Oilpressure

You might be thinking this post should be about Callum Ilott’s sudden departure from JHR. I want to learn more about it, so I am going to hold off and write about it on Monday. Plus, I already had this written up when that news dropped. Oh, well…sometimes it doesn’t pay to do things ahead.

This past July, we learned that the IMS Museum will undergo a transformation to essentially bring the aging and dated facility into the 21st century. This was welcomed news to many, including myself – but I have some good friends that are sorry to see this happen. I usually follow the rule of thumb that Change is Bad, but in this case I see it as long overdue.

However, I will agree with my friends that there is sort of a yesteryear charm about going to the museum that still looks and feels as it did when it opened in 1976. For the first time ever, Susan and I went into the Hulman Theater, mainly for a place for her to sit down and rest. I was underwhelmed. Sometimes you experience something for the first time and think to yourself “Why did I wait so long to do this?” This wasn’t one of them.

You and I don’t go to the IMS Museum for the latest bells and whistles. We go to see and gawk at those machines from times gone by. It may be to reminisce like I do when I look at AJ Foyt’s pole-winning car form 1965 – the first time I attended the Indianapolis 500, or one of the Lotus 56 wedge-shaped turbines. We also enjoy seeing the cars before our own lifetimes. I was born almost twenty years after the Boyle Maserati took Wilbur Shaw to consecutive victories in 1939 and 1940; but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate such a beautiful and historic car.

I always enjoy my visits to the IMS Museum. I generally go in early May, during the Grand Prix weekend, when it is not very crowded. Then I always go again on Race Weekend with my brothers, when they come to town. This past spring, I attended the Open Test at IMS in April. It was originally slated to be a two-day test over Thursday and Friday, but Friday was completely rained out and called off early. Instead, I toured the museum that cold and rain]y Friday with longtime reader “Mike from Vernon Hills”. I think he and I made up about 25% of the museum’s crowd that day. That was a far cry from the throngs that we came across the day before the race.

This is a May ritual we have done for years, but it won’t be happening in May of 2024. A transformation of this magnitude doesn’t happen overnight. It also requires more than closing off one section of a time while still serving customers. They have waited until all scheduled track activity for 2023 has taken place, but the IMS Museum is set to close after next weekend.

I keep reading conflicting reports for the actual closing date. Some places say Nov 5, which is a Sunday, while others say the museum will close on Nov 6, which is obviously Monday. I’m just guessing here, but it would seem to make sense that the last day of doing business would be Sunday Nov 5. That would give them one final weekend to serve customers. When it closes at the end of the day on Sunday, I wouldn’t think it would re-open on Monday Nov 6. Suffice it to say; counting today, there are about ten more days to visit the museum in the same configuration we’ve all grown accustomed to over the years.

After next weekend, the IMS Museum will be permanently closed through April of 2025. That will give them about eighteen months to completely gut the building, including the famous basement that I never got to visit. I’m not sure what they plan to do with the IMS Gift Shop at the front of the building. If I had to guess, I would guess that it will close down also. When the doors re-open for the Month of May in 2025, the entire structure will be re-engineered, re-built and re-imagined into something we will probably not recognize. (Photo: IMSMuseum.org)

One thing we will recognize is the impressive collection of race cars; most of which ran at least once in the Indianapolis 500, and many that won the race. With more display room, I am hopeful that they will be able to have many more cars on display at any given time.

Consider this your public-service announcement that your chances to visit the IMS Museum are dwindling. We were actually supposed to be in Indianapolis last weekend for a good friend’s wedding. I had already planned to work in one last visit to the museum on that Sunday, before they closed their doors for the next year and a half. But when I got COVID the previous weekend, I didn’t think it would be appreciated if I went and spread my germs to everyone – especially to the bride and groom. That would probably not make for an enjoyable honeymoon. So we stayed home and pretty well ended my chances of seeing the current museum one last time.

But if you live within an hour or two of IMS, I would recommend one last visit either this weekend or next. If you don’t, you won’t be able to get your IMS Museum fix for another year and a half. That’s too long!

George Phillips

This entry was posted on October 27, 2023 at 4:02 am and is filed under IndyCar. 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.