I recently had an opportunity to briefly visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (home of the Memorial Day weekend Indy 500 [satellite view]) while the teams were practicing. A surprisingly large crowd was on hand to watch the drivers, mechanics and managers test their vehicles, systems and methods. Many, but not all teams had quite a number of computer operators keeping an eye on all aspects of their cars.

Silence.
There’s not much of that at the Speedway, but when it does occur – only a split second – it is jarring.

Danica Patrick easily grabbed most of the crowd’s attention. A group of fans and photographers never left her team’s side. More photos here.

You did read that right. Honda powers all of the cars in this year’s race. Evidently Honda has dominated recently and the teams coalesced on their engine this year.