"The Greatest Spectacle in Racing"

Memorial Day weekend is upon us and that means packing up and heading to Indianapolis for the 500! The 500 is a huge family tradition in the Johnson family - one that I am so excited to be a part of and have our children be a part of.We look so forward to this weekend every year and I can't believe it is already done and over. We had a great time this year and can't believe that we will be bringing Connor in six years!! We left Connor and the doggies with Granny, packed up the car and coolers and were out the door. Our tradition is to hang out and drink at the hotel on Friday in order to rest up for the early morning on Sunday. We had a new hotel this year and it was wonderful - we each had our own room and two bathrooms, amazing compared to the one room and one bathroom we are used to! We were up and at 'em at 5:30am on Sunday to get ourselves over to the speedway and ready for the day ahead. We finished our customary six bottles of champagne before heading in and watching the race and we were able to meet up with Steph's Gran and Gramps - which is always great! We were joking with the people in front of and behind us (they are the same every year) that no one noticed that I wasn't drinking last year - I must have played it off really well. They all congratulated us on the birth of Connor - so it was fun to have another reason to celebrate.There are quite a few years of Indy history here - Johnathan, Doc, Brian and Debbie

At the tent before going in.

Graham Rahal crashed right in front of us - in the main straightaway - he was just fine, only the car suffered some damage.

Congrats Helio - third time Indy winner!

Daddy won the pot and Connor got a onesie!

We were so excited that Bj's grandpa Doc was able to make it for another year. This is his 68th consecutive year (I am pretty sure that is the number anyway) and it also happened to be the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway opening in 1909. It is only the 93rd running of the 500 - as the first 500 mile race was three years after the tracks opening and they took a few years off during WWI and WWII. We kept saying we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Doc! It was an exciting race overall and as a bonus Bj won the $180.00 pot we do every year (his first time!) and Connor got his first piece of Indy gear! We are a little exhausted but it was a fantastic weekend - we kept commenting on the fact that they just keep going faster and faster. It is amazing how little time it takes to drive 500 miles/200 laps - I guess it's not so bad at 220mph! So, until next year!