Great roads, great curves, interesting license plates
Hoosier Hospitality, Amber Waves of Grain, The Crossroads of America, Back Home Again and Wander Indiana are but a few of the more memorable Indiana license plate mottos that have shown up over the years from the Indiana Bureau of Vehicles.
From 1905 to 1912, the Indiana General Assembly charged $1 to register a vehicle and gave each automobile owner a 2-inch diameter brass or aluminum circular seal with a number printed on it. This was hung from the vehicle’s dashboard. The owner was allowed to make an identifying placard out of leather, tin, wood or other materials to be displayed on the rear of the vehicle.
Ray Harroun drove the bright yellow Marmon “Wasp” to victory and into racing immortality in the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911. This first automotive racing event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway predated the first issuance of automotive license plates in Indiana by two years.
In 1913, Indiana issued its first license plate. The plate measured a generous 4.5″ x 14.5″ and is the only Indiana plate to have a porcelain finish on a heavy metal base. Now that’s an interesting fact to remember!
Over the decades, license plates have generally served a rather mundane identification role on automobiles, offering little to no style to their owners. The 1980s saw the beginnings of a bit of design with interesting mottos starting to show up on what had been a dull utilitarian piece of tin on the back of our four-wheeled pride and joys.
If a little style is good, then more has got to be better! In recent years, the Indiana Bureau of Vehicles has discovered just how much we motorists enjoy personalizing not just our four-wheeled vehicles but also our motorcycles. Checking out the Indiana BMV’s Web site, I counted over 70 
different specialty license plates, many of which are available for both cars and motorcycles. There are plates to tout 32 different universities, eight military specialties, 32 various organizations in addition to the two standard-issue plates. This would have definitely complicated the old vacation travel game of identifying state license plates many years ago.
If you checked out my garage lately, you’d find a whole lineup of sport motorcycles, each proudly displaying the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum license plate that benefits the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Foundation. The foundation was incorporated as a not-for-profit Indiana corporation in 1957 and is operated for educational initiatives, charitable purposes and the preservation of the most diversified auto and racing memorabilia collection in the world.
If you’d like to help support the ongoing preservation of automotive history like Ray Harroun’s Marmon “Wasp” and many others like it, contact Greta Allen at the Museum at (317) 492-6779 to reserve your Hall of Fame Museum license plate, or check out this link for more information: IMS Hall of Fame Museum License Plate
Blessed with another glorious weekend of perfect weather, I once again spent part of Saturday and most of Sunday wandering the many twisting state highways and back roads of southern Indiana on one of my sport bikes, proudly displaying my support of the Hall of Fame Museum.
I’ll see you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com
Greg
Six more weeks of winter!
Dang, the Super Bowl glow coming from Pittsburgh on Monday morning must have still been shining bright enough for Punxsutawney Phil to see his shadow. I guess we’re in for another six long weeks of winter!
As thousands gathered at Gobbler’s Knob yesterday morning in Punxsutawney, Pa., the world’s most famous groundhog cast his shadow in near-freezing temperatures. An old German tradition holds that if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on Feb. 2 (the Christian holiday of Candlemas), winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, the legend predicts spring will come early.
According to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, since 1887, Phil has seen his shadow 98 times, hasn’t seen it 15 times and there are no records for nine years. Unfortunately, they don’t offer many statistics on Phil’s accuracy.
Well, I guess this gives Jarrod plenty of time to get his rides ready for spring and his upcoming “The Man Trip.” All of my toys are tucked away in the family room staying nice and warm. Unfortunately, a foot of snow outside the back door effectively blocks any temptations to take advantage of a near 50-degree day like we had this past Sunday afternoon.
Given Phil’s prediction, I guess the plan is back to six more weeks of bench racing and hanging out at local motorcycle shops on Saturday afternoons. The guys over at Ducati Indianapolis are always waiting with open arms for serious bench racers to stop by for a steaming hot cup of espresso. Travis has lots of catalogs of performance parts for you to peruse through and the 42-inch high-definition TV is usually warmed up and ready to go with lots of racing videos to satisfy your need for speed.
Another great option to wile away your time if you’re stuck in the frigid Midwest is a day trip over to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame museum out on W. 16th Street in Indianapolis. You could easily spend a day exploring the Museum’s collection of historic race cars, motorcycles and vast collection of 100 years of racing memorabilia.
A day trip to the Hall of Fame Museum also would give you a chance to peruse the vast collection of photography that spans the 100-year history of this historic racing landmark. Be sure to give Dave in the photo shop my greetings.
To top off your day, you could pick up all kinds of great racing memorabilia for your own collection at the Hall of Fame Gift Shop. Here’s a link to the IMS Online Store so you can get your shopping list compiled and ready to go. Indianapolis Motor Speedway Online Store
Oh, and while you are there you should go ahead and order your tickets for the 2009 Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 28-30.
Well, it’s time to get back to my bench racing plans for at least the next six weeks, and I’ll see you all here next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com.
Greg
A photographic history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to participate in Nicky Hayden’s first historic motorcycle lap of the new road course at the Brickyard. After all the morning activities, a small group of enthusiasts was treated to a couple hours of watching Nicky make evaluation laps of the new course on a Honda CBR 1000RR for the IMS Facilities group.
While watching Nicky from the new Turn 4 near the south entrance, I met Dave Hilberry, the curator of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum photographic archives. Dave was shooting photos of Nicky’s first Brickyard experience, two of which I featured in my April 8 blog entry.
Over the next couple hours, I was treated to an outstanding review of many of the historic events at the Brickyard that are captured on film and preserved in the photographic archives at the museum. Dave has been a lifelong resident of Speedway, Ind., and has been a longtime part of IMS’ ongoing efforts to maintain and document the history of motorsports.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum offers a constantly changing display of motorsports history over the past 100 years. A visit to the Museum is a must-see during any trip to the Brickyard to see and experience the historic elements of the collection.
The photographic archives are located on the second floor of the Museum, and that area is easily missed if you are unaware of it. Just ask any of the always-friendly Museum staff at the information counter, and they will direct you up to Dave Hilberry’s area. Be prepared for a very informative journey into the history of the Brickyard. Chances are you will find a photo of one of your past Brickyard experiences to take home with you.
See you all next week on redbullindianapolisgp.com .
Greg