The Indianapolis 415

It was an ugly, ugly race.

I knew Indy had made some rules changes. For starters, the IRL is now running on 100% ethanol. They changed the fuel tank sizes, and eliminated the “dial-a-mixture” option that let a driver trade speed for fuel mileage when the situation called for it. But there must’ve been some other changes, because this was a totally different race than what I’ve seen in the last several years. Impressions:

• Rain, rain, go away. Bad enough that we had to sit through a three-hour rain delay at lap 113, unsure if they’d get the track dry in time to restart. Worse, they only managed another 53 laps before the rain came back and ended the race for good. Poor Tony Kanaan, who led the pack into the delay, must be truly annoyed that they took away his victory when it was obvious to everyone that they still wouldn’t be able to make the full 500 miles before the rain returned.
• Clean track, messy race. Speaking of rain, apparently, it had been raining on the track all day Saturday, too. That cleaned off all of the rubber that a full month of practice and qualifications had deposited, leaving the track clean, pristine…and very, very slick. There were seven separate one-car crashes that appeared to be at least partly caused by a car straying off the groove. Granted, they were also partly caused by less-experienced drivers coming up too fast on competitors, and having to dodge or slow down too fast – but that sort of thing doesn’t usually lead to this many cars hitting the wall
• Nobody ever pulled away from the pack. Usually, there will be a “lead pack” of three or four cars, then another small group of cars that stay on the lead lap without ever really being competitive, then a whole bunch of cars that gradually slip farther and farther off the lead. I’m accustomed to seeing a few cars five or more laps behind by the halfway point, and as many as ten or fifteen laps down by the end, with several cars scattered out with lesser deficits. Not this time. Little Al did fall five laps back by the end, but the next-slowest driver still running was only three laps back, and there were 13 cars still on the lead lap. There would have been 17 if not for a major accident right before the rain. The huge number of cautions probably had something to do with that – 10 separate yellows for 55 laps, about 1/3 of the race. But mostly I think that no one had the speed to really pull away…almost like the cars had governors installed to restrict everyone to the same maximum speed. I’m sure that isn’t literally true, but I suspect the rules changes may have had much the same effect.
• Cascading lead changes. There were nine different race leaders, and they swapped out positions 24 separate times – and that doesn’t count the times when someone would take the lead in the first turn, and then lose it again before they crossed the Yard of Bricks. Nobody had enough speed to hold on to the lead…they couldn’t overcome the speed advantage of the car drafting behind them. Besides, the pit stops got skewed during the various cautions, so every time the leader came in for a refuel, someone else could stay out and take over. It made for exciting racing, I suppose, but it also made things very hard to follow. There was just no way to tell who was doing well and who merely held the lead because the real leaders were making up ground from their last pit stop. Dario never really seemed to be challenging for the lead…but when the checkered flag came out, there he was in front.
• Safety first. As if the seven single-car incidents weren’t enough, Marco Andretti made an ill-considered pass right at the end, and took out himself and three other cars. His car flipped, and it looked like he ran about a hundred yards with his helmet touching the track. Despite all that, there were apparently no serious injuries…Marco even gave an interview outside the clinic shortly after the race. I’m not sure that I like ALL the rules that control the cars’ setups…but you can’t fault the safety devices.

I still enjoyed the race, of course. The imminent rain added a sense of urgency to every lap, and every lead change. Seeing Marco and Danica in second and third when the first rain delay hit was very exciting – though disappointing when they finished 24^th and 8^th, respectively. And I sort of like Dario, so I’m pleased to see him win. All the same, I hope they tweak the rules a bit next year to give the mechanics a little more freedom to stand out…and I REALLY hope it stays dry next Memorial Day Weekend!

A Tasteful Hobby

I found a man with an amazingly expensive hobby. We went to a small restaurant in Indianapolis, named Shultz's. It didn't look like much, inside or outside, but my dad had been there once before and recommended it highly. Just as we were seated, the waiter came to take our drink orders, dropping off two baskets of appetizers before we could think about ordering them. One basket contained fried biscuits and apple butter - not an unknown dish in Indiana, where if we can't fry it, it must not be edible. But these had the light, fluffy, smooth texture of store-bought biscuits, cobined with the flavor of homemade, fried to a beautiful and even golden-brown. The other basket held tortilla chips and pico de gallo - again, standard fare, but not done like this. The chips were actual tortilla shells, cut in quarters and deep-fried to a flaky, crispy perfection, then lightly salted and delivered to the table still too hot to eat...though they were too good for that to stop us. The pico was merely very good - fresh, chunky, maybe a little too mild. After all, we were in Indiana, where hot sauce is an import.

I looked over the menu and saw several tempting options, but my father took the choice away from us, and we had a true Hoosier standard - pork tenderloin sandwiches and onion rings. Only five onion rings in an order, hardly enough for a side dish, I thought, but he only asked for two helpings to share between the four of us. When they arrived, I understood. If you take a large onion, cut it in half, then separate the layers and dip and fry the resulting bowl-sized pieces, you get these onion rings. That will, of course, leave several smaller pieces from the center of the onion, which were used to wonderful effect in the french onion soup my son ordered. The onion bits were thick in that bowl...once you made it through the thick layer of melted cheese and croutons. I'm not a fan, myself, but Michael has ordered french onion soup in a dozen places, and was looking forward to going back to Schultz's again, where he knew he could get it the way it should be.

Tenderloin sandwiches, like I said, are a Hoosier standard - I ate them in school lunches, and have fried up the frozen ones you can find in the grocery. I've even had the really good ones, dinner-plate sized, with the better breading, that you find in your better class of home-cooking-style restaurants. But I've never had one before that was not only the size of the plate, but thicker than a ham slice and tender as a good steak. The breading was not the normal cumbs, but a light coating that enhanced the flavor of the pork without covering it. I don't believe I'll ever be able to order a tenderloin anywhere else, ever again - there's just too little chance of finding it's equal.

I looked the prices over, too. About the same as you would expect from a "family-night-out" restaurant chain, like Friday's or Applebee's, or maybe a little bit lower. Of course, that only counts the food we actually paid for, as those unordered appetizers were "on the house." The only explanation is that we had found a restauranteur who truly loved his food, and wanted to share it with the world...and we were fortunate enough to benefit from his generosity. Meanwhile, he was planning to open up another couple of stores, then maybe franchise it out, perhaps eventually introducing a quality pork tenderloin somewhere outside the Midwest.

We went back on Saturday, and found a sign on the door. It thanked the regulars for their patronage, then added "but there were too few of you." Schultz's has closed for good. From Dad's conversation with the owner, it seems that this was his ninth attempt at owning a restaurant, and this one lasted a mere four months. It's got to be an incredibly expensive hobby - opening new restaurants, letting his few customers discover his wonderful food, then being forced to close down again in but a few months. If he ever decides to open number ten, though, and if I manage to hear about it, he can count on seeing me for dinner.