The Indianapolis 500

I watched the Indy 500 at home with a friend this afternoon.  It was fast and exciting.  The one major accident did not involve any injuries and the ending was satisfactory.  All much as expected.  This morning in church though we had a different view of this historic race.  The whole service was built around a racing theme and as part of the program we were shown a short clip from the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911.  Did you know that the cars in that first race reached speeds of 70 miles an hour?  One person commented that they looked a lot like Soap Box Derby cars.  I had heard some time ago that rearview mirrors on cars were an invention first used in the Indy 500 but I didn't realize it was an invention from the very first Indy 500.  And it made a difference in the outcome.  In that first race there were two men in each car, one driver and one engineer.  The engineer's job, among other things, was to watch out for other cars on the track.  The one driver who invented and used the rearview mirror didn't need someone else to ride with him.  That made his car lighter and faster and he won the race.  So now you know.