A Trip on The National Road
April 24th and 25th, I took a ride along the National Road from Indianapolis to Springfield, Missouri.
We started in Speedway (not actually on the National, but home of Carl Fisher’s Indy 500). Ate at Charlie Brown’s on Main Street of Speedway. For some reason, they had their walls covered with racing stuff (perhaps since it is about a quarter mile from the track). I highly recommend their Charlie Brown omelet.
Spent $3 for a very worthwhile bus trip around the track and another $3 for the museum. Money well-spent. There is a lot of history here, especially as they celebrate the 100th anniversary of the track this year and 100th Indy 500 race in 2011. I especially liked the Pagoda, Gasoline Alley, pole, and original brick start and finish line. It is called the Brickyard because at one time the whole track was made of it. This start-finish line is all that’s left.
The museum has lots of early race cars, including Fisher’s bored-out race car to meet weight limits (he didn’t make it). There are also many winning cars on display.
Plenty of goodies for the racing fan in the two shops. I hadn’t intended to buy much because I am not a big race fan, but ended up getting lots of items with this year’s Indy 500 date on it, since it is also my birthday.