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Mari Hulman George is
reigning matriarch of the
Hulman-George family,
owners of the Indianapolis
Speedway
66
winter
|
spr ing
Speedway Patrol Officers flank Vince
Granatelli (standing) and Andy Granatelli
(in vehicle)
the turns. We’re talking a couple of feet here, ladies and gentlemen. Last
year, one of the cars did hit the wall with a passenger in tow; no one was
hurt, but this is a dangerous game these men and women play.
Ethnic Indianapolis
It came as a surprise to us, but the number and quality of restaurants
in and around Indianapolis are, well, cosmopolitan in both quality and
ethnic diversity. Our group was treated to three days of some of the best
food in the Midwest. Lunch on Thursday was at G & F Ribs, a truly
nondescript restaurant in the middle of a strip mall, but one that knows
a little something about ribs and barbecue sauce. That evening, we tasted
the best – the
best
– fried chicken (and mashed potatoes) ever cooked and
prepared on Planet Earth at the Iron Skillet. The following day featured
lunch at a crowded Shapiro’s Deli, then dinner at Sullivan’s Steakhouse
(recently written up in
The Wall Street Journal
as a “power lunch” meeting
place). We were served in the library, at the “power” tables. The next day
it was lunch at the Stergiopoulos family owned & operated Greek Islands
restaurant Opa! Dinner was at Bucca Di Peppo in downtown Indianapolis.
Every day, often at both lunch and dinner tenor
Matt James,
who
accompanied us, entertained with soulful operatic and patriotic songs. All
I could think to ask was, ‘
This
is middle America?’
Indianapolis, it turns out, is the America of my (and perhaps your)
childhood. On Race Day, before the iconic “Gentlemen, and ladies (there
were three female drivers this year –
Danica Patrick
,
Sarah Fisher
, and
Milka Duno
– as there were last year), start your engines” was sounded,
a fleet of red, white, and blue Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks rolled
around the track, carrying a small clump of either U.S. military airmen,
soldiers, sailors, marines, coast guard or national guardsmen in their
beds. After that, squads of military men and women in uniform marched
behind Old Glory. As each contingent of uniformed marchers approached,
the crowd stood up to salute and cheer. An invocation by a pastor caused
heads to bow in thanks.
Then “God Bless America” was sung, followed by the Star Spangled
Banner, to which the entire crowd of 355,000 stood as one, hands on
hearts, hats across chests, men and women in military garb saluting. As
the national anthem wound down, three F-18s and an F-16 flew over the
track, low. When asked “How low,” one of the pilots, who’d been invited
to our suite after his flyover, answered quietly, “pretty low.” We’re guessing
100 feet.
Jim Nabors
sang “Back Home Again In Indiana” as thousands of
red, white, and blue balloons were released.
In the middle of all that hoopla was
Andy Granatelli
, who rode around
the track in a convertible pace car with
Tab Hunter
and photographer
Priscilla Summerhill
, waving at the crowd and being cheered loudly all
the way around. The only ones to receive an even bigger applause were the
Congressional Medal of Honor winners as they were introduced.