Its just a frigg'n number, it always has been, so shut up and deal with it. A little history lesson for all of those "Haters" that like poke fun at Tony George for his comment "33 is only a number".
In case you are old, grumpy and have nothing else to do and are confused of what "Haters" means---its you! so shut up because the old days are over, just like a 10cent movie ticket! I am sure all of you remember in 1979 (the first year of CART) the Speedway allowed 35 starters and I believe you would consider 1979 as being in the "hey-day".
40 cars started in the inaugural race in 1911, the Contest Board of the American Automobile Association (AAA), the sanctioning body at the time, mandated a formula for limiting the size of a starting field according to the size of the track. It was determined that the safe distance between each car spread equally around a course would be 400 feet, thereby limiting the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway to 33 cars. Speedway President Carl Fisher, however, placed a limit of only 30 cars for the “500” between 1912 and 1914 and did not adopt AAA’s 33 maximum until 1915. Although there had been numerous occasions between 1912 and 1928 when the field was not filled, the allowed number was increased during the Depression years to 40 cars between 1930 and 1932 (only 38 made it in 1930) and further to 42 in 1933. The maximum has been at 33 ever since 1934, although extenuating circumstances expanded the field to 35 starters in 1979 and 1997.(courtesy of Indy500.com)
So if I hear another wise crack about "33 is only a number" I am going to do something frightening like show a clip of Dan Wheldon trying to throw the first pitch at a Mets game!!
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