Oilpressure

As we sit here on the eve of another edition of The Greatest Spectacle in Racing, I am already thinking about 2025 and what changes I would like to see. Some of these could benefit almost everyone, while others may just benefit me. Sometimes, Change is…Good.

An Improved Tenderloin: After I reviewed the new Aramark Tenderloin last week, I saw other reviews by people I know had not read mine – but they could have, because they universally said the same thing. It is terrible.

IndyCar fans don’t agree on a whole lot. You can throw an opinion out on any IndyCar or Indianapolis 500 Facebook page, and you will usually start a discussion that can devolve quickly into an argument. Who’s the greatest? AJ or Mario? Who did you side with in The Split? CART or the IRL? Which manufacturer do you prefer? Honda or Chevy?

But one thing that everyone seems united on is the new IMS tenderloin is beyond awful. For $12.50, I expect more than a lukewarm small fritter with cornmeal breading and a bad flavor. The Breaded Pork Tenderloin is an Indiana specialty. Fans come from all over the world to sample this sandwich they’ve heard so much about. As they are throwing the leftover half, they will be wondering what the fuss is about. They will probably not give it another chance outside the track. Hopefully, they will give us a revamped tenderloin that is pounded before it is breaded and fried, instead of ground up mass to be shaped into a square similar to a Filet-o-Fish.

Pave the Road to Lot 2: This falls into the category of something that will benefit only a few people, but those it helps will be eternally grateful. When Roger Penske bought the Track in January 2020, he paved Lot 2 – across Georgetown Road from the beginning of Turn One, where most of the media park. It was a massive improvement over the grass field that would turn instantly into a quagmire whenever it rained.

Unfortunately, the road from 20th Street off of Auburn that leads to the paved lot remains a gravel road. The gravel road shoots off to other parking lots, as well. If it rains, new and dangerous car-eating potholes appear. During the week of practice, they got a bulldozer in and filled in some of the potholes. But the offshoot road that leads directly to the nicely paved Lot 2, remained untouched. It is like driving through a minefield. Some potholes you see, and some you don’t. Those you don’t are wicked and can do serious damage to cars.

When it’s dry, the potholes are still there, but you have the added bonus of breathing the cloud of dust that is kicked up by the car in front of you. I realize that pavement is not cheap, but neither are car repairs.

Bring Back Cotton: I realize I am in the minority on this. The offerings from the gift shops around the track have improved greatly over the last decade. But one thing has regressed dramatically – apparel fabric. I have polos that I bought at the track gift shops as recently as 2009 that were made of 100% cotton. But over the next decade, the polos went from all-cotton to 100% polyester. Nike markets the polyester as scientifically developed dri-fit, and boasts of its ability to wick the moisture from your body.

In the 80s and 90s, we used to laugh at the use of polyester in clothing from the 70s. Call it dri-fit or whatever, its still polyester and it doesn’t breathe. It may not wrinkle, but it will make you sweat a gallon while wearing it. It’s like wearing a laundry bag. Your skin suffocates in it. I also don’t care for the feel of it. It feels like women’s panties against your skin. Some may find that pleasurable, but I find it just a little creepy.

This phenomenon has now even spread to T-Shirts. Just a few years ago, T-Shirts were still made of 100% cotton. Now they are polyester just like the polos. When will the pendulum swing back when another generation laughs at this one for wearing polyester and thinking it is some space-age product? It’s a plastic shirt!

I realize that IMS doesn’t make the shirt, but they can get the vendor to supply some cotton shirts. They are still out there. My Oilpressure polos are all-cotton and actually cost less than the dri-fit. Am I the only one that likes for my skin to breathe and not sweat?

Why All the Barricades? If you’ve walked through The Pagoda Plaza this month, you may have noticed a series of barricades on each side of the plaza, with two or three two-foot gaps in-between them. This effectively funnels all people through those two to three openings on both sides. Even on days that aren’t crowded at all, it forces the people that are there to jockey for position to go single-file through the barricades, instead of a natural flow of people to go where they want.

One More Video Board: There is a plethora of video boards around the track, and some were even added this year. Unfortunately, there is one heavily neglected area, and it happens to be where I sit for the race. We sit in Stand A, Sec 18. We are about halfway between the entrance to Gasoline Alley to the north, and the end of pit lane to the south. There is a massive video board over the entrance to gasoline Alley, and a smaller board at the end of the Formula One garages. Neither is very visible from our seats. The one over Gasoline Alley usually gets our attention, but it is still too far away to get a good look at it. I truly think our section is further away from the closest video board than any section of seating in the facility.

That’s it. That is my list of complaints, and I had to think long and hard on a couple of these. That’s how good of a facility IMS is. If they could correct these somewhat minor flaws, it would become the perfect facility.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on May 25, 2024 at 4:02 am and is filed under Indianapolis 500. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.