2018 Indianapolis 500

[Seeking6]

5 minutes ago, Parakeet Jones said:

As long as we don’t have a repeat of post race 2004 when I walked back to the bus with tornado sirens going off.  That was one of the most bizarre moments of my life. Thousands of us were stuck outside with no shelter and a tornado heading our way. No one panicked and we all just kept walking to our destinations like it was an ordinary day. 

Won't have a repeat of that day but remember it like it was yesterday. Hit about 5 miles away. Remembering all the rain that morning. And I also remember packing up coolers/chairs blankets at about lap 150 or 160 once we got word it was coming. At that time we had to rely just on normal cell phones. Called family from turn 2 and they said it was coming.

[SteveS]

10 minutes ago, Parakeet Jones said:

As long as we don’t have a repeat of post race 2004 when I walked back to the bus with tornado sirens going off.  That was one of the most bizarre moments of my life. Thousands of us were stuck outside with no shelter and a tornado heading our way. No one panicked and we all just kept walking to our destinations like it was an ordinary day. 

That was a crazy day. I was in my seat in the paddock penthouse and they started showing the tornado warning message on the Jumbotron as soon as the race ended.  There were thousands of people trying to get down ten flights of steps to get out.  I decided to just stay up there and watch the horizon, if I saw a tornado coming I was seriously going to climb down a drain pipe.  Fortunately that didn’t happen, but the rain that came in was truly impressive. 

[Parakeet Jones]

I will never forget the iconic voice of Tom Carnegie saying a tornado was approaching and to evacuate the speedway.  During one of the rain delays earlier in the day my mom called to tell Dad and me that a town in our county had just been destroyed by a tornado. On top of all the wether that day, we saw a pretty good race. 

[milehiiu]

Impressive stories, guys. Thanks for sharing.  Nothing like ever going through a shared experience as you all had that day. Once again....what makes HSN great, as far as I am concerned.  Yes, we love our basketball.  Yet we all have shared stories about our great home state as well. 

[MrsStoller]

11 hours ago, SteveS said:

That was a crazy day. I was in my seat in the paddock penthouse and they started showing the tornado warning message on the Jumbotron as soon as the race ended.  There were thousands of people trying to get down ten flights of steps to get out.  I decided to just stay up there and watch the horizon, if I saw a tornado coming I was seriously going to climb down a drain pipe.  Fortunately that didn’t happen, but the rain that came in was truly impressive. 

I was one of those hustling out of the paddock penthouse when that flashed on the screen. Our friends from Bloomington had already left after hearing the earlier weather reports. We jogged back to the car which was parked in a prime spot across from the main gate, got out of the lot, and then got stuck on 16th street. Finally got moving, drove over to Irvington to drop our friend off and headed back to Hamilton County. We dodged tornadoes all evening, and saw a transformer blow around I-70and Shadeland. It was crazy!

But during the rain delays, we went underneath the stands and followed everyone else who were grabbing chairs and hanging out under the stands. That was probably the most fun I’ve had spontaneously at the race, lol.

 

[Guest]

First race I went to, it started pouring down rain on the 101st lap--which meant the race was official. Continued to rain, and they never started back up again. I think Rutherford was declared the winner. All I remember is sitting in the rain with my buddy and drinking as much of the remaining case of beer that we could, before traipsing out into traffic.

I also attended the race where Rick Mears caught on fire in the pits. I was there with my brother-in-law and we had great seats, along pit row. You couldn't see any flames, just the heat inversion coming off the pavement. That was a scary, scary site, and I am thankful that he suffered no permanent injuries.

Best memories of the track date back to when I taught special needs kids in the early 80's. We would take the kids up for a day of practice as a field trip, and for the most part, they loved it. This was back when Gasoline Alley was open to the public, and you could walk right up to the garages. Tom Sneva, the Andrettis and the Unsers stand out to me as being extremely approachable, and would go out of their way to make sure the kids had a great experience at the track.

 

[SteveS]

3 hours ago, Jerry Lundergaard said:

First race I went to, it started pouring down rain on the 101st lap--which meant the race was official. Continued to rain, and they never started back up again. I think Rutherford was declared the winner. All I remember is sitting in the rain with my buddy and drinking as much of the remaining case of beer that we could, before traipsing out into traffic.

I also attended the race where Rick Mears caught on fire in the pits. I was there with my brother-in-law and we had great seats, along pit row. You couldn't see any flames, just the heat inversion coming off the pavement. That was a scary, scary site, and I am thankful that he suffered no permanent injuries.

Best memories of the track date back to when I taught special needs kids in the early 80's. We would take the kids up for a day of practice as a field trip, and for the most part, they loved it. This was back when Gasoline Alley was open to the public, and you could walk right up to the garages. Tom Sneva, the Andrettis and the Unsers stand out to me as being extremely approachable, and would go out of their way to make sure the kids had a great experience at the track.

 

My first race was in 1973, the year Swede Savage died, I was 6.  The race was rained out for three days, they finally ran it on Wednesday.  My parents pulled my brother and I out of school to go to the race.  About all I remember from that day was my dad showing up at my school to get us and walking into the track.  The gates were all wide open and after three days of rained out partying, there were piles of beer cans as high as my house.  I also remember it being very loud.

I started going regularly when I was 9 in 1976.  That is the year you are talking about, Johnny Rutherford won in a rain shortened race, they only ran 102 laps.  After that I went to 29 consecutive races until my son was born in Denver in early May of 1997.  There were complications with him during and right after birth so there was no way I was leaving my new son and still recovering wife.  

[Seeking6]

First 500 for me was famous Spin and Win for Sullivan in the South chute. That will always stand out for me. Another memory was friends and I drove up from Bloomington for Pole Day in 1993. We literally arrived about 30 minutes before AJ announced his retirement and did his last lap. So many great memories of the institution that is IMS. Can't wait to see what happens this weekend.

[Parakeet Jones]

I obsessively start checking the race day weather forecast about every four hours on the Monday before the race.  It's time to start hydrating now.  I just read this will be in the top 12 of hottest 500s ever (if this forecast holds).  

[SteveS]

31 minutes ago, Seeking6 said:

First 500 for me was famous Spin and Win for Sullivan in the South chute. That will always stand out for me. Another memory was friends and I drove up from Bloomington for Pole Day in 1993. We literally arrived about 30 minutes before AJ announced his retirement and did his last lap. So many great memories of the institution that is IMS. Can't wait to see what happens this weekend.

My dad was working for Penske racing that year.  He has a winners ring from that race as well as Big Al Unsers 4th win in ‘87.

[SteveS]

2 minutes ago, Parakeet Jones said:

I obsessively start checking the race day weather forecast about every four hours on the Monday before the race.  It's time to start hydrating now.  I just read this will be in the top 12 of hottest 500s ever (if this forecast holds).  

It could be stifling then, I can remember some really hot race days.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, SteveS said:

My first race was in 1973, the year Swede Savage died, I was 6.  The race was rained out for three days, they finally ran it on Wednesday.  My parents pulled my brother and I out of school to go to the race.  About all I remember from that day was my dad showing up at my school to get us and walking into the track.  The gates were all wide open and after three days of rained out partying, there were piles of beer cans as high as my house.  I also remember it being very loud.

I started going regularly when I was 9 in 1976.  That is the year you are talking about, Johnny Rutherford won in a rain shortened race, they only ran 102 laps.  After that I went to 29 consecutive races until my son was born in Denver in early May of 1997.  There were complications with him during and right after birth so there was no way I was leaving my new son and still recovering wife.  

I lived in Speedway while I did my student teaching in the late 70's. Was there when the Speedway Bomber was terrorizing the area. We used to get done with school around 3, stop and pick up a 6-pack, and sit and watch practice during happy hour. Saw lots of fast(for the times) cars, lots of accidents, and a lot of good looking women.

[SteveS]

19 minutes ago, Jerry Lundergaard said:

I lived in Speedway while I did my student teaching in the late 70's. Was there when the Speedway Bomber was terrorizing the area. We used to get done with school around 3, stop and pick up a 6-pack, and sit and watch practice during happy hour. Saw lots of fast(for the times) cars, lots of accidents, and a lot of good looking women.

I had a couple of odd connections to the Speedway bomber case.  If you remember, he was caught when he tried to have a local printing company make him some fake government id’s. The printer had called the police after the guy left, suspecting something was wrong. That printer was next door to my parents fabric store and I remember being at the store one night when there were unmarked police waiting in the parking lot for the guy to come pick up the id’s.  My mom was really on edge the whole time.

The other connection was that the guy who did it lived a few houses away from one of my friends growing up and I remember seeing him from time to time.  It was really odd to me at the time.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, SteveS said:

I had a couple of odd connections to the Speedway bomber case.  If you remember, he was caught when he tried to have a local printing company make him some fake government id’s. The printer had called the police after the guy left, suspecting something was wrong. That printer was next door to my parents fabric store and I remember being at the store one night when there were unmarked police waiting in the parking lot for the guy to come pick up the id’s.  My mom was really on edge the whole time.

The other connection was that the guy who did it lived a few houses away from one of my friends growing up and I remember seeing him from time to time.  It was really odd to me at the time.

That was too close to home.

I lived in an apartment complex about two blocks away from Speedway High School. We were sitting in our top floor apartment and it felt/sounded like a wrecking ball fell on the top of our building. The guy had set a bomb off in the high school parking lot. Everyone was paranoid. I can only imagine what your parents went through 

[Seeking6]

Quick update for out of town guests. Scattered showers on Saturday. If any rain does happen it will be Saturday. Sunday looks perfect but temps/humidity will be the warmest all month. 90 and humid.

Will Power had the fastest no tow speeds in similar temps earlier this month...as did the other Penske drivers. Hard to count out Dixon/TK though. Don't know of a track in the world that is more sensitive to track temps. Sunday could be all about the weather and not just for the fans.

 

[Parakeet Jones]

That was one hot day.  Not the most exciting race ever, but I have been to worse.  It was inevitable Will Power would win one.  He is way too good not to and he has been close before. 

[5fouls]

1 hour ago, Parakeet Jones said:

That was one hot day.  Not the most exciting race ever, but I have been to worse.  It was inevitable Will Power would win one.  He is way too good not to and he has been close before. 

Definitely different race than the last couple, which featured record number of passes.  This was more 'traditional', but not as interesting.