So last Friday I wrote
a humble blog on the road it took to get to Indy and all the factors and people
that helped along the way. The thing is, though, that I got many messages
saying, “Aaron, come on, tell us what it was really like as the story is such an
inspiration.” So here goes, what the day really was like and what it meant.
I did a national speaking tour in 2012 and on the way to New
York City my friend and codriver on the journey, Rob, stopped at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway and did the grounds tour. On that tour the tour bus
will stop at the famous yard of bricks and everyone gets out and it’s a high
quality photo op. On this trip I didn’t look down at the yard of bricks but
rather up at the stand and I told Rob, “Someday. Rob, someday I’m going to be
in that stand!” Everyone has dream, and that dream was lofty, but when a dream
comes true, well, that’s exactly what happened on Thursday.
The previous two days I had been working the Purdue/USAC
EVGP at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and as mentioned in Friday’s blog, I
was asked if I had ever been in the stand while the track was hot. The answer
was no and I was told there may be a chance the following day and I should
await a text message. The message never came and going to sleep last Wednesday
was not easy because I had been told I may be allowed to stand in what I
consider to be the most sacred of flagging offices in all the world.
I awoke early and checked my phone… Nothing. “He’s extremely
busy” I told myself and I waited, but still no message came. Practice started
at noon at it was now 11 so I decided to go to Noble Roman’s on 10th
St which is near the track to position myself to either make the long drive
back to Saint Louis or make the short and glorious drive to the corners of 16th
and Georgetown and as much as I love the breadsticks there each passing minute
raised and frayed my nerves.
What to do? I didn’t want to pester this track official as
that’s the last thing I wanted, but still he said he’d get back to me so for
once in my life I went out on a limb and I sent a text indicating I didn’t want
to pester but I was just so excited. As busy as he was he got back with me
within 30 seconds and I was out the door of that Noble Roman’s and started the
most fantastic drive to the track. I was on the road I essentially grew up on
and I thought back to 25 years ago growing up and never could I have imagined that
the dream I had of being in the flag stand during the month of May was about to
come true!
I reported to the credential office and it was all taken
care of and I was given a silver badge and then a lady came in and shouted my
name and if I was in the room. I was, I said, “hello” and the next 15 minutes
was a blur as we walked through some offices, got on a golf cart, and made our
way into the infield with the sound of Indycars doing 225mph on the track as
the soundtrack to this adventure.
She handed me over to the track official as he finished an
interview and then it was another blur as I was introduced to various people,
so many that I don’t fully recall, but I got a quick tour of the impressive
race control room and then it was time! It was a walk I had envisioned when I
first waived a flag at the track in the infield for practice when my dad took
me in 1988. It was a walk I envisioned the first time I assisted Frankie in
1995 at the SLKA, and when I picked up SKUSA and USAC it was a walk that,
albeit seemed like a mirage and an unobtainable accomplishment, the
unobtainable was now being experienced as we walked from the pagoda down the
tunnel and towards that most sacred of places; the flagstand of the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway.
On the walk the conversation was very much relaxed all
things considered. We talked about dreams, autism, and how excited I was. It
was also an honor, and I mean that in the truest of words, that this man would
take so much time out of his day to make this happen for me.
Out of the tunnel and now we were approaching the stand. He
asked me if I wanted to go first and I said, “After you” as I was now soaking
it in. This was it! The moment I waited for my entire life and the 21 years of
having flags in hand at tracks around the country was now about to equate into
an experience few have ever had. First though, I had to negotiate the tricky
ladder which if you have a fear of heights you’d hate this ladder and if you
don’t have a fear of heights you’ll develop one quickly.


After that I was all business and I barely moved during
green flag conditions as I watched each car that went by eyeing for any
possible debris. During yellow periods I’d converse and the flag stand observer
in the tower, middle in the group photo, actually remembered me from 1996! That
also eased the nerves but again, each time the track was under green conditions
I stood there in my spot at attention as if I belonged because… I did.


He came out of the office and I was beaming ear to ear with a smile and when he asked me, “How was it?” the answer was obvious and I said, “Thank you for the best day of my life!” There was no exaggeration or embellishment in that and I’ve never been more thankful to another person than I was right then and there. How often does one get to live out a dream? I did and I can try and describe what it is like in having Indycars zoom past at 225+mph, or the way a pack of cars and the air can shake the stand, or what it is like seeing yourself on the gigantic video screens, or what it is like in working so hard for so long and having it pay off, but no matter what as great of a writer as I am I’d never give it justice. Only one person will ever truly know the words or the lack thereof because it was in my smile, a smile decades in the making.
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