The 500; My dad and me.

One of my greater memories as a child was watching the Indianapolis 500 with my father.  It was a ritual that went basically uninterrupted from 1971-1991 when my ungodly work schedule had me sleeping that day brought the unbroken string to an end.

Dad is gone now, and since my son has interests that are all over the place, the legacy of watching the race all but dead.  It's a shame really.  I remember when the race was a tape-delay thing, recorded in it's entirety on Sunday afternoon and replayed on Memorial Day evening.  I remember making plans with my dad to one day view the race in person.  Back when I was a kid it was something to look forward to, even if the reality was we'd never get to do it.  

Dad did get close, however, when he and my mother traveled to Indiana to celebrate my mother's cousin's wedding anniversary and they took the tour of the speedway.  He got a lap on the track as part of the tour and got to see the winning cars in the museum.

I have not been to a major race track to take in a race yet in my life.  I have seen an NHL game, an NFL game, an NBA game and two major league baseball games, but never have I darkened to turnstiles of a major racetrack in this country to see any form of auto racing.  Oh, I have seen several dirt track "roundy-rounds" and to see drag racing, and to a degree I guess that would count, but as for the big races on asphalt, that remains on the 'bucket list'.

One day I hope to take my son.  Sorry for the brevity of the ppst but I've been thinking of my dad this weekend.

A lot.