It was down to Indianapolis this weekend to watch some motorcycle racing 
at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was nice for me because I lived there back in the late 90’s and got to see some people I used to work with in addition to seeing the “mansion” of a house I had when I lived there (pictured below). The house was a fixer upper to say the least when I lived there. I think I left it better than when I first moved in, however. The place looks like it could use a match now. The current residents don’t appear to be doing much upkeep which is too bad. Oh well.
at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was nice for me because I lived there back in the late 90’s and got to see some people I used to work with in addition to seeing the “mansion” of a house I had when I lived there (pictured below). The house was a fixer upper to say the least when I lived there. I think I left it better than when I first moved in, however. The place looks like it could use a match now. The current residents don’t appear to be doing much upkeep which is too bad. Oh well.
I met up with Mark, his dad Chuck, and the others at the hotel on Friday evening. My ride coming down on Thursday was blue skies and pleasant. I stopped off on the way for a cold beverage in Fairmount, Indiana; the birthplace of James Dean. There was some good local flavor at the Palace Bar. Only two weeks until the James Dean Festival!!
The forecast for the weekend was interesting to say the least. With Hurricane Ike doing his thing down in Texas, the big question is what impact it would have on Indianapolis when it moved north. Saturday was supposed to rain but we didn’t get a drop all day. I took the group on a tour (from what I could remember) of some sites around the area. With seven bikes in our group, the stop lights made it interesting but we did okay I think. While we had reserved parking outside of the track, we had heard they were allowing motorcycles to park on the infield so we gave it the old college try. What a greeting we encountered towards the parking area. There had to have been fifty or so cars in line waiting to park and the track employees kept waving us through until......we were riding on the Indy 500 track! The motorcycle track cuts through the infield so there is a portion of main track that is open. So we parked our bikes right on the track (pictured below). They really had the whole thing quite organized to ensure the bikes were parked straight with ample room to exit. There were thousands of bikes out there. The speedway itself is just enormous. Prior to watching the qualifying races, Mark, Mike, and I hit the vendor area and took in some great people watching. Why I took a picture of a trough at the track I don’t know but I guess I consider the trough to be underrated when it comes to sporting events. The lines sure seem to move quicker, eh? 
After a great day of watching some riding, we got a meal in and went to see some more riding that night at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Rather than asphalt, however, this was dirt track racing. These guys (girls too) were just hauling it around the turns dragging their leg along the way. It’s pretty much motorcycles riding on a horse track. It was definitely loud. I honestly couldn’t tell you the name of any of the riders but it was fun to watch all the same. 
While the main race at the Indy track was on Sunday afternoon, I headed back home this morning. With having to work tomorrow, I wasn’t up for riding five hours or so after the race and getting home around midnight. The other fellas had tomorrow off and am pretty sure they’ll be hitting someplace close by tonight and riding the back roads tomorrow headed for home. Looking at the rain that is coming down right now, I think I made a good choice. Rain or not, I just can’t suck it up like I used to (can you hear the whine in that?).
Trail Head
