So Long, Champ. (Dan Wheldon Killed in Vegas Race)

About four and one-half months ago, my family friends and I watched Dan Wheldon race a rock-solid Indy 500 and receive a gift as J.R. Hildebrande lost control of his car in the final half mile of the most famous race in the world.

We sit in the first row, just coming out of the first turn (Southwest Vista, to be precise)...and when the white flag dropped, Hildebrande passed us and Wheldon did so shortly after.  And under a minute later, when Wheldon zipped passed us and Hildebrande limped to a stop in turn one (after some other traffic passed), we knew that the one-time Indy champ from England had won his second...but nothing was official.

Second Win at Indy

We waited in the stands as other fans began to file out, hoping to receive the official results.  But as Wheldon took a famous swig of milk and interacted with teammates, competitors and fans alike who loved him, there were no official results. And as Wheldon took a ride in the pace car with his family celebrating the victory, there was still no word.

So we waited on Dan...but we knew...he was the winner.

Maybe Indy Car Racing Isn't So Bad

Boilerdowd and I have been having a long, back-and-forth debate/discussion/immature display of stupidity recently, and it's centered around his wish to make sweet love to the sport of auto racing. Specifically, open-wheel racing.

And so I decided to give it a look. I may even watch part of the race in Texas this weekend from the comfort of my palatial estate. But as part of my research on the sport, I thought I'd get to know some of the drivers and I did some photo work to make sure I could recognize them. I've decided to start with this "Dan Patrick," or whatever her name is.

Great googly moogly.

The legs are more astounding than I expected....

Sweet mercy. Do they all look like this? I guess I understand why it's a great sport. Now if only we could get her to make out with Ashley Force, we'd be in business.

We'd be in business as a completely different kind of Web site if that happened, but we'd be in business nonetheless.

Good Use for Twitter finally found...

I've had Twitter as an application on my phone for about two months...but all I had found that was useful about it was that J, Tim and I could shoot one-liners back and fourth at eachother. Granted, we could do that via text message or e-mail...but this way, we could be more-public with our degradation of one-another; a definite positive.

But yesterday, my wife, son and I were at my in-laws house for Mom's Day and I couldn't find an efficient way to keep up with qualifications at IMS...until IndyTalk on Twitter was discovered. Via this Twitter ticker, I got every update from speeds to accidents to the Happy Hour action that was very heavy at about quarter-til six as three attempted efforts to get into the field were waved and finally Scott Sharp bumped his way into the #20 spot.

I like Sharp quite a bit...he was awfully fast in the Indy Car series a few years back but could never really hold it together for an entire race...But, he's fast-enough to bring his ALMS sponsor, Patron, over to Indy which helped him secure a ride. And speaking of ALMS, Sharp has a commitment for that series next weekend...so it was imperative for him to get in this weekend. So when Viso, Fisher and others moved out of the way so Sharp could get one last run in, I was impressed with the sportsmanlike effort.

Meow
Tiger Woods shot an extremely-human 73 on Sunday and ended the day 7 shots off of the winner at the Players Championship...Some Swede kicked his arse pretty-handily.

Seems to me that Tiger's lack of reps during the off-season left his game less-strong than he'd like...and his post-op recovery left him bigger and stronger than we've seen Woods (no cardio when you've got a busted knee)...at this point he's built less like a golfer and more like a slot receiver (think Chris Daniels and Keith Smith, not Dorien Bryant and Taylor Stubblefield).

Even with his game at a lower-level than what he's accustomed to and we, as fans, are used to, he's still in contention in nearly-ever tournament in which he plays...I still think he'll win at least one major this year.

Kobe
Is there anything better in NBA basketball than watching Kobe pout and bitch his way to losing an NBA playoff game? I don't think so...and it's even better that Carl Landry can be part of it. I also like the fact that Brooks, who reminds me of an NBA Jam (circa the early-90s) point guard, is making it rain v. the Lakers.

Harder to win from a cell...

One of the IRL's stars, Helio Castroneves might not be racing next season. According to the Miami Herald, he, along with his sister have been indicted on tax evasion charges. $5 million isn't an oversight, it's a conscious effort to avoid payment...He might be going to jail, it seems to me.

So, who takes his place on Penske's team for the season if he's sent to jail?