June, 1972: Diary Entry
	May 11-13, 1972: At My Sister's in Elon, NC
	Return to Index for 1972

I have probably not mentioned our next-door neighbors in Charlotte before, but I need to do so now. Mo and Bloys Britt have always lived next to us from the time we moved to Charlotte until now. Mr. Britt's works for the Associated Press (AP), and he specializes in auto racing (NASCAR). He attends almost all the major races during the season, and reports on them for clients of the AP (which is most newspapers and TV and Radio stations).

In early April, Mrs. Britt had asked my folks if they thought I would like to attend the Indianapolis 500 as Mr. Britt's guest. Of course they said yes, and I confirmed that when I talked to the Britts a week later. I did not know when I accepted their invitation that I would be leaving Indianapolis right after, but since I didn't start at the Bank until June 1, I was happy to spend my Memorial Day at the race.

At left is a map of Indianapolis so I can show you were the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is in relation to Fort Harrison and my apartment complex just off post. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway (nicknamed The Brickyard) is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, (an enclave suburb of Indianapolis). It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and formerly the home of the United States Grand Prix. It is located on the corner of 16th Street and Georgetown Road, approximately six miles west of Downtown Indianapolis.

Constructed in 1909 (and originally paved with bricks), it is the second purpose-built, banked oval racing circuit after Brooklands and the first to be called a "speedway". It is the oldest permanent race-track in the world and, with a permanent seating capacity of over 250,000 people, it is the highest-capacity sports venue in the world.

Considered relatively flat by American standards, the track is a 2.5-mile-long rectangular oval with dimensions that have remained essentially unchanged since its construction. It has two 5/8-mile-long straightaways (on the east and west sides), four geometrically identical 1/4-mile turns, and two 1/8-mile short straightaways (on the north and south). The turns are numbered counterclockwise, with turn 1 being in the southwest "corner" of the oval.

I might note, since I am preparing this page in 2019, that in 1975 the speedway will be placed on the National Register of Historic Places and that in 1987 it will be designated a National Historic Landmark.

In addition to the Indianapolis 500, the speedway also hosts NASCAR's Brickyard 400 and Indiana 250. On the grounds of the speedway is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, which opened in 1956, and houses the Automobile Racing Hall of Fame. Also on the grounds is the Brickyard Crossing Golf Resort, which originally opened as the Speedway Golf Course in 1929. The golf course has 14 holes outside the track, along the backstretch, and four holes in the infield. The track is nicknamed "The Brickyard", and the garage area is famously known as Gasoline Alley.

I did not know it when I first accepted their invitation that we would not be in typical seats in the grandstands, but would, in effect, be right in the middle of the action- in the infield and right by the "pits" where cars have their tires changed, oil added, and simple repairs made. It was quite an experience.

Of course I'd heard of the Speedway and of the race before, and recall having seen portions of it on TV before. But I never thought that I would have a chance to attend the race itself, and so I was happy to accept the Britt's invitation. I drove to the Britt's hotel early in the morning and went to the speedway with them, spending the entire day there.

The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race (better known as the Indy 500) is the world's oldest major automobile race. It is contested as part of the IndyCar Series, the top level of American Championship Car racing, an open-wheel open-cockpit formula colloquially known as "Indy Car Racing". The event billed as The Greatest Spectacle in Racing, is considered part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport- the other two prestigious events being the Monaco Grand Prix and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The official attendance is not disclosed by Speedway management, but Mr. Britt tells me that it usually pushes 300,000.

The inaugural race was held in 1911 and was won by Ray Harroun. Even though it is 61 years later, this will be the 56th running of the race, as it was not held for the duration of World War II. The event is steeped in tradition- in pre-race ceremonies, post-race celebrations, and race procedure. The most noteworthy and most popular traditions are the 33-car field lining up three-wide for the start, the annual singing of "Back Home Again in Indiana," and the victory lane bottle of milk. Also unique is that qualifying requires the driver to complete four, rather than one, timed laps and qualifying itself has a separate weekend.

So this was a first for me (and, I suspect, a last); the whole experience was unique. I spent a good deal of time with Mr. Britt; he seemed to know everybody, and we got into some places that very few people get to see- including the press room where drivers will come if their cars become inoperable. And we got right next to the pits, which were always active.

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So during the afternoon, I took a number of pictures of the race itself. I have discovered that I am not very good at extreme action shots, and on many of my pictures discovered that I needed a faster film or smaller f-stop or steadier hand as some of the pictures are fuzzy. Of course, in my defense, the cars were traveling extremely fast.

Anyway, a fair number of the pictures turned out well enough to include here, and they are in the slideshow at left. The pictures are in the sequence that I took them during the day, from the start of the race until the lead driver crossed the finish line (the iconic picture of which I was unable to get).

To move from one picture to the next, just click on the backward/forward arrows in the lower corners of each slide, and track your progress by referring to the index numbers in the upper left. There are 23 pictures; moving forward from #23 will take you back to #1, and moving backward from #1 will take you to #23.

Attending the Indy 500 was a nice way to cap my year-long stay in Indianapolis, and when I said goodbye to the Britts after dinner that evening, I returned to my apartment to finish packing things up for the move to Chicago.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	June, 1972: Diary Entry
	May 11-13, 1972: At My Sister's in Elon, NC
	Return to Index for 1972