Every person roaming a large grass field outside of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in between Georgetown Road and Auburn Street, is part of a tradition more than a century old. These thousands of race fans who come to Speedway each year in their recreational vehicles are the Memorial Day weekend inhabitants of Lot 2, just one of many camp sites at IMS.
Among these thousands was a group of 38 people, who spent the three days prior to Indianapolis 500 Sunday at their camp site. Here, an orange snow fence enclosed the following:
- More than 10 small tents for sleeping
- A tent for food preparation
- One RV
- A gray trailer filled with equipment attached to a truck
- Two power generators
- A rented porta-potty
- A large, white tent that serves as the group’s event center, complete with a bar, tables and chairs, couches and a television.
A laminated white sheet of paper is posted on the wall closest to the exit of this tent: a full itinerary detailing the schedule all 38 members will adhere to from the Thursday before the race until race day itself. Terry Trego is the mastermind behind it all.
This year, Trego set “check-in” time for 4:30 a.m. Thursday, May 22. That’s when the majority of the group was expected to arrive at Lot 2 so they could secure the same section of the lot that they commandeer each year.
Trego travels from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, but others in “The PAIN Tour” come from Arizona, Florida, South Carolina and Alabama. It’s an extended weekend the entire group helps plan year-round, particularly ramping up communication once the new year begins.
In as much detail as possible, Trego explained his four-day plan all while wearing a Penn State University hoodie and holding a cigar between two fingers in his right hand. The time was 10:17 a.m. on Saturday, May 24.
During “The PAIN TOUR,” the group attends all the events they possibly can within the confines of IMS, but they also have plenty of things to do back at their camp site. Trego and friends plan group events such as a whiffle ball game, a karaoke contest, a trivia contest, a “stock market” event that allows each member to purchase stock in a driver of their choice to follow along with them during race day and more.
Whoever bought stock in eventual 2025 winner Alex Palou, for example, won a large cash prize.
After 24 consecutive years, first starting with Trego and his wife traveling from Pennsylvania alone, Trego said the itinerary and the group itself only seems to grow during each passing year.
“We never thought it would get this big,” Trego said. “ … This is the greatest track in the world, and we’re lucky that we only live 10 hours away from it.”
While Trego and the rest of “The PAIN TOUR” may have one of the most elaborate camp sites at Lot 2, these three families make their mark with traditions more than half a century long.
‘I’m a sentimental guy’
Tom Stevens’ camp site at Lot 2 is almost an IMS attraction in and of itself. A banner hangs from the awning of Tom and his wife Carole’s RV.
It’s an advertisement – or an invitation – for spectators walking the lot to see Tom’s framed collection of tickets from each Indianapolis 500 he has attended. This display is proof that Tom has attended the Greatest Spectacle in Racing 70 consecutive times.
Tom already has framed slots sitting empty for his 71st, 72nd, 73rd and 74th consecutive race tickets, counting on having at least four more races in him after this year.
Tom has never been far from IMS, hailing from Greenfield, Indiana. That’s why his parents took him to his first race in 1956 when he was 13, and they had a streak of their own until their deaths: Tom’s father, Carl, attended 45 Indianapolis 500s, and his mother, Aubrey, took in 51 races. Though Tom has the longest streak of all in his family’s history, his brother, Ron, was not far behind.
Starting in 1958, Tom attended 67 races in a row with Ron, but 2025 was the first year since 1957 that Ron and Tom didn’t attend the 500 together. Ron died last November after a five-year fight against lung cancer.
Tom fought back tears as reality set in that this year’s Indianapolis 500 was going to be without a key member of the Stevens family.
“I guess I’m a sentimental guy,” Tom said. “It’s not all about the race; it’s even more than a race, it’s a family event.”
Tom and Carole are Indianapolis 500 veterans, but some extended family members from Ohio join the camp site for the weekend, too.
Jessica Wright, a granddaughter-in-law of Tom and Carole, has been to four Indianapolis 500s since she became a Stevens family member in 2019 by marriage. The only races she has missed in that window were when she was nursing her then-infant child, but Jessica’s daughter has now been to two races in a row before even turning 3.
In total, 26 Stevens family members attend the Indianapolis 500 together, whether they camp from Thursday-Sunday like Tom and Carole or not. Wright is relatively new to the Stevens’ family tradition, but she already had a gauge on how much Memorial Day weekend at IMS means to Tom.
“Tears come to his eyes on the last lap of the race,” Wright said. “It’s fun to have the next generation be a part of this, and it’s almost a little family reunion at the same time.”
Deck the Halls at Lot 2
Larry Hall was 10 years old at his first Indianapolis 500 in 1948. He remembers the formerly wooden bleachers in the grandstands of turn four, recalling his awe at watching drivers zip around the track at then-record speeds of 118 miles per hour. Now, 77 years later, the top lap speed at the 2025 Indianapolis 500 was more than 226 miles per hour.
Hall didn’t start regularly attending Indianapolis 500s until 1956, and while he hasn’t gone to each race since, the Halls have become mainstays of Lot 2. Some family members travel from South Bend, but Larry has lived in Parker City, Indiana, all his life.
This year, the family was greeted by other campers who recognized them from previous years when the Halls returned to Lot 2. The family’s camp site stood out for a unique reason this year.
A large, inflatable Santa Claus sat in the driver’s seat of an inflatable race car on top of a portable kitchen and bar the Halls brought with them. Along with St. Nick, the Hall family had some Christmas lights and a small Christmas tree decorating their setup.
Carla Hall, Larry’s daughter in-law, said the family’s decision to go with a Christmas-themed camp site this year came at the advice of her daughter, who often describes race day as “better than Christmas.”
Saturday morning, the family’s camp site looked like a family reunion with four generations of Halls camping together. That’s what makes the tradition of the Indianapolis 500 special to Larry.
“This place, once it gets you, it becomes a part of your life,” he said. “The memories are so many and so great.”
A week full of laughs
While the Hall family only camps from the Friday before the race until race day, others stay much longer. The McQuinn family from Springfield, Illinois, are among the latter.
Saturday morning, John McQuinn sat in a lawn chair on top of a checkered flag rug. McQuinn had finished breakfast and was taking in the sights and sounds of IMS across Georgetown Road the day before the Indianapolis 500.
McQuinn wore a navy blue motorsports shirt and jeans with suspenders. His bushy, gray mustache tried – but failed – to hide his infectious smile each time he burst into childlike laughter that represented 60 straight years of camping at IMS.
The McQuinn family had already been in Indianapolis for a week. They left Springfield Friday, May 16, so that they could camp outside IMS in time to watch the Indianapolis 500 qualifying trials that weekend and all of the festivities of race weekend itself the next.
On the back of the McQuinns’ RV is an array of stickers, mostly revolving around motorsports. John said the McQuinns travel to attend all kinds of races, but the Indianapolis 500 is their most anticipated.
One sticker stands out among the rest: a large centerpiece memorializing John’s father, Marshall, who died in 2008 shortly after attending his last race at IMS. John first came to the Indianapolis 500 with Marshall in 1965, and John has since continued the tradition of going each year, even if it’s been without his father for 17 years.
While it’s just John and his wife who camp in Lot 2 for a week every year, their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren all join them on race day.
Family is what keeps the tradition strong for the McQuinns, but it’s the pre-race ceremonies that initially made John fall in love with the Indianapolis 500. His laugh was never filled with more joy than when he imagined the traditional live performances of “Back Home Again in Indiana” and “Taps” before cars even start their engines on race day.
“It’s not something you can really explain; it’s just something you feel,” John said. “I’ve got chills on my arms just sitting here talking about it.”
Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.
Kyle Smedley was an Indianapolis Press Club Foundation fellow working this summer with Mirror Indy. You can follow him on X @KyleSmedley03.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
