My first time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1966 on pole day I saw: Rear Engined cars, front engined cars, five USAC sprint car champions and two future champs, two USAC midget champions, two formula 1 champions and one future champ, one future NASCAR Cup champion, one IMCA Sprint car champion, one racer of dragsters, two sports car racers, a motorcycle racer, offys blown and unblown, fords, a Novi, a turbine in a roadster, a twin engined Porsche, a Chevy, AJ and Mario, Eagles, Lotuses, Lolas, Watsons, Gerharts, an Eisert, a Shrike, a Cecil, BRPs, Volstedts, a Brawner Hawk, a Brabham-Moore, a Halibrand, Coyotes and Huffakers, a track record broken twice in one day (George Snider and Mario), Four former Indy 500 winners, racers that would race on a Saturday night in a bull ring, open wheelers that would race stock cars and sports cars and most of the racers that would race more than 30 races a year.


This is just off the top of my head so I may have forgotten a few. I've never seen anything so diverse in my life and never quite would again. This is what made Indy car racing and the Indy 500 for me. If I could just see 10% of what I saw in 1966 I would probably be coming back.