When in Rome…. On touring the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

We didn’t have to be at yarn market until 2:00 on Friday, and we weren’t able to do any planning until after we saw what was at market—so we decided be tourists that morning. Since we were in Indianapolis, the obvious choice was to go to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We arrived on a good day--one of the few days offering the Grounds Tour this year, which provides a behind-the-scenes look at the track, garages, and race control.

Tradition dictates that the winner of the Indianapolis 500 drink milk, climb the fence, and kiss the yard of bricks—the treasured remains of the original racetrack. We didn’t have any milk with us, and we weren’t allowed to climb the fence because of insurance purposes. But we didn’t much argue with the third tradition. Kim was first off the bus to kiss the bricks. Click on the link to see a very short film of Kim Kissing the Bricks. (As you can tell, she was born for the PC Screen.)

And Cynthia followed closely behind:

Okay then. Here we are, in a more normal tourist-like pose, standing before the bricks:

We also got to ride in a bus around the track, see the press room and media center, see where they videotape the cars, look at the race control room, and see the timing room.

During the whole tour, the tour guide kept telling us that we were winners. We had never quite thought of it that way, but we were able to handle the fame and glory with our typical modesty. Here we have Kim in the pressroom, immediately after fielding questions about her victory:

….and Cynthia celebrating on the victory platform:

When we were done winning, we drove on to the hotel. We had to park a couple of blocks from the hotel, and we didn’t feel like making more than one trip: Winners are efficient. We noticed that many people, even the panhandlers, laughed as we walked to the hotel. What a friendly city Indianapolis is!

As you gaze at this picture, think of all the alternatives a smart person would have instead of walking two city blocks with all this stuff. The winner who has our favorite solution will win this handy Knitting for Peace tote bag, from the upcoming book, Knitting for Peace (which we will have in the store when it is published):

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