At Indy: Fifteen More Things We Learned Around Town

So by the time we started milling around Indianapolis yesterday, we were already pretty fired up about being on hand for our first 500. Then we got to talking to some folks in the know, and what we learned took our excitement and understanding to a new level. Here are 15 more things (Brazilians! Women! Technology! Custom-Made Watches!) that will convince you—once and for all—that the Indy 500 is a looonnng way from NASCAR country.

1. Justin, rotund Louisianan in Indy mesh cap at baggage claim: “This is my 26th straight year. My grandfather and his friend started the tradition back when I was a kid. I live down in Birmingham now, and there’s a major difference between that crowd and this one. You’re not gonna exclusively run in to Bubbas up here. It’s a more sophisticated audience. Here’s what I told a ten-year-old last year: When the cars go by, pick one, and follow it through—don’t try to watch them all go by or you’ll give yourself a headache.”

2. Dario Franchitti (starting 3rd): “The teams are incredibly important. Me and Dixie [lone Target teammate Scott Dixon, starting 6th] try to help each other out and get ourselves to the front. Last twenty laps, though, anything goes.”

3. Scott Dixon (starting 6th): “The main thing is that you don’t take your teammate out. Getting each other to the front of the pack, and then finishing 1-2, that’s the perfect day for our team.” [Dixon (left) and Franchitti, below]

4. Franchitti: “There’s this outrageous cannon that fires at the racetrack at 6 a.m. on race day that wakes up all the drivers. We complain about how loud it is every year, but it’s ‘tradition.’”

5. Dixon: “We don’t have any control over our suits, except for our helmets. We can customize those just the way we want. Water tube, radio, blinders, and so forth.”

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