Start Your Engines

We went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which has the biggest spectacle sporting event every May - The Indy 500, it hosts between 300 - 400 thousand people every race. Gasoline Alley is where the race car garage and driver trailers are stashed.

They call the Nascar race "The Brickyard 400" because of this yard of bricks. We watched a documentary in the museum about how the whole track was once made out of bricks. Then they covered it all with asphalt except for this yard.

After our tour of the museum, we paid a little fee to have a shuttle take us around the track. This tower lets the fans know the drivers positions throughout the race. The track is 2 1/2 miles around, and I wish we could have gone around it more than one time. There is so much to take in.

The Borg - Warner trophy. The winner of the 500 gets their face and name permanently engraved on the worlds most expensive trophy. The winner receives a small replica, but the original remains in the museum.

This is one of Danica Patricks cars and uniform. You don't realize how tiny these drivers are until you see how limited the space is up close and personal.

Ray Harroun won the first Indianpolis 500 in 1911 at the wheel of this 8 cylinder Marmon Wasp in 6 hrs, 42 min and 8 seconds, for and average of 74.59 miles an hour. The cars now-a-days top out at over 225 miles an hour.

I have a particular fancy for these old Dusenbergs

A small collection of different race cars

An old Corvette - if Nate had his druthers, he would own a Corvette. I personally don't see what the big deal is about them. If any of you out there ever make it to Indy, I recommend you pay this place a visit, it is worth a few hours of your time.