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May. 22nd, 2006 12:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rain_gryphonThe Akron Airdock caught fire last week, which is a shame. I used to drive by there several times a week. It's one of the biggest things you ever saw. I'm told it was originally commissioned by the Zeppelin Company as a maintenance building for cross-country passenger service, but was sold to Goodyear before it was completed, and never saw any passenger zeppelins.
This picture gives a proper idea of the size of it. It's entirely open inside, without any supporting columns or walls. It's basically the world's biggest Quonset hut. The Titanic would fit comfortably inside with room to park some airliners around it. You could open the end doors and fly a 747 through, if you had a brave enough pilot.
It's one of those buildings like the VAB, where it just doesn't look that large because the ventilators and windows are built to a heroic scale. You think you're fairly close to it, but you keep driving, and driving...
*****
Doves! They're in the air.
Doves! Beyond compare.
Doves! They steal the town.
Doves! They're upside-down.
*****
The weather forecast for next Sunday keeps improving. Thursday night it was being given as 60% chance of rain. Now it's down to just 10% :)
*****
I never did post my Five Hundred or USGP pictures from 2004, I've realized. They came right together that year, and it was all during the run-up the Morphicon #1. So...
It's early Saturday, and I'm getting up to go to Indianapolis. Flaster is annoyed. He wishes I'd quit taking his picture.
2004 was a locust year. The husks were everywhere, blown like drifts of dead leaves. As I dorve along the interstate, I could see them swirling and forming little piles and whorls by the side of the road. The noise just filled the world.
The day dawns cloudy and hazy. It's pretty obviously going to storm before the day is through, but everyone is hoping for the best. Because the track is dry, the Parade of Bands can begin on time. The pre-race parade dates back at least to the 1920s - nobody's actually certain when it began, apparently. This was one of my disappointments in High School. We won the State Championship for Marching Bands, were invited to the Cotton Bowl and Disney World, but never made the Parade of Bands.
The World's biggest drum, a tradition since 1946. University of Chicago had a larger one before the War, but Enrico Fermi managed to spill radioactive crap all over it when he was building his reactor under their grandstands, and it had to be buried.
One of the many blimps. The sky is just filled with blimps anymore. You can see how humid it is - the Indiana summer is beginning. In the midwest, in high summer, you can't see the horizon. It all just fades away to white.
Pushing out the cars.
The race begins.
One of the few photos taken of Larry Foyt. For a variety of reasons, I desperately wanted him to do well. He brought out the first yellow when he got involved in an accident with his own team mate. Shortly thereafter, it began to rain. He did actually return to the race, and make up one position.
Covering the cars. It's begun to rain, after only a few laps. The last of the field are still pulling into the pits, as the first ones in are being covered over. The bleachers in front of the glass windows are temporaries, erected in front of the F1 garages. You can just see the garage doors if you look.
It pisses and pours. This too is characteristic of an Indiana summer. In many ways, summers here are much like those in the rain forest.
People sheltering under the grandstands during the worst of the storm.
The well-loved jet dryers. Nobody wants rain, but if it has to rain, the jet dryers are at least crowd pleasers. They get a big cheer every time they come by. The Speedway owns about 10 of these, and the airport and Raceway Park have a couple too that they loan out on race day. They're just jet engines mounted on a weighted cart, and tuned for heat instead of thrust. Even at the top of the stands, you get a wave of warm kerosene-scented air washing over you. The track is magically dry where they pass. I've been going long enough to remember the old 'fire trucks', which were trucks with forced-air kerosene burners on the back. They'd drive slowly along with a big gush of orange flame shooting out of the burner bar on the back. The jet dryers are much better at drying the track, although it's probably about a tossup for coolness.
The vacuum truck sucks up the water that pools at the south end of the pits. I don't know why they never bothered to raise the track here. Water's pooled at this place since the late 70s at least. The Speedway does possess every conceivable piece of track maintenance equipment, though.
Marty Roth slides to a stop at the south end of the pits, having hit the wall partway up the front stretch.
Greg Ray lost much of his bodywork in the same accident. After a many laps long repair session, he returned to the track, hoping to pass people on attrition. This was his last Five Hundred, I suspect. In the mid 90s he was a perennial favourite to win, sitting on the pole several times when he drove for John Menard. #13 was a private entry that he scraped together without any sponsorship, one of the few unsponsored cars to compete since the War.
Eventual winner Buddy Rice leads Tony Kanaan into the first turn. These two fought a colossal duel in the closing laps of the race.
They skipped the usual post-race festivities, not even riding Rice around the track in the pace car. As soon as the race ended, they announced there was a tornado warning. I have never in my life seen the Speedway clear out that rapidly. When the tornado is coming, no-one screws around.
The tornadoes actually hit the south side of town, and missed the Speedway. That was the eeriest ride home I've ever had, though. The tornado front was crossing the highway at an angle, so it stayed about ten miles in front of me as I went. I kept passing chewed-up places where they had crossed the road, and seeing bits of scattered debris and emergency vehicles. Lots of people were stopped and sheltering under overpasses too, but I kept monitoring my radio and tracking the storm, to stay behind it.
Finally I got too close, and decided to stop at the White Castle in Mount Comfort. You can't see it, but there's a small tornado thundering past in the darkness about a quarter mile away. That was a memorable night.
This picture gives a proper idea of the size of it. It's entirely open inside, without any supporting columns or walls. It's basically the world's biggest Quonset hut. The Titanic would fit comfortably inside with room to park some airliners around it. You could open the end doors and fly a 747 through, if you had a brave enough pilot.
It's one of those buildings like the VAB, where it just doesn't look that large because the ventilators and windows are built to a heroic scale. You think you're fairly close to it, but you keep driving, and driving...
*****
Doves! They're in the air.
Doves! Beyond compare.
Doves! They steal the town.
Doves! They're upside-down.
*****
The weather forecast for next Sunday keeps improving. Thursday night it was being given as 60% chance of rain. Now it's down to just 10% :)
*****
I never did post my Five Hundred or USGP pictures from 2004, I've realized. They came right together that year, and it was all during the run-up the Morphicon #1. So...
It's early Saturday, and I'm getting up to go to Indianapolis. Flaster is annoyed. He wishes I'd quit taking his picture.
2004 was a locust year. The husks were everywhere, blown like drifts of dead leaves. As I dorve along the interstate, I could see them swirling and forming little piles and whorls by the side of the road. The noise just filled the world.
The day dawns cloudy and hazy. It's pretty obviously going to storm before the day is through, but everyone is hoping for the best. Because the track is dry, the Parade of Bands can begin on time. The pre-race parade dates back at least to the 1920s - nobody's actually certain when it began, apparently. This was one of my disappointments in High School. We won the State Championship for Marching Bands, were invited to the Cotton Bowl and Disney World, but never made the Parade of Bands.
The World's biggest drum, a tradition since 1946. University of Chicago had a larger one before the War, but Enrico Fermi managed to spill radioactive crap all over it when he was building his reactor under their grandstands, and it had to be buried.
One of the many blimps. The sky is just filled with blimps anymore. You can see how humid it is - the Indiana summer is beginning. In the midwest, in high summer, you can't see the horizon. It all just fades away to white.
Pushing out the cars.
The race begins.
One of the few photos taken of Larry Foyt. For a variety of reasons, I desperately wanted him to do well. He brought out the first yellow when he got involved in an accident with his own team mate. Shortly thereafter, it began to rain. He did actually return to the race, and make up one position.
Covering the cars. It's begun to rain, after only a few laps. The last of the field are still pulling into the pits, as the first ones in are being covered over. The bleachers in front of the glass windows are temporaries, erected in front of the F1 garages. You can just see the garage doors if you look.
It pisses and pours. This too is characteristic of an Indiana summer. In many ways, summers here are much like those in the rain forest.
People sheltering under the grandstands during the worst of the storm.
The well-loved jet dryers. Nobody wants rain, but if it has to rain, the jet dryers are at least crowd pleasers. They get a big cheer every time they come by. The Speedway owns about 10 of these, and the airport and Raceway Park have a couple too that they loan out on race day. They're just jet engines mounted on a weighted cart, and tuned for heat instead of thrust. Even at the top of the stands, you get a wave of warm kerosene-scented air washing over you. The track is magically dry where they pass. I've been going long enough to remember the old 'fire trucks', which were trucks with forced-air kerosene burners on the back. They'd drive slowly along with a big gush of orange flame shooting out of the burner bar on the back. The jet dryers are much better at drying the track, although it's probably about a tossup for coolness.
The vacuum truck sucks up the water that pools at the south end of the pits. I don't know why they never bothered to raise the track here. Water's pooled at this place since the late 70s at least. The Speedway does possess every conceivable piece of track maintenance equipment, though.
Marty Roth slides to a stop at the south end of the pits, having hit the wall partway up the front stretch.
Greg Ray lost much of his bodywork in the same accident. After a many laps long repair session, he returned to the track, hoping to pass people on attrition. This was his last Five Hundred, I suspect. In the mid 90s he was a perennial favourite to win, sitting on the pole several times when he drove for John Menard. #13 was a private entry that he scraped together without any sponsorship, one of the few unsponsored cars to compete since the War.
Eventual winner Buddy Rice leads Tony Kanaan into the first turn. These two fought a colossal duel in the closing laps of the race.
They skipped the usual post-race festivities, not even riding Rice around the track in the pace car. As soon as the race ended, they announced there was a tornado warning. I have never in my life seen the Speedway clear out that rapidly. When the tornado is coming, no-one screws around.
The tornadoes actually hit the south side of town, and missed the Speedway. That was the eeriest ride home I've ever had, though. The tornado front was crossing the highway at an angle, so it stayed about ten miles in front of me as I went. I kept passing chewed-up places where they had crossed the road, and seeing bits of scattered debris and emergency vehicles. Lots of people were stopped and sheltering under overpasses too, but I kept monitoring my radio and tracking the storm, to stay behind it.
Finally I got too close, and decided to stop at the White Castle in Mount Comfort. You can't see it, but there's a small tornado thundering past in the darkness about a quarter mile away. That was a memorable night.
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-22 06:57 am (UTC)The locust pix: Xydexx ought to love those!
Blimps: they're always fun to see! I think a blimp pilot was practicing touch-n-go at an airfield near the PA diner where the PA furs had gathered: the blimp kept angling up and down as if it were a student pilot learning "never do this when passengers are aboard".
no subject
Date: 2006-05-22 07:42 am (UTC)What's mainly on fire in the picture seems to be the tar coating and insulation on the one end. The door was substantially damaged, but I don't think the rest of it was hurt too badly. It's still in use for military robot blimp research, so it's not like they won't repair it. It's probably the only building in the world that you can fly mid-sized blimps around in.
The locust pix: Xydexx ought to love those!
Xydexx likes locusts???
Blimps: they're always fun to see! I think a blimp pilot was practicing touch-n-go at an airfield near the PA diner where the PA furs had gathered: the blimp kept angling up and down as if it were a student pilot learning "never do this when passengers are aboard".
Blimps do that up and down thing as part of their normal flight from what I can tell. The ones over the Speedway are always porpoising like that, and when I used to live in Akron we'd see them doing it all the time. I lived on a hill on the north side, in roughly the highest part of town so that now and again I'd have a blimp come over so low I could have hit it with a rock had I been so inclined. Blimps are LOUD - they'd shake the house going over.
Goodyear builds blimps in Akron, so you'd see them flying in formations of two and three sometimes, either filming one another in the air or else drilling new pilots. Once one crashed in the parking lot of the K-Mart a mile away during a sudden storm, although I was away that weekend and didn't see it.
helium-MEEPS!
Date: 2006-05-22 08:35 am (UTC)re: blimps are LOUD
My dad saw the Hindenburg pass NY. It went on and on and on ...
Whiffert likes blimps and zeppelins so I bought him some huge books with photos, blueprints and sadly, summaries of the accidents that caused them to crash or otherwise fail.
I'll have to beat Smrgol to the joke ... terrorists tried to hijack a blimp. It bounced off the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building (http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Chrysler_Building.html), ... (no, not really)
For a while, blimps were high prestige for a company, so for a while the MetLife and Fuji blimps were commonly seen circling Manhattan. There was even a blimp race with about 6 participants. Once a blimp DID crash in Manhattan. I don't think anyone was hurt, but the owner was megapissed that he was charged by the parking lot owner for all the parking spots occupied by blimp parts!
Re: helium-MEEPS!
Date: 2006-05-22 09:05 am (UTC)I'm envious. I did get to see the Concorde go over back in 1990 or so when it came to Indianapolis. It *hissed*. It sounded like God's own Bernz-o-Matic.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 12:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 02:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 07:51 am (UTC)Locusts are a variety of grasshopper known for stripping land of every edible piece of vegetation in minutes.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 08:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 01:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 01:50 am (UTC)It's a pity - every now and then, you'll hear of some company hoping to start up airship pleasure cruises or suchlike, but nothing ever seems to happen. What a wonderful way to travel that would be! (Though trains can be something special too, as the Coast Starlighter shows well. Winding down from Monterey to LA along the coastline, it's a glorious route. Sure, there are the TVs with movies showing, but who'd be interested when there are such panoramas in which to revel?)
Though one such use might well come to fruition - that outfit wanting to send some unmanned dirigibles up to high altitude (above aircraft flight levels), to serve as relay points for data networking. WiFi from the sky, basically. I should see if I can dig up the name again, and see if anything's progressed in the past year or two.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 08:06 am (UTC)