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OT Indy 500

J

John T

Well-known Member
So, been watching the pre race activities and talking heads and will watch live coverage later, but nostalgia and old memories of "the way it used to be" for myself as a Hoosier saddens me. In the fifties n sixties I remember always listening to Sid Collins broadcast and having cookouts or going camping while the Uncles (all dead n gone now) played catch with us kids and we had to go to the icehouse to buy 25 cent block ice which we chopped up using ice picks. Lots of the old fashion metal coke coolers and hot dogs. It was the days of AJ Foyt and Parnelli Jones and Eddie Sachs and Roger Ward and the Unsers and Andrettis and the old roadsters with Offys or the famous screaming NOVI and Granatellis Turbine almost winning WOWWWWWWW those were the days. I will never forget the first time Donald Davidson from the UK came to the track and he could name the finishing drivers and positions for allllllllll races strictly from memory.

Back then the entire month of May was concerned with the race, 2 weekends of qualifying and the bumping on the last day was exciting BUT THEN THE CART AND INDY RACING LEAUGE FEUD ERUPTED AND IN MY OPINION THINGS WENT DOWN HILL FROM THAT POINT grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr The race or month of May has never been the same.........

Its like an author stated "you can never go home again" but I have such fond memories of those Indy 500 race days when I was young and all my extended family were there, while todays 500 just doesn't measure up for me at least.

Oh Well, getting old n nostalgic I reckon

John T
 
JohnT,
For what's it worth, snake pit is now in turn 3. Do you remember the White castle slidders and drinking beer for breakfast in the pit? Attendance is still the largest sporting event in US. Some oldies still go, except for me, however my daughter and her In-laws still go. Grandma 85 hasn't missed an event in decades.

My daughter even went to the first 500 GP, which was a little miss leading. They ran on the same F1 GP track, backwards.

Daughter buys a used race tire from the first 500 GP and has it in a flower bed with flowers. Think she is related to BUBBA, on her mother's side?

I think I heard on one of the TV stations they were going have race, usually it's delayed in Indiana. I may or may not watch it, usually puts me to sleep. Guess if I need a nap, I'll turn the TV on.
George
 
Went to the race in 64. It was interesting and am glad I went, but never had any desire to go again. The area outside the race track was more entertaining than the race itself. It was basically a mad house then, and I suppose much worse now.
 
Well, a bit less known brand, but CASE entered cars at Indy for a few years. Never heard of a JD or IH entered.
This is a page from my 1914 CASE full-line catalog
Loren, the Acg.
a157983.jpg
 
I went from 1961 to 1967 and saw the first rear engine car and many other really neat things. Then I took my son in 1988 and saw Howdy Holmes race his last Indy race. Howdy is the CEO of Jiffy Mix in Chelsea, MI not too far from where I live now. Scott and I talked to him after the race back then. Some of the best times were walking around outside the track the night before looking at all the crazies!
 
Sadly, Indy, like NASCAR, has been regulated such that the events are little more than slot car races. I have no interest in either, but do fondly remember the classic innovative events of yesteryear.

The days of the NOVI, nearly twice the HP of anything else on the track, accelerating out of turn 4 at 140 MPH+, blue smoke rolling off of the front tires, blasting past the Offys down the front straight, only to be passed in the turns by the more nimble and lighter Offy powered cars, are gone forever.

Dean
 
went to Indy as a child in 63 or 64 don't remember which. Not during the race but we went on a driving tour of the track in a VW micro bus. I THOUGHT THAT WAS FUNNY.
 
I've never had much to do with Indy racing, but even after racing late model stock cars myself for some 12-15 years I can't stand to watch NASCAR racing anymore.

When I was stationed at the Marine Corp Air Station at Beaufort, SC in 1963, I used to go the races on a 1/2 mile dirt track in Savannah, GA every Friday night. At that time Cale Yarborough was one of the local brats driving a Sportsman car, Leroy Yarbrough and Tiny Lund were regulars, etc. My own racing days peaked in an era with Cale, Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, (I met him a few times), Buddy Baker, etal.

Back in those days, in NASCAR, a driver could build his own car, have a few buddies help in the pits, and be competitive. Even if you didn't win, you could make a decent living by finishing 10th to 20th, and have fun doing it. A self-sponsored black driver, Wendell Scott, never won but he was usually around at the end of a race. Nowadays, if you don't have a corporate sponsor putting up millions of dollars, you can't even think about it.

And, there was an element of creativity involved back then. It was a friendly game between the teams and the officials to see how much they could get away with. I heard of Smokey Yunick standing beside a stock car, holding the bladder out of the fuel cell, and arguing with an official about the capacity of the bladder. In the middle of the argument, Smokey said, "To hell with it", threw the bladder into the back of the car, crawled into the driver's seat, fired it up and drove a half mile to his hauler. So where did the gasoline come from while he drove that half mile?

Nowadays, with the cars being mandated to be identical and the race nothing more than follow the leader, I simply get bored silly if I try to watch it.

I guess one thing still holds true, though. Bobby Allison once had a sign over the work bench in his shop that said, "No Amount Of Human Endeavor Will Ever Replace Dumb Luck". I think that's still true.
 
Seems like nothing has changed. The talk is still the same. My father worked with Billy Arnold, Johnny Arnold's brother, trying to get qualified in the late 40s. Dad had the crew over for lunch. The talk was the same then. How things had changed for the worse since the 1920s and 30s.
How they didn't want seat belts because they preferred to be thrown out of the car in case of a fire.
So today you criticize but not one of you would have the guts to drive a modern race car at 220 MPH. Racing is racing and I have always loved the Indy 500.
 
I guess you haven"t paid any attention to the races this year then. They did away with the minimum post-race ride height and the cars have got a lot faster, and they"ve had some pretty good racing. At least they don"t have one guy lapping the field twice and everyone else racing for second anymore.
I don"t like the overcommercialization. Starting line-up brought to you by.... top 35 brought to you by..... top 25 brought to you by.... top 20 brought to you by.... top 15 brought to you by...... top 10 brought to you by...... top 5 brought to you by.... top 4 brought to you by......top2 brought to you by..... and today"s Coor"s pole sitter brought to you by...... the official mayonnaise of nascar..... official sneakers of nascar.... GET ON WITH THE RACE ALREADY!!!!!

I might watch some of Indy today since Kurt Bush is in it. I still think Jimmy didn"t hit him hard enough that day at Michigan, but he seems to have turned a corner now.
 
I went to the Indy race in 1974. Most interesting thing was some guy in the infield, climbed a tree and took off all his clothes. Took the cops awhile to get him down out of that tree.
 
The "blackout" of live Indy 500 coverage ONLY applies to the Indianapolis affiliate of ABC-TV...and there are plenty of other ABC-TV outlets in Indiana; WRTV is NOT the only Indiana ABC-TV affiliate. On ALL other ABC-TV affiliates, the coverage has been live since 1986.

So "usually it's delayed in Indiana" is incorrect. Just want to make sure the information is accurate, even if this IS part of the internet.
 
They still race cars in the US? Didn't notice for the billboards flying around the track. Racing in the US is not much different than wrestling. Very little chance of winning, or even placing, for the underdog. Seems no one cares about the 500 anymore in Indiana. I did not even know the race was today until I read about the murder in the camping area in the paper today.
 
The Indianapolis 500 was ONCE one of the most prestigious races in the world. In 1973, I got the opportunity to go to the first day of qualifying at IMS, got to eat cold fried chicken for lunch like everybody else who brought their own food to the track. I also saw the wreck in the Turn 1-2 area that killed Art Pollard. The race that year is probably remembered for the loss of multiple lives, and the multi-day running of the race.

After all the carnage that year, my interest in the Indy 500 was pretty much gone. I had wanted to watch a race, and instead saw too much death in one venue. I know that danger is inherent to auto racing, but watching crew members and spectators catch on fire from burning fuel on live TV, or seeing crew members get run over on Pit Row, pretty much takes a LOT of the glamour away.
 
As one who has made some laps on a dirt track I have to agree that NASCAR has been done for some time. Would be better if they cut the race to 40 laps and ran stock cars then modifieds and then something else.

Mainly they should go back to having to run a stock production body. So what if it's front wheel drive. I want the innovation and creativity to come back.

Now it's just wrasslin' on wheels (and with major corporate sponsors)

Maybe that's just the cycle. Can-Am peaked and then went downhill. So did Trans-Am. F1 turned into a "big money" game. IMCA has done that too on it's own small (relatively) scale.
 
Some traditions are still with the 500. Singing "Back Home in Indana" by Jim Nabors. Andretti Racing having an entry in the Race every year and never winning the Indy 500 since '69. Winner drinking milk at the end of the Race. Winner receiving 1M or more for 2.5 hrs driving race car. Hard to comprehend anyone having the courage to drive anything 150-220 mph in close traffic. A very select few regardless of where they are from have it and do it.
 
Is there something wrong with some other country producing race car drivers? Or should they all ONLY race in their own country?

Jim Clark wasn't an American...and I don't recall a lot of complaining about where he was from when he was racing at Indy. Same with Graham Hill. Mario Andretti wasn't born in America, either. He was 15 when he came to America, so he didn't even grow up over here. Go back to the 1920 winner; Gaston Chevrolet was from France...as were the 1913 and 1914 winners. Ralph DePalma won the 1915 Indianapolis 500, and he was born in Italy.

Does that take away from anyone's qualifications to drive a race car in the Indianapolis 500?

Not sure what your point is.
 
My point, while eating and discussing this with friends most the drivers are unknown to them (and me). Don't mean much when we never heard of the drivers before. But that's our fault, we don't follow Indy car racing.
 
Just like foreign cars ruined the economy and Detroit ,foreign drivers and teams ruined Indy.Although I am watching it right now.
 
I can only say in the past it's been delayed in Terre Haute. Don't really care, I worked planting flowers instead of watching cars turn left.

Like JohnT, the Indy 500 has lost a fan here.
 
WATCHED THE ENTIRE RACE and enjoyed it especially the last 6 laps WHAT A RACE I was pulling for Andretti or Ryan Hunter yayyyyyyyy

I feel better now

John T
 
Back in the old days, race was blacked out from television, at least in Indiana. Don't know if the race was shown live elsewhere at the time. But throughout at least the late '70's, we had to either be there, or listen to it live on the radio, and watch it delayed on TV in the evening. Went to the race once, which to me was not nearly as fun as the time trials, which me and the buddies used to go to every year. Those were back in the USAC days, before even CART, and long before IRL.

Anybody know? Tony George ever get things squared away with his sisters? They had a pretty good split up the family and track feud going a couple of years ago.

Mark
 
If you're in Terre Haute watching cable out of Indy--as we did when I was at ISU in the '70's--it's likely it was blacked out on the Indy station. I think when I was in Terre Haute, ABC was on Channel 38 locally. It's been 38 years since I left there.
 
I took the same trip in the same micro buss at about the same time, RD.

I was mesmerized listening to the driver point out interesting features as we progressed around the track at 30 MPH or so. To this day, I can clearly remember him pointing and saying: "That's where the NOVI hit the wall."

Dean
 
I agree, I was at ISU from 70 to 74 (in Industrial Arts) Tony Hulman (think Clabber Girl Baking Powder, and the owner of the track at the time, and Gentlemen Start Your Engines) Jim
 
(quoted from post at 08:07:29 05/25/14) I guess you haven"t paid any attention to the races this year then. They did away with the minimum post-race ride height and the cars have got a lot faster, and they"ve had some pretty good racing. At least they don"t have one guy lapping the field twice and everyone else racing for second anymore.
I don"t like the overcommercialization. Starting line-up brought to you by.... top 35 brought to you by..... top 25 brought to you by.... top 20 brought to you by.... top 15 brought to you by...... top 10 brought to you by...... top 5 brought to you by.... top 4 brought to you by......top2 brought to you by..... and today"s Coor"s pole sitter brought to you by...... the official mayonnaise of nascar..... official sneakers of nascar.... GET ON WITH THE RACE ALREADY!!!!!

I might watch some of Indy today since Kurt Bush is in it. I still think Jimmy didn"t hit him hard enough that day at Michigan, but he seems to have turned a corner now.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure Kurt has turned the corner.I said some time ago after another of his tirades that another round or two with Jimmy would do him a world of good-if he survived it!
A very talented driver though, as is his brother.
He finished 6th today at Indy.
 
I was at Rose-Hulman 72-73...until I figured out I wasn't cut out for calculus. When those new Indy Pace Cars hit, and were hidden on campus until their public release, that was a great time.
 
I'm a dyed in the wool stock car guy, but I always watch the Indy 500. I don't like some of the changes either, but man, that was a darn good finish today!
IMO lousy TV coverage has driven fans away from racing. Both Indy car and NASCAR.
 
I started ISU fall of 67. It took me 6 years to graduate. Was on the co-op program 2 semester at Crane (USNAD). Spent some time working at Bethleham Steel, Burns Harbor, to pay for my education.

So much for a degree at ISU, I wasn't smart enought to leave town after graduating.

My daughter graduated from ISU and had to move to Indy to find work. Son ended up at Plainfield working downtown Indy.

Guess you could say DAD didn't learn enought to move.
 
I gave up on racing years ago. To many regulations and watching the same car race itself got boring. Plus the screen is so full of crap. You couldn't see what was going on.
 
Went to the first 500 of my life today. Truly the greatest spectical like they always said.. was on the straight away behind pits. Being able to drive I traffic at 240 in to the turns is just unbelievable. Matter of fact that was my daylong comment - just unbelievable. Hopeto e able to go again.
 
Not the INDY, but with NASCAR they run the 600 (not sure whether it's the Coca Cola, or whatever now) this weekend here in Concord. While I only went to one race that track in my life, and that was so long ago I don't remember what it was called, I did enjoy NASCAR when I was young. Like the colorful characters in INDY we had guys like the Petty's, Fireball Roberts, Humpy Wheeler, and others to watch. Too the cars were actually "stock" cars, some of which were driven off the showroom floor and to the track. Each brand looked like almost like a true 'stock' car that everyone else drove, whether it was a Superbird, Dodge Dart, or whatever. None of this "car of tomorrow" crap they have now days where every one of them looks just alike other than the paint job. Too, the technology in the engines, suspensions, and other key areas of the car was always what the owner/driver could come up with on their own. Now days it's like you've got a choice to run this engine or that one, that suspension, those tires, etc, etc. There is very little to make any of the cars different from any other car.

Sadly from what I have seen and read, INDY, NASCAR, and any/all of the different leagues have done the same things with the cars to make them all as close to the same as possible, in an effort to make the races 'closer' and thus more 'exciting'. To me that's all a bunch of BS as there is nothing more exciting than watching a bunch of guys 'running what they brung' and battleing it out to see who has the best car and driver, not just who has the best driver in a field of cars that are all the same. That offers me absolutely no excitement at all.....
 
When my sister graduated from ISU with her degree in secondary ed, with certification in coaching and athletic training, she discovered she could make more money as a bookkeeper for a large Shell station in northwest Indianapolis than she'd ever make teaching and coaching.

And now she's a plumber.
 
I've been an Indy 500 fan from the '60's. Here in Arkansas we bought tickets for to a live pay-per-view broadcast that was shown in a movie theater, and skipped school to watch it. I saw Mario Andretti win his only 500 and saw the STP turbine cars out class the field and lose races in the last few laps and AJ Foyt winning his 3rd 500 in the Foyt-Coyote. You don't see the innovation in the cars today like you did back then, and that's a shame.
It took lots of $$ to race back then, and it takes even more now, as shown by the lack of entries for this year's race. Sponsorships are hard to come by, and that's one reason you see drivers from other nations. The drivers get sponsorship dollars from companies in their home country and bring it to the teams. As in all forms of racing, there are better drivers than those on the track who don't have the money to bring to the teams. It's always been that way, and always will be.
You gotta love Indy racing keeping away from the BS like the "green-white-checker", qualifying by owner points, and cautions for debris that only an "official" can see. No bump-and-run in open wheelers either. IMO, it's still the best professional racing series in the US.
BillL
 
I know another woman got a teaching degree and worked for the post office instead, never used degree.

Back them a kid could get out of high school, dad got him in the union, or a factory union job and make more than a teaching degree.

Today all those jobs have left and teachers can make more than a HS degree, not to mention the state pension.
 
Mark,

The TV networks have bragged about being the first to televise the race back in the '60s, I think.

In 1949 or '50, we went to town (Noblesville) and stood outside the RCA television dealer's window and watched the real first televised 500.
 
When Indy keeps away from things like NASCAR does it they also keep away fans and sponsors.Indy racing needs to learn from NASCAR how to have a product people want to watch and support.
 
Face they ain't trying to get the old tightwad guys like you,John T and me to the track its the young crowd that spends the $$$$ so it makes sense for them to appeal to the young folks.
 
(quoted from post at 19:22:23 05/26/14) When Indy keeps away from things like NASCAR does it they also keep away fans and sponsors.Indy racing needs to learn from NASCAR how to have a product people want to watch and support.
Click to expand...
There were over 200,000 people in attendance at the Indy 500. What NASCAR race gets that kind of attendance?
 
Probably the Brickyard 400 at Indy and NASCAR does it every week not just once a year plus
NASCAR TV $$$$ makes Indy cars look smalltime.When was the last time you saw a Indy driver on TV a thousand times like Jimmy Johnson is for Lowes?I'll be not more than 5% of the general public could name an active Indy driver or a past one for that matter.
 
I guess I never got the fever. Watching cars go around in a circle, or other people playing a game for that matter, never stirred my interest.
 
In recent years the Brickyard 400 hasn't drawn anywhere near the number of fans that the Indy 500 has. Not even close. This year's 500 probably drew closer to 300,000 than the 200K that was mentioned on TV. The stands hold over 250K, plus those that watch from the infield.
NASCAR doesn't have any events that draw the number of fans that the Indy 500 does.

That TV money is keeping NASCAR going. They would be in deep trouble without it as their attendance has been horrible at many tracks in recent years.

I've been a stock car racing fan for over 50 years (as well as pit crew member, car builder,racer,sponsor, and track official) so naturally the NASCAR racers are more familiar to me. I know enough open wheel fans that are more familiar with Indy racers than they are stock car racers that I would be fooling myself to think that Indy car racing didn't have strong fan support.
 
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