What was the first Indycar race you remember watching on TV?

[Calvin]

I asked the first race you've been to. Now remember the first one on TV you watched.....


For me it was the.....2000 IRL race at Phoenix.

[chadm500]

1988 Indy 500...I remember it well. Also the reason I'm a life long Rick Mears fan!

[Michael Chriss]

The 79 500. It was what made me a fan.

[Calvin]

Jun 19, 2013 21:36:07 GMT -5 Michael Chriss said:

The 79 500. It was what made me a fan.

My favorite part about the 79 race is watching Al Unser in that brand new Pennzoil Chaparral CRUSH! the competition, until that stupid oil seal broke on the trans!

[indycals]

1973 Indianapolis 500 - I picked Swede as the driver I wanted to win.

[schix5150]

1989 Milwaukee on tape delay at 2am a week after my first Indy 500. First live tv race was the 1989 Detroit Grand Prix the week after that which I still have recorded on a vhs tape.

Thanks,
Mike

[gavkiwi]

The 1991 Indianapolis 500, I was living in New Zealand at the time, and managed to get my hands on about 5-6 hrs of non stop coverage from a cable feed from ABC, remember the race was rain delayed, so ABC had to use some 'filler'.

What made it interesting was when ABC cut to commercial breaks in the states, the race feed being beamed to NZ via satellite was uninterrupted, so when Gary B retired after being taken out by Guerrero, you see Gary Gerould in the pits with Gary B, and Gary B is just taking a smoke break, waiting for them to go live so he can be interviewed. There were a lot of candid moments like that.

There were also tons of 'History of the Indy 500' clips, which made me instantly fall in love with the history and tradition of the "500". There was even a clip where Dave Despain talked about why the Mitsubishi GTO/Dodge Stealth in North America was not allowed to pace 'The greatest spectacle in racing' because the UAW were up in arms about a Japanese designed & built vehicle pacing America's biggest auto race, so they used a 1992 prototype Dodge Viper to pace the '91 500, driven by Carroll Shelby, incidentally, Rick Mears ended up with a 1991 Dodge Stealth, not a viper . Finally the 1991 race was such an awesome race, I have been a fan ever since, this race along with Papyrus Indianapolis 500 simulation on amiga back in late 1990 is what made me the fan I am today!

[AJ]

1993 Indy 500 but i remember many GTP races on Espn as my dad used to race and has always like road racing better.

[Calvin]

Jun 20, 2013 2:24:01 GMT -5 indycals said:

1973 Indianapolis 500 - I picked Swede as the driver I wanted to win.

Speaking of 1973, Doctorindy UL this extra cut out section not shown on the ESPN Classic rebroadcast starting @ 50:25.

[indycals]

Thanks Calvin - I've heard about that clip and the "Jinxed from the start" comment by Economacki.

[Deleted]

I think it was a Road America race that Arie Luyendyk had gone off coarse and his tire was rear tire was deflated. That is all I remember.. It looked like he was driving the 90' Indy winning scheme... I was 4 or 5. so i don't know how much of this is actually accurate... But this is how i remember it. I was never ever able to watch the INDY500 growing up because one) they black it out locally. two) my dad worked at IMS and by the time he and my mom had picked me up from the sitter the race RE-RUN was over. We did however record them on VHS and tried to watch them the next day.

[Calvin]

Jun 20, 2013 9:07:16 GMT -5 AJ said:

GTP races on Espn as my dad used to race

I love GTP! tell us more!

[indy]

Put me in the club with chadm500 and mchriss. It was the 1984 Indy 500 and I was a week away from my 7th birthday. I remember zero about the race except who won it and that was when I first became a Rick Mears fan.

Jordan

[indy]

Jun 20, 2013 9:07:12 GMT -5 gavkiwi said:

Papyrus Indianapolis 500 simulation on amiga back in late 1990 is what made me the fan I am today!

I was a Papyrus junkie. Indy 500, IndyCar Racing 1&2, all NASCAR Racing versions, Corr Truck, and of course GPL. Indianapolis 500: The Simulation got me in trouble in Computer Science in high school. I'd quit my school work before it was done to play it. Still remember the thrill I got the first time I led a race in that sim. I always struggled with running the full 500 miles. For years and years, I had my base setup memorized - wings here, tires like so, etc, etc. Now I'd probably have to start over from scratch.

Once with a joystick, I decided I was going to sit there and just try to finish a full 500 with a goal of Top 5 so I wouldn't try too hard to stay out front. Made it to 10 to go and Al Jr (my only real competition) pitted shortly after a yellow when I made my final stop which gave me a huge lead. I had that Penske Chevy trimmed out with boost cranked up to the max. I figured if I blew it up, I still had a Top 5 in the bag. Even though I made it to the end, I still kind of thought running all out at the end it was kind of dumb - I should have coasted to the end. Of well, at least I was finally Indy 500 champion

Tried to download it off the web recently to play on my laptop but couldn't find the program I own two copies - original floppy and later on a game collection CD so I figured it wasn't really stealing.... BTW, I'd love to see this game redone with up to date sound and 3D graphics. I think it would be a really fun smartphone game still today.

Used to love that game - cranking up the boost on that Buick and trimming out the car to see what kind of speed records I could hit. Running 230mph into the wall at the end of the pitlane. Good memories

Jordan

[gavkiwi]

Jun 20, 2013 22:57:44 GMT -5 indy said:

Jun 20, 2013 9:07:12 GMT -5 gavkiwi said:

Papyrus Indianapolis 500 simulation on amiga back in late 1990 is what made me the fan I am today!

I was a Papyrus junkie. Indy 500, IndyCar Racing 1&2, all NASCAR Racing versions, Corr Truck, and of course GPL. Indianapolis 500: The Simulation got me in trouble in Computer Science in high school. I'd quit my school work before it was done to play it. Still remember the thrill I got the first time I led a race in that sim. I always struggled with running the full 500 miles. For years and years, I had my base setup memorized - wings here, tires like so, etc, etc. Now I'd probably have to start over from scratch.

Once with a joystick, I decided I was going to sit there and just try to finish a full 500 with a goal of Top 5 so I wouldn't try too hard to stay out front. Made it to 10 to go and Al Jr (my only real competition) pitted shortly after a yellow when I made my final stop which gave me a huge lead. I had that Penske Chevy trimmed out with boost cranked up to the max. I figured if I blew it up, I still had a Top 5 in the bag. Even though I made it to the end, I still kind of thought running all out at the end it was kind of dumb - I should have coasted to the end. Of well, at least I was finally Indy 500 champion

Tried to download it off the web recently to play on my laptop but couldn't find the program I own two copies - original floppy and later on a game collection CD so I figured it wasn't really stealing.... BTW, I'd love to see this game redone with up to date sound and 3D graphics. I think it would be a really fun smartphone game still today.

Used to love that game - cranking up the boost on that Buick and trimming out the car to see what kind of speed records I could hit. Running 230mph into the wall at the end of the pitlane. Good memories

Jordan

I played that game so much, I remember doing close to 240mph laps in the buick but it would ALWAYS blow up, I won the race using the Penske, won by about 2 laps over 2nd, I wrote down all the results on a notepad, avg speed, etc etc, and have since lost that notebook in various moves. I actually was able to get this game running on a sony xperia play android device using an Amiga emulator and running the Indy 500 game, even with a fold out keypad / controller with lots of buttons, it was hard to play, but it ran smoothly, on a phone . Now when I play it on a PC, I am terribly slow, and the sense of speed I remember 20 years ago, is not there

[jamesharvey]

I guess this will tell how old I am and how long I have been an Indy car fan but I went to the Speedway for the first time when it reopened after WWII. I saw my first race in 1953 which is obviously one I will never forget because of the heat and that fact that Vukovich won. The first race I scored for USAC as a serial scorer was Parnelli Jones' victory in 1963. My last race working in Timing and Scoring was last year (2012).
Thanks for the question.
Jim

[Deleted]

there's still a pretty active community/forum for Indycar Racing2 for PC. I LoVe that game! There are sh*t ton of mods for that game, small graphics upgrades, and even carsets all the up too 2011-

[pje]

Being one of the really old guys here going back to my first Indy 500 is difficult, as it would have been a 30 minute show shown on the Saturday or so after the 500, so 1959 or 1960. The first 500 I listened to from start to finish on the radio, was the 1962 race as I had become very interested in the Mickey Thompson Harvey Aluminum Special driven by Dan Gurney. I sat at my desk in my model room in our basement working at trying a scratch build of the car using the article and cut-away drawing in the June 1962 Car and Driver, while I listened to the radio broadcast. I’m still trying to create a model of that car! The first time I was able to “see” the whole race was the 1965 race when I went to a closed circuit broadcast at the city auditorium. I purchased tickets to the 1969 500 and the plan was to visit a buddy of mine who lived in Indianapolis after I returned from Viet Nam, but that spring he was transferred to Minneapolis so we sold the tickets. I still haven’t made it there for the race but hope to change that for next year’s race.

Paul Erlendson

[Michael Chriss]

Jun 21, 2013 8:03:53 GMT -5 gavkiwi said:

Jun 20, 2013 22:57:44 GMT -5 indy said:

I was a Papyrus junkie. Indy 500, IndyCar Racing 1&2, all NASCAR Racing versions, Corr Truck, and of course GPL. Indianapolis 500: The Simulation got me in trouble in Computer Science in high school. I'd quit my school work before it was done to play it. Still remember the thrill I got the first time I led a race in that sim. I always struggled with running the full 500 miles. For years and years, I had my base setup memorized - wings here, tires like so, etc, etc. Now I'd probably have to start over from scratch.

Once with a joystick, I decided I was going to sit there and just try to finish a full 500 with a goal of Top 5 so I wouldn't try too hard to stay out front. Made it to 10 to go and Al Jr (my only real competition) pitted shortly after a yellow when I made my final stop which gave me a huge lead. I had that Penske Chevy trimmed out with boost cranked up to the max. I figured if I blew it up, I still had a Top 5 in the bag. Even though I made it to the end, I still kind of thought running all out at the end it was kind of dumb - I should have coasted to the end. Of well, at least I was finally Indy 500 champion

Tried to download it off the web recently to play on my laptop but couldn't find the program I own two copies - original floppy and later on a game collection CD so I figured it wasn't really stealing.... BTW, I'd love to see this game redone with up to date sound and 3D graphics. I think it would be a really fun smartphone game still today.

Used to love that game - cranking up the boost on that Buick and trimming out the car to see what kind of speed records I could hit. Running 230mph into the wall at the end of the pitlane. Good memories

Jordan

I played that game so much, I remember doing close to 240mph laps in the buick but it would ALWAYS blow up, I won the race using the Penske, won by about 2 laps over 2nd, I wrote down all the results on a notepad, avg speed, etc etc, and have since lost that notebook in various moves. I actually was able to get this game running on a sony xperia play android device using an Amiga emulator and running the Indy 500 game, even with a fold out keypad / controller with lots of buttons, it was hard to play, but it ran smoothly, on a phone . Now when I play it on a PC, I am terribly slow, and the sense of speed I remember 20 years ago, is not there

I bought my first computer in 1990 just to play the Indy 500 game. I made a wheel out of a flying sim yoke, and re-wired the switches on the wheel to 2 pedals which were for starting and stopping audio recorders. This was before anyone made any kind of gaming wheel. But I had a wheel, gas and break pedal. They were on or off, but I didn't care, I was racing! Now I play a game called Rfactor. If you don't know about it, check it out. It is an open source game, and has tons of free downloadable cars and tracks. It has 1960 Indy, 94, & 95 CART, really cool F1 mods. The 1979 F1 mod is the shizzz. Driving the speedway in 1960 took some large attachments! I have total respect for those guys.

[Deleted]

I can't wait until Rfactor 2 gets an INDY mod

[gavkiwi]

Jun 24, 2013 21:34:18 GMT -5 @kyle182 said:

I can't wait until Rfactor 2 gets an INDY mod

oh yes, I am very familiar with rFactor , infact I recently re-installed it a couple of weeks ago, I really enjoy the 1998 cart factor mod, I actually painted a few Indy cars for that game, for the 1994/95 Indy car mod

1990 Foster's Porsche


1990 Galles Kraco Bobby Rahal


btw, impressive wheel that you made for Indy 500 sim, I love that game, to this day, I use to love going over the old winners in the instruction manual, I memorized so many of the stats of the previous winners because I loaded that game for what seems like 1000 times atleast.

[indy]

Jun 21, 2013 8:03:53 GMT -5 gavkiwi said:

I won the race... ...I wrote down all the results on a notepad, avg speed, etc etc...

Ditto

Jun 24, 2013 21:05:45 GMT -5 Michael Chriss said:

I made a wheel...

WOW just WOW That's awesome. I played Indy 500 with a keyboard for a long time then a joystick and finally eventually got a Thrustmaster T1 around the time IndyCar Racing came out. When I start league racing after I finally got high speed internet, I burned through Thrustmaster pedals like you would not even believe. Eventually got tired of them breaking down so right before I got married, I squeezed out a TSW purchase (queue Ferrari revving sounds in the background). Raced NR2003 with numerous mods online for years before switching to rFactor. Love them both and thankfully was successful in league racing in both sims. Was admin for a series for a few years which was fun but it burned me out on simracing in '09. So, I haven't raced online in leagues in years but I still enjoy simracing from time to time now. Actually spent some time with Simraceway the last week for so with an Xbox 360 controller on my laptop. Not an ideal controller but it does in a pinch. Need to get an rFactor activation going on my laptop though - this year's 24 Hours of LeMans had me jonesing for a late 60s LeMans race.

Jordan

[Michael Chriss]

I broke so many of the pedal springs in the Thrustmaster wheels. Luckily, They are not far from me and I got a bag with several replacement springs. I still have those wheels around somewhere I think. Good times.