September 27, 2000

abid Tifosi is a phrase you'll hear from me occasionaly, if I'm talking Formula One. I don't speak any Italian (anyone out there want to help?), but Tifosi is the name granted to those people who are fans (or maybe more appropriately fanatical) about Ferrari. We had the misfortune of sitting behind several of them at the race this weekend. Perhaps I should go back to the beginning, and fill you in.

 

Due to the breakdown of my parent's motorcoach (no power steering - very bad!) I invited them along to take the extra 2 seats that Steve and I had paid for (We always get extra seats...never knowing whether we'll sell them or need the space to put our radios, cameras, and food). The schedule at the Motor Speedway was such that we needed to get up and get there fairly early, so I crawled out of bed about 4:30ish in the morning, to take a shower... after being up until 1ish watching a movie. We got on the road about 5:30AM, and got to Indianapolis at 9:30, and parked in the Coke lot, about a mile closer than I normally park for the 500 race. Oddly (to me, anyway) there was no charge for parking. Unfortunately, since we'd left Mooville, it had been raining/spitting/misting, so everything was wet. No worries for the race, since they run no matter what, but less comfortable for us, so we put on coats and ponchos, being about 60 degrees and a wind gusting to about 20 mph. We walked over to the track, and found our seats, which weren't too bad, with a nice view of turns 1 through 8, but we had just missed the Porsche Cup race in which Mario Andretti and Al Unser Jr. had run.

We sat down behind some Ferrari fans. Hard not to tell, they were wearing all red, with logos on their hats, shirts, a flag, and an umbrella. Now, I've no objection to people using an umbrella, until the point that it becomes a danger to someone else. We sat down behind the umbrella, which was being held by a young lady who had a serious case of the fidgets. She bounced up and down, she leaned from side to side, she even turned the umbrella this way and that way. Every time, it came close to taking out the eye of my father, who was the one stuck directly behind her. He withstood the onslaught for much longer than I would, and finally politely asked her to put the thing away (it hadn't been seriously raining since we got there, only misting). She carefully leaned it forward, and shook it, to clear the rain off of it before closing it. Normal behaviour, I hear you saying, and I'd agree.... except she carefully shook it so the water that came off of it went directly on the back of the person sitting in front of her. Absolutely no clue about anyone but herself, I'm afraid.

Now, I tend to try hard to live my life in a fashion in which I don't impinge too much on other people. Besides my slightly quick driving style, I tend to let people get in line in front of me when merging (unless they've blown by 50 people already, and should have merged a long time ago ::grin::). I try to understand, and to give people the politeness that I would expect to get in return. The golden rule seems to be nowhere more applicable than in dealing with strangers. Therefore, I'm completely without understanding of those who have no clue as to their impact on others...and no concern that they don't. I have mixed feelings about these people... a sympathy for them because they are so clueless, and a frustration and anger that what they do hurts others (usually unintentionally, since they don't care/have a clue about what impact their actions take).

It strikes me that in this world of increasing numbers of people, it becomes more important than ever to be polite and considerate to others... especially when those others may or may not be carrying fire arms! In fact, there is a Heinlein novel in which he writes about a society which has evolved in which dueling with firearms is the appropriate method for resolving disputes about courtesy. It's an interesting read, although dated.

OK, I've ranted enough... about a topic I've talked about before. It is just one that is near and dear to my heart :).

In any case, the race was great! I had a blast, and will do it again next year.