Watching the Indianapolis 500 on television this weekend brought back some memories for me.

In June 2024, while in Indianapolis for an event, I was fortunate to get a press credential to attend the Ferrari Challenge North America at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I had wanted to go to the speedway since I was a kid watching the race on television, but this was my first time visiting this world-famous venue.

I wrote about the experience at that time, but to summarize, I was totally blown away by the shear size of the speedway. The number of acres it covered was staggering and the vast infield area that contained dozens of buildings and a few holes of the neighboring golf course was simply amazing.

I was able to walk around the pits and the garages, take photos from the photo deck on the pagoda and walk right onto the track to take pictures with the famous yard of bricks. I was in my glory and realized a dream had finally come true.

That dream may have begun when I was a kid, but it became more urgent when I was in tenth grade. My high school band was scheduled to march in the Indianapolis 500 parade and attend the race the next day. However, my mother died just a few days before we were scheduled to leave for Indy, so I didn’t go. Feeling that I missed out on such a huge experience, I promised myself that some day I would walk on that track and attend a race.

In 2024, I kept that promise to myself. Although it wasn’t the Indianapolis 500 race, I was okay with the Ferrari Challenge being a surrogate to making that dream come true. I will forever watch the Indy 500 with a different point of view, because now I can say I actually walked on that track, touched the bricks with my hands and climbed the stairs up the pagoda.

But isn’t that true about everything we watch on television?

If we’ve been to the location being shown, it has a different meaning to us than if we haven’t. I feel this way about watching sports on television if it’s at a stadium or arena where I’ve attended a game, or when I see scenes of Disney World or views of the Eiffel Tower. Since I’ve been to those places, they bring back different memories when I see them on television than the places where I haven’t been.

THIS YEAR’S RACE

This year’s Indy 500 was possibly one of the most exciting races in years, especially the photo finish.

There were the usual wrecks and a rain delay that are expected each year, but the racing was tight throughout the 200 laps. In the final laps of the race, the caution flag came out because a car tapped the wall on turn four. Once everything was cleared to continue, the green flag and the white flag (final lap) were shown to the drivers who now were bunched up for the restart.

It was a frantic race around the two-and-a-half-mile track to the finish line.

Felix Rosenqvist began the final lap behind David Malukas and Marcus Arstrong. Coming out of the fourth turn, Rosenqvist made his move and pulled to the outside. He accelerated and moved ahead of Scott McLaughlin who had moved up during the final lap. Then Rosenqvist narrowly slipped ahead of Malukas and took the checkered flag by a miniscule 0.023 seconds at the finish line.

“It’s a mix of having dreamt about it a lot and not really daring to think that you can actually do it today,” Rosenqvist said after the race. “The last five years I’ve been in the front and I’ve had a good enough car probably to win it, but today there was just something more. Meyer Shank Racing and Honda built an absolute rocket this month. Everything was just rolling so well. It’s not what you think it will be. It’s even better.”

Malukas, a 24-year-old rookie finished second, followed by Scott McLaughlin, Pato O’Ward, and Marcus Armstrong in the top five.

TULSA BEACON RADIO

Tune in to “Tulsa Beacon Weekend” radio show every week, featuring interviews with local and national guests, talking about everything from politics to family issues. This week, my guests will be Gary Hahn from the National Comedy Center and Colleen McCarty, a candidate for Tulsa County District Attorney. The show airs on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. CST on 970am KCFO.