Post 500 Blues

[TheCountessZ]

Does anyone besides me feel really down when it's all over? I absolutely love the month of May leading up to the race, and when it's over it's so sad for me.

Our family was really into the 500 since the 1960s. We had race day parties every year and always served ribs. My dad was so into race day.

May of 2000 my dad was fading fast from cancer. He slipped into a coma the Thursday before race day. Just the day prior he asked that we go ahead with the party. Dad hung on until Sunday morning. He passed away quietly around 5:00 am. We had the party anyway because we knew he'd be there with us. Just as the sun was going down we lit fireworks, and I remember watching them with joy in my heart. :)

[Hoop-98]

My family goes back to the 61 500, fellow Houstonian and Playland Park racer A.J. Foyt did pretty well there.

I am now the senior member of a family of race fans and appreciate your loss and memories.

But, one word for us that carry on,next race is TEXAS!!!

From hotlaps to checkered flag, families like ours love racing and hand it down to the next generation...


rh

[Bob Riebe]

For me the five hundred was the start of what used to be a racing season brimming full of various types of competition from sprint car, indy cars, road racing, boat racing and other regional/local types.
Some times the paying pro/semi-pro regional sports car races put on to cap off a amateur road racing weekend were better than a lot of big buck pro stuff.

Short track racing is still there, thank God, but of the others, is is either all gone, or has turned into one form or another of spec. crap.

Now the day after Indy the blues do set in as not until the late summer/ early fall fair season starts there is not much except heat and humidity.

[Phoenixent]

I know what you mean about the blues after the 500. My father instilled in me how Great the Indy 500 was and I would sit there at night watching the race with my father when I was small. Seeing all my heroes and some past but knowing that is what the 500 is about. He took me to my first 500 mile race at IMS twin sister Ontario and told me about working with Roger Ward and how those men were racing roadsters. In 2008 my father had a heart attack and recovered but was not the same when Indy came around he watched the race from his hospital bed. After the race we talked about the race and he told me he was quite impressed with Scott Dixon. He was as happy as can be that day then he was gone two days later. So now every May brings both good and bad memories but watching the 500 reminds me of the good times we had and I hope to instill that in my son.

The week after the 500 was filled with Milwaukee and now we wait for two weeks until Texas. But for those of us that the 500 was part of our lives the memories of the race carries us through the year until we hear Back Home Again In Indiana..... again... :)

[booger]

I too have bittersweet memories of the 500. We lived in Wisconsin and had rented a small plane to take us to Indy the day of the 500 (it was a lot cheaper then than driving and getting a $300/night hotel). My dad backed out a couple of days earlier. Then at 3 a.m. we got the call that he had passed away from a heart attack. My wife (at the time) and I drove to my home town, took care of funeral arrangements and I waxed my car in the driveway while listening to the race. We gave the tickets to the pilots and they were very appreciative. That was 32 years ago and I'll think of my dad every race day with a "what if?" He had never been to the 500.

[00steven]

I've never been to Indy (I plan on making a trip next May) but I love the feel the month gives to racing fans. If it wasn't for Indy I don't know what sports would be like for me.

[maxmach]

I think this race, wherever you rank it, brought a lot of media attention, which.......brought back a lot of memories of races that you could actually discuss around the water cooler. Which magnifies the intensity/importance of the event. To see the packed indy stands, to see the race mentioned and discussed on sports center, not just the speed channel. Feels like Indy matters again.....and that feels good. And with all the hoopla (wife word) it feels a little sad now that it's over. Like the day after vacation.

[nigelred5]

I get that let down every monday morning after a race when exactly no one talks about racing at work. We used to have a group of about 20 that went to Nazareth for CART and Dover and Richmond( for NASCAR) together every year. We haven't gone to or even watched a race together since CART quit running at Nazareth. I'm hoping the race in Baltimore rekindles a little of that.

[AAReagles]

Does anyone besides me feel really down when it's all over? I absolutely love the month of May leading up to the race, and when it's over it's so sad for me...

Never been to the 500, though I had the chance for a couple of years while stationed at Ft. Campbell. Would have gone then, but a private's pay amounted to nothing then (as perhaps now I suppose). Had I known the split between CART & IRL was going to happen, chances are I would have scraped every penny to see the race before it turned into a cloned-event with virtually the same chassis w/ the same engines.

Prior to then, I always looked forward to qualifying, the race and... when non-race fans had a remote interest in the event, to discuss it around the water cooler.

Guess that's why I'll still stick in the DVD of "Winning" and watch it before race weekend and after, and think of days gone by, though I was too young to remember of what it was like when that film was produced.

[Mark in Oshawa]

To me, it marks the start of summer and the end of spring. I like the 500 probably as much if not more than any other single race, even though I don't always watch all the IRL events as much as I would like. It just is a signpost in my personal year...I mourn its passing and look forward to next spring, when I hear on the radio of the who's fastest today list. It used to be really interesting when you would hear of the practice crashes or the "NEW LAP RECCOOOOORRD"......

[DavePI2]

I always miss when it's over, especially this year. What a race. I will be in grandstand h again next year. Now I can't wait for midohio. Practice day friday is fantastic and shouldn't be missed. Maybe just maybe might be able to talk the wife into going to kentucky as well. Now to try too find an excuse to be in kentucky that sunday.(thank god it's not on saturday night this year).

david