Blog Post

Rupert X Ruport: Miscellaneous Moto Mayhem Memories – Indy SX 2

Odd that I know my way around downtown Indianapolis better than my local big city (Columbus, Ohio), yet, after spending twenty years of Supercross weekends—(mostly) in March—stomping around its mean streets, its seedy underbellies, sometimes on the right side of the tracks,  I think I've got her figured out. Lest I forget, a reader recently asked me advice on attending a Supercross and, I'll now help you all out with the benefit of my experiences…

Book your seats early, at least six (6) months in advance, perhaps as soon as they become available—for the more popular and crowded venues.

Same with your downtown hotels. Book as soon as you can, sometimes you get a better deal if your party is staying Fridays and or Sundays, too…

Find hotels with the bigger rooms, so you can pile in your whole crew…

Make it a fun weekend, explore the city, see the sights, cross the rivers, strut through the museums, feed the culture to your clan - then figure out where the hipsters go (Yelp!) and splurge on yourself and your crew, this is your weekend away.

If you are dragging first-time Supercross attendees along, only take them to the Supercross nighttime show. The daytime (practice and timing) are for us hardcore, crazy fans only. Don't burn them out, arrive about 6:00-6:30 pm and let them be dazzled by the fantastic opening ceremonies. I've seen a few hundred and they're still impressive. Geese bumps. Yes, geese.

Eat drink and get merry before you get in the stadium. You don't want to be that mom or dad spilling a tray with $126 worth of nachos, hot-dogs 'n beers on Mister Grumpy's angry girlfriend.

If you decide to eat at a fancy restaurant downtown before the race, try going about 4:30 or before – any time after that, especially at Indianapolis, things get crowded and rowdy…

Regarding INDY:
East coast dirt.  Dark, moist and meaty, packs well, ruts up gnarly con carne.

Downtown Indianapolis was rocking hard, from early afternoon to early Sunday morn. Indiana Comic-Con, Saint Patty's Day festivities, an NBA game, S.A.L.T meeting (Surfers Against Licking Turtles)—all combined with a 60,000 plus Supercross crowd, to make Indy a magnificent, festive and crowded party zone extraordinaire.

The Vicki Golden is gonna make one of these night-shows at a Supercross soon, she was within a second at Indy. She is busting out all the jumps, which is more than everybody, except maybe the top one-percent of us American moto-freaks would do, yet, she's having a hard time putting together a fast lap. The whoops are her enemy, plus her timing—which she will figure out. She will make a night show this year—or next, however, making the main, I fear, is still a distant dream…hopefully to be realized…

Indianapolis has the most polite and delightful homeless population. And, their downtown restaurants, bars, taverns and brew-pub scene is tremendous and diverse. Think I passed about five thriving breweries in the downtown zone, reeking of hops, malt, barley and good times.

Yes, the "hoops" were tough at Indy, but not Dallas-level, where the whoops bottoms touched Australia…

Despite discouragement from my peers, I purchased several $7.50 beers at Lucas Oil Stadium, which I found rather reasonable after paying $9.75 for one at the San Fran SX many moons ago, or the $22 I paid for a crappy brewski, whilst in Russia—on assignment. Ahem.

Saw SX announcer Ralph Sheheen entering a fancy boutique hotel, it wasn't his Bentley parked nearby, however...

Weather was balmy for Indy this year, which made the downtown thrive—and thirst…

Still never got into that Weber Grill joint. "Nobody ever goes there, that place is too crowded."

"The food is terrible and the portions are too small."

Those families that all have the jerseys on and mama is constantly lining them up for photo ops? Knock it off. This isn't the Danish Badminton Games, ferchrisakes.

Pretty sure Musquin and Dungey won, not totally certain, but it was skinny dudes on KTM's hucking killer heel-clickers at the finish line.

Ciao, Moto-Freaks.

2 comments

View replies to: Rupert X Ruport: Miscellaneous Moto Mayhem Memories – Indy SX

Comments

The Latest