Photo By Master Sgt. Jeff Lowry | A multiservice color guard marches down pit lane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in...... read more read more
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INDIANAPOLIS - Jim Nabors singing “Back Home Again in Indiana.” The victorious driver drinking milk in the winner's circle. The command of “Gentlemen start your engines.”
Woven into those traditions at the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” and others at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway are traditions that military service members bring to the track.
Since the green flag fell at the world-renowned motor speedway in 1909, a military presence exudes throughout the track.
Traditions take root
“How it came about I have no idea, but from the time the place opened, it was the Indiana National Guard that did all of the policing,” said Donald Davidson, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian. “For many years, there was a Maj. Carpenter who was the fellow that headed that up. I think even he was retired from the Guard and still headed up the security. I think that would probably explain why there was sort of a military feel to it.”
Now the track's own safety patrol officers, aka yellow shirts, police the more than 250 acres during race-related events.
“It wasn't until 1948 that they formed what is known as the safety patrol,” said Davidson. “We now call them the yellow shirts, but from ‘47 on back, National Guard.”
At the first 500 in 1911, Guardsmen’s duties extended to on-track activity.
“There's some film footage in the 1911 race where there was a multi-car accident, and you see somebody on a horse riding up and down, and it's a National Guardsman,” said Davidson. “So then the Guardsmen supervised turning the car over and rolling it off the track.”
Other military traditions
Yet Davidson said other traditions link the track to the military. One is the bomb that signifies the opening of the track on race day.
For many years speedway employees used aerial explosions to signify race-day events, said Davidson, to include signifying the start of engines that predates the now famous command today.
“Now it's just down to the bomb opening the track,” said Davidson. “It use to be that they would go on all morning - the one-hour bomb, then the half hour, then 15 minutes. Now for the last several decades they just have the one.”
Davidson said in an age before walkie-talkies, cell phones and public address systems that booms from explosions were an easy way to communicate.
“I still get a kick out of that, because it's such an effective way to do it,” said Davidson. “Some people say ‘how archaic,’ and I joke about it and say how simple that is. They could put millions of dollars worth of equipment and things like that, and it probably wouldn't work.”
Retired Indiana Air National Guard Brig. Gen. Stewart Goodwin and Indiana War Memorials executive director has another theory of the military impact at the track.
“Well the situation in Indianapolis on Memorial Day weekend is pretty amazing, and it has a lot of military roots to it,” said Goodwin in 2011 prior the 95th 500. “Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker who was a Medal of Honor recipient and had 26 kills in World War I, at one time owned the track. The fact is the National Guard plays a big role this weekend, actually the whole month.”
Drivers who are vets and vice versa
Before Rickenbacker owned the track, and before he became a World War I flying ace, he raced in the Indianapolis 500.
“There are numerous other drivers with military backgrounds. In fact if you go to the early 50s, if you take a lineup from '52, '53, '54, '55, almost everybody in there was involved in World War II or other conflicts,” said Davidson.
Yet there are also many others.
“Peter DePaolo, who won the race in 1925, during World War II he was a lieutenant colonel,” said Davidson. “Billy Arnold, who won the race in 1930, he was also a lieutenant colonel.”
Davidson recalled many other drivers who were war veterans, including the last who he can remember.
“Sgt. Steve Chassey, who ran in '83, '87 and '88 were his 500 starts, was ground infantry in Vietnam. It just goes on and on and on,” said Davidson of drivers with military backgrounds.
IMS fixture joins National Guard
Davidson, who became the track historian in 1998, has a military background too.
In the mid-1960s he immigrated to the United States from England because of his passion for auto racing and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While working for the United States Auto Club, Davidson said a coworker suggested he join the National Guard and see Maj. Gen. Howard S. Wilcox. Wilcox was the 38th Infantry Division commanding general from 1963 to 1964 prior to meeting Davidson and son of 1919 Indianapolis 500 winner, Howdy Wilcox.
Wilcox, the general not the racer, graduated from Indiana University and founded the Little 500, the bicycle race at the university. He was also instrumental in founding the Indianapolis 500 Festival, a series of monthlong events leading up to the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
“My question, since I didn't know anything about the Guard, ‘I'm a Brit, can a foreigner join the Indiana National Guard’?” said Davidson.
It was OK for Davidson to join, and like every recruit, he then had to take a battery of tests. He became a helicopter mechanic with the Indiana National Guard’s Company B, 38th Aviation Battalion at Stout Field. He served six years from 1966 to 1972, during which time his unit moved from Stout Field to Shelbyville, Indiana. He made it to specialist 5 the last weekend he served in the Guard.
Davidson recalled the camaraderie of those he served with.
“They were all good people,” said Davidson. “The people I was in with and when I went through basic, you know it was people from all over, they were all good, professional people. And there are three or four I run into from time to time.”
New military traditions added
This year will mark Davidson's 51st Indianapolis 500, and while he said many traditions remain intact in the last several years there's been an increase of troops during pre-race ceremonies, which he attributed to the Gulf War in 1991 and Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
“They've done a lot with the military in recent years,” said Davidson. “For years they didn't. It was very much like a brass band thing. The crowd was very American. The crowd was always very patriotic - red, white and blue. It's just the crowd that comes here,” he said. “Now when you see several hundred soldiers come march down pit lane, they've only done that in very recent years.”
Goodwin, who helped coordinate pre-race festivities from 1979 to 2011, agreed with Davidson regarding the increase after the Gulf War.
“It just grew, it seemed to grow there for awhile,” said Goodwin. “There was probably not a better time in our lifetime when the military was looked on so positively. And what the track wanted to do, they wanted to use that venue to showcase the military.”
Guardsmen reflect on pre-race participation
For the military members being part of the pre-race ceremonies, especially during Memorial Day weekend, means a lot to them when more than 200,000 race fans stand and cheer for them.
“It makes me feel proud to hear and see all those people who support us wearing the uniform,” said Indiana National Guard Spc. Lyndsey Kelly prior to the 2012 Indianapolis 500 when she held a red and white striped flag during driver introductions.
In 2011 Indiana Army National Guard Spc. Dillon McCann did the same thing and commented on what it meant to him.
“It's an honor to be chosen among the thousands of Indiana National Guardsmen; it's a chance of a lifetime,” said McCann.
Other troop involvement includes marching down pit lane, providing the color guard, displaying the U.S. flag in Turn 1, firing a three-round volley, playing “Taps” and at times singing the “Star-Spangled Banner” or “America the Beautiful.” Additionally, the military typically provides the aircraft for the flyover at the last note of the national anthem, and the military also provides the guest speaker.
“I can tell you that it was a tremendous improvement on the whole show, for lack of a better term, on race day when the Guard got involved” said Goodwin. “It was such an addition that it really brought home what Memorial Day was all about. It's about honoring those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.”
Indiana National Guard Sgt. Ron Walker sang “America the Beautiful” prior to the 2012 race.
“Singing at the Indy 500 is an experience that I will never forget,” said Walker. “I am thankful for IMS extending the invitation to the Indiana National Guard, and grateful for being chosen by the Indiana National Guard to share my voice on such a grand stage.”
Walker said his selection was a way to represent the National Guard and give back to the community for which he serves.
“Anytime I am given the opportunity to honor my country in song, I feel just that - honored,” said Walker. “Being able to do it as a Guardsman makes it much more meaningful. I feel like it's another way for me to give back.”
Getting ready
While service members do their small part, coordinating, planning, arranging and managing those approximately 800 service members takes a small army and lots of time.
Retired Indiana Army National Guard Capt. G. Elizabeth Brown was the lead project officer for the Indiana National Guard and its involvement with the 500 and track-related events from 2007 to 2012.
“It takes a team to make all the events go off without any issues. It's a script down to the tenth of a second and no room for mistakes,” said Brown. For her spearheading duties, Brown won first place National Guard wide for community relations in 2010 for month of May events and second place in 2011.
Brown said that it took several months to plan for the events in May from the race itself, to the 500 Festival Parade, to the Armed Forces Day Enlistment ceremony among others.
What it means
Brown said all the planning of and participation in the events and specifically in pre-race events were worth it.
“Having the Indiana National Guard participate in pre-race activities is a staple at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” said Brown. “It has been done to show how supportive our community is for its soldiers. We are a community-based organization and the community supports the Guard, and that is quiet evident race day when the fans roar for the soldiers as they march down pit row. It's an amazing spectacle to see.”
“Whatever we can do on the outside to show the people about what the military is all about, we do that,” said Goodwin. “It's important to tell our story about what the military has done, because if we don't tell our story, nobody is going to know it.”
The president agrees with the retired service members.
“With the Indianapolis 500 taking place during Memorial Day weekend, it is a natural fit to have a significant military component to the race,” said Doug Boles, Indianapolis Motor Speedway president. “Our fans look forward to cheering the armed service members marching down pit lane pre-race nearly as must as they look forward to the command for drivers to start engines.”
| Date Taken: | 05.06.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 05.06.2014 11:55 |
| Story ID: | 128881 |
| Location: | INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 327 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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