Okay, I'm a little puzzled, but I think I have it figured out. Here's the dilemma: My official FCA-procured tickets from the IMS state that the USGP begins with a "Standing Start 12:00 noon EST." Now, I live in Cincinnati, where we keep EST, and I talked with my brother who lives in Indianapolis, and he has confirmed that Indianapolis local time is 1 hour behind EST (i.e., "12:00 noon EST" would be 11:00 am Indy local time). Now, when I look at Speed Channel coverage, they show race coverage beginning at 1:30 EST, which would typically mean 30 minutes of pre-race coverage before a 2:00 pm EST race start. My FCA-issued itinerary shows a "1:00 pm" time for "US Grand Prix," but they don't identify the time zone. If I assume that means 1:00 pm local time, that would be the same as 2:00 pm EST, which matches the Speed Channel coverage, and be consistent with prior years. Generally, I found the IMS website to be of little-to-no use at all in definitively establishing the race start time. So, here's my dilemma: do I believe my race tickets, and show up in advance of "12:00 noon EST" (i.e., 11:00 am race time), or do I believe the other sources in adhering to a 2:00 pm EST race start time, and get there in advance of 1:00 pm local time? Personally, I would be happy to get there early, wander the field, and watch the other activities, but I'll have an equal number of only-marginally-interested people in tow who will want to minimize time spent at the track ("too loud," or "too hot," or "too long," or ... you get the idea). In the absence of definitive information, my plan is to show up there between 9:00 am and 10:00 am local time, so we have time to wander the field, watch some pre-races, take the whiners to the museum, and tank up on sodas before the REAL race starts. If it starts at "12:00 noon EST" then I have an hour to get that done (a bit tight). If it really starts at 2:00 pm EST, then I have more like 3 hours to get it done before race time (and that's my bet). Any insights here? By the way, next year I plan to get back to the real race fans, and get there for the full race weekend. Then, we'll only marginally care when the race starts, because we'll already be there anyway. Ken
Ken: Indianapolis is on EST, but they don't do Daylight Savings, so they are an hour behind most of EST. I didn't know this either until I saw your post, and came across this site: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=105 I still don't know what time the race starts though, and I'm headed there in the morning! Good luck to both of us! -Lee in Knoxville
I was going through the same thing. My tickets from Indy say 12 noon EST standing start. I have checked around and am pretty confident it starts at 1300 local time which is 1400 eastern time. Like you I am going to just show up a little early and if I'm wrong then I'll walk around after the race. See you there. Glen
Well, now you know why Indy doesn't do daylight savings time: They can't remember whether to add or subtract an hour. Maybe they subtracted an hour off local start, because the race runs the other direction around the track. (If you add an hour for a counter-clockwise race, do you subtract one for a clockwise race?) I thought that, traditionally, F1 races started at local noon; but it seems like a lot of the current venues vary.
Okay, I was there for the whole thing today, and the race started at 1 pm Indy time. How does that square with the "Standing Start 12:00 noon EST" printed on the tickets? I know this is minor compared with the rest of the weekend's events, but it seems as though IMS just screwed up the tickets.
