The 98th running of the Indianapolis 500 takes place this Sunday. It is billed as “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Rightfully so.
All of the preliminaries are over, except for the final one-hour, on-track practice session coming up Friday morning. Days later there is still plenty of whining from IndyCar bashers about the changes to the qualifying schedule. Hopefully they’ll knock it off soon and enjoy the spectacle on Sunday afternoon.
I’ve been to a lot of races at many different racetracks and for race fans what you take away from attending the Indy 500 is as much of a personal and emotional moment as you’ll ever know. The first time I entered the Speedway it wasn’t during a race weekend. I just wanted to see the cathedral and when you drive through the tunnel and come up to the infield you can feel the magic.
I stared up at the grandstands, quiet that day but easy to imagine full of spectators anxious for the start of the race. I thought of some of the races I’d watched before on television: Al Unser Jr. edging Scott Goodyear for the win in 1992, Jacques Villeneuve winning in 1995, and other moments from the Andrettis, Dario, Helio and more.
We’ve all seen plenty of brick walkways, but there’s almost no one who gets to stand beside that most famous yard of bricks at the start/finish line that doesn’t snap a photo with their phone like I did.
And on race day, the excitement reaches a whole new level. When the gates open at 5 a.m. the lineup of cars to get in has already stretched a couple miles long. The sun starts to come up shining off the pagoda and the track begins to come to life as 300,000 or so spectators begin to find their way inside.
A huge throng engulfs Gasoline Alley to watch the teams in their garages making final preparations for the race and then moving the cars through the crowd out to the starting grid.
Then the Purdue Marching Band, Jim Nabors — who this year will make his final appearance to sing “Back Home Again in Indiana” — the release of the balloons, the 11 rows of three cars all coming to life after the command to fire engines.
And following the gruelling race of 200 laps around that famous race track, the wreath is placed around the winner’s shoulders and he drinks from — and sometimes sprays — that bottle of milk. Their life is changed, forever.
Changing the order of qualifying days or having a road race two weeks before the Indy 500 is unsettling for some. They dislike it because it is new and different, and in all areas of life people are resistant to change.
In recent years NASCAR and Formula 1 along with MotoGP have come and raced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The final IndyCar practice is known as Carb Day, shortened from Carburetion Day. It used to be held on the Thursday before the 500, it’s now on Friday and well, IndyCars haven’t had carburetors for quite some time. These changes didn’t lessen or impact the importance or the significance of an Indianapolis 500 victory and they never will.
So let’s please stop the bickering over the Speedway schedule and the new road course race. The Indy 500 remains one of the most prestigious events in all of sports and a victory at the 500 is a life-altering moment for the driver who’s fortunate enough to capture one. Who can’t get excited about that?