Rain and windy, we visit the city of Indy!
So we can just get on with it, I’m only mentioning race cars once.
Terror at the Speedway
As a child I loathed going to the speedway. It was loud, my parents would spend the day pounding Coors Lite and getting rowdy.
In May of 1987 I was seven years old. My family and I lived near the fairgrounds of Franklin County Township. During racing season, we would cross over the bridge that links the once unincorporated town of Wanamaker into the city to watch the races.
My teenage brother, Jason, was forced to watch over me and accompany me on numerous trips to the vendors’ area and concession stand. I’d buy tchotchkes featuring checkered flags and feather roach clips. I assumed they were hair accessories. My brother would seek out scumbag booths selling switchblades, nun chucks or other exotic weaponry, nestled between rebel flag wallet chains.
One particular race day sticks out in my mind...
not just because it was the day my mom taught me, “if you show your boobs to a stranger, they will give you free beer…” but also because it was the day of the last spectator death at the Indy Speedway. Geeze, Nicole, that was crass. Well, yeah, I’m trying to keep a story of a seriously tragic death light, we’ll talk about huge sandwiches soon, I promise.
Bored of the race and hungry my brother and I were sent to gather hotdogs and Diet Cokes for the family. It was the 80’s, Diet Coke poured from the faucets. We headed towards concessions, past the back of the stands. Now, I don’t remember if I actually saw the tire that struck and killed Lyle Kurtenbach behind the bleachers or not.
What I do remember is...
Waiting in line to buy the Diet Cokes and hotdogs and hearing the conversations of the grownups around me. There were whispers and exclamations. “Someone in the stands was hit with a tire from off the track!” My brother, who has no tact, recounted in graphic detail whatever the race fans in front of him had said. “Wait, what tire? Hit who? Where were they sitting? What if something has happened to OUR parents?”
With dark imaginations reeling we ditched our place in line. “Hotdogs can wait!” We passed the bleachers, where a group of important looking people had gathered to point and relay walkie-talkie messages. Sprinting up the high steps we clamored over sweaty spectators and found our way back to the family.
Our parents were fine. The cars zoomed around the track just as they were before we left. My mom confirmed the vision of the tire flying into the air but knew nothing more about the scene. That was the end of it until we learned about the victim later that night on the local news.
1987 was also the year a small plane crashed into a local Ramada Inn killing nine people. Indy was having a rough year. I didn’t see this tragedy unfold, thankfully, but the family did have to drive past the wreckage for two plus years! To seven year old Nicole, the world seemed like a very unpredictable place. Something could literally fall out of the sky and kill you at any moment. Now, a story about when I peed my pants in first grade...
Kidding, on to the travel stuff.
Let’s celebrate the good things about Indy! Like the interesting architecture the city of Indianapolis has to offer. I’m not a historian and everything I’m writing is based on my own observations. If you really want to get down and dirty with Indy history, check out HistoricIndianapolis.com For now, read about what I saw on a recent trip to my childhood hometown.
Neighborhoods in Indianapolis seemingly DGAF about what kind of building is there. It’s as if someone took all the elements of a city, threw them in a box, shook it up real good, and dumped the buildings on a road map carpet from kindergarten. There are Victorian stately homes built right next to contemporary shipping container structures, both styles dwarfing the farm houses of their neighbors. The neighborhoods of Holy Cross and Irvington on the Eastside are adorable and I really wish I had grown up in either of them. Instead, I lived in Wanamaker. A district that screams, “white flight” and is famous for pig’s brain sandwiches. Holy Cross is the Gayborhood. (Confirmed by City-Data, good enough for me.) Every house in this part of town looks like it’s owned by an older gay couple, with a collection of botanical cocktail syrups.
Irvington has the kind of houses you can fantasize about buying cheap and fixing up. “What if we bought this old castle, painted in black and terrified the local children from the porch every Halloween?!”, My personal fantasy. In addition to having awesome houses for would-be witches to renovate, Irvington also has a darn good tiki bar, Strange Bird. A witch gotta get them potions, right?
If you get hungry, Indy has a staggering amount of taco trucks! Bet you didn’t see that coming. The city boasts a Latinx population of nearly 10%. Of that ,more than 75% of respondents identified themselves as Mexican. So please, eat tacos in Indianapolis! I did, and they were the absolute jam. They were also the only food we could find late at night near our hotel.
Added bonus, you can carry your drink, on foot of course, to the taco stand! You heard me, you can drink in public in the city of Indianapolis!
I got the inkling this might be the case when we first arrived in the city because all the prostitutes seemed to have beverages on them. I have no judgement of what people do for work, even sex work. However, I do know, if you’re already doing something illegal for work, it’s likely that you wouldn’t want to draw more attention to yourself by drinking in public. Sex workers have to be very observant i.e. always looking around for the law, pimps and customers. I figured if they weren't looking around for cops before and after swigs, drinking on the streets must be ok! Please don’t at me with your feelings regarding sex work. It’s a complicated issue in regards to human trafficking, consent, the rights of workers. You can google all that on your own time.
Speaking of things you can pay someone to do in your car...I highly recommend eating a pork tenderloin sandwich at Edward’s Drive-In!
This sandwich is massive as it is delicious! They’ll even cut it in half for you just like a nice mom would. Since this trip was taken just as our COVID 19 vaccines hit full power, my husband and I were very happy to have a reason to eat in the car, our warm, free from deadly viruses, car. Now full of pork, we’re headed to St. Louis!
You are a truly delightful human, I loved this!