|
WHO WAS THAT
AGAIN?
6/7/04
Jeff Burk Photo |
Like a lot of you highsteppers, I spent the
Memorial Day weekend lumped like a load of laundry
in front of the television. Car racing a plenty.
Of course, there was the NHRA shindig, the NASCAR
Coca-Cola 600, and the venerable Indy 500. Of
the three, I spent the most time with the 500.
How could you not? The race was pummeled by
cranky Midwest monsoons, and what should have
taken three and a half hours (or so) to run,
turned into the better part of a day, or the
worst part, depending on who you were talking
to.
Because of that twist, I switched locales from
a cotton hemorrhaging 20-year-old Lazy Boy to
the local watering hole, the Studio Suite in
Valley Village, Calif. As I swung into the joint,
(the clientele know me as a racecar buff) I
could see there were a lot of highly developed
angry facial muscles, ready to spew out some
hard-edged judgments on the Indy race, which
was basking in blue over the bar.
“Martin, who are these guys?” one
voice boomed.
“Guys meaning … the racers?”
I queried.
“Yeah,” the voice socked back.
ADVERTISEMENT
 |
|
Then
I had to stop and think. I knew the names of
Sam Hornish Jr., the Freefalling Foyts and Helio
Castroneves, but overall, I could only give
a shrug of, “I dunno. The only connection
I have with cars is that of a spectator or a
passenger. Have another Drambuie, amigo.”
But that got me to thinking. The 500 really
has become anonymous. No Rutherfords, Mears,
Luyendyks, Fittipaldis, et. al. Really a faceless
crowd. Lemme show you what I mean.
Below are six names, three of which are Indy
drivers, and the remaining PGA golfers. Name
the three drivers from this list.
- Jeff Simmons,
- Michael Clark, Jr.
- Brian Kortan
- Hirofumi Miyase
- Roger Yasukawa
- Bart Bryant
|
