By BILL DOSS
For The Reporter
On Monday, we finally went back to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. It had been 40 years since we had been there and they spent the last year (and $80 million) rebuilding this wonderful tribute to The Indianapolis 500.
It’s beautiful and the layout is great as they walk you through Gasoline Alley from the old to the new. Then you enter Race Day as they show a short film over the starting grid at the Yard of Bricks. (Yes, you may kiss the bricks.) This film takes you through the goose flesh one gets on actual Race Day as it takes you from early morning pit activity, to the activities building up to the start of the race including the National Anthem, the flyover, and Penske giving the command – “Start your engines” – to the dropping of the green flag.
It’s quite an experience – but you have yet to see the museum!
There are three levels showing the race cars of winners through the years, including a section for the Brickyard. The Borg Warner Trophy is there in all its glory. The face of Tony Hulman is the only one in gold, as he is the savior of IMS. When he bought it in 1945, it was in terrible shape and he made it what it is today.
There is a Roger Penske Hall with all the Penske racing memorabilia in it and there’s even a room with several racing simulators and reflex testing stations for guests to try their luck at driving at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Yes, it is a beautiful Museum and awesome tribute to the “Greatest Spectacle In Racing.”
Photos by Bill Doss