People have said with wry smiles that the first auto race took place when the second car was produced. Funny. Yeah, there's some truth to it. There was Paris to Rouen in 1894 and the following year America got into the act with the snowy November Chicago Times-Herald's Chicago to Evanston go.

As the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 approaches in 2016 I suspect you'll see some pretty predictable and well-worn reflections on the race and the track's history. I like to consider the events that led up to the conception of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the context of the times.

Pat Kennedy - racing enthusiast, race car collector, Indianapolis business executive and a man with a family history of entering cars in the great Indianapolis 500 is also an author. A big-time racing historian, Pat is also an author of wonderful trivia books about the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

I love history obviously. One of the byproducts is that it helps me project into the future.
Check out my recent The 405 Media radio interview and our discussion about the state of "IndyCar" and what could be done to save it.