Went to the 92nd running (and my first) Indy 500 this past weekend. I’ve always enjoyed racing in a passive sense; I sometimes watch it when an interesting race is on TV, but never really seek it out. After a couple years of persuasion, Jenny finally got me to join her family’s annual trip. Gotta say it was pretty sweet.

The track is ridiculously immense. Yet, although there are 300,000+ people at the race, it doesn’t usually feel crowded. No lines in the bathrooms! Our seats in the paddock, about half way down the main stretch, were quite good. The stands don’t really go very high, so we were pretty close to the track. We could see the cars come out of turn four, and we got a slight profile view as they came through the apex. Those cars go insanely fast. Only in the turn do you really get a feel for how fast 220mph is.

If you don’t like racing at all, you’d probably be bored. But if you have any interest, it is quite a fun, albeit long, day. Leave for track at 7am, tailgating by 8am, to the track at 11am, seats at 12pm, race at 1pm, end of race at 5pm, tailgating again until you can get out of the parking lot until 7:30pm. Thank goodness for no rain delays.

Thanks to Jenny for forcing me to have fun sometimes.