Zoom!
KEN: I think we should bet $5 this year.
ME: You wanna lose big is that it?
KEN: I intend to beat you. 5 bucks. You in or not?
ME: Oh, I’m in alright. Let’s make it 10 bucks and we’ll just see who has the superior driver. (we shake on it)
It’s the Indy 500 race! And I love watching auto racing.
(I was set to drive in a demolition derby once but my car’s radiator got punctured in the first heat. I’m a menace in a bumper car though. Smashing into those little kids. So satisfying.)
But the Indy 500 is a family tradition. Every year when I was a kid we’d sit on my parent’s patio and listen to the race on the radio. The whole family bet. We bet a quarter on the driver we wanted to win, which moved to $1 when we got older.
There was cheating.
Ken and I make the yearly pilgrimage to the Indy 500 every year: a ritual every bit as fun as the race. Not this COVID-19 race year. No fans allowed. Here’s what I’ll miss it:
We invite other fun people. It’s ungodly hot. Black and white checkered hats, shirts, shoes and shorts abound. It’s ridiculous.
We drink G&Ts at 12 noon (trouble will ensue. I’m not a day drinker) as we sit under a tree on the golf course below the stands. There is betting so that remains the same this year.
$10 per person payable in cash to the winner. 33 slips of paper with drivers’ names. Everyone draws a slip until all slips are gone. You’ll draw some dogs. But you might draw the winner.
The race starts. You settle into your hot aluminum bleacher seat, sardined in with thousands of your new friends, sweat, drink, nosh and watch the race.
Rats. The pee emporiums are about 39 steps down the bleachers.
You crawl over 8-12 people to get out of the row. They hold on to you so you don’t step on them or lose your balance and fall onto the drunks in the row below. Luckily, it’s so flipping hot, no one pees for hours.
At last, after all the accidents, pit stops, lunch, loudness, G&Ts and sunshine, there’s a winner!
You cheer if it’s you. You grumble and pay up if you lost.
Watching the race on TV this year just wasn’t be the same. Ken and I bet, there was checkered clothing, there was beer and G&T’s and I won!
But…I intend to be back at the track in 2021.
Race fan? Tell me all about it. I guess I’m just a motor head from way back when. You can click here to tell me your story. I’m a motor head too
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