Carbs Are Bad For You

Tomorrow at Indy is Carb Day. The name comes from many years ago when the cars that ran in the 500 actually used carburetors instead of electronic fuel injection. (The “Car of Tomorrow” in NASCAR still uses the things, despite the fact that no car on the road has had one for years). The name is so out of date, that if you talk about carbs now people wince and quickly reference the Adkins diet. So maybe they should update it to Low Carb Day or even better, No Carb Day. I’ll send a note to Tony George this afternoon.

Naming differences aside, tomorrow’s laps are some of the most important the drivers will turn all month. After two weeks of daily practice sessions, the track has been idle since Sunday. The teams have been busy completely rebuilding every part of the car, so when the teams hit the track tomorrow, they have just a handful of laps to redial in to the new track conditions with their completely rebuilt cars. Every driver hopes to run just a minimum amount before the car feels comfortable because every lap you can save tomorrow means your car and engine is that much fresher come Sunday when it counts. Nobody wants to drop out of the race with two laps to go and think, “if only I had not done that last run on Carb Day.”

That’s what Carb Day means to the drivers…but for the fans it is something totally different. The practice laps are just the beginning. Carb Day officially kicks off the weekend long party that is the Indy 500 for the 400,000+/- fans that turn out. The city is filling up and the energy level is amazing. There is a pit stop competition to take in, and you don’t want to miss Kid Rock on the main stage either…that dude can put on a show. So whether you are in Indy for the race or the party, enjoy it 100% because there is nothing else like Indy and the next one is still 367 days away. Have a cold one for me.

Bryan