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A race weekend with no fans in Speedway

Posted at 12:14 AM, Jul 04, 2020
and last updated 2020-07-04 00:14:05-04

SPEEDWAY — This weekend will be one for the history books at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as both the IndyCar and NASCAR circuits come to town. But without fans in the stands, it's a bittersweet return to racing for residents of Speedway.

On the day before a race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the town of Speedway and its residents should be buzzing with excitement but in 2020 nothing is the same due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"It's weird hearing the cars and not being there," Corey Ashenfelter said. "I'm one of those people that they could be racing tricycles over there and I'd show up with a cooler full of beers just because it's something to do."

Ashenfelter lives three blocks from the speedway. You can see the stands from his front yard. On any given race day his lawn would be filled with cars, a convenient alternative to parking at IMS. But this year, a blow-up pool sits on the lawn and while helpful on a hot July day, using the yard as a parking lot is a far better deal.

"Last year per parking spot on 500 race day it was $40 and like I said it was sold out by 8 a.m.," Ashenfelter said. "And I live on the corner so I've got the front and side yard. I paid my mortgage for two months with it."

A few blocks over on the street directly next to the speedway is the Hatch family home, literally feet from IMS property.

"So our porch is one of the best seats in the house at this point," Ben Hatch said.

The race fans bought this house last year and were hoping their yard would be the best tailgate spot in town. Instead, the front porch is now racing central and set up with televisions, the closest just about anyone will get to watching the race from the track.

"We've seen the tops of the cars go by on the back stretch, we saw the video boards so we've been able to have a little bit of that kind of track feel without being able to be inside," Hatch said.