By Fred Shonk
Southsider Voice correspondent
(Editor’s note: In celebration of the 100th Indianapolis 500 on May 29, Shonk is writing a weekly column about his memories of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.)
My dad was self-employed while I was in elementary school. He picked up milk from farms and dropped it off at a dairy to be processed and bottled. This was a daily job as the cows wouldn’t consider taking a day off from producing milk.
Luckily, he always got home early in the afternoon, and that gave us time to slip out to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to watch an afternoon of practice or qualifications – but never on pole day because the track was packed.
I remember wandering from turn to turn and sitting in the stands for a while. Those are some special memories.
My mom’s brother, my Uncle Wayne, lived in Tennessee. He sometimes drove up to Indy for the race. He owned a large automobile that had some folding seats between the normal front and back seats. He and his brother packed that car with their sons and nephews and went to the race.
If attending the Indy 500 wasn’t in the cards, I enjoyed listening to it on the radio. The IMS Radio Network was and is amazing. It was so easy to close my eyes and listen to the broadcast. After seeing the cars at the track earlier in the month, I could remember exactly what each one looked like. I still enjoy doing that.
Southsider Voice correspondent
(Editor’s note: In celebration of the 100th Indianapolis 500 on May 29, Shonk is writing a weekly column about his memories of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.)
My dad was self-employed while I was in elementary school. He picked up milk from farms and dropped it off at a dairy to be processed and bottled. This was a daily job as the cows wouldn’t consider taking a day off from producing milk.
Luckily, he always got home early in the afternoon, and that gave us time to slip out to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to watch an afternoon of practice or qualifications – but never on pole day because the track was packed.
I remember wandering from turn to turn and sitting in the stands for a while. Those are some special memories.
My mom’s brother, my Uncle Wayne, lived in Tennessee. He sometimes drove up to Indy for the race. He owned a large automobile that had some folding seats between the normal front and back seats. He and his brother packed that car with their sons and nephews and went to the race.
If attending the Indy 500 wasn’t in the cards, I enjoyed listening to it on the radio. The IMS Radio Network was and is amazing. It was so easy to close my eyes and listen to the broadcast. After seeing the cars at the track earlier in the month, I could remember exactly what each one looked like. I still enjoy doing that.
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