It just occurred to me that I've been giving short shrift to the "other" motor sports event here in Indy, the Brickyard 400. Today's race marks the 19th time NASCAR's stock cars have torn around the famous oval. The inaugural year I happened to be living about ten blocks from the track and I learned the stark difference between an Indy 500 and a NASCAR crowd.
Thinking NASCAR would be worse? Maybe you'd expect a little moonshine fueled red neckery? I mean it takes a lot of money to put an Indy car on the race course while NASCAR's firmly rooted in the southern soil of bootlegging and white lightning. Well, if you fell for the stereotypes, you're very mistaken.
Without fail the Indy 500 crowd turned out to be more destructive, disrespectful, and rowdy. That first year of the 400 I sat on my back porch listening. With the 500 the night before the race the air would be filled with the low cacophony of sirens, gunshots, revving engines, and people. With the 400, you couldn't even tell a race event was in town. NASCAR came, qualified, raced, and got out without leaving a metric ton of trash in its wake or turning life in the vicinity of the Speedway into misery.
So, my apologies NASCAR. Please accept this little Champion spark plug ad from the December 1955 issue of Life Magazine as a token of my esteem. I'll try to make your 20th year in Indianapolis a special one!
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