Indy 500...Part 4 of 4

Finally, the morning of the big race!

There were many buses going from the Marriott to the Racetrack all full of Firestone affiliated people.  We were on bus #8. 

 Our buses had a police escort!  It was awesome to see all the traffic stopped for us. Motorcycle police lead the group and there were some along side us too pulling people over if they weren't already stopped on the side of the road! All intersections we blocked off to allow us to go.  There were even a few times we drove on the wrong side of the road to get past traffic.

There were all sorts of people along the way to look at. This one was great with checkered shorts, orange shirt and bunny ears...

Once we got closer to the race track there were tents and RV's everywhere! People rented out their yards to park and camp in.  There were even porta-potty's set up outside people's houses for the "guests" to use!

When we got to the track we went to the Firestone Hospitality Chalet to pack up a cooler with drinks, sandwiches and snacks.  Then off to our seats.

On a side note, yes Firestone is a sponsor of the Indy 500.  They are the official tire sponsor of the Indy 500.  One of the drivers said that tires make up 18% of the race car so it's important to have great tires, that's why they use Firestone.  They are consistently great, reliable and predictable. 

Getting ready to walk UNDER the race track!!

Here we are UNDER the race track!!

After walking half way around the track we finally made it to our seats! On a funny side note after the game we were back in the Firestone Hospitality Chalet and we were talking to people, one person asked, oh did you take the tram to the other end of the track?  ...all we could say was, WHAT!?  We could have gotten a ride!?!    Oh well, we got some great exercise! 

Our seats were between turns 3 and 4 in the North Vista.  The Starting line is between turns 4 and 1.

The middle of the race track is HUGE! They have a museum in it, the team garages, the Hospitality areas, food, shopping, the snake pit, lots of parking, pretty much everything to do with the racing day is inside the track.  It was so large we couldn't even see the other side of the track!

There are is a lot of tradition in everything they do at the Indy 500 and their schedule is full:

7 am - 4 pm Snake Pit
8 am Parade of Bands
9:30 am Celebrity Red Carpet (Pagoda Plaza)
9:45 am 500 Festival Princesses Lap
10:15 am “Banks of the Wabash” performed by the Purdue University All-American Marching Band
10:40 am Winning Drivers Lap
10:50 am Decade Race Car Lap
10:55 am 60th Anniversary Chevrolet Corvette Pace Car Lap
11:10 am Military Parade Lap
11:33 am Driver Introductions
11:40 am Military March
11:43 am “America the Beautiful”
11:45 am Military Recognition
11:47 am “God Bless America” performed by Florence Henderson
11:49 am Invocation
11:52 am Taps
11:54 am National Anthem
12:03 pm “Back Home Again in Indiana” performed by Jim Nabors Balloon Spectacle
12:04 pm “Ladies & Gentlemen, Start Your Engines” (Mari Hulman George)
12:12 pm 97th Running of the Indianapolis 500


Here is a picture of the "snake pit"...apparently there were bands playing, a zip line you could ride, lots of tailgating etc.  

 Part of the Military Recognition were jets flying over.

Balloon Spectacle (it was an amazing amount of balloons they released!)

The race cars warming up:

Here is the phrase everyone was waiting for:  (the mics went our right after...it took a few minutes but they fixed them, feel free to skip the last half of the movie.)

It was crazy how fast they went.  

The race was 200 laps, 500 miles and it lasted about 2 1/2 hours

Robert was cheering for Driver #60 Townsend Bell (He drove the "Turbo" car.)  He came in 27th place.

Brandy was cheering for Driver #25  Marco Andretti. (Mario Andretti's grandson)  He can in 4th place. 

The end of the lap was kind of a let down.  It ended on a yellow flag so there was no race to the finish line.  What ever order they were in was the winning order.  

This year the winner was Tony Kanaan from Brazil.

After the race at the Firestone Hospitality Chalet we relaxed, ate dinner and waited for the winning driver to make his appearance.  Here is Kanaan and a Firestone Racing rep.

A few interesting things to remember:  This race was a record breaking race:

There were 68 race-record lead changes among a race-record 14 drivers.  (Near the end of the race the lead driver changed ever lap, sometimes twice a lap!)
Kanaan's average speed of 187.433 was the fastest Indianapolis 500.
Most cars running at the finish (26)
Fewest caution laps (21)
133-lap caution-free segment from lap 61 through 193

Back at the hotel, one last picture with the Firestone Firehawk out front.

The next morning we were off to the airport and back on a plane to Arizona.

Here we are together on the plane! (we had seats next to each other on every flight)

We had fog/ low clouds in Minnesota.

 Here was the plane that got us from Minnesota to Arizona. 

We had such a great time together!  It was our first child free get away EVER!!  Thank, thank, thank you to Grandma Biggs *Brandy's mom* for flying from Ohio to play Grandma and take care of 4 energetic kids for the weekend! It was sad for all of us to say bye to her and send her back to Ohio. Oh and thanks to Grandpa Biggs for giving up Grandma for the week!!