Our trip to the Indianapolis 500 was great though. We had good seats, some fun folks behind us and good weather...not too hot or too cold. The race was phenomenal except for the very end when an anti-climatic last two laps ruined what would have been probably a photo-finish. For two years in a row now, Franchitti has been the cause of angst within the race and this year, his wreck at Lap 198 caused Kanaan to win by default under the yellow flag. Boo! The rule should be changed that if anything happens in the last five laps that they have to rerun them under the green flag. Reset! Tilt! For those non-racing fans, like me, when you are under the yellow flag, you have to stay in your position and follow the pace car as you cruise around the track in the order that you are.
I have to say that while everyone was cheering Kanaan's victory, I was going....wait! There are two laps more to go! I had not clue you could win under a yellow flag, when everyone was required to retain their positions. Boo! Boo! Boo! Change the rule!
In a race where there was a record number of leaders, a record average MPH and an excitement level that would have blown the roof off (if there WAS a roof), the ending was as heavy as the clouds that were encroaching upon the track. Granted, had those clouds released their moisture on us, we would have been sitting there for even longer than the 3 hours it took to run the race, but then at least a fight to the finish would have made the day worth it.
Here's my tips if you want to attend the race in the future.
- Go early to Indianapolis. There are pre-race activities all week long. Partake in them!
- The IMS is near the airport and so it makes sense to grab a hotel by the airport.
- Don't rent a car unless you want to do sight-seeing around the town. There are shuttles that take you from the airport to the racetrack on race day. Take them! The website is Free Enterprise Shuttles.
- Don't bother with buying a Premium Shuttle Ticket which gives you faster access to the buses ($40 versus $25 per person) because the lines went fast after the race was over and standing in line is good after sitting for three hours.
- Take a cooler every time you go to the race track. The food and drinks are expensive and there's no need to pay inflated prices.
- Go to the Friday practice session. You can sit almost anywhere and get really close to the track when on other days you are restricted as to where you can walk and stand.
- We sat in the SE vista (Turn 2) and the main action (this time) was at Turn 1 and Turn 3. There were wrecks between Turn 1 and Turn 3 so you can see the action but I think with the jockeying going on at Turn 1, I would have rather sat there.
- If you're a fan of ceremony, buy your tickets early and sit in front of the pits. That's where you can see all the pre-race festivities but otherwise, I think it's slightly boring. Mainly you just witness pit changes and after a while, it's pretty boring. Believe me, they do the same thing, time after time.
- Get up early and go the race track. The lines were long and the fun is visiting with people in the stands. Most are fanatics.
- Take your camera. The people watching is crazy. But be prepared for drunk people. Man, the liquor flows out there and people definitely like their beer, Jack Daniels and Fuzzy Vodka.
- Take good walking shoes - the race track and its features are big and plentiful.
- Go to the museum. It's filled with all the old vintage cars and even a non-car enthusiast will enjoy seeing what used to race around the track.
- Go the Parade downtown and buy bleacher tickets at the very beginning where the TV station is. That's where every float, band, etc. performs. There are tons of celebrities who participate in the parade.
Well, that's about it! Signing off from the Indianapolis airport. Glad to be going home to the mountains!
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