Sunday is the annual running of the Indianapolis 500. I have been thinking of the race this weekend after watching part of a practice session earlier this week.

My furthest back clear memory of the race was visiting my great aunt Esther and that her husband Walter was all excited about the race. We were able to watch part of the race with him. The memory is a clear one, and I can even remember the book that I was reading that weekend. I don’t remember the exact year, but it was probably when I was about 7 or 8.

I have watched a few of the races throughout the years, but in the past 17 years the race has been mostly run while I am at church services.

I do have another great memory of the speedway though. Back in 2009 I visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with my friend David who lives not far from the speedway.

The speedway was constructed in 1909, so we were there in the centennial year.

We first visited the museum and saw a lot of old racing cars as well as a lot of other memorabilia associated with the track.

We also saw the Borg-Warner trophy which is presented to the winner of the Indianapolis 500.

I also got to sit in a race car. I felt really big. It would not have been a comfortable ride for 500 miles.

We also went on a tour of the infield of the track. Unfortunately there were cars on the track so we were not able to visit the starting line or walk out on the track. We were not even allowed to leave the bus.

We did drive through Gasoline Alley and saw where the cars are worked on.

Overall it was a nice visit to the track. Especially as both David and I took a lot of pictures.

Have you ever been to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway?

Steven