Memory Lane

Posting this on Sunday, May 29th, 2022 as I’m watching the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 and it’s bringing back memories. My father spent more than three decades working for Coca-Cola USA first as a “Bottler Sales Representative,” then promoted into supervisory positions and transferred about every two years. By the time I was ten or so, we were living in Louisville, KY and Dad’s territory included Indianapolis. At that time, the Indy Coca-Cola bottling plant then owned by Tony Hulman who also owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the adjacent Indianapolis Motor Speedway Motel.

In those days, NASCAR was still a regional operation and didn’t have the international exposure that Indy car racing had. The Indianapolis 500 was THE premier race in the US and Memorial Day weekend was the premier racing weekend. It was the heyday of AJ Foyt, Bobby and Al Unser, Mario Andretti, and others.

The racetrack nicknamed “The Brickyard,” was built in 1909, according to Wikipedia. The 2.5-mile track was originally paved entirely in bricks, hence the name. At some point, the track was repaved with asphalt, but a strip of bricks was left at the start/finish line.

Sometime in that era, Coca-Cola decided to sponsor a car in the Indy series. They decided to go with the “Sprite Special,” but had to receive special dispensation from Coke’s legal department as there was a policy that said no Coke product could be used as an adjective. I remember Wally Dallenbach was the driver. Green, yellow, and orange were the colors. Somewhere in my storage shed I have a Sprite promo race jacket, but it’s too dang hot for me to go dig it out. (Speaking of “hot,” ABC-TV just announced the track temperature is 117 degrees.)

But the jacket wasn’t the only promotional item. There was a toy “Sprite Special,” racecar and plenty of other knickknacks, most of which would bring a premium from collectors these days. During that time, we were gifted with one of the original bricks from the track, shown here.

During the summers, Dad frequently took our family along to business trips to Indianapolis. We stayed at the Indianapolis 500 motel, swam in the pool while he worked, and then went on a tour of the 500 museum and the racetrack itself. Somewhere there is a picture of teenage me standing in front of Gasoline Alley. We also were driven around the track (in a Ford Gran Torino) which was very cool albeit a lot slower than the professionals.

In addition to the famous racecar drivers, other celebrities (James Garner, Jim Neighbors, Steve McQueen, and more) attended the race and at least one, Paul Newman, was involved as a team owner. They usually stayed at the motel when they were in town and it played a prominent role in the movie, “Winning,” starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Robert Wagner. We couldn’t wait to see the movie and I remember that, on my next trip to the motel, I made it a point to go by and touch the doorknob of room 212, which is where Newman’s character and his wife stayed.

Well, thirteen laps to go and it’s starting to get good. I’m going to post this and watch the rest of the race.

“Yellow usually means it’s not that serious.”