I was at school today when I heard the news that Tom Carnegie had died. I knew Tom was not doing well, and his time was short, but it still hit me with a feeling of sadness.
Tom was special to me. He was special to a lot of people. If you ever went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway any time over the past 60 years or so, you knew of Tom Carnegie. He was the voice on the public address. In fact, when he retired in 2007, it was like something was missing when you went to the track and didn’t hear his voice. I know I’m not alone in feeling that way.
This past summer, I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with Tom. Our friend Josh Laycock is very close with Tom and his wife DJ. Josh set up a luncheon for a handful of us, and after lunch we drove over to the Speedway.
With special permission, we all went out on the front-stretch and just kinda hung out. We just took pictures and talked about what an amazing place it is. As someone who’s passionate about the Indy 500, and the Speedway in general, it was pretty cool to be out on the track when no one else was there. It was just us.
But what made it even more special to me was the time I spent with Tom. We sat at the famous yard of bricks and talked about my racing, how much I loved the Speedway, and how much he loved the Speedway. I’m really interested in the history of the race and we talked about some old time drivers and races. It was the first time we’d ever spent time together but it was like we were old friends.
When my dad and I drove away that day I remember thinking, “I can’t believe I was just hanging out with Tom Carnegie on the front-stretch of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.”
My dream is to someday cross that yard of bricks as a race-winner, but until then my most special memory will be the time I shared there with Tom Carnegie.
