The day before the big race, I had a little bit of time to kill after picking up my pass. I decided to head next door to check out the Indy Hall of Fame Museum. When I first thought of “hall of fame” something like the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY came to mind, with its seemingly endless statistics and trophies. As I walked towards the building a part of me wondered if I would just get bored trying to read hundreds of plaques next to grainy head shots. While there were plenty of plaques, the word “museum” was probably equally as important in this equation. The building was as much a house of art as was is one of praise. The cars were granted the center of attention, even more than the names that adorned the side of their cockpits. Baseballs and bats haven’t really changed in past 100 years, but the cars that raced at the famous brickyard certainly did. Read on to get a glimpse of just how much.

Open wheel racers occupied the largest part of the exhibit floor. Many look just the way they did when they won their respective races, tires still bald from going the full distance without another pit stop.

The first cars that I observed reminded me more of today’s land-speed record setters with skinny tires and long front noses. The engines were all stuffed in the front, and this appeared to dictate a lot about their shape and design.

The distinct lack of sponsor logos was also very visible in a time when television either didn’t exist or wasn’t widely used to view the races.

Looking into the tiny driver’s seats of 50 years ago, I was amazed to see the way technology and priorities have changed. Not only was a tiny pillow on the steering wheel the only means of crash safety, but the entire drive shaft appeared to run just to the left of the driver’s leg! The seat itself also looked somewhat plush, and was probably more comfortable than the modern equivalent. I doubt that drivers butts have changed any though.

As the history lesson continued around the exhibit floor, I could see the gradual evolution of the cars into the 200+mph wonders we know today. After somebody figured out it would be a good idea to put the engine in the back rather than the front, things took a drastic shift and have moved steadily in the same direction ever since. Huge rear wings and front nose cones were added to keep everything planted at high speeds. Sticky, wide tires were placed at all four corners, and although the cars flatten out on the sides, many still resembled their sausage-like older cousins from the side until the engines could be made small enough for a tighter package.

The lower hall of the museum featured a larger variety of machines, including motorcycles, GT cars, and a few stock cars.

All and all I would definitely recommend stopping by to check it out if you’re ever in Indianapolis for a race. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll see Helio’s winning car from 2009 in there with the rest of the legends.

So you’ve seen the crash, and you’ve seen my view from the grandstands. But what about the other 198 laps of the race? Follow the jump to see some of my other favorite shots for this past year’s Indy 500.

Congratulations again to Helio Castroneves on his win this past year.

Sometimes you’re just in the right place, at the right moment, and you see an event unfolding right before your eyes. It’s very surreal, and there’s this sense of awe that first wants to bubble up from inside you. If you let it come to the surface, it will already be too late, and that moment will be gone. The only thing to do is not think, shove the camera against your face and pull the trigger as fast as possible. After it is over, the sensation of “did that just happen” will return, and even more so if you’ve captured it on film.

Hit the jump to see the crash frame by frame as I did. I know there are lots of people out there who like seeing this sort of thing and think that it is cool, but I don’t want to downplay a serious situation. This was no small mishap, and Tony admitted in interviews afterwords that while he was able to get out of the car and walk away, he was pretty beat up. The fuel does catch fire in the last shot, but don’t worry, it only lasted a few seconds and did not enter the cockpit. Meira had it much worse later on…

Notice how the front left wheel was not moving, but the rear left was still turning. He was skidding with absolutely no control over the steering of the car at nearly 200 mph.

That’s your race winner, Helio Castroneves, entering the frame on the lower right. Tony was in a pretty comfortable third place when his car broke, a reminder that anyone’s race day can end violently in an instant no matter how close to the front and out of traffic they might be.

There was quite a lot of debris left on the track, and there was at least one team who was lucky enough to pit quickly and change tires to avoid a puncture.