Ladies and Gentlemen... Start Your Engines!

May in Indiana means only one thing - time for the Indianapolis 500! Here's a brief history if you're unfamiliar with the roots of the race.

Built on 328 acres of farmland five miles northwest of Indianapolis, Indiana, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was started by local businessmen as a testing facility for Indiana’s growing automobile industry. The idea was that occasional races at the track would pit cars from different manufacturers against each other. After seeing what these cars could do, spectators would presumably head down to the showroom of their choice to get a closer look.

The rectangular two-and-a-half-mile track linked four turns, each exactly 440 yards from start to finish, by two long and two short straight sections. In that first five mile race on August 19, 1909, 12,000 spectators watched Austrian engineer Louis Schwitzer win with an average speed of 57.4 miles per hour. The track’s surface of crushed rock and tar proved a disaster, breaking up in a number of places and causing the deaths of two drivers, two mechanics and two spectators.

While the official attendance is not disclosed by Speedway management, with a permanent seating capacity for more than 257,000 people and infield seating that raises capacity further to an approximate 400,000, it is the largest single-day sporting event in the world

So enough of the boring history stuff that you could have found yourself on Wikipedia. Here's the scoop on the REAL Indianapolis 500 and the top 10 things to expect if you go.

1. There are more men wearing cut off jean shorts than not.
2. Those same men wearing jean shorts are also wearing apparel featuring their favorite alcoholic beverage.
3. Parking is horrible.
4. Be prepared to get a sunburn.
5. And if the sun isn't out, be prepared for a tornado.
6. Bring your camera to take pics of celebrities outside of the Pagoda Tower.
7. Beer is way overpriced, but you can BRING YOUR OWN BEER!
8. Because you can bring your own beer, there are a lot of annoying drunk people stumbling around.
9. The actually race is really boring in person. It takes a long time to race 500 miles. Typically you sit in your seat for the first 30 and last 30 laps. The rest of the time, you walk around and people watch.
10. You must go early to watch the Purdue Marching Band perform. And best of all, hear Jim Nabors sing "Back Home Again in Indiana."