July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Keeping track of the race
Back in the Saddle
Sunday was race day, so Anna Sharpe was busy.
She's followed the Indianapolis 500 since she was a child, and she's continued to follow it every year in her own unique fashion.
"I'm just a silly old woman, but this is me," the 87-year-old Redkey resident said last week.
When she was a girl growing up near Roanoke, she liked to pretend to be different race car drivers, listening to the race on the radio.
But after she moved to Redkey with her husband Bob in 1946 and raised a family, her race day ritual took on a different form.
It starts about a week before the big event, when The Indianapolis Star publishes the entire 33-car line-up with photos of the drivers and their cars.
Anna meticulously cuts out each photo and pastes it to a cardboard standard which also includes a tiny diecast metal car from a set her son Dan bought her about 45 years ago.
Then she lines up all 33 in the correct order for the start.
With the television broadcast of the 500 blacked out in the Indianapolis market, Anna listens to the race on the radio just as she did in her childhood.
Over the years, she's heard broadcasters from Sid Collins to Paul Page and dozens of others whose names have slipped away.
"I should have this all written down," she said.
Once the race starts, she does her best to keep the top ten drivers in order, visualizing the competition as she moves her cars into place on the kitchen table.
Keeping track of the entire field has proved impossible, and ten is plenty to handle.
"The announcer goes as fast as the cars go now," she said.
Several years back she was able to attend the race in person, but she's not sure what year that was.
"Bobby Braun was there," she said, citing a personality from her beloved "50-50 Club" with Cincinnati's Ruth Lyons. "It was the year A.J. Foyt's dad died," she added, again bemoaning the fact that she hasn't written a book to keep track of her life's experiences.
But Sunday found her back in her usual spot, listening to the radio and keeping track of the progress of Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanann, and her favorite this year, Helio Castroneves.
Her family, Anna said, knows by now to put up with this bit of race day eccentricity. They're not likely to interrupt with a phone call.
"They know I won't come for dinner until the race is done."[[In-content Ad]]
She's followed the Indianapolis 500 since she was a child, and she's continued to follow it every year in her own unique fashion.
"I'm just a silly old woman, but this is me," the 87-year-old Redkey resident said last week.
When she was a girl growing up near Roanoke, she liked to pretend to be different race car drivers, listening to the race on the radio.
But after she moved to Redkey with her husband Bob in 1946 and raised a family, her race day ritual took on a different form.
It starts about a week before the big event, when The Indianapolis Star publishes the entire 33-car line-up with photos of the drivers and their cars.
Anna meticulously cuts out each photo and pastes it to a cardboard standard which also includes a tiny diecast metal car from a set her son Dan bought her about 45 years ago.
Then she lines up all 33 in the correct order for the start.
With the television broadcast of the 500 blacked out in the Indianapolis market, Anna listens to the race on the radio just as she did in her childhood.
Over the years, she's heard broadcasters from Sid Collins to Paul Page and dozens of others whose names have slipped away.
"I should have this all written down," she said.
Once the race starts, she does her best to keep the top ten drivers in order, visualizing the competition as she moves her cars into place on the kitchen table.
Keeping track of the entire field has proved impossible, and ten is plenty to handle.
"The announcer goes as fast as the cars go now," she said.
Several years back she was able to attend the race in person, but she's not sure what year that was.
"Bobby Braun was there," she said, citing a personality from her beloved "50-50 Club" with Cincinnati's Ruth Lyons. "It was the year A.J. Foyt's dad died," she added, again bemoaning the fact that she hasn't written a book to keep track of her life's experiences.
But Sunday found her back in her usual spot, listening to the radio and keeping track of the progress of Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanann, and her favorite this year, Helio Castroneves.
Her family, Anna said, knows by now to put up with this bit of race day eccentricity. They're not likely to interrupt with a phone call.
"They know I won't come for dinner until the race is done."[[In-content Ad]]
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