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By: Tristan Schilling

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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.-It’s a hot, humid day with heat advisories in effect.  It’s the kind of day where drinking water and avoiding prolonged periods in the sun are the only ways to beat the heat.  But one group just won't listen, instead they drink more beer and stay out the whole day in their boxed off little section of Gasoline Alley at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. These people are the alley cats. And they stay at the track all day and almost everyday.

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“Even when the oval wasn’t open we were still here,” said Mike Ebaugh, one of the original members of the alley cats group.

 

As the years have progressed so has their fame. When they first started they were just a group of people hanging out at a certain section of the track but over time they gained more notice and attention.

 

This group of people have been standing in this box every May since 1989 said Ebaugh.

 

Over time the group has gained a permanent section of the track thanks to the generosity of Hulman family, who own and operate the track.

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The section that they had started off with had saw horses as the barriers marking out their territory and they used to have a saw horse that they put in the front that said, “Alley cats only” but has been upgraded since with a metal barricade.

 

This year only Ebaugh and his daughter Bailey have made it out to the track for the practices and qualifying.

 

“Used to be say 10 years ago there used to be about eight or 10 of us here everyday. Just age is creeping up on all of us,” said Ebaugh.

 

The original group maybe getting older but their spirit is still living on in the lives of others. 

 

Bailey Ebaugh said that she has been coming here every year since she was 3 or 4 years old and now she is 26 years old. The trend for her doesn’t seem like it’ll end any time soon. 

 

Another person whom the alley cat spirit lives on in is Ashley Fulbright,18. She has been coming to the track every year and has waited in gasoline alley for 10 years to see her favorite driver Jame Hinchcliffe.

 

Although she has never been to an actual race she says she comes to every qualifying and at least to practice once or twice a week and is attending this years race.

 

Her favorite part of coming to the track is, “The enthusiasm from the drivers, they always give the time to speak  to their fans and make  sure they still  stay engaged with the sport,” said Fulbright.

 

It’s that kind of drive that had formed the alley cats group back in the 80s and it’s the same kind of drive that might someday spark the next group of alley cats to form.

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