Even though the stands won’t be packed with fans for this year’s Indy 500 you can still enjoy the race on TV. Not ideal but at least you can spice up your viewing party with some interesting Indy 500 facts. Ladies and Gentleman, start your knowledge!
-Before the tear jerking “Back Home Again In Indiana” singing when everyone is mentioning beloved Jim Nabors drop this on them: In 1972 the track owner Tony Hulman randomly asked his friend Jim to sing. He had no rehearsals and wrote the lyrics on his hand. And of course still nailed it.
-While the announcers are rattling off how fast these cars go you can drop in how a race car with a wood-burning engine finished 3rd in the 1927 Indianapolis 500. (Now they only went like… 74 miles an hour back then but still neat!)
-At any time you can throw out how much every single lap matters- even when you think it might be in the bag 3 drivers have lost the lead in the 199th lap. Robby Gordon in 1999, Marco Andretti in 2006, and J.R. Hildebrand in 2011.
-When you feel the need for some more history before World War II there were often ride-in mechanics in the cars and some years were mandatory. These extra guys would be in there making on the fly changes, helped with traffic spotting, and massaging driver’s aching arms. They later ditched them to make the cars go faster.
-And finally blow their minds with this: On that very first and very bumpy Indy 500 there was a car that featured the first known use of a rear view mirror! The eventual winner of that race, Ray Harroun, decided to skip the in car mechanic and use a mirror to watch his back instead. Too bad all of those bricks made it so bumpy the mirror just vibrated and wasn’t really useful at all but it was a cool idea.
