Oilpressure

Our Month of May begins today…at least that’s the plan.

It has been a very disjointed week so far, and we aren’t even halfway through it. Most know that my wife, Susan, has been dealing with liver issues since New Year’s Day – due to the after-effects of chemo almost five years ago. Since Jan 3 she has been wearing a bag with a drainage tube from her liver, with no clear timeline from local doctors when it would be removed and have the drain internalized. We finally contacted the surgeon who did her cancer surgery at the University of Louisville and explained the situation to him.

Long story, short – we drove to Louisville on Easter Sunday and saw the surgeon on Monday. He scanned her and did bloodwork. Of course, the best news is that there is no recurrence of the pancreatic cancer that was diagnosed in 2020. There was also good news in that he can do the procedure to internalize the drain and get rid of that dreaded bag she has been lugging around for almost four months. The bad news was their schedule wouldn’t allow it to be done that day. It will be I the next couple of weeks.

We returned from Louisville on Monday afternoon. I worked yesterday and am on the way up to Indianapolis as this gets posted in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. At the time of this writing, Susan intends to go with me – but Sunday and Monday absolutely wore her out. She may opt out at the last minute. She really wants to go, but she’s not sure her body will let her.

I’m hoping she can go, because she’s never been to the Open Test before. I went in 2018, I also went in 2023 and last year. In 2018, I drove up and back in a one-day turnaround, I was younger in those days. The last two years, I have gotten a hotel room – but Day Two was rained out both times. In 2023, I used that second day to visit the museum with my good friend Mike from Vernon Hills. We practically had the museum to ourselves. Last year, the museum was closed, so I took the opportunity to sleep in on rainy morning before driving back home. This year, the weather forecast looks like they will get in two solid days of running.

I love going to the Open Test, because the place is empty. There are a handful of fans watching in the south end, either from the Turn Two mounds or from the bleaches on the inside of the short chute. There is also only a small group (I would guess less than thirty) of media in the massive DEX Imaging Media Center, that holds over 400 media members on Race Day.

Drivers are relaxed when they come into the Media Center, and are usually in a good mood – unless they are completely off of the setup, like Callum Ilott was a couple of years ago. That was a sign of things to come in May for Ilott and his Juncos Hollinger Racing team, and was probably the beginning of the end for their relationship.

The whole place is laid back and seems to just be waking up after a long cold winter. The Pit Road Terrace stands that sit in front of the old Formula One garages are not up yet. There is just a large cavernous space between the garages and the pits. They will magically appear by the time we return for the Grand Prix weekend in a couple of weeks.

This will be our first look at any improvements that have been implemented over the winter. One thing I’m looking forward to ins the return of the scoring panels that used to surround the top of The Pagoda, much like they did with the old Master Control Tower. New LED panels went up a few weeks ago. I’m anxious to see if they are operational for the Open Test.

This is the first step toward the Running of the 109th Indianapolis 500 in just a little more than a month. By Race Day, this first day of track activity with almost no one around will seem like a distant memory. The laid back atmosphere of today and tomorrow will contrast sharply with when the Carb Day crowd takes over the same plot of land that we will have been attending throughout the month.

Not only is this a good chance to see race cars on track on the historic oval for the first time in almost a year – it will be a chance to get a jump on the new merchandise for 2025. There will be a new gift shop in conjunction with the opening of the new museum. We will venture into the gift shop, but probably won’t make it into the museum. It costs $25 a person now. We have already bought tickets for the Saturday before the race. Our budget will no longer allow multiple trips to the museum each May.

By the way, don’t forget – there will be a limited number of people allowed into the museum each day in May. It’s probably a good idea to plan ahead and get tickets online. I have an idea there will be some angry fans who plan to see the museum Race Weekend, and the tickets will already be sold out.

Gates will open today at 9:00 am. The oval veterans will be on-track from 10:00 am until Noon. That’s when rookies taking part in the Rookie Orientation Program (ROP) and drivers needing a refresher; like Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Jack Harvey will hit the track from Noon until 2:00 pm. From 2:00 pm until 6:00 pm today, it will be the Full Field Practice.

Thursday gets underway with qualifying simulations beginning at 9:30 am and running until Noon. They are calling this a High Boost Session, so I am assuming the boost will be turned up like it is on qualifying weekend. After a two-hour break for lunch, it will be another Full Field Practice from 2:00 pm until 6:00 pm. Both days will be available for viewing live on the IndyCar You Tube Channel.

The calendar says it is still April – but in my mind, it will be May for the next couple of days. We plan on hitting our usual spots – The Workingman’s Friend for lunch on Thursday, Dawson’s on Main tonight and probably a random trip at some point to Long’s Donuts and the Mug-n-Bun.

I will post once or twice each day from the track, so check back regularly. I am really looking forward to that magical moment when we arrive at the track for the first time since last year’s race. There is something very special about the track waking up for the first time, when the quiet spring morning suddenly gets loud with the roar of the engines for the first time. I am hopeful that Susan will make it up, so that she can experience this for her first time.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on April 23, 2025 at 4:03 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.