I didn't take many shots at the Indy500, but this one caught my eye as I checked the negatives over the lightbox:
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| At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway FP4+ on Foma 313 paper. |
It was a vague attempt at panning, though when the cars are going past at 200mph that's not so easy. Anyway, it captured the essence, I think. Those guys are nuts for not just driving at that speed, but driving so close to each other. They must have a lot of trust between them.
Lots of signs around the place like 'Welcome to the Racing Capital of the World', 'Thanks for visiting the Racing Capital of the World'. And who am I to argue with that? It's certainly the biggest venue I've ever been to. It's well thought out in the centre of the oval track is where the merchandise stands, food halls, museum and VIP parking are. You enter by a short tunnel which runs under the track and you're able to get very close to the action even by just standing in the General Admission areas. The Brother and I caught a bus from the airport (our hotel was close by) and it was well organised - a fleet of those famous yellow school buses took us (and a few thousand others) right to the track. Mind you, the bus we were on was the most uncomfortable means of transport imaginable - probably on account of the fact that it was designed for young kids and not 60-something guys with back and hip problems. I could barely get into the seat and after the hour-or-so's journey I had all but lost the will to live. Then we faced the task of finding our seat (located just behind the start-finish line) through the multitude of people. Several times the crowd just ground to a halt for several minutes, before starting up again at a snail's pace. Eventually, of course, we made it and enjoyed the grandstand view of the action.
The race is over 200 laps, which takes around 2-3 hours, depending on weather conditions, yellow flags, crashes etc. They run behind a safety car at the slightest hint of rain - understandable give the speeds involved - but it didn't seem too long before they were able to go racing again so there weren't too many hold-ups.
Our driver had informed us that buses would start running back to the airport when there were 50 laps to go so we decided to make a run for it (metaphorically speaking) well before the end in order to avoid the crowds. That worked well and we got back fairly quickly as the roads were relatively clear. A hot shower and a cold beer back at the hotel and we began to feel normal again. What a day and what an experience but I'm not sure we'll be back. Just too busy for me.
You got the full Indy 500 experience then, and sorry about the torture chamber that was the yellow bus.
ReplyDeleteI've been to qualifications a number of times but never the race itself simply because of the sheer crowd size.
In 2004, 5, and 6 I did mission trips to Mexico with a church. They owned two big old school buses and the lot of us rode all the way from here to Mexico in them. 48 hours of straight driving, meaning we slept on the bus. I was pushing 40 then, not 60 - while my body was unhappy about it then, today it'd take me a month to recover.
We certainly did, Jim! And you got it right - torture it was on that bus. I actually don’t even want to imagine 48hours on one. I’d need an ambulance afterwards. And you did it three times! I have no words…
DeleteThe picture really gives a sense of the speed at which those cars are travelling. The crowds sound hellish.
ReplyDeleteThanks! And yep, they were. But all very good natured, I felt everyone was there for a good time.
DeleteYou were also at the first sold-out race in many, many years, so you got the maximum crowd experience!
ReplyDelete(F1 and sports car racing fans often wonder about superspeedway races not being run in the rain, and the reason is that the runoff area should a car lose traction isn't a big expanse of raked gravel, but rather a wall.)
Good to know it couldn’t have been worse ;)
DeleteWhat surprised me was when we were making our early escape, how many people were in the centre arena just milling around, not really watching the race but simply soaking up the atmosphere. Rather good, I thought.
Yup I got the lack of run off areas/big concrete wall and watching past races in damp conditions there were a lot of crashes! I don’t blame them for a little caution.