My first and last Indy 500 I will attend

[Champcar4life]

I let a friend talk me into going to the 500 since I am a short drive to the track,(less then ten miles) so I say okay, I will go, but I wish I had just stand home and waited until RTV6 show the race tape delay, because I was hit with a beer can, kick in the leg, had a cooler of ice dump on me, some dude who didn't know a thing about racing, was talking as if he did and if you didn't agree with him he want to fight you and to top that off some old lady ran over my foot with one of those motor wheelchair as I was making my way back to my car.


There were things that happen in the race that I didn't know about until I got home and watch the race ,so for now on I will do all my race watching from the comfort of my living room, where I can at least enjoy the race.

[Chaparral66]

Jeez. You weren't wearing a "Tony George must die" t-shirt, were ya?

[Vegasguy]

Bummer day.... maybe better seats?

Kidding, I have been to numerous races, the worst being my 4th race which was the Dallas F1 race....
Got spit on by a fat texan, the seats we had only had a blur of cars going by couldn't see a thing, I almost got in a fight because of a know it all like you had to deal with and I didn't have the pleasure of Tape delay TV. We had to wait 2 months for Road and Track to get a written report.
But that didn't stop me from going to more and I have had a great time seeing some great races at Laguna Seca, Portland, Long Beach, Las Vegas, and others.
Don't give up, next time can only be better. ;-)

[jarrambide]

Every massive event will have attach the possibility, the BIG possibility of encountering lots of inconveniences, some times everything is perfect and smooth, other times everything just goes wrong.

I went to Minute Maid Park yesterday to watch the Astros and the Phillies with my wife, I´m not a tall man, I´m not short, but I´m not tall either, usually this is not a problem, yesterday it was, the guy in front of me was 6 6 and obese, the whole game I had to shift either to the left or to the right to see the game, the game was a sold out game, meaning huge lines at the concession stands, because the game was a nail biter and lines so big, I didn´t buy anything to eat, I love eating at baseball, a few other inconveniences happened, but other games have been a delight, you just never know.

The same will happen in every Open Wheel race, specially races with a healthy amount of fans, you just never know what kind of fans will be near you, the only way to decrease (but not to eliminate) the possibility of inconveniences is to obtain and pay the most expensive seats or have some kind of connection and get credentials, going to races when you know the track (this obviously works better with course tracks) and you have access to all areas of the tracks (seeing drivers tackling different parts of the track is delightful) and the pits and have great seats is any racing fan wet dream.

My grandfather had a saying, to watch the great bullfights, you have to attend every single one.

[jarrambide]

Every massive event will have attach the possibility, the BIG possibility of encountering lots of inconveniences, some times everything is perfect and smooth, other times everything just goes wrong.

I went to Minute Maid Park yesterday to watch the Astros and the Phillies with my wife, I´m not a tall man, I´m not short, but I´m not tall either, usually this is not a problem, yesterday it was, the guy in front of me was 6 6 and obese, the whole game I had to shift either to the left or to the right to see the game, the game was a sold out game, meaning huge lines at the concession stands, because the game was a nail biter and lines so big, I didn´t buy anything to eat, I love eating at baseball, a few other inconveniences happened, but other games have been a delight, you just never know.

The same will happen in every Open Wheel race, specially races with a healthy amount of fans, you just never know what kind of fans will be near you, the only way to decrease (but not to eliminate) the possibility of inconveniences is to obtain and pay the most expensive seats or have some kind of connection and get credentials, going to races when you know the track (this obviously works better with course tracks) and you have access to all areas of the tracks (seeing drivers tackling different parts of the track is delightful) and the pits and have great seats is any racing fan wet dream.

[rustycards]

This was my first race too. I've wanted to go to Indy my whole life. My Dad and I came 12 hours from Minnesota. The drive sucked and the Hotel overcharged us (quoted one price then when we got there charged us way more) but I had the time of my life!!! I spent the weekend with my Dad who is 73 and getting up there, got a little piece of Alex Lloyd's car after the crash, got Helio's autograph, got a pair of gloves from Scott Dixon's car designer, 137 pictures, and memories that will last me forever!!! Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Try one more sometime, record the race like I did and watch when you get home. Mabey next time will be better.

[DavePI2]

this was my 2nd and although there were some inconveniences (long line in turn 4 to get in) it was very much still worth it to go. Look at it this way all the little inconveniences are a sign that the magic is back. Although this as i said is just my second 500, when was the last time there was a crowd that size. Certainly not last year, and not for the putrid brickyard 400 that I went too. Also I was sitting in grandstand 1 , box 44, row hh. All i can say is that pass by miera at the restart was worth the price of admission.Greatest pass I have ever seen. Too bad there isn't more comment about that instead danica's problems.

david

[Yankee Racer]

I let a friend talk me into going to the 500 since I am a short drive to the track,(less then ten miles) so I say okay, I will go, but I wish I had just stand home and waited until RTV6 show the race tape delay, because I was hit with a beer can, kick in the leg, had a cooler of ice dump on me, some dude who didn't know a thing about racing, was talking as if he did and if you didn't agree with him he want to fight you and to top that off some old lady ran over my foot with one of those motor wheelchair as I was making my way back to my car.


There were things that happen in the race that I didn't know about until I got home and watch the race ,so for now on I will do all my race watching from the comfort of my living room, where I can at least enjoy the race.
That can happy anywhere, at any event with a lot of people crammed into one little place. The important thing is to just enjoy the race. I can understand that you may be put off by it, but that's just part of "the experience." A true fan can endure it, and if you don't want to, there'll be other people dying for your seats.

[Civic]

I went to the last Target Grand Prix and while I hated how barely anyone showed up to the race I loved how easy it was to get in/out of the track and the short lines to the merchandise trailers and food stands.

The IRL race at Sonoma is so easy to take pictures and walk around. Long Beach is a nightmare trying to do the same. I like to just go to the Fri/Sat sessions and then watch the race at home on Sunday.