Grand Prix of Indianapolis Qualifying / Race Friday May 8 2015
ET got in from Michigan at 1:30 a.m.
The next morning, after a great breakfast, we drove with the top down, through town. We approached Speedway from the east on 16th Street .
Gate 2 was not letting cars into the infield unless they had credentials. (WHY DON"T THEY PUT UP A SIGN SO EVERY SINGLE CAR DOESN'T HAVE TO STOP AND ASK?! Geesh, same thing year after year...)
We drove forward and saw the new large roundabout at the intersection of 16th and Crawfordsville. Georgetown Rd is now blocked off there and you cannot get to it! Weird.
I went back and parked at the liquor store across the street from gate 2 for $10.
It was hot and sunny. Michigan boy wasn't use to the heat yet and went for some tree shade over by corner 7.
I was talking to this older guy who drives a hospitality golf cart. He said he'd take us to the other end of the track. We took advantage of that to save a lot of walking. He drove us outside of the track at first to get us down there. He let us off at the Corner 5 Stand where we would be sitting tomorrow for the IndyCar race.
We watched the USF2000 race - 20 laps.
ET and I was able to grab another ride on a golf cart. This time we got dropped off over toward the pagoda.
Chevy had a large display area set up. They were giving away free T-shirts and letting people play a pretty cool video racing game where you sat in a seat that moved about.
I checked out the food vendors over in the pagoda plaza. Prices are up again. $9 hamburgers.
We sat in the upper tower terrace and watched a Pro Mazda race.
After the race, we got a ride with a pedi-cab who took us over to Stand E. I tipped him $20. We traversed a lot of ground today with minimal walking.
With the new Levy Restaurant management of the food vendors, the food has changed as well as the prices. I could no longer buy a good ol' Indy Dog. A Michigan vendor though was selling a Chicago Dog. I bought it for $7. It had a lot of toppings such as peppers.
We sat in Stand E around box 5 and watched the IndyCar Qualifying.
All the big monitors in the place have been replaced by bigger and brighter Panasonic TVs. They are great.
Will Power won the pole position for tomorrow's race.
We stayed and watched an Indy Lights race. It was 30 laps.
I found this race boring as the pole sitter took off and won the race and everyone just fell into line and I don't think there was any passing after the first lap.
Start of the Indy Lights race.
Stand E
The photos on this page were snapped by my Nikon Coolpix pocket camera.
I heard various rumors today from yellow shirts.
Notice the Panasonic sign hanging on the pagoda.
I heard that Panasonic provided all the new large monitors along with 500 TVs for free. This begs the question why the large TVs do not have any Panasonic branding.
I heard that after this year's race, the speedway was installing elevators to get you to the penthouse level. I hope so, it's really needed.
I also heard that they are converting the Hulman Suites into a party deck because there are a lack of suite owners these days.