Sun on the road: Day 1- Indy 500

The 99th running of the Indianapolis 500 will take place on Sunday, May 24 in Indianapolis, Indiana. When we had the opportunity to cover it, we sent our Food + Drink Editor, Sarah Stierch. Stierch was born and raised in Indianapolis, has attended 22 Indy 500 races, and well, it just made sense to have her represent Sonoma at the world’s most famous race.

Throughout this week, Stierch will be posting photographs and sharing her experiences with Sun readers. Including interviews with racing legends who are now winemakers, the race itself, and preparations for the final raise of the Verizon IndyCar circuit: the GoPro Grand Prix which will take place at Sonoma Raceway on August 30, 2015.

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Day one: a quiet day at the track

Wednesday was a quiet day. Overcast weather that required an umbrella and sweater, unlike the usual 70 degree days that make up May in Indianapolis. I’ve attended quite a few races. Growing up in Indy, it’s part of the culture. On race day, shops and stores close, parties are held, people who could care less about sports and racing in general get excited about the parties and festivities.

I had already made plans to visit my hometown, as I do at least once a year. As I booked my plane ticket I totally forgot that the race was happening upon my return. I jumped at the chance to share my experience with Sun readers.

I hope you’ll enjoy the experience and consider experiencing it yourself one day: despite some political embarrassment lately, Indianapolis is a beautiful city with a passion for entertaining and showing guests a good time. Indianapolis doesn’t represent the rest of the state. It is pretty liberal, extremely diverse (more than Sonoma) and has a really remarkable food and beer scene – tons of breweries and independent restaurants that are making it thrive.

When you cover the race, you head into a press building located right next to the Pagoda and next to the winners circle. The view is amazing, the track treats the press folks like stars (including tasty free lunches). I walked in with these old school guys from CBS, who have been covering races nationally for decades.

The Pagoda has seen it all at the track. It was built in 1913 in the style of a traditional Japanese pagoda and razed by fire in 1925. A larger version was built, only to be replaced by another version in 1957. It was rebuilt in 1998, losing it’s Japanese architectural look, and then rebuilt for a final time in 2000. Today, it is a architectural masterpiece of glass and metal. The Pagoda is used as the control tower during races. Radio broadcasting, scoring and timing take place in the facility.

The track was quiet this day, except for the Indy Racing Experience (IRE). IRE allows racing fans, for the cost of $500, to ride (or for even more money, drive) in an IndyCar around the oval raceway.

Fans had their chance to pay extra to be driven around the track by racing legend Mario Andretti. He has won the Indy 500 once and owns a winery in Napa.

A visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is not complete without a visit to the Hall of Fame Museum. As rain began to fall, it was an excuse to visit the museum, which has one of the finest collections of race cars, motorcycles and memorabilia in the world.  It’s located inside the track and is open every day.

The Marmon Wasp, driven by Ray Harroun, is the first car to win an Indy 500, the first which took place in 1911.

Harroun is credited with inventing the rearview mirror. The Wasp has the first one ever used.

The garages were pretty quiet today. Then, off come the car covers, and the crew gets to work. A few garages were open, with mechanics tweaking engines and reviewing practice tapes. Fat tire bicycles are a popular transport during race season. You never know what driver you’ll see tooling around on a bike between pit, garage and trailers.

The garage for #32, Oriol Servià, was open for the afternoon. Mechanics were watching video of Servià’s practice on a big screen thanks to a GoPro placed on the car. Servià will start the race 13th on the inside of Row 5. This will be his 8th Indy 500, his best finish was in 2012, ending the race in 4th place.

Indianapolis is headquarters to Steak ‘N’ Shake, which is basically Indiana’s version of In-N-Out Burger. It’s the first place I stop when I visit home, grabbing a famous steakburger, fries and a shake. For the first time ever, Steak ‘n’ Shake has sponsored a race car. The car is driven by Graham Rahal and is co-owned by the legendary (and recently retired) David Letterman. Rahal will start 17th in the middle of Row 6 on Sunday.

Tomorrow I’ll have an interview with racing legend A.J. Foyt about his new winery.