Indy 500

 Nathan's company treats customers every year to a fabulous weekend at the Indy 500.  We were fed more over the weekend than we normally eat in a week!  We had a lot of fun and it was good to see some of the biggest Bryant employees and customers from across the country.

 On Saturday before the race, we were treated to an incredible day in the tallest building downtown. Bryant rented out the top floor of the skyscraper where we could see the entire city below us.  We were free to come and go all day as we watched the Indy 500 parade on the streets below.

 Some of the parade floats before the parade began.

 The food while we were in the skyscraper was very fancy and unusual.  This is a salad tree.  Each cup held a little salad.  I was glad I decided to dress up since we were told the day was casual dress because it was a very fancy venue!

 These were my favorite - nitrogen flash frozen ice cream bites.  They dipped miniature snickers and Reeces cups in white cream and then flash frozen it in nitrogen.  Crazy cool!

 The parade!  We had special seating on bleachers just for us, so we had a very close and comfortable view of the parade. This is some famous rapper or something - ask Nathan.

 All the Indy 500 race car drivers rode in the parade.  Here is Tony, our Bryant car driver, with his family.

Tony on a stick!

 Box suite tickets to the Indy 500 - need I say more?!  They fed us steak for lunch!  It's no wonder these Bryant customers are crazy about this trip!

 Very fuzzy picture since it was taken with my phone!  We received a police escort all the way to the race track Sunday morning.  That meant that our 10 chartered buses did not have to wait in any traffic or wait at a single stoplight the entire 30 minute drive.  This was the icing on the cake for the whole weekend!  Bryant really pulled out all the stops to make these customers (and me!) feel like rock stars.

 Tony met with us again before the race started to give us his final thoughts about the race.  It was so fun to see a celebrity up close!

 Something very unique about the Indy 500 is that fans are allowed down on the track and around the pit crews up until 5 minutes before the race starts!

 If you look closely, this is a picture of David Letterman!  He owns a car and sat in the pit stop during the race.  He is sitting in the red jacket just to the left of the smaller "32".  

 In this picture he is standing up in the red jacket just below the white panel.

 Our view of the race track!  We were right behind the pit crews so we were able to see the cars come in and out during the race and watch the frenzy of action by the pit crews!  This is minutes before the race starts and you can see how many people are still down on the track!

 And they are off.  Tony is in the blue car.  Sadly, he later crashed at the turn about halfway through the race.  The track is 2 1/2 miles long, but the cars passed us every 40 seconds!  It was incredibly loud when the cars passed.  Ear plugs were a necessity!  It was nice having the suite so that we could go into the air conditioning when we got hot or needed a break from the noise.  It was wonderful time  and I can't wait to go back next year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500.  I thought Bryant did it big this year, but I am sure they will take it to a whole new level to celebrate the anniversary!