Tag: rage

Indycar, My iPod, and Moz (a noir narrative)


On the shiny precipice of a new Indycar season and, in following the News of the Indycar world through February 15, I find myself again wondering, 


“What in the actual hell is going on?”

OK, ok… o….  (deep, cleansing breath)…..  k… 

Been here before, I can manage it, just need to take a moment, go for a walk.
Escape into some music, to chill… 


     (grabs iPod, dons headphones) 

Let’s hit Shuffle and see what comes up… 

     (surprised, knowing the amount of 80’s 
      metal/punk/wave is on the ‘pod..) 

OH! OK, perfect. Some nice, Jamaican-influenced pop? Johnny Nash it is…

     (presses play)

I can see clearly now, 
the rain is gone.
I can see all obstacles in my way.
Dammit. It’s not working.. 

     (I begin rewriting lyrics in my head)

NOT gone are the dark clouds which had me blind.
It’s a depressingly dark, dark Indycar day.



I can see clearly, that my affinity for parody lyrics and Indycar during Seasonal Affective Disorder isn’t going to be helpful..

     (hits Shuffle…The Smiths – How Soon Is Now?)

Oh, sweet! Early-80s, right in my wheelhouse.. 
I love this song and the 80s recalls a much shinier day in Indycar… 

     (play)

YESSSSS, thank you Johnny Marr for the great reverb/modulated guitar intro…

“I am the son, and the heir, 
of a shyness that is criminally vulgar.
I am the son, and the heir, 
of nothing in particular..”

You shut your mouth, how can you say
I go about things the wrong way,
I am human and I need to be loved
just like everybody else does.”


Hmpf. Comically apropo and all too representative of much of Indycar. 
Also not at all helping me get out of this funk, but let’s ride it out to the end of the song…

“When you say it’s gonna happen now, 
when exactly do you mean?
See, I’ve already waited too long
and all my hope is gone…”

Sonovabitch.

     (shakes head, perturbed, hits Shuffle again)
     (ironically, the algorithm pulls another Smiths tune..)

“I was happy in a haze of a drunken hour
but heaven knows I miserable now..“


     (looks skyward, hands out in a ‘WTF was that?’ pose)

“In my life, 
why do I give valuable time,
to people who don’t care if I 
live or I die?”


Clearly, the universe is trying to tell me something.. to help me perhaps…



Almighty hell. Who am I to argue?

     (stops walking, stops iPod, 
      removes headphones, turns around)



I feel like going home and blogging some Indycar predictions for 2014…



Right after I listen to Rage Against the Machine… on 11.




dammitdammitDAMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!

So it’s a Wednesday in the middle of November and I’m forced to reneg on a promise I made to myself LESS THAN A MONTH AGO, that was supposed to last until March 2011. 


Steph (@99forever) over at More Front Wing (a very well-organized and well-done Indycar blog) illuminated and challenged we Indycar slobs to not succumb to the all too frequent curse of obsessive fandom: off-season withdrawal.  Too often we feed the monkey with little hits of junk here and there to get us by until the new season starts, but they often come from low-grade rumor and unnewsworthy news required by our 24/7/365 desire for infotainment which serve no greater good. Unfortunately, my promise has been thrown from the wagon by recent developments urging me to take a hit off the Indycar off-season pipe once again (OK, enough addiction references): 


1. Biggest Blood-Pressure-Raising, Swear-Inducing, Palm-to-Forehead Slappin’, Anger-Management-Forgettin’ Major Pisser-Offer:  The shuttering of the Silent Pagoda.
Seriously?  SE-RI-OUS-LY?  “This is soooo necessary and the world of Indycar will certainly meet a pre-Mayan-Calendarian doom if we don’t DO SOMETHING AND NOW…  Let’s shut down a fan-favorite blog because the waste there is rampant”, said the overzealous counter-of-beans.  The Anglophile in me would say, “FOOKin’ ‘ELL MAN!”  For those that don’t know the Silent Pagoda, you can trust the opinion of this established Indycar devotee when I say this was the most-enjoyable damned blog related to Indycar… period. Pure entertainment and blissful irreverence for a sport that is frought with overseriousness, just for the sake of having a laugh (and showing by our very nature a higher intelligence than most autosport fans). Granted some of the seriousness is justified given the precarious nature of our beloved sport… SOME, not all, so humorous satire is a welcome distraction for this Indycar fan’s workaday world. It’s Indycar news like this that makes me want to break shit. (okay, deep cleansing breath)


2. Best News of the Month so far: Chevrolet announces an Indycar engine program to compete with Honda. Yes, yes forward momentum and all. Great news for sure. Looking forward, though, I predict even better news. My bet is that Ford, possibly Fiat (new owners of Chrysler) via Alfa Romeo (it’s soon to be re-introduced brand to the US of A), and maybe one other manufacturer will be in the fold by 2013. Thank you Chevy for remembering that you once had cojones.


3. Worst Racing News of the Month so far: Tony Kanaan is out of a ride. I understand the mechanisms behind it all and am mostly disappointed for my 7-year old son who has been a TK fan for as long as he can remember. Literally. I purchased a new TK 7-11 replica crew shirt for him at the Kentucky race as a reward for having such a great start to his 1st-grade schoolyear. “Hey, guess what, my son, that shirt which is one size too big so it will fit you next summer, is outdated”. Thanks for nothing 7-11. “I don’t like 7-11 anymore dad, and Slurpees are off my list!” (his words, not mine). ’nuff said.


In light of my current mood, I am now preparing to not ‘give it a rest’ this off-season and the house-cleaning begins with this blog. I plan to examine revamping and energizing this blog, so stay tuned…


As always, this season of thankfulness emplores me to express gratitude for those who make my life more interesting – many of you know who you are and for the others, I will attempt to show gratitude as I can. Thanks to you for stopping by. Feel free to leave me a comment or input, and hope to see you at a great Indycar event next season…


DZ (groundedeffects@gmail.com, @groundedeffects