Racing streak
May 26—Since 1952, Ron Beaman, 82, has only missed two Indianapolis 500s. Ironically, he missed the 1957 and '58 race because he was forced to take care of his baby brother. The same brother who takes him to the races now.
"My little brother was just 2-years-old, so I had to keep track of him," Beaman said of his brother, Dennis, who was born while Beaman was a senior in high school. He smiles as he recalls. Sunday, the Beaman brothers will attend the race. For Ron, it will be his 68th race.
A lifelong resident of Lebanon, Beaman made his first visit to the track for qualifications in 1949 with his aunt and uncle.
"I'll never forget what we had for a picnic — fried chicken and peanut butter cookies," he said. "I never will forget that."
What Beaman has seen is nothing short of the history of the track since Tony Hulman purchased it after World War II. He said the facility that first year was pretty rough in his memory. There was a wooden fence partially torn down, with holes in it and wooden grandstands. He remembers sitting across from the old pagoda. It was loud, but he remembers it very fondly.
Shortly afterward, he started attending the Greatest Spectacle in Racing every year. He even counts last year, when nobody could go because of pandemic. He watched it. He claims he would've gone, so it counts, in his mind..
A 44-year employee of Shumate Business Forms, Beaman has so many memories of his years at the track seeing iconic drivers such as Troy Ruttman, Billy Vukovich and Tony Bettenhausen.
"The race, to me, was the highlight of my year," he said. "I looked forward to it every year."
He watched A.J. Foyt and Al Unser, Sr. and Rick Mears win four races each. He's watched the speeds increase from 150 mph to 231 mph. His favorites, if he has to choose, these days are Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves.
The most memorable race? The 1964 race with the spectacular crash that killed Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald just three laps into the start. The crash was spectacular creating a huge amount of fire and black smoke. The race had to be stopped.
"That was a tragic one," Beaman said recalling the accident he and his dad were close to. "You felt helpless. You couldn't do anything."
Going to the race was always a family affair. Several years he went with his dad, former Lebanon Police Chief Fay Beaman. He was close to his dad, he said.
"My wife went with me for a little while and my dad would go with me," Beaman said. "He passed away in 1990 at 75.
"He loved just as much as I did," Beaman added.
Now, he and Dennis sit in the middle of the first turn, where he can see the front straight through Turn 2 and the pits. He says they're great seats.
Of course, he really likes Mario Andretti. In 2013, Dennis and his wife, Elaine, bought him a ticket to ride in a two-seater Indy car with Andretti for a Christmas present.
"We went around probably 180 to 190 mile an hour," Beaman said of the experience. "I knew it'd be fast, but I really didn't. You're going down that straightaway and that turn is coming up real quick."
Beaman has attended the Brickyard 400 and the F1 races. He even worked as a volunteer "yellow shirt" at the NASCAR race. He said he'll never do that again, because he couldn't see the race.
