Farid Ahmad had attended the IndyCar race in Toronto, but always had the Indy500 on his bucket list.
On the weekend of May 24-26, 2024, the President and Founder of Dealer Solutions Mergers & Acquisitions made the trip to Indianapolis to attend the historic race with his wife, Kim, and sons, Payam, 28, and Cameron, 26. He “finally made the plunge” when his sons were in their 20s so they could appreciate the race.
Farid booked an exclusive VIP package a year ago through an organization called Princeton Group Sports that provides hotel accommodation, access to see the cars up close and learn about the history of the race, grandstand seating and police escort to and from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
They arrived Friday night, and the following day they and the others who booked the package were taken to the track and given a view of the cars and then went to a massive parade. The next day they left at nine in the morning for the start of the race at noon.
“If you didn’t leave at nine, you’d never get in,” Farid said. “When you’re going, every house around the speedway is jammed with cars.”
A torrential rainstorm pushed back the scheduled start time four hours but did not dampen Farid and his family’s enthusiasm. Farid marvelled seeing trucks with blowers on the back that dried off the track.
Before the race started, singer Jim Cornelison and the Purdue Marching Band performed Back Home Again In Indiana.
“It was so patriotic hearing the crowd, it was quite moving,” Farid said. “It’s indescribable, very much so. It was 1,000 percent unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. I couldn’t express it any better than that.”
Then came the most famous words in motorsports, “Drivers Start Your Engines,” which was done by Roger Penske, Chairman of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“There was massive excitement from the crowd, everyone was standing, what I didn’t realize was how many people were on the track by each car until the drivers started their engines,” Farid said. “It’s fricking loud. You have to wear earplugs.”
What made the experience even more enriching was the final lap that saw Josef Newgarden of Team Penske repeat as the winner, edging Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren in a tight finish.
“I didn’t realize how close it was, it was just fabulous,” Farid said.
He described the entire experience as phenomenal.
“I had never seen so many people at an event as you do at the Indy500 and so much enthusiasm from supporters,” Farid said. “I had never met so many people who had been going to it consistently for like 20 years. It was amazing.”
He said anyone who has never been to the race should experience it at least once.
“I think you really got to feel the energy in the crowd, the race is fantastic, the engineering of these cars is just ridiculous,” Farid said. “It’s the closest thing to F1 obviously, but the Indy is such a large scale because of the people, the cars and all that stuff.”
He said the whole night after the race he and his family were talking about the experience.
“It’s one thing you can’t come down very easy from,” Farid said. “It was just phenomenal.”
Perry Lefko is the Content Manager of The Car Magazine. He can be reached at [email protected]. Feel free to forward any story suggestions or comments.