Indianapolis Motor Speedway

06/14/2019 - We left the campground in Kansas at 9:30 am for another long drive day.  We almost ran out of DEF (a required additive to diesel engines) so had to stop to buy more.  Also made a quick stop for lunch, but the rest of the day was all driving.  We arrived at Jacksonville Lake State Park in Illinois in a rain storm. We were lucky and found a dry patch between clouds to unhook the car and get set up in our site.  The pads were cement and the landscaping was beautiful.  There were big open spaces, and of course, the lake.  There were also mosquitoes!

Jacksonville Lake, IL

After a long day, all we wanted was dinner, a little card playing, and to bed early.  We seem to be getting up earlier every day.  Maybe it is because we continue to lose time heading east.

06/15/2019 - Left Jacksonville Lake at 9:15.  We had lots of lightning, thunder, and rain last night.  We read that Kansas got hit with a  big storm last night that caused damage.  I think it is about 2 days behind us but catching up with us.  Again, we were able to hook up the car during a dry patch, so we were off again.  Our destination was Indianapolis, Indiana.  Another long driving day, but our last long day.  Only stops were for fuel and lunch.

We arrived at the Indiana State Fair Grounds and were directed to the campground on the far west side.  Wow - this place is huge - over 260 acres.  The campground was a long skinny area along the far west side of the fairgrounds.  They have room for 100 sites, but they are very narrow.  They actually fit 2 rigs in what we took for only one.  When the security guard came around to our site to sign us in, I asked him why there were two electrical posts for one site.  He told me that during the fair in August, they actually do park 2 rigs in the same space we took for just ours.  It is so tight that nobody can put out their awnings, and must limit their slide-outs.  He told us about the activities that were going on now, but much of them were cancelled due to the weather.  It rained most of the time we were there.  In fact, that evening we had sirens going off that we later learned were tornado warnings.   In fact, there was damage from a tornado that touched down just south of Indianapolis proper.

Speedway is the name of the town

We have been waiting to hear back about our windshield sine 6/11/19 (5 days ago).  Today is Saturday, so I don't expect any information today.  But, come Monday, I plan on being on the phone with the insurance company, our insurance agent, and the glass company people, as we only have 2 more days before we have an appointment in Elkhart, Indiana for repairs.  For tonight, just a good night's sleep.

06/16/2019 - Finally, we are not driving today.  It is our first "touring" day, and I am looking forward to it.  We are headed to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, about 7 miles from our campsite.  We had a hard time finding the right gate, so we stopped at the golf course (yes, they have one) and an employee there directed us to the proper entrance for the Museum.  We drove in Gate 2, went down underground, and came up in the middle of the racetrack, where the Museum was located.  This place is really big.  Here is a picture of the front of the Museum.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway - The Racing Capital of the World

Inside they had every car that won the '500' from the beginning in 1911 up through 2018.  This year's car, which won in May, was still getting prepped for the museum, so wasn't ready for the Museum yet.  Here are some pictures.

1911 - The First car to win the '500'

Tom looking at the winning cars

Tom - the winner!

The Stinger - celebrating 100 years of Indy races

The Borg-Warner Trophy

Next to the race winners, were two rooms dedicated to Mario Andretti.  He only won the '500' once (in 1969), but had a stellar career of racing all kinds of cars and races.  I think the best story was the Nascar car he drove in 1967.  I hope you can read the sign beside the car.

Mercury Cyclone Nascar ride for Mario Andretti

I was especially interested in the history of the track itself.  It had 4 founding fathers in 1909, led by Carl Fisher and including James Allison, the inventor of the Allison transmissions (we have one on our coach).  They sold the track in 1927 to a group headed up by Capt. Eddy Rickenbacker (the WWI flying ace).  He raced at Indy long before he took up flying.  The track was closed during WWII land fell into disrepair.  The efforts of Wilbur Shaw, a three-time winner of the ''500', lead to selling the track to Anton Hulman in 1945.  Over the next 30 years, he poured millions into the track to make it what you know now.  The track remains in the Hulman family to this day, run by his daughter, Mari Hulman-George, the Chairman of the Board.  Here is a picture of a Kinkade painting done of the track with the old cars in the top, and the current cars in the bottom.

Indy old and new by Thomas Kinkade

We went out for lunch, and Tom finished the take home box for dinner, as I wasn't hungry anymore.  That night, while chomping down on a taffy-like candy bar, my bridge fell out.  Oh well, just another delay!

06/17/2019 - Monday is here and I was on the phone all morning.  We are still in Indianapolis.  Finally, I got a call back from the insurance company's affiliate for the windshield, Duncan Systems.  They have the windshield, but cannot find anybody who has an open slot to install it.  She is still working on it, and hopes to find a shop that can install the windshield in Elkhart, Indiana.  I called Newmar and was referred to an RV dealer in Indianapolis that could install the windshield.  I talked with them and they were very nice, but they did not have the glass, and it take too much time to ship the windshield to them and get it installed.  We had to wait.

At 12:30, we got the call that a shop was located that could install the windshield and they were in Elkhart (about 150 miles from Indianapolis).  We packed up the RV, made several more calls, and headed out around 1:30.  We arrived in Elkhart at 3:45 and met up with Shane Duncan (the previous owner of Duncan Systems) who said that his installer had to go home for a family event, but would return at 7:00 am to start work on our coach.  He had a campground with 20 sites just for the RVs they work on.  We will need to get up at 6:00 am tomorrow morning to get the coach closed up, and take the dogs to a kennel for the day.  We can then head out for our tour of the Newmar factory in Napanee, Indiana.  I still need to find a dentist to glue my bridge back in.  I cannot chew anything!