INDY 500
I don't know if any of you were so blessed to have had a dad so obsessed with the 500 as my dad. But he spent the entire month of May at the track.
My dad was addicted to the race and all that went with it. He used to know so many of the drivers and even built stock cars to race at the Little 500 across the street from the big one.
Dad owned the big Standard Station across from the main entrance for several years and we thought that was so cool.
People from all over central Indiana used to come to dad to fine tune their cars, he had magic fingers and screwdriver. All by ear back then.
He also built cars with Bill Doty. We used to go to places around Indiana like Salem, Huntingsburg, etc. to watch races.
He never miss a Indy 500 until 1966 when he had a heart attack on May 1 and the hospital kept him for 30 days. He was not a happy patient that month, I can tell you that.
He took me to see Parnelli's turbine, and the little Novi's, what a sound they made.
We used to pack up on the weekend and get there early, sometimes in the south turn, sometimes, in the pit, and go for the qualifications. Sometimes, it was just dad and me and he would give me his watch with the second hand and we would time the cars.
I even went to the race in 1969, PG out to here. With delay after delay for rain. Went one year and met James Garner, what a nice guy. Even got to see our own CGHS 500 Queen that year. What a beauty she was. She did us proud.
So when we talk of memories, I have to include the Indiana 500 in mine.
My dad was addicted to the race and all that went with it. He used to know so many of the drivers and even built stock cars to race at the Little 500 across the street from the big one.
Dad owned the big Standard Station across from the main entrance for several years and we thought that was so cool.
People from all over central Indiana used to come to dad to fine tune their cars, he had magic fingers and screwdriver. All by ear back then.
He also built cars with Bill Doty. We used to go to places around Indiana like Salem, Huntingsburg, etc. to watch races.
He never miss a Indy 500 until 1966 when he had a heart attack on May 1 and the hospital kept him for 30 days. He was not a happy patient that month, I can tell you that.
He took me to see Parnelli's turbine, and the little Novi's, what a sound they made.
We used to pack up on the weekend and get there early, sometimes in the south turn, sometimes, in the pit, and go for the qualifications. Sometimes, it was just dad and me and he would give me his watch with the second hand and we would time the cars.
I even went to the race in 1969, PG out to here. With delay after delay for rain. Went one year and met James Garner, what a nice guy. Even got to see our own CGHS 500 Queen that year. What a beauty she was. She did us proud.
So when we talk of memories, I have to include the Indiana 500 in mine.
posted by the golden horse at 12:31 AM
4 Comments:
GH: The Indy 500 is such a huge part of our past. It might be the only memory of ours that still exists in IN. I remember that famous '69 rain-out race. I think that they finally ran it on the following Monday?
And, how about that in-field and all the action that went on there the day of the race. I too loved the time trials and qualifying. The crowds weren't bad and the action was very laid back. That was a great time to go to the track. Remember how everybody lined up in their cars the night before race day? OMG!!! That was as much fun as the actual race. I also remember lots of hung-over race fans in those stands on race day... party, party all night long the night before. My 87 year old Mom still gets excited during race time! It brings back lots of good memories for her and the rest of us. Thanks for the memory!
I spent most of 1969 in Sunny South Viet Nam, so I don't recall much of that race.
The one I do recall is the '73 fiasco, where during qualifications and various attempts to complete the race, Art Pollard, Salt Walther, and Swede Savage crashed horribly. Pollard and Savage die.....Walther is critically injured.
I still love the race, and conditions for the drivers have improved dramatically, but this week's accident at Homestead that killed Paul Dana shows that going that fast is always gonna be dangerous to the human body.
Cars these days are upside-down aircraft.
Race cars and Aircraft now share so much technology.....
aerodynamics, fuel cells, crashworthiness.....more.
Lessons learned in one field are easily used in the other.
I used to enjoy going to the 1st Day of qualifications.
Mom and I would take a picnic basket and a big cooler, along with a portable radio and a stopwatch, and make a full day of it.
Now they won't let you take containers bigger than a breadbasket into the track. To register my dissatisfaction, I stay home and watch TV coverage or listen to the radio.
Another example where our memories are the best, because they are better than anything fans of today can experience.
FF,
Yes, that must be the place. I remember I was about 10 when dad took me down there. I went to church camp down there somewhere also. I love that part of Indy. So beautiful. I remember your brother quite well also, hope he is doing good.
FG
Oh gosh, you mentioned the parking the night before on 16th street, best party going in those days, and continuing in the snakepit. Do you remember those horrible women's restrooms with just a hole in the ground, no toilet?? Under tents??
GB
I am glad you got to have plenty of memories from there also.
I loved the ole picnics we could have with the family in those days and remember family reunions, where did they go??
My dad and granddad loved the time trials. If one of them had tickets, it was better than Christmas for them. They would spend the day at the track, come home an talk about it like magpies for a day or so and then begin the long wait for next year.
Some how I think they would enjoy NASCAR too.
On silly thing: Remember Rosie? My aunt who is a year younger than me?
Her real name is Merrarose, named after Murray Rose, a race car driver my grandmother thought was pretty cute at the time!
Rosie has always been grateful that Fitapaldi wasn't driving then
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