Elmo T
08-06-07, 03:56 PM
for the ALMS/IRL event. Family before race politics.
Perhaps WGAF, but anyways:
I am not looking for forgiveness, but I’ll offer a brief explanation before my stories. We had the entire clan attend the race in Cleveland this year (me, wife, 17yo, 6yo, and 3yo). My 17yo asked if a buddy could come along. That was not practical, but I offered up a trip to M-O for “just the boys”. So the M-O trip was my two boys (17 & 3) plus my son’s buddy. The girls stayed home.
Nothing to recant race-wise, a few things we found interesting:
While the place was packed, more than anything I’ve seen there in years, we counted exactly 12 people with IRL swag. The count might go to 20 if we included Andretti swag. Now if we count Team Penske swag, all bright red, crisp, and new; we be literally in the thousands. The small number of people wearing IRL swag was astonishing – even on race day. I saw more CCWS shirts/logos.
The best story of the weekend is courtesy of my 17 year old son. We were staying at the Hampton Inn in Sunbury. There were quite a few IRL administrative staffers saying there as well. I have no clue what they all did, but we saw them each day all decked out in there black pants and blue shirts. Saturday night, my oldest son and his buddy take a walk over to the local BP station for snacks. He comes back in laughing. He said that he saw some of the IRL folks having coffee in the lobby. He said there were “some old guys and a few guys with British accents.” He asked them what they did with the IRL and they said they were “in the IRL administration.” (My son said he wanted to say “No #$%”!) So the one old guy asks him if he has a favorite for the race. The son says he can’t pass this one up so he replies “I like Champ Car” to the blank stares of the group. ;)
Best part is realized the next AM. We are eating breakfast when some old guy in the IRL staff uniform comes in. My son leans over and says that this guy was one of the dudes in the lobby the previous night. Another older guy walks in and approached the first old guy and says “Well Good Morning Leo Mehl!” :rofl:
Perhaps WGAF, but anyways:
I am not looking for forgiveness, but I’ll offer a brief explanation before my stories. We had the entire clan attend the race in Cleveland this year (me, wife, 17yo, 6yo, and 3yo). My 17yo asked if a buddy could come along. That was not practical, but I offered up a trip to M-O for “just the boys”. So the M-O trip was my two boys (17 & 3) plus my son’s buddy. The girls stayed home.
Nothing to recant race-wise, a few things we found interesting:
While the place was packed, more than anything I’ve seen there in years, we counted exactly 12 people with IRL swag. The count might go to 20 if we included Andretti swag. Now if we count Team Penske swag, all bright red, crisp, and new; we be literally in the thousands. The small number of people wearing IRL swag was astonishing – even on race day. I saw more CCWS shirts/logos.
The best story of the weekend is courtesy of my 17 year old son. We were staying at the Hampton Inn in Sunbury. There were quite a few IRL administrative staffers saying there as well. I have no clue what they all did, but we saw them each day all decked out in there black pants and blue shirts. Saturday night, my oldest son and his buddy take a walk over to the local BP station for snacks. He comes back in laughing. He said that he saw some of the IRL folks having coffee in the lobby. He said there were “some old guys and a few guys with British accents.” He asked them what they did with the IRL and they said they were “in the IRL administration.” (My son said he wanted to say “No #$%”!) So the one old guy asks him if he has a favorite for the race. The son says he can’t pass this one up so he replies “I like Champ Car” to the blank stares of the group. ;)
Best part is realized the next AM. We are eating breakfast when some old guy in the IRL staff uniform comes in. My son leans over and says that this guy was one of the dudes in the lobby the previous night. Another older guy walks in and approached the first old guy and says “Well Good Morning Leo Mehl!” :rofl: