The Indianapolis 500! This was my first time to Indianapolis or Indiana for that matter. A long chain of events led me to this trip! I came to town for my Friend Chris’s Bachelor party. If I didn’t treat Chris like the trying little brother I never had, and verbally beat him up in the early days of our friendship (joking but serious), he may have never asked me to be a groomsman in his wedding and I would have never been invited to the bachelors party and then…would never have come to Indy!
I flew into Indy from Houston on my birthday and it was a rough day! A busy day at work with lots of unexpected turns ending up in a small big town surrounded by great people. I grabbed an Uber from the airport located on the SW side of the city and rode to the Eastside for about $25, $15 of which was free using my AMEX Platinum’s monthly Uber credit.
I knocked on the door to the house we were all staying at and was welcomed to the bachelor party with a flabongo. I’ll keep the photos to a minimum for this trip! I met some really good Dudes, most of which who grew up in Indy.
Saturday was grocery shopping for the race and a beer bus tour. This was the first time I took a brew bus tour and was a great way to get some experience around the city. Centerpoint Brewery and Indiana City Brewing Co. t were the two memorable breweries we went to. We met a guy on the bus that happened to be a guest of the ESPN producer for the race and he shared with us the luxurious side of his race experience. We gave him shit for it in a friendly way and invited him to Kilroy’s after the tour. Some how we didn’t pay for a drink in Kilroy’s between our brew bus buddy buying us shots and buckets of beers, and a guy I randomly started talking to that happened to live like 10 minutes from me in The Woodlands. Kilroy’s had some phenomenal stuffed breadsticks, similar to peperoni rolls, definitely worth it!
Sunday was race day! We woke up at 6 am and headed to the track at 7 am. Ice was hard to find on race day morning but we finally found some and iced down our 7 coolers and headed to lot 1C. Dustin’s mother was working the lot so she had a spot saved for us about 2 minutes from the gate! Make sure you follow the cooler rules! We got through the initial entry, then the entry manager chassed after us and made us take one of our larger coolers out, so we got creative on how to redistribute the inventory.
I also forgot this important point!!! Indy does not have any open container laws!
The International Motor Speedway (IMS) was unlike any sporting complex I have ever been to. The sheer size of it was massive, which is a complete understatement. Everyone told me that there are no words to describe the IMS and the Indy 500 and I will have to agree, you just have to see it yourself! 400,000 people in attendance and the IMS still had room and was not overly crowded. The people there were AMERICAN, which is the best way I can describe it. It was a culture I had only heard about and seen on TV, but had no idea how into this people got. The entire city of Indy reminded me of a small town Texas Friday night during high school football season. The city was a ghost town, with almost every house having a checked flag outside blowing in the wind.
The cars were fast, the beer was cold, and the women were beautiful. The massive complex was one huge tailgating party and it was loud. That, being said, I was impressed on how the entire complex went silent when taps was played at the beginning of the race.
Sitting between turn 3 and 4 in the infield did not give me the best view, but the experience was epic. I was happy to be there with a seasoned crew of Indy 500 veterans. Kyle, Chris, and Dustin all grew up in Indy and the race was like a reunion for them running into high school buddies everywhere we went. Fried chicken was what the experts said to bring and that was a good call! The cars were so fast and loud in person, I am still amazed at the engineering and the drivers. The Snake Pit…you’ll have to figure out what happens in the snake pit on your own!
It took us about 2 hours sitting through deadlock traffic to get home, but once we did, we showered and grilled dinner and watched the Cav’s beat the Celtics. Indy was fun, but I was ready to get home after gaining about 5 pounds (the bachelors party fault not Indy). I woke up on Monday morning at 5 am and grabbed an Uber to the airport at 5:30 am to catch my 7 am flight. I volunteered to be bumped for a $400 voucher the night prior and took it when I showed up. The next flight was only 2 hours later and I had nothing serious to do that day so I sat in the airport and typed this quick travel blog up.
I got a $10 food voucher for the airport and a $400 travel voucher to use within a year! The Indianapolis airport only had one lounge, and it was for Delta customers only, so the food voucher came in handy.
The morale of the story can be deduced that if I didn’t treat Chris Teska like the irritating little brother I never had (Love ya Chris!), I would have never understood how incredible the Indy 500 is, I would have never come to Indiana and meet a new group of friends, and I would have never got a $400 travel voucher to plan a whole new adventure.
