My favorite time of the year. My attraction to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway began when my dad took me to the track when I was 5 years old. The sound of the cars and the bright colors as they went by hooked me for life.
Dad had a friend that worked for years to get a car into the 500. That only fueled my excitement as I got to see his cars up close. I was on the front page of our local paper sitting in the cockpit at an open house at his shop the year he finally had enough funding to make the race. I bumped into Donald Davidson at the IMS museum and asked him about Dad's friend. He not only knew him, he knew where that car ended up. It seems stock car driver Kenny Shrader took his rookie orientation in that car, but never made a qualification attempt. Kenny bought the car as a memento of his only laps at Indy.
A few years earlier, I had a paper route in a rural area. The subscribers were spread out, but there was a nursing home that made my number of subscribers worth the effort. One gentleman in the facility asked me if I liked the Indy 500. I told him about how I would listen to qualifications and the race on the radio and stay up late to watch the race on tape. He told me he was in the race as a riding mechanic. My heart sank as I thought my friend had lost his mind. I told my dad about this crazy guy that said he rode as a passenger in an Indy car. Dad's eyes got big and he explained that really happened a long time ago. I would talk with this man every day about Indy and what was going on that month. After the person died, our paper did a story about him. He never told me he was in a winning car! He had actually won the race twice. His name was Jigger and he died in that nursing home a mile from my house and 150 miles from the track we both loved.
I look forward to going to the race with my son. It is something we have done together since he was 7. This year my cousin is again coordinating the armed forces activities at the track. I will be getting a police escort through traffic and passes to the garage and pits before the race. It is going to be a great month!
Dad had a friend that worked for years to get a car into the 500. That only fueled my excitement as I got to see his cars up close. I was on the front page of our local paper sitting in the cockpit at an open house at his shop the year he finally had enough funding to make the race. I bumped into Donald Davidson at the IMS museum and asked him about Dad's friend. He not only knew him, he knew where that car ended up. It seems stock car driver Kenny Shrader took his rookie orientation in that car, but never made a qualification attempt. Kenny bought the car as a memento of his only laps at Indy.
A few years earlier, I had a paper route in a rural area. The subscribers were spread out, but there was a nursing home that made my number of subscribers worth the effort. One gentleman in the facility asked me if I liked the Indy 500. I told him about how I would listen to qualifications and the race on the radio and stay up late to watch the race on tape. He told me he was in the race as a riding mechanic. My heart sank as I thought my friend had lost his mind. I told my dad about this crazy guy that said he rode as a passenger in an Indy car. Dad's eyes got big and he explained that really happened a long time ago. I would talk with this man every day about Indy and what was going on that month. After the person died, our paper did a story about him. He never told me he was in a winning car! He had actually won the race twice. His name was Jigger and he died in that nursing home a mile from my house and 150 miles from the track we both loved.
I look forward to going to the race with my son. It is something we have done together since he was 7. This year my cousin is again coordinating the armed forces activities at the track. I will be getting a police escort through traffic and passes to the garage and pits before the race. It is going to be a great month!