a month of racing in Indianapolis

I'm normally not a big fan of auto racing, but along with other freebies included in each mini-marathon race packet were free tickets to go to opening day (Sunday) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I had never been to the track when there were race cars using it. So being too sore and tired the day after the mini-marathon to do anything physically demanding. my husband and I decided to use the free tickets.

The first thing I noticed upon arrival was the noise. I thought perhaps there were jets taking off nearby, but no, those were the race cars. Watching on TV does not give you the full effect of the decibel level. The next thing I noticed was that many spectators were wearing earplugs. That's a good idea, I thought to myself.

Then I noticed the variety of people who showed up for opening day. A few were wearing mini-marathon shirts and hats, having also used the free tickets. There were several fashion statements made by those dressed up from head to toe (complete with Mad Hatter hats) in black and white checkered flag material. Others were following the Cone Head advice to "consume mass quantities" and probably didn't care where they were.

The most disturbing person I saw was a guy wearing a "White Pride Ride" shirt. He was quite large, had many tattoos, and a shaved head. Plus, he brought along a friend that was just as big as he was. We didn't stick around to find out if anyone with alcohol-enhanced courage was going to challenge them.

The picture is of one of the several race cars you could look at but not touch. There were security people stationed everywhere to make sure of that.