Photos by Michael Trace
(Editor’s note: This is the first of two Eye Candy galleries covering the Celebration of Automobiles at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Look for the second gallery tomorrow.)
The inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis, an Indy car race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s reconfigured road course, wasn’t the only highlight of the track’s opening weekend this May. The track also hosted its fourth-annual Celebration of Automobiles, a classic car showcase staged right behind the track’s huge Pagoda scoring and timing tower.
As I came out of the tunnel under the track and got my first glimpse of the display, I was stunned. The automobiles were gorgeous. The craftsmanship, sexy lines and history was almost overwhelming.
My mission for the day was to capture photographic images of the cars. As I started wandering around, I noticed all the cars had placards. I shot a few cars showing their information but quickly realized that there are too many details on these classics that I could not pass up. In the end, I decided readers know the automobiles so it was OK to pick out juicy tidbits and let you have fun with them.
I spoke with one proud Hudson owner and asked him how he came in to his classic ride. He had one when he was young, he said, and decided about 8 years ago he wanted to get another. After joining a Hudson club and advertising what he was looking for, he received a call from another gentleman who didn’t really have what he was looking for, but he fell in love with the car when he saw it and so he bought it.
