When I was a kid I always knew I would end up in the Hall of Fame. I was never really specific about which one. Turns out I’m too short for basketball, glasses don’t fit well under a football helmet, and I don’t look as cute as I once did in my Speedo. My sister recently sent me a shirt that says, “World’s Okayest Brother.” That shirt sums it up. Luckily for me, there is one other way to gain entry into The Hall in Indy: Pay the $8 for general admission to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.
If you’ve been following my Indy’s Child journey, you already know how my dreams of Indy Car glory were destroyed and why I’m probably not taking the kids to the Indy 500 this year.
You probably wouldn’t be surprised if I told you the museum is located within the track of the historic Speedway. However, it may surprise you to know that the museum has more than 70 vehicles located inside. This is probably the only garage in America that could make Jay Leno jealous. The cars range from a 1920’s Bentley, to the most current Daytona 500 “winning” NASCAR. Best part: It doesn’t smell like a garage. So if the smell of rubber and oil gives you a headache, you have nothing to worry about with this one.
The cars range from the pre-Indy 500 beasts that look oddly similar to a tractor to the 1980’s Indy cars that are the ones that made my Hot Wheel collection the envy of the neighborhood, to the ultra modern cars from the most recent races.
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Each car is marked with the year it won, the driver who won in it, and a little background about the car or the race. It’s a lot of really cool information for the race history buff in your family.
If your kids are like mine, however, they may have a hard time walking slowly and taking in all of the cool information on the signs. So to that end, I offer you this Hall of Fame Scavenger Hunt to keep your little kids busy while you and your bigger kids learn all the race history your hearts can handle:
FIND:
- A pink car
- A car with a driver named Bill
- A car sponsored by a product you like
- A car sponsored by a product you don’t like
- A purple car
- A car which has all the letters in your name on it (not necessarily all together)
- A car that won the 500 in the year you were born
- The oldest car in the museum
- The newest car in the museum
- A car that can seat more than one person
- A pretend Danica Patrick in her car
If you’re taking your littles, I hope the hunt buys you enough time to read up on all your favorite cars and take in the history of the museum. Do like I did to my wife, Katie, tell her: “I heard that Lady Mary Crowley married a race car driver this season on Downton Abbey, and there are plenty of 1920’s cars…”. All that PBS Masterpiece Classic I sat through finally paid off. If that doesn’t work, promise her a nice day out of the house enjoying this spring weather.
MORE INFO: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum is located at 4790 W. 16th St, Indianapolis inside the track between turns 1 and 2. The entrance is located inside the Main Gate, marked by a white “Hall of Fame Museum Entrance” sign. Admission: $10/adults, $5/youth ages 6-15, free for ages 4 and under. Although open every day except for Thanksgiving and Christmas, hours vary based on the time of year: 9am-5pm from March-October and 10am-4pm in November-February. Call {317} 492-6784 or visit their website for additional details.
In late June, 2007 Luis Ruvacalba removed his laundry from the dryer to find that he had rendered all of his undershirts pink and shrunk his favorite red University of Arizona sweater.
At that point – as he says: “I realized: I need a wife. I married Katie in Sept of 2007. Aside from one lousy pen left in my pants pocket and numerous dried on Conner Prairie stickers, the laundry has gone pretty well since then.” Luis has four children: Maggie- 7, Micah- 5, Millie- 2, and Merritt- 1. Each of them helps him sharpen his parenting skills in new and unique ways. “Without Maggie I’d never have learned to put on tights. Without Micah I would have the weakest MMA fighting skills on the block. Millie challenges me to improve my search and rescue abilities. Merritt gives me weekly lessons in Matrix style urine dodging. Together we are the greatest family to ever ruin your family’s nice quiet afternoon at the park.”
Follow along with Luis as he helps shows you the best places to let your family run wild.
