Pilgrimage to Brooklyn

By Earl Ma
©1996 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc. and Earl Ma
Special to SpeedCenter
All photos are ©1996 Earl Ma

grandstand Report
from
a first-time
race visitor

I have been following auto racing since the second grade (thebeginning of the CART era in 1979, to illustrate my youth) , andwhile I enjoy all forms of professional motorsports, IndyCarracing has always been my first love. But being stuck on Oahumeant I would not get to attend a legitimate race of any kinduntil 1990, and even by the time I graduated from college fouryears later, I still had not made it to a single IndyCar event. The closest I got was spending two hours at Indy during SpringBreak of 1991, while all the CART teams were flying to Surfer'sParadise and nobody - not even Menard - was on hand for tiretesting.

This year, with a steady job and a smattering of what some wouldcall "discrectionary" income, I vowed that things would bedifferent.

I'd always fantasized about making the Indy 500 my first race -of taking the full month of May off work and practically livingat the Brickyard. Indy would be an entirely appropriate choice. But my vehement political stance against Tony George and hiscronies made this a tragically unappetizing and unsuitablechoice, so I turned to what I always considered, until thisyear, easily my second favorite race - the Michigan 500 (thename "Marlboro 500" means little to me).

The high speeds, dramatic finishes set up by high attrition, anddrivers undaunted by spectacular crashes always held specialappeal to me, and as the sole remaining 500 miler left on theschedule until the advent of the U.S. 500, it demandedparticular skills and endurance from both man and machine notfound elsewhere on the circuit. As a second choice, it laggedbehind Indy only in history and ambience.

When I showed up at the track during practice on Friday morning,armed with some two dozen rolls of film for my three cameras andmy hand-painted banner ripe for autographs, I could hardlybelieve my good fortune. Nearly a lifetime of waiting hadsuddenly ended, and now I stood within full eyeshot and earshotof the best cars and drivers in the world flying by at 230+ mph.

While this armchair racer appreciates the merits of televisioncoverage (because cable TV is not a privilege, it's a right),what people always say is true, even for a simple practicesession; there is NOTHING like watching a race in person. Youcannot hear the engines at full song, smell the rubber and fuel, or rub shoulders with the very people who make it all happen -from the anonymous journeyman mechanic to the superstar championracer.