Raising the flags: A family tradition kept alive in the Pool family
David Pool kept looking over his shoulder as he climbed the 42 steps to the top of the grandstands between Turns 3 and 4 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
"If you see lightning, let us know," Pool said. From the top of the grandstands to the concrete road below, it's about 70 feet. With a safety harness tightened and secured, a team of friends and family of David and his brother, Michael, began trekking up the stands and straddling a flag pole to raise over 200 flags around the track.
For the past 50 years, the brothers have upheld a unique family tradition. The green, white, passing, checker, red, black and yellow flags that surround the two-and-a-half-mile-long track have been raised by the same family since the early 1970s. Now they continue that tradition and pass it on to their sons, Murphy, Justin and Jason Pool.
"When the flags go up we know that the racing season has officially started," said Michael Pool.
Some of the earliest memories Murphy, Justin and Jason Pool have of the track is helping carry the flags for their dads until they were old enough to hang some themselves. And they keep coming back year after year from St. Louis to keep up the tradition.
"We're thrilled to see some of our handy work on TV," David Pool said. "We'll see a commercial or you see footage of the race and we did those. That's pretty neat."
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pool family keeps flag tradition alive at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
