The Delta Wing prototype is right behind the Pagoda.  There are even a few reps there willing to talk with the fans.  Having quickly chatted one of the reps up, he was truly enthused from the wind tunnel test. He said that the end of June date was firm.  If they get a nod, they’ll go ahead with a running prototype and hope to have it on track by the end of the season.

It has been noted that all manufacturerers who submitted a proposal were invited, but the DW folk said that they didn’t know about it till a few days ago and they’re hoping to have a banner done and printed out by the end of the day to go along with the cake model.

If you’re at the track, check it out.  If not, here are some pictures:

Oh, and for the haters, Eddie Cheever is totally on your side.  He made comments amidst a group of fans along the lines of “they definitely didn’t talk to a driver” and that “the designers were smoking pot” (not direct quotes, but the words didn’t talk to a driver and smoking pot were definitely used).

OK, it’s far drier than anticipated at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this morning.  The models again are trending toward a drier, but not dry, solution.  Radar shows storms popping up in the southern half of Illinois, but they are, as of now, forming as cells, not as a cohesive mass of doom.  This is a good thing, but it’s still early in the day. If they form in a cellular manner, there’s a chance they’ll skirt the speedway.  If they form a death blob, we’re going to get wet.

The thing is, though, that the massive breakout in precipitaiton is expected at 11 or later.  One thing that I can say from a strict observation point of view is that it is muggy out there.  Honestly, it’s kind of a weird weather pattern, but such is Indianapolis in May.  If we can skirt the precipitation, we’ve got a chance.  If anything starts around here, it isn’t going to take much to soak the place. 

Our best hope is that the main inflow of moisture appears to be a little to the east of what was anticipated (by me at least).

I’ll update later, but starting at noon may be a possibility, but a full day is questionable at this point. 

First, before I get into tomorrow, I’d like to draw your attention to this tweet:

@IndyTalk 3:29 p.m. YELLOW for rain.

I’d then like to quote myself:

…my latest calculations moves the potential of rain to 3:30.

That’s why y’all visit my site, homies.

OK, so tomorrow.  There’s a pretty good chance for rain.  Things that are less likely than rain:

• a plague of locusts,
• rain, but not water rain, blood rain,
• the resurrection of proper Track Fries from Rally’s.

So it’s not looking that fantastic. The weather service says 80%. The latest model guidance has gotten a little drier (but still isn’t dry) for the late afternoon timeframe. The question is if the overnight junk moves out, will there be enough of a window to dry the track and get in some practice. If they can dry the track, will there be weepers?

Then again, this May has been ridiculously unpredictable in Indianapolis, so I can’t rule out 70 and sunny.

The morning guidance should provide better insight, but if you believe model trends (versus the model evolutions), we’re trending towards dry.  Temps should be low seventies with a solid breeze, though not necessarily as stiff as today.

It’s not the most beautiful of days, but then again, as long as it is dry, give me 70 and cloudy over 94 and sunny anyday that I was dumb enough to come to the track in jeans. 

Now, some story-less pictures because this place is amazing and needs no explanation.

Forecast Revision:

Looking at the radar, it’s actually moving in slower than anticipated, which isn’t really surprising me.  I wasn’t sure the leading line even existed, and it’s more or less disappeared.  The main system has slowed down, and my latest calculations moves the potential of rain to 3:30.  If this next line disappears, we could get lucky enough to actually stay dry most of the way to 6:00.  The big threat at this point isn’t even really heavy rain.  That’ll hit when it wants.  I’m more concerned for rogue sprinkles.

—-

OK, so I’m on-site at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and in the 90 minutes since my plane landed, the high clouds have increased dramatically.  While I’m fairly certain it’ll start dry, there is a fairly significant line of showers tickling the southwest corner of the state at this point. In fact, there’s an anti-window (a wall?) over Terre Haute.

So once noon hits here in short order, I expect a pretty big flurry of cars onto the track, but I cannot promise, or even expect, a full six hours today.  I think the rain could be here by 2:00 (1:30 is possible).  I don’t know that it will stop in time to dry the track.  It’s pretty misshapen, and I’d say it’s probably two hours or rain at minimum, but don’t hold me to that.  I’ll reevaluate when it starts raining.

I’ll also look at tomorrow at some point later today.