Indy 500 says no to BLOGS!

Absolutely. When I woke up this morning and realized it was May, I started to tingle a little bit. I wait all year for those 10 minutes and it's worth it. I go as a fan, and you spend the night before drinking and BBQing, then tailgate in the morning and drink a few and catch up with old friends then start migrating into the track ... god, what a weekend it is. Makes you glad to be alive, it really does.

 

My favorite moment is watching those 33 cars come around Turn 4 for the start of the race, with all the colors in the stands as a backdrop. I've seen the race many times, and it's always a spine-tingling moment. It's called a "flying start" for good reason.

The last five laps of last year's race were breathtaking, especially when Hornish passed Marco. Michael Andretti's late-race duel with Rick Mears in 1991 was fantastic, especially when you consider how fast they were going.

 

Best place to watch the start? Turn 1. Pre-race, you can see the Stealth bomber circling over northern Indy before the flyover. Watch the grandstands fill up. See the balloons go up. See old friends tear up. Then the command to start the engines, the sloooow parade lap, the quicker second parade lap, finally the pace lap and the realization that, unlike any other race around, when the green flag waves, history will be made in the following three-plus hours. Then they come barreling out from behind the Tower Terrace (horray for video boards) and you don't know what will happen next.
Used to be that the start of the 500 was the best part of the race. Since the bunch-up rule was brought in in 1979, the rest of the race has ranged from good to unbelievable.
Even with empty seats in Turn 3, there's nothing else like it in sports.

 

Oh, and does everyone know that you can bring your own beer into IMS?