Tell “500 LEGENDS” about your special “INDY 500” memory
May 3rd, 2010
Every fan of the Indianapolis 500 mile race has a favorite story…a special memory…something they remember about the race or an event out side the race itself. Tell us about drivers or celebrities you may have met, how you decorate your house and the parties you may have or a race room you have built to display your racing memorabilia. Tell us about things you have seen at the track, a crash you may have seen, a yellow shirt story or about meeting someone who was associated with the racing comunity. We are looking for special memories you would like to share about the “GREATEST SPECTACLE IN RACING” with the “500 LEGENDS” community. Send me pictures of whatever pertains to your special memory and I will attach them to your story. By the end of the summer we will be sending out an email for you to vote for what story you feel is the best memory of all. Once all the votes have been tallied and the favorite memory story has been selected the winner will recieve a $50 gift certificate courtesy of “500 Legends”.
June 14th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
My first Indy 500 is my best memory. It was 1987 and I actually didn’t even want to go. My friend Brian talked me into going and the only reason I went was to party. I had no idea how big the track was and also no idea how fast the cars ran. I was blow away. The vibrations of the engines and the roar of the crowd is something I will never forget. Indy was burned into my soul forever!
Stu
June 21st, 2010 at 4:06 pm
I’m not sure how to put this, I went to my 53rd Indy this year start going in 1956 with my Uncle who lived in Speedway and my Father and brothers it was a yearly event. I’ve have seen alot at the speedway to me the speedway is everything I only live 8 miles from it and go there alot sometime just to sit in the south shut and I guess day dream. You can sat there and almost see the Marom Wasp coming out of turn one and heading for the checkered flag, the history its there. To me it makes Disney World seem small. The driver Al and Bobby Unser AJ Johnny Mears they put on the show and raced with their hearts the 500 the win thats all that counted alot of things have changed at the track some good and other not good, but it will be the place to be in May.
June 23rd, 2010 at 8:57 pm
My craziest experience was this years race. My dad and I and some of his buddies including John (Guy who runs website) sat under the crowsnest in turn 2. It was a great race and with one lap to go all of the cars slowed down. No body knew what was going on. Then we watched the replay on the replay screne. Two cars collided ,Mike Conway and Ryan Hunter-Reay, then Mike became airborne and slamed into the fence. The car was destroyed. Everyone was freaked out about if he was ok. In the end he had a back fracture and a concusion. Ridicilous!
June 25th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
My favorite Indy 500 memory is the 1965 Indianapolis 500. Jimmy Clark has always been my favorite race driver. I firmly believed that Parnelli Jones should have been black-flagged in 1963 and 1964 was a crushing disappointment. But seeing Jimmy not just win but DOMINATE the race was a huge thrill. I always enjoy the sight of the Scottish sheep farmer drinking the milk.
August 27th, 2010 at 9:12 am
My Grandfather was the one who came up with the idea of puting black and white checkered carpet down for the 500 festival parade. He did that for many years.
August 29th, 2010 at 1:21 am
My very first time visiting the Indy 500 in 1964. Great to see my very first 500 but was a very sad trip as on the second lap of the event coming off of turn 4, the tragic crash that cost the lives of the great Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald. We were sitting at the head of the backstretch at turn 3 and could actually see the flames and smoke rising above the infield trees on the other side of the track. Despite the tragic accident, I got to see the greats like Jimmy Clark, Parnelli Jones, Troy Ruttman just to name a few and of course the great A.J. Foyt roaring to victory in a very eventful 1964 speed classic. Will never forget that first trip in 1964!
February 2nd, 2011 at 5:29 pm
My most memorable Indy 500 was the first one I attended, the 1977 race in which A.J. Foyt won his fourth “500.”
My Dad, a life-long race fan and driver (he drove midgets and Crosleys in 1949 and 1950) had attended every Indy 500 from 1946 to 1964. He came home from the race every year with thrilling stories of the competition, and promised me I could go to the race when I was 12 years old, which would have been in 1965. In February of that year, our family moved out of the continental U.S., and for years every May, I kidded my Dad about that promise.
I moved back to the States in 1977, and reminded Dad of his old promise, which he made good on. He wrote a personal letter to Tony Hulman, who wrote him back that I had two seats for the 1977 race in the Paddock Press Penthouse — all I had to do was send in the cost of the tickets!
A buddy of mine and I went to the race, and we were rooting hard for A.J. to win. The late-race excitement was almost unbearable as Foyt was behind the leader, Gordon Johncock. Foyt was gaining every lap and pressing Johncock hard, but it looked like he was going to run out of laps before he could catch him. As Johncock passed us on the main straight, I saw a puff of blue smoke come out of his engine. I grabbed my buddy and screamed “Johncock’s blown his engine!” I caught it before anyone else sitting around us, and everyone looked at me like I had two heads. Suddenly, Johncock pulled down off the track into the grass in Turn 1, and the whole Speedway crowd began to come alive. Tom Carnegie was saying something about Johncock’s problem, and then he said “And here comes A.J. Foyt!” The entire crowd of hundreds of thousands went absolutely wild! People were screaming and yelling, grabbing and shaking each other and stomping the grandstand floors. Absolute pandimonium!
Everyone in the place was on their feet, roaring and applauding A.J. as he took the checkered, his safety lap, and rolled down the pit road to Victory Lane for his historic fourth win. I’ll never forget it.