Indy 500: Rob and Bob's blog - part 8 

For the 2008 Indianapolis 500 we will be bringing you all the latest news and thoughts from our dynamic pair of journeymen in the field Robert Rakete and Bob McMurray.

We are with them as they travel from New Zealand across to Indianapolis to make the ONE Sport Indianapolis 500 Preview show for screening on May 25 from 4:30pm within Powerbuilt Tools Motorsport on TV ONE.

From May 16 there will be daily reports

May 20: Bob is again greeted with dreary Indy weather but he still finds a welcoming racing community, while Rob is left drooling in an American supermarket

Hooray!    

It's raining in Indianapolis again.

Before the rain actually started we managed to visit a few places and actually did some filming for the show.

Small Things?

First up was John Godfrey. An expat kiwi who builds some of the best chassis that money can buy for the midget community. (That's midget speedway racing a la Western Springs by the way not...... oh never mind), anyway his company is Spike Chassis and he used to be Stealth chassis and equally famous manufacturer up here.

He then took us to another midget racing team called Number 9 Racing Incorporated where we spoke with the Team Manager Kelly Drake.

The operation they have there is unbelievable and they operate their Toyota powered cars from an immaculate workshop that also contains the biggest, flashest, most impressive race truck you can imagine. The tractor unit (the size of my three car garage) contains the driver and passenger compartment, and then a three seater couch on one side and opposite that a table and chairs, then a fridge and a bathroom on one side and a micro wave and cupboards on the other. A rear entrance to all this (which is already comparable to a motor home) leads to the gap between the tractor unit and the trailer and the steps to ground level. Then the other half of the tractor is actually attached to the trailer!

What a set up.

Big Things

So, we set out to find more workshop doors open and stumbled on the US importer of First Karts and manager Mike showed us his operation and his truck that was already loaded with a couple of dozen karts, with more to come, in preparation for a race meeting this coming weekend.

His truck also comes with a canopy of 75 feet by 35 feet (sorry about the imperial but that's what they use here, you can do the math) to house the karts and guest operation.
Across the road then to meet and talk with Jeff Ray the President of ARC engines and he showed us engines for the top dragsters here that produce in excess of 8000 horsepower from 500 cu in. That was an eight followed by THREE zeros.

They also burn some 100 gallons per minute so it's lucky they only take about 4 seconds for each run!

Other places followed and all were equally as amazing in their own way.

American Diet

Back to the hotel and a bit of stocking up with provisions for the hotel room at the local market on the way.

The photo of the day is Rob just as he is starting to buy the health food.

Chips, cheese dip, well packaged cholesterol, and all manner of unmentionable stuff.

All the people we have met (and I am sorry to seem as if I am banging on in this vein) have been so accommodating and open in letting us see and film anything and everything in their workshop and talk with us about whatever we wanted to discuss.

A far cry from the protective Formula 1 mentality or even that of the V8 Supercar teams. These guys are actually happy to see us.
If you have ever felt that the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes, then that is the sort of feeling that some self important racing organisations manage to convey.

Not these people here. We all wear tuxedos. Well, actually jeans and T shirts but you get my drift.

Have a nice day now.

Bob

Rob says:

Hotel life is funny.

First of all you wake up a lil' confused wondering where you are and hoping you haven't woken up in a stranger's bed (note: just to clarify this doesn't happen to me ever).

I also knew I wasn't at home when I woke up at 3 this morning and grabbed the bottle of water next to the bed. My bottle at home has a sipper top, the bottle next to my bed here doesn't. I discovered this as I poured a bottle of water all over my face. So I did what any guy would do&cursed, rolled over to the dry side, and went back to sleep.

Dry and rested I was ready to face another day in the great state of Indiana, where the team headed out to Brownsburg, the new motorsport hub for racing teams. If it's got 4 wheels and goes fast you'll find a garage for it here. We met alot of really cool people who were kind enough to let us bowl on in and shoot their set up. Met a guy called Mo who works for Brian Stewart Racing (they ran Wade Cunningham in Indy Lights). Mo is from Te Puke, 70 years old, and has lived in Canada for many years as a head mechanic. He was awesome. Full of fantastic stories about motorsport back in the day&he even dated Denny Hulmes sister!

Productive Day

To be honest Mr. McMurray did most of the work today as I sat around eating peanut M&M's, calling home, looking intently at the script, texting, and shopping. My eldest wants me to bring home Cap'n Crunch cereal - that's what I'm holding in our photo of the day. I love US supermarkets! So much junk food. Totally un-PC, I could feel my arteries clogging up as I bought Oreos, and Classic Coke in those Classic Coke bottles.

The show is coming together well, lots of fun and interesting things to show you and we hope you will enjoy the various stories we have shot when the show screen this Sunday. One of the highlights of our trip so far has been listening to Bob talking to Jonny Reid after his rookie test for the Indy Lights race this week. Jonny sounded totally amped and we can't wait to catch up with him!

I once spent an afternoon following Jonny around a kart track. That boy is very fast and I am very slow. Still it was a great way to spend the day and he is a top guy.
Ok time to get changed and grab dinner. Have a great day and thanks for reading our blog!

Like the blog? Want to see the video ------ then remember the show from Indianapolis screens Sunday May 25th within PowerBuilt Tools Motorsport from 4:30pm on TV ONE.

ONE Sport brings you all the race action plus pre and post-analysis of the Indy 500.

Be watching TV ONE, Sunday May 25 at 4:30pm