Remembering Tony Renna

Today is the anniversary of the death of rising IndyCar Series star Tony Renna. His story is remains one of the hardest things I'll ever deal with, even with the passage of a year.

I didn't work very long with Tony, really it was getting quotes from him at a couple of races in 2002 and again at the 500 in 2003, but it always hit close to me because he was the guy who I identified with. He waited so long for his big break, and when he finally got it, he never got to enjoy it.

Every day I drive by two of his favorite places in the world -- the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Starbucks. Today, I couldn't pass either without thinking about him.

I ran across the eulogy his best friend gave at his funeral last year. These words at the end stuck with my most:

TONY LIVED A FULL AND HAPPY LIFE IN 26 YEARS. ONE THAT HIS FAMILY, AND YOU, DEB, CAN BE PROUD TO HAVE MADE HAPPEN. HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE ARE GREAT AND MANY.

BUT HIS BIGGEST IS HAVING LOVED US AND WE ARE BETTER PEOPLE FOR HAVING SHARED HIS LIFE.

THE HOLE IN OUR HEARTS WILL MEND WITH THE SUPPORT OF ONE ANOTHER AND THE COURSE OF TIME.

LET’S NOW COMMIT TO BE THERE FOR ONE ANOTHER-FOREVER WE WILL MISS THE BRIGHTNESS HE ADDED TO OUR DAY, THE COURAGE HE DISPLAYED IN ADVERSITY, THE LOVE AND HAPPINESS THAT HE SHARED AND CREATED FOR THOSE AROUND HIM A HUSBAND, A SON, A BROTHER AND A BEST FRIEND IS LOST, BUT WE WILL MEET AGAIN- GODSPEED TONY.

Strange E-mail

I have to get to work, but I had to post about this before I forget about it.

Apparently, the Banana Republic thinks I'm a woman. See for yourself in this e-mail that appeared today!

http://www.bananarepublic.com/browse/visual_index/visual_index.htm?a=a&cs_category=8013

Seventh Heaven!

RED SOX 10, YANKEES 3, Boston wins series 4-3.

Somewhere, I know Casey is smiling pretty big.

Updating the old blog

It's the final off-week of the IRL season, so I decided to spend a nice quiet day at home.

The plan for the day is to relax and watch some college football today. Sound exciting? Well it's been about three weeks since I got to do that because of the racing schedule. Last week, I was in California for a race, and except for the odd game on a TV in the media center, I didn't really even pay attention to football. In fact, I forgot to even make my football picks for a Yahoo! league I'm in.

Tomorrow, I'm going to meet my old friends from Anderson, Brian and Vicki, in Bloomington. I'm excited to see them and it's good to get out of the house every now and then.

Next week, the season ends with the race at Texas. Then it will be the offseason, but I know that 2005 will be right around the corner.