The only site I'll ever need...

[Wheezer]

At least we got the requisite 2 sarcastic answers out of the way right off the bat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZL_tZxyBDo

[flannj]

Anyone have advice on going down to the Indy 500?  Is it worth making it into a full weekend trip?  If so, what is there to do?  Any good suggestions for places to go and things to see?

The area directly surrounding the BRICKYARD is a dump.  Downtown/commercial Indy is pretty nice.  Basically your standard mid-sized city, the typical restaurants, the typical shops.  The network of skywalks connecting hotels and a mall or two is pretty nice if it rains.  I've heard St Elmo Steakhouse is supposed to be the best place to eat, but I've never been there.  It has a good airport that's very accessible, but I'm assuming you'll probably drive (prepare to doze off from boredom).  It's a solid city that will probably meet expectations without pissing you off too much.  Maybe even pleasantly surprise you.  Maybe.  YMMV

I agree with all of this.

But not on the weekend of the 500

I've been to the race about a dozen times and I'm always ready to get out when it is over.
The entire town is a fucking zoo. Gridlock everywhere and any of the decent restaurants or hotels, Christ even the shitholes, have been booked for a year.
If by some chance you do have somewhere decent to stay be prepared to have to deal with nightmare traffic (unless you have a Morph style VIP police escort, which you will see plenty of).
The town of Speedway is indeed a dump, the only thing it's good for is to park on somebodies lawn the day of the race.
Because Indianapolis is so fucking backwards only parts of the state observe daylight savings time, I think Indy itself is the same time as Chicago.
It used to be that you couldn't buy packaged beer before noon on Sunday so stock up on Saturday if that is still the case.
If you have tickets other than the infield and are bringing a cooler there is a restriction on the size. Which they do enforce.

If you have tickets for the infield than you're going to get a lesson on the genetic mix that creates White Sox fans.

[Indolent Reader]

Anyone have advice on going down to the Indy 500?  Is it worth making it into a full weekend trip?  If so, what is there to do?  Any good suggestions for places to go and things to see?

The area directly surrounding the BRICKYARD is a dump.  Downtown/commercial Indy is pretty nice.  Basically your standard mid-sized city, the typical restaurants, the typical shops.  The network of skywalks connecting hotels and a mall or two is pretty nice if it rains.  I've heard St Elmo Steakhouse is supposed to be the best place to eat, but I've never been there.  It has a good airport that's very accessible, but I'm assuming you'll probably drive (prepare to doze off from boredom).  It's a solid city that will probably meet expectations without pissing you off too much.  Maybe even pleasantly surprise you.  Maybe.  YMMV

I agree with all of this.

But not on the weekend of the 500

I've been to the race about a dozen times and I'm always ready to get out when it is over.
The entire town is a fucking zoo. Gridlock everywhere and any of the decent restaurants or hotels, Christ even the shitholes, have been booked for a year.
If by some chance you do have somewhere decent to stay be prepared to have to deal with nightmare traffic (unless you have a Morph style VIP police escort, which you will see plenty of).
The town of Speedway is indeed a dump, the only thing it's good for is to park on somebodies lawn the day of the race.
Because Indianapolis is so fucking backwards only parts of the state observe daylight savings time, I think Indy itself is the same time as Chicago.
It used to be that you couldn't buy packaged beer before noon on Sunday so stock up on Saturday if that is still the case.
If you have tickets other than the infield and are bringing a cooler there is a restriction on the size. Which they do enforce.

If you have tickets for the infield than you're going to get a lesson on the genetic mix that creates White Sox fans.

That's tough but fair.

[Brownie]

Anyone have advice on going down to the Indy 500?  Is it worth making it into a full weekend trip?  If so, what is there to do?  Any good suggestions for places to go and things to see?

The area directly surrounding the BRICKYARD is a dump.  Downtown/commercial Indy is pretty nice.  Basically your standard mid-sized city, the typical restaurants, the typical shops.  The network of skywalks connecting hotels and a mall or two is pretty nice if it rains.  I've heard St Elmo Steakhouse is supposed to be the best place to eat, but I've never been there.  It has a good airport that's very accessible, but I'm assuming you'll probably drive (prepare to doze off from boredom).  It's a solid city that will probably meet expectations without pissing you off too much.  Maybe even pleasantly surprise you.  Maybe.  YMMV

I agree with all of this.

But not on the weekend of the 500

I've been to the race about a dozen times and I'm always ready to get out when it is over.
The entire town is a fucking zoo. Gridlock everywhere and any of the decent restaurants or hotels, Christ even the shitholes, have been booked for a year.
If by some chance you do have somewhere decent to stay be prepared to have to deal with nightmare traffic (unless you have a Morph style VIP police escort, which you will see plenty of).
The town of Speedway is indeed a dump, the only thing it's good for is to park on somebodies lawn the day of the race.
Because Indianapolis is so fucking backwards only parts of the state observe daylight savings time, I think Indy itself is the same time as Chicago.
It used to be that you couldn't buy packaged beer before noon on Sunday so stock up on Saturday if that is still the case.
If you have tickets other than the infield and are bringing a cooler there is a restriction on the size. Which they do enforce.

If you have tickets for the infield than you're going to get a lesson on the genetic mix that creates White Sox fans.

[link=http://www.indy500.com/schedule/]Go to Pole Day or Carboreution Day.[/link] You can see the track, see the cars roar, maybe see a crash, get drunk in the infield, and then you can go into downtown Indy or Broadripple and have a rip-roaring good time.

You still can't buy beer on Sunday. You should know that if you really went to Notre Dame, unless you were a NERD who didn't drink.

Indy is on Eastern Time throughout the year. Mitch Daniels had enough of this time zone nonsense and put the state on DST. Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton and Jasper Counties as well as the counties near Evansville are on Central year-round.

Go to an Indianapolis Indians game in downtown Indy. Nice ballpark. Pissburgh's AAA team, I believe.

Watch the race on TV from up here in your back yard with your beagles.

[Bort]

At least we got the requisite 2 sarcastic answers out of the way right off the bat.

Mine wasn't sarcasm.

[thehawk]

Anyone have advice on going down to the Indy 500?  Is it worth making it into a full weekend trip?  If so, what is there to do?  Any good suggestions for places to go and things to see?

The area directly surrounding the BRICKYARD is a dump.  Downtown/commercial Indy is pretty nice.  Basically your standard mid-sized city, the typical restaurants, the typical shops.  The network of skywalks connecting hotels and a mall or two is pretty nice if it rains.  I've heard St Elmo Steakhouse is supposed to be the best place to eat, but I've never been there.  It has a good airport that's very accessible, but I'm assuming you'll probably drive (prepare to doze off from boredom).  It's a solid city that will probably meet expectations without pissing you off too much.  Maybe even pleasantly surprise you.  Maybe.  YMMV

I agree with all of this.

But not on the weekend of the 500

I've been to the race about a dozen times and I'm always ready to get out when it is over.
The entire town is a fucking zoo. Gridlock everywhere and any of the decent restaurants or hotels, Christ even the shitholes, have been booked for a year.
If by some chance you do have somewhere decent to stay be prepared to have to deal with nightmare traffic (unless you have a Morph style VIP police escort, which you will see plenty of).
The town of Speedway is indeed a dump, the only thing it's good for is to park on somebodies lawn the day of the race.
Because Indianapolis is so fucking backwards only parts of the state observe daylight savings time, I think Indy itself is the same time as Chicago.
It used to be that you couldn't buy packaged beer before noon on Sunday so stock up on Saturday if that is still the case.
If you have tickets other than the infield and are bringing a cooler there is a restriction on the size. Which they do enforce.

If you have tickets for the infield than you're going to get a lesson on the genetic mix that creates White Sox fans.

[link=http://www.indy500.com/schedule/]Go to Pole Day or Carboreution Day.[/link] You can see the track, see the cars roar, maybe see a crash, get drunk in the infield, and then you can go into downtown Indy or Broadripple and have a rip-roaring good time.

You still can't buy beer on Sunday. You should know that if you really went to Notre Dame, unless you were a NERD who didn't drink.

Indy is on Eastern Time throughout the year. Mitch Daniels had enough of this time zone nonsense and put the state on DST. Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton and Jasper Counties as well as the counties near Evansville are on Central year-round.

Go to an Indianapolis Indians game in downtown Indy. Nice ballpark. Pissburgh's AAA team, I believe.

Watch the race on TV from up here in your back yard with your beagles.

I thought Pissburgh was Pissburgh's AAA team?

Been to Indy only once on a day trip, and it rained (rain+Indy= nothing to do), so keep the weather report in mind.  I would probably go Carb day over a qualifying day, as there are multiple cars on track at the same time.  Will say this, the track is seriously large.

[Saul Goodman]

Anyone have advice on going down to the Indy 500?  Is it worth making it into a full weekend trip?  If so, what is there to do?  Any good suggestions for places to go and things to see?

The area directly surrounding the BRICKYARD is a dump.  Downtown/commercial Indy is pretty nice.  Basically your standard mid-sized city, the typical restaurants, the typical shops.  The network of skywalks connecting hotels and a mall or two is pretty nice if it rains.  I've heard St Elmo Steakhouse is supposed to be the best place to eat, but I've never been there.  It has a good airport that's very accessible, but I'm assuming you'll probably drive (prepare to doze off from boredom).  It's a solid city that will probably meet expectations without pissing you off too much.  Maybe even pleasantly surprise you.  Maybe.  YMMV

I agree with all of this.

But not on the weekend of the 500

I've been to the race about a dozen times and I'm always ready to get out when it is over.
The entire town is a fucking zoo. Gridlock everywhere and any of the decent restaurants or hotels, Christ even the shitholes, have been booked for a year.
If by some chance you do have somewhere decent to stay be prepared to have to deal with nightmare traffic (unless you have a Morph style VIP police escort, which you will see plenty of).
The town of Speedway is indeed a dump, the only thing it's good for is to park on somebodies lawn the day of the race.
Because Indianapolis is so fucking backwards only parts of the state observe daylight savings time, I think Indy itself is the same time as Chicago.
It used to be that you couldn't buy packaged beer before noon on Sunday so stock up on Saturday if that is still the case.
If you have tickets other than the infield and are bringing a cooler there is a restriction on the size. Which they do enforce.

If you have tickets for the infield than you're going to get a lesson on the genetic mix that creates White Sox fans.

This.  I was last there for the winter meetings.  If you can't recognize baseball people without hats on and you ignored a couple small welcome signs at random businesses, you would've had no idea it was there.  I definitely haven't experienced the insanity of the fahv hunnerd.

[Kermit IV]

Thanks, fellas.  It looks like we're going to die.  I appreciate the tips.

[Quality Start Machine]

I slept in a tent on someone's lawn for a couple days, sat in the stands, and watched the cars whiz by as blurs 250 times.

It's far better on TV.

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

This could prove useful for finding that direct line to "Joshua" in Bangalore...

http://gethuman.com/

[Slaky]

Zombie Postage Stamp Hitler not getting punched.

Didn't know where else to put this. It's cool.

[PenFoe]

Zombie Postage Stamp Hitler not getting punched.

Didn't know where else to put this. It's cool.

Bump.

[Slaky]

Zombie Postage Stamp Hitler not getting punched.

Didn't know where else to put this. It's cool.

Bump.

That's cool, too.

[Bort]

Zombie Postage Stamp Hitler not getting punched.

Didn't know where else to put this. It's cool.

Close enough. I'm running low on genuine fist impacts.

[Brownie]

I know this is a shot in the dark, but, if any of you legal types have any knowledge of the following:

1) Canadian criminal law, especially crime committed across provinces using the Canadian Post.
2) U.S. Federal Law regarding the use of U.S.-based servers to stalk and threaten someone even if said vic and perp are located across the border, as the vic works for a U.S.-based company...

... please let me know.