The Little 500 is a Saturday night event-nothing happens on track during the day other than a brief warm-up at 4:30. They usually have an autograph session around 5:30 or 6:00 pm, pre-race ceremonies/driver intros at 7:00 pm, and they fire the cars at 8:00 pm. Leave your ear protection off for the first few laps, it's quite the sound!!! Race Monitor app on your phone is nice for $4.99, but the speedway scoreboard shows the lap count and top 5 cars, plus the PA announcer runs down the vield during cautions. Make sure you get a tenderloin sandwich at the turn one concession stand at some point. I fyou want an event t-shirt grab one early, they always sell out fast. Strongly recommend purchasing advanced tickets, great Little 500 info on the Anderson Speedway website should have everything you need.

If you’re coming to the Prairie before Indy, you’ll be there for Badger Midgets and the IRA vs All Stars Challenge (5/22). You don’t need to worry about track prep because with all those moisture vacuums on top of the sprints, it doesn’t matter how much water gets put down prior to Sunday evening. They will have it dry before hot laps ends. (Just hope it’s smooth, we don’t like sprint car sized ruts). Bring your lawn chairs and sit in comfort on the front straight terraces, or find a spot in the turn 1 stands and get showered with clay while it lasts. It’s a tradition.

Allow yourself a little time beforehand to see the names and plaques at the National Midget HOF in turns 1&2. I’ve always got my head down thrashing on something, so I honestly never get to sample the concessions, but I’m told the pit shack cheeseburgers taste great, and every night ends well with a cold PBR. When we leave, we’re headed east, so a late night stop at The Pine Cone in Johnson Creek is SOP. Don’t worry about staying at the track too long and getting there too late, they never close. There are literally no locks on the door. For some quality (surly) midwestern overnight waitressing, ask to sit in Kathy’s section.

Of course, Sun Prairie is a midget town, and I’m told midgeteers like to imbibe on occasion (any occasion), so I suppose there are places nearby to indulge in that activity as well. Of course, we wouldn’t know about such things…

I am a sucker for a parade and the Indy 500 parade did not disappoint. I remember doing some research on where to park so that was not to big of an issue. However, getting back to the hotel was an adventure. It was 8-9 years ago that I went and I had an older Garmin navigation unit. Every road that it wanted to take me down to get to the hotel was closed due to the parade. By the time I could find a route to my hotel, I was in a unique part time. I was able to watch the parade and take a tour of Indy's finest crack houses all in the same day.

This is one of my favorite weeks of the year. I am starting the Friday and Saturday before at Terre Haute, USAC Sprints for the Hulman Classic. Friday pays $5000 to win, Saturday $10,000. Then they are at Circle City $5000 to win on Wednesday, $10,000 to win on Thursday. Friday Carb Day, maybe IRP that night. Little 500 on Saturday night. Kokomo on Sunday night. If my nephew comes up from TN, I will do Indy with him too. Little 500 is can't miss in my opinion.

I’d definitely agree on the radio statement. It really helps in keeping up with what is going on. Also, bring sunscreen, otherwise you will definitely get sunburned in the aluminum bleachers.

Yes, the scoreboard at the Little 500 shows laps and top five. Near end of the race, all of em could be on a different lap. Hence Race monitor app. About four years ago. Kody Swanson went two laps down when he ran his tires almost 250 laps and spun. But stopped facing in the right direction and was able to get pushed in and a pit stop and only lost two laps. Made both laps up by and passed em all again for the win.

Did it a few years ago and had to wait for out son to get done in the parade. Made it with plenty of time to spare

Is the drive to Kokomo manageable with the post-500 traffic? This is something I might consider doing this year.

We sit in the NE Vista, park in a yard on West 30th Street and head for the car when the winner comes by on his cool down lap. It's about a 15 minute walk to the car. All lanes on 30th are eastbound and the traffic zips along. We turn north on Meridian which turns into Route 31 North and are parked in the lot at Kokomo 1 1/2 to 2 hours after leaving our seats. Never have had a problem. In fact we were always there before Bryan Claussen's bus tour arrived.