It was the hottest Little 500 ticket in recent memory. There’s nothing like a fallen and disgraced celebrity and still hometown hero to bring ’em out on a Saturday night. If the sport is auto racing, and that native son also happened to have once accidentally killed somebody on the track, well that makes all the more a big attraction.
Tony Stewart, yes, “Smoke” himself, native of Columbus, Indiana, just about 90 minutes down the road from Anderson Speedway was in Anderson, Indiana Saturday night to compete in the Little 500.
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It’s a 500 lap bullring asphalt sprint car race held the day before the famed Indianapolis 500. It is a completely different event from the bicycle race held annually during the third weekend of April at Bill Armstrong Stadium on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
The event highlights the calendar in Anderson, a blue collar town which has seen much much better days.
When General Motors closed its operations in Anderson, the city was dealt a major economic blow as GM was the biggest employer in Anderson.
The city, located about an hour northeast of Indianapolis, had a population of 70,000 in 1970, but it’s down to about 56,000 today. For a little more on the speedway, the town itself, and a Michael Moore’s Roger & Me style documentary on urban blight, and the death of the rust belt, see the documentary Dirty Driving: Thundercars of Indiana.
There’s a message painted on a building adjacent to the track, it reads:
“Let’s All Work Together to get Anderson Growing Together”
It good times and bad, going to the speedway is an obsession for the locals. The Little 500 is always special, with a town street festival centered around it each year. The facility was originally built in 1948, and the track is a 1/4 mile asphalt. The race sells out pretty much each year, but it has never sold out this quickly, with such an extensive demand unfilled.
We were told that our arrival was way too late- thousands had been turned away already. Obviously Tony Stewart was the big draw, and he actually let loose, ate a banana and drank a beer with some fans. He didn’t win, but he did finish in the top three.
1. Kyle Hamilton
2. Bobby Santos III
3. Tony Stewart
To be far, and seriously I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t say this- some people in the crowd showed up on the very off chance that Tony Stewart might accidentally kill another guy on the race track that night.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes to WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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