Indy 500 a Washington tradition
From left, Syl Wrubleski, Dave Johnston, Chip Ganassi, Al Wrubleski and Andrew Soltez are shown at Indy 500 qualifying in 1982.
A picture of turn one from the 1960s
The Chip Ganassi Racing PNC car before the 2018 Indy 500
It was too early to be up on a Saturday morning, but I was so excited, I didn’t care. We were heading west on Interstate 70 toward a place I’d been longing to visit since I could remember. It was Memorial Day weekend 2001, and I was finally going to attend my first Indianapolis 500. For me, this was all new. But for the rest of our group traveling from Washington, this was a tradition and a trip they’d been making for decades.
Back in 1955, when the race cars were roadsters, the late Dave Johnston attended his first Indy 500 with his uncle while in his early 20s. Johnston, who later became a Washington High School teacher and football and track coach, was enamored from the start.
That was the first of more than fifty “500s” Johnston would attend. His wife, Ann Johnston of Washington, said he only missed Indy the year his mother died and while serving in the U.S. Army.
“He loved the speed,” recalled Johnston’s daughter, Barb Jones, also of Washington. “And he always loved cars, period.”
Johnston’s love for the race and his favorite driver, AJ Foyt, was so infectious that he eventually earned the nickname, “AJ.” By the early 1960s, Johnston had rounded up a gang of friends to make the annual May trip.
Kristin Emery and her father, Don Emery, are shown at the race in 2001.
“There must have been other people from town here who went, but Dave had the 16 tickets and got a lot of people interested,” remembers Ann. “He was an organizer. When this started out, it’s sort of like he started this whole thing.”
That original group of race fans included several fellow Wash High staffers, including my dad, Don Emery, and friends Andrew “Emo” Soltez and Syl Wrubleski. Through the decades, a small, passionate few grew to a Washington contingent nearly 40 strong at times.
Home away
from home
“When they first came out, they drove to Richmond, Ind., and took the train in,” said Al Wrubleski, 58, of Washington. “My dad thought there had to be a better way.”
Al’s father phoned family friends Joe and Anna Banich, who lived in Speedway and invited the group to stay with them. When space got tight, they moved again.
“A friend of my dad lived up north of the track and they stayed with him,” said Tony Gorjanc of Speedway, Ind. “Their tickets were on the south side, so that’s a long walk. Joe asked my dad to take four people. That was back in 1962, and it’s been that way ever since.”
Tony was just a kid when the group began staying at his house.
“They all stayed in Wilma’s garage on cots,” said Ann Johnston of Gorjanc’s mother. As the group grew, tents sprang up in the front yard and campers parked in the back.
“My mom did all the cooking for breakfast,” Tony said with a chuckle. “They took shifts eating in the dining room.”
The next generation
Decades passed, chassis got streamlined, designers added rear wings and speeds soared into the 200 mph range. The race fans’ families were evolving, too.
Syl Wrubleski’s youngest son, Al, was the first member of the second generation to make the annual trip.
Kristin Emery is pictured with former race car driver and current owner Chip Ganassi.
“I would watch the tape-delayed broadcast, so by the time he got home, we could talk about the race,” Al remembers.
In 1970, 10-year-old Al got to attend his first Indy 500 and watch Al Unser Sr. take the checkered flag. He was hooked.
“I have been here every year since, except for three races,” he said. “I had to miss three for work. I got here and it was much more than I imagined it would be.”
This year marked Al’s 45th Indy 500. He and Tony Gorjanc are close in age and formed a friendship over the years.
“Tony and I kind of grew up together, too, through annual month of May meetings,” he laughed.
Al’s two older brothers began tagging along and the other guys began bringing their sons.
“It’s amazing,” marveled Gorjanc. “I kind of look forward to it in a way because I only see them once a year.”
The trip remained only boys until 1985, when Johnston’s daughter, Barb, made her first trip.
“I was the first girl,” said Jones. “My dad said, ‘When you’re old enough to appreciate it, if I have an extra ticket, would you like to go?’ and I said, ‘Yes.'”
That finally happened when Jones was a sophomore in high school.
“My first year was 1985, when Danny Sullivan won. I was just instantly hooked … just the speed and to be right there, that close,” she said.
For me, it took until 2001 to make it to my first Indy 500. I saw Helio Castroneves win. I, too, was hooked.
Now, third and fourth-generation members have joined the group and are still staying with Gorjanc at his home in Speedway.
“The generations and the kids and all that … it’s amazing,” Gorjanc said with a smile.
The Borg-Warner Trophy bears the likeness of each winner of the Indianapolis 500.
Al Wrubleski remembers meeting a young race car driver from Pittsburgh in the garage area before time trials in 1982.
“We told him, ‘We want to wish you luck, being a local guy,” Al said, “and the next thing you know, he said, ‘We’ll have to get together after the month of May.'”
That young driver was Chip Ganassi, who raced in the Indy 500 that year and today is one of the most successful IndyCar and NASCAR team owners in the world.
Ganassi said, “I met (Al) in 1982 here in Indianapolis, my rookie year. I was a young driver fresh out of Duquesne University. I met this guy from Washington County and (brothers) Andy and Dan. I’ve been to their house for dinner!”
Ganassi was born and still lives in Fox Chapel and appreciates Southwestern Pennsylvania’s race fans.
“Over the years, there have been plenty, and you kind of get to know them,” said Ganassi. “Pittsburghers are like that. Whenever they are somewhere and they see another Pittsburgher, they say, ‘Hey’ and you’re kind of buds. That’s how Pittsburghers are.”
It’s appropriate that Pittsburgh-based PNC is the sponsor for Ganassi’s No. 9 IndyCar this season.
Keeping the tradition
As we sat on Tony’s porch this Memorial Day weekend, we reminisced about family members who are no longer with us.
Dave Johnston passed away in 2012. My dad, Tony’s parents and Andrew Soltez are also gone, but their legacy lives on.
In 2010, Johnston was honored by Indianapolis Motor Speedway along with other fans who had been ticket holders for more than 50 years.
Now, his daughter Barb holds the tickets and said, “When I can no longer go, I’ll get rid of the tickets.”
Al Wrubleski and the rest of us hope that won’t be for a few decades.
“The most lasting memory is the very first time I watched them take the green flag,” Al said. “Once you see that, nothing’s the same. I just love the racing, it’s just the thrill of the race. I enjoy it and I still get goosebumps when they drop the green flag. When I stop getting goosebumps, I’ll stop coming.”