Event Coverage HydroClyde Does the Indy 500 with Pals

As some might remember back in January Eric AKA Ebert put up a HAMB auction for a special Indy 500 Weekend. Many bid generously and HydroClyde ended up winning the auction. Eric asked me to join the group and document the weekends activities. Clyde brought his buddy Jim from MN and I brought Megan along to round out the foursome.

Since all four of us live in different states we all drove separately and all arrived in Indy on Thursday. I drove Big Olds so we could do some cruzn at night. Clyde was planning on bring his Park Lane ragtop but just couldn’t button up the last minute details to take it on a road trip. Clyde and Jim stayed at the local Holiday Inn and Megan and I stayed at Bubba’s Inn, our favorite spot in Indy.

When I got to Bubba’s Linross AKA Scott and his adorable son Jake were working on his Valient getting it ready for the Rust Revival. It was neat to be able to finally see the awesome paint job in person.


Megan was running late and since Jake had school the next morning, Scott and Jake took off for home in the little modified roadster while I waited for Megan’s arrival.


Friday was Carb Day at the track and the day dawned bright and beautiful. Megan and I got to the track at 9am and got a great parking spot right across the street from the main entrance.


This is one of the views after walking thru the tunnel at gate 6


Megan and I went to the suite to get our credentials so we could visit the garages and pits. WOW, what a view! Right under where we are standing is Gasoline Alley where the race cars enter and exit the pits.




We then decided to walk around in the garage area and say hi to Eric. This is the view from the entrance area of the suite looking down Gasoline Alley


We stopped to listen to one of the other teams cars


Here’s a shot of the fuel station


Lots of cars getting towed to the pitts


When we got to the Dryer & Reinbold garages the guys told us Eric was in the pit so we started to head over there and ran in Harley Gene and his pal from California who were with Clyde and Jim. The six of us then headed out together.
L2R Harley Gene, Megan and Clyde


The stands were filled


I was shocked how close we could get to the cars in our pit area




At the little wall looking one way down pit lane

 

Looking the other way. This particular car was part of the Dryer & Reinbold Race Team, car #43 sponsored by Window World with driver John Andretti.


L2R
Eric, Clyde and Jim


Megan getting the scoop from the firefighter regarding his duties at the track. I specificly was asking about fires and he said they happen, but rarely.


I know I could do the job of hanging the pole out there so the driver knows where to stop the car


Megan wants the job of holding the umbrella….she has Salt Flat experience so I bet she’d be good at it.


Another D&R Race Team car #44, Touch the Future Now, with driver Davey Hamilton


The testing was about to start so we headed back up to the suite. We copped front row seats right up at the glass.


While in the suite we grab a bite to eat. A beautifully catered lunch was provided and there was a bar with two “hostesses” who served you just about anything you were thirsty for. Over lunch Gene was telling us about the Vintage Racers that were displayed under a tent near the museum so we decided to head over to check them out.

When we stepped out the door I was shocked how much the crowds had grown.


Gene, Clyde and Megan walking toward the tent


I was extremely pleased there were so many there to check out

 

Clyde enjoying all the racers

 

Gene and his buddy Herb Lederer


Herb, Gene and Kevin Triplett


Herb was kind enough to allow me to make voom vooom noices while sitting in his “Jewel”


Me and Herb, owner of the Jewell Special


I got alittle special grease while exiting the racer


We checked out a few more cars










We all had a really awesome time hanging out together

 

Gene was hooking up with some friends and heading to a memorabilia show so we bid him farewell with a HUGE thanks for showing us around half the day. We all really appreciate you showing us the ropes bud. Thanks again.

The four of us then decided to head back over to the garages and visit with Eric for abit.

The Purex #24 car driven by Mike Conway was sitting out front


Clyde and Megan


Dryer and Reinbold Racing have four cars on the team with each car having it own little garage area plus there was a fifth “garage” area right behind where I’m standing that had some tables, chairs, fridge with beverages, etc. They really had a nice setup


Just so happened one of the drivers Mike Conway was hanging out so we were able to chat him up




Eric then took us around and explained a lot of things about the cars. Very interesting and informative


HUGE thanks to Eric for spending so much time with us when I know you had a million and one things to do to prepare for race day










The wheel lift and stands they used to hold the car up to a comfortable work height was very cool


We all then decided since none of us had been before, to visit the museum. Wow, what a treat and at $3.00 per person entry fee it was the value of the century as well.

 

Would LOVE to see this run on the Salt

 

Lots of memorabilia on the walls and in the showcases










The number of vintage race cars inside the museum was alittle overwhelming

 

A neat 3-D piece of artwork made of paper


The trophy

 

Once we checked out just about every car in the place we decided to head back, clean up, and check out the Dryer & Reinbold Racing party that was being held at their shop.


Wow, what a setup, top shelf bar, wait staff walking around with horsdorveres, a couple of craving stations and a really nice buffet. Since one of the sponsors was Dad’s Root Beer they had fancy drink suggestions using Dad’s Root Beer products although mixing real Baileys with orange soda is a good way to ruin a glass of Baileys on the rocks. I did try it though.



There was a wonderful band


A cool cake


And an artist that painted this in less then an hour. I think they auctioned for $5,000 each




We had a wonderful time at the party. Thanks much to Eric for inviting us all


Megan and I then bid our farewells to the boys and headed over to the Hoosier 100 at the State Fairgrounds. Lots of HAMB folks hanging out in turn 3


Megan borrowed my camera and while I chatted she took some video footage of the race.


Oldmanolds’


Me and OldManOlds, it was wonderful meeting both you and your wife. I really enjoyed our chat. Looking forward to seeing you both during the GG Indy event


Roy AKA Racer5c’s roadster. Great seeing you again bud. Your new Dave Martinez interior looks AWESOME!

 

Me and HAMB member Skinwrecker. Great meeting you as well buddy. I’m so glad you came up and introduced yourself. It was nice getting to know you.


L2R
OldManOlds, Megan (who changed her whole outfit in Big Olds with the top down going down Meridian), Skinwrecker, Me and Racer5c


Great hanging out with you guys, maybe next time I get to see some of the racing.

Once we left the fairgrounds we ran into Rooman cruzn on the main drag heading west


We cruised by the Speedway and checked out all the folks milling around and partying then headed back to the shop and called it a night.

Saturday morning Megan and I slept in. The boys, Clyde and Jim, were going to head over to the shops of some of the race teams. We were going to head there as well just not as early. There was action at Bubba’s and we didn’t want to miss an opportunity to hang out with some of our Indy pals.

I’ve gotta state before I start telling you guys about Saturday morning that on Friday night before bed Megan was searching all over the shop for the moon pies that we both knew Bubba had. There are always moon pies around but with the move of a lot of stuff from the old shop into this one Megan couldn’t find them and went to bed hungry….boo hoo hoo.

Fast forward to Saturday morning, we're showered dressed and hanging out. Megan makes a comment about no moon pies and low and behold someone brings it to her attention that they are located right on top of the fridge right in front of her! So, guess what? We had moon pies for breakie. Lol


Bubba then asks us if we saw Susie’s (RunAroundSue) new office, which we hadn’t so we of course had to check it out.
Sign on the door






Cool nick nacks all around


And the coolest is her valance. I’m going to “borrow” this idea for my two kitchen windows.


The boys were arriving in force to work on their cars before they all left the next morning for the Beatersville event








Bubba’s shop and our “home” for the weekend


Lots of action going on inside as well as outside

 

Scotty AKA Lindross, thanks for showing me the MP3 player thingie. I think that’s just the setup Big Olds needs




The guys take this truck to B’viile every year for the World of Speed event in the fall. Sounds really healthy












I pulled Big Olds over to the lineup to put the top down and wipe him off before we left for our shop tours.


Called Rooman, our host for the tours, and told him we were on our way and headed out.


Lot of classic cars around the shops

 

Met Rooman at John Forces place, hindsight we should have left his place for last since it was the most impressive.


The first area had all the race cars and their trailers





The place was so impressive words can’t even describe it












Rooman pulled items outt showcases and explained what they were and how they were made

 

We then visited a few more shops

 

Rooman introduced us to the driver


Something similar will be a project for me this winter


As we were walking back to Big Olds at John Force's palce Tracey AKA Seadanman29 rolled up with his family. Great seeing ya again bud


We then headed over to rooman's favorite Italian resturant for lunch




From there we headed over to GodSpeed and got the grand tour of the new place



Very cool wagon parked out front


LOTS of projects in the works

 

Me, Megan and KulturePimp, it was AWESOME to FINALLY meet you in person. Thanks for showing us around, great place you've got. Also, thanks gain for the t-shirts, very much appreciated.


Said our goodbyes ad headed a block down to Rooman's shop seeing this on the side of GodSpeed


Neat overhang on the shop door across the parking lot from Rooman's


Once inside Keith's place a cabinet of memoribilia greets you and he was nice enough to tell us about a few pieces


WOW, the shop was FULL




Neat little tool caddy Keith made

 

A seat he made


A cool paper towel holder in the bathroom. This will be a winter project for me as well


Chatted abit more with Rooman then headed back to Bubba's to shower and primp as we were meeting the boys for dinner and an evening out. Once downtown we parked and walked to a resturant for dinner and cocktails then headed over to the 1/4 midget races at IRP passing by the Speedway station at the corner near the track. PACKED with bikes


Once at the track we caught some racing








Caught Rooman at the track shooting photots


The traffic was so heavy after the race that we spread a blanket next to Megan's Camaro and waited it out. Once traffic cleared Megan wanted to get ice cream except the fact that it was almost midnight. I suggested drinks at Union Jacks and that way she could get ice cream there. After all it's a resturanat too and I thought they'd have desert stuff so we headed over there.

Once inside and seated they told us the kitchen was closed. Bummer no ice cream for Megan ...oh wait, she didn't want to stay, she REALLY wanted ice cream so I BEGGED the busyboy to PLEASE bring her some ice cream so we didn't have to leave and head across the street to Dennys ....low and behold he brought her a bowl


Clyde and I ordered a few adult beverages


We finalized our plans for the morning and parted company knowing we had an early, fun-filled day ahead of us.

 

Sunday dawned bright and beautiful as well. The boys met us at Bubba’s shop for the 1 ½ mile walk to the track. We decided to walk instead of fight the traffic and it was certainly a smart decision. Eric asked us to be at the DRR garages by 10am as he had someone he wanted to introduce us to. Once we arrived at the track we went straight to the suite to grab “our” seats right up front. A few others had the same idea and lucky for us there were still 4 seats together on the front row. We stuck our purses and stuff on our seats and then head to the Dryer & Reinbold Racing garages. When we got there was a huge crowd in the area and low and behold the king was holding court…..no, not Elvis silly, Richard Petty. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Petty



Guys were still trying to get the final touches done with the cars. I think this one left for fuel


We all got a chance to meet & greet with Mr Petty
HydroClyde


Jim, Richard, Clyde and Eric


My turn


A couple of State troopers were there the whole time kinda as bodyguards I guess


Megan got a turn as well


Clyde also spent some time with Milka Duno driver of the #23 Citgo car.


We were all digging on the special event logo-ed rubber


We walked around the garages abit and watched a few cars being pulled to pit lane


Then decided to head up to the suite to cool off and grab some breakfast.
The crowds were massive. This poor band was trying to play and march in the crowds


Before heading into the suite I went on the top and took a couple of shots looking each way down the track


This is a shot of the suite. You can kinda see our group sitting in the front row right along the window


Went back to the suite and joined the others for breakfast. After a bit Megan wanted to head down to pit lane but wanted me to take a photo of her at the tower. You can see her right in the middle with a black shirt on.


I then joined her and took a shot of the suite from below.

 

Probably not a HAMB member




At the start/finish line. There were a few people kissing the bricks….I did not feel compelled to do so.


I was once again surprised how close we could get to the cars.
The DRR team cars










And shocked that they started moving the cars with the sworms of people around. The excitement was building as the cars got moved into positions on the track


Megan with the trophy




Megan, Eric and myself. My favorite photo of the whole weekend


They started to ask folks to leave the area so we headed back to the suite
Megan and Clyde


Jim chatting upone of the guys from Honda. There were two reps from Honda that were assigned to each race car. I guess to make sure everything is done by the “book”?


Watching the pomp and circumstance from our suite seats

 

Once time got closer to starting, Clyde and I went up to the top to watch everything from the bleachers up top. Eric had mentioned it was the best way to get to see and hear everything. I’m so glad we took his advice.

It was not crowded at all.



All the drivers got introduced.


The National Guard got introduced


The cars were lined up in 11 rows of three each with all their crew members around


Shortly thereafter Megan joined us on top for the start of the race


Linda Vaughn was spotted


A very cool flyover by B25 Mitchell Bombers


Just a little “home movie” type of clip of the beginning of the race


Did a lot of watching of the race and chatting then headed back to the suite for lunch. This is the view toward turn 1 and 2 from the bleachers we were sitting at


While watching the racing from our seats in the suite Megan spotted Wynonna and her sister.


Whenever a car crashed and they brought it off the track they had to go right by our windows. This particular time they had to use a sling thingy to keep parts and fluid from falling off.


So shortly before the race was going to end we decided to head back to the stands to watch the end of it. Not long after sitting down one of the cars came into the pit to refuel and low and behold caught on fire. I tried turning my camera on and hitting the video and record at the same time but messed up and didn’t catch it as it was happening right in front of us.

Was very cool watching them clean up everything. I was amazed on how absorbent those blanket like things were.


I video’ed the last couple of laps


The winner

 

Once the race was over we headed over to the garages to bid our new friends goodbye and watched them put some cars away




Was looking to find Eric to thank him for such a wonderful weekend but was told he was probably over in the hospitality tent/RV area, so we headed over there. I’d like to express my deepest thanks to Eric for putting this all together for Clyde and the rest of us. It was an adventure of a lifetime that will be remembered and relived for a long, long time.


After lots of hand shakes, hugs and kisses we headed back to Bubba’s shop were we parted company with plans to meet downtown for dinner and some blues.
Megan and I got there first and did some walking around downtown before the boys arrived. Downtown Indy is really, really nice with lots of bars, restaurants and shopping.


We then met the Clyde and Jim at the Soggy Noodle and had a yummy meal and listened to some awesome blues




After a full day of fun and an evening of entertainment we were all bushed, bid our fairwells in the parking lot with promises to get together again soon. Megan and I headed back to Bubba’s shop were the boys had just gotten back from Beaterville and were hanging out.


We all chatted for awhile then hit the sack. The next morning Bubba showed back up at the shop as we were packing up our cars. Megan left after a short time and Bubba and I stood around for quite a while longer just chatting about life and stuff. I really enjoyed our time together as usually there is a lot of other stuff going on and conversations get intruppted or interjected from others. Thanks so much to Jim (Bubba) for allowing Megan and myself to crash at your place. The shop atmosphere really captures that hot rod feeling and really leads to a great “background” for our weekends in Indy.

I’d again like to thank Eric for doing this great HAMB auction and including us in it as well. I’m thrilled a cool guy such as Clyde won and we were all able to spend time together not only enjoying the race but the whole weekend together. It could so have gone in the other direction. I know I made a friend for life with Clyde and it would not have happened without you Eric. Love you sweetie!

Clyde, what can I say? It was AWESOME meeting you and having the opportunity to spend such a historically monumental in our lifetime, weekend together. I’m looking forward to seeing you again this summer.

Thanks to everyone involved, I had a great time!

(side note, I realize I've got some editing to do and I've got some video I want to add but it's getting late and I'm heading out to Billetproof early so I'll edit and stuff sometime this weekend. For now, please excuse the typos and stuff.)

 

Wow great pics and it looks as if you ladies had a large time !! Those garage pics and the ones of the vintage cars were awesome !! Someday I'll make it to the 500 as it's on my list >>>>.

 

Denise,
glad that you had a good time in our town. It was good to see you again and actually meet the legendary Megan. So you soon at the drags,

Roo

ps The blues bar is the Slippery Noodle, not Soggy <G>

 

Great pics and text. Thank you for taking the time to do another road trip report. I always look forward to these....kind of like being there

John

 

I was at carb day, missed you I guess. you gotta see the basement of the museum

 

Wow, great thread Denise. You are a lucky girl. Glad you had fun. And I noticed this vintage racer which belongs to some local people from Salina, KS. <center>
<br /><br />
</center>

 

amazing !!! great coverage denise!!!

 

Looks like an amazing experience!

 

Great thread, If anyone can post 1000 pics and a good story it,s Denise.

 

I told you in Wilmington, OH you guys would love it. So glad you got there.

Moon pies instead of Spam for breakfast.....shame on you.

Nice seenig Grannatelies (SP?) flathead in the tent pictures with all the other Offies.

Musta taken a couple of hours to post this thread Denise, great job kid.

Jim