Gene Keady is no stranger to racing. When he was growing up in Kansas, he would watch dirt-track car races at the state fair with his father, and he'd follow the Indianapolis 500 by radio or television.

But what helped set the 500 apart in his mind was the one time he watched it in person, in 1980. The speed of the cars, he said, was remarkable.

"For everything you hear about the Indianapolis 500, it's even more than you anticipate," Keady told TheIndyChannel.com in April 2004.

Keady was named Purdue's head basketball coach about a month before the 1980 race. He remembers he and his wife got up at 4 a.m. on race day, left Lafayette, and got to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 8 a.m.

The Keadys watched the race from second-deck seats and made a day of it. They didn't get home until 8 p.m.

"I was really impressed with everything," he said. "The total day was exciting and worthwhile."

Johnny Rutherford earned the last of his three Indianapolis 500 victories that day. The race also featured a few fires at the pits involving, in separate incidents, the cars of Gordon Smiley and Hurley Haywood, according to the 1980 "Indianapolis 500 Yearbook," published by Carl Hungness. The book didn't report any serious injuries from the fires.

Keady, who could see the pits, recalls one fire in particular, though he couldn't remember who was involved. He said someone told him that fuel had apparently ignited, though the flames weren't visible.

"They were swatting each other like they were swatting at bees," Keady said. "It was a trying time there for a while."

Keady's duties at Purdue have kept him busy, and he hasn't attended the race since. But he said another trip to the event could be in his future.

"I wouldn't mind doing it again once I get out of coaching," he said.

Read what others have to say.