FAST CARS & CORN FIELDS

The weather hasn't been good in Indianapolis. Yesterday it was a little bit of everything, Sleet, Snow Flurries, Rain and yes it was COLD.  This morning when I got up there was a coating of Ice on my car, so I checked the weather and found that there were a number of accidents on the Interstates around where I was. The Traffic App on my phone showed a lot of yellow and red on the road, so I chilled at the Motel for a while to give the traffic and weather a chance to clear.

When I finally hit the road it was just a short 20-miles jaunt down to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Museum and Track Tour only cost $10.00, which I thought was really reasonable considering the legendary status of the Speedway.

The Famed Yard of Bricks

The Track Tour consisted of a lap around the track in a 15-passenger bus. There is only one stop at the start-finish line and you could not exit the bus.  They call the speedway "The Brickyard," because the speedway was once entirely paved in bricks. Today the only bricks left are the famous "yard of bricks" that make up the start-finish line.

Once I finished with the track tour, I headed inside to the IMS Museum. While it is a relatively small museum they have it packed with a number of vintage cars that document the history of speed.  While it is packed, it is not cluttered and all over the cars are well displayed. Probably my favorite was the first rocket car used by Craig Breedlove to set a number of speed land speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

I can remember back in the 60's, my dad and I ventured down to the old Cedar Hills Dragway in Cedar Bluff to see another of the rocket cars that was owned by Art Afons. I don't remember much about the day except the car was called "The Green Monster and it was really loud. One other thing I remember is that it wrecked on its first run and the driver was critically hurt.  If I remember right, the driver's legs were cut off just below the knees as a result of the wreck.

Despite the weather, I enjoyed my visit, but after a couple of hours it was time to leave and head west toward the Land of Lincoln.

After a quick lunch just west of Indianapolis, I crossed into Illinois a little while later.  There is not much to see in western Indiana and Illinois except Corn and Soy Bean Fields.  Thankfully the family farms are alive and going strong. The temperature has gotten up to about 38 as I neared Champaign-Urbana and it was still misting rain as I pulled up to Assembly Hall on the Campus of the University of Illinois.  The wind was blowing with made it seem colder. So I grabbed a few photos of bot Assemby Hall and Memorial Stadium.  Assembly Hall is a large white dome arena that looks like a flying saucer that has landed in the middle of an Illinois Corn Field.

It was too cold to tarry long so it was back to the Interstate and the 90-mile trek south to Springfield, where I am spending the night. Tomorrow I will spend the day here before heading south to St. Louis.