Thanksgiving, of course, is a wonderful holiday. Family, food and
football – not necessarily in that order - all take center stage.
To an Indianapolis 500 fan, however, Thanksgiving is especially
important because it marks the halfway point (more or less) between the
previous 500 and the next one. So go ahead and use your turkey drumsticks to make the crossed-flags signal to let everyone at the table know.
Still, the offseason still has a ways to go. Which makes it an ideal time
to pull out your old yearbooks, DVDs or programs.
Here’s the program from my first
Indianapolis 500 in 1973 – I ended up
going on the third day of the ill-fated event.
The cover is a bit worse for wear. (Can’t you just hear Dr. Evil
saying, “One MEEEELLION Dollars,” though?)
The inside is a bit battered as well – four pages are missing
altogether.
That’s because in those days there was a spread showing the top 10
finishers from the year before. So I had my mother very patiently cut out all
10 cars so I could race them on my oval rug – no fancy diecasts back then.
As you can see, I also did my best to keep the entry list accurate and
up to date. Not bad for a 5-year-old.
Unlike today, the entry list was overflowing.
I counted 83 entries for 1973. Of course, most of these were backup
cars and others had no realistic hope of making the race. One – the Jim Robbins
Co. No. 87 – was entered per Mr. Robbins’ will.
I eventually bought a complete 1973 program from the now-closed
Mailroom on 16th Street.
The thought of throwing out the original never crossed my mind – and
never will.
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