THE INSIDE STORI - BY MARY STORI: ART

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

ART - IN UNEXPECTED PLACES

I've blogged about two previous trips to Leeds, Alabama, the home of the Barber Motorsports. Since most of us would rather concentrate on stitching, not cars or motorcycles.....I'll spare you by not repeating too much on those subjects.

However, as you can see....fast cars were the reason for our weekend trip to the track. Friday's rain brought 'rooster tails' of water off the back end of the race cars.

But, that's not the reason for this photo. Just look at the rose bushes. This is a FIRST CLASS track.....simply beautiful.....the grounds are beyond well thought out and meticulous. Flowers are everywhere....my goodness they must have spent millions on just the rose bushes.

Like I said, finding art in this unlikely place is so rewarding. I couldn't find a placard attributing this sculpture to an artist but I wanted to share it anyway. Don't you LOVE it?

There are sculptures everywhere.....these are in a valley just beyond the world famous motorcycle museum which is on the grounds.

We purchased pit passes to get a behind the scene look at all the preparations. Dr. McDreamy, (Patrick Dempsy) of Gray's Anatomy is the lead driver of one of the two cars in his own race company. Several years ago at the Daytona Beach racetrack we spotted him....and truly, he is as cute in person as on TV. Though he's really puny....most race drivers are small....otherwise they wouldn't fit in the cockpits of their cars. We never did see him this time, but his #40 car, with him at the wheel for the first driving shift was able to finish the challenging Grand Race race on Saturday. (Not all cars can go the distance!)

Sunday's feature was Indy car racing....these babies are VERY loud. We were on celebrity watch that day too.... Reba McEntire's son raced in the final race of the day and apparently she was there to cheer him on.