Missing: The real Indy-500 Snake-Pit.

"Grindintosecond" (Grindintosecond)
05/19/2014 at 09:37 • Filed to: None

The "Snake-Pit" at the Indianapolis 500 was not the morally safe organized vendor demo and beer garden presently occupying the inside of turn-three. The Snake-Pit was where I saw real boobs when I was 11. It's a collection of motorcycle and beer and mud-wrestling fans that were also enthusiasts of anything else as long as it was not proper social convention. Real boobs! For the first time! Duude! They were awesome...

The snake pit was inside turn-One. The snake pit was for the real fan of not events but by and for the fans of gathering together - during whatever event was at hand it didn't matter. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and, like me, I'm sure you will thank heaven for advancements in deodorant, sunscreen, decent beer, and facility drainage.

Inside of the 2.5 mile around speedway we can fit fifteen rose bowl stadiums. This is a lot of area to set up whatever camp you wish. Up until the 80's it was a largely undeveloped area. Cookouts, parties, and picnics were always part of the speedway history since it's inception over a hundred years ago but the partying really started to get big in the whole of the 70's and continued on until the speedway did something about it. They couldn't have flashing and mud-wrestling and streaking and...well...such an uncouth mess in a reputable establishment could they? They ended that with the construction of disabled viewership stands where the "pit" was inside of turn-one. They are nice I must admit and there is still a large motorcycle parking area nearby, but the "pit" moved on to the inside of turn-four, where nothing existed. Perfect debauchery landscaping to park the rockin' art-van.

Turn-four was lacking. The foot traffic in the area just wasn't there, so the relentless shouts of the terrifically successful "Show us your tits!" had no one to fall upon. The main gate was at the south of the track by turn-one. A museum was there. People had to go past turn-one to get to their seats or other places to view the qualifying and the race. Turn-four provided the worst possible thing: since there was zero flow of people traffic, people couldn't see them partying and have a chance to join in, or score a doobie, or a free beer in passing, or oblige the nice gentleman asking to see your tits. (This is the reason I was able to see boobs for the first time in my life as we were moving from the gate toward the garages we had passes for.) The "pit" in turn-four was not the same. That didn't matter, the speedway decided to get rid of them all by building a road course where they were. I suspect that was the real reason to bring F1 to the track. A $100 million investment in ridding the country club of the undesirables.

The snake pit still exists however not in the sense of it's namesake. To bring back any of it's former "glory", they would have to add copious amounts of drug use, uunrestrict the beer consumption, introduce mud wrestling and the world-class event of sleep-drunking, not to mention art-vans you were not supposed to knock on the door of if it was moving on it's own.

If attending the race this year, i hope you can get by without the real speedway experience and everything that it adds to your personal growth and development as a human being.

[EDIT: i did the math, I was 12]

DISCUSSION (24)

yamahog > Grindintosecond
05/19/2014 at 09:51

Sound like the Unadilla campgrounds back in the day!

ncasolowork2 > Grindintosecond
05/19/2014 at 09:56

While something like that has a time and a place if I'm trying to take my son to an event like that at a young age i'm glad they cleaned it up. As he gets older I might wish they had it back, but for the sake of parents trying to cull a generation of young fans I don't really think that atmosphere has a place unless the area is restricted to adults.

Grindintosecond > yamahog
05/19/2014 at 09:56

i had to go look that up. I can only imagine.

Grindintosecond > ncasolowork2
05/19/2014 at 10:03

Absolutely how I feel now. I do think most adults can't remember what it was like to be 10-15 so the care of their kids are dependent on their adult concerns. Of course perhaps they DO remember those years and definitely do NOT want their kids to experience growing up that way.

My childhood was protected, but that was me in 86 and that was the culture of large spectator events. Football/sporting event tailgates aren't the best places for kids either but people take families to the games. Now, definitely not as grandiose and over the line as in the past, but healthy doses of F words and bikinis are abound wherever events are.

I'm glad it's over but that was a part of the history of the track. Just like hippies were part of culture no matter how brief or smelly.

quarterlifecrisis > Grindintosecond
05/19/2014 at 10:03

I'm too young to have been in the real pit (27). But I've done a few tours of duty in the infield, and not the rehashed, "Let's call it the Snake Pit to get people to come feel like they're part of something" Snake Pit. We went old school, leaving Illinois at 5 something in the morning to be able to get parked in enough time that we could schlep our pallets of beer inside the track out to turn 3 and to get a decent spot high enough on the mounds. I don't know that I'll ever go out and do that again...I prefer my comfy aluminum benches and access to video boards. But, I've got some great memories. Or, at least my pictures say that.

Grindintosecond > quarterlifecrisis
05/19/2014 at 10:06

Yesss. And THAT was how it was done. video boards and the information at you is nice. Before the boards, it was the announcer and a radio of 1070am giving you all the information you needed all day long. It was a nice semi-unplugged way to be. (1070 still does the all day broadcasts so stream it on event days)

ncasolowork2 > Grindintosecond
05/19/2014 at 10:20

I'm not so sure I would have a problem with a teenager doing a walk-through of something like that, but I genuinely hope to get my son started racing as soon as he understands the concept (which shouldn't be too long even though he's only 18 months old)

quarterlifecrisis > Grindintosecond
05/19/2014 at 10:30

I always forget to bring a radio with me. The app never functions, even when away from the track. 1070 The Fan doesn't disappoint.

Sad I had to miss qualifying this year, but I still got 6 days in at the track prior to Carb Day, and that's with living 600 miles away now.

Grindintosecond > quarterlifecrisis
05/19/2014 at 10:32

i use the 'tunein' app and that that works nice on the phone. I used to go to pole day every year but that's not the same anymore like it was.

quarterlifecrisis > Grindintosecond
05/19/2014 at 10:36

I'm a big fan of Robin Miller, and his last couple pieces (from Saturday and Sunday) were great. Head over to Racer.com to check them out. I can say that I dislike everything being spec as it is now...but I don't know any other Indy. I've watched a lot of old 500s, and old CART races and can appreciate the differences, and would love to see it go back. I can't believe there were only 33 entrants though. No bumping, whatsoever. That's what's sad about it all to me.

I used to take living an hour away for granted. However, when things got rained out Tuesday, and I went over to the museum to check out the turbine car exhibit, and saw Dario walking around just as interested as me, that's what reminds me what's special about that place.

Grindintosecond > quarterlifecrisis
05/19/2014 at 10:42

That guy is so unusual in that. He loves history. I would love to see him with a chance to drive a turbine car. Other drivers could care less but he loves it.

I think it was 1993 or something when there were over 90 entrants. the bumping was insane on 'bubble day'. Engine blows, wrecks. All of Penske failed to Qualify. Talk about drama. Drivers on Sunday talked about the ragged edge but they were nowhere close compared to back then. I think well get back to multiple cars and engines, we just have to give it time. If they keep putting on great racing like they've been doing, theyll get the viewership and sponsor money back on track and then well have the 90's again. Especially if they are over 230 again next year. Only 6mph to go to the track record.

quarterlifecrisis > Grindintosecond
05/19/2014 at 10:48

True story.

Yep, and the 1993 fiasco led to them having the beast in 1994. 90 entrants though, I can't even fathom it. I read somewhere that there are around 70 DW12 tubs in existence...so...we could see 40+ (maybe) if people put up enough money. Not sure what they've done differently last year to this year, but speeds are up. Next year we'll see different aero, and the year after that they want to break the record for the 100th running. If you average speeds, this is the fastest 500 field ever. So, there's that.

Grindintosecond > quarterlifecrisis
05/19/2014 at 11:03

They do run the boost up for qualifying and then have the normal race boost capped lower. The bosses have that.

quarterlifecrisis > Grindintosecond
05/19/2014 at 11:05

I wasn't sure if they did that this year or not. It was pretty heavily publicized the last couple years...I remember actually having a quick chat with Beau in the garages in 2012, because of the Lotus....issue.

desertdog5051 > Grindintosecond
05/19/2014 at 12:27

Have not had a Stroh's in years. They still in business?

Grindintosecond > desertdog5051
05/19/2014 at 12:44

Pabst bought em in '99.

wiki: "currently produces Colt 45 malt liquor, Lone Star, Schaefer, Schlitz, Schmidt's, Old Milwaukee, Old Style, Stroh's, and St. Ides . The Miller Brewing Company got Mickey's Malt Liquor and Henry Weinhard's. Most other Stroh/Heileman brands disappeared after 2000."

Atl_boiler > quarterlifecrisis
05/30/2014 at 22:15

the tubs aren't the issue as much as engine availability... Need another engine supplier to come on board. With Michael's foray into rally cross and VW I wouldn't be opposed to them... Or anyone for that matter. Fiat, mini, etc

sdwarf36 > yamahog
05/31/2014 at 01:22

The other side sucks! Fuck the Russian! Burn the pond!

<—former hill person.

terpsman65 > Grindintosecond
05/31/2014 at 08:24

And The Bog at The Glen in the 70's. They stole and burned a tour bus from Brazil among other things. They didn't move it when the track re-opened but they filled it in and cleaned it up.

quarterlifecrisis > Atl_boiler
06/02/2014 at 07:56

Absolutely need someone else to come in, but at that point just was speculating how many cars could physically be present at the track.

Atl_boiler > quarterlifecrisis
06/02/2014 at 08:14

gotcha. I remember the days when there were cars available for anyone with a helmet... After about the first 40 or so the talent quickly dropped off.

quarterlifecrisis > Atl_boiler
06/02/2014 at 09:13

Yeah, the fact that its a spec series really do hinder a little bit of that. But, with money - anything is possible. My original post taht you commented on was from the Monday after qualifying - what I didn't mentione was that on the 12th when I was roaming around I spotted both Katherine Legge and Tristan Vautier in the garages. I'm sure it was trying to get a ride put together at the last minute - it's what Pippa Mann was doing in 2012, but with no success. Another engine manufacturer will certainly help the numbers get back up, and I think after the speeds we saw this year, and the fact that some cars outside the big 3 teams ran up front (here's lookin at you Townsend, Ed, and JR) the interest will continue to develop...now we just need people with $$$ to have the same developed interest.

Atl_boiler > quarterlifecrisis
06/02/2014 at 14:43

legge even had engines available from both companies but no team that wanted to make a chassis/crew available...

quarterlifecrisis > Atl_boiler
06/02/2014 at 15:18

Didn't realize she actually had some bullets that could've been placed in the proverbial chamber. I was honestly a little surprised Andretti didn't try and qualify a 6th car after EJ put in all the seat time shaking down the #27. I know he's out of money at this point, courtesy of some governmental issues, but you know they have other tubs and engines sitting around that he probably could've used to make a decent showing.