General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIndianapolis 500 attendance: 135,000 fans!
Well, America is opening up again, some places much quicker than others, and more extreme:
Link to tweet
dawg day
(7,947 posts)No injuries.
And a great finish for the old Helio.
True Dough
(17,099 posts)brooklynite
(93,880 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)It's not full yet, but I am taking business class since nobody passes through the BC car.
It's either at the very front/back depending upon which direction you are going so it's just an extra measure of precaution since it will be the first time I have travelled in well over a year. I'm kind of nervous about leaving my neighborhood. It's been so long!
LeftInTX
(24,560 posts)She's vaccinated
But yeah, I guess she's bored....
msongs
(67,199 posts)True Dough
(17,099 posts)SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)Simple "L" on forehead or "IDIOT" would suffice.
shrike3
(3,283 posts)captain queeg
(10,036 posts)Crunchy Frog
(26,548 posts)Could this end up being another super spreader event?
SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)IN is like the Twilight Zone - no offense to a great show - land where time stood still.
Crunchy Frog
(26,548 posts)I wouldn't want to even set foot in that hellhole. And I was mostly in Bloomington, the "nice" part.
SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)Used to travel from Chgo burbs for kids' sports tourneys. Always dreaded that fking state.
shrike3
(3,283 posts)They're all coming over here in droves. While developers tear up what prairie we have left and destroy habitat for mink, hawks, etc.
Please pass the word to your friends that we're a hellhole and maybe they'll stop coming.
shrike3
(3,283 posts)It's getting out of hand.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,321 posts)The Speedway used to get 130,000 in on a Friday practice day on week one of The 90 Days Of May as it used to be called.
I was working as a participant in what could be referred to as the Glory Days of IndyCar, and there would be 50,000 in the stands on a Wednesday afternoon, the 1st week of practice. That Friday would see in excess of 130,000.
It was said that the single largest gate take of any Sporting event in the world was race day at the Indianapolis 500, where close to a half million would come through the gates between 5 AM and the Start Engines command at 10:50. The second largest was Pole Day at The Speedway, where in the 90s, 300,000 was expected.
underpants
(182,283 posts)GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)They had 6 tickets and we went every year between 89-93.
That crowd had to be seen to be believed. The Snake Pit(4th turn I think) was still there and during one rainy race day morning I witnessed impromptu female mud wrestling which always involved the rapid removal of the participants tops. I was only 23 at the time and was awestruck. By the entire spectacle. Nothing awing about the participants!
Is my memory correct that it was on a Sunday so you had to bring your own beer?
A HERETIC I AM
(24,321 posts)Last edited Sun May 30, 2021, 09:54 PM - Edit history (1)
And youre right, for years it was inside turn 4.
I dont profess to be a a Speedway historian by any means, but inside Turn 4 has as much history as almost any other place on the property!
It was inside that turn back in the 60s where the infamous scaffold towers were constructed and one of them collapsed, killing two and injuring scores more, leading to them being outlawed. Nothing higher than a lawn chair on top of a van, basically.
Pics herein are of the accident in progress;
http://indymotorspeedway.com/scaffold.html
People would drive into the infield with all the materials needed to construct temporary towers. These were commonplace for years;
Open prostitution happened. Illicit liquor and drug sales. Nudity, public sex acts and all manner of good fun! Bonfires that would require several Indy Fire Department pumpers to put out after the race. Ahh yes, the good ol days!
A lot of that moved to inside turn 1 in the 90s because of crackdowns, and as things moved forward and the speedway management changed hands from grandmother to son, they really put the kibosh on a lot of that.
I was a participant in the years before, during and after the refurbishment of the infield portion of the golf course. After they redid the holes on the infield, they really clamped down on where people were allowed to go and what they were allowed to do during the month of May. After all, the Speedway spent millions in an effort to attract a PGA event (which they ultimately did) and did not want their investment trashed by race fans! I played golf on the old course during practice one day. I remember specifically teeing up my ball and watching Emerson Fittipaldi doing 220 down the back stretch, not 50 yards away from my left!
Once they constructed the F1 style infield road course, they cut back on the number of people allowed inside the track by a dramatic amount. The general count is around 330,000 seats around the outside of the track. They used to get another 150.000 at least inside. No longer.
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)I think he hit 253 on the backstretch. A year or so before they switched to carburetor engines to slow things down. Just did not sound the same without the injected superchargers. That whine was amazing.
Little remembered fact: Indy Racing actually held a race on Disney World property for several years in the 90s. Disney built a track near the Magic Kingdom parking lot. Think it was a tri-oval. We went to all of them. That track was just demolished a few years ago. Also went to the first few brickyard 400s. It was just too hot and we quit flying up.
Cant believe I saw that as fun. Now it seems a nightmare!
global1
(25,169 posts)I'll give a sigh of relief and say - it looks like we've made it back.
In the meantime - I'll still be proceeding very cautiously.l
True Dough
(17,099 posts)as we could possibly get of where things stand.
FoxNewsSucks
(10,378 posts)The percent of Americans who are vaccinated seems too low to just throw the masks away and take up where we left off.
The next few weeks will tell.
SoonerPride
(12,286 posts)So they had a choice.
If there is a surge it will be among those who think they know more than science.
So wheres the problem?
Ms. Toad
(33,915 posts)0-11 year olds won't be eligilble until next summer. Until then, it is our responsibility to protect them.
Next, 5% of a very large number (of COVID-causing exposures) is still a very large number. The more exposure those of us who are vaccinated have, the more breakthrough cases there will be.
Finally - variants. So far, with very limited data, the vaccine seems to be holding up against variants. But a new variant was just discovered today (a combination of two already in existence) tat combines the worst of each.
SoonerPride
(12,286 posts)If there were 5 year olds there I would be surprised.
And unvaccinated people (whether by choice or not) in that throng should be wearing masks.
So again, if there is a spike among those that went to the Indy 500 then whats the problem?
Ms. Toad
(33,915 posts)The post to which you responded was discussing the timing of removing the mask mandate, not just people in attendance at this event. You responded talking about surges which, again, aren't limited to this event.
A quick look at crowd shots tells me you are wrong about 5 year olds (not to mention 5-11 range). In the the one shot I found, I spotted at least 3 in the roughly 0-5 range. It's our responsibility to keep them safe - so unless they are checking cards at the door, slapping wrisbands on everyone who isn't yet vaccinated, and wandering around enforcing mask wearing by the unvaccinated, they should be enforcing mask-wearing among everyone. Because that works, and doesn't require the tough step that no one seems willing to take - selective enforcement against the unvaccinated.
Ace Rothstein
(3,110 posts)Felt great to be back!
True Dough
(17,099 posts)The Ace wasn't on the mound at that game. He was in the stands!
Ms. Toad
(33,915 posts)He's a flaming idiot. Not sure what happened to her, since she used to be rational and liberal.
They at least had masks around their necks in the pictures they posted . . .