Your Indy Traditions

[marcus]

well despite some nay sayers of late To Me the Indy 500 IS the greatest race on the planet earth (I even get more excited about this event than the Bathurst 1000 in Australia , thats wrong isnt it ? , sorry to any Aussies reading that)

BUT

What are your traditions come the last weekend of May?

we cant all be in the grandstands like Tim (grrrrrrrr) or in pit lane like Team owner (Bigger GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR)

Most of us like myself being Thousands of Miles away have to settle for TV coverage , but I still feel it every single year.

so despite what you think of the current status of the race or drivers what are your traditions for the event ?

here are mine.

I Live in Australia , and realistically have no chance of getting to Indy , so I set up my lounge room all ready to go.

I have an abundance of Alcohol (too much some would say buy Hey Im attending meetings ) heaps of nibbly's and food available to me , maybe move the PC to the Lounge room for a chat in the Ten Tenths Chat room (depending on my mood)

and I sit there waiting , waiting

the race itself is on a Sunday night here and I usually work , so I apply well in advance for the night off (this year Im taking 10 days off starting with that day due to a well timed holiday by me )

and I wait ,

Usually there is an F1 race (Monaco this year) on first , so I sit through it screaming at the TV for someone to pass something !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But I often get let down (why do we punish ourselves with F1 ??)

and then the Indy coverage starts , the obligatory "Back Home in Indiana" starts , the song to me personally is Boring and I dont really for Gomer Pile (aka Jim Nabors) but it does stir something in me every year (no offence to anyone from Indiana or Jim Nabors fans , Im just not from there if you get what I mean)

but that song is the start of it all.

the biggest pain about it all is the pace laps , I HATE THEM , but of course they have to be had , but they seem like they take 25 minutes to complete and then its the race.

the next few hours are usually a blur to me (No its not the Alcohol..........Ok maybe it is) but thankfully Im recording it and can take the next few weeks to rewatch it all over again.

its just pure joy from me , I simply love the place , Its My Mecca , and its my ambition to get there one day.

the race ends and I feel deflated a little because its all over for another 12 months.

I then try and console myself with the Nascar race and sadly since I can remember have never made it through the entire race (mind you by the time the nascar race starts its around 8am and Ive been up all night drinking , so Im pretty much ready for bed by then)

One day I will make the complete show.

and thats how I spend my indy weekend.

sadly I usually spend it alone as its the middle of the night and all my mates who watch racing have to work Monday and because the Indycars are on cable TV down here they dont follow the regular series so they miss out the hype and lead up to Indy.

but hey my passion is there and it has been ever since about 85 or 86 when I saw my first Indy 500 on TV as a 11 or 12 year old kid who was actually up all night sick and lucky enough to watch the race on TV that night.

its just become a tradition for me and I love it.

when I was still at school I used to sneak out to the lounge and watch the race while the family were sleeping , EVERY year I'd get a good flogging in the morning for doing it , But hey it was worth it.

Bring onthe 90th running of the 500 !!!!!!!

[Dennis H.]

We have some friends who always have a party the night before the race which inlcudes plenty of alcohol and gambling, we set up about 5 or 6 race pools to get some action going. I don't know which get's me more fired up for the race, the drinking or the gambling but usually by the time we get home I am too wired to sleep. When our friends from Boston or NY come in I will usually at least drive them out to 16th and Georgetown the night before, if only for an hour because the mardi gras atmosphere just cracks them up. I don't know how many years ago they started selling those big Foster's cans at the track but the past 5 or 6 years I have had a tradition of going down and buying one of those at the first yellow flag.

[Knowlesy]

Lots of beer, the sound cranked right up, and general loneliness at the thought that I am the only Indycar viewer within a radius of 300 miles!

[macdaddy]

With a few (more-recent) exceptions, I haven't missed an Indy telecast since the early 80's. As for "traditions", well they didn't really begin to take form until I got a bit older.

- Booking the day off work one-year in advance.
- Calling in sick if my requested day-off was not granted.
- Beer.
- Rooting for Penske.
- Beer.
- Going to work late if "sickness" excuse didn't cut it.

[drdisque]

I always take notes of the month, including what cars have actually been on track and each car's individual qualifying laps on a sheet. The improved quality of indycar's website over the past few years has made this somewhat pointless but I do it anyway.

[luke]

Watch it on the widescreen down stars..get out the seround sound...beer of course as it's in the evening here, even better..

[Knowlesy]

Tsk....under age drinkers....

[hoffy]

Originally Posted by marcus

well despite some nay sayers of late To Me the Indy 500 IS the greatest race on the planet earth (I even get more excited about this event than the Bathurst 1000 in Australia , thats wrong isnt it ? , sorry to any Aussies reading that)

I'm on your side there Marcus. Bathurst is good, but there is nothing like the greatest spectacle in motor racing!!!

the first Aussie tradition for the race is spending the weeks/months prior trying to find if the race is being telecast on Free To Air TV.....

For me, being a bit of a wimp, I generally tape the race and then spend the next day trying to avoid any forum, new service that has any info on the race.

Then when I get the first chance I can, I will sit down and watch the race from start to finish. I only fast foward thru the ads, BUT I generally still watch the replay during the safety cars. I also sit there dreaming back to 96 (OK, it was hardly a stella year) when I had my chance to sit in the stands and watch.....maybe I could do it again one day.....when the kids get older......

[Antrodemus]

Indy is part two in a 15-hour total immersion red-eye motorsport day for me.
Monaco GP coverage starts at 11pm Sunday, followed by 2 hours 'sleep', get up for Indy at 4am, and then Nascar from Charlotte
And back to work on Tuesday

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by hoffy

a stella year

Now there is a great beer idea

For the past 32 years or so, except for the few times I have gone to see the race, I have eaten Chef Boyardee pizza while watching the race. Yes, the cheap make-it-yourself stuff in the cardboard box, dressed up with some good herbs and pepperoni and such, but still the strange powder cheese and 'tangy' sauce.
Been washing it done with beer for years now too. Stella Artois sounds like a great choice for this year.

While I follow Indy car racing much less then I did years ago, there is still something magical about hearing Back Home Again in Indiana, seeing all the pomp and circumstance, the crowds and all the build up, and then the green flag and the field going into turn one!

robert

[JohnSSC]

I try whenever possible to watch the race live. When I cannot, I tape it and try to avoid the news/internet/etc and then watch it start to finish usually minus the beer, but with snacks or whatever.

I like the pre-race stuff and corny as Jim Nabors appears to be, when he sings "Back home again, in Indiana" I know it is nearly time for the show and I get pretty antsy. Yes, the pace laps can be boring, but one never knows when the next driver will pull a Sharp/Guerrero and spin out during one of the pace laps!

I really focus on the first 30 laps 'cause it is just so cool. I ease up a bit in intensity as I try to get a grip on pit strategies - you know, who came in when, what did they change, etc. From there to the middle part of the race where things settle down. By this time the Kevin Cogan's of the world have eliminated themselves from competition ( you know, the folks who try to win the race in no more than 3 laps) and I try to watch lap times and such and then try to figure who might have what for the last 50 laps and hope it ends like one of the thrillers involving Gordie Johncock...

[marcus]

Originally Posted by Antrodemus

Indy is part two in a 15-hour total immersion red-eye motorsport day for me.
Monaco GP coverage starts at 11pm Sunday, followed by 2 hours 'sleep', get up for Indy at 4am, and then Nascar from Charlotte
And back to work on Tuesday

4am Antro , Im sure the race will well and truly be on by then , might want to re-tune your alarm clock if you want to watch it

P.S there is also Superbike racing on before the F1 race to I believe , so a big day all round really

[marcus]

Um nevermind about the 4am thing , I just remembered you are from NZ

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by marcus

P.S there is also Superbike racing on before the F1 race to I believe , so a big day all round really

You are absolutely right

Going to be pretty much non-stop from 1pm CET;

01:00pm - World SuperBikes Race 1, Silverstone
02:00pm - Formula 1 Monaco GP, Monte Carlo
04:30pm - World SuperBikes Race 2, Silverstone
06:45pm - Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis
11:00pm - Coca-Cola 600, Charlotte

And yes, I have taken the day off on Monday (especially since the Coca-Cola 600 might turn into another 5-6 hour marathon like last year, since there most likely will be major tire-problems again this year)

[Tim Northcutt]

I like the two "parade laps" and the "pace lap"....they build tension in the crowd when you're there....


and the pace lap itself...to watch them slot themselves into those nice rows of three as they approach turn three...all the different colors of cars in clean rows....getting ready to rock

it is an awesome sight.

[Michael Edick]

I was given a airplane ticket to Indy for my High School graduation present, and a pit road grandstand ticket from the Newman/Freeman team (whose car didn't make it that year, but it was the first big step into the big time for Mr. Paul Newman, if you don't count "the Honker" episode) in 1977.

The year Foyt won his 4th, and Janet Guthrie was the first woman to make the field. I remember Jim Nabors, the national anthem, the ballons being released, mulitple pace laps buiding the excitment, the rows of three coming down for the green...all magic for an 18 year old with dreams of racing there someday!

I still get chills, even writing about it.

After the start of the race, I went back to the team garage and listened to it on the radio...I had a terrible head cold, and the humidity was awful, and I couldn't breathe! It was the best and worst day of my young life!!

Now adays, I still watch the start of the race, turn on the VCR, go work on MY racecar, and come back to watch the finish...

and long for the day that the IRL and CC will be one...

[Tim Northcutt]

1977 was the day after I graduated from high school.

One of the hottest and most humid race days I can ever remember...must have been 90 F in the shade that day!!!

[Michael Edick]

small world indeed!

growing up on the "left coast", I never knew what humidity was till Indy that year!

how do you do it?

[marcus]

I was only 3 then LOL

[Tim Northcutt]

I will tell you an old tradition that we had back in the 1970s and early 1980s when I was in high school and college:

A life-long friend of mine and i would buy two kegs of beer and buy 2 lbs. of hamburger for every person that was going to the race with us. Everyone else in our group would bring a designated side dish or buns, condiments, etc....everyone was assigned one item to bring and they would offer what that thing would be...as the list was compiled, we would tell people what we needed....one guy brought his grill every year...it was big, but portable...someone would get lighter fluid and someone else a couple of bags of charcoal, etc.

Everyone would chip in for the beer and meat...

We would meet that the office of a contractor who had a son in our group every year at 11 p.m. the night before the race and we would load up into two pick-up trucks...there would be about 20-25 of us.

One truck had a camper shell (for cover from he rain...and it was "crowded" when it rained) and the other had one level of construction scaffolding (not assembled) and a big heavy platform built from 2"x4"s as a frame with a 3/4-inch piece of plywood on it....that truck hauled bigger items and was open-air

We would drive to the north side of the track the night before and park at the corner of Falcon Drive and 30th Street...directly across from the Nort Gate into the infield at IMS.

At 5 a.m., the Speedway would fire a "Cannon" to signify that the gates were open.

As soon as we heard the cannon shot, everyone but the drivers jumped out of the two trucks and ran out into 30th Street to get in the way of traffic....

We were always one of the first groups to enter the place on Race Day, and we always got a spot next to the fence on Race Day at the end of the backstretch.

At that time, General Admission in the infield was $10....with your beer and meat contributions, the total cost of the day was about $15-$17 (including admission to the Race!) to party all night with great friends, have all the beer you could drink and all the food you could eat...

After the race, we would finish off the food and beer and hang out, and leave the place at about 5:30 p.m.

Traffic had always cleared by then, and we had a great weekend...

Great memories of a great Event....and it was a great, cheap way to do the Race every year....

[JohnSSC]

Just realized how much fun I was missing with your group Tim! Who said fun can't happen if you are organized and focused? You guys had things down to a science! Remind me to pm you someday about making "rotisserie" grills out of bar stools in Turn 4 at Nelson Ledges at the Cumberland Nationals. Ahhh, Youth!!

It is nice to see that as a 1975 Graduate from HS, I have a year or two (or in marcus' case - no offense - 17 years or so) on the rest of you...

[jethro10]

Originally Posted by knowlesy

Lots of beer, the sound cranked right up, and general loneliness at the thought that I am the only Indycar viewer within a radius of 300 miles!

no your not mate, theres me and the wife near Cockermouth and my sister and brother in law at Mossbay, Workington.

Jeff

[Michael Edick]

I remember that %*$#^@+ cannon!!

I was asleep on the floor of the team motor home inside the track, next to the garage area, and when that sucker went off, I nearly bumped my head on the ceiling!! I can laugh now, but at the time, I wanted to kill the guy who pulled the trigger!!

what is it? a 105mm Howitzer or something!?

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by jethro10

no your not mate, theres me and the wife near Cockermouth and my sister and brother in law at Mossbay, Workington.

Jeff

Wow, superb!

That's reassuring then!

[Seoigh]

Get-together at high noon Sunday with fellow race freaks at a local (Florida) pub owned by a friend from Dublin. As he is also a race fan, we get three of the 5 big screens tuned to Indy race with the sound system cranked up...it's earlier than the 'normal' pub crowd show up...so we don't 'bother' his trade too much...can't wait!