The Official Blog of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

We’ve been getting all of our fans hyped on Twitter and Facebook for the Ben Spies tweet up for the past 2 weeks! Today was finally the day. The first 5 fans in line outside of the Oakley retail garage received a free pair of Oakley Batwolf sunglasses and Ben signed autographs for about 20 minutes for a line of fans that stretched from one row of garages to the other!

A big crowd for Ben Spies and Oakley

Fans were armed with sharpies, posters, framed pictures and helmets. We knew this would be the appropriate place to find our Fan of the Day, and who better than the first person in line? Jennifer had been waiting in line since noon (the tweet up was at 5pm). She didn’t even leave to eat lunch, she had family and friends deliver food to her.

Jennifer waiting for Ben Spies with her Oakley Batwolf sunglasses

Jennifer has followed Spies through pretty much his entire career. She has watched him race for about 10 years she said, and has even met his mother! She has attended the Red Bull Indianapolis GP every year at Indy and her favorite racing memory was the first time MotoGP came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Ben finally arrived and the fans cheered for him as he took his seat outside of the Oakley garage. Jennifer was first to get an autograph. The line of fans took their turns getting autographs, shaking hands and wishing Ben good luck this weekend.

Jennifer got to walk away with a free pair of Oakley sunglasses, an autograph from her favorite driver and a great memory! What more could a fan ask for?

This short blog series tells the story of how the Coke Lot event known as Camp and Brew, celebrating it’s 10th year in 2011 at the The Indy 500, began and grew.  It’s alliance with the Brian’s Wish Charity and the $31,900 raised in 9 short years, is in memory and support of a young man who died of ALS. Read the first post from this series here.

My younger brother Jim (yes, he does have a name) had lived in Indianapolis since 1987. When I learned that he would be moving in early 2001 to San Diego, I knew I was too hooked on the 500 to give up. Somehow, I knew staying at a friend’s house would be okay for a year or so, but I had always wondered about the die-hard maniacs we saw every year camping around the Speedway?!? That, to me, looked like something NOT to miss.

Hating to reinvent the wheel, I began to search out advice from those who had actually camped there at previous 500’s. Sometimes I’d look online, but I usually preferred to seek out the personal stories first hand, when I could. The Coke Lot kept coming up as THE place to be.

In Kentucky, on the Saturday before the August 10, 2001 Indy Racing Northern Light Series “Belterra Casino Indy 300″, I met a race fan from Colorado. A fellow IRL CREW Member, Glenn was able to travel to many IRL races that year due in part to his job, and our paths crossed at an interesting point in time.

After we met at the CREW Booth, we sat next to each other that night at a social/dinner at Jillian’s Restaurant in KY and I picked his brain. What to bring while camping in the Coke Lot? What did you wish you had while camping? And so on.

My definitive plan began to take shape from there. We were going to borrow an RV from my parents (Phillis and Bob) and make a go of it in 2002. Glenn was invited and the three of us spent lots of time trying to make it a once in a lifetime trip to remember. Exactly how Glenn, Jim and I figured out the rest of the logistics is at times, a little unclear.

I named it Camp and Brew 2002 simply because it rhymed and I was just glad to finally put that Marketing degree of mine to use. Glenn took off from there and had a banner made, I did up some stickers and we were off and running. We talked it up on TrackForum.com as a friendly place to stop and get a beer and talk some racing. Our official Bail Bondsmen and Camp Nurse was a good friend named Barb, known to thousands of IRL race fans.

The first official year C&B memories included Melissa and her group…The Canadians who camped next to us and, despite having drank all the MOLSEN in the lower 48, they returned and even remembered us in 2003!

A highlight of the first year was the Eureka 4 man tent on top of the RV with a sign next to it on Race-Day morning that read: Sarah Fisher Slept here!  Lots of people took pictures of that.

We were provided freebie Camp and Brew t-shirts from our very good internet friend Rick, aka “Radio”, in Arizona.  An asset that helped us raise $400 for Brian’s Wish, an ALS Charity. We had become familiar with Brian Hall’s fight with ALS and the Brian’s Wish foundation and had plans to meet Brian later that evening. When we met Brian’s parents and his hospice nurse, Barb, at Community Day, we found out that we would have to reschedule as Brian wasn’t having a good day. Unfortunately, we never did get to actually meet Brian because he died early the next morning. The role he would play in the popularity of C&B over the years cannot be underestimated.

Also in 2002, Glenn created, and now maintains the CampAndBrew.com website from Colorado where he lives.   That has allowed us, prior to even the start-up of Facebook, to connect with people and let them know what we are about.

Writer Ralph Kramer grew up on an Indiana farm and saw his first Indianapolis 500 in 1950. In the blog below, Ralph share what the experience of digging through Indy 500 history to create a book was like. Kramer’s books include The Indianapolis Motor Speedway: A 100 Years of Racing and The Indianapolis 500: A Century of Excitement.

The pictures tell the story, upwards of 3 million of them carefully tucked in a vault-like second-floor suite in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Hall of Fame Museum: They are the DNA of 100 years of the Indianapolis 500, and more.

What I learned in months and months of studying the ancient prints, negatives and digital images for two books commemorating the Speedway’s centenary was that there is always more to a story. The archived images proved to be little windows, allowing light on the Speedway’s past. But the light did not always provide a clear picture.

A century ago, what really drove Carl Fisher? And what about his wife Jane? Was she really just 15 when he married her? Or 25, as some say.

We know Barney Oldfield didn’t compete in the first Indianapolis 500 because he had his AAA racing license suspended, but what really kept Louis Chevrolet out of field?

Why were Indy’s official starters through the years such flamboyant dressers?  Why was maestro Harry Miller, whose machinery dominated Indy for much of the 1920s, always wearing a hat? And what’s with Mauri Rose’s ever-present pipe?

Louie Meyer’s mom made sure he had buttermilk to drink after he won the 1936 race. A top gun at the American Milk Foundation who knew opportunity when it was knocking saw the picture, and an Indy tradition was born.  But what about Louie’s mom? Was she at the race?  Not even my friend and Speedway historian Donald Davidson, whose recall of all things Indy is phenomenal, can say yes or no.

There are gaps in the Speedway’s pictorial history. For many years the job was hired out to different photographers whose work is not in the track’s possession. But still, to open a 100-year-old album and place a magnifying glass on the really old stuff in the museum vault is to experience a run of goose-bump moments.

In short, it’s like I was a kid again, listening from a tractor seat to radio’s Sid Collins calling Bill Vukovich’s 1954 win or the late great Speedway chief announcer Tom Carnegie painting brilliant word pictures of the epic lap-after-lap 1960 Rathmann-Ward battle for the checkered flag.

Fans can enter for a chance to win a copy of the Slip Case Edition of Kramer’s book, The Indianapolis Motor Speedway: A Century of Excitement as well as tickets to the Indianapolis 500, Brickyard 400, and other great Indianapolis Motor Speedway items. Find out more and enter to win by visiting the Old Cars Weekly 100th Anniversary Sweepstakes by May 5, 2011.

The Indianapolis 500: A Century of Excitement

This short blog series tells the story of how the Coke Lot event known as Camp and Brew, celebrating it’s 10th year in 2011 at the The Indy 500, began and grew.  It’s alliance with the Brian’s Wish Charity and the $31,900 raised in 9 short years, is in memory and support of a young man who died of ALS.

The trail that leads fans to become fans of a particular sport is never straight forward or similar in any two cases.  For me, it started with an invitation to the Indy 500 from my younger brother living in Indianapolis in 1994.

He was more a fan of the party that always surrounds the race, as opposed to the racing itself, but he knew the drivers and before the split, at least had an interest in the series and in the outcome of the 500.

His Carb Day party at his house, complete with hot tub, was an annual event that I enjoyed going to, even though I knew none of his co-workers from the Indianapolis Air Traffic Control Center who comprised 90% of the guests.

It seems a lifetime ago, but I can still vividly recall the feeling of not knowing what to expect as we drove to the race that Sunday morning. After parking somewhere off 30th street, we walked past the campgrounds that told incomplete tales of massive fun and alcohol induced revelry from the night before.  Through the tunnel we went in the Turn 3 and 4 short chute making our way, with the crowd of thousands, to our seats.

We sat in Turn 3, in aluminum stands that are no longer there. Infield seats that, at the time, I didn’t know were not as special of a view as in the stands would later prove to be. But to me, it did not matter that the cars passed in front of us so quickly and were only in our field of view for brief seconds when at speed.

To say the Nigel Mansell/Dennis Vitolo accident in the 1994 race happened “right in front of us” always makes me laugh, since no matter where in the 500 an accident happens, it starts or ends ‘right in front’ of about 95,000+ people.  Although memorable, I was not there to see carnage, but fast cars.

I became a fan of the series and joined the CREW, which was the Official Fan Club of the (at that time) IRL.  I went on to produce the CREW NEWS and MC’d at several end of year CREW Banquets, where finally we got Sarah Fisher to show up, after winning the CREW’s Most Popular Driver Award for the third straight time (2001-2003).  Special guest speaker that year was Tom Carnegie.

As my interest and trips to Indy from Ohio increased, my brother transferred his job to Southern California.  I wondered if he’d still come back for the race.  I wondered where we would stay. I thought of those crazy campers that we always saw and figured we’d try that.

That would have to wait, as that year, 2001, he landed us free accommodations at a former co-workers house who was recently divorced. To say that was not ideal, would be to neglect the obvious and I knew, somehow, the next year would need to be different.

The idea of how to make camping for the 500 a reality was born and by the time the next 500 came around, the annual event known as Camp and Brew (since it rhymed with 2002) was started.

Stay tuned to the IMS blog for the next installment in this series to find out more! Visit CampandBrew.com in the meantime and share your comments for Tom and Glenn below!

The IMS Street Team has one goal: to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 by making this year’s Snake Pit one to remember.

Preparations for May are underway, but the Street Team is on the search for former Snake Pit participants to participate in a Fan Forum at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, January 27th at 6:30 PM (EST).

Did you attend last year’s Snake Pit at the Indianapolis 500 or the Brickyard 400 Beach Bash? Are you the person in your group that always takes charge of your entire party crew at the race? Then we are looking for your feedback and input on how to make these events even more fun in 2011.

Please leave your contact information below if interested in participating in this week’s fan forum and a member of the IMS Street Team will contact you directly with more details. Not from Indianapolis? No worries, leave your suggestions below and we will make sure to discuss your ideas with the group on Thursday!

So, will you join us for the Indianapolis 500 Snake Pit and Brickyard 400 Beach Bash this year? What ideas do you have to help make these events bigger and better?!

The IMS Photo Digitization Project is a partnership between Indiana University Libraries and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to preserve historically significant photographs for the enjoyment of future generations. On a basic level, the labor-intensive project involves scanning decomposing images and adding them to a digital archive. Tagging each image with Metadata allows the IMS photo staff to quickly locate specific images for promotional and editorial use– as well for personal enjoyment by fans. Mary Ellen Loscar, Assistant to the Director of Photography, takes fans inside the Digitization project.

We are about to ramp up our efforts to digitize the negative images in the IMS Photo archives. We have slowly but surely been scanning images as needed but we are about to partner with University Library. With their knowledge of archiving and adding the metadata we will be able to start saving these images and making them more available to those who are interested in them.

Some of the older images are starting to deteriorate so this project really is a must. During the 1940’s and 50’s special chemicals used to develop film is now causing the negatives to bubble and crack. We can now scan these images and fix many of the defects with photo-editing software in order to save that image forever. So that is our starting point with the Digitization project, get to the bad ones first.

Damaged Photo from the 1952 Indy 500

Digitized Photo of the 1952 Indy 500

Once we get these images in digital form we will then post them to a photo vault for our fans to view. Did you know that you can come to the 2nd floor of the Museum and look at all of the images? I think it is a well kept secret for some, but you are welcome during our regular business hours. Come find the year you first came to the 500 or find a photo of your favorite driver. Remember we have 4 million!

The second annual Winter Indy Tweetup– a grassroots, IndyCar fan event co-hosted by Monica Hilton and Elizabeth Lenzi, is officially in the books. In today’s blog, the event’s creators recap highlights from the weekend. New to the Winter Indy Tweetup? Read the pre-event blog post on IndyCar.com and visit their website.

The second annual Winter Indy Tweetup is officially in the books. Finishing in P1: the fans. So now it’s time to crank up the hurdy gurdy and give you the recap.

WIT 2010 kicked off with a Welcome Party at McGilvery’s Pub in Speedway, IN. Attendees got a chance to grab some grub and mingle with one another. Martin Plowman stopped by to chat with the fans and give us his off-season updates. Don Kay of Autosport Radio was also in the house to help us with the audio and brought videos of past Indy 500s. We were also lucky to have legendary IMS historian Donald Davidson do a customized trivia contest just for WIT attendees. Paul Dalbey took home the grand prize: a rear wing flap from Dan Wheldon’s memorable 2010 Sonoma race. All of the participants took home a limited edition Indy 500 Centennial Grid poster.

We woke up Saturday morning to the first real snowfall of the season, but we didn’t let that stop us! The IndyCar Nation showed up in force, throwing a middle finger to the weather and screaming, “This better be worth it!” And worth it, it was.

First snow of the season at the Museum -Photo by Mike Nelson

The event started in the museum’s Tony Hulman Theatre with an exclusive update from Daniel Incandela , Director of Online Media at IMS. Daniel reminded everyone to keep tweeting, as both IMS and the league are listening. They love the good tweets, but also appreciate the bad, as it helps them to figure out how they can do better. Daniel also talked about the upcoming promotions for the Centennial celebration of the Indy 500. We can’t speak for everyone, but we are ridiculously excited about some of the new things in store.

Comment below and share your Twitter account if you were in the Saturday morning crowd! -Photo by Mike Nelson

Next, fans were treated to a private Q&A session with Indy Lights drivers James Hinchcliffe ,Stephan Wilson and Phillip Major , who let us know how they were doing during the off-season and kept everyone laughing the whole time. After that, Sarah Fisher Racing’s own Ed Carpenter stopped by for a chat. If you want to know what was said, you should have been there. Ahhhhh, we kid. Everyone was excited to find out about the drivers’ plans for 2011 and how they’re spending their off-season.

Ed Carpenter Greets IndyCar Fans -Photo by Mike Nelson

Due to the big pile of facepalm (snow) outside, we were unable to do the track tour, but that didn’t stop the fun. Next, attendees did a scavenger hunt – a new twist on exploring the many cool displays at the IMS Museum.

Things were rolling along, but they were about to go flat out as we headed to Fastimes Indoor Karting for the Fanimation Grand Prix. The grid was set at 16, until surprise guest, IndyCar driver Alex Tagliani added his name to the list and showed the field how it’s done. After several hours of tough competition, we crowned a winner.

Alex Tagliani Races with IndyCar Fans -Photo by Mike Nelson

Did you compete against IndyCar driver, Alex Tagliani, in the Grand Prix at FastTimes? Comment below and let us know! -Photo by Mike Nelson

We finished off the night at the Main Event Party at Broad Ripple Tavern. After some delicious food and drink, we kicked off the raffle. All weekend long, participants had gathered tickets for attending (and winning) events. We also gave out tickets for the important credentials, such as “furthest traveled” and “most Indy 500s attended.” Some of the completely incredible raffle prizes included autographed die-cast cars from Scott Dixon, Danica Patrick, and Graham Rahal, the program for TK’s very first win (catch an additional video where TK Says ‘Hello’ to Tweetup attendees), various IndyCar parts, some great Champ Car memorabilia, autographed apparel and MUCH more. Attendees had a great time and left with ARMLOADS of prizes and freebies.

Over the past few weeks, we had gathered video messages from IndyCar drivers who were unable to attend WIT. We had hoped to show the video at the Main Event Party, but didn’t have the proper AV capabilities– so watch it here.

Finally, we bid farewell to friends new and old at the grand-daddy of breakfast joints, Charlie Brown’s in Speedway. It was a great chance to unwind and say goodbye to friends new and old we’d caught up with throughout the weekend.

All weekend long, fans were able to purchase the 2011 IZOD IndyCar calendar, with proceeds benefitting the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation and Racing for Kids.

We’re SO thankful to everyone who came out to WIT 2010.  Check out additional pictures from this weekend on the Winter Indy Tweet Up Facebook page.

-Monica Hilton and Elizabeth Lenzi

The Infield 1947

Infield Fans in 1947

Aerial View- 1936

Donald Davidson explains an Aerial View from 1936

Preparations for the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 Mile Race – “The Most Important Race in History” – are underway. We are planning some special events for next May and will be making a series of announcements about these offerings in the coming weeks and months. There has never been a more exciting time at the Speedway as we will not only be celebrating our rich history but looking ahead to the next 100 years.

Our top priority is to reach out to our fans. We have taken surveys, introduced our Indy 500 Fan Rewards program and begun holding monthly “Fan Pit Stops” to hear directly from focus group-sized gatherings of fans about how we can improve their experiences at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Our latest communication effort is happening right here – what we are calling our IMS Fan Connection. Through this channel we want to make a direct connection between you and our President and CEO Jeff Belskus. Jeff wants to hear your thoughts and concerns, but mostly how everyone at the Speedway can help you have a terrific experience whenever you visit us.

Check out some interviews with a few of our Senior Account Ticket Holders:

We would like to get started with hearing your thoughts about what we should do to celebrate the 2011 Indianapolis 500. We know you all have great memories, favorite drivers past and present and opinions about which of the iconic race cars that took to the track were truly the most special.

Let’s get started! Please ask questions or make suggestions about what you think the Speedway should do to celebrate the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 – the Most Important Race in History.