Nothing compares: Race day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Racers,

Some of my random thoughts the last few days on my favorite sports event of the year: The Indianapolis 500.  I hope you'll share your thoughts on this event or another racing event that moves you like Indy does me.

Indy qualifing this weekend. I spent a lot of time there this time of the year. Let me tell you things are buzzing there right now and teams are scrambling to get up to speed so they can make the race. You never know what racing is really like untill you have been at indy. This time of the year to be part of the greatest spectacle in racing  It is an unbelievable experience. I did radio from there in the late 70s an early 80s what a great experience.

My first time I saw the Indy motor speedway, I was totally breathless It was so huge. I was riding with Roger Rager an Bill Engelhardt. We were coming back from a USAC Sprint car race. I was sleeping in the back seat of Roger's car. They yelled at me to wake up and see the speedway. Holy man I thought I was dreaming in that big race track in the sky. We stayed at the speedway motel that nght. I was in race heaven. I will never forget it. It was the biggest thing I'd ever seen in my whole life. My dream was to announce there someday. So for those who haven't seen the place, it is a must to see.

 

Simona de Silvestro is as tough as they come

 

Simona's accident last week made the national news.

Racers are tough tough athletes. Simona is tougher still.

First thing that maybe a lot of race fans don't know: Indy is a dangerous dangerous place. I was there when racers have been killed and saw way too many serious crashes. One of the reasons I do this is because I've seen way too many race cars crash in my life. You wanna race and go fast, you better know the consequences. The better your body is in shape, the better chance you have to survive. It's as simple as that. Those who dance gotta pay the fiddler. That's just the way it is.

 

A kid who wants to race, grows up with Indy as his dream. No offense to Daytona.


Most all of us who grew up in the 50s or 60s listened to the Indy 500 broadcast every Memorial Day. And every one who ever wanted to drive a race car, dreamed of making to the the Great American Race, The Indy 500. My dream was to announce at The Indy 500. So after I was a race announcer for a few years in the midwest, I wrote a letter to Cid Collins, the voice of The Indy 500 is a dream come true and how does a kid from Minnesota get a chance to announce the Indy 500? Well Mr Collins called me one day and said he got my letter and would help me. Sadly, he died shortly after that. I had to figure my own way of getting there.

Being an announcer, I met a lot of drivers. Roger Rager told me he was gonna race there and of coures I said I wanna go with him. That's when I hung around with drivers and he introduced me to so many of them. In the early days it helped keep me in racing and made things possible for me. I was announcing races all across America. But being at Indy was a dream come true. I went whenever I could for years. I loved it then and I love it now.

Filed under: Racing News

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