Harvest Grand Prix

 

October 13, 2020

Harvest Grand Prix

In all my years of attending Indy Car races (going on 50), I have never attended a doubleheader weekend. There have been a few, especially in the last couple of years, but it was something I just never quite made it to until now. With the myriad of cancelations of races this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Indy Car series had to add a few doubleheaders to help fill out the schedule including the two races that comprised the Harvest Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Utilizing the road course they added the two races and a single day of practice all in the same weekend making for a busy weekend.

They tacked the races onto a previously scheduled sports car 8 hour race that was on for Sunday and packed all of the Indy Car action into three days in addition to a number of sports car races. I watched more sports car racing this weekend than in all my years of watching racing combined I think, but it was great to watch from the comfort of my buddy Brent’s suite above the pit lane. The speedway did a spectacular job with their safety protocol in light of the current Covid pandemic, temperature checking every one of the limited 10,000 paying customers and providing hand sanitizer for all. I felt very safe especially in the relative emptiness of the suite. 

While the first race on Friday afternoon was one of the best road races I have ever seen, the Saturday race was not. In fact it was rather dull as Penske driver Will Power captured the pole and then lead the race wire to wire, dominating the field in what was a relatively boring compared to race one. The qualifying was much the same as Power captured the pole pretty easily with not much drama. It was still great to be at the race and out in the cool fall temperatures that are pretty rare to watch Indy Car racing.

One of the cooler things was being able to watch Jarrett Andretti, son of the late Indy Car driver John Andretti drive in the sports car race prior to the Indy Car event. Hopefully someday I will be able to see him compete in the big cars, but it was nice to see a new generation of Andretti racing. All in all it was a wonderful weekend to just enjoy being back at the track after what has been a tough season and year all round,

Before heading to the Speedway, I took advantage of the beautiful weather to head over to the former Indianapolis Museum of Art, which has recently been rebranded as Newfields. I wanted to explore the beautiful grounds that I used to play in when I was a kid, in addition I wanted to check out the latest exhibition in the museum, “Edward Hopper and the American Hotel”.

Hopper has always been one of my favorite artists and his work has taken on a special significance during the current pandemic. His themes of solitude, quiet, loneliness and isolation are just about a perfect representation of the current situation worldwide. The museum like many, limited attendance and made visitors book a time specific visit that would limit the total amount of visitors at any one time. Masks were of course required.

The grounds were as beautiful as I recalled, especially with all the fall colors starting to show and a wonderful fall like display and pumpkins scattered in beautiful displays around the grounds. It was just a perfect beautiful sunny fall day. I wondered around the outside artwork and through the incredible facility before heading inside to check out the feature exhibit.

“Edward Hopper and the American Hotel” is an exhibition that looks at the iconic midcentury artist’s fascination with places of transience, escape, and anonymity. Guests can explore the romantic and noir-ish side of hotels, motels, and tourist homes; learn about the ways 20th-century Americans participated in travel culture depending on their race, gender, and bank account; and see how Hopper’s works fit into a long tradition of using hotels to suggest emotions and ideas in art. 

The exhibit focuses on Hopper but features artwork from more than 27 artists in addition to Hopper whose work focuses on the theme that was fairly prevalent during Hopper’s era. It is a beautiful and fascinating and highly recommended exhibit. I am so happy that I took the time to check it out.

https://discovernewfields.org/calendar/edward-hopper-and-american-hotel