Indy 500 qualifying question?

[Mattus21]

I want to go down to IMS for pole day, but I was wondering which day to go. On the IMS website it says there are 2 days of qualifying, May10th and 11th.
Which day do they actually set the pole and the top part of the field or is it done with both days?

Thanks
Matt

[tomes1978]

There are actually four days of qualifying the first day is pole day.

[drdisque]

However, if you can attend both days I suggest it. First, you hedge your bet against rain on pole day by committing to be there both days. Secondly, with the new qualifying format, there's plenty of action both days. Also, by staying in town that night you can actually get there early enough to see morning warmup.

[Ren Butler]

If you have somewhere to stay, you can't beat $10 admission each day.

[captmrwill]

you hedge your bet against rain on pole day by committing to be there both days

I cannot emphasize that point enough. I haven't been to qualifying since I was in high school, but I went every year as a kid and think I only saw actual qualifying once or twice.

[Mack Too]

OK, here you go, it would help if I knew the distance you will be traveling, the weather and its trends are the key. I am proud to claim to be a student of the Indy 500, for 8 years I was at the track from three days before it opened until two days after the race.

First it depends on Spring weather, wet or dry since May 1st, hot or cold, ground temperatures and how much green foliage is on the trees. Give me a cold, damp early May, farm fields under water, and I'll look to the weather going into the weekend at not just Terre Haute, but St Louis too, if that looks bad on Thursday afternoon, I would opt for Sunday and hope I wasn't wrong.

I think if it is a warm, dry month, ground temperatures are up, the trees are green, the farmers are in the fields every day and things are dry in St Louis on Thursday, I would be outside a Georgetown Road gate at 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning in line. When they let you in, head for the upper deck Penthouse seats (it's a climb) and get in the front row opposite Gasoline Alley, there is a several foot jog in the roof there, that is the place.

Best bet for me when I was only a fan was to arrive on Fast Friday and watch the speeds all day, then sit for the qualifying line position draw, where you see most of the drivers and owners, and then we would eat (I had my sons with me, they still remember and think about how special it was), and we would sleep in the car until it was time to get in line. Some nights we got wet, some we got cold, some both, but we were were first in, and 35 years later my "boys" still remember.

[9rows]

come for fast friday
stay for pole day on saturday
stay 2nd qual day on sunday

[mogilla77]

Try to go on the day that it doesn't rain!

[brickyard1911]

Just move to Indy.

I left 20 years ago..........big mistake.

[BlueStang]

With the new qualifying format, be prepared to spend many hours in the middle of the day watching nothing happen.

It's as fun as watching paint dry!

[drdisque]

I think the new format creates a lot more activity mid-day. There's actually a reason to be out there on the second and third days.

[9rows]

With the new qualifying format, be prepared to spend many hours in the middle of the day watching nothing happen.

It's as fun as watching paint dry!

that happened with the old format as well.

either way, that is what a cooler full of beer and chicken is for!