Banj, I fear that what they were "thinking" was money once again. The tradition at Indy has always been pretty strong towards presenting an opening ceremony that shows respect for the day this race has always been run on. Typically today, they used an opening prayer, a military reading including "Taps" and a "Missing Man" flyover. The aberration was in the anthem and it can only be described as you have, lacking in any semblance of respect. Tyler and Aerosmith picked up sponsorship of a car for the race and I have to wonder which came first, the chicken or the egg. Did the $$$ have anything to do with it?

The Hulman family including Tony George have always shown traditional midwest values and I would hope that they might make a statement on this. Obviously you can't control what someone does live and I can't believe they knew this was going to happen, but given the reputation of the people involved.............

Spaw