Darrell Waltrip: Folks, I’m 60 years old, but if somebody offered me a ride this weekend at Indy, I guarantee you that I would jump all over it because it the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard is my favorite race.
Other than the Daytona 500, I don’t think I’ve ever been more pumped up and more excited about going to a race. As a kid growing up in Kentucky and watching the Indianapolis 500 on TV, it was inspiring and emotional to actually race at the Indianapolis Motor Speeedway where so many great drivers have won and so many great moments in racing have taken place. Darrell Waltrip, FoxSports.com
Denny Hamlin: This race at Indianapolis is big. For me, I’d love to win Richmond, obviously, but this is No. 2 on my list and probably Daytona is third, because here, the history of the people who have raced at Indy is amazing.
We had this one circled on our list, because we knew we’d be strong because of Pocono and how similar the two tracks are. When we come here, we have a lot more confidence. Denny Hamlin, ESPN.com
July 28, 2007
From 1911 until 1993 only one race a year was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Indianapolis 500 established itself as the biggest race in the country as well as the world. As far as the track’s owners were concerned there was no need for the venerable old race course to host any other event.
By the end of World War II the speedway had fallen into a state of disrepair. Waning attendance during the Great Depression and lack of use during the war years had taken a toll on the track. Indiana businessman Tony Hulman came to the rescue when he purchased the track in 1945 and began the work of making “The Brickyard” into the most famous racing facility in the world.
zwire.com
July 28
Tony Stewart arrived for his first race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a luggage rack inside a bus. He was 5 years old.
Sitting two rows up in the middle of the north short chute, between Turns 3 and 4 on the 2.5-mile rounded rectangle, the Columbus, Ind., native recalled the smell of the methanol, the blur of the open-wheel roadsters tooling around at 190 mph. John Schwarb, ESPN.com
For decades, even the suggestion of a NASCAR race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was more than absurd. It was sacrilege.
A car with fenders racing at Indy? Ridiculous.
When the day finally came 13 years ago, auto racing in America was transformed forever. Terry Blount, ESPN.com
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