A Return to the Brickyard

First Super Speedway is dedicated to motor racing history with a particular emphasis on the first quarter century of auto racing in America. I do stray from the primary objective with topics that provide perspective (which is the whole purpose of a study of history afterall) or those that simply interest me.
 
I have long believed the soul of American auto racing that lives however subdued at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is about the track's history and even earlier, during the formative days of  the sport before the grand cathedral existed. The Speedway began in the imagination of a small group of men and most squarely in the kinetic gray matter of of their leader the relentless Carl Fisher. I discovered within the last year an article written by the first Director of Contests of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Ernie Moross, in 1909. Moross posited even as the track was born that its history had actually started in spirit several years earlier. It was an amazing experience to read the perspective of a man who lived decades before me express the very thoughts swirling in my mind.
 
The contributions of such noteworthy personalities of the early days live on today long after the public's memory of who these people were has faded. Some of the leading lights of the day are documented on this site. Among those most compelling are Fisher and the co-founders of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; Barney Oldfield; Moross; William K. Vanderbilt Jr.; Louis Chevrolet; Bob Burman; Lewis Strang; Ray Harroun and Joan Cuneo. I am thankful to a host of people so inspired by this content they have made contributions to First Super Speedway - pictures, art and occasionally articles. Our hearts connect if over nothing else than a silent understanding of something I can't put words to but moves my spirit.
 
There is no venue in America more suited to house and symbolize the legacy of the first luminaries than the Speedway, aka the Brickyard. I was all the more convinced of this after visiting the amazing Goodwood Festival of Speed in England in 2012. No words can adequately describe this massive confluence of automotive and motorsport heritage melded with the absolute zenith of emerging technology. Among rolling hills of both pasture and forest prized cars of the past driven by heroes of another age stand tall among state-of-the-art super cars that owe their wonder to what came before them. Everyone not only seems to know that but respect it as well. I eagerly soaked in the reverence for what was. I also contemplated my own role and the roles of those I shared the moment with - all fellow passengers to the grave - as we do what we can to contribute something of intrinsic worth to a common interest in a better or simply more enjoyable world. Indeed it is okay to strive to be happy and find that path by making others so.
 
The reverence for history at Goodwood is not just palpable. It is alive and joyous. Lord March, the leader of the fulfilling, vibrant celebration of not only what was and what is but what can be shows us how the accomplishments of the past are all alive and entitled to co-exist reconciled as equally essential as the wonder of the latest, greatest must-have.
 
This is at Goodwood and as it should be at the Brickyard because it is blessed with a soul - what a marketer smart enough to understand the place calls its brand. History is not a drab, dead collection of statistics or images of irrelevant people in black and white photos. While the technology of our predecessors is not as advanced as what we enjoy today, it is because they had to start with less than what they gave us when they passed. We did nothing to earn what they provided and we can only honor their gift by building positively upon it and being thankful for the platform.
 
There is a hunger among those who literally worship at the grounds of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for such a presentation of reverence. Most cannot put their desires into words but only know an aching void. The energy of their yearning is obvious year after year as each season misses the mark and passes unfufilled.
 
The reasons for this continuous hollow delivery are many but none are greater than to simply say that the soul of the Brickyard lives not in those entrusted with its management but in those who visit, observe and invest their time and treasure in chasing a shadow that unfortunately lives more in their hearts than what has in recent years been manifested on the grounds. It is circumstance that has delivered this reality and the solution is as unclear as the future is in doubt. The situation is deeply troubling to many still clinging to not just what was but also what could be - with just a little imagination and a lot of hard work, but nothing compared to what it took to birth the place.
 
Meanwhile many of the formerly enchanted have withdrawn in disappointment and while others persist, they are for the most part wrapped in melancholy. Perhaps it is this current darkness that will provide the setting for a glorious emergence. Can it be that somehow some heroes will appear to design a new and stirring awakening?
 
This is my fondest hope for what we will witness this June at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the form of an elaborate vintage automobile race. The culmination will be a return to competition for men and women - a handful of whom are listed in the attached - who onced pitted their skills and the snarling mechancial beasts that carried them against each other on a motor racing stage more glorious than grand.
 
Attached is a news release that tells the story of a tiny embryo of hope. Misunderstood by those who reside in the offices of the great Speedway as an ancillary event to simply make a few dollars by utilizing the facility a few more days out of the year the story of the "Brickyard Invitational" may surprise the myopic as the last best hope to illuminate a path to a better future - by understanding the power of our past can make it clear who we really are.