![\"100th](\"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/100th-indy-500-logo-1024x496.jpg\"){kind=logo}
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INDIANAPOLIS \u2013 You can hear it in the air. You can taste it, smell it and most importantly, feel it: Arguably the most historic sporting event in most of our lifetime is just two weeks away.<\/p>\n
Even if you aren\u2019t a fan of open-wheel racing such as the Verizon IndyCar Series, even if you don\u2019t know the difference between a pit stop and a pit pass, you should take note of this one because it is a true milestone:<\/p>\n
The 100th running of the legendary Indianapolis 500 at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n
You think the Super Bowl has more staying power? Hah! The NFL\u2019s prize gem is only 50 years old. It\u2019ll never catch up with what happens at Indy.<\/p>\n
The NHRA has been hosting the World Finals for 60 years. That\u2019s still four decades short of what has taken placed on the 2.5-mile brickyard in the town they call Circle City.<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t call the Indy 500 \u201cThe Greatest Spectacle In Racing\u201d for nothing. Careers and fortunes have been made \u2013 and lost \u2013 here. It\u2019s been a magnet for companies big and small to pony up a lot of money to get their names plastered on the side of race cars.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s arguably the most significant local event anywhere in the United States. The folks of Indianapolis \u2013 and particularly Speedway, Indiana, within whose borders the track actually sits within \u2013 are extremely guarded and protective of \u201ctheir race.\u201d They want to make sure their town, their state and THEIR TRACK present the best view and image to a worldwide audience.<\/p>\n
And yes, sadly, lives have also been lost in chasing the checkered flag, the Borg-Warner Trophy awarded to the race winner and, of course, the ceremonial bottle of milk toast for the Indy 500 champion.<\/p>\n
![\"EJA_3658\"](\"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/EJA_3658-1024x682.jpg\")
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You may think this is just another race \u2013 and in theory, it is, being the sixth race on the 16-race IndyCar schedule. But there is no other race that can compare, with an expected worldwide TV audience that will easily crack several hundred of millions of viewers.<\/p>\n
And, for the first time in over 20 years, every reserved seat in IMS will have a fanny in it, cheering for their driver while taking in the aura, the history, the excitement, the pathos, the drama and then the big exhale when it\u2019s finally over and a new winner is crowned.<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s the big deal of a sellout, you may ask? While the track\u2019s exact capacity has never been revealed, it\u2019s without question the largest single-day sporting event crowd in the world. We\u2019re talking upwards of 300,000 folks will stream through the gates at 16th Street and Georgetown Road on May 29.<\/p>\n
Folks will start arriving at 3 a.m. ET to get through the gates when they open at 5 a.m. ET.<\/p>\n
And, God forbid, you forget to set your alarm clock or get a late start, you\u2019ll be mired in a traffic jam like you\u2019ve never, ever seen. Trust me, I\u2019ve been coming to IMS for over 30 years, and in its hey day, it was not unusual to take up to five hours to just get near the place, let alone find a parking spot.<\/p>\n
As I write this, I just witnessed qualifying for Saturday\u2019s Angie\u2019s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis, which in 2014 became a great warm-up act for the Indy 500, getting folks excited, the conversation started and the vibe a rollin\u2019.<\/p>\n
You can definitely feel the anticipation for the 500, no question about it. Talk to fans, drivers, fellow media members and they\u2019ll all be gracious and talk about the ALGPI, but far too often and in the same breath, they\u2019ll quickly add the 500 to the conversation.<\/p>\n
As a reporter who has been at IMS for the good times and the bad, I try not to let my emotions get too much of a hold of me. I try to look at one race like another. Sure, it\u2019s Indy, which adds spice to the equation, but like I said, it\u2019s still just one race.<\/p>\n
But not this time. This will be history and I am so looking forward to being part of it. It will be something I can tell my future grandkids about, that I was there, that I experienced all the pomp and pageantry, that I could proudly say I was a witness to what will be the greatest race day ever \u2013 both on and off the racetrack.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re headed here to Indy to attend the 500, you already know what I\u2019m talking about. But if you\u2019re not going to attend or, at the very least, not even watch it on TV, you\u2019re going to be doing yourself a true injustice.<\/p>\n
Like I said earlier, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If you think you can wait until the next one comes around, good luck with that: the 200th running of the Indianapolis 500 won\u2019t be until late May 2116. Good luck if you think you\u2019ll be around then.<\/p>\n
Follow me on Twitter @JerryBonkowski<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Indianapolis 500 hits the century mark this year, and the celebration promises to be epic for this once in a lifetime race.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":27235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17,3470],"tags":[4475,2665,4008,915,3384],"class_list":["post-27231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-column","category-news","tag-100-years-of-the-indy-500","tag-angies-list-grand-prix-of-indianapolis","tag-guest-column","tag-indianapolis-500","tag-jerry-bonkowski"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Indianapolis-500-Celebration.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-75d","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27231"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27270,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27231\/revisions\/27270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}