The Indianapolis 500. When you think of it, you probably think Brickyard, the Museum, pageantry, prestige, and the many names to come through this race. Those names are probably Ganassi, Penske, Mears, Andretti, Castroneves, Montoya, Fittipaldi, and many, many more. You probably think about 300,000 race fans all gathered around a 2.5 mile track and if you are a music fan, about the loudest ongoing concert from dawn to dinner. Everything is amazing when it comes to the Indy 500. What does going to the Indy 500 weekend feel like and what is it like? Having now been to the 2016 Indy 500, the 2019 Indy 500 and the 2023 Indy 500, I can tell you this. In this story, I'll tell you what to expect, what you should do, where to go, and the experience of going to the Brickyard again this past year.
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| Under Caution at Indy |
Saturday, Indianapolis. The significance of this day is mainly for the autograph session and the Legends to come out and be with the fans. My advice for the autograph session is get there at least 30 minutes earlier than when it starts. Remember that there are a ton of fans in the infield and they can line up as well to get autographs assuming they have the ticket. Then, walk at a very brisk pace to get in line. They do have the concessions and the gift shop open then so if you wanted to buy food or apparel, you can do that as well. I waited for Sunday, but if you wanted to do it Saturday you could. They don't have any on track activity. I personally would recommend going to Anderson, IN for the Little 500, a sprint car race on a quarter mile that is a premier race for sprint cars. Otherwise, you can see what may be in and around the Indianapolis area for events or just relax. Now, we go to Sunday at Indianapolis.
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| Dale Jr, as a part of NBC, at Indy |
Sunday, 5:30 a.m. Why do I say 5:30 am? Here's the ordeal with Indy, you HAVE to get there within an hour of gates opening at 6 a.m. or you are going to wait in traffic for at least two hours. I learned that the hard way in 2016 and my friend learned that the even harder way in 2023. I wasn't going to make that same mistake. Literally, if you get 5 miles from the track after 7 a.m., good luck to you getting in by 9 a.m. my friend. I got there at about 6 a.m. in 2023 and I still had to wait a bit to go into the parking space, parking about 6:45 a.m. At this point the sun had arose and I was well on my way to walking into the track. You may ask yourself upon entering the track, what is there to do? Well you can shop for merchandise, which I did. Or you can eat. Yes, Breakfast at Indy is a thing. Yes, you can get a lot of good breakfast food at Indy at 7 a.m. You can do what I did: Tots and a Mountain Dew in 2023 (Breakfast of Champions everyone!) Yes, the Snake Pit concert seen is loud as can be at 7 a.m. Yes people are partying at that time. You can also check out the cars from a distance, check out everything and just have some time to relax. If you want, you can take your seat and nap, or catch a tan if the sun is out, or shop. That's what I did: In 2019 I got a Juncos hat, an RHR shirt and I think a couple other things. In 2023: A David Malukas Shirt, An Alexander Rossi Shirt and a ton of small diecast cars. From there, it was eating, which I did. I think the Chicken and fries are good, as are most of the breakfast selections. The one thing I would highly recommend having though is a Verizon network phone. I had AT&T and it was at best spotty for the track. They should STILL make this easier in 2024 (because they didn't fix it in 2023.) One upgrade from Indy 2016 to 2019 and 2023? The vendors could take cards! Yes you don't need a wad of money to purchase stuff, as the vendors at the track took credit/debit cards this time. That was a huge relief for me as I randomly forgot money. What else is there to do after 8 a.m.?
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| The Borg-Warner Trophy |
Wait.. you may be asking yourself, that was only all before 8? For the most part yes! Now what I did was just explore. I went to more shops, walked the infield track where they hold the Indy Grand Prix race for IndyCar. You can go into their museum at the track, but I went there back in the spring of 2019 and saw a lot of neat cars and stories of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But that is a good way to spend an hour or so of the time prior to the race. What I did though was just explore a lot of areas. Near the Pagoda, they had a red carpet show where drivers and celebrities were. We got to see Mario Andretti and Matt Damon in 2019 for that, but one of the cooler things I saw was seeing the Borg-Warner trophy that is awarded to the winner of the Indianapolis 500. Seeing that after seeing a group performing with bagpipes was one of the cooler things I have done in my life. That goes along with kissing the bricks, which I was fortunate to be able to do as well. After that, really it was all about awaiting the race itself.
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| Me kissing the bricks at Indy |
The race itself is exhilarating. Cars are going about 220mph, passing each other a lot. The best way to describe it is an adventure to see these cars and these teams go through a 500 mile race that is perilously close to changing and altering all strategies and create a major event to the end of the day. 33 cars with a chance to win the sports biggest prize pushes drives to and over the limit. The agony of defeat can only be explained with what Scott Goodyear felt in 1992, Helio Castroneves in 2014, and Marcus Eriksson in 2023. However, the thrill of Victory can only be explained in that same length as Helio 4 different times, Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2014, Tony Kanaan in 2013 or even Josef Newgarden in 2023. After that, it was a long and arduous time of trying to get out of Indy. That would be a negative, but with the track near residential housing, there isn't much the track or the city can do about it and they do the best they can to direct traffic out to the interstate anyway. Just happens when 300,000 fans in one area tend to leave the track at one time. As I drove home, I thought how amazing it was to be a part of history and have a chance to see a fantastic race. This is why you should come to the Indianapolis 500.
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