Even without cars on the track, it was apparent that though the times are changing in terms of mechanical specifications, qualifying formats and the like, the spirit of the “Month of May” has remained the same.

Fans meet Penske driver Helio Castroneneves Wednesday May 26, 2010 at Community Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indianapolis, Indiana (Dan Helrigel,IMS)

Community Day brought families to the track and into the pit area and garages which were open to anyone for the day.

A lot of of fathers and sons were at the track Wednesday.

‘The track” as we call it in Indiana, is where my dad took me and photographed me in front of about every semi-trailer there was when we would go every year.

About 15 years later I get the same feeling when I walk  the grounds of the 2.5 mile oval. The engines sound the same to me, (it doesn’t matter what chassi they use),  the beer still smells the same , and I got still get a sun burn.

Wednesday fans got a chance to meet the drivers and get autographs.  Helio Castroneves drew long lines.

I don’t ever remember getting an autograph as a kid,  but I remember coming home with the same cloth checkered flag each time and tons of SWAG long, before we called it SWAG.

Cars like 1982 Rick Mears car from the Indianapolis 500 Museum were on display on pit row Wednesday.

Rick Mears, Emerson Fittipaldi, Arie Luyendyk, Al Unser Jr and Micheal Andretti were idols when I was a kid.

Helio is the closest thing in my mind those guys.

Thursday we’ll have interviews with the drivers that make up the field of 33 for this Sunday’s race (1 p.m. ET ABC).

Our coverage will continue all the way up until the winner chugs from the bottle of milk Sunday afternoon.

The photos below are courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Photo by Dan Helrigle IMS

Photo by Chris Jones IMS

(Photo by Bret Kelley IMS)

There are a number of items to discuss regarding this race, so lets take a few minutes to discuss some of the items that make this such a pivotal race in the schedule:

1) This is the race before the Indy 500. That means we are seeing a few drivers this weekend that are in it mainly to gain some seat time before transitioning the World’s Greatest Race Course, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Two drivers come to mind there, Milka Duno and Sarah Fisher. They will both be in the race this weekend and will transition some of their experience from this weekend to the month of May.

2) This weekend is the first oval of the season. The past two races have been on temporary street circuits. They are bumpy, curvy and not ideal for side by side racing. Now, we move over to the super smooth, super fast and super tight racing of a high speed oval. For a driver’s psychological preparation as well as the physical preparation, they must address this race much differently than the races so far in 2009. Rest assured, they are professionals and will have no problem adapting to those changes, but from a fan’s perspective it can be easy to look pass some of the subtle nuances of what impacts the drivers of the IndyCar Series.

3) We have a shot at a three-peat. Dan Wheldon won this race both in 2007 and 2008 with Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Now, with his move to Panther it should make it more interesting. It will be tough to pull it off given the first oval race with a new team. Panther has been very successful in the past on ovals and given another year I think Dan could win at Kansas. My gut tells me not this year. But, just in case you wanted another reason to watch…there you go.

Recap and Prediction:

This is a great racetrack. 1.5 miles in length and a 200 lap race. The first oval of the season and a couple of drivers who are far less than full time that are entered into the mix. I expect it be a very close race and that it will come down to Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti. Who will take the checkered? Watch and find out.

The INDYCAR SERIES ROADRUNNER TURBO 300 AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY IS APRIL 26th at 4pm Eastern and is only on VERSUS! Tune in…

We will have a race recap on Monday to discuss the results.

Also be sure to check back throughout the Month of May with updates live from INDY!!!

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The United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis was left off the 2008 calendar and in 2009 that continues. There are rumors about a potential return for the World’s most watched racing series to the United States. If anything, I feel this has become even less likely with the new schedule for Formula 1. In 2007 and the years prior, it made some sense to have a US date when there was a Canadian date. Logistically, this made the trip overseas much more viable. With the removal of Canada from the Grand Prix season, the only thing that could bring the Formula 1 circus back to America is an awful lot of dough.

Tony George has made it clear he would welcome back a Formula 1 race to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In 2000, he spent millions of dollars to revamp the inside of “The Worlds Greatest Racecourse”, so more F1 races would certainly help to pay for those improvements. The most recent news we have there is that they are searching for a “big league” corporate sponsor to help with the dollars requested by Formula 1 to host an event.

What will ultimately happen? No one really knows. We do know that for fans of Formula 1 here in North America, it could be a long time until we hear those beautiful engines again in person.

2009 Schedule Released on 10/07/2008:

2009 FIA Formula One World Championship:
29 March Australia
5 April Malaysia
19 April Bahrain
10 May Spain
24 May Monaco
7 June Turkey
21 June Great Britain
28 June France
12 July Germany
26 July Hungary
23 August Europe (Valencia)
30 August Belgium
13 September Italy
27 September Singapore
11 October Japan
18 October China
1 November Brazil
15 November Abu Dhabi

[tags]auto racing, formula 1, tony george, indianapolis motor speedway[/tags]