![]() ![]() I watched it as usual and enjoyed it as usual. For one thing, it was Danica Patrick’s final ride in competition. The race this year was not without excitement. From 1965-70, ABC went with taped highlights, and from 1971-85, it ran a tape-delayed version on race day, edited for time. TV ratings for last Sunday’s race on ABC - which after a long run turns things over to NBC next year - were at their lowest since the network started showing the event live in 1986. Morbid? Don’t for a minute tell me some people don’t watch simply for the accidents. A driver hasn’t been killed since Scott Brayton in 1996. But the cars, thankfully, are much safer now. It was far more dangerous then, which prompted the great Jim Murray to write: “Gentlemen, start your coffins.” Including drivers, spectators, pit members, etc, there have been 73 deaths at Indy since its beginning. For a few hours, it seemed as though we were experts, rooting for drivers whose names we heard once a year. We knew absolutely nothing of auto racing (and I profess to know little of it now). “And now stay tuned to the greatest spectacle in racing!” It was a spectacle we couldn’t see but could easily imagine. My brother Anthony and I spent every Memorial Day morning of our youth listening to the great Sid Collins call the 500 on radio. Only listened to, on radio, where it was an absolutely magical, chilling muscle car race up the spine and into the theater of our minds. True that, after a slump in attendance on site, it’s picked back up, with hundreds of thousands of people attending.īut it’s more of an Indiana event now than an American - or international - one.įor most of us who couldn’t be there then and can’t be there now, maybe the Indy 500 was better when it couldn’t be seen. There have been only five drivers who have been able to win the Indy 500 in back-to-back years.They’re still running it. He holds both the United States Automobile Club and American Championship Racing wins record with 159 and 67 victories, respectively.ĭue to the number of drivers and high potential for crashes or mechanical issues, winning consecutive Indy 500 races is extremely difficult. Foyt is also the only driver to win the Indy 500, Daytona 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Foyt was the first driver to win the Indy 500 four times, winning the race in 1961, 1964, 19. No man may be more closely associated to the Indy 500 than A.J. The current base will accommodate winners through the 2033 race. Then in 2003, that original base was removed and replaced with a larger one. First, prior to the 1986 race, a base was added to the trophy to allow for more names. Due to lack of space, the trophy has been modified twice. The current trophy stands at 64.5 inches and weighs 150 pounds. The Borg-Warner Trophy has been awarded to the winner of the Indy 500 since 1936. The drivers will do battle on Sunday for the Borg-Warner trophy. The band famously marches along with the Purdue Big Bass Drum - the largest drum in the world - which is driven on the back of a truck. The longest-participating band is the Purdue All-American marching band, which has acted as the host band of the Indy 500 since 1927. Starting at 8 a.m., numerous marching bands from nearby colleges and high schools march around the racing circuit entertaining the early-arriving fans. The tradition of "kissing the bricks" was started by NASCAR champion Dale Jarrett, who after his Brickyard 400 win in 1996 walked back to the start/finish line and knelt down and kissed the yard of Bricks to pay tribute to the track's iconic history.ĭating back to 1922, the" Parade of the Bands" is - as its name clearly states - just that, a parade of bands. The only section of brick surface that remains is the original 36-inch strip that was kept intact at the start/finish line-known as the Yard of Bricks. Over time, asphalt was gradually added and paved over the brick surface, eventually covering nearly the entire track by 1961. In 1909, in an attempt to upgrade the Speedway track, 3.2 million paving bricks were laid on top of the original surface. The "Yard of Bricks" has a long history dating back more than 100 years.
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