Indians’ Opening Night
One of the spring rituals for the Boss and I is to attend the Indianapolis Indian’s Opening Night at the Vic. It’s become a family tradition. In 2018, that is this coming Friday night, April 6. The weather person has predicted that the temperature will be 46 degrees along with being damp and cold. Well brothers and sisters, that’s hockey and snowboarding weather not baseball Not even a hotdog and cup of coffee could keep this kid from freezing under those conditions, and the Boss appreciates a cold brew but certainly not a beer-cicle. So we will most likely take advantage of the Tribe’s 60 degree guarantee: if the temperature is below 60 degrees for a scheduled game a ticket holder can ask for a rain check (or in this case a freeze check) for a game to be played under warmer conditions. I am a rabid fan of the Tribe, but not so rabid as to be willing to knock snow off of my seat. That being said, however, I’m really looking forward to some fun nights at the Vic during the 2018 season.
IndyCar at Phoenix
This coming Saturday night April 7, the Indy Car boys will be duking it out under the lights at the Phoenix International Raceway in Arizona for the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix. The track is actually located in Avondale, a suburb of Phoenix. It’s the first oval track of the season for the IndyCar racers. The Phoenix race is one of the oldest races in auto racing history. The legendary Earl Cooper drove a Stutz to victory in the first Phoenix race in 1915. However, they did not race again at Phoenix until 1950 when Jimmy Davies drove Ewing Offy to victory. The old track was in a “D” shape instead of an oval which made for some interesting and dangerous challenges. The race was the opening event of the season every year from 1950 until 2006 when it took a ten year hiatus. During that time the track was reconstructed to a banked oval. It returned to the IndyCar schedule in 2016 as a 250 lap event with Scott Dixon winning. Simon Pagenaud won the 2017 race.
Honda powered cars dominated the first race of the season at St. Petersburg but Chevys always do well at Phoenix. Tire wear is a problem so that will have to figure in the pit strategy. Will the rookies qualify as well as they did in the first race? We will have to wait and see, but it should be exciting.
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