Since May of 1963 when my parents first took me to a practice session at the Indianpolis Motor Speedway, there is a feeling in the air that gets into your blood if you're a true red-blooded Hoosier! It's called the Indianapolis 500!
I've been a fan of open wheeled racing since May of 1963, and although the sport has mutated a lot in the last ten years since the split between CART and the IRL, I'm still a fan of the sport. While most of my Sundays between mid February and mid November are spent watching Nextel Cup racing on television, my truest love of racing has to be rooted deeply in the Indy 500.
It used to be the entire month of May was a festival of activities at the famed 2 1/2 mile rectangular oval, but as the years have gone by and Nascar has drawn a larger and larger audience, the activity at the Speedway has been reduced to a little more than 3 weeks with days of inactivity during the same space of time. This year, even further reductions in activities will be made, and the entire qualifying procedure is going to be changed. Regardless of these changes, I anticipate the month of May more than any other month of the year. May at Indy to me signals the beginning of Summer each year.
The first year I attended practice back in 1963, Parnelli Jones topped the 150 mile an hour barrier for the first time in Speedway history. Now, 42 years later, engine and chassis restrictions are made almost yearly in an attempt to keep the speeds below 225 MPH, which usually works for a year or two, and before one can blink an eye, the speeds are back above that targeted limit. Two years ago speeds once again cracked into the 234 MPH barrier, and almost immediately, the IRL began new restrictions to attempt to lower speeds to a "safer" level. Afte 2 sessions of practice last year, the speeds were once again in the upper 220 MPH barrier, and fliriting with 229 MPH. What this year holds in store no one can be quite sure.
One thing that has changed is that the track has been resurfaced, a major undertaking that began the day after the Brickyard 400 in August of last year. Will the newly blacktopped surface allow even faster speeds than last year? Most true racing fans hope so, myself included.
This year rookie orientation will take place on Mother's Day and the day following, with practice sessions not starting until Tuesday. Instead of practice times beginning at 11 AM, this year the practice time will start at noon, Tuesday thru Fast Friday. This is supposed to be an attempt at keeping racing team costs down. Regardless, I have the week of Mother's Day scheduled off for vacation so I can make my annual pilgrimage to the greatest race track in the world and enjoy a few days of relaxation at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hey, with free infield parking and at a cost of only $5 a day to be inside the magical place of IMS, it's well worth the hour drive and the small expense.
Seating is restricted to just a few areas until Fast Friday, but if you can ignore a few rude "rowdies" who insist on trashing the grandstands with chicken bones and beer cans, you can find a place to park your body and grab the sunscreen and watch some really good racing practice sessions! Myself, I carry my trash down the steps to the nearest trash can and throw it away, knowing that the next day someone else might be sitting in those same seats and they don't need to maneuver their way around my trash. I just wish those idiots I sat just north of last year would show the same consideration.
So, with that in mind, I'm looking so forward to another week at the famed Brickyard, spending quality time with my sister, my wife, and various friends for the week. It won't be the same people with me each day, but hopefully this year I won't have to make the trip up there alone like I have done in the past. I'm looking forward to cold jalapeno loaf sandwiches, a few cold beers, the much-anticipated Indy Speedway Bloody Mary's, and the tradition that is itself, The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
Hope to see you there this year!
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