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For the past several years, there has been a dwindling amount of options for things to do at IMS over the Indianapolis Race Weekend. Less than a decade ago, Friday morning of Race Weekend kicked off a three-day festival of speed that culminated with the Annual Running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.

There was the Carb Day Practice on Friday morning, followed by the Freedom 100 which most fans seemed to love. Then came the Pit Stop Competition, which did absolutely nothing for me – but the fans in the stands seemed to get a kick out of it. Of course, that was followed by the debauchery of the Carb Day concerts. It was fun to stand on terrace of the fourth-floor Media Center and people watch. It was funny from up there, but miserable down in the actual concert crowds.

For the past twenty years or so, Saturday before the race was designated as Legends Day; where a different living legend was honored – AJ Foyt, Parnelli Jones, Marion Andretti, and the Unsers are a few of the honorees celebrated on earlier Legends Day. Saturday consisted of an autograph session with many former drivers and personalities. There were vintage car displays on the grounds, and my favorite – the early Saturday morning running of vintage cars from the 1910s through the early 2000s. Novis, roadsters, turbines, Offys and V8 Fords were run at lower speeds as the circled the track, but fans still got a sense of the different sounds from other eras.

Then there was the ceremonial Driver’s Meeting that fans got to witness. There the fans got to see all thirty-three starters grouped together in person, right in front of them. Again, that didn’t do a whole lot for me; but fans that never get to see drivers in person saw it as something special.

After the Driver’s Meeting, the drivers were whisked away to downtown for the 500 Festival Parade. Those fans (like me) who didn’t go to the parade would make the annual pilgrimage to the museum and then the gift shops. Then it was a required activity to take in the Merchandise Mart (or whatever it was called) in the Plaza Pavilion. In recent years, there was the Legend’s Day concert that started late afternoon. The acts were usually A-List country artists, and the crowds were a little more civilized than the Carb Day crowds. Susan and her son went to see Jason Aldean when he played the Legends Day concert. A couple of years later, she convinced be to go see Blake Shelton perform inside Turn Four and I actually enjoyed it.

By the time it was over, it was beginning to be dusk. After a quick trip to Dawson’s, we would call it an early night.

Those were two fun-filled days that justified driving up from Nashville on Thursday night and staying through Monday morning. Those were the good old days.

Since Roger Penske bought the track in January of 2020, he has made some changes – which is certainly his right to do. The Freedom 100 is gone and is not coming back. The different reasons I’ve heard are varied. They range from the safety of the cars at that speed, the inexperience of some of the drivers on a track that generates such speeds to the owners don’t want to blow their budgets on costly repairs from that high-speed race. I’ve also heard that Roger Penske does not want another race that weekend, to detract from the Indianapolis 500.

So that leaves a void in the Friday schedule. It was probably the favorite attraction of true racing fans versus more casual fans who are just there for the party.

Saturday at the track has been reduced to a Full-field autograph session from 9:00 to 10:00, and then the Driver’s Meeting from 10:30 to 11:00. That’s it. There are no more Vintage cars running on-track. There are no more static displays. The Merchandise Mart has been moved to Plainfield and the Legends Day concert is offsite at some outdoor amphitheater.

Last year, the IMS Museum was closed for renovations. For the first time ever, we were in town on Saturday but never even went to the track. It was an odd feeling and one that made me question how wise it was to have an overpriced hotel room for four nights.

At least this year, the Museum will be open showing off all of its newness. But you can expect the price to be much higher than it used to be. In the past, I would visit the Museum twice in the Month of May. This year, if it is what I expect it to cost – I will only visit once.

Those of us who drive more than four hours to Indianapolis will probably continue to stay the full weekend. But what about those who live in Louisville, Chicago and Cincinnati? It’s kind of far to drive back and forth, but too close to justify a hotel for several nights when there is such a void on Saturday.

Don’t blame IMS President Doug Boles for this. If he had his way, he would probably like to add more reasons to come to The Speedway, instead eliminating reasons. From what I’ve heard through the grapevine, Roger Penske would love to eliminate all activity at the track on Saturday. He wants to focus on making the place as pristine as possible when the opening bomb goes off at 6:00 am Sunday.

While that’s a noble goal, do you not want to make the entire weekend a celebration of the Greatest Spectacle in racing? I would thing the ultimate goal is to have your customers leave town on Monday morning completely exhausted, but immensely satisfied to the point that they are already making plans for next year as they leave town. Instead, they may leave scratching their heads contemplating how smart it is to travel all that way for such a let-down day on Saturday.

This is not a Marion County event. This is a worldwide happening. I know of several readers of this site, who are planning to make the trek across the pond, strictly to come to the Indianapolis 500. I hate to think how they might plan to spend their Saturday in a foreign country with nothing to do.

Boles and the previous regime seemed to have no problem cleaning up after a very active Legends Day less than a decade ago. Why is it such an issue now? Please make Legends Day legendary again.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on February 7, 2025 at 4:03 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.