Ok, so for the past couple of years the fire dept (Richland) has been manning a consession stand down and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) as a fund raiser for the department. Due to my work schedule, yesterdays Motor GPX race was the first of these fundraisers I was able to be a part of.
First of all, we have to arrive to "set- up" our stand an hour before the gate opens, which means that we have to be there by 6 in the AM! There by necessitating our leaving the fire house at approx 4am, there by requireing me to get up at 3am! So already a pretty bad day right? So we get down to the track and begin to set up. As this was my first time, i was a runner to the seasond vets who had been here many times. Along the way I asked some of those members who were in charge of this fiasco just how much money do we make? The answer probably shouldn't have shocked me, but i'm not gonna lie, it did. We make approx 12% of everything. Now we served burgers, hot dogs, brats, candy, coffee, hot chocolate, soda and beer, nachos and some other odds and ends.
After hearing the 12% figure i did some quick math. For every case of of beer that we sell, ( and keep in mind that the customers are limited to 2 beers per transaction) we make just under 10 dollars. This was decent i thought as a case of beer in the store is about 20 bucks cold so we were making half on beer.
The was a GPX race rolls is that it is actually a bunch of little races with the headlining race at the end, much like a boxing match, with the undercard and such. So our little stand which was located at turn 1 ( stand 6 if you want to buy some food or beer next time!!) would be slow during the individual races but then would get slammed during the breaks. We had a little 10 gallon water heater that spit ot piping hot water with which to make the hot drinks, that we outpaced more than once, as well as we were more than once hustling to get more food made during the rush. But it was all well and good and we got to mingle with people from all over the world and they got to help out the fire dept, everybody wins...kinda...
It is after all a race, and only one person can be the winner. As i was working as a cashier for the stand I was able to take a straw pole on who the customers as to who they thought would win the "main event." It seemed like a fellow named Rossi was the odds on favorite. Well as the last rush came to a lull we were given the oppertunity to scope out some of the race from some rather good seats. We took turns and rotated it out ( the stand still needed cleaned) So when it was my turn we got up there and about four laps into watching, I am convinced that there is something seriously wrong with these guys on the bikes. First of all, driving close to 200 (thats no typo!) mph on nothing but a bike it nuts! Secondly when you are turning at such a speed that you have to have your knee scrape the pavement to keep balance, you're nuts. Third. When you make said turn your head is approx 4-6inches from said pavement...all at 200mph!! You have to be crazy to do that. I mean who wakes up in the morning and says, this is a good idea. Just to give you some numbers, these bikes are going the distance of a football field in one second. Thats less time that it takes you to read this sentence. To put this in a little but of a perspective, that about 1/4 speed of a .22 bullet! To me that is CRAZY!!!!!! But anyway so there we were watching the race and right in front of us that Rossi guy everybody thought was going to win, and was currently running in second and hotly contesting first place, lays his bike down and 200 mph and slides about 50 yards down the track sparks flying and then proceeds to slide about 40 yards until thankfully the wall stops him. So out comes the ambulance to check him out and the track moves to a caution, but wait...whats this...Rossi simply gets up, brushes himself off, hobbles to his bike, starts 'er up and gets back into the race! I was stunned, this guys just wiped out hard, and now he wants to keep going!!!??? I understand these guys are professional and this is there job but there has to be a little part of them that knows that this is nutty!! Any way as a side note Rossi lasted just a few more laps and had to quit the race due to mechanical problems...duh, you mean like would result from a 200 mph wreck? Im not say sayin, just sayin!!
Anyway the FD might have cleared 400 bucks profit which means that all 11 of us make about 2 bucks an hour for our 12 hour day. I know right...those gys are crazy!!!
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