Polite Dissent

The Sunday before Memorial Day is one of my favorite days of the year. Friends come over, the barbecue is fire up, and we settle in for 1100 miles of racing good news.

My family’s originally from Indianapolis, so we’ve always watched the Indianapolis 500. I did my Family Practice residency in Indianapolis and lived a little over a half-mile from the track; every May I loved the fact that from my back porch I could here the cars practicing. I was hoping Michael Andretti would finally have his chance to win, and while he was leading with four laps to go, it was mostly due to pit-stop timing and he clearly didn’t have a car that stood a realistic chance of winning. It looked like his son Marco would be able to pull it off, but Sam Hornish was able to pass him in the last few hundred yards. While it would have been nice for an Andretti to win, Hornish has had his own problems in past Indianapolis 500s, so he deserved a win too.

In the evening is the Coca-Cola 600, the longest — and usually one of the best — NASCAR races. Kasey Kahne’s speed is impressive this year, both in qualifying and race day. Tony Stewart looked like he was in a great deal of pain, particularly arm pain, and I would not be surprised to find out he’s got more of an injury than they’re letting on — probably a rotator cuff injury. And Kyle Busch – what a complete ass! He’s worse than his brother ever was.

(I managed to slip in watching some Giro d’Italia between the car races. The Giro is the premier Italian bicycle race. From what I’ve seen so far in the Giro and earlier races, Ivan Basso looks like the man to beat for this year’s Tour de France).

In between the two races, I fire up the grill. This year, I cooked several racks of my special spare ribs, some authentic smoked sausage from the local butcher’s, and some ginger/wasabi chicken for the Polite-Wife. I also cooked up a surprisingly sweet black bean and roasted pepper relish. We topped it all off with a Tortuga rum cake.

All in all, a satisfying, if calorie-laden, day.