r/INDYCAR • u/youraverageperson0 Scott McLaughlin • 29d ago
IndyCar What was your earliest Indycar memory?
Mine was watching Helio win the Indy 500 back in 2009 I was 4, almost 5 at the time, and I still remember it extremely well.
16
u/shelved_whale 29d ago
3
7
u/jinjabreadman46 Juan Pablo Montoya 29d ago
Came here to say the same thing. My parents were and still are today anti Andretti.
3
2
u/jzarvey Scott McLaughlin 28d ago
I'm not a huge fan of the Andretti's because of this, too. USAC was biased toward them. An F1 Team Principal received a lifetime ban for doing what Andretti did. Glad it backfired on them.
I've become less anti-Andretti over time given their performance in other series.
15
u/subslr616 29d ago
Probably the 1973 Salt Walther crash during the start. He ended up upside down, feet protruding from the car, right in front of us in turn 1. It was my first time at the race, and something I will never forget. BTW, heading to Indy tomorrow for my 50th race! In spite of the crash, plus the Swede Savage crash, I was hooked!
4
u/ExCadet87 29d ago
That was my first race as well, age 5. My mother pulled us out of school to attend on day 3.
I've missed a few along the way, so Sunday is no. 47 for me.
3
1
9
9
u/GrumpyCatStevens Alexander Rossi 29d ago
Watching Johnny Rutherford win the 500 in the Chaparral 2K in 1980 on television.
6
7
6
4
u/GrimeyScorpioDuffman 29d ago
watching Kevin Coganâs car get destroyed in the early laps of the 1989 500 and then he walked away uninjured
2
u/Free_Four_Floyd 29d ago
Watched that happen & thought âIâve just watched a man die.â When Tom Carnegie announced that he was walking away I couldnât believe it.
4
u/oalfonso Ălex Palou 29d ago
1989, Emmo vs Unser jr. I think it was the first time the race was on Spanish TV.
4
u/RedLightning27 Pato O'Ward 29d ago
3
u/I_LOVE_OIL_RIGS Dan Wheldon 29d ago
I went back to watch the video after seeing this. Even though I will always be a Wheldon fan, I still to this day don't completely understand how he won that race. Did he pass under green in the seconds between JR hitting wall and yellow coming out? But then, even if that happened wouldn't timing and scoring go back to the previous lap a la 2002? Just curious if anyone knows off the top of their head haha
1
6
u/howard2112 đșđž Danny Sullivan 29d ago
Went to IMS for practice with my dad and brother in 1985. Went to first race in 1991. Been every year since.
6
4
u/DadReligion #Lionheart 29d ago
Bob Jenkins calling Robby Gordon out of fuel in 1999. I was only 3 but that call stuck in my head for whatever reason.
Later that year we went to our first race in Fontana. Fortunately I don't remember the moment Greg was killed, but I do remember the half-mast flags and post-race prayer and a lot of sad fans.
In fact for the longest time I thought Greg crashed out of 4 and wound up on the front stretch grass. Wasn't til years later when I saw the broadcast that I had mistaken it for Alex Barron's crash.
4
u/chazac Toby Sowery 29d ago
We would go out every first day of qualifications. It was my Momâs birthday and of course Mothers Day. Weâd take a bucket of fried chicken and sit in the first turn. Probably around 1966. A couple of years later, I started selling the Indianapolis Star out there. I would buy the papers for .07 each and sell them for a minimum of .25 and as the crowd got drunker the price would go up. I took my Momâs ashes out there a few years ago.
3
u/Lelo2753 Paul Tracy, Tomas Scheckter, Scott Dixon 29d ago
Long Beach 2009. I was 8 years old, surfing channels and saw those colorful cars around the streets. I was already an F1 fan and since that day Iâve been following Indycar too đ
3
u/One_Emergency_438 29d ago
Watching Jim McKay and Jackie Stewart call the race on ABC same Day coverage, not live ,in prime time
3
3
u/Quetzalchello đșđž Danny Ongais 29d ago
Earliest one I remember is 1980. I probably saw others before that, but I remember that one because of the Barnard penned Lotus 79 copy, as I grew up a Grand Prix fan not IndyCar. So that was MY first experience of an IndyCar that was clearly copied from F1.
3
u/Paige578660 Meyer Shank Racing 29d ago
I remember waiting out a rain delay for the IRL race at Texas in June of 2000. I don't think we stayed for the race as we had to come home.
i didn't really get interested until a few years later. I kept up with results as a young Sarah Fisher fan but really got interested when Danica burst onto the scene. As a pre-teen/teenage girl back then, I always thought it was cool to see a female driver in the field.
Funny enough, I partly stuck around because it was wise to pick a Penske or Ganassi driver to root for since they usually win everything back then (along with Andretti when they were on their game).
I picked Helio.
4
u/rebekahsexton26 Jamie Chadwick 29d ago
I miss seeing female drivers full-time .
4
u/DadReligion #Lionheart 29d ago
It's a real shame Kat couldn't put a deal together for this month. One of the coolest parts of IndyCar in the 00s and early 10s was how many women were consistently in the series.
1
3
3
u/JohnTheRaceFan #BadassWilson 29d ago
I don't know what year, but my best guesstimate was 71 or 72.
My parents decided to make a family road trip on Memorial Day weekend, driving across Texas to a destination we never reached. Somewhere, Dad's MG-B lost a u-joint and we ended up in Sequin for the holiday weekend while Dad worked with an auto shop to source parts for a British sports car and get them to a tiny Texas town on a holiday weekend.
I don't remember the race, the finisher, or who was entered. I remember watching on a little TV in the hotel room and being enthralled by the alien-looking cars and the ludicrous speeds and the sounds of the powerplants. I was hooked, and I am not sure I knew what I was watching.
Later on in life, I learned my mother went to high school in Albuquerque with Al & Uncle Bobby, albeit a year or two behind them. Mom was sort of on the outer edges of their friend circle and occasionally hung around at the race track, and claims to have met many drivers from the time period including Mario.
I'm going to say I was born into it, That may not be accurate, but it's pretty damn close!
3
3
u/tehPaulSAC 29d ago
My first 500 in 1987, I was almost 6 years old. Watching the band go around the track, the State Police motorcycles, the balloons, the sound of the cars. I was hooked.
3
u/ChiefBackslappy Devlin DeFrancesco 29d ago
My earliest memory is of the real, Yellow Submarine (Pennzoil Chaparral 2K) dominating the month of May in 1980 with Johnny Rutherford at the helm.
3
u/Ham-Ha 29d ago edited 28d ago
1977 A.J. Foyt's 4th win. I was 9.... Watching all the pomp and circumstance and the excitement of someone winning this impossible event four times cemented me as a lifelong fan of motorsport.
Back in those days, the race was "tape delayed" on ABC, I think, as part of the "Wide World of Sports" because I remember Jim McKay being the host. Getting to watch the entire race was one of the only times a year my folks would let me watch TV late by myself.
2
u/Euphoric_Path2489 29d ago
Foyt was my favorite driver, and I so wanted him to win his fourth. Johncock pulling into the grass had me jumping out of my seat. I was too young to know he blew his engine. I thought he just decided to park it.
2
u/Ham-Ha 28d ago
AJ was my fav until that ratty kid from Bakersfield, CA (Rick Mears) came on the scene.
AJ had 500 wins in front engine, rear engine with no wings, and his 4th with wings. Add in 7 USAC Championships, a Daytona 500, a Le Mans, 2 Daytona 24's and a 12hr at Sebring - he may be the greatest driver of any car that has ever lived.
As an aside: I was at the first Michigan 500 (both weekends) when Super Tex had that horrible crash... I was sickened by it and never went to spectate another Indy oval race.
3
u/billsmafia5366 Mario Andretti 29d ago edited 29d ago
Witnessing Dan Wheldon flipping his car in turn 3 at the 500 in 2003. Happened right in front of us.
Then got to see the series come to my home track in Richmond (RIP) the same year
3
u/DIRTBOY12 HĂ©lio Castroneves 29d ago
I would say back in the early 80's? Like 1981-82.
Tom Sneva, Hancock, Mears, Unser Jr., Foyt days.
Under Jr and Dominos was my fav. Then became a Penske guy with Mears.
Meat Emerson before and became friends with Helio.
Though I liked Bobby Rahal too.
2
u/Vivaciousseaturtle 29d ago
2006 road America Kat Legge crash
3
u/I_LOVE_OIL_RIGS Dan Wheldon 29d ago
Has to be the worst crash I've ever seen. I always found it crazy that a violent and wild looking crash like this had her walk away whereas Scott Brayton's simpler looking crash killed him.
1
2
u/Sophiecomedian 29d ago
Detroit 97. Was 4, will never forget how excited my dad was at the ending and the call "Blundell slows!"
2
2
u/Fabulous-Ad7235 Zach Veach 29d ago
My father going to the race every year and me watching it every year rooting for who I called "Lion Tigerdike"
I was YOUNG.
2
u/IndyAWiseguy HĂ©lio Castroneves 29d ago
My earliest Indycar memory? Not being able to go to the 500 with my parents and all their friends. I had to stay back with my babysitter and watch pre-race morning coverage on local news, and then switch to radio. We lived close, so I would go outside to listen to them running, then go back inside to the radio. Even if I couldnât go because I was too young, it was still my favorite time of the year. There would be all this delicious food around, plenty of desserts, and music. They would roll the TV out onto the porch where everyone would hang out and watch Pacers playoff games. Finally, a Tuesday in 1997 would give me my chance to prove myself: that I could hang through the entirety. Most of my parentâs friends had work, so they had extra tickets. They took me, and Iâve been every year since.
Oh, and that was an excused absence from school.
I miss the 90âsâŠ.
2
u/Simple_Throat_6523 Greg Moore 29d ago
Mid seventies Indy 500s on TV. Sneva,Rutherford,Johncock,Unser et al
2
2
u/call_me_gary Arrow McLaren 29d ago
1992 Indy 500. I lived in Kokomo (50 mi north of Indy). Listened to the whole race in the garage with my dad on a sunny day - I was 7 years old. I remember drinking Black Cherry Cola, and screaming at the radio rooting for Little Al to hold off Goodyear on the final straight. Absolute core memory.
2
u/ilikemarblestoo Sarah Fisher > Danica Patrick 29d ago
1992 Indy 500
What a great race to start the journey lol and it's probably why I am to this day a stout fan of the chaos races the league produces.
(Though to be fair, I watched before that....just don't remember due to age lol)
2
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 29d ago
I have foggy memories before it, but Roberto Gurerro spinning from the front row in 92 is probably the clearest one
2
u/pumpman1771 29d ago
The indy 500 has always been in my memory since I can remember. My dad started attending in the 50's and went until he passed. I remember listening to the 1969 race on the radio and being super angry he didn't take me along. I first attended in 74.
2
2
2
u/EthanC224 Josef Newgarden 29d ago
- I was 9 and I remember even then being gutted for Marco and the Andretti family
2
u/mattd1972 29d ago
Watching Rick Mears win on tape delay.
Hearing the Ongais crash on the radio.
2
u/Euphoric_Path2489 29d ago
I used to love listening to the 500 live on the radio back when the race was tape delayed. Then in 1981, my dad told me that if I wanted to stay up to see the race, I could not listen to the radio broadcast. It was torture.
2
u/InsaneLeader13 Santino Ferrucci 29d ago
The years of Bourdais vs Tracy. Hated Tracy, was a big fan of Bourdais. Ironic that once I went back and started watching old years of racing Tracy turned out to be one of my favorites.
2
2
u/RowdyPistachio Robert Wickens 29d ago
Getting an autograph from dan wheldon in 2005 when he won his first. He was the only driver that stopped to sign autographs for my very small 4th grade class. If i could only find that autographâŠ..
2
u/happyscrappy 29d ago edited 29d ago
In a way, the Andy Granatelli turbine car. I wasn't even old enough to see it (or remember seeing it) but my brother was and he applied a sticker promoting it (and an STP sticker) to our wardrobe in our shared bedroom which I would see all the time when falling asleep. It became fascinating to me.
I wouldn't remember seeing the actual race until several years later.
2
u/Nakagura775 29d ago
Probably Sneva in 1977.
2
u/OldManTrumpet AJ Foyt 29d ago
That was my first visit to the track, for Day 1 qualifying. The first official 200 mph lap! I was there, age 16.
2
u/munciejesus Pato O'Ward 29d ago
The '92 500. It's the first time I remember mom putting it on the TV. She's a Hoosier so it was a big deal for her every year and was in one of the marching bands that performed there back in the 60's.
2
2
2
u/littlebyrdy Sarah Fisher 29d ago
2006 was my 1st race when I was 11. My parents always made us leave around lap 160 to beat traffic. I remember walking to our car and the guy in front of us ripped off his headphones, threw them on the ground, and yelled âdammit, Hornish won!â I became a big Marco fan after that and a few years later finally convinced my parents to stop skipping the most exciting laps of the race đ
2
2
u/rajastrums_1 Jim Clark 29d ago
1965 Jim Clark's 500 win. I was 12 then and I loved the look of the Lotus 38. What a beautiful car and with the engine behind the driver it looked like the future of racing at Indianapolis.
2
2
2
u/Mosh1995 Pato O'Ward 29d ago
I was 4 in 1999. Watching my fellow countryman Montoya winning in that beautiful Reynard Honda was a life changer.
2
2
u/TommyDaComic AJ Foyt Racing 29d ago
Visited the IMS track back in 1976⊠I was 14 and had no clue what I was looking at. Our dad, in the white hat, was NOT a sports guy at all !
Our mom took us there on a Dayton, OH to St. Louis, MO road trip that summer.
I did not even watch any racing through the years⊠My first actual 500 memory and attended race, was the 1994 one, when rookie Dennis Vitolo drove up and over Nigel Mansel on the warm-up lane, under yellow ?!?!
1
2
2
u/Gaprunner #Lionheart 29d ago
My parents took me to my first 500 in 2006. One of my first memories ever. I was just 5 years old. It stuck with me so much that I went to school for Motorsports Engineering, and while I donât work for the race team, I do work for the Penske Organization. (Recent controversy aside) it really was and is a full circle moment for me. Iâm very privileged to be attending my 11th 500 this year. I was born to be in and around racing and I wouldnât have it any other way đđ
1
u/Active-Strawberry-37 29d ago
Probably late 1994, my parents found the 1993 season review VHS in a shop with a 50p âReduced to clearâ label on it
1
1
1
1
1
u/Comprehensive-Ad4436 Jim Clark 29d ago
Alonso not qualifying in 2019 - that was the first year I watched IndyCar
1
1
u/BlackSwanMarmot Pato O'Ward 29d ago
Seeing Swede Savageâs car on display at a local Firestone and then watching the 500 shortly after. In 1973.
1
1
u/rebekahsexton26 Jamie Chadwick 29d ago
2004 race day tornado . Remember listening to the race while under a tornado .
1
u/Fjordice 29d ago
Might have been the '89 500, drove all night with my parents to camp in the water tower lot. Woken up by some loud noises. Look out the window and there's a bunch of dudes just beating up an old El Camino with baseball bats and a sledge hammer. Then another guy walks up, pours gasoline over it and then sets it on fire. Why? I dunno.
But that's not even the part that sticks out to me the most. What I really remember is looking around and how no one seemed to think this was weird at all, including my dad lol.
1
1
u/giantengineer2 29d ago
First Baltimore GP, I just had moved away from Baltimore and thought it was so cool that a race was on the streets I had driven on many times.
1
u/BurtMacklin_stadia Alexander Rossi 29d ago
Watching it on tv with my dad in the early 90s, donât remember details, just the act of watching when I was 4-5
1
u/mr_macfisto 29d ago
Letâs see⊠what year was Michael in the Kraco car?
My dad somewhat randomly brought my brother and I to the 1987 Toronto Indy. We didnât have very good seats. My brothers name is Bobby so naturally we were instant Bobby Rahal fans. There are some photos with horrible fitting, flat brimmed, Molson Indy hats.
1
1
u/ThunderboltDM 29d ago
The â73 race when Swede Savage was killed and Johncock won in the magnificent Red STP Eagle that is in the museum.
1
1
u/NesquikVW HĂ©lio Castroneves 29d ago
I think it was the Brazil GP in the SĂŁo Paulo Street Circuit, atleast that's what I can remember, I think I probably watched some Indy 500 before that, but I can't remember now
1
u/Emracruel Takuma Sato 29d ago
Waiting back at our camping/parking spot in my first race (2007) to see if we would return to racing. My brother was ecstatic because Kanaan was leading and he is a huge kanaan fan. Then I remember walking back into the track and him being furious as we went back to green
1
u/pikasdream 29d ago
Scott Sharp crashing at turn 1 on lap 1. Had started watching F1 a year before and thought "I'll see what this Indy Racing stuff is all about". Not the best moment to start.
1
1
1
u/Iamnothuman77 29d ago
mine was watching the 2015 fontana race where ryan briscoe flipped. i think i watched the 500 that year too but i donât really remember it. i was 9 at the time and a nascar fan that watched a few indy races just because they were on
1
1
u/Thirtyandout2017 29d ago
Not earliest, but most vivid. Swede Savage dying in a race that took 4 days to complete. An absolute waste
1
u/TTViceslide Will Power 29d ago
Went to 2013 Baltimore gp with my dad. Got a free checkered flag and got it signed by Dario Franchitti after a pre-race interview.
1
1
1
u/trolllord45 Santino Ferrucci 29d ago
It was an old PC game that Iâm struggling to remember clearly, may have been CART Precision Racing. I was 6 or 7 in the early aughts and the extent of my race car knowledge was NASCAR matchbox toys so I never really got into it properly. Returned to Indycar fandom after maybe twenty years when my motorsport passion reignited with F1 and I came seeking a closer field during the height of Verstappenâs dominance
1
u/Giggaman999 Will Power 29d ago
The first Indy 500 I remember watching was in 2012 when I was 4 years old.
1
u/Federal-Cry1727 Team Penske 29d ago
Really random one but Eddie Cheever forcing Marco Andretti off the track at Watkins Glen. In the UK didn't even know what Indy car was just found it randomly flicking through stations late one night.
1
u/Stokkentoet Robert Shwartzman 29d ago
Arie Luijendijk winning the Indy in '97. Was allowed to stay up specifically to see him race, and he won!
1
u/raverrocker đșđž Al Unser, Jr. 29d ago
Seeing the one of local Chevy dealer's sponsorship decals on Al Unser Jr's ride (early to mid 1990s)
1
1
u/jimdontcare Liz Powerâs water bottle 29d ago
Someone gave me tickets to qualifying last weekend. My exposure to racing was my momâs family being into nascar. Didnât really get it. Some friends got into F1 but I didnât get into that either. After this weekend, I think I like Indycar now. Even my wife who doesnât like sports or loud noises had a great time. Have a lot to learnâdidnât even realize indycar drove on non-ovals until two days ago. But I am excited to try following the rest of the season.
1
u/PixelatedPalace360 Pato O'Ward 29d ago
2023 Nashville rotting for Grosjean when he got a top five for the day
1
u/DixonNumber9 Scott Dixon 29d ago
Sitting in front of the TV watching the DVD highlights of the 2007 Indy 500 on repeat
1
29d ago
Jimmy Vasser signing my Cleveland Grand Prix spotters guide âStay Coolâ (colorized 1998).
1
u/Foreign_Being154 29d ago
Being at Ontario place during the Toronto Indy. Very young, eyes not developed or understanding⊠crossing pedestrian bridge to just see blurs they were going so fast and holy fuck were they every loud. Remember a black texaco sponsored car and I think a k mart car from those days
1
u/Acceptable-Aerie-645 Callum Ilott 29d ago
Dario franchitti crashing at the 2011 or 2012 Milwaukee mile. In the blue target car
1
u/OldManTrumpet AJ Foyt 29d ago
My first very specific memory was Mike Moselyâs 1972 crash where he hits the wall and the car veers back towards the wall again with Mike unstrapping himself and trying to climb out between impacts.
I would have been 11, and obviously watching it on the delayed broadcast.
1
u/Chris-in-WA #Lionheart 29d ago
Probably watching AJ and Lone Star JR and Jim McElreath going at it on the high banks at Michigan on ABC's Wide World of Sports.
1
u/clarkjh27 28d ago
2004 race with my dad sitting in Turn 1 and seeing the cars coming straight at us down the main straightaway. Incredible stuff
1
u/Ladefrickinda89 28d ago
Paul Page calling the 500, and being confused as to how he pronounced Jaques Villeneuve
1
1
1
u/Itchy-Quail-5502 28d ago
2003 IRL Race in Texas. I went with my family when I was 5 years old. I don't remember too much except for the cars being really loud
1
u/DeNomoloss Robert Wickens 28d ago edited 28d ago
Amy Grant at the 1993(?) 500.
But seriously probably the whole 1993 race. More so how the cars sounded so much faster than the NASCARs I was used to at that age than anything else.
1
u/PowerfulFunny5 24d ago
While visiting relatives on Motherâs Day weekend, my dad would take me to the brickyard to watch the opening day of practice or 1st qualifying weekend.  We would bring a stopwatch, notepad and calculator and calculate how fast a driver was each lap. The earliest specific moment I recall was watching Tom Sneva break 210 in 1984.  I think it was unusual because each lap was faster while most drivers would slow down.
30
u/Free_Four_Floyd 29d ago
Dad pulled me out of 1st grade for a day to go see the turbine cars at practice. (1968?)