SPEEDWAY, Ind. — The crowds grew at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the speeds climbed during "Fast Friday." Fans are getting excited for qualifications this weekend.
Many of the people that were at the track Friday skipped school with permission. Fast Friday might also be called "Field Trip Friday."
Next Friday, the stands will be filled with race fans having a party on Carb Day. But this Friday the stands became a classroom for an accelerated lesson at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
"In our physics unit, we learned about speed, velocity, acceleration, Newton's three laws, all the forces and things like that," said Carmel Clay Middle School science teacher Gretchen Sasser. "So we're just using it and applying it to the race track."
"It's cool to see the cars go around the track and like it's even cooler to see them, like, make passes," said seventh grader Robert Fisk, who was wearing a Josef Newgarden T-shirt.
It's cool. But there was also a packet of paperwork to complete for the seventh graders from Carmel Clay Middle School.
"Keeping track of some of the drivers and their fastest times, and then we'll talk about that when we get back and how the aerodynamics of the car, the tires, the weather today, how that all kind of plays in," said Tracy Krause, another science teacher at Clay Middle School.
For many students, this is their first visit to the Speedway.
"I'm really impressed and that it's like a lot bigger than I expected," said seventh grader Annabelle Millis. "And there's, like, seats for tons of people."
Fast Friday brought school groups to the Speedway from all over Central Indiana.
"Over the past couple of weeks, we've been learning about IMS," said Eva Lynn, a Perry Meridian eighth grader. "It's definitely one of those things where race cars are a big part of the community in general in this area, especially for economic growth. But it's also something that people just go to every year as a tradition."
The tradition begins even before you're old enough to go to school in many families.
"It's great family fun," said Erica Knipp, a mother from Fishers wearing a matching checkered flag outfit with her son. "I love seeing all their faces and watching the race cars and just learning about the Indy 500. We were born and raised in Indiana. So, kind of a family tradition in a way as well."
"Both of our husbands are from Ohio, so they don't understand it," added Karli Kish, a friend who also brought her young sons to the Speedway Friday. "But we always explain that this is the biggest thing for Indianapolis, especially born and raised people."