Allison Melangton

I’ll be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway tomorrow, which isn’t much to say from someone that grew up on the southside of Indianapolis. Proximity has never been an issue for me, and the older I get, the more I realize the blessing proximity to your love and passion can be. I’m also keenly aware through relationships and interactions with people that travel to the place we all love, that there is another blessing they experience that I never have. Roman poet Sextus Propertius said “absence makes the heart grow fonder”. I can’t help but be jealous of those multiple thousands that make the annual pilgrimage to the same place I live in close proximity. To feel that emotion and deep-bone chill of driving under the tunnel. To see the Turn 2 stands emerge like mountains as you pass under the railroad tracks heading west on 16th Street. The serene beauty and stillness that envelops you inside the 116 year old oval, if you just let it. I’m always amazed that on some level not understood by me or those traveled, or even questioned, that we feel something inherently identical. We speak the same language, feel the same emotions, and understand each other immediately. Oftentimes with just a smile, a nod, or a “cheers” of cold drinks. Somewhere in that overlap, and in the different proximities, lies the Magic of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway transcends everything. And it’s the most beautiful thing on Earth. #Indy500 || #IndyCar