Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, IN — May 23, 2025
File this one in the “Just When You Thought You Had Seen It All” folder. Today at the fabled Indianapolis Motor Speedway, six vehicles pulled up to the “Yard of Bricks” and took the command that race fans fondly refer to as the most famous words in racing. “Drivers Start Your Wienies.” WHAT?
If you are a racing purist, stop reading right now. If you thought “boogity, boogity, boogity” to be irreverent. This is downright unholy. That it happened at the self-proclaimed “Racing Capital of the World” is sacrilege. Someone said they should rename “Gasoline Alley” as “lighter fluid lane.” STOP, NO, NO, NO.
Blame it on Fox Sports!
Broadcast Rights At Indy Change Hands
ABC Television held the broadcast rights to the Indianapolis 500 for 54 years from 1965 through 2018. NBC Sports wrestled the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” away for the last six years. Now, just two days, before televising their first Indy 500, Fox Sports was on hand for the Inaugural Oscar Mayer Wienie 500. Can you believe it?
They said it had everything, side-by-side racing, lead changes, and a late pass for the win. Thank goodness they did not go 500 miles. It may have delayed the start of the “Real” 500 mile race coming Sunday.
