pace car | Steph

Pole Day and Bump Day…the beginning of something great.

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Stephanie

Even though the Indianapolis 500 and my time as a 500 Festival Princess are long gone, I still have so many events that I have yet to blog about! So….the saga continues.

The weekend before the big race is the Breakfast at the Brickyard, which is when the 500 Festival Queen is crowned. It is also a special morning/day because all the mayors in Indiana come, and it is the first day of qualifications for the race, aka Pole Day. So obviously, it was a pretty big day, and one that I was personally looking forward to, because my parents were going to be able to come and I was going to spend the whole day with them instead of just seeing them periodically. To make it even more exciting, one of the banks in my hometown actually bought a table at the Breakfast, so there was great representation from my town, which meant so much to me, and it just made the day that much more fun.

: Everyone who came from my hometown…

Just hanging out by a pace car....

After the breakfast was over, we got to change, and it was time for me to show my Mom and Dad around the Speedway. I took them to the garages, and we sat and watched the qualifications, which was great because it was really the first IndyCar/Indy 500 experience for all three of us. Sadly, it took most of the day for me to really understand what was going on, but by the end of the day….I knew what was coming….what had happened that day…and why it was all so important. Basically…it was a big day of learning for me.

Watching the first day of actual qualifications....Pole Day!

The day after Pole Day was Bump Day, where they fill the spots for the entire field of 33 that weren’t filled the day before. This was the day that I basically fell in love with IndyCar….because I stuck around until the very end of the day, when a couple of drivers were literally “bumped” out of the field. Between waiting to see how the weather turned out (it rained for awhile, which held up any activity on the track, which was a serious problem for some drivers who were running out of time to actually qualify), and waiting to see if all of our favorite drivers would make it in, it was an exciting and somewhat stressful day….because we were all pulling for someone different. But, I loved it…and from this point on I officially am an IndyCar fan.

Tagged: 500 festival, 500 festival princess, breakfast at the brickyard, bump day, indianapolis 500, indianapolis motor speedway, indy 500, indycar, pace car, pole day | 2 Comments

The 500 Festival Princess Life….

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Stephanie

As a part of the Princess Program, once they select the 33 princesses, we have interviews and do some other things to help select the queen and court members. So, one of those things is that at a reception for the program we give speeches about ourselves, or anything we want to talk about, in front of our parents and family members, the directors, and past princess. It was a beautiful reception, and I loved having all of my family there at an event for the first time. We don’t get to be all together much anymore, because we basically each live 2.5-3 hours away from each other (imagine a triangle that reaches from southern Indiana to central Indiana to central Illinois). So getting to be a real family again was rather great…..

My family and I....

The reception was in downtown Indianapolis at the Westin, and there were all different 500 Festival or race themed decorations. Like….

: The fancy ice sculpture…

And….

: The 1969 Camaro pace car….which is the car that this year’s pace car is modeled after.

This weekend is race weekend, so my time as a 500 Festival Princess is winding down quickly. It has been an amazing ride and opportunity so far, and I absolutely cannot wait to get to experience my first Indy 500 ever this weekend. (I am now officially a racing fan!) From the Memorial Service to the Parade to the actual race and everything else that is happening this weekend, it will be wonderful but still outrageously busy. So keep checking back, because I have so many events to still blog about!