It's #Indianapolis500 RACE DAY!!

Today is my "other" Christmas.  There is no doubting the parallel. 

During that late-November and December time frame, it's really about how I feel.  It's a great time of year.  It's the build-up.  Then, Christmas Day comes and goes and it's over. 

The Month of May is the same for me.  Six or so hours from now, it will all be over and I'll be counting down until next year. 

This May has been a weird one for me.  I'm used to listening to "Trackside" and "The Talk of Gasoline Alley" on my drives to and from work, as well as through the work day.  However, I've been unemployed since the middle of April.  It's been hard to get into the "flow" of things.  I don't want to say my excitement for the month was gone, but I feel my dedication was. 

I've already cleaned off the grill to make the post-race burgers.  If you follow me on Twitter, you've probably seen some of my smoking (meat) and grilling pics.  It's become my "other" hobby.  I'm always excited to see how the food comes out.  Hopefully it's better than the last time.  I can say that my bride-to-be and stepson don't seem to have too many complaints. 

My point on the grilling?  It's kind of like the Christmas dinner.  It's tradition (albeit a new one for me).

Today is another celebration for me.  After 54 years, this will be the last Indianapolis 500 broadcast on ABC (for now).  MSESPN and ABC have shit the bed on their (limited) IndyCar coverage for at least a decade.  This day is long overdue.  I'm not going to go on about how bad they are.  If you care about IndyCar, you know.  If you don't care about IndyCar, you don't care. 

If you're interested to tune in for some fantastic, competitive auto racing, race coverage begins on ABC at 11am ET.

My predictions:

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:  It's a pretty strong crop among the four drivers.  Robert Wickens has been competitive all season and close to winning races.  Both Matheus Leist and Zachary Claman DeMelo have had a lot of speed the last two weeks.  Kyle Kaiser may be the "weakest" of the four, but he's the defending Indy Lights (the IndyCar equivalent of AAA baseball) champion. 

I'm going with Leist.   Wickens and Claman DeMelo have very limited oval experience and the track may eat both of them up today.  Leist has been fast and is with the (much) more experienced team with A.J. Foyt. 

LONGSHOT TO WIN:  If you have a solid, working knowledge of recent IndyCar history, you won't consider this name a longshot.  I don't think anyone reading this is a huge IndyCar fan, though, and has never heard of Carlos Munoz.  This will be his only IndyCar race of the season and it would be no surprise to see him win.

PICK TO WIN:  Alexander Rossi.  Maybe it's personal because I want an American to win.  But I pick the American with a European name. 

DANICA:  Not a serious factor.  Spends most of the race in the 10-15 range until she does something stupid.  Bye, Felicia!  Don't let the door hit you. 

Since every blog post NEEDS an image...I'll leave you with some of my 1960 Parkhurst Hawes Wax Indy (Parkhurst Indianapolis Speedway Winners) cards. 

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Make sure if you're shopping online (including eBay) that you're using ebates.  Four times a year, the amount I get back is put into my Paypal account, and I have it for more cards.  Click on that link and once you've spent $25 (remember to go THROUGH ebates), you'll get $10 put into your account.  

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