It was exciting to think of being a professional race driver at that time. A thought that probably coincided with my love of baseball to the point where I wanted to play third base for the New York Mets. I imagined this vocation until the day I heard of the death Peter Revson in March of 1974. I can still remember going down to the cellar a few hours later and playing with my slot cars by myself, as my brother had moved on to Boston University. I had only seen a still photo on the news that afternoon. The same photo appeared in the New York Daily News the following day. I still have that day's paper in my memorabilia collection. I couldn't imagine what had happened in South Africa that caused the death of this driver. Revson wasn't my favorite driver at all, but he was well-known. After driving my slot cars for about an hour or so, I retreated upstairs to have dinner. While in preparation of our fare for that evening I told my mother that I'd decided not to become a race driver. Her response was, as often was the case when I made such a profound statement was, "Well, at least we got THAT out out the way." She didn't say it in any sort of dismissive way, but I'm sure that she thought for a moment that she didn't know her 12 year-old son was even considering such an occupation.
I was a huge fan of Mario Andretti, the 1969 Indy 500 winner. His name was almost melodic and for decades his name alone was synonymous with drivers deemed by their friends to be a little too aggressive behind the wheel of their own automobiles. I thought surely that he would win another 500 in his career, but alas this was not the case. He became the first victim of "Andretti Luck" which was all bad and was passed on to other relatives who drove in the race. In 1982 he was an innocent bystander when on the opening lap he was run in to by a "driver" named Kevin Cogan and was done before the race even started. Just three years later in 1985 he had a great ride but was outrun by Danny Sullivan who earlier in the race had actually done a 360 directly in front of him and won anyway. Mario never did win another 500, but he sure looked cool while trying. I actually got to meet Mario while working at the airport. I was supposed to be inspecting his carry-on bag at the departure gate. It wasn't the most thorough bag check I've ever done. He was much larger in stature to me than the 5'4" gentleman who was standing in front of me that evening. His grandson Marco will start today's race from the 25th position.
I was a huge fan of Mario Andretti, the 1969 Indy 500 winner. His name was almost melodic and for decades his name alone was synonymous with drivers deemed by their friends to be a little too aggressive behind the wheel of their own automobiles. I thought surely that he would win another 500 in his career, but alas this was not the case. He became the first victim of "Andretti Luck" which was all bad and was passed on to other relatives who drove in the race. In 1982 he was an innocent bystander when on the opening lap he was run in to by a "driver" named Kevin Cogan and was done before the race even started. Just three years later in 1985 he had a great ride but was outrun by Danny Sullivan who earlier in the race had actually done a 360 directly in front of him and won anyway. Mario never did win another 500, but he sure looked cool while trying. I actually got to meet Mario while working at the airport. I was supposed to be inspecting his carry-on bag at the departure gate. It wasn't the most thorough bag check I've ever done. He was much larger in stature to me than the 5'4" gentleman who was standing in front of me that evening. His grandson Marco will start today's race from the 25th position.
I recall as a kid that the Indy 500 was not shown live on television. Yes, you read that correctly. An amazing concept given today's vast array of available channels on television. It was edited after the original running and shown on "ABC's Wide World of Sports" some SIX DAYS LATER. Trying to avoid hearing who the winner was for 6 days was not that easy, but in the era before the internet it WAS possible. I asked my mom to not give me my copy of Sports Illustrated until I'd seen the race. Starting in 1971 the race was shown on the same day in prime time. For many years I would avoid all radio and television reports on that Sunday and firmly plant myself in front of our console tv hoping like anything that when the broadcast started at 8:00 p.m. that I would hear the great Jim McKay's voice accompanied by a gentle guitar version of "Back Home Again in Indiana" and the shot would be of a darkened Indianapolis Motor Speedway with only the scoring pylon lit in the background. The number of the winning car was unable to be discerned because of tragically-low-definition television that was available in the seventies. Which was okay for me in this circumstance. Some years, however, the race had been postponed due to rain and my excitement would have to wait until later.
The races were often called by McKay and former Formula 1 driver Jackie Stewart. For myself and a lot of others watching it was the first time we had heard someone from Scotland speak, and in retrospect, it was quite a treat. In the pits was Chris Economaki, who was great in his role. Essentially doing the same work that 4-6 pit reporters perform on racing telecasts today.
The race has had some thrilling finishes, including one which took four months to decide in 1980 when Andretti lost to Bobby Unser even though I thought Andretti had won. The race has also had more than its fair share of tragedy. There was the infamous 1973 race during which three people died and another was critically injured. Art Pollard was killed in an accident during practice on Pole Day. Salt Walther was critically injured during a multi-car crash on the opening lap. Rain then postponed the race until the following day and during that race Swede Savage was seriously injured when he hit the wall on the front stretch. Amazingly, Savage survived the accident but died some 33 days later from an infection following a blood transfusion. The third death was as a result of a pit crew member being hit by an emergency rescue truck which was responding, amazingly, to the Savage crash. That crew member died on impact with the truck. Why THIS didn't make me want to dismiss a career as a race driver I just don't know. It was probably my first experience of seeing a tragic event on television.
A large number of great drivers have participated in the Indy 500. Only two of them, A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti have won both the Daytona 500 NASCAR race and the Indianapolis 500. There have been four driver who have driven in the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race on the SAME DAY. The race still has two great traditions. The winning driver drinks milk in the winners circle and has done so since 1956. And more recently the winning driver and pit crew make their way to the start/finish line to kiss the yard of bricks which remain from the original track in 1909. NASCAR Hall-of-Famer Dale Jarrett started that tradition after his win in the 1996 Brickyard 400.
I certainly look forward to today's broadcast, but I'm sure I will be reminded of my past history of viewing. NBC is now the network which telecasts the race. ABC did so until 2018. It's an amazing event, where humans move on the ground at speeds which they were never supposed to reach. In 1912 the top qualifying car topped out at an average speed of 88.45 mph. In 2020 the top speed for qualifying was 231.828. Indy has not only brought us great moments and tragic moments but it also brought innovations that have transferred to the cars we use today, Originally, there were two seats in the front of the car. One for the driver, the other for, essentially, a spotter to look around and behind the car for help to see them. This led to the invention of the rear-view mirror in order to get rid of the passenger and make the car lighter. But I shan't bore you with more relatively meaningless trivia about this. I will save THAT for the boredom of my friends, family and co-workers.
After the 2020 race was devoid of spectators due to the pandemic this year's race sold all 135,000 available tickets. The track has grandstand seating for 240,000 and suite and infield space to accommodate 400,000 but this year is one step closer to those numbers for 2022. I hope to be one of them myself next year. Racing is probably the one sport where the absence of fans in attendance least obvious, especially on television. Rare is the time when you could actually hear the crowd cheering above the roar of the engines anyhow. I hope someday to attend "The Greatest Spectacle In Racing" before my time on this earth is done. That'd be kinda cool. No week of avoiding the news. No tape delay telecasts. Not even a television screen at all. Just opening my eyes and seeing it all develop right in front me......and about 400,000 other fans.
May you enjoy the race today, if you are so inclined.
.......I'm just sayin'.
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