I spent yesterday morning watching what is left of the greatest spectacle in racing. All I can say is it's a far cry from days gone by when, as they called them then, big cars and then roadsters, buzzed around the track well below the 160 mph mark.

I even liked it when the rear engined cars came along and then the tire war between Goodyear and Firestone. You had Eagles, Mclaren's, Coyote's, Vollstedt's and even Kingfisher's among the mix of cars running. Eventually it got to be a one make chassis and if you changed a few decals or a paint job you couldn't tell one from the other. That's probably why I like the old days because if you had an idea you could build and try it and cookie cutter cars were only in the kitchen. Don't get me wrong, the carbon fiber creations are fantastic but when was the last time you could put something like that together in your garage or without a team of a zillion specialists. I guess that's progress.

To celebrate the Memorial Day event we bring you a look at some of the machines from yesterday that made the Speedway the place of dreams for the mechanically minded before computers took over. Thanks to Bruce Hand and his dad Bob Wenz for saving the memories for us.

For our first shot lets visit Victory Lane at indy in 1948 (BHC_153). Mauri Rose had just pulled in and all the hoopla had just started. The Borg Warner Trophy was only half full and things were a little more relaxed. For instance check out Mauri's son perched on Speedway President Wilbur Shaw's shoulders and the announcer johnny on the spot ready to get some words from the tyke. A 270" Offy powered the car built by the one and only Emil Diedt in his small L. A. shop for owner Lou Moore. Like Franchitti yesterday, this was Rose's second race win so he was indeed a happy camper.

Our next shot happens to be in color and is one of my favorites (BHC_334). Lets visit pit row during a practice session in 1952. The bright orange car number 74 was called the "Helin Flyer" after its owner Charlie Helin. Naturally an Offy powered the old, much revised rail job driven by Peter Hahn and just wasn't fast enough to make the race. On the left getting all the attention is Lou Welch's Pure Oil sponsored Novi that was powered by a 181" V8. It qualified with an astonishing speed of 139.034 mph, over one mph faster than pole sitter Freddy Agabatian in the Cummins Diesel. To bad driver Chet Miller had to start way down in 27th because he didn't cut the speed on the first day of qualifying. He dropped out early when the supercharger drive broke. Indy Legend and Chief Mechanic Jean Marcenac walks by the left rear wheel. Car number 71 is Milt Marion's Marion Engineering Special built by Frank Kurtis and driven by up and coming driver Bob Sweikert. He didn't make the show by had some revenge in '55 when he won the race. The Maroon car behind it is Jack Hinkle's Offy powered Kurtis KK3000 driven in the race by hot rodder Jack McGrath. Jack started in third spot and ended up in 11th at the end of the race.

Since we're on the Novi kick lets fast foreward to 1956 and show the Novi Air Conditioner Special initially driven by Jimmy Davis (BHC_335). Jim didn't take to the car and walked out on the team. After trying some other cars without luck Eddie Russo jumped in and had it up to qualifing speeds in no time but was caught out when rain ended the time trials before he could show his stuff to get it into the race. The car in front is another DNQer that we can't identify.

To show things aren't all fun and games before the race check out our next shot (BHC_160). Quin Epperly built some beautifull machines like this one before it got crunched. In 1959 Tony Bettenhausen took this Anstead Rotary Corp roadster for a spin and that's exactly what he did.  Oven in turn three he went around and got into the grass apron when the car decided to go over a couple of times to add a little injury to the insult. Tony was OK but the car wasn't so lucky. Harry Turner stepped up and bought it and then a marathon ensued to get-er fixed up. Eddie Russo again jumped in on the fourth day of qualifing but had no luck in it.

While were in crunch mode lets look at the tail of our next subject (BHC_142). Al Dean and his Dean Van Lines cars had been around a long time at the track and in '59 brought a Eddie Kuzma built roadster for Earl Motter to drive. Things were going ok when Earl went out for some practice on the 24th and backed the car into the southwest turn wall. It was instant out of the running to qualify. On the safety side of things how would you like to back into something with a bunch of fuel hangin out back with no protection? Luckily Al had another car in the race for his second year driver Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr. who brought the car home in 10th to save the day.

To get an idea of how casual things were back in '60 at the Brickyard check out this next shot showing Texas hot shot Lloyd Ruby hanging out by his car before the race (BHC_076). His Maroon Watson was carrying entrant J.C. Agajanian's favorite number 98 on it and was sitting on the outside of the of the fourth row in starting spot number 12. Lloyd soldiered home to a seventh place finish after averaging 135.983 mph for the 200 lapper. Note the front straight was still made up of bricks for a really smooth ride. Right!

Our next shot shows us that the hot rod boys were still hard at work at the track in 1960 (BHC_051). Take one dude from Chula Vista and mix in a little Chevy V8. Stir it all up and add a cover shot and inside story from the June '60 issue of Hot Rod Magazine and you end up with H. H. Johnson's Kuzma built Helse Special. Oh yea, Bruce Crower's mill didn't have ponies to go fast enough to qualify. Bummer. Driver Al Keller can be seen in the hot seat.

Seasoned driver Duane Carter is seen in our next shot at indy in '60 (BHC_043). For the race Carter is caught exiting the pits during practice in the Eddie Kuzma built Thompson Industries Special owned by Ensley & Murphy. Four laps at 142.631 with the Offy powered car got it in the race way down in 27th spot, and with some heroic driving Mr. Carter brought the ride home in 12th place after running the 500 miles at a 131.882 mph pace.

In fifty years they'll probably be saying the same thing about the good old days back in 2010 and how great it was when people could still drive cars without special g-suites or warp drives or whatever and the cars had tires that actually touched the ground. Sadly you may not be able to build "car" in the future but you know some old rodder is going to be there telling the youngsters how they did it in the old days and whip out some virtuial device that shows them pictures to prove it and that's why were here.