Seen a Lot at 68 Indy 500s
by BM - Carmel IND
[05/07/2021]
I have attended every Indy 500 since I was four (1952), except
the 2020 race, where no one attended due to the pandemic.
2021 will be my 69th race.
My dad would hand out hundreds of tickets to his customers.
We wouldn't know where our family was sitting until race day.
I saw some funny things such as outhouses getting tipped over
with people inside! One year, a hot air balloon landed on top
of one, knocking it over.
In those days, the track was surrounded by huge trees that
provided some welcome shade on sweltering race days.
The concession stands were few and lacking anything with
substance.
Our family always brought a Styrofoam cooler packed with
fried chicken wrapped in wax paper. Almost everybody at the
track toted in fried chicken.
Once I got my driver's license, I'd head to the track after school
let out and stay until it closed. My brother and I would get up at
4 a.m. on qualification days to get in line to get in when the gates
opened.
We began making fake press passes and we could get in to
press areas. On race day, we'd go sit in the Paddock Press
Penthouse.
We went to the first weekend of qualifications 15 years in a row
using those faked press passes!. It was great. It didn't matter if
it rained or hailed or snowed or sleet, we were underneath the
cover.
I was in those seats when I saw one of the craziest things. It was
in 1974 and it had been raining cats and dogs. There wasn't
much to do while everyone waited for the track to dry. I was just
looking around with my binoculars. I spotted a drunk right below,
who decided to take off his clothes!
Then he decides it’s going to be a brilliant move for him to run
over and climb up the fence that surrounded the track, go over
the fence and run down the track buck naked. The crowd
started cheering as finally there was some action at the track!.
They think this is the greatest entertainment they've seen.
But as the man got to the top of the fence, he realized the fence
angled over at the top.
You could see in his eyes a little terror like 'Oh crap I didn't plan
for this',. By this time, the man had one leg hanging over the
fence and the other hanging straight down.
Fifty-eight yellow shirts are below him yelling for him to get down,
and then he starts peeing all over. My younger brother said 'He’s
leaking. He’s leaking.' Finally he got over the top and fell straight
down!
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