Indianapolis 500 fans double up with split loyalties to Pacers, race day traditions

Dean Heaviland has attended more than three dozen Indianapolis 500s and has been working gamedays with the NBA’s Indiana Pacers for three decades.

So in Heaviland’s world it doesn’t get any better than Sunday.

He again made the short jaunt from his home in Speedway, Indiana, to the nearby racetrack for the race then scurried across town to help supervise the entertainment for the Eastern Conference finals to complete the rare race-day double yet again. Only this one started a little different.

“The amount of Pacers jerseys, the different T-shirts at the track today was no like other,” said Heaviland, who has completed all four racers & Pacers doubles. “I’ve never seen it out there like that. The ovation when the priest said the prayer and said ‘God bless our Pacers’ was great. It was awesome.”

Those who showed up the to the nightcap, Game 3 between the Pacers and rival New York Knicks, went home with more gear they could wear if it happens again next May, blue-and-gold T-shirts with the words Vroom Baby — even though the Pacers droopped to 0-4 all-time when playing on race day.

Still, the city of Indianapolis celebrated its temporary title as center of the sports universe for one weekend with multiple megastars participating in three major sporting events televised on three different networks.

And everyone including Pacers coach Rick Carlisle took notice even though the rain-delayed race ended just 3 1/2 before his game was supposed to start.

“Congratulations to Alex Palou, the Indianapolis 500 winner and first Spaniard to win,” he said to open his pregame remarks. “Amazing race. I got to watch the end of the race.”

The crossover was every bit as noticeable at the track, too.

Before leaving his home in central Indiana, 32-year-old Austin Pettijohn made sure he came in the proper dress code — checkered flag shorts and an Indiana Pacers jersey. The sentiment meshed with so many others in the colorful, estimated crowd of 350,000 for the largest single-day sporting event in the world.

With more than a dozen planes carrying advertising banners above Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Goodyear blimp also there, the sounds and smells of the track wafted through an infield full of Pacers jerseys and other regalia that seemed every bit as popular as the driver T-shirts that typically dot Pagoda Plaza.

And why not? This is May and this is Indiana where auto racing and basketball aren’t just popular. They’re a way of life.

“It’s so ingrained in this town, this state since 1909, 1911,” Pettijohn said rattling off the dates of the 2.5-mile oval Brickyard completion and the first IndyCar race was held there. “I was born into the month of May and racing, and it holds a very near and dear place in my heart with me and my family. Basketball, too. It’s just an emotional, special time.”

Sports fans in Indiana understand because race day is a kind of pilgrimage that binds the generations together. Many families spend dozens of years sitting or standing in the same location and dress for the occasion in racing garb, a vastly scaled down version of the colorful hats and fancy dresses and suits found at the Kentucky Derby each May.

Those who can’t attend usually listen to the radio broadcast because the network telecast normally blacked out and re-aired in full race night allowing those who went in person to get back home and watch it all over again.

It’s a tradition so revered that when fans weren’t allowed to attend in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, speedway president Doug Boles offered a special dispensation to keep their streaks of consecutive races intact — if they watched or listened to the race.

This time, though, race organizers announced they were lifting the blackout because the grandstand was sold out for the first time since 2016. The fact some viewers may have been more prone to seeing if the Pacers could take a 3-0 lead may have played a part, too.

Regardless, excited locals were thrilled with the decision to telecast the race live since most couldn’t afford two tickets to both events, nearing $4,000 on secondary markets entering the weekend, or they couldn’t successfully navigate traffic from Speedway to downtown Indianapolis in time for tip-off.

“The good news is (the Pacers game) is at 8 p.m. so the 500 will be done by then, and you don’t have to worry about going home and watching the race,” said Indy resident Nick Bustamante, who came to the race in a jersey of two-time NBA All-Star Tyrese Haliburton. “I’ll watch it here and then I’ll watch the game at home.”

Indiana wound up blowing a 20-point lead in a 106-100 loss.

Haliburton might be the best-known Pacers player after making two game-winning shots during Indiana’s playoff run and a buzzer-beater to force overtime in Game 1 against the Knicks on Wednesday. Others were represented, though.

Some wore the jerseys of forwards Pascal Siakam and Obi Toppin, who attended college at the University of Dayton. Others preferred throwback jerseys — Reggie Miller and Detlef Schrempf — and still others, showed up in some iteration of Caitlin Clark jerseys, either the WNBA’s Indiana Fever version or her college choice, Iowa.

The Fever lost 90-88 on Saturday to defending league champ New York when Clark had the ball stripped on the game’s final possession. By Sunday, that loss seemed a distant memory, though, and for good reason. After Palou’s victory, everyone was tuning up for the grand finale.

“It’s the best (day) in the world,” Heaviland said. “You know the 500 is, it’s like Christmas morning when you wake up and it’s race day. But then when you have a Pacers game, Eastern Conference finals, playoff game the same, there’s no other place I’d rather be.”

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing