Start Your Engine for a Ride in Hoosierland

Think of Indiana and the mind conjures up images of “Moonlight on the Wabash,” fields of waving green corn, basketball mania and the flat, no-words-wasted accent of farmland country.

But come Memorial Day weekend (May 25-28), the Indy 500 brings to mind the shriek of 750-horsepower engines and an acrid blend of methanol fuel and scorched rubber, along with the 200-m.p.h. blur of pieces of machinery that seem more aircraft than automobile.

Since the starter first barked his “Gentlemen, start your engines” send-off in 1911, the Indy 500 has been a gathering place for the most revered automotive names: Barney Oldfield, the Duesenberg and Chevrolet brothers, Offenhauser, Mario Andretti and a host of other drivers and engine designers.

But what happens in this capital of Hoosierland when the engines shut down at the Brickyard? You’d be pleasantly surprised.

Nearby Conner Prairie is to the frontier Midwest of the 1830s what Williamsburg is to Colonial America, a 250-acre outdoor museum that represents one of the nation’s finest displays of living history, thanks to original buildings and chatty folks in period clothing who explain their chores in frontier English.

The Eiteljorag Museum of American Indian and Western Art has assembled enough paintings and artifacts (Frederic Remington, Georgia O’Keeffe, Charles M. Russell) to take its place as a true Midwestern cultural heritage.

This heartland-of-America city also is completing a downtown refurbishing program.

Getting here: Fly American, United, TWA, Delta or Eastern. An advance-purchase, round-trip ticket from Los Angeles to Indianapolis costs about $343, depending on the day of the week.

How long/how much? A couple of days should do it. Lodging costs are mostly affordable and dining is generally inexpensive.

A few fast facts: May through October are the best months, with nippy weather from November. Midsummer gets hot enough to ripen corn and wilt shirt collars. A trolley route through the downtown area costs only 25 cents a ride.

Anyone interested in attending the Indy 500 on May 27, or any festivities of the previous week, can call toll-free (800) 323-4639 to find out about race tickets and lodgings.

Getting settled in: Holiday Inn (Union Station; $99 double) has its lobby in the gigantic, red-brick-and-granite station built in 1853 in the Romanesque Revival style. For $125 you can get a double room that takes up half of one of the 1920s sleeper cars. Rooms are furnished traditionally and named after U.S. Presidents, movie stars and other notables who rode them in their heyday.

La Quinta Inn (near airport; $49 to $54 double) represents one of the city’s best values. It’s built and decorated in La Quinta’s Southwest style, with large motel-type rooms, heated pool, free van service to and from the airport and complimentary coffee all day.

The Westin (50 S. Capitol Ave.; $135 double) is one of the town’s best, with a marvelous location at city center on Capitol Commons. Bedrooms are large, decorated in restful pastels and many offer dramatic views of the state capitol.

There’s also a lot of contemporary art scattered throughout the hotel. It has an indoor pool and exercise equipment. In the hotel’s Filibuster Pub you’ll find state politicians cutting deals over superb deli sandwiches and beer.

Regional food and drink: You know you’re in America’s heartland when people insist that prime ribs are light food, as are gigantic servings of pork. Indianapolis even has a restaurant called Days of Swine and Roses.

Kentucky is the next state south, so menus here borrow much of Dixie’s fare, especially barbecue, which is definitely on the hot side. Toothsome morels are served everywhere and for good reason. Folks here have been gathering and cooking them since the town was settled.

Good dining: Many residents vow that the fires at St. Elmo Steak House (127 S. Illinois) have broiled the best steaks and chops in the Midwest since its founding in 1902. Customers pause for a drink at the gigantic old oak bar, then start with the house special, a jumbo shrimp cocktail with five-alarm sauce. Most of the wines are from the Napa Valley, and the walls are loaded with sports photographs from John L. Sullivan to the San Diego Chicken.

Hollyhock Hill (8110 N. College Ave.) built its reputation on country-style fried chicken dinners for $11, including more salad, vegetables, freshly baked bread, desserts and coffee or iced tea than you can probably cope with. This white clapboard house has been family owned for more than six decades, and the waitresses still wear the floor-length pink pinafores that must have been in vogue on opening day. Hollyhock Hill is about as homey as you can get.

During race week you might run into actor-racer Paul Newman at the Milano Inn (231 S. College Ave.), where drivers and pit crews go for Italian dishes on a huge menu. Seven kinds of fettuccine will give you some idea of the pasta selection, and 20 main courses, including soup, salad and bread, are in the $10 range. Decor here is eclectic and then some.

You’ll also find everything from Belgian waffles and baklava to Tex-Mex, bagels and burgers in the 25 restaurants and fast-food places at Union Station.

On your own: A visit to Conner Prairie, six miles north in Noblesville, takes you from the 20th Century into the lives and times of Indiana’s first generation of settlers, as you watch farmers hew pitchforks and plows from wood, bonnet-clad women prepare meals at open hearths and visitors make corn dollies.

Indianapolis’ Children’s Museum, 3000 N. Meridian St., the world’s largest of its kind, counts 58% of its visitors as adults, and little wonder. We were absolutely captivated by everything about this place. We couldn’t get close enough to hear the rare hissing cockroaches, thanks to a horde of spellbound children.

The Indianapolis Zoo takes up 64 acres downtown. It’s a cageless zoo that includes a train, pony, camel and elephant, plus carrousel rides.

Racing and auto buffs can visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum, 4790 W. 16th St. It has 75 classic and antique cars on display, including 32 winners of the Indy 500, and a movie of the races’ highlights. Admission is $1. For another buck you can take a spin around the track in a museum vehicle (except during race week).

For more information: Call the Indiana Tourism Division, Indiana Department of Commerce, 1 N. Capitol Ave., Suite 700, Indianapolis 46204; (317) 232-8860, or the Indianapolis Visitors Assn. toll-free at (800) 323-4639, or write (One Hoosier Dome, Indianapolis 46225) for a 128-page color magazine on the city and its sights, including hotels and restaurants. Ask for the Indy package.