Celebrating Indy

 

Road Skiing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 
May 1978

Celebrating Today’s Indianapolis 500 

The Indianapolis 500 is upon us and my claim to fame as a ski racer is that I roller skied the Motor Speedway in early May of 1977. Here’s the story. 

Forty-five years ago, I moved from Rumford, Maine, to the flatlands of Indianapolis for work. For those who know Rumford, I skied for Chummy Broomhall and Herb Adams; later I became Rumford’s coach. 

For exercise after work, I road skied the straight, flat streets of Indy. Everyone stared. Some flagged me down and asked questions; others pointed and laughed. On a rural road just beyond the suburbs, a carload of teenagers drove up behind me, blared the car horn and screamed out the windows—I went ass over tea kettle into the soft shoulder. 

During the winter of ’78, we had a wicked blizzard in Indiana. Everything in the city shut down for nearly a week—except me. I corked in Special Blue and had a blast. 

The next summer I wrote an article about my skiing experience in Indianapolis. With a photographer friend in tow, I skied the city streets and then snuck onto the Speedway. As I cruised down the straightaway toward the yard of bricks—going the wrong way—a metallic voice blasted over the speakers: “Now there’s something you don’t see at Indy every day.” Tourists pointed and car mechanics looked away from the cars… and I didn't get arrested. Soon after, I moved back to Maine.