http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/bloghome.aspxA field guide to 500 fever and Month of May events.en-usCopyright 2013, IndianapolisMonthly-NASat, 18 May 2013 09:59:14 GMTFri, 26 Apr 2013 21:56:01 GMT1http://emmisinteractive.comIt’s starting to feel like the Month of May is just around the corner, and not only because May 1 is less than a week away. We admit it: We’ve been distracted by IU basketball’s (dashed) national-title hopes, March Madness at Lucas Oil Stadium, and the Pacers’ playoff prospects. But the hoopla leading up to the Indianapolis 500 is getting harder to ignore. On Saturday, rising pop star and Indiana native Jon McLaughlin is opening for chart-topping singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw at the 500 Festival's free “Rev Your Engines” concert on Monument Circle (7 p.m.). It’s just the first of many big-name (and some eyebrow-raising) pre–Indy 500 musical acts that have been announced in recent months: In January, the 500 Fest announced that Foreigner would provide the entertainment at the Snakepit Ball on May 25 (6 p.m., Indiana Roof Ballroom, $275). Event hostess Cindy Simon Skjodt admits in IM’s upcoming ...http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10536925EWest@indymonthly.emmis.com (Evan West)http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10536925Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:56:01 GMTRacecar driver Zach Veach was included among CNN’s “Most Intriguing People of 2010.” ESPN The Magazine picked him as one of its “NEXT” athletes in 2011. He’s met Oprah. All this, and Veach is still the youngest driver in the Firestone Indy Lights Series. Even with the precocious resume, though, the 18-year-old Andretti Autosport prodigy considers himself a “late bloomer.” Although many racers begin driving as early as 4, Veach explains, he didn’t get into go-karts until he was 12, in his hometown of Stockdale, Ohio. But before long, Dave Fisher—father to popular Indy 500 driver and owner Sarah Fisher—took Veach under his wing. The young phenom has made up for lost time since then: He holds a Firestone Indy Lights series track record on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and is currently training for the IMS Firestone Freedom 100 on May 24. Despite the star treatment, Veach ...http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10514660http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10514660Fri, 08 Mar 2013 15:56:53 GMTIf you haven’t caught the documentary For Gold and Glory on WFYI 1 Public Television, you might be unfamiliar with the story of Charlie Wiggins, the mechanic whom Indy 500 champ Bill Cummings credited for his 1934 win. In the early 20th century, Wiggins, an Indianapolis resident, came to be known as the “Negro Speed King” in African-American newspapers for his prowess on racetracks, and he was widely considered the nation’s best African-American racecar driver of the early 20th century. (He might have been the best overall, though he was barred from competing in segregated events, including the Indianapolis 500, because of his race.) Wiggins’ legacy will live on at A Tribute to Racing Legend Charlie Wiggins, an event schedule this Saturday (May 25, noon) at the IPS Crispus Attucks Museum (1140 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. St.). Wiggins’ niece and great-niece will be on hand at the ceremony, ...http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10386639rberfanger@indymonthly.emmis.com (Rebecca Berfanger)http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10386639Mon, 11 Feb 2013 19:36:00 GMTThe Indianapolis 500 has come and gone—and what a race it was—and the figures are in. Here's a rundown of important numbers from this latest installment in "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing": $2.47  Million, Dario Franchitti's pay for winning his third Indy 500 (and we don't think he spent it all here) 10  Drivers who have accomplished that feat 16  Franchitti's starting position—and the only previous 500 winner to start 16th was his friend Dan Wheldon in 2005 $13.28  Million, the total purse divided among the 500's 33 starting drivers 91  Degrees, in Fahrenheit, the high temperature in Indy on Race Day, tying the 1919 and 1953 numbers as second-hottest ever 220,000  Attendance, estimated, as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway does not release an official number 34  Lead changes among 10 drivers in this 96th running of the race, a record 200 Laps in the race, around the ...http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10389938JPScott@indymonthly.emmis.com (Jonathan Scott)http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10389938Mon, 04 Jun 2012 21:34:06 GMTWhen you’re a reporter, you’re supposed to keep fandom to yourself. Cheering (and, sadly, beer) is frowned upon in sporting-arena press boxes. There’s never a sign telling you not to; you’re just supposed to know, much the same as no sign tells you to wear pants in public. It’s okay to be breathless in your description of high sports drama, so long as the excitement is not tied to one side in the contest. And you’re not supposed to fawn over the competitors (a dictum many of ESPN’s reporters and commentators seem to have lain aside, but I digress). I share all this to put my egregious behavior of last Sunday night into context. I was at an Indianapolis 500 after-party downtown with some colleagues, which we planned to cover here on the May Madness pages of IndianapolisMonthly.com. We thought that, as rookie driver Wade Cunningham was hosting the event, ...http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10388548EWest@indymonthly.emmis.com (Evan West)http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10388548Thu, 31 May 2012 01:39:06 GMTOn Sunday night, close to 12 miles away from the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, another spectacle played out at a more-modest racetrack across town: the First Annual United States Figure 8 Championship 90-minute World Figure 8 Enduro race at Indianapolis Speedrome (802 S. Kitley Ave.), on the edge of the eastside Irvington neighborhood. For me, the Speedrome is a piece of home—during the summer, I can often hear the announcer and cars from my house. On nights the track shoots off fireworks, I can see them from my front porch. But I usually only catch one or two races there each season, which, I realized after going last weekend, is kind of a shame. While qualifications began late Sunday afternoon and races started around 7 p.m., the real show, the World Figure 8 Enduro, started at around 9 p.m. Some of the sunburns would indicate fans had been at the ...http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10388265rberfanger@indymonthly.emmis.com (Rebecca Berfanger)http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10388265Wed, 30 May 2012 16:14:12 GMTTop Indy 500 drivers—and their fans and arm candy—descended on downtown’s Sensu late Sunday night for the "Big Finish" party. First-time 500 driver Wade Cunningham hosted the affair, where dance songs zoomed by as uproariously as an Indy car, and where the day's big winner himself elected to celebrate race night. Just after 1 a.m., Dario Franchitti strode through the front door at Sensu, looking relaxed and cool in a white t-shirt and black baseball hat. The three-time Indy 500 victor walked around the club’s front bar without any obtrusive bodyguards to block fans’ handshakes or cellphone photos. Franchitti and second-place finisher, teammate Scott Dixon, talked and laughed near the popping, packed dance floor. Franchitti’s wife, Ashley Judd, herself a native of Oscar bonanzas, skipped the party entirely. Franchitti and Dixon weren’t the only top drivers who picked Sensu to wind down and cool off after one of the hottest ...http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10387510http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10387510Tue, 29 May 2012 13:53:29 GMTMost of the stars we expected to be on the Indianapolis 500 Red Carpet today were (Howie Mandel, Olivia Newton-John, Gladys Knight, et al). Some we expected weren't (Rick Springfield). And some surprised us, like disgraced Major League Baseball hit king Pete Rose, who appears to have consulted a stylist since we remember last seeing him. Bye-bye, Joan of Arc haircut and ill-fitting suit. Hello, fedora and designer shades and jeans. And who's the arm candy? Must be Playboy bunny wannabe Kiana Kim. Seems Pete still knows how to get on base. >> See our photo gallery of all the stars who came out in the daytime heat. Other random observations from the Indy 500 Red Carpet: > An Indianapolis Star reporter we won't name tried to impress Howie Mandel by asking about an obscure project from the '70s. Mandel was not impressed. > Guy Fieri, practically an ...http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10387278EWest@indymonthly.emmis.com (Evan West)http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10387278Tue, 29 May 2012 13:49:09 GMTEditor's Note: We must be sadists. IM intern Myrydd Wells had never been to a Carb Day concert. So today, without mercy, we sent her—alone—to the Lynyrd Skynyrd concert at IMS. When we cautioned that it might get rowdy, and asked if she was sure she wanted to go, she reassured us. "I went to IU," she said. "I've seen it all." This is what she brought back. Spectators beware: Carb Day is not for the faint of heart. Between dodging one’s way through swarms of the highly intoxicated, sitting in endless lines of traffic in an attempt to find parking, and, of course, sweating out all the water in one's body in temperatures approaching 90 degrees, going out to the track can be a daunting task. But for race fans and party enthusiasts, all this trouble seems to be worth it. I made my way onto the grassy field ...http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10387184http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10387184Tue, 29 May 2012 13:46:11 GMTThe sun-drenched and sweaty masses came out for international DJ and electronic artist Benny Benassi in this morning's Snake Pit, that patch of grass in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Turn 3 infield where revelers take in thumping beats and cans of beer. This party quite literally boils down to this: A trashy hipster prom in daytime heat. Bikinis and boat shoes, beers and shades—this crowd sports and slurps it all. And finds a way to co-opt a techno song's beat as a catalyst for chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A!" So be it. >> See our album of shots from the Snake Pit scene. Chicago DJ trio Krewella opened for Benassi and got the scene hopping. Well done, and in light of the fact that most attendees probably turned in late last night. Dancers accompanying the DJs accessorized with stringy green wigs, tattered fishnet stockings, and, fittingly, racecar driver helmets. Show ...http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10387277JPScott@indymonthly.emmis.com (Jonathan Scott)http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/maymadness/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10387277Tue, 29 May 2012 13:32:14 GMT