Racers and Pacers: A tick-tock of a very long day in Indianapolis

It started at 6 a.m. It ended at midnight. I need a nap. So does the city.

6:30 a.m. – Wake up.

7 – Leave Carmel for the Indianapolis Speedway.

The last time we did the Pacers-racers double was in 2013, when the Pacers-Heat Eastern Conference Finals slammed up against the Indianapolis 500.

So…a memory: Former IndyStar colleague Mike Wells and I flew out of Miami Saturday night after Game 2 of the ECF and had a short layover in Philadelphia. Except that, um, we missed our connection by a few moments despite our “sprint” to the gate. (OK, I ambled more than I sprinted.) Worse than that, we missed the last Indy flight out of Philly, so were forced to find a hotel room and catch a 6 a.m. flight the next morning. Problem was, Philly hotel rooms were packed for some event, so we took a cab about 45 minutes to an hour outside of Philly.

Well, we found a Holiday Inn, but they had just one room available. That meant Wells and I would have to share a room – which cost about $400 per night, if memory serves. Worse yet, I had packed my C-Pap machine in my checked baggage, which meant a full night of epic snoring and almost no sleep. (Ask Wells. It wasn’t pretty.)

“What are you wearing?” he asked me as I prepared for bed.

“Whaddya mean?” I replied.

“Nobody wears tighty whities anymore, Bob,” he informed me.

“Well, I do.”

(Note: I don’t wear them anymore.)

So we get up super early, make our way to the airport, catch our flight from Philly to Charlotte (and then on to Indy), at which point, I left my credit card at a Charlotte breakfast joint. Oops.