Twelve hours ago I couldn't care less about racing. I thought that Shawn's obsession with cars was just some weird guy thing and the whole watching cars turning left for hours at a time while going fast seemed a bit boring. But not after today. Several months ago I spotted young, cute racer Lewis Hamilton. I didn't know anybody else, so he was the guy I picked to win the 2010 Grand Prix. Our Grandstand seats are right in front of his pit so we get to watch his every little move. Shawn's idol is Michael Schumacher who is recently back from a three-year retirement. For the qualifying rounds, all of the drivers take their turns around the track (don't blink, or you'll miss it)
trying to get the fastest individual times, while eliminating the slow cars along the way until we get to the final 10. One of the guys brushed up against the curb and the announcers said that they were planning to replace the suspension on the car before the next race. I asked Shawn how much that would cost us if we had to do that every time I ran into a curb. Here is the Red Bull car pulling in to the pits - they can change tires in less than three seconds.
For the first time in a long time, Schumacher didn't make the cut during preliminaries. Until the final 90 seconds, Hamilton was in third, meaning that he would have to start the race behind another car. But he flew out of his pit and logged the fastest time of the day, with seconds to spare. Right after he passed the finish line, he ran out of gas and the guy sits up on top of his slowing down car, waves to the crowd as he steers with his knees, I guess, then jumps out and starts pushing the car around the track. Total show-off. Standing ovation. The crowd ate it up. Speaking of the crowd. Wow. Testosterone city,
but not in a Nascar, tank-top wearing, beer belly kind of way (no offense to all of my Nascar friends).
Here's a cute guy.
Can't wait for the race tomorrow.
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