with four successive days in the Alps of the Tour in mind, we didnt forget the job at hand. We still have to focus on the job th

INDIANAPOLIS -- The sound of racing engines floated over the west side of Indianapolis last weekend. But this time the noise was actually coming from the sky.For the first time, Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosted a round of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship, drawing 62,000 spectators for a much different kind of competition than the Speedways faithful fans are used to watching.The Air Race is the latest element in the 25-year evolution of IMS from a racetrack that hosted one huge, month-long event to a multi-purpose facility that is in use throughout the calendar year.While many permanent racetracks struggle to generate income during their down time, the Speedway has worked hard to minimize the amount of time the 559-acre facility sits idle.Tony George started the process in the early 1990s when he ascended to a leadership position within the Hulman family, which has owned and operated the track since 1945. One of his first moves was to upgrade the IMS golf course; the renamed Brickyard Crossing hosted a PGA Senior Tour event from 1994 to 2000 and next year will welcome the LPGA Tour back to Indianapolis for the first time since 1968 with a three-year commitment.George also brought NASCAR and Formula One racing to IMS, and while F1 departed after an eight-year run, the current management team of Mark Miles (CEO of Hulman Motorsports) and Doug Boles (Indianapolis Motor Speedway president) have done a good job of building on that solid base. The Speedway is now home to the largest vintage car racing meeting in America, and next year the SCCA Runoffs will be contested for the first time on the IMS road course.A round of the Moto GP championship replaced F1 from 2008 to 2015, with title sponsorship from Red Bull. This year, the energy drink giant altered its spending with IMS, replacing the motorcycles with an air race that took the Speedway back to its pre-auto racing roots. Almost a year before the first Indianapolis 500 in May 1911, IMS hosted a weeklong aviation show that attracted the Wright Brothers and produced a world record for altitude.Despite a low cloud ceiling and some Saturday rain, the Red Bull Air Race was a success for the Speedway and the spectators who came out. Track officials said that all Tier 1 tickets sold out for Sundays session, attendance and budget goals were met, and the event will be on the 2017 calendar, likely with a mid-October date.Our city embraced this exciting competition and it was a fantastic and historic weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Boles said.The Speedway still has its share of challenges ahead, mainly trying to revive the Brickyard 400 stock car weekend. Frequently considered boring and uncompetitive, the Brickyard is the poster child for NASCARs declining attendance across the board, and while the event remains profitable for the Speedway, sheer expanses of empty grandstands for an event that used to routinely fill 200,000 seats looks bad for the track and for NASCAR.It will also be interesting to see if IMS can maintain and build on the momentum generated by the historic 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 in May. The 500 sold out for the first time in at least 20 years, and keeping those seats filled for the 101st running and beyond will be a big test for Boles and his team.Although Tony George no longer factors in the daily running of the Speedway, he was recently installed as chairman of the board of Hulman & Co. George takes a lot of the blame for the decline of Indy car racing in the late 1990s, but the plans he put in place for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway itself a quarter of a century ago are a big reason why the grand old track is thriving right now in an era when many others arent.So credit where it is due.Buy Air Jordan 11 Cheap ., for the next three years with the signings on Monday of Daryl Townsend and Michael Carter. Cheap Air Jordan 11 From China . "Trying to breathe," he said with a grin. Bernier stopped 42 of 43 shots on Monday night, including all 22 in a hectic middle frame, his heroic performance propelling the Leafs toward an undue point in their final game before the Christmas break. http://www.cheapairjordan11china.com/ Air Jordan 11 Wholesale . There was no hesitation from the 40th-ranked Pospisil, from Vernon, B.C., who admitted that he cut back on his training sessions over the last few days to conserve energy as the long ATP season finishes next week at the Paris Masters. Discount Air Jordan 11 . Malkin got tangled up with Detroits Luke Glendening early in the third period and his left skate took the brunt of collision with the boards behind Pittsburghs net.Throughout the Tour de France, Australian professional cyclist Richie Porte will be checking in. Here is his latest entry, as told to ESPN contributor Rupert Guinness:Rest day: Berne, SwitzerlandIt was a day where riding your bike cannot get better: Tuesdays second rest day of the Tour de France. We know that from Wednesday on, the days will immediately return to being a punish with the next four stages being in the Alps. So Tuesday was one to appreciate.And that I did, from the moment I got up at 7.30am to when I turned the lights out at night. After breakfast, I went on my rest day ride with my French teammate Ama?l Moinard.We just rolled easy for 47km by the shores of Lake Thun -- what a beautiful lake it is too. When you are racing flat out, especially in the Tour, you dont really get to take in the surroundings, even thought they are often some of Europes most picturesque regions.Today, Tuesday, was one of the rare occasions where you can, while also riding our bikes. For Ama?l and I it was also a nice opportunity to catch up with some quiet and relaxed chat away from the bells and whistles -- and the ever present madness -- of the Tour de France.We spoke about the next four days in the Alps: how we see them unfold, who is looking good and all the difference scenarios of which there are many before Sundays finish.We also chatted about our plans for after the Tour. We have vastly different plans too. I will be heading to Rio for the Olympic Games, whereas Ama?l will be returning home to Saint Laurent du Var near Nice and some family time his wife, Morgane, andd children live.ddddddddddddBut with four successive days in the Alps of the Tour in mind, we didnt forget the job at hand. We still have to focus on the job that awaits this week, and recovery for that was vital.We got back from our ride at about 11.30, in time to see the osteopath, have lunch, then a massage, a nap and then the rest of the day with my wife Gemma who arrived on Monday. It all sounds like a slow day, but trust me, it goes by too quickly -- as most good things do.And as I said, it will all seem like a distant memory when we resume racing on Wednesday with the first Alpine stage -- all of it in Switzerland -- from Berne to Finhaut-Emosson. Our minds will have already switched back to race mode by breakfast. We all realise the value of every opportunity between now and the end of the last Alpine stage on Saturday.Are there any vulnerabilities in Sky and Chris Froome who still leads the Tour overall? Of course there are. They exist in the however many hundred kilometres there are to go in the Tour. Unforseen thing can happen. The Tour is not over. I certainly dont see it that way.I dont expect any of the other top contenders see it that way either -- from Froome down. We have all seen -- or experienced -- how the tide can turn for or against you in a grand tour.To be complacent, which I am sure Froome wont be despite his strong position, is to commit a massive error; just as to surrender because of the odds are against you. ' ' '