Why Stand in Line for a Week?
by Mark H. from St Louis [5/16/2006]
I grew up in Indy, northeast side, and went to Arlington, Class of '76.
In fact, I'm the only guy I know that went to "Senior Cut Day" three
years in a row..... guess I got an early start.
The stuff on your site is amazingly accurate. Really brings back
memories from the good ol' days. Man, those days are gone and the
thing has become nearly sterile. I remember when they used to easily
get 200,000+ on Pole Day, back when USAC ran the show and you could
hear the Goodyear blimp grind through the Indianapolis sunset most
evenings in May.
I remember how some of the bikers and other early birds started
lining up in the North Forty the weekend prior to Race Weekend, so
maybe more than a week early. They were pretty gamey by Race
weekend! Here's how we beat them to our pick of the Infield on Race
Day.
We would drive two vehicles out to the Track on Friday evening before
Race Day, first leaving one as close as possible to the North Forty
across 30th Street, then drive the 2nd vehicle (usually a pickup truck)
over to the North Forty, park it, party for a bit, and then lock it up
and leave. It's Friday night and our Race Day ride is in position, so we
bail and head back to the Northeast side. Our position in line is less
than 50 yards from the front of the line where the early birds are.
Saturday evening, Race Day Eve, we would head back to the Track and
park a car in the neighborhood across 30th Street and walk to the
parked pickup with our coolers and all the usual stuff. Party time in the
North Forty! Some years, if the weather was good, this would have
been our second Saturday trip, having been there in the afternoon for
brews, Frisbee, and fun in the sun.
Anyway, we would party like everybody else Saturday night, maybe get
a couple of hours of shut-eye until the big boom, then get ready to go
in. Here's the kicker... we had a friend who delivered 7-Up to the
infield concession stands starting at around midnight, so he's already
in. Around 2:30 AM, after he finished his deliveries, he drove his 7-Up
truck over to Turn 4 and roped off a 20'x20' piece of paradise against
the fence with those checkered pennants. We were in! All we had to do
was survive the mad dash when the gates opened (a wonder nobody
ever got killed) and head for the 7-Up van over in Turn 4. So much for
arriving a week early!
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