On Indy Weekend, Though!

Memorial Day is upon us, and for my family, this weekend (as well as Labor Day weekend) means a trip to Willits, California. For 13 of my 16 years, the trip didn’t mean much. Then I started liking cars.

In the past few years, Memorial Day has gone from being a time when I had to endure loosing a few precious days of TV, torture for my new, racing-enthusiast self. For the second straight year, two of the most important and amazing races in the world – Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix and the 91^st Indianapolis 500 – fall on a day when I’ll be in a place so remote, going to the mailbox is a two-mile drive.

Thankfully, I’ll have Internet access and will be following the Monaco weekend (hoping for a better result for the Ferrari team than last year) throughout my stay. As far as the 500 goes, I’ll try to stay away from any opportunity to know what happens until I can download (I mean buy) the 30-minute summary from iTunes. After trying to explain the significance of this weekend’s two races to my parents (to no avail), I’ll have to endure another year without seeing the 500 or Monaco.

The ’06 Monaco Grand Prix was a disaster for Scuderia Ferrari. When Michael Schumacher “accidentally” left his car blocking the track (he’s a dirty little cheater), the “Prince of Monaco” (he won there four times) was put at the back of the grid. Though he eventually took 5^th from his 22^nd starting point (at a circuit where overtaking is just about impossible), Fernando Alonso won the race, making the whole GP a disaster for the Maranello boys.

This year, Ferrari has two new drivers and will look to take back Monaco on Sunday. But it won’t be easy. Kimi Raikkonen, the top driver (at least in theory) at Ferrari might have won in ‘05, but he’s lacking confidence in his team and car right now, plus he had to retire from the ’06 race with “heat shield failure.”

Ferrari’s number two, Felipe Massa, might’ve won both of the last two races in ‘07, but in ’06 he crashed his car at qualifying (resulting in a “DNQ” and spot at the back of the grid) and finished out of the points. McLaren’s F-1 rookie Lewis Hamilton has never lost in the principality (although he had an 80 mph run-in with some of the barriers surround the street course during practice), and Fernando Alonso has done well at the tough circuit.

Winning Monaco is never easy. If you haven’t seen last year’s 500 finish, it was amazing. Nineteen-year-old Marco Andretti almost won the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” on his first try, (while his dad, Michael, has had 15 tries and never won, despite having led the most laps at Indy) before Sam Hornish passed him on the start/finish straight. This year, Marco will have his second go at a 500 victory, and Michael will hope the old saying, “Sixteenth time’s the charm” will prove true for him. I’ll be rooting for the Andretti’s, as well as Thomas Scheckter – son of F-1 great Jodi Scheckter and total bad boy.

So I’m all worked up over Monaco and Indy. I’m ready to sit down on Sunday and watch what will probably come out to seven straight hours of racing, and I’ve trained my bladder so that I won’t miss a beat. But what will it matter – I’ll be in Willits. No offense to anyone in Willits, California. I don’t hate your town; it’s just that I’ll be missing two very big races.