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the Indianapolis Motor Speedway honored him by holding an official
Andy Granatelli Day.
Andy has attended
every
Indy 500 race for the past 63 years either as a
race car owner or simply as an observer, and that dedication to the event
has been repaid by the respect he receives whenever he visits.
Andy not only
knows
Indianapolis, he
owns
Indianapolis. Actually
the Hulman-George family owns the Speedway, as it is a privately held
establishment, but Andy is in such high regard here that he may as well
own it. In fact, he says, he tried to buy the track some years ago but was
unsuccessful. Too bad; estimates put its current value at a billion dollars.
Granatelli is the G-word in Indianapolis, and given a choice between
God and Granatelli, one would be hard-pressed to determine which name
red lights, Stop signs, and any other merely human impediments. I sat in
the rear cruiser and when I asked Captain Dierdorff if he could turn on
his siren, he complied with a variety of them, from constant drone to the
European high-decibel-low-decibel wail.
When we arrived – very late – at the Speedway Motel, directly across
from the track, the restaurant was ready to serve; it had been kept open
after closing hours just for us. “Anything for Mr. Granatelli,” the manager
said, and Andy wasn’t even with us; he was already asleep, having arrived
the day before. Andy says the only way one could get a reservation at the
Speedway Motel over Memorial Day Weekend would be if someone died.
Or, he neglected to add, if Andy Granatelli had made the reservation.
At and around the Speedway track, whenever we visited the pits,
Gasoline Alley, or one of any number of race and auto museums (all of
which prominently feature Andy and Vince Granatelli), we traveled in two
15-passenger vans with a big “Granatelli” writ large across the front of the
windshield; the sign gave us carte blanche to go wherever we wanted to
mattered more in the Bible Belt city.
Andy and his wife,
Dolly
, moved to Montecito in 1987 and have lived
here ever since. Along with his penchant for racing and publicity, Andy is
good at other things, among them philanthropy. A popular live auction
item Andy donates regularly at Santa Barbara fundraisers has been a trip
with him to the Indy 500 over Memorial Day weekend. The item regularly
draws bids over $35,000, and more often than not, the five-day trip
(including private jet, all other transportation, lodging, and food) goes for
$55,000 and up per couple.
This year, instead of offering it up for auction, Granatelli invited a small
group to attend the Indy 500 with him; the following is a report of that
adventure.
Upon landing at the Indianapolis Airport on the Wednesday evening
before the Sunday, May 25
th
race, our small group was ushered outside to
a waiting van and two Speedway Police escort squad cars, one in front and
one in the rear. Once ensconced, our party took off – in the best racing
sense of the phrase. Lights flashing, with
Sgt. Alan
Jones
driving the lead
car and
Captain Jason Dierdorff
trailing, we sped through intersections,
The Granatelli group, mostly from Montecito, at the track the day before the race underneath
the giant poster of a younger Andy Granatelli in his famous STP suit are (in no particular
order): Nora Fletcher, Gordon Johnson, Michael Towbes, Phil and Sara Taylor, Tab Hunter,
David & Ann Blackmer, Allan Glaser, Matt James, Phil and Sara Taylor, Jennifer Ingram,
Chris & Cathy Hartowicz, David & Tracy Beard, Tracy Aranyos, Andy & Dolly Granatelli, Jim &
Helen Buckley, Robert L. Skinner, and Vince & Lori Granatelli