My dad took me to the track when I was seven years old to see Parnelli Jones in the turbine car. Yesterday my brother posted a photo on Facebook of our crew in the infield in 1982. It was...a different time, the 80s. It sure was in the infield at Indy. I consider the track my birthright. So do my sons. I went there three times this May; the boys went five or six.
For some reason this year, the crowd was very respectful and solemn during the ceremonies.
I saw several Trump t-shirts. And a Bernie Sanders bumper sticker on a car in the north 40. Idiot.
I didn’t even care a thing about racing until ‘94, after moving back to TN. The crowd I hung out with was into NASCAR big time and I got hooked too. But it was ‘96 before I went to a track and ooooooh myyyyy! It’s a whole different ballgame when you’re right there. The sounds, the smells, the crowd.
It’s been tears since we’ve been to a race. They got greedy and priced us out. They’ve also changed rules and it just isn’t the same any more. But I’ll still watch a few races on TV and this is one of them.