I watched the Indy 500, 100th anniversary race Sunday. I used to never miss this auto race on television on Memorial Day but when they started having them on the last Sunday in May, church activities sorta messed me up on them and I couldn’t see the whole race.
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Now that I am an old man, three hours of cars spinning by is about too much for me and I took my nap before it was finished. Kathy had it on television, but she, too, dozed in her chair just at the end so didn’t see the final finish until they were cheering the winner, Dan Weldon, after JR Heldebrand crashed into the wall when he was only a few yards from the finish line.
Known as “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” the Indy 500 grabs this year’s spotlight although this is the 100th birthday celebration which started in 1911, it is only the 95th running of the race which wasn’t held in 1917-18 because of World War I and in 1942-45 because of World War II.
It was almost 80 years ago when I saw my first race there. I was a newspaper carrier for the Kansas City Journal Post and won a trip for selling newspaper subscriptions when I was in high school. That was quite a thrill for a teenager to win such a trip during the depression. From that time on, auto racing was my favorite spot and I attended every auto race I could for a long time. When Kathy and I had our first date we attended a midget auto race in Kansas City. It was never her favorite sport, but as good wives do, she attended many with me through the years. I even talked her into attending the Indianapolis 500 race once. We didn’t have sense enough to try to reserve a place to stay and after a hard try, we finally found an attic room in a private home for our overnight stay. I was thrilled with the race, but Kathy said she would never go to another one. When the cars on the 2.5 mile track went around 200 times they made a terrible roar and she said “Never Again!” I did attend one other Indy 500 race with relatives who had family members in Dana, Ind., not far from Indianapolis, and we stayed with them.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway covers 253 acres-large enough to hold Churchill Downs, Yankee Stadium, the Rose Bowl, the Roman Colosseum and Vatican City.
Churchill Downs reminds me also of the Kentucky Derby there. I missed watching The Kentucky Derby this year, but we were able to go to one during the Korean War when I was stationed at Ft. Knox, Ky. As public information officer of the post in 1951, we were invited to take in all the activities of the big weekend there. We were invited to the Kentucky Colonels banquet the night before the race and a special lunch the day after. We felt pretty out of place at both affairs but were treated with respect as if we were just as good as they were. Kathy went with me to the Kentucky Derby and since they had horse races all day before the special one, Kathy even bet on a few but wasn’t a winner. We had a big babysitting bill for the weekend so it would have helped if she had won.
The highlight for me at the Kentucky Derby was the picture I got of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor who sat right above me. I still have that small picture in my file. Kathy’s favorite memory was the special signature of actress Greer Garson who was a guest at the lunch.
These are my memories for this week. Hope they didn’t bore you too much.