The Museum

When I first met my Father-in-Law, we were friends from the moment we met. He was a car guy through and through. Since we had that in common, we could talk for hours on end. We had our differences, but we always respected each other. He was a Mopar Guy, I was a Chevy Guy. I had to admit to him several times that the Hemi was an awesome engine, but I also reminded him that the Chevy Small Block gave the Hemi a run for its money back in the day. Since the Hemi was known as an Elephant Motor due to its sheer size, the Chevy Small Block became known as the Mouse Motor. Only a Mouse can scare an Elephant. I recall many Memorial Day weekends in Lake Charles, watching the Indy 500 with Jim, my father-in-law. He knew everything about all the teams racing.

In July 1996, we all went to Indiana for my brother-in-law’s wedding. Mark and Sheila were married in her hometown of Columbus, Indiana. That was one of the trips I will never forget. While we were there, we also planned to visit the Indianapolis Speedway. As we pulled onto the Speedway property, I could see that Jim was in heaven. He knew everything about the Speedway and its history. We went to the museum, and while touring it, Jim went off on his own to look at all the different cars. I could tell that he knew all about each car. I mentioned to the curator that Jim was a lifelong fan of Indy racing, and this is a special occasion for him. The curator left and returned a few minutes later. He said that he has a special treat for Jim and a couple of other people who would like to join them. I went over to tell Jim this, and his curiosity was piqued. We met the curator at the desk area, and he said that where he is taking us, we are not to take any pictures and that this is an invitation-only tour. I know Jim, and I were getting really excited about this even though we had no idea what was in store. We got into an elevator, and when the door closed, the curator pressed the down button. We were obviously headed for the basement. When the door opened, we were looking at a large garage filled with all the Pace Cars that drove every Indy 500 race! There were also some other really rare cars down there, too. It was like we were kids let loose in a candy store! We had to sign a guest book before we could go looking around. As I signed it, I saw several names I recognized as famous drivers and celebrities. Honestly, today I can’t recall any of those names, but I do recall knowing who they were at the time.

The cars were grouped by year and left in the condition they were in when the driver drove off the track on race day. Since this was 1996, right in the middle was a blue Viper with white stripes that had paced the race a few weeks before. I looked in the Viper and saw a Coke can in the console cup holder. The curator said that Coke can remain there forever. Since the top was off the car, he said the only thing they would do was put it back on and park it in the next spot in line with the other cars. Since I own a ’78 Vette and that was the first year that Corvette paced the race, I immediately looked for the ’78 pace car. When I found it, I had to look it over. It was funny how we all went different directions to find a certain pace car that meant something to each of us. The ’78 pace car had only 48 miles on it. I can only imagine the value of that car, as well as all the cars in that garage. Not far from that Vette was a ’69 Camaro SS, white with orange stripes. I looked that one over, too. There were so many cars down there that I could not even guess at how many there were.

Some of the other cars I saw, which were not pace cars, belonged to celebrities who had donated them to the museum. I saw a 1953 Corvette owned by John Wayne, along with several other rare classics. To be able to lean over the car door of that ’53 Vette and look at an unrestored original that John Wayne drove was really special to me. This is what a museum was supposed to be like, and not roped off where you can’t get within 3 feet of the car. I understand that, to protect the cars, they have to be roped off, but this was really cool!!

As we left that area, it was sad that we would probably never see this again. Out in the parking lot, Jim said, “I know what heaven looks like! I was just there!”

Jim’s health started to fail after that trip. He moved closer to us so we could help look after him. In his last days, I would stop by every afternoon to spend some time with him. I tried to get permission to take him out for an hour or so to go for a drive, but because of his health, the staff at the retirement center would not let him go out, even for an hour. As we talked about earlier times, he always mentioned the basement beneath the Indy museum. I had to agree with him; I know what heaven looks like.