Looking ahead to 2012...

It's that time of year my professional line of work (construction) tends to wind down a bit due to weather and, as the snowflakes fall, I want to recall a warmer, more enjoyable time of the year... Late-May.

Looking to Mays both past and ahead, just 168 days remain to departure for the 2012 Indy 500 trip. I begin to think about details and planning and improvements to the previous trip which leads to that monumental answer to the annual question that I cannot pose soon enough...

WHO IS THE CARB DAY BAND?!

Monumental stuff to be sure as I have a fair group of people who are able only to come down for Carb Day and overnight, not the whole of the weekend. 

Plans must be made. Budgets combed through. Proper food and accommodation must be arranged. I take my trip and my hospitality VERY seriously. I also realize the band is very likely not selected at this point, so if the decision-makers are in the house, I'd like to offer my annual suggestions for Carb Day band selection, in no particular order...

On the heels of what was, in my opinion, a (maybe shouldn't be, yet very surprisingly) great show by ZZ Top in 2010, my standard is found in a veteran touring band with musical chops, extensive catalog and popularity, and ability to easily rock the 19-49 year-old demographic equally. 

I submit for your consideration three HUGELY popular bands currently available in mid-2012:

1. Red Hot Chili Peppers

2. Pearl Jam

3. ABBA

OK, so the third option was facetious but the point could be made that ABBA is equally attractive as your crapcore bands such as Papa Roach or other infamous representative markers of a genre, depending on the audience you are attempting to attract. A broad appeal is always better if sheer volume of traffic is your goal, HOWEVER...I would like to propose an idea which isn't totally original yet would seem to be a great way to appeal to a more broad spectrum - adopt a single-day/festival approach. 

Instead of a single headline Carb Day band with smaller bands during the Month of May schedule, (of which most have a minor audience), bring that variety of bands (much as you have already) but allow them all to play on Carb Day. Two separate stage areas - one larger stage as we have today, and a smaller one down near the Turn 3-4 area. Have each of 4 to 6 bands play 60-75 maximum minutes with the two stages going concurrently. 

Two bands on the larger Miller Lite Stage is really no different than what exists today, with more popular (read: current) bands, one skewing to the younger set and one to the older demographics. On the smaller stage, incorporate other popular styles such as Jam Bands or other bands representative of different eras (read: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy as swing, etc.). IMS is certainly large enough to house two stages in this manner and the result is very likely a win-win as I see it.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a rich and extensive history. To honor the many traditions and eras as possible on Carb Day would seem to make it a richer experience for more attendees, and also could very well be more lucrative for IMS by charging the paltry sum of $40-50 (or double what was charged in 2011 and 4 times the 2009 rate) for an 'all-you-care-to-experience' of Carb Day in the future.

Indycar Slang Dictionary

As it has quite possibly been well overdue to become reality, (and since some insist that silly season isn't really in full-swing yet) we here at the Ground(ed) Effects blog hereby provide an open space for Indycar fans to participate in (what I believe to be) the first ever Indycar Slang Dictionary.


Your valuable assistance will help reduce the painful embarrassment thousands of newer or lesser informed Indycar fans may be forced to endure every day around their workplace, home, forums, or Twitter accounts, by not having the best slang or popular reference associated with the sport of Indycar.  Please help us all keep abreast of the current and past lingo associated with the wildly popular Indycar Series by submitting today.

Please submit (either via email to groundedeffects@gmail.com or simply as a comment below) your Indycar slang words with part of speech, definition, and an example of how the word is used. While this space is meant to be fun and not an official product of Indycar, IMS, or Hulman & Co. branding in anyway, we also do not aim to violate any copyright laws, so...

NOTE: If your word is an unregistered trademark, unlicensed service mark, or registered trademark, please do not submit. If you want are unsure of the origin is trademarked,  please refer to The US Patent and Trademark Office registry or if the owners of such items wish to submit for reference, we will accept them here. 

Again, we are searching primarily only for slang or popular references. If you only have only a word of reference, we will attempt to complete the definition as best we can.  Further, we will attempt to continue to compile ad infinitum for posterity (or at least until people quit submitting/ceases to be fun).

Some early submissions include:
Visoed
King Hiro
chrome horn
Conweezy
jawn
TGBB
crapwagon
Offy
Cossie
Princess Sparkle Pony
lump
Milka

Please feel free to throw words here for submission. I'll review them and contact you with any questions.  Many thanks for you assistance!

A family I never knew I had.

It's been a little less than a week since the tragedy of the Wheldon accident and I've been a bit surprised about a few things and the following thoughts have become apparent.

The Unexpected Grief: I don't know the Wheldons personally in anyway, yet felt much more grief and loss than I may have expected if and when the day came that an Indycar driver died while racing. Just by using the word 'if' in the previous statement makes me realize what a false sense of security had existed when it comes to Indycar racing. I've seen too many very ugly, flipping, twisting Indycar wrecks, only to have the vast majority of drivers escape with relatively minor-to-moderate injury and certainly life not threatened.

The Lack of Editorial Decorum: By both mainstream media and by other newer forms, much of what was thrown out by a relatively uninformed majority of media that reported on this event was largely wasteful (reporting of others reporting), harmful (endless replays of the crash footage), and opinion-based drivel. I will not link to the specific evidence here, suffice to say that NBC, CNN, Wall Street Journal, ABC's 'The View', and GOOD magazine/blog, were all ignoring their significant lack of knowledge and leveraging the tragedy for little more than their own sensationalist gain. The reprehensible nature of this 'death porn' coverage shows zero respect for those most affected and the responsibility lies with those persons and their editors/producers who choose how and what the story is to fit their own narrow agenda. So far from quality journalistic reportage this was that my distaste for those certain media outlets is greater than ever before. In the wake of this putrid and trashy coverage, I would be seriously remiss if I didn't mention that genuine and respectful reportage was done by some who chose to report the facts as they came, and not sensationalize the event. ABC/ESPN's live race coverage was immediately and appropriately highly concerned and their follow-up reporting was proper by all accounts of those who follow this sport. 'Beat' writers such as Nate Ryan of USA Today, Marshall Pruett of SpeedTV, Ryan McGee of ESPN, and Jenna Fryer for AP all contributed in appropriate manners and their approaches are to be commended, but again, they are familiar with this sport whereas the poorest of coverage comes from outlets who have admittedly no knowledge of the sport, yet feel compelled to spew forth with sweeping opinion and scornful declarations which do nothing but more damage. 

The Social Media Family: Twitter and, to a lesser degree, Facebook have enabled a tighter Indycar community through rapid and voluminous communication. In the case of this tragedy, events can be openly discussed and the goodness of human nature was made evident with tremendous immediacy. So much outpouring of help and goodness toward the Wheldon family as a result of this tightness reminds us all of how a community (despite the lack of geographical bounds) is to respond in troubled times. In some ways, I believe we all have a basal need for community and now more than ever there are multiple avenues to achieve it. This, in my view, is a good thing and just being in 'conversation' via Twitter, blogs, Facebook and the like have allowed us all to better handle the grieving process we feel as the dedicated followers of this sport.

That last item has been especially helpful in the wake of Wheldon's death as it is a surprising and newer dynamic to me. Very much in line with most familial dynamics, we can fight and bicker among ourselves, yet when an 'outsider' attacks our kindred, we are quick to band together against the 'invader' as was seen with our replies to the ill-informed opinions which called for many things to 'correct' the wrongs of our sport. I grew up in a very small family. Two parents and me. Many cousins, mostly distant whose sharing of live essentially only came at annual holiday gatherings or major family events.

So it with some surprise I found a deeper appreciation for this Indycar 'family' which, by one view, is made up of little more than strangers who are bound by enthusiastic common interest and adept electronic communication. What I've found though, behind the facades of blogs and Twitter accounts and Facebook groups and Flickr albums, are people. 

People who are generous, funny, kind, sad, concerned, happy, involved, angry, creative, old, young, wise, naive... people. 

I'm glad to get to know you all (in varying degrees) and appreciate all of our interactions. I hope we help each other more than we know. I aim to do my part to continue making this Indycar family a positive place for years to come.