Memorial Day Memories - Coffee and Prozac

First of all we should all appreciate the soldiers who have given their lives for our country and our freedom. That should go without saying.

To many of us it means a three day weekend, barbecues, and get-togethers with family and friends. To me it is all of these things. But when I think about the Memorial Days I spent as a child I think about listening to the radio. You are probably wondering why on earth that I would think about listening to the radio. The reason is that for the longest time the only way to see the greatest spectacle in racing was to attend the race. The entire country was blacked out. No one was able to see the race on television. So you had to listen to the radio.

Despite the fact that I was raised just outside of Indy I have only attended one Indy 500. What a lot of people don't realize is that it just does not happen one day. For 500 fans and for those who live in Indy and the surrounding area's the Indy 500 consumes the entire month of May. It dominates the news, both television and print. Hotels are booked up and traffic is a mess. The amount of people who attend time trials and practice sessions are amazing. So if you had to put up with all the hoopla you were bound to be curious about what actually happened.

The names I remember are now legendary and include A.J. Foyt, Al Unser (that would be Sr.) and Mario Andretti. I remember always rooting for Mario for no other reason than his name was cool and sounded like what a race car driver should be named.

The great thing about yesterday's race which used to always be held on Memorial Day was that there was offspring of all three of those drivers running in the race.

Now if you stayed up after the news on game day they always showed a recap of the race. I do not remember ever watching it really. I was all about listening to it on the radio.

I remember gathering at a friends house when those monster satellite dishes first started popping up because you could watch the race on a station they picked up from Japan. You couldn't understand a single thing they said so you turned down the volume on the television and listened to the radio broadcast. This enabled me to see it and still be able to listen to "my" voice of the 500, Paul Page. His voice will always be synonymous with the 500 for me.

Well I watched the race yesterday on television in my living room. I will not say I do not enjoy watching it but it is not the same. It is not what I remember from my youth. Times do change that is undeniable. It is just that sometimes you wish they had not.

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