Youth Is Served

May 18, 2021

Youth Is Served

Last year, having to watch the Indianapolis 500 run in August in front of empty grandstands due to the pandemic from my living room rather than in person was gut-wrenching for me. I had made the annual trek to Indiana to attend the race for 48 years in a row and I had to miss it in 2020 which totally sucked. I realize that to many who suffered far worse consequences due to Covid-19, this is relatively minor but it meant a lot to me and thousands of other fans.

I was especially anxious to get back to Indianapolis and to the Speedway and I arrived in time to watch the first weekend the track was open for the GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The Grand Prix is held on the IMS road course and has kicked off the month of May for the past few years.  It is always cool to be back and this year just felt so much more because of the long absence. 

My buddy Brent gave me a month-long pass to his suite on the Tower Terrace and it was able to serve as a base, as well as a place to watch the race as I had returned all my annual tickets that I usually purchase for credit this year. In spite of allowing fans back in to see the festivities, it is still far from a regular month of May as almost all of the annual 500 festival events were canceled. No concerts, no infield, and very intense covid precautions.

Since Indy Car has to date not issued any Hard Card credentials, my usual access was somewhat limited, but thankfully a wonderful woman at Indy car hooked me up with a month of May Silver Badge for pit and garage access, so it felt close to normal. 

The practice and qualifying were really exciting as they were dominated by some new names at the front of the grid with Formula 1 vet and Indy Car rookie Romain Grosjean capturing the pole in a stunning upset. I was thrilled beyond measure as Grosjean drives for the relatively smaller team of Dale Coyne racing and even more so because my friend Kate’s husband is his chief engineer. It was a fantastic result basis on merit, not crazy luck or anything.

Josef Newgarden, Jack Harvey, Alex Palou and Scott McGlaughlin rounded out the top five qualifiers. It was a beautiful day and a great qualifying. The race was awesome as well. I invited my sister Michele and friends Kevin and Ted to watch the race from the suite, it is a great spot to watch the grand prix and has a comfort level that is unmatched.

The race was great as well. Second year driver Rinus VeeKay captured his first Indy Car victory, winning by four seconds over Romain Grosjean, who suffered in traffic and was unable to mount a charge at the end. Alex Palou — who won the season opener in Alabama — completed the podium. The rest of the top 10: Josef Newgarden, Graham Rahal, Simon Pagenaud, Alexander Rossi, Scott McLaughlin, Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson.