Sunday morning report

SPEEDWAY, Ind. - Here’s the view from our seats up in row JJ of Section J – top row in the fourth turn – yesterday afternoon where we watched qualifications for today’s races.

The weather was a little cool, but sunny and dry and there was a brisk breeze blowing across the top of the grandstand.

This is my introduction to MotoGP, so I’m still on the learning curve. One thing I learned yesterday is how utterly exciting the Ducatis sound. They have a distinctive exhaust note that sets them apart from all of the other bikes on the track and the sound of the Ducks under full throttle coming out of the last corner and blazing down the main straightaway is enough to bring tears to my eyes.

We cruised the vendor area again during a break in the action and I returned the previous day’s photographic favor by getting a shot of Charlie with the girl outside the video camera booth.

She seemed to warm up to Charlie better than she did to me. Must be that southern charm of his.

The track adventure followed a great breakfast at Shapiro’s with the Indianapolis BMW Club. It was great to see old friends like Rich Nathan, Jerry Lomax, Dom & Jane LoDuca, Margie Ledgerwood, Jim Brown and Martin Radtke. Martin reported that he visited Kenny Jagger, the last surviving club founder, in the hospital Friday where Kenny is in intensive care.

I picked up a half-dozen of Shapiro bagels for Charlie to take home to Maria.

Dinner was an odd version of fish and chips at the Union Jack Pub, followed by an evening hanging out at the campground where a retired USAF pilot set up a video projector and huge sound system outside his $250,000, 8 mpg motor home to blast 1980s music videos across the grounds.

We were also treated to an abbreviated version of the previous night’s fireworks show, provided by someone over on the east side of the campground.

The temperature got down to 57 degrees inside my tent this morning. We’re sitting at Einstein Bros. Bagels and wondering how warmly to dress for the races, since there will be a brisk wind and a high temperature of only 67. There’s also an overcast sky, which will deprive us of the heat of the sun. Odd weather for Aug. 30 in Indy.