep track of.  Let's take a look at a few of the competitors.

Tony Kanaan, from Brazil, won his first Indy pole position for team owner Michael Andretti, with a 4 lap average of 227.566.  Though the Andretti name has been at Indy since the '60's, their only win at the Brickyard was Mario in 1969. Every time thereafter, when it looked like Mario or Michael had the win sewn up, fate snatched it from their fingers.

Scott Sharp qualified in the front row to make attempt number 11 at winning the Borg Warner trophy.

The big hype for the 2005 Indy goes to Danica Patrick.  Three other women have raced in the Indy, but Danica has the advantage of being 23, by consensus "hot", and racing for team owners Bobby Rahall and David Letterman.  She qualified 4th, the highest for any woman that's raced at Indy, with 227.004, and will start from inside row 2.

The Rahall Letterman team won the Indy 500 last year with driver Buddy Rice.  Buddy had been called to stand in for driver Kenny Brack who barely survived a horrendous crash in 2003.  By a strange twist of fate, Buddy Rice was injured in practice at Indy this year, and Kenny Brack will take his place in the 89th running of the Indy, his first time racing after his crash.

Kenny holds a special place in family history.  It was our first day of a Florida Disney vacation in 1999, spent in our condo to watch the Indy 500.  The Girl picked Kenny to win before the race started and he delivered, giving her bragging rights for the next year.

The eggs have been devilled.  The garlic cheese ball is in the fridge.  Dessert has been prepared.  Let's race!

Back home again....
In Indiana

In case you're having a bad day...

It looks like it was staged, but enjoy the security camera clip of a school girl thwarting a purse-snatcher anyway. (Via Screenhead)