Local students revved up (5/1/04)

Bloomfield Elementary School fourth graders are revved up about the approaching Indianapolis 500.

Students who never followed racing before have taken a sudden interest in the renowned race after they visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and met a famous female Indy Racing League driver on Tuesday.

Bloomfield teachers Linda Lacy and Joyce Horn, their 42 students and eight parent chaperons, were one of 60 school groups chosen to take part in the 500 Festival & Indianapolis 500 Education Program.

The classes spent two days learning about the history of the speedway and the festival to prepare for their day-long field trip.

When the class arrived at the famous speedway Tuesday morning, they visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum, then loaded onto a shuttle bus to tour the track.

On the bus a voice from the speakers in the bus said “Gentleman start your engines,” the famous words used to start the Indianapolis 500.

The bus driver started the engine and took the group to the two-and-a-half-mile oval track.

“My favorite thing was getting to ride around the track and see where the race happens,” Bloomfield fourth grader Maria Murphy said Thursday.

The classes toured and learned the colorful history of Gasoline Alley (the track’s garage area), the winner’s circle, the grandstands, and the pit area.

“Just for them to be there was incredible,” Horn said about the trip. She and Lacy filled out an application in January and submitted it to the 500 Festival Education Program.

On the track tour, student Josh Kimmel and his dad Mike, a chaperon for the trip, were two of many trip goers to kiss the historic bricks at the Yard of Bricks, located at the start/finish line.

“It’s tradition,” the fourth grader said Thursday about the acclaimed act made famous by winners of the Brickyard 500.

Another highlight of the group’s day in Indy was meeting IRL driver Sarah Fisher. The 23-year-old Ohio native was at the track Tuesday having photographs taken with her new Indy car. In 2000, she became the third woman in history to qualify for the Indy 500 and will compete for a spot in this year’s race.

Bloomfield students were the only classes out of 12 schools attending the program Tuesday that got to meet Fisher, Horn said.

Fourth grader Risa Acock was very excited that they met Fisher saying, “She is practically the only girl racer.”

“She’s famous,” Alicia Degler added.

Students said Thursday that they all plan to watch for Fisher in the 88th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 30.

Visiting the museum also left the students with plenty to talk about. The museum, located on the grounds of the speedway, is home to approximately 75 racecars, a large display of trophies, photographs, helmets, uniforms, goggles and other racing artifacts including the famous Borg-Warner Trophy, which stands nearly five feet tall and honors the winner of each Indy 500.

Fourth grader Haley Davidson said Thursday she liked visiting the museum and seeing “all the cool cars.”

Gary Corle said he also liked visiting the museum.

“I liked seeing the (Borg-Warner) trophy,” he said.

When students returned to school on Wednesday they went to work on a final project for the program. A pair of students worked together to creating their own speed machine.

Students filled an empty tin can with beans, marbles, rocks, cotton balls, even marshmallows to a weight of 300 mg.

“We were surprised how hard it was,” Lacy said about her class using the items to fill their can to the desired weight, but still allowing them to be fast when they took turns rolling it down a small ramp to the finish line.

Each team was timed by their teacher and the top four teams with the fastest times went head to head.

Nathan Frisch and David Rosenbeck and their can they called Speedy Gonzalez were named the winners.

Teachers and classmates laughed when Frisch asked “Where’s our milk?”[[In-content Ad]]