Hello there, my Star Wars brothers and sisters. I write this blog with much anticipation, in fact, it might be said that I'm actually giddy, sort of like Rive Caedo when the girl scout troop plans to take a field trip. You see, not only am I passionate about Star Wars (shocking I know), but I'm equally passionate about motorsports. And the source of my giddiness this week has to do with my passion for racing, because the pinnacle of motorsport (in my humble opinion) is coming near my neck of the woods here in the central part of the good 'ol U S of A. Yep, that's right, the Formula 1 traveling circus lands in Indianapolis this weekend. The Speedway is racing holy ground, and I've been able to attend the USGP at Indy since 2003.

I've gone each time with the same friend, Colby, who is a motorsport fanatic like me. He's not so much into Star Wars, but I don't hold that against him. Last year's "race" turned into more of a test session for the six cars that run Bridgestone tires since the teams that used Michelin tires were not able to safely compete in the race. The Michelin tires had issues with Turn 12 where the cars leave the infield and enter the banking of the oval track.

I'm not going to dwell on last year. It was a fiasco, and let's just leave it at that.

Let's focus on what this year's race might bring. So far this season, the races have been fairly lacking from a competitive standpoint, since the defending champion, Fernando Alonso of Renault has been dominating thus far. This will be the tenth race of the season, and Alonso has yet to finish worse than second place (point of fact, he has not even been passed on the track yet this season). That can make for some pretty uneventful finishes. Hopefully, my boy Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren/Mercedes can step up and make a legitimate challenge for the win (although a podium finish is most likely for him), or maybe Michael Schumacher of Scuderia Ferrari can beat Alonso to the checkered flag.

We shall see.

Of the races won so far this season, Alonso has 6 wins, his Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella has 1 win, and Schumacher has claimed the remaining 2 wins. Raikkonen has managed only 4 podium finishes thus far (1 second place and 3 third place finishes).

Basically, I have nothing against Fernando Alonso, he's a great driver and Renault have obviously built a great car, but I just want someone to be able to get up front and mess with him. Make it close at least! Somebody, anybody?

Motorsports aren't so much of a passion for Brooke, so she usually takes a pass on this sort of stuff. That's okay, I always look at the positive side of things. If she passes on going to a race with me, then in my little male brain that equates to a baby shower (or some other function that I really want to weasel my way out of) that I can possibly skip later. See how nice that works out.

This year there will be four of us going to the race. Me, Colby, Colby's dad, and Bryan (another friend that digs f1).

One of Brooke's friends has let me borrow her digital camera for the trip, so I'm going to try and have some cool pics of the race to post next week. That is, provided I don't get too involved with the race (uhm, or too drunk at the race) and forget to actually take some pictures. Don't laugh, that has happened in the past. Our seats are front row upper deck in the main grandstands, right across from the pit lane.

We have a roof over our heads, a beer stand right nearby, as well as restrooms very close by. As the engineering nerd that I am, I can watch the garages and see what the mechanics are doing and as the cars stage to the starting grid, I get to really view the mechanical elegance of these cars. In short, we're set up real nice.

Indianapolis, here we come!!