Happy Memorial Day weekend people. I hope everyone is enjoying the gorgeous weather, a little grilling action, and remembering our armed forces. This weekend took me to Indy for a much-needed visit with my best friend Mere, who has been absent from the blogs for way too long. It's the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see hoosiers in cut off jean shorts drinking Coors Light. Oh, and the race of course.
The weekend has been jam packed with race related events, but we opted not to join. For one, they cost major moolah, and two, we both loathe big crowds of stupid people. Going to the race today was going to be about as much stupid as we could both handle.
The race started at noon, but the speedway opened to spectators as early as 6am. And I think the grounds/parking areas themselves had been open for a few days. Good grief. Talk about your serious tailgaters. We took a more leisurely approach and didn't even get there until around 11:30. Which was actually the best choice because we didn't run into a single traffic delay. It was smooth sailing the whole way there. There were still plenty of people stumbling, I mean walking, into the speedway and it was a people watcher's dream. Hoosiers and rednecks as far as the eye could see.
The "start" of the paid parking areas. You couldn't even see the speedway yet.
I assume that some guys wore cut off jean shorts to be funny. But I also assume that some wore them because they thought they were hot shit. I cannot count the number of boys/guys/men going topless, rocking the jean shorts and carrying a cooler. There were so many youngun's, I thought surely they would get arrested for underage drinking. Or maybe I'm just old enough to think they're not old enough to actually drink. The 21 year olds look younger and younger every year. Good grief, they were born in 1990 for crying out loud.
Inside the grounds but behind the bleachers.
Coming out of the tunnel that goes under the track to the infield.
Under the infield bleachers.
By the time we parked, walked the mile or so to the speedway and wound our way into the infield, Florence Henderson was singing God Bless America. Wait, Florence Henderson?
Really?
I love me some Mrs. Brady as much as the next person, but I can't say she would be my first choice to sing God Bless America at one of the biggest races in the country. Interesting choice, race officials. She's still got it though (although to be honest, I had no idea she was even a singer), and finished with resounding applause from the crowd. Whether that was because she was Mrs. Brady, or the fact that she finished, who knows. It could also be because the crowd was full of beer-drinkin', America-lovin' hoosiers. God Bless America, indeed.
Mrs. Brady! On the jumbotron.
We had purchased infield tickets which allowed us all around the track barriers and throughout the infield. We didn't have dedicated seats in the bleachers, but we could pop a squat on a grassy hillside if we wanted to. Since we had just made it into the infield, we stood by one of the jumbotrons to await the National Anthem and the starting of the engines. This is the first year in history that a duet has performed the song at the Indy 500. The singers? Kelly Clarkson. And Seal. Say wha? I do like both of these singers, but neither would I put together to do a duet. Were the organizers drinking Natty Light while they were planning this shindig?
A view of some of the infield crowd with the bleacher seats in the distance. People had coolers, tent/awning things, games of cornhole and washers, blankets, picnic areas, you name it. These people were here to stay for the long haul!
No, those two guys are not holding hands. Nice camera angle though, right?
B2 Bomber flying overhead.
Releasing balloons at the end of the National Anthem.
Anywho, shortly thereafter, some lady who looked like she might have dated the 1911 winner called for the racers to Start Their Engines. I braced myself for the inevitable eardrum-splintering noise, and it never came. Did they even start the things yet? We had absolutely no idea where on the track we were at this point, so I assumed we were at the far side of the starting line and that's why we couldn't hear them. I've never been to a race before, but I assumed it would be loud as hell. The website even warned us to bring ear plugs (which I did, but only after Mere mentioned it).
Starting off in 10 rows of 3.
Wow, the track is 23 degrees hotter than the air outside.
Eventually the buzzing got a bit louder, but it still wasn't as deafening as I predicted. But, since they were just doing the ceremonial laps around the track, it explained the lower volume. After a few laps around the track, the green flag dropped and off they went. And the volume rose with it. But, considering where we were at that time, the noise wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It just sounded like a swarm of bees. We left our spot by the jumbotron and went in search of a spot to see the actual cars. We didn't go far as we realized we had been standing close to one of the turns.
We made our way over and snuck in to a spot by the fence and I had my first viewing of the cars. Well, what I could make out anyways. It's a bit difficult to get a real shot of cars flying around the final turn at speeds close to 200 mph. And it's even more difficult to get a photo of said cars when you don't have the proper type of camera for such speedy endeavors. I think I tried 45 times to get a photo before I gave up and switched to video. Looks like my turtle is limited after all. :(
Hey, look I got one in the shot!
And another one!
Switching to video!
We spent a good 10 or 15 minutes watching the race from this angle, but it got boring pretty quickly. I mean, there's only so long I could stand there and watch the small window of track to catch a glimpse of a possible wreck. So, off we trekked to check out the rest of what the infield had to offer.
And caught more glimpses of the jean short phenomenon, girls in bikini tops, and a man wearing a shirt that said "Please tell your boobs to stop staring at my eyes. Thank you." Classy. We also witnessed numerous cornhole (or bags, depending on where you live) games, some guys throwing a football around, and lots and lots of people drinking beer. I can see how this would be a good time if you got a big group of people together to party with.
I hadn't really put much thought into the race or the course or really anything about this whole day, so I wasn't prepared for how effing big the infield was. It felt like we walked for days and had only made it about halfway down the track. While there we got a glimpse of a car getting some work done, and headed up a set of stairs to get a better view. I took off first, assuming Meredith was right behind me. I made it up the first flight of stairs, but couldn't really see the track, so I proceeded up the second flight of stairs. I was following the crowd around me, so I didn't think anything of needing to show a ticket that I was allowed to be there. And no one stopped me.
Getting some work done.
Close up.
Heading up the stairs for another shot.
Once I was at the top of the stairs, I had a fairly unobstructed view down the straightaway. Awesome! I wedged myself up against the railing in between two older gentlemen, when one looked down at me and drawled, "I'm, uh, saving this spot for a few friends." First, there's no way he was saving that one small spot for friends plural. Second, I informed him I was only there to get a few photos and then I'd be gone. Apparently, that's all he needed to hear, because he was more than willing to let me up on the ledge at that point.
Pretty sweet views of the track.
Sorry for the bump in the middle of the photo. Angry guy took an elbow to my arm while he was getting readjusted.
And, it's at that point I should have gotten my ear plugs out. It was loud as hell up there with the cars whizzing by. I didn't stay too long as I realized that Meredith hadn't followed me up there, and the guy's friend (singular) had shown up. I quickly thanked them, and met back up with Mere asking why she hadn't come up. Apparently, she got stopped by the ONE guy keeping watch of the upper deck. It was his first year at the race too, so he wasn't quite as diligent as he should. But, since Meredith didn't have a ticket to be up there, he wouldn't let her go. Nevermind, myself and the countless other people who had breezed right on by a moment before she tried. Bummer. :(
But, I had some great video, and a few pics, so I was happy. Well, I was happy once I put my ear plugs in. It's surprising how well I could still hear Meredith talk though, but at least the bee buzzing sound was muted. We then came up to a commons area with bathrooms and snack shops, and we took a break to watch the jumbotrons project a wreck that had just happened. While I was standing there, I saw two guys off to the side of us, and one was exercising his pointer finger. Or so that's how it looked. He was doing some weird motion with his finger, but I really wasn't paying that much attention. I glanced at him again and noticed he was looking directly at me, doing the finger motion again.
What the hell?
It took me another second to realize he was looking at the camera around my neck, and he was miming taking a photo with his finger. "Do you want me to take your photo?" I asked him. "Yeah!" He actually sounded somewhat peeved and relieved at the same time. "Uh, why didn't you say something?" "Because I didn't want to just yell at you to take my photo."
So, staring at me and miming with your finger so I think you have a nervous tic, is the better option? Okay buddy.
I proceeded to take their photo and he asked us where we were from then walked away with his friend? What the hell am I supposed to do with this photo now? Post it for you guys to see, I guess.
You're welcome.
The guy on the right is who wanted my photo. I guess he didn't think about the fact that now I would be the one stuck with a photo instead of him.
But look at this cute little guy with his ear muffs. :) (I had to make up for the other photo!)
We kept walking until we made it to the other end of the track and had some more unobstructed views of the race. We stopped by a barrier fence to take a break and enjoyed the cool breeze flowing. It was a hot day, but with the breeze, it wasn't too bad. I could also remove my ear plugs since they were on a few caution laps and had slowed to a dull hum. It was still pretty cool to watch them drive by, but even that enjoyment lost it's luster after awhile. This is why I don't really watch any type of racing. Watching cars drive around in circles gets pretty damn boring to me. Sorry to all of my friends that I know who love it. ;-)
Oh my word. At least he had the body to pull off that outfit.
I switched my camera to the action setting, so it just kept taking photo after photo instead of me trying to anticipate when a car would come into view. It worked out much better this way to actually get a photo of one. I still have about a hundred photos of nothing but fences though.
I like this close up video watching them zoom in and out of the frame so damn fast.
We finally made it to the other end of the track.
How would you like to have a "seat" way up there?!
Bright colorful crowd out there today!
My brother had told me I needed to check out the museum while I was there, so we finally found it at this end. It was only $5 to get in, but it was totally worth it. It was air conditioned and had decent bathrooms. Woooo! Due to the 100th anniversary, they had put together a pretty impressive collection of winning cars throughout the years. Some were a permanent installation at the museum, others were on loan from the owners for this occasion. We got to see photos of all the winners, starting with 1911, all the way through 2010, along with other race-related memorabilia.
Lots of the winning cars.
Toys and other race memorabilia.
Look how cute Mario Andretti was! :) He's pretty much the only winner I know. I don't count Helio Castroneves because I only heard about him while watching Dancing With the Stars.
The winners' quilt with each car and winner signature embroidered on it.
Some of the older cars.
We even got to take our photo inside an Indy car. They normally charge for that, but since their camera was down, they didn't have any problems with us using our own cameras. While Mere and I waited, a kid (probably in his early 20s) asked us if we would take his photo for him. I agreed, and after I took the opportunity to get one with me WITH sunglasses and one WITHOUT (I wanted to be cool), he also had to have one of each. Copy cat. He was adorable though, and was a bit concerned when I joked that I was taking his iPhone with me as payment for taking his picture. Settle down kiddo, I was just kidding.
Finally, there was only so much we could see inside there, so we braved the heat and headed back outside. Another 20 minutes or so of walking and grabbing a hot dog, we were kind of ready to be heading home. We had been at the track for 3 hours, and the race was winding to a close. We headed back in the direction we had started, which of course, was all the way at the opposite side of where we were. (The speedway even has an effing golf course in the middle.) By the time we got to the entrance, there were about 10 laps to go, and we weighed the idea of staying til the end or leaving early.
A parting photo for your viewing enjoyment. I thought it was some kind of dress, but Mere said it was an apron. Either way, well played sir.
Our own sanity won out, so we decided to get a move on before the crowd got going. It was a mile or so trek back to the car, and we really did not want to be stuck in traffic for a couple of hours just trying to get out of the parking lot. Other people had the same idea, but fortunately, there weren't too many to get in our way. We had just as leisurely of a time leaving the speedway as we did getting there.
But, dammit, we should have stayed. The race was won in the FINAL turn of the FINAL lap. The lead car, a rookie, took a header into the wall and lost the lead moments before the finish line. The second place car sped past him for the win by only 2 seconds.
And we missed it.
But, in all honesty, unless we had been watching a jumbotron, we would have missed it too. We didn't really watch all that much of the race to begin with, so as much as I hated to have missed such an epic ending, I'm glad we made it out with little difficulty.
I had a blast at the race and would recommend it to anyone who's thought about going. It would be a great thing to do for a group of people...just stake out an area on one of the viewing mounds and make a day of it.
Thanks to Mere for a great time, as always!
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