indy 500 fever
My confirmation has just come back for our 2007 Indianapolis 500 tickets, so I now officially have the FEVER! We've been going every year since 1984 and have seen some amazing things. Some of my favorite Indy 500 memories:
1. www.indy500.com/trackmap/flashmap.html Can you believe what a HUGE facility the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is? In the 23 years that my college buddy and I have been going, we have walked every square inch of that place! Not only is that a good thing from a cardiovascular standpoint, but it's also fascinating from a sociological standpoint. I can honestly say that I have witnessed just about every possible example of human behavior there is in the infield at IMS. These days our wives go to the race with us, so the infield is off limits, but back in the day.....Oh Boy!
2. 1992--Al Unser, Jr. beat Scott Goodyear by 0.043 of a second in the closest Indy 500 finish in history. Last May, Sam Hornish, Jr. beat Marco Andretti by 0.0635 of a second. Those were exciting races!
3. My man Bobby Rahal won his only 500 in 1986. He beat Kevin Cogan by 1.441 seconds. It's a good thing the finish wasn't any closer, because Cogan had a nasty habit of wrecking his car, and taking other drivers with him. Only 4 years earlier, Cogan had wrecked on the pace-lap, for cryin' out loud, and took A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Roger Mears, and Dale Whittington with him. What a stiff! Watching Mario scream profanities in Italian at him in Gasoline Alley is still one of the funniest things I have ever seen!
4. Danny Sullivan's "Spin and Win" in 1985. Sullivan started that race in the 8th spot (middle of the 3rd Row), but by lap 120 of 200 had managed to climb into 2nd, right behind Mario Andretti. Sullivan and Mario went into Turn 1 side-by-side, when Sullivan's back end suddenly got loose and he went into a wild spin through the 1st Turn. Amazingly, he didn't hit anything. As the smoke cleared, Sullivan saw that he was facing Turn 2, so he hit the gas and took off. He had survived a 370-degree spin with no damage! The next time around he took a pit stop to change tires, and later passed Andretti on lap 139. He ended up beating Mario by 2.477 seconds.
5. Lot's of interesting people have driven the Pace Car for the Indy 500, but my all-time favorite is James Garner, the actor who starred in The Rockford Files (the greatest TV show in history!). He drove an Oldsmobile Calais in 1985, and I thought that was about the coolest thing I had ever seen. Previously, he had driven the pace car in 1975 and 1977.
6. The pre-race festivities are outstanding! Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch) sings "God Bless America", Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle) sings "Back Home Again in Indiana", thousands of multicolored balloons are released over the infield, military planes (oftentimes a Stealth Bomber) do a flyover, and somebody famous sings the National Anthem. The worst was Steven Tyler of Aerosmith 3 or 4 years ago. He actually changed the words at the end to "the home of the Indianapolis 500." That drew a lot of boos from the red-state crowd! In 2005, the National Anthem was performed by four members of the United States Military--one each from the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines. That was outstanding!
7. All of those memories are great, but the absolute best is watching 33 rocket ships on wheels, of every color in the rainbow, thundering down the main straightaway together as the green flag waves and all 33 cars go screaming into Turn 1 to open up The Greatest Spectacle in Racing. It's something that you see, hear, and feel as it's happening, and, for my money, is the greatest moment in sports!
I can't wait til May!
1. www.indy500.com/trackmap/flashmap.html Can you believe what a HUGE facility the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is? In the 23 years that my college buddy and I have been going, we have walked every square inch of that place! Not only is that a good thing from a cardiovascular standpoint, but it's also fascinating from a sociological standpoint. I can honestly say that I have witnessed just about every possible example of human behavior there is in the infield at IMS. These days our wives go to the race with us, so the infield is off limits, but back in the day.....Oh Boy!
2. 1992--Al Unser, Jr. beat Scott Goodyear by 0.043 of a second in the closest Indy 500 finish in history. Last May, Sam Hornish, Jr. beat Marco Andretti by 0.0635 of a second. Those were exciting races!
3. My man Bobby Rahal won his only 500 in 1986. He beat Kevin Cogan by 1.441 seconds. It's a good thing the finish wasn't any closer, because Cogan had a nasty habit of wrecking his car, and taking other drivers with him. Only 4 years earlier, Cogan had wrecked on the pace-lap, for cryin' out loud, and took A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Roger Mears, and Dale Whittington with him. What a stiff! Watching Mario scream profanities in Italian at him in Gasoline Alley is still one of the funniest things I have ever seen!
4. Danny Sullivan's "Spin and Win" in 1985. Sullivan started that race in the 8th spot (middle of the 3rd Row), but by lap 120 of 200 had managed to climb into 2nd, right behind Mario Andretti. Sullivan and Mario went into Turn 1 side-by-side, when Sullivan's back end suddenly got loose and he went into a wild spin through the 1st Turn. Amazingly, he didn't hit anything. As the smoke cleared, Sullivan saw that he was facing Turn 2, so he hit the gas and took off. He had survived a 370-degree spin with no damage! The next time around he took a pit stop to change tires, and later passed Andretti on lap 139. He ended up beating Mario by 2.477 seconds.
5. Lot's of interesting people have driven the Pace Car for the Indy 500, but my all-time favorite is James Garner, the actor who starred in The Rockford Files (the greatest TV show in history!). He drove an Oldsmobile Calais in 1985, and I thought that was about the coolest thing I had ever seen. Previously, he had driven the pace car in 1975 and 1977.
6. The pre-race festivities are outstanding! Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch) sings "God Bless America", Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle) sings "Back Home Again in Indiana", thousands of multicolored balloons are released over the infield, military planes (oftentimes a Stealth Bomber) do a flyover, and somebody famous sings the National Anthem. The worst was Steven Tyler of Aerosmith 3 or 4 years ago. He actually changed the words at the end to "the home of the Indianapolis 500." That drew a lot of boos from the red-state crowd! In 2005, the National Anthem was performed by four members of the United States Military--one each from the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines. That was outstanding!
7. All of those memories are great, but the absolute best is watching 33 rocket ships on wheels, of every color in the rainbow, thundering down the main straightaway together as the green flag waves and all 33 cars go screaming into Turn 1 to open up The Greatest Spectacle in Racing. It's something that you see, hear, and feel as it's happening, and, for my money, is the greatest moment in sports!
I can't wait til May!
posted by hondo at 8:49 PM
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