All-purpose open-wheel (F1, IRL) racing thread

It's pretty cliche, but for so many years, there was a handful of very influential people telling the world how much Indy sucked, and essentially waving CART/CCWS pom-poms. The fast-growing NASCAR crowd -- always happy to puff their chests out at how anything southern is better than a Yankee institution -- was more than happy to jump on that bandwagon. If you tell the world something sucks and is irrelevant long enough, people begin to believe it, especially the plethora of bandwagon sports fans who only get their opinions from ESPN and PTI.

After the Hornish-Marco finish in '06, the guys who sit behind me in the media center turned to each other and said "they say it's not like it used to be. They're right -- it's better." Not sure I'd go that far, but Indy really hasn't gone anywhere, but it has desperately needed some star power. An American rookie winning the race would've provided quite a bit for him. Castroneves and Kanaan are very popular in IndyCar circles and engaging personalities, but they're not getting any younger. To be honest, the one person who moves the needle for non-Indy fans -- Danica -- the Indy crowd has pretty much gotten burned out on (especially since her flirtation with fenders). This current spec formula is a bit bland, but it has produced some pretty dramatic races. I'm interested to see the new cars next year.

I've seen a move in that direction since the Izod sponsorship began to happen. There's lots of Izod-themed stuff in the gift shops -- at least when I hit the museum last month -- although not quite to the level of sophistication that you might see at an F1 race. The stuff -- especially the historical shirts (I darn near bought one with Vuky's Fuel Injection Special design on it) -- is pretty classy and stylish, especially as racing T-shirts go. It's not easy to be high-brow with sports apparel, but methinks anyone partnered with a fashion retailer positioning itself as "hip" won't hurt.

 

So what's the race day experience like in general?

Because there's a couple of hundred thousand seats, I guess it's possible to get into the Speedway if you want to go.

Is it worth going? (You guys went, so I guess you'd say "yes".) But for a less than casual fan would the traffic, parking, etc. overcome the spectacle?

Did you day trip it or do you make a weekend of it? Rooms in Indy must be impossible to get, right?

 

It's definitely worth going. Some of the issues you raise are not an issue for me. My friend handles the tickets, but we always get six together, and he buys two parking passes of some sort with it and we park in the Dotlich building lot and are able to use the passes to pretty much get right in that morning. My friend lives in Indianapolis, so hotels aren't an issue for me, either. We all just stay there the night before and cook out, play a little Wiffle Ball, reminsce, etc. - you know, typical way that guys in their 30s kill an evening together. We had a sign of the passing times this year, though: One of the guys had to drop out of the race the next morning. Too hungover. Quote: "I'm not going to sit there and be miserable all day." Lesson learned, and I guess he'll live to see another day a year from now.

I think the middle of the race is fairly boring, but I think that about all races. Head over to the air-conditioned museum for a while and check out all the old winners and the short movie about the track's history. It's not too bad. However, as far as the race itself goes, it's worth it to go for the opening ceremonies, the start, and the final 20-30 laps/finish - so much is at stake. Also worth it just to see the sheer size of the speedway and also, I guess, check a venerable venue off your life list. To me, at least, the first time is very awe-inspiring even if you aren't a huge fan of the sport. You know a lot of the landmarks you're seeing. You've heard that hundreds of thousands of people are there. But you can't really grasp it until you're in the place. It's absolutely electric.

One thing that I would say might push it ahead of Daytona in some ways is that the Midwest goes through winters that Florida doesn't. To me, May in Indianapolis is kind of a chance for a lot of Midwesterners who have been through another shitty winter and rainy spring and haven't seen friends and family etc., etc., etc., come out and celebrate the beginning of summer. When the cars come screaming around the track when it goes green, I always feel like, "Summer begins."

I don't fight traffic on the way out, either. The buddies and I just fire up the grill again, break open the bags of chips and spend about a couple more hours in the lot. They don't chase you out or anything. It's one of the most fan-friendly events you'll ever attend.

 

The fact that the race is on Memorial Day weekend really adds to it. I'm on the record as finding the NFL's militaristic stuff to be pandering and a little distasteful. It feels genuine at Indianapolis because of what weekend it is. I mean, you still get some garbage like a "U.S.A! U.S.A.!" chant that went up in my section yesterday, but I think most people get it. It can be pretty emotional.

I also get goosebumps during, "Back Home Again in Indiana." State pride thing, I guess.

 

I live in Indy, so I don't have any problems with hotels, but it's not as bad as it used to be. Hotels still make you pay for 3 nights at their max rates, or so I believe.

There are seats available, but they're usually not great seats (inside of Turn 3, bottom few rows in a turn, where you can't see very much). There is no place where you can see the entire track from one seat, but they do have video boards all over the place so you can see what's going on elsewhere. A lot of people buy the $30 general admission ticket, hang out in the infield and watch from the spectator mounds along the backstretch or on the inside of one of the turns. The aerial shots yesterday showed a ton of folks in the infield.

I'm in the media center, but TV cannot translate what it's like there. The feeling from driving under the tunnel and seeing the stands filling up is indescribable. DickWhitman is right -- it's electric in there.

Traffic usually isn't awful if you're patient -- I usually expect about 90 mins-2 hours to go 30 miles. Yesterday was pretty bad -- 4.5 hours from my house to the track, and at one point, took 2.5 hours to go a half-mile -- but the worst of the traffic was coming from the east, where I come from, and where there is less parking (most of the parking is west of the Speedway, so it backs up pretty bad coming from downtown/east). Just know you're going to be waiting and relax. There were people playing cornhole on 30th Street passing the time. Bring a grill, a couple of cornhole boards, chill out, listen to Donald Davidson's radio show (which is quite possibly one of the best things about Indy in May -- the guy is a walking encyclopedia on the Indianapolis 500) after the race and wait for the traffic to clear.

I've been to 13 Indianapolis 500s. It's the one freelance gig I make sure I have on my schedule every year.

 

Oh, I'd like to go at some point. But, I'd want to avoid rookie mistakes (no pun intended) that would take away from the experience.

I'm pretty sure my girlfriend would hate it, and it sounds like the kind of thing that's better if there's a tailgate party involved and such.

 

The pre-race is about as good as the race, even (or despite) Mrs. Brady singing God Bless America every year. It's pretty much clockwork, from Mrs. Brady to taps to the anthem/flyover ... But from the time Jim Nabors begins to sing through the fourth or fifth lap of the race is the best 15 minutes of the year.

 

If you listen to talk radio or read national columnists and such, you'll read a lot about how people don't really follow IndyCar and even the fans today care more about A.J. Foyt and Rick Mears than today's drivers. Don't buy it. YF, if you ever go, start chatting up groups near your tailgate and you'll get PhD dissertations on the field.

 

That might have been true in 1999, when the crowd was trying to figure out who the heck Stan Wattles and Dr. Jack Miller were. But not really anymore.

Foyt and Mears are revered, but the Indy crowd really knows its stuff -- both current and former drivers. They love the race legends, but they also know the current drivers. That's why people started going nuts when Tony Kanaan was thundering through the field yesterday. Rick Mears, every year when he walks up to the spotters stand in Turn 3, gets a standing ovation from the crowd there.