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Speaker 1: Only a best run here of the Indianapolis five hundred.
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Speaker 2: Who do you feel we'll have to be this year's race?
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Speaker 3: People like a Jay Point and Bobby Anceer Press and five.
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Speaker 4: Chicker fla absolutely and incredible Hanny Sullivan's fun in front of Mario and Freddy Hey j.
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Speaker 5: Haven An he has.
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Speaker 6: Five hundred beyond the bricks with Jake Querry and Mike Thompson brought to you by Quality Supply and Tool Think outside the box Store on ninety three five and one o seven five the fans.
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Speaker 7: Outside the box Store is where we are because we are inside the Hensley Legal Group Race Command Center. It happens higher Hensley. Good evening to you on this Thursday, getting set and getting ready for the weekend of Grand Prix racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But the conversation tonight once again will be about the Indianapolis five hundred mile race, the history, the audio, the personalities that make it the greatest race at the greatest sports venue in the world. And again my name is Jake Querry. Mike Thompson is the man that puts all the audio together. Landon Koons is our master architect that helps produce each and every show for us and Mike. When you talk about the race, and you talk about certainly this year with the two hundred and fiftieth birthday of the United States, then we start thinking about nineteen seventy six and the bi centennial year, and there were so many special things in the state of Indiana and nationwide about the year nineteen seventy six. It goes without saying, for example, I don't have to tell people in Indiana about the fact that Indiana was the last unbeaten college basketball team. That happened in the nineteen seventy six season and all of the bi centennial celebrations, but the one big event that took place, I'm not going to say that it wasn't celebrated, but just never really got the chance to put forth its best exhibition was that nineteen seventy six Indianapolis five hundred race, because it was one that obviously Mother Nature decided that it was going to be abbreviated.
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Speaker 8: Yeah, that was that stretch of years where it seemed like the rain interrupted several years in a row. I mean seventy three there was an interruption, obviously, and it ended early and then seventy four was nice, and then seventy five ended early, seventy six ended early. So they had that run of really bad luck several years in a row there in the seventies.
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Speaker 7: So the nineteen seventy sixth race just one hundred and two laps. Johnny Ruttherford was the polsitter in that race, And of course I think many would tell you that they never really even got the chance to find out exactly how wide open or how their car would be, because it was the clouds that would become wide open the rain would fall.
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Speaker 9: And here's how it sounded on the.
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Speaker 7: Speedway radio network when the Indianapolis five hundred race was called on account of rain.
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Speaker 2: We had an announcement here and a lot of the streaming, but I didn't pick it up to listen to you.
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Speaker 9: Jeffred, what are you say, seriously?
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Speaker 5: I think they're going to bring the car up to the victory circle here, they're.
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Speaker 2: Going to put it up on the ram.
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Speaker 10: That'll be Johnny Rutherford drew champion from Fort Worth, Texas.
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Speaker 9: And that's five champions in one.
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Speaker 11: He's got four champions partner.
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Speaker 2: Runs in that automobile Elan one in the.
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Speaker 7: Seat and of course for Johnny Rutterford, as you heard there, it would be a second win. He of course had won the race in nineteen seventy four as well. But just for good measure, let's hear how the television broadcast covered it. Here's ABC Television announcing Johnny Ruttherford the winner of the nineteen seventy six five hundreds.
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Speaker 12: Announcement for three d.
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Speaker 13: The next two or three also teen seventy six winner is Johnny Luckefer.
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Speaker 2: It's all over A J.
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Speaker 12: Foyd literally brought a man key. He's by thing right now, walking up in then no idea where he's going. Circum Johnny Ruttherford being escorted by the press and one by the photographers headed towards Victory Lane with his wife Betty. What a stream bizarre finished in nineteen seventy sixth Indianapolis five hundred. We'll meet him in Victory Lane.
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Speaker 14: In a minute.
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Speaker 7: And in terms of the AJ Foyd walking around not really knowing where he's going, what that means obviously, though, Mike is just the incredulous nature for a J.
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Speaker 9: Foyt.
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Speaker 7: Because to this day there are people that believe that he might have had the car that was going to push Johnny Rutterford in the second half of that race.
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Speaker 9: But of course we'll never know.
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Speaker 8: That's right, I mean, he was truly a man cage by fate. He could have won the race. It would at the distance, but we'll never know, as you said, because of the rain intervened.
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Speaker 9: His nickname is Lone Star Jr.
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Speaker 7: And he was the biggest star in nineteen seventy six, Johnny Rutheford on winning that Indianapolis five hundred.
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Speaker 11: I was in the car and had to cover over it, and we were all wrapped in and they took covers off and was getting ready for Tony to give the restart engines command, and the rains the bottom fell out and it just rained. And of course it had taken three hours to get the track ready to run on when it started raining before, and that meant another three hours and it would have been too dark to finish it. And so Betty and I got I got to be the first driver to walk into victory Lane rather than drive in. So well that was you know, the old lady smiled at me on that one. But anyway,
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that was my second one, and it was you know, any way you can win. It is okay, but.
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Speaker 9: Still, uh, it.
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Speaker 11: Would have been would have been good to go on and finish the race and see how it would have turned out.
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Speaker 7: And of course he would come back, can win a third race in nineteen eighty would Johnny Rudtherford. One of the things, Mike, that is often the case with the Indianapolis five hundred is you can look back at a box score and realize that in the moment something may have been happening that you were not aware would become historic or of note well after the fact. That includes for those that were listening to the race in nineteen seventy six, Sid Collins, who I think clearly if you listen to this program, you know, was the master of ceremonies, of everything having to do with the race, but certainly the most synonymous anchor when it comes to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio network.
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Speaker 9: He is the.
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Speaker 7: Founder of that and will always be, I think, the chief announcer, if you will. But we later would come to know what we didn't know at that time, Mike, and that is that nineteen seventy six was the final race broadcast for Sid Collins.
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Speaker 8: Yeah, that's correct, Sid, Sid was ill And what we didn't know at the end of the seventy six broadcast is that when Sid says goodbye, it truly was goodbye, because he would not appear on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio network as the chief announcer again. So it was a really poigning goodbye when you think about it, as you said in the moment, it's Sid saying goodbye and we'll see him again next year. But unfortunately we didn't see him again next year.
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Speaker 7: He would pass in May of nineteen seventy seven before the running of the Indianapolis five min a mile race. And this is how Sid Collins said farewell on the broadcast for that particular installment of nineteen seventy six.
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Speaker 2: And now this final thought for our winner. Enthusiasm with wisdom will carry a man further than any amount of intellect without it. The men who have most powerfully influenced the world have not been so much men of genius as they have been men of strong conviction, with an enduring capacity for work coupled with enthusiasm and determination. Johnny about Theford showed these qualities to day and becoming victorious over the Indianapolis five hundred each year, many of you write asking for the sign off quote such as the one I just recited. If you wish a copy, send a self address stamped envelope along with your request to me care of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, Indiana, Sid Collins, Indianapois Motor Speedway, Indianapolis. Be sure to include a self addressed stamped envelope so in next May, this is Sid Collins, the voice of the five hundred wishing you good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, depending upon where in the world you are Right now. We're here at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway at the crossroads of America. Goodbye.
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Speaker 7: Taking a look back at nineteen seventy six, again, not a lot of race highlights to play from that race. It was the pole sitter, Johnny Ruttherfford that would be sitting on the pole at the front of the field on lap one hundred and two when the rain would end the race. As we take a look back on the years of the six is, so to speak, one of the more famous moments in Indianapolis five hundred miles race history. As a matter of fact, speaking of rain delays, a race that was delayed by over a week.
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Speaker 9: Will explain when we come back to be on the bricks.
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Speaker 6: Beyond the bricks with your query and Mike Thompson brought to you by Quality Supply and Tool Think outside the box Store on ninety three five and one of seven.
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Speaker 14: Nineteen is Indianapolis Mine.
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Speaker 10: I'm a Jammian Mommy Rail winner of the vexas in history, particularly the winning tradition of the Bonfiser Racing team. Mommy took the checker fly.
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Speaker 7: To one of few drivers to sip something other than the milk along with the milk, I should say, in Victory Lane. And Bobby Rayhill took a sip of Budweiser, the sponsor of his car in the nineteen eighty six Indianapolis five hundred mile Race, the seventieth running of the greatest race in the world. Inside the Hensley Legal Group Race Command Center. It happens higher Hinsley. My name is Jay Querry. Mike Thompson here as well as we take a look back at the years that ended in a six, we are looking back tonight at the nineteen eighty six Indianapolis five hundred mile Race. This is a race, Mike, that patience was a virtue, and for those that did not grow up in Indianapolis in that time period, you can imagine the disappointment that any kid has. Imagine if you wake up on Christmas morning and they say, you know what, we decided, We're actually going to move it until right after New Year's That's what it felt like for me and so many others when that first race weekend of nineteen eighty six was washed out and as a result, the race would be push to the following Saturday, May the thirty first of nineteen eighty six. That seems inconsequential, certainly forty years later, it seems inconsequential and simply a little anecdote. But my dad couldn't make it on that Saturday, and that meant that the tickets that my dad and I would go and use for the race each and every year had to then be farmed out, and my friend Bradfields and his dad, Warren Fields, were happy to take them along with me, so I still got to go, just not in the same tradition of sitting with my dad. But nonetheless, there were plenty of people that had to make concessions for that race. Mike and the race itself even got off, if I'm not mistaken, and I'm remembering correctly, to a slow start because of an accident involving Tom sneve where that cleanup they then allowed everybody to go ahead and come back in and top up with fuel, if I'm not mistaken. So a lot of oddities before the race even got in away in nineteen eighty six.
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Speaker 8: Yep, that's correct. There was that, And there was also to forget that weird smoke bomb, and there was all that speculation, well, did this smoke bomb caused Tom sneavet a crash? Which it didn't. It had nothing to do with it at all, but there was that speculation for a few minutes. And so yeah, and it was to forget. It was the first year for ABC to be doing the race live, and so they had a lot invested in it, and they wanted to make sure it, you know, came off as good as it could obviously, so it was it was a really interesting deal that it got moved around. But the first weekend there was just no way to do anything. I mean that the infield was such a quagmire that they couldn't have done anything with that.
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Speaker 7: I have to admit that quagmire is one of my favorite words, by the way, just so you know, right, and this race became kind of a quagmire at the end in terms of how it would relate to the finish and the television broadcast and accentuation of that. And we'll get to all of that coming up in a bit, but let's talk about what happened in the race itself. The pulse that it was Rick Mehers in nineteen eighty six, and he was certainly in the mix until the very end, but so too a young driver that was coming off of the infamous moment that would sadly kind of find his career from the outside perspective four years earlier talking about Kevin Cogan, and Kevin had his chance at revenge. He had started inside of the front two rows, technically the outside of row number two, but he started in the sixth position and was contending for the race win, largely because of an exciting battle and a lap lead that he took. On laps one eighty seven and one point eighty eight. He would be battling with Bobby ray Hall, and this is how it sounded.
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Speaker 15: Rayhall drops down to the side the inside of Mayors down the back stretch.
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Speaker 9: I think he's got him. Mary, can you tell Bobby ray Hall has done it. He's gotten by wreck Mayers. Now he wants to get my Randulaneers.
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Speaker 14: They're all together in the group.
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Speaker 9: Meers down low, Ray.
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Speaker 15: Haul up Hi.
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Speaker 16: Cogan goes high, Covid on the outside of Rick Maars tries to go inside.
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Speaker 9: He can't do it. Unbelievable racing.
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Speaker 1: Kevin Cogan takes second place at.
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Speaker 17: The fourth tern Rick drops back to third. We have a slow car.
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Speaker 9: It's Putreconnor in turn.
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Speaker 14: Forward, absolutely tremendous.
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Speaker 9: With just fourteen laps to.
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Speaker 14: Go, Bobby ray Hall takes him of the name. But now Kevin Cogan talentes Jerry.
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Speaker 17: Kevin Cogan picks the one roll done inside the yellow line.
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Speaker 9: It is still ray Hall Cogan, those meares and it's cloking on in Putnam. That's how it sounded back in
nineteen eighty six.
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Speaker 7: Some of the great voices that you hear there by the way, obviously on the broadcast, where you can hear the voice of Paul Page, you can hear the voice of Bob Jenkins, you can hear the voice of the great Gary Lee, Larry Henry, all of them on the broadcast back in nineteen eighty six, and it looked like Kevin Cogan Mike, reality is this. This is a driver that and you got to give Kevin Cogan a ton of credit, and I think sometimes he's not given enough credit for this. The guy was a heck of a race car driver, and with all of the arrows that came his way in nineteen eighty two after that first lap crash and the infamous it was Coogan from aj Foyd here, it was an opportunity where he had the race right there and was contending in the end. I think people forget just how good a race car driver Kevin Cogan was.
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Speaker 9: Oh, I agree percent.
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Speaker 8: Kevin Cogan was a very good race car driver, and this was definitely his opportunity for redemption. He was running a really high line kind of all over the place, honestly in nineteen eighty six, and that was car was working for him that day, and so you know he had basically the race one before a late uh, I don't even want to call it an accident. Ri Leandyke spun and he barely kind of brushed the wall and they threw the yellow flag, which I understand then that's what they did. But you know it bunched the field up. But Kevin, you know, had that yellow came out, nobody would have caught Kevin Cogan.
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Speaker 7: And when that happened and that final caution came out, we mentioned it was the first race broadcast that ABC was carrying live flag to flag as opposed to in a tape delay variation or in terms of updates like in the earlier years. So with that new advent of TV in the eighty five hundred and the crowd watching and people all over, why not go ahead and use technology to bring everybody right into the cockpit of the car, so to speak. And that's what happened late in the race as Kevin Cogan has one last restart to try to win the Indianapolis five hundred, and the Great Sam Posey tried to talk to him just moments before the restart.
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Speaker 1: Kevin, this is Sam Posey your thoughts right now. I didn't hear you, Kevin, this is Sam Posey, your thoughts now with just three laps to go, Kevin, that's.
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Speaker 12: Sam Posey on the radio trying to talk to you.
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Speaker 11: So I'm kind of busy right now.
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Speaker 5: Sam.
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Speaker 14: I'll talk to you afterwards.
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Speaker 9: Fair enough, and good luck to you.
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Speaker 18: He is indeed rather busy right now. Let's clearly point out that these conversations with the drivers during yellow flag periods only have been cleared in advance with Pitt Creuse. You heard the crew member telling Kevin Cogan there that was Sam Posey trying to talk to him, and of course Kevin quite understandably, I'd like to focus on the business at hand.
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Speaker
1: Well, I think it underlines the pressure that he's under. Frankly, I wouldn't have wanted to talk to me either, if you know what I mean at this point.
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Speaker 7: Jim Lampley, of course, was the anchor that you heard there explaining things in regards to the ABC broadcast and trying to talk to Kevin Cogan. In twenty ten, Mike, you had the opportunity to speak to the late great Robin Miller about that incredibly bizarre incident.
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Speaker 13: I did.
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Speaker 8: We've got a chance to do a show together. It was kind of like a round table show with Robin and Steve Schunk and Bob Gates, and we brought that up because we were talking about drivers who had great chances to win and just didn't get it done. And Kevin was one of those people who came up and we talked about that really bizarre incident from nineteen eighty six.
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Speaker 9: I'm a little busy now, Sam.
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Speaker 3: I was on a great lines of all the time, Kevin, this is Sam, but I'm a little busy now. The thing about that day is Cogan ran this the Johnny Rutherford High grew and just I mean, he was all he was so fast and it was his race to win and he gets beat on a restart.
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Speaker 19: Was that one of the weirdest things, going back to the posey thing that has ever happened though, I mean, because that really does stand out for so many people. When you bring up eighty six, people go, oh, Sam, posey, you know, trying to talk to Cogan.
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Speaker 3: I always asked Foyd Aja, what would have happened if you in your era they'd had spotters. He said, they'd have talked to my ear one time and I'd have thrown the guy off the stand.
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Speaker 9: That's it.
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Speaker 3: You ain't talking to me while I'm racing. It was great for Ray Hall and Jim Truman. That was a cool story. But God, Kevin had that race and he was he was so impressive when he was leading.
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Speaker 7: Robin Miller back in twenty ten recapping that event. I would be remiss if I didn't mention this, as I tried to each time that we have audio, whether it be here or on my daily radio show from Robin Miller. When I was in college some thirty years ago, Robin Miller wrote a column about an athlete at Indiana University that I knew. I took exception to the writing. I did not know Robin Miller at all, but I called him at the Indianapolis Star let him know of Mike, if you will, the exception that I took to his article. And as we were talking, Robin asked me, kid, what's your name? And I told him, and he said, well, son, what do you want to do for a living? And I told him that I wanted to be a sportscaster or you know, involved in sports media. Indianapolis wasn't necessarily the destination, but that's where I was from, and so I was familiar with the area. And he said, why don't you drive up here tomorrow and meet me at the Indianapolis Star and we'll see what we can't do to get you started. And a week later I was hired at the Indianapolis Star. That was my very first
job in sports media. That when as well. At that time I was kind of hanging around WRTV, but that was that gave me a credibility having Robin Miller in my corner, and therefore, even though I'm probably the only that cares of that story, still to this day, I always try to pass it along just to extend my again gratitude to the late great Robin Miller, who was as loyal and as kind as anybody you will ever meet. And the fact that he called me son until the final day was something with which I always took great pride. I know there was a lot of great pride from Bobby Rayhall about the nineteen eighty six Indianapolis five hundred when it came down to that last shootout Kevin Cogan, Rick Mehr's Bobby ray Hall. Bobby ray Hall is the only driver in the one hundred and nine runnings of the Indianapolis five hundred mile race to accomplish the following to have the fastest lap of the race be turned in on lap two hundred by the man that would win the race. Perhaps that's exactly how Bobby ray Hall was able to hold off that charge of Kevin Cogan and Rick Meers. The fastest lap of the race was lap two hundred turned in by that Budweiser machine of Bobby ray Hall. The nineteen eighty six finish and the interview with the winner and race was two left.
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Speaker 4: The Indianapolis five is now the Indianapolis five between Kevin Cogan and Bobby ray Hall and.
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Speaker 5: Rick me Oh and Kevin didn't get the start he might have helped going by Bobby ray Hall and Carla.
00:21:02
Speaker 14: McCree has the name once again.
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Speaker 9: You look at Denny and he knows what's happened.
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Speaker 2: They come out of turn two.
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Speaker 4: They're going down into turn fool down. Now the facts friend ray Hall trying to stretch, balt Over, cooking gears, trying to get into it.
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Speaker 5: I think it was a disadvantage for Kevin to be leading because it allowed ray Hall to sit back just slightly in time the start in fact, here comes right yours.
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Speaker 14: Ain't get fine.
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Speaker 16: They're in thirty three.
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Speaker 14: Now there he turned four.
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Speaker 18: And they'll coming out of turn four.
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Speaker 4: Onto the front street. There will be one level to go. Now when Bobby ray Hall Conter five to start at twenty five thirty three year.
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Speaker 2: Old Bobby ray Hard.
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Speaker 4: I'm little Ohio, trying to be thirty year old Kevin Coogan.
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Speaker 15: And right now Debbie ray.
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Speaker 9: Hall believes it's about to happen.
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Speaker 4: They're in the third line.
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Speaker 15: Looks good.
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Speaker 5: Nor doesn't even pray. He's got it. He's got it in the Joseph and a lamb with two hundred four holes an hour, so he had.
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Speaker 17: Something to showing good right now.
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Speaker 1: Peers maybe going.
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Speaker 5: To menace Kevin Cogan for a second ass ray Hal goes on win.
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Speaker 9: That's a possibility.
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Speaker 18: The yellow flag which appears and won the race for Kevin Cogan instead created an opportunity for Bobby ray Hall.
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Speaker 4: To win, an opportunity that ray Hall has taken advantage of. They're in front of him on the right now the left. Wayne Sweetie holds a clickered flag for the nineteen eighty six Indianapolis Bob Tapio, Bobby Rayhall.
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Speaker 20: I love and Terror's this one's for Jim Truman.
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Speaker 18: Indeed it is.
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Speaker 17: Amy I'm coming.
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Speaker 14: But the car en beautifully.
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Speaker 21: The crew did a great job. Thank you, Bud Weiser. That's a month thing I can give Jim Truman.
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Speaker 22: It's this most importantly for those of you that don't know Jim Truman, Bobby gave you your first starting auto racing, your first professional start. You've stayed with him all the way through. Did you ever have a doubt that it would be you and Jim Truman in the Indianapolis five hundred?
00:23:01
Speaker 14: No, because.
00:23:03
Speaker 21: He's the highest quality human being, and I knew that my great days would come with him.
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Speaker 22: Awfully quiet all month, nobody wrote that much about Bobby ray Hall.
00:23:14
Speaker 15: Are you just sitting pretty, just.
00:23:16
Speaker 22: Hanging in there knowing that you're going to be there?
00:23:18
Speaker 9: No.
00:23:19
Speaker 21: When he started the race, I really didn't know what to expect. Met the car man.
00:23:25
Speaker 9: Really well all day.
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Speaker 21: We hardly made a change at all, and I got a good restart there and then men of the yell, I would have been struggling.
00:23:34
Speaker 9: And uh, and here he is.
00:23:37
Speaker 22: Here's the moment everyone's waiting for, Jim Truman getting the conrectulator.
00:23:42
Speaker 13: Couldn't have been better.
00:23:43
Speaker 14: Where's couldn't have been better?
00:23:47
Speaker 9: Let's get a word with Jim.
00:23:48
Speaker 22: Jim the milk symblematic of victory of the Indianapolis five hundred.
00:23:54
Speaker 1: He takes it as his driver did.
00:23:56
Speaker 22: Congratulations Jim Truman, Indy five hundred champion.
00:24:00
Speaker 13: Thank you very much.
00:24:01
Speaker 21: It was it looked like when a caution came out, we were dead.
00:24:07
Speaker 9: He just got a hell of.
00:24:08
Speaker 1: A restart and walked away and I best race of his life.
00:24:12
Speaker 22: A fantastic race, unbelievable.
00:24:15
Speaker 9: Let's go back upstairs.
00:24:17
Speaker 18: Very grave possibility exists that Jim Truman won't be.
00:24:19
Speaker 9: Here next to it, and it's great to see him standing there.
00:24:23
Speaker 7: Jim Truman indeed would pass by the way Bobby rayhalp very shortly after the Indy five hundred. Bobby Rayhall on that last lap two hundred and nine point one five two miles an hour, the fastest turned in in nineteen eighty six. But back to Jim Truman, the father in law by the way of Tim Sendric of Penske
Racing. But there were a lot of storylines as it was involved in that special relationship, Mike, between Bobby Rayhall and Jim Truman.
00:24:47
Speaker 8: Well, I can tell you Jim Truman meant a lot to me. Two things real quick about Jim Truman. One, in nineteen eighty two, I went to the Michigan five hundred, and in nineteen eighty two, I was twelve years old, but I was already six foot tall, so I looked a lot older than I actually was. And I snuck into the garage to try to get some autographs after the race was over, and I walked up to Jim Truman, and I thought he was Roger Penske. They looked somewhat similar. And I said, mister Penske, you signed my program. And he said, I'm not Roger Penske, but I am a car owner and I'm from Ohio just like he is, and I'd be happy to sign your program. And he couldn't have been more gracious and warm, and he signed my program and that really meant a lot to me. So I always rooted for him because he was so nice to me as a kid. Well, then fast forward a few years later in two thousand and six, I lost my fiance unexpectedly to a very rare heart condition on Christmas Day of two thousand and six, and the first time that I drove to her grave by myself after she passed away, I was obviously apprehensive about it and upset. And as I was driving to her gravesite, driving through the cemetery and passing the headstones, and I stopped and did a double take because there was this large gravestone and it said Truman, and I said, wait a minute, Truman. And you know it's in Columbus, Ohio, and I thought, I said, I wonder if that's Jim Truman. And I got out and just a few yards away from my fiance's grave site is Jim Truman's grave. And it was the first time that I kind of felt like everything was going to be okay, you know, because I was like, if my fiancees buried just a few yards away from someone who was as good of a man as Jim Truman, I thought, you know, maybe everything w'd be okay, you know. So Jim Truman meant a lot to me, as you know, and still does.
00:26:44
Speaker 7: Jim Truman passed away inside of two weeks from that audio that you heard. He passed from his battle with cancer on June the eleventh of nineteen eighty six. Jim Truman one of the great names again and gentlemen to grace the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It is years that end n A six That means that nineteen ninety six is next. As we return to Beyond the Bricks.
00:27:18
Speaker 6: Beyond the Bricks with Jake query and Mike Thompson brought to you by Quality Supply and Tool Think outside the box Store on ninety three five and one oh seven five Fan, we are.
00:27:29
Speaker 7: Back inside the Hensley Lego Group Race Command Center. It happens higher Hensley Jake Quarry here along with Mike Thompson, we call it Beyond the Bricks.
00:27:39
Speaker 9: Landon Kuons is just beyond.
00:27:42
Speaker 7: The window here where we are putting everything together inside the Hensley Legroup Race Command Center. Serving as the producer that is piecing together the
audio that you are hearing tonight. Audio facilitated, collected, archived by Mike Thompson. I'm simply the guy that has the pleasure of introducing you as we take a look back to all of the different audio to introducing you to different Indianapolis five hundreds. We are doing years that ended in a six, as does obviously this year in twenty twenty six, and we're up to nineteen ninety six.
00:28:14
Speaker 9: Mike.
00:28:15
Speaker 7: The reality this is a year that we're going to talk about had all kinds of question going into it, the wind of change and a boulder in the stream of open wheel racing in America. But one of the things that was consistent and a year that otherwise really was not was the fact that a guy from Michigan named Scott Brayton was once again fast at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
00:28:37
Speaker 22: Yeah.
00:28:37
Speaker 8: And if you didn't know Scott Brayton, anyone who didn't get a chance to meet him, he was a joy, absolute joy to be around. I was lucky enough to talk to him a lot when he was working with Ron Hemilgarn, who I knew from Toledo, and Scotty was just an absolute joy to be around. And he was so fast, and you know, he won the poll and then came back in just nineteen ninety six was such a you know, looking to be a great year for Scott Braitman. You know, just it just was so tragic what ended up happening.
00:29:07
Speaker 7: Ari Liondyke was also very fast throughout qualifying notably, and it looked like lion Dyke probably was going to be the pole sitter he had unseated Scott Brayton. But Braydon did something that is part of the gamble of what makes Indianapolis Indianapolis, pulling his time withdrawing it and going out and taking another shot at the pole, and it would pay off for Scott Brak.
00:29:33
Speaker 14: Lap number three at two thirty three eight oh nine, his average two thirty three sixty seven three.
00:29:41
Speaker 9: He is still fast enough.
00:29:42
Speaker 14: To take the pole away from Ari Liondyke. What a dramatic turn of events. They went wrong car safely into the field to take a chance on the pole and for three laps it's been paying on.
00:29:59
Speaker 23: And he's you're doing a great job, very consistent here.
00:30:02
Speaker 21: His lap times are right on the money.
00:30:05
Speaker 9: And that one lap Mike.
00:30:06
Speaker 8: Come back and haunt Ry Liondyke at two thirty one.
00:30:10
Speaker 14: Looking four, lap number four two thirty three one of the four laps to two hundred and thirty three point seven one eight. He's done it. He's taken the.
00:30:22
Speaker 9: Hole away from Ari Liondyke. What a gamble.
00:30:26
Speaker 14: He improves the four lap average to two point thirty three point seven to one eight. That gives a new track record war lap, but not for a single lap.
00:30:38
Speaker 7: So Scott Brayton would win the poll. As for Liondyke, an interesting anecdote with that that is somewhat forgotten. Liondyke would not have actually sat on the poll because his car was
disqualified after qualifying took place, and so therefore he had to come back on another weekend requalify and become the fast qualifier. But by qualifying rules, he did not qualify officially on pole day, and so r A Lion Dyke would not start on poll. That is not to say that he didn't put himself in the record books with his qualifying effort in nineteen ninety six.
00:31:16
Speaker 9: What we.
00:31:19
Speaker 21: Put a report put time.
00:31:22
Speaker 13: And you won't believe it.
00:31:26
Speaker 9: Over two hundred.
00:31:29
Speaker 13: And it's a track record in.
00:31:38
Speaker 9: Eighty seven thousands of a second two hundred.
00:31:42
Speaker 13: Point two three nine miles and no, well, he.
00:31:49
Speaker 14: Thought yesterday he just might try to do this, and here he is halfway through this qualification.
00:32:01
Speaker 13: And he did it again.
00:32:04
Speaker 9: It's a new child.
00:32:07
Speaker 13: Two hundred and thirty point nine forty eight miles an hour three seven point nine.
00:32:15
Speaker 21: He's tight point three.
00:32:28
Speaker 9: Already off the ford a may straight away. I rely on the coat of question.
00:32:35
Speaker 13: Will the.
00:32:38
Speaker 9: Answer?
00:32:39
Speaker 13: And now over two hundred thirty seven, two hundred and thirty seven point two six zero let speed at the time three sevens.
00:32:54
Speaker 6: You're gonna bit to go spot.
00:33:00
Speaker 8: You should shame fashion.
00:33:06
Speaker 2: But he's off the four olim straightaway.
00:33:09
Speaker 9: Ware's sweety hands a time that wolders.
00:33:17
Speaker 24: And it's another new trackle record two hundred thirty seven point four nine eight miles an hour.
00:33:28
Speaker 9: Lap number four at the time.
00:33:31
Speaker 13: Three seven point eight nine far and race fad is ufc k T two hundred thirty six point nine eight six.
00:33:47
Speaker 14: Miles an hour.
00:33:48
Speaker 2: Honey like time.
00:33:49
Speaker 13: Alright, I'd like I do talk.
00:33:52
Speaker 9: Records set up, Mike.
00:33:54
Speaker 7: One of the things that jumps out at me in hearing that there are actually two things. Number One, I love the phrase and how from Tom Carnegie, which is kind of surprising that didn't catch more because it was such a spontaneous reaction to the speeds. But also it is rare, especially today, that someone increases their speed with each of the four laps of their qualifying run. To me, that's what's the most remarkable about Lionike there.
00:34:20
Speaker 8: Yeah, absolutely, that's that's an incredible feed that he was getting faster every single lap, and you know what an incredible run from Ari He had to come back again, as we talked about the next day, and after getting disqualified and goes out and just sets the track record that is you know, still standing to this day. So one of the finest qualifying efforts, and if you watch that video, it's just it's almost like another world watching that thing because it's just so fast. He just looks so incredibly smooth doing it. So a great run for.
00:34:53
Speaker 7: Ari, allright, Lionyke once when I asked him, you know what that was like? Was it scary to go that best? And he said, the only scary thing about it was how good the car felt, and knowing that I was limiting my reaction time if it did not feel so good, but it absolutely felt stuck to the track, he once told me. As for Scott Brayton, sadly you all know it, Scott Brayton would not get the opportunity to start that race from pole. That's because after qualifying was complete in the middle of May, Scott Brayton would be involved in an accident in turn number two that unfortunately would prove to be fatal and Scott Brayton lost his life. Here's how it was announced on the television broadcast of Scott Brayton's passing, we took.
00:35:37
Speaker 3: You immediately the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for an update on the condition of the pulsitter, Scott Braydon, who suffered a bad accident about three and a half of this and.
00:35:44
Speaker 20: Four hours ago, and at this time we will not be taking further questions. May seventeenth, nineteen ninety six four pm. Race car driver Scott Braydon, thirty seven, of Coldwater, Michigan, died at twelve to fifty pm local time today at Methodist Hospital of Indiana. Brighton's death was due to injuries sustained in an accident which occurred at twelve seventeen pm today at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during practice for this year's Indianapolis five hundred. The Speedway delayed the announcement of Scott's death until family members could be notified. Brighton, who had qualified on the poll for his fifteenth Indianapolis five hundred, is survived by his wife Becky, daughter Carly two and a half, and his parents Lee and Jane. That is all the information we have at this time.
00:36:34
Speaker 2: Further information and.
00:36:35
Speaker 20: Comments from the Speedway, the United States Auto Club, and Scott's team and Ard Racing team are expected later today. And I wanted to just make the one comment that we appreciate your patients. Throughout the afternoon, Scott's mother, Jean, arrived at the hospital just a few minutes ago. We'll keep you posted as further developments and information is available.
00:36:57
Speaker 7: That was the voice of Bob Waltz's the Indianapolis Motor Speedway pr director in nineteen ninety six, taking the throw at ESPN from Bob Lee. The nineteen ninety six race was, of course a unique one also, not just because if Danny Young Guys replacing Scott Brayton, but also the split of Open Wheel Racing Mike that hung over as everybody knew what was taking place, the new formed Indie Racing League and kart running two different five hundred miles races on the same day.
00:37:25
Speaker 8: Yeah, I have to be honest with it. Nineteen ninety six is not my favorite year. I don't like talking about it because I hate that era. And the reason I hate that era was because Open Meal tore it self apart. And when I actually went to
Michigan for one of the practice days, it started snowing. I mean it was it was snowing, snowing. I mean I'm not talking about flurries. I mean it was snowing coming down and I thought, I said, that's the cue for me to get back in the car and drive back to Toledo, and on race day, instead of going to either Michigan or Indianapolis, I stayed home and I said, you know, to heck with both of you. And it's just nineteen ninety six is just not my favorite year for what happened to Scotty, what happened with the split. And Buddy Lazier is a great guy. I like Buddy Lazier. I think he's a great race car driver. And I'm happy for Buddy Lazier and Ron Hemilgarten that they're Indianapolis five hundred winners, But in nineteen ninety six is not my favorite period of racing history.
00:38:20
Speaker 7: Bob Jacobs had to delicately mention the fact that there were two races taking place on the day of the eighty five.
00:38:27
Speaker 17: Hundred May nineteen ninety six Sixteenth Street and Georgetown Road on the west side of Indianapolis, Indiana, the same real estate that gave birth to the world's greatest racecourse back in nineteen oh nine, the same place that has come to host the world's largest single day sporting event, and the same event that's made names like Foyd, Hunzer and Mers famous all over the world.
00:38:51
Speaker 9: But today a.
00:38:52
Speaker 25: New era begins at the Indianapolis five hundred. It's race day in Indianapolis. This year's Indy five hundred has a new look to it. The field bringing together sixteen veteran drivers and seventeen rookies, each hoping to take home this afternoon the most coveted prize in all of motorsports, the Borg Warner Trophy. We've assembled a crew of thirteen broadcasters and experts that are ready to describe all the excitement that accompanies this event every year. All the rumors, political haggling and insults are forgotten. Right now, It's time to go racing. Time for the greatest spectacle in racing.
00:39:35
Speaker 7: Once the race got underweight and all of the drama was aside on an overcast day, it would come down to Buddy Lazier and Davy Jones.
00:39:43
Speaker 9: Essentially.
00:39:44
Speaker 7: During some of the late cautions, Buddy Lazier kept extending his arm out and stretching his hand. Many thought that he was waving to the crowd. Actually, after a broken back that had been suffered earlier in a crash in Phoenix, he was still exercising, trying to get sensation in that right hand, and it did lead to a pretty good shootout Buddy Lazier and Davy Jones battling to the checkered flag in nineteen ninety six. And here we go. Buddy Lazier now accelerates through corner number four. It will be the green and the white flag shown simultaneously. Here's Buddy Lazier and the flags are waving.
00:40:17
Speaker 14: We're on the last lap.
00:40:19
Speaker 9: Wah, this is what you pay your money for. Right here, here's Buddy Lazier. It's about all many thirty yards. There's Dainty Jones. They settle it into the short shooting. Teddy Douvile's got a good look at it.
00:40:28
Speaker 23: Buddy Lazier's in control, smoothly through turn number two.
00:40:32
Speaker 15: Jones quickly behind, but Lazier in control heading to three.
00:40:36
Speaker 16: A half laughter coming, dude. It's Buddy Lazie's race two, red or or loose. And now about thirty thirty five forty yards nothing between first and second as they head to turn for Fuddy Lazier, the final turn of the day.
00:40:50
Speaker 14: He has it made.
00:40:51
Speaker 23: He's just got to keep it between the white lines.
00:40:53
Speaker 16: Can't call the finish. Bob Jakin the.
00:40:55
Speaker 14: Nineteen ninety six sending Anapolis five hundred is one by Fuddy Lazier. Jamy Jones finishes and second position, crashing four.
00:41:05
Speaker 9: Big crashing turn four.
00:41:07
Speaker 16: A big crash, child Roberto Ferrero.
00:41:09
Speaker 23: We've also got a second far that flipped over as it came down the straightaway coming off of four. Guerrero winds up in the pits. It's that highway and hearn and it looks like perhaps, well we'll get a confirmation on exactly who it is.
00:41:24
Speaker 16: But there's a couple of.
00:41:24
Speaker 23: Cars involved, one with a flip and the other coming off of four. As we just about had this race completed, and the last turn results in a crash coming off of four.
00:41:37
Speaker 9: Wow, it was a major crash.
00:41:39
Speaker 7: Roberto Guerrero, Alexandro Sempedri Lseo Salaz are involved in the crash. As for Buddy Laziir, he would talk to Jack a route.
00:41:47
Speaker 15: It's a slow process for Buddy Lazier, and I think we might literally have our first interview with the driver still sitting in the car because it is indeed so painful. Buddy, finally a win in the Indianapolis five hundred. When did you begin to dream about this all before?
00:42:04
Speaker 22: I can remember it's just right now it still feels like a dream. It feels like I'm going to wake up and I need to go to the racetrack to get ready to race.
00:42:12
Speaker 15: Well, let's conclude the rest of the dream with the ceremonial crowning of you. As you stand up, you can see the pain, but this is happy pain, as the Borg Warner Trophy has been placed behind Buddy Lazier and now the winner's wreath.
00:42:26
Speaker 9: Young Man, you're join an.
00:42:28
Speaker 15: Elite group now as a winner of the Indianapolis five hundred. I'm sorry, welcome to the Indy five hundred winners circle.
00:42:36
Speaker 9: So it's awesome, awesome.
00:42:38
Speaker 7: It's always awesome to take a look back at the races of the Indianapolis five hundred, and we thank you for doing it with us. For Mike Thompson and Landon Koons, I'm Jake Querry. We thank you for listening to be on the bricks.