My son asked me a question yesterday about the Indianapolis 500 that I could not answer because, even though I grew up in Indy, the race never meant much to me.
But it got me thinking. When I was a teenager I went to the race many times. Why? Well, it wasn't to see the race. At that time, in the 50s, the gates opened very early in the morning. Families, singles, teens, kids; just about every group you could think of, piled into the infield. It was huge. People came in their campers, flatbed trucks, cars, on bicycles and walked.
Many of them brought with them boards and plywood and everything they needed to make makeshift scaffolding. They spent hours prior to the race picking their spots and building their platforms. There were no rules.
Folks, of course, also brought picnic supplies and party beverages. The entire day was spent celebrating. There was some beer drinking but I don't remember seeing any bad behavior. Back then it was a family setting. (I understand all that's changed.)
I went with my friends. Usually girlfriends. We moved around from group to group, visiting and flirting. Sometimes getting invited to sit on some guy's cool scaffolding for a while. It was a fun day. I remember it being an innocent time.
As I said, I saw very little of the race itself. But we had our favorite drivers. They were like rock stars at that time. My favorite was A. J. Foyt. While my kids would later tease me about something steamy happening between A. J. and me, nothing ever did. He was nice to me and my friends a couple of times.
Everything changed in 1960 when some of the homemade infield scaffolding folded and crashed, leaving 2 dead and 40 injured.
After that, all infield scaffolding was banned. The infield was never the same again.
***
But it got me thinking. When I was a teenager I went to the race many times. Why? Well, it wasn't to see the race. At that time, in the 50s, the gates opened very early in the morning. Families, singles, teens, kids; just about every group you could think of, piled into the infield. It was huge. People came in their campers, flatbed trucks, cars, on bicycles and walked.
Many of them brought with them boards and plywood and everything they needed to make makeshift scaffolding. They spent hours prior to the race picking their spots and building their platforms. There were no rules.
Folks, of course, also brought picnic supplies and party beverages. The entire day was spent celebrating. There was some beer drinking but I don't remember seeing any bad behavior. Back then it was a family setting. (I understand all that's changed.)
I went with my friends. Usually girlfriends. We moved around from group to group, visiting and flirting. Sometimes getting invited to sit on some guy's cool scaffolding for a while. It was a fun day. I remember it being an innocent time.
As I said, I saw very little of the race itself. But we had our favorite drivers. They were like rock stars at that time. My favorite was A. J. Foyt. While my kids would later tease me about something steamy happening between A. J. and me, nothing ever did. He was nice to me and my friends a couple of times.
Everything changed in 1960 when some of the homemade infield scaffolding folded and crashed, leaving 2 dead and 40 injured.
After that, all infield scaffolding was banned. The infield was never the same again.
***
