06/02/08: Danica 500
Category: General
Posted by: Brock Yates
The Indianapolis 500. There was a time some of us remember that it was the most important auto race in the entire world. From its creation following the first World War and the construction of the incredible 2.5 mile rectangle on the edge of the great Hoosier city it had no rival as the place where the best drivers in the world ventured life and limb to compete in America’s most famous race.
Every Memorial Day hundreds of thousands of spectators would jam the huge track to watch the best of the best in incredible machines from America and Europe.
From its early days when it was paved with bricks to the modern period when only a strip of the bricks left at start/finish line with the rest of the great Speedway covered with a smooth asphalt surface it was the fastest, most dangerous two and half miles in the world.
Speeds through the four sweeping corners---each a quarter-mile in length---were radically quicker than all the other straightaway tracks in the nation. By the middle of the 1930’s cars were running well over 150 miles an hour on the straights and over 100 miles in the corners---all on skinny tires and relatively primitive suspension systems.
My father loved fast cars and as a young man had gone to auto races in the New York City area. When I was a young kid he took me to Syracuse, where the Indianapolis type cars ran on the one-mile dirt track at the state’s fairgrounds. There I sat high in the grandstands and watched the great Indianapolis heroes of the day like Rex Mays and Mauri Rose compete in a mad, 100-mile dash on the rusty, rutted oval designed specifically for horses.
Those races, plus watching the midget races at Buffalo’s Civic Stadium’s quarter mile running track hooked me forever on the sport of automobile racing. This period was capped by my trips to Indianapolis in the early 1960’s. In those days auto racing was a minor sport compared to football and baseball. It was before NASCAR thrilled the public from coast to coast.
Today NASCAR rivals all physical sports in every possible way, including massive spectator counts.
In the meantime the Indianapolis 500 has lost some of its appeal against the rise of NASCAR. But there is still power and speed at the event that is now over a century old---the first races run at the giant rectangle were in 1909 with the first “500” opened two years later. There is no element in motor racing in the country that has the depth of the “500”. Every Memorial Day well over 300,000 spectators fill the stands (no official count is every revealed by the owners).
Suffice to say that it remains the largest single sporting event in the world with the stands filled over during the whole month for qualifications, practice and the race. Many experts believe that during the entire month of May that nearly a million spectators fill the giant stands even on days when only a few cars take some practice laps. Such is the magnet that is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
With the popularity of motor racing of all types rising by the day, there is no question that the famed Indianapolis 500 will remain the center-piece of the sport.
A major element in the revival of the 500 is a tiny little girl---a very pretty one at that---named Danica Patrick. Over the years there have been a few woman who have run with the men in Indy type racing, but none became as popular as little Miss Patrick in such a quick time. This operates at two distinct levels. On the one hand Danica is a talented driver. On the other she is excellent with the media and with the spectators. This young lady is in many ways a breakthrough in that she it not only talented behind the wheel but also behind the television camera.
Danica is still in her twenties and presuming she remains healthy she has a long and sensational career ahead of her not to mention a popularity boost of the Indy 500 and other major races. As the modern race car has become more sophisticated, the muscular strength once needed to drive at speed is less important. This permits a small-framed person like Danica to run with the best without the drainage of stamina at the end of a long race. There is little question that this lovely, talented lady will energize more women to try the top-level of racing.
As Miss Patrick rises, so does the overall popularity of big-time motor racing. It won’t be long before other women make the move, not only in Indy type machines but in the NASCAR stock car leagues where over the years a few women have tried but failed. Not so in the future as the females become major players in all forms of motor sport.
Every Memorial Day hundreds of thousands of spectators would jam the huge track to watch the best of the best in incredible machines from America and Europe.
From its early days when it was paved with bricks to the modern period when only a strip of the bricks left at start/finish line with the rest of the great Speedway covered with a smooth asphalt surface it was the fastest, most dangerous two and half miles in the world.
Speeds through the four sweeping corners---each a quarter-mile in length---were radically quicker than all the other straightaway tracks in the nation. By the middle of the 1930’s cars were running well over 150 miles an hour on the straights and over 100 miles in the corners---all on skinny tires and relatively primitive suspension systems.
My father loved fast cars and as a young man had gone to auto races in the New York City area. When I was a young kid he took me to Syracuse, where the Indianapolis type cars ran on the one-mile dirt track at the state’s fairgrounds. There I sat high in the grandstands and watched the great Indianapolis heroes of the day like Rex Mays and Mauri Rose compete in a mad, 100-mile dash on the rusty, rutted oval designed specifically for horses.
Those races, plus watching the midget races at Buffalo’s Civic Stadium’s quarter mile running track hooked me forever on the sport of automobile racing. This period was capped by my trips to Indianapolis in the early 1960’s. In those days auto racing was a minor sport compared to football and baseball. It was before NASCAR thrilled the public from coast to coast.
Today NASCAR rivals all physical sports in every possible way, including massive spectator counts.
In the meantime the Indianapolis 500 has lost some of its appeal against the rise of NASCAR. But there is still power and speed at the event that is now over a century old---the first races run at the giant rectangle were in 1909 with the first “500” opened two years later. There is no element in motor racing in the country that has the depth of the “500”. Every Memorial Day well over 300,000 spectators fill the stands (no official count is every revealed by the owners).
Suffice to say that it remains the largest single sporting event in the world with the stands filled over during the whole month for qualifications, practice and the race. Many experts believe that during the entire month of May that nearly a million spectators fill the giant stands even on days when only a few cars take some practice laps. Such is the magnet that is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
With the popularity of motor racing of all types rising by the day, there is no question that the famed Indianapolis 500 will remain the center-piece of the sport.
A major element in the revival of the 500 is a tiny little girl---a very pretty one at that---named Danica Patrick. Over the years there have been a few woman who have run with the men in Indy type racing, but none became as popular as little Miss Patrick in such a quick time. This operates at two distinct levels. On the one hand Danica is a talented driver. On the other she is excellent with the media and with the spectators. This young lady is in many ways a breakthrough in that she it not only talented behind the wheel but also behind the television camera.
Danica is still in her twenties and presuming she remains healthy she has a long and sensational career ahead of her not to mention a popularity boost of the Indy 500 and other major races. As the modern race car has become more sophisticated, the muscular strength once needed to drive at speed is less important. This permits a small-framed person like Danica to run with the best without the drainage of stamina at the end of a long race. There is little question that this lovely, talented lady will energize more women to try the top-level of racing.
As Miss Patrick rises, so does the overall popularity of big-time motor racing. It won’t be long before other women make the move, not only in Indy type machines but in the NASCAR stock car leagues where over the years a few women have tried but failed. Not so in the future as the females become major players in all forms of motor sport.
