Actor/singer Jim Nabors says tradition is one of the things that make the Indianapolis 500 great. And for roughly 30 years, Nabors himself has been part of it.

Nabors' nearly annual pre-race rendition of "Back Home Again in Indiana," and the accompanying release of thousands of colorful balloons into the sky, are part of the pageantry that help make the event stand out.

And though he thoroughly enjoys his part in the race, he says he particularly likes what comes next.

"It's the greatest thrill in the world when Mari Hulman George says, 'Gentlemen, start your engines,' and you hear all of those cars start. It brings me goose bumps," Nabors told TheIndyChannel.com during a phone interview in May 2004.

Nabors, whose television career included his starring role in "Gomer Pyle USMC," began his Indy 500 stint in the early 1970s. He met Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony Hulman in Lake Tahoe, where Nabors had been performing at Harrah's.

Hulman invited him to the track, and then asked him to sing at the race. Nabors recalls thinking initially that he was going to sing the national anthem, so he had to make a bit of an adjustment when he learned what his assignment really was.

"I knew the song, but I wasn't sure of the words, so I wrote them on my hands," Nabors laughed.

Nabors was invited back the next year, and he's performed at the race for nearly every year since.

The memory of one missed 500 stands out to him, because it wasn't for a lack of trying to fit it in. He was at the speedway on the scheduled race day, but when he was about to sing, rain started falling.

The rain stopped, officials dried the track, and Nabors tried again. But once more, rain started to fall. When this happened a third time, Nabors said, the crowd started to boo.

"I started yelling at them, 'It's not my fault!' And they started laughing," he said. The race was rescheduled, and he couldn't attend the makeup day.

TheIndyChannel wondered whether people mistake Nabors, who was raised in Alabama and lives in Hawaii, for an Indiana native because of his role at the 500.

"Sure, a lot of people do," Nabors said. "After 30-something years, I feel like a native Hoosier."

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