Yup, somebody said that. On TV. The Brickyard 400 was today. One of the local stations was interviewing people at the track in the morning before the race. A woman said the above when asked if there was any crowd when she and her family entered the track.

The bigger theme here is that the race has lost its mojo. When we first came here in 1994, we had to stay in Ohio because there were no rooms to be had in Indianapolis. I mean there wasn’t not any rooms there. Even just a few years ago we were reserving our rooms a year in advance and paying double the normal rate. This year we reserved a few weeks ago and got a discount.

The economy may be to blame. But it may also be the fact that the race hasn’t been great in recent years. This year was no exception; one driver, Jimmie Johnson, was in his own zip code he was so much faster than everyone else. It’s still fun to be there. The cars sound great, look awesome and you really feel them when all 43 race into turn 1. New (to us) this year; they lined the cars up right in front of the stands before the race. We heard and felt an awesome rumble when they fired up and took off for the parade lap.

The last few days have been very hot and muggy. Today was a bit cooler (high 80’s) and much drier. Once the sun swings around to the west a little bit, our seats go in to the shade and on a day like today, we are pretty comfortable.

Tomorrow starts the return trip. We’ll go about 2,300 miles, a bit more direct than the trip here. There are no more off days; we drive every day until we get home.