Indy in The Month of May!

As an Indianapolis native the 500 has always held a special place in my heart and I enjoy my opportunity to experience the race and all of the pre-race pageantry once every few years. (Thanks for the floater ticket Andy!)

This year will be an extra special experience as for the first time I’m going to try camping across from the track the night before the race. I know what you’re thinking: “Franklin camping?” I’m just looking at it as an overnight tailgate otherwise I would never attempt this. Let’s face it, at this point in my life “roughing it” means Standard Def TV in the room and a domestic only beer and wine list.

Below you will have a general timeline for each day and some very base information on what the thinking behind the plan is. I look forward to seeing everyone this weekend.

Saturday May 26, 2012
12:00 p.m. Eric Arrives at Bacon’s from Chicago
12:30 p.m. Depart for Lot 1A
2:30 p.m. Return to Bacon’s
9:00 p.m. Camp Set Up?

I will attempt to be there before noon, but it will be noon at the latest. We will have to be heading south on Georgetown to make the turn into the lot so I propose we head up Lynhurst to 30th, then over to Georgetown Road. I was planning on just running the cars up to secure spaces then head back to Bacon’s to enjoy his fabulous pre-race day hospitality.

After a few hours at Bacon’s I am planning to hoof it back up to the lot to get things set up and to enjoy a little bit of the “night before the race” atmosphere. I have some friends that are going to be camping over in the 1C lot and I plan to head over to see them at some point in the evening. Beyond that I hope to call it a relatively early night as the next day will be quite long.

Once we have established our campsite location I will mark it using the GPS technology on my iPhone and will blast that out to everyone. If you are using a smartphone you should be able to use the mapping function to come right to us.

Sunday May 27, 2012
5:33 a.m. Cannon sounding at the track will be the first wakeup call
7:00 a.m. Tailgate open for business
10:00 a.m. Depart for Track
12:00 p.m. Green Flag
4:00 p.m. Approximate return to the Tailgate for post-race meal

I am planning to bring along our 20 foot flagpole to help mark our campsite so that those coming in to tailgate can find us. I will have an American Flag and likely a Purdue flag on the flagpole. This will serve as a secondary marker for those of you not using smartphone guidance.

We will be serving breakfast burritos before the race. I know this is a break with the traditional biscuits and gravy but what can I say, I’ve always been a Josele Garza fan. We will have an assortment of beers and alcohols for imbibing should you choose and should have enough beer to throw in a carry in cooler.

Jim will be hosting a “during the race” tailgate while those of us with tickets disappear into the sea of humanity pouring through the gates at 16th and Georgetown. After the checkered flag drops we will plan to return to the tailgate for a bite to eat while traffic clears. Andy will be roasting a pork loin and we can rehash all of the race goings on. I believe that we need to be out of the lot by 7:00 p.m. though, so keep that in mind.