The day started early. We were out the door about 7:15am because we knew we would have to fight the traffic. We exited off the highway in Indianapolis at exactly 9:00am and got about 2 miles down the road and there we sat in traffic. It took us 2 hours to get from where we were stopped, to our parking spot. We bought a prepaid parking pass, but we were very tempted to just part in someones yard, like everyone else. People were making a killing buy charging people to park in there front yard. But we carried on and waited for our parking lot to appear. Once we made it to our parking spot we headed out on foot. After shuffling through the crowd, we were sitting in our seats at 11:50 am. We then watched what was left and what we could see of the preshow.
Our seats weren't really the best, but they were covered and they had seat backs. We were sitting directly in front of the very last pit. The only great thing about our seats were that we could see everyone coming into the pit and we could see all the starts. The pace car would exit and the cars would step on it just to our left. Other then that, we had to watch the race up on the jumbo tron screen. If you have ever been to this track, you know there is no good seat. It is impossible to see the whole track at once.
When the race finally started, I was completely star-struck. I couldn't believe I was actually there. This has always been on my "to do" list. I have watched these guys and gals race for a while now, and now i was actually there. Even though I couldn't see there face, I was still star-struck. I spent most of the race trying to get pictures of Danica Patrick (only the coolest chic ever). I would definitely advise taking a fast camera. Our camera is pretty slow and became very hard to get the shots I wanted. Most of them were a blur and had to be deleted.
I would say that I am a pretty big fan of Danica now. When she got bumped on pit road and was taken out of the race, the crowd was on there feet booing and I had an upset stomach. I think a lot of people, like me, thought this could have been her year. I think Danica has really done a lot for this sport and will hopefully bring more women as racers and as fans. I plan on ordering my T-shirt soon.
Anyway, it became a long race with quite a few wrecks happening in turn 4 along with one right in front of us as his car slid sideways into the pits sending everyone scrambling over the wall. The race was finally over about 4:45pm'ish. We stuck around for a bit to let the rushed crowd out. We then started our shuffle back to the car, and sat there for another half hour. We finally got on the road and was still sitting in traffic for an hour. We got to my mothers house at about 7:30pm in Indianapolis, where she had a hot meal waiting for us. After the long day, a hot meal and a bed was just what we needed. Thanks Mom!!
I would definitely recommend this experience for everyone. I felt like a I was a piece of history that day, even though no records were broken. We plan on doing this again sometime. But for now, my nerves are still shot from all the traffic. So maybe this can be a once every five year thing instead of every year.
I can now add another CHECK to my list.
Danica Patricks "Go Daddy.com" car
Pit for John Andretti. One of the few names we recognized around us.
Buddy Lazier pit. directly in front of us. The very last pit.
That's us!!!!!!!!
Tony Kanaan (TK) being hauled back to the pit via wrecker. The crowd really wanted him to win. Maybe next year Tony.
Sarah Fisher heading into her pit.
Buddy Lazier's first pit for the day. Wow look at these guys go!
This is the big start. Sorry, this is a bit out of order. The pace car just got outof the way and the crowd was on there feet.
Another one out of order. They had a preshow. They had movie stars riding
in corvettes and all parts of the military marching in.
Milka Duno. Female racer from Brazil.
Pit rush hour. I couldn't believe how intense this was just watching.
Danica Patrick and Helio Castroneves heading into the pits.
Ryan Hunter-Rae rookie year at Indy.
View from windshield on the way out. Gridlock.
2 comments:
Did you really say "awesomest"? Never been to the Indy 500, but we have been there a couple times for the Brickyard 400 qualifying. Not quite the crowds that you had to get through. No good seats to see the whole track, but an absolutely unbelievable experience to see the size of it. Sounds like you had a lot of fun.
Yeah, I liked going there, but like you said, you have to watch it on the Jumbo tron just to figure out who is winning :o)
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