Grand Prix, Part the First

I'm slowly editing my way through photos from the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg this weekend, and I am up to the end of the IICS (Izod IndyCar Series) morning practice.

I'm going to apologize to both Monica Hilton (her awesome blog is linked on the left as The_Race_gIRL) and Lindy Thackston (Pit road reporter and Versus IICS coverage Presenter extraordinaire) for repeating here things they heard me mention at the race, as well as those few of you that follow me on twitter and may have read them, since I WAS tweeting throughout the day ;)

The morning started off before dawn, when I got up and hit the streets to head over across the bay to hit St Pete. I wanted to be sure to be on scene before the gates opened.

I got there by 740am, and, while waiting for the gate guards to open up, got to say hello to Will Power, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Sebastia(e)ns Bourdais and Saavedra, and shake hands with Tony Kanaan as they arrived at the track. Roger Penske nearly got waved away by security, who, per her own admission, didn't know anything about racing, before the 15-20 of us standing there all told her, almost as one, that he was Roger FREAKING Penske, owner of half the cars in the field!

I also got a text from Monica making sure I remembered to come and see her. We'd missed each other at the race last year, and had been talking over the interwebs for the past year since.

Finally, the gates opened, and I headed in, shooting the sunrise over the pedestrian bridge as I walked towards the paddock.



Even before I got there, I was shooting the cars being towed out for morning practice, and almost literally ran into Pippa Mann, a standout driver who spent last year in the Firestone Indy Lights series, and whose fanclub i am unabashedly among the members of, who was at the race trying to secure an IICS ride. If any team owners read this.......call Pippa.
(And, if any owners DO read this....call me too....I'll do any job in the series :) )



I chatted with her for a few moments before it became apparent that she was on a mission, and I wished her well and wandered into the paddock, where I walked right past Monica before my brain kicked in and told me I had passed her. We talked for a couple of moments before she had to head to pit road, and I headed for my seats to do some shooting.

I didn't stay in my seat long, indeed, I wandered around the track shooting various angles. Below are a pair of shots from well above my seats in Turn 10.


James Jakes follows Vitor Meira into the corner

Simona rolls into the corner.

I then walked towards the pits, getting THIS shot of Raphael Matos tracking Charlie Kimball through turn 1. This was taken THROUGH the fencing.


TK, Tony Kanaan, rolls through Turn 1


This is one of my fave shots of morning practice. Ryan Briscoe creates contrails as he roars down the front straight.

After coming down off the grandstands at Turn 1, I ended up talking to Lindy for a few moments. Thackston and I have been bumping into each other, off and on, at the race for the past five years or so, and one of the first things out of my mouth was an apology for nearly running her over during the deluge last year when Steve and I were heading into the Paddock to get out of the rain.

So, I had been at the track about half an hour and already talked with three of the four people I wanted to run into at the race. The day was certainly looking up!


More later....for now....I'm headed to bed!

Like a Scalded Cat

This weekend I headed down to Southwest Florida to catch the 2nd Annual Muscle Car City Car Show.

Instead of posting photos here.....just go to My Picasa Album for the straight skinny ;)

In other news........cannot WAIT for the Grand Prix this weekend!!!!!

Friendship

Valder's Musings, Rambling as they may be, on Friendship.



This is a letter I wrote out to my friends a few years back (2004), originally posted on Myspace, and I thought it should be posted here.
A short preface.
Myspace and Facebook are places for friends, and, while I HAVE made some friends there, there are also a lot of....fake, shall we say?, people on there as well.
If you ARE one of the latter, feel free NOT to respond to this.

All of you on my friends list.. you're on it for a reason, so this applies to you as well.

Letter is as follows:

Gang.... All of you on this list know me, to some degree or another. Most of you know me as a wildly energetic, fairly spontaneous, extremely goofy, highly creative, pretty thoughtful, person, and some of you have even described me as intelligent.
YOUR checks are in the mail.
A few of you know the Bri that can get highly moody, introspective, and even suicidally depressive.
What many of you probably don't realize (and there ARE obvious exceptions) is that beneath it all, I'm actually a fairly serious person, and spend a lot of time thinking over issues.
Recent events over the past couple of years have had me turning one subject over and over in my mind.
Friendship. (Yes, I was getting there, hence the name of the letter)
Once, I thought I knew all there was to know about friendship, and what it means to have or be friends.
I didn't, and I still don't.
I know that I HAVE some very special people in my life I feel privileged to CALL friends, and a few more that I'm sure actually ARE friends of mine.
I have also been forced to realize that a lot of people I thought were my friends were not.
Maybe a few of the people on this list are like that.
I'm reasonably sure about the majority of you, as I've known most of you, on average, between 8-12 years.



Some of you I've known over 20 years, and a few of you I've only known six months, but I feel like every one of you receiving this either are, or have the ability to be, my friends in real life.
I'm disinterested in developing followers, online devotees, sycophants, or 21st Century pen pals. This isn't a popularity contest for me.  If I add you to my friend's list, it's because I see something in you that makes me want to know you better, and I feel like you might be good to have in my life.
However, I've been wrong before.
I'm not going to name any names, but all of you who've known me since before August of 2002 know the story.

I'm not worried about which of you, if any, will "leave the fold" or "break the brotherhood".
People change.
Our mindsets, attitudes, and priorities change.
Loyalties fade. Life intervenes.
For some people, you will talk to me a for a few more years, maybe only months, and I'll never hear from you again.
And, no, I'm not making bets on WHO.
Others of you I'll still be talking to when we all have great grandchildren.
This I know.
However, that isn't the point of this, or, at least, not the major thrust.

I have good friends, great friends, much better friends than I deserve, and all of you have made me a better person.



But what, really, is friendship?
Is it Love?
Certainly.
Is it Loyalty?
Undeniably.
Is it familiarity?
Yes.
Is it comforting and supporting?
Indeed. (Had to, Jye)
Is it the shared experiences?
Definitely.
Is it the ability to complete another's thoughts?
Well....partly.
Is it not talking, yet still getting a meaning across?
Yup.
Is it a lack of uncomfortable silence?
Surely.
Is it growing old together?
Not always.
Is it being able to be a kid with one another all over again?
In many cases.
Is it the point of human existence?
A case COULD be made.
Is it REAL?
Real is a murky subject with too many definitions. Instead let us ask, is it tactile?
No.




What IS friendship?
Well, for some people, maybe even some of you on this list, friendship is simply the daily sharing of ideas and everyday experiences, while yet managing to NOT make a serious connection.
Some people call this friendship.
To me, this is Making An Acquaintance. And, therefore, that's not what friendship is to me.
I don't even know if I can put my definition of friendship into words, but I'm going to do my best anyway.
Friendship is baring your heart and soul to another human being, through time, and hoping they don't decide to stomp it to the dirt or throw it back in your face.
Friendship is the ability to look someone in the eye and tell them you love them, while in the same breath letting them know that you think something they are doing, or about to do, is a profound mistake.
Friendship is ignoring classifications, as it is NOT about race, gender, politics, or religion. I don't know MOST of your politics or religions, and couldn't care less about them. Whether you're a Republican, Satanist, Liberal, Jedi, Sith, Catholic, Democrat, Browncoat, Lutheran, Conservative, or Wiccan amounts to a hill of beans.
That stuff doesn't factor into why I do or don't like a person.
Same thing goes for the color of your skin or the positioning of your plumbing.
Unlike what the media seem to tell us, these things don't really effect the person you are. At least not directly.
Now, before anyone starts yelling and kicking, you know what I'm getting at. Yes, because of the color of your skin or your gender you will have encountered (and alas, still do) experiences different than that of my own growing up....but that's part of what makes us get along. More on that later.....mebbe. I don’t want to make a promise, then forget the thread I was dangling from ;-)
Friendship is standing by one another when the shit hits the fan, NOT just when times are good.
Friendship is a vital link on some deeper level than purely mental or emotional, that allows you to meet up with someone again after ten years apart and be able to pick up right where you left off, like not a day has passed.
Friendship is getting one another, understanding, if not the person, where the person is heading with any idea or statement, even if you don't always understand the idea itself.
Friendship is loving the person you know....not the memory of the person they once were. Even, and especially when, that person thinks they are unworthy of that love.
Friendship is NOT just the good times. It transcends the good and the bad. Neither is it proximity, or shared interests. Some of you live within sixty miles of me, others are five thousand miles away. But that seems not to affect our friendships one bit. Some of you love many of the same things that I do, while others have nary an overlapping interest. NONE of you share ALL of my interests (though all of you combined do and more), nor I all of yours. This is a GOOD thing, because this way we are always learning about one another this way. How boring would life be if we all agreed on every subject, all liked the same things, all thought the same ways? That's like a bad sci-fi horror movie, just waiting to happen.



Friendship is the stuff of song, the stuff of legend. "The Three Musketeers", "Star Wars", and the Arthurian Legends, to name a few, are all about friendships, among other things. And the number of songs written about friendships, well, there are some examples at the end of this letter.
So, friendship is many things, but mainly it's Chemistry.
No, not as in the science class, but...well...it's like a puzzle.
When the pieces fit, you can see the picture. When friendship clicks, the world is sharper. Nearly anybody can make me laugh, (except, strangely, people that they call comedians. That Will Ferrell is just....annoying) and you guys do it better than anyone, but friends have the ability to make you cry, as well.
For some of us, only friends, family, and spouses have that ability.

But this is for sure.
Only my friends have ever seen me cry, and even then, only a few of you.
I asked earlier if friendship is love.
Certainly, one could argue that it is the PUREST form of love, with no ulterior motives, but it's more than love.
The kind of love spoken about in movies and romance novels rarely seems to surface, and for those who have found it....grab it and never let go.
Friendship is, basically, the closest we people get to unconditional love.

Friendships, REAL friendships, outlast a lot of relationships people commonly refer to as love.



For instance, you break up with a girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse, who is there to help you pick up the pieces?
Has it happened to you more than once?
Is it a familiar cast of faces that always seem to lend their shoulders?
They are most likely your friends and family.
In many ways, your friends ARE your family, and sometimes closer.
Someone once said "Your friends are the Family you choose."
I know that I, for one, have been much closer to my friends than my family until quite recently.
I still tell my friends things I wouldn’t think of telling my family.
Friendship is also inspiration.
Friends are those people who, whether intentional or not, help us to rise above our problems, to better ourselves. They never fully give up on us, no matter how much we kick, scream, and generally try to alienate them along the way.
Friendship, in my belief, is truly the difference between LIVING and existing.
Sounds like a load of 2am bullshit, right? Consider this...I wrote this at 3pm, and am only TYPING it now.
Besides, some people think I do my best work at night ;-).
Back to the prior statement.
Bullshit, right?
Think about it. If you never learned the human interaction skills necessary to make friends, you probably will never be able to function in interpersonal settings, you'll more than likely never have a stable relationship, never get married, never have children.
If you don't leave behind some kind of impression, you won't have existed.
On that note, friends will die, but the friendship itself lives on.
I'd heard the words, but never understood their meaning until, well, I'm not going too deep into that one, for the obvious reasons. (Yeah, it still hurts)
I'll put it this way: Just because friends are gone doesn't mean they left us. I know I still think about my lost friends every day, just as I do the rest of you.
I'm sure, by now, you're asking what the point of this letter is.
Some of you, who know and understand my past, are probably starting to get scared, thinking bad news is on the way.
Breathe deep and rest easy, it's not as bad as all that.
I'm just "Thinking out loud", so to speak.
I've been doing a lot more of that lately, since I lost two very close friends, and came within a whisper of losing my own life, all within the last two years.
That kind of sequence of events will make you sit up and take notice.
That being said, I just wanted all of you to know that I love you, you ARE in my thoughts EVERY day, and i wanted you to know how much you actually mean to me.
Truly, if you're reading this, you've likely made a profound impact on my life, and I just wanted to let you know that.
I also want to apologize.
I know, for a while back there, I was insufferable.....and no, I don't mean in the letter.
You know when I meant, if you don't...ask Perry.

I also know I don't keep in touch nearly as much as I should.
I'm sorry for that, as well.
I know you all know that I love you and miss you all, I value your influences in my life, and I hope all of you realize that I'm not just mouthing words here.
I never hurts to say it again.



I love you. I wish we could see each other more often. I wish we all lived closer. I wish you all could see my thoughts and realize how much you all mean to me, singly and collectively.

I'm gonna shut up now, but I just wanted to let everyone know you've been on my mind and that I truly do, love you.
Always.
Bri




Selected songs or song excerpts referenced above. (And, yes, I'm quoting from memory) the first is a perennial favorite of mine, the last...well, you read it and tell ME why you think I like it so much.
Bon Jovi's "Never Say Goodbye"
"As I sit in this smoky room, the night about to end....I pass my time with strangers, but this bottle's my only friend. Remember when we used to park out, on the streets, out in the dark? Remember how we used to talk, about busting out, we'd break their hearts? Together, Forever. Never say goodbye, you and me, and my old friends, hoping it would never end."

the whole of Tim McGraw's "My Old Friend"
"My old friend, I recall....the times we had, they're hanging on my wall. I wouldn't trade, them for gold, 'cause they laugh and they cry me, and somehow sanctify me, and they're woven through the stories I have told....and tell again. My old friend, I apologize, for the years that have passed, since the last time you and I dusted off, those memories. But the running and the races, the people and the places, there was always somewhere else I had to be, and time gets thin...my old friend. Don't know why. My old friend, this song's for you, 'cause a few simple verses was the least that I do, to tell the world, that you were here. "Cause the love and the laughter, will live on long after, the sadness and the tears. We'll meet again, my old friend. Goodbye, goodbye. My old Friend. Goodbye."


On Losing Close Friends
When you've lost one of your closest friends, eight years is forever. And yet....I remember the phone call and subsequent events like it were yesterday.
On March 19, 2003, one of my closest friends, Scott Michael Kimsey, a USMC Sgt passed away. (He was only 26)
This weekend marks the eighth anniversary of his passing.
The funeral was six days later, and I flew back to Nebraska (yay) where we (my surviving friends and I) all shared our grief.
The internment was the hard part, or at least that was what I thought then.
It wasn't.
The hard part is every time I do or hear something I know Scottie would have liked.
I usually make it all the way through dialing his old phone number before I remember.
Scott was one of those guys, like me and many of my other friends, who take joy in many of the everyday things in life, had a great sense of humor, and made every occasion fun.
So I salute you, Scottie, and know you're watching all of us and smiling.

I can't believe it's ONLY been eight years since I last saw that smile, or heard you laugh.

I can't believe it's been eight years ALREADY since your daughters lost their daddy and Sam has been having to go it alone.

I love you, brother.
You are Always in my thoughts.
We'll party together again some day.

Scratch another off the list......

So, everyone has some kind of list of things they want to do, right?

Places you want to visit, books you want to read, concerts you want to go to, ect ect.

I have a list too, but it's about cars. I've got a list of cars I want to see and shoot, and, ever since being blown past one of the Autobahn nearly twenty years ago, I have always wanted to get up close and personal with a truly hot redhead.

Ladies and boys......the Ferrari F40.

Slick and low.

She gets wider towards the rear. But it makes for a nice view.

You TELL me that's not sexy!

After shooting the best Ferrari ever made, I spontaneously popped into Fantasy of Flight as I was about to pass it on I-4. I forgot it was a WASP visit day, and cursed when I ran into "Betty" Wall in the foyer, since I had just literally finished reading her book the day before. If I had meant to go to FOF and remembered the WASPs were going to be there, I'd have brought it for her to sign.

So, since next weekend kicks off Airshow season, I decided to fire off some shots and calibrate my timing (I shoot everything manually, not in AutoFocus, like everyone else seems to do these days.)
Since I had just shot the ride of the recurring Napkins character when I shot the F40, I was pleased to see the Stearman in the scheme I had chosen for her aircraft flying about, and of course shot her.

The Boeing Stearman PT-17 takes off.

Kermit takes the Curtiss TP-40N up for the Flight of the Day

Glamour Pass

High Speed Pullup.

After the TP-40N's demonstration, I headed over to the Florida Air Museum, which was my original secondary destination for the day, as they recently finished a repaint on their T-33A and acquired a retired C-47A.
They have also moved most of my favorite aircraft at the museum (more about that in the next blog) out of the hangars in preparation for Sun n Fun, which presented opportunities for some fun shots.

The Grumman F-14D-R Super Tomcat does some sunbathing.

The new look of the Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star. I don't like it, but then again, they didn't ask me.

After asking about the C-47A at the Museum's front desk, where it took a while to explain the aircraft I meant (Seriously, I know they're volunteers, but why work at an aircraft museum if you don't know a damned thing about aircraft??), I found out that the C-47A was off across a taxiway in a non-public part of the airport.
But damnit, I wanted my shots, and I grew up around airfields. I know how to keep my head on swivel for approaching aircraft.
So I hopped the fence, sprinted across the taxiway, and snuck across the field to shoot the symbol of early commercial aviation.

Sitting pretty


Graceful lines

while shooting a survey crew showed up and mentioned I probably shouldn't be there. I finished getting the shots I wanted and was back over the fence and had slipped into the rental car before airport security showed on the scene.

I headed back out front and shot two of the unique birds that the Florida Air Museum somehow got ahold of.

This is the Lockheed XFV-1 Salmon, a tail sitter and very rare.

This bird, though in pitiful condition, is quite rare. This is the Convair YF2Y-1 Sea Dart, the only jet seaplane ever built.

Air Museums Breakdown

Ok.....as most, if not all, of you know, I am a yearly member of the main museums in Central Florida.

So, since some of you are thinking about visiting, I figured i would give a breakdown of the main three, as I call them, I-4 museums.

The Kissimmiee museum is very.....slapdash and is much more interesting to those interested in the restoration side. Though they DO give rides in the SNJ's on the premesis, mostly they are a small operation that is notable for their restoration work, of which they are currently working on two Fw-190s, a Stearman, a MiG-17, and two TS-11_Iskras.


In Lakeland they have the Florida Air Museum which is mostly general aviation stuff, and, really, not all that interesting. Part of this is due to the fact that I know more about aviation than anyone I have ever met on the staff there, and that's not a good thing. Besides being basically a storehouse for a lot of post-WWII General Aviation home-builts, the Florid Air Museum somehow managed to get their hands on the ultra rare Lockheed XFV-1 Salmon and Convair YF2Y-1 Sea Dart, in addition to having one of the F-14D-R Super Tomcats (thoroughly demilitarized), and about six of Kermit Weeks' aircraft he doesn't have room for at Fantasy of Flight.

The best bang for your buck in Central Florida, IMHO, is Fantasy of Flight. They have aircraft from the early age of aviation up until the Korean War, and, best of all, the majority of them fly. They fly at LEAST one aircraft every day, and you never know what's going to take to the air on a given day. Add to that the fact that the staff is quite knowledgeable about the aircraft they have under their watch (if you aren't with me, that is, ;) ) and are always approachable and easy to talk to. The museum also offers biplane rides, tours of the back lot restoration and storage areas, and quite possibly the best in-museum restaurant I have ever eaten at.

So, if any of you ever want to hit an aviation attraction in central Florida, hit me up, I'd be more than happy to play tour guide, and I tend to get pretty good discounts on admission as well. Never mind the fact that everyone at FOF at least knows me by sight ;)