INDIANAPOLIS — It has been 21 years, 11 months and 15 days since Paul Van Thomme’s dream died. That was the day his father died, the person who had instilled this loopy, intense love of racing in his son.
The 2 had plotted for many years to someday perhaps, simply perhaps, go to the Indy 500 collectively. However life acquired in the best way. Time handed. The plotting pale. Paul Joseph Van Thomme acquired older, and the discuss stopped. Then, June 8, 2004, he was gone.
Commercial
“Then,” Van Thomme says, “the dream was gone.”
The Indy 500 turned bittersweet for Van Thomme. He nonetheless watched it yearly, recorded it and reveled within the race’s spectacular glory sitting in entrance of a tv display screen.
However, there was all the time a twinge of remorse that seeped into his soul for what might have been or ought to have been, if solely he’d tried somewhat tougher.
A few years in the past on a street journey along with his daughter, Jenna, to go to a school, they began speaking about bucket checklist sort of stuff. Van Thomme advised Jenna how a lot he wished he had made it to the Indy 500 along with his dad.
Paul Van Thomme and his daughter Jenna Van Thomme watch automobiles fly by Sunday, Could 24, 2026, throughout of the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
5 months in the past, Christmas Day to be precise, Van Thomme was sitting in a black workplace chair in crimson, Snoopy-themed pajamas, holding a present his youngsters, Jenna and Billie, had gotten him, a ebook full of entrance web page IndyStar tales on each one of many 109 Indy 500 winners.
Commercial
Van Thomme thought the ebook was the present. And he cherished it a lot. “We’ll get tickets quickly,” he mentioned to his household, with tears in his eyes.
“We have now them,” Jenna mentioned. Then Van Thomme learn the ebook’s dedication.
We all know you all the time wished to go to the Indy 500 together with your dad, however we need to go together with ours.
It might have been Christmas, however Van Thomme’s mouth could not assist itself. “Are you f—– kidding me?” “Holy s—.”
“We’ll the Indy 500,” Billie mentioned.
Van Thomme burst into tears, appeared up and mentioned, “Dad. I am going, dad.” Then he leaned over, put his face in his fingers and mentioned, “Thanks.”
1 / 8
IndyStar’s greatest photographs from the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500
Fireworks are set off because the gates open Sunday, Could 24, 2026, forward of the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
(Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar)
1 / 8
IndyStar’s greatest photographs from the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500
Fireworks are set off because the gates open Sunday, Could 24, 2026, forward of the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
(Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar)
2 / 8
IndyStar’s greatest photographs from the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500
A gaggle of pals from Indianapolis drink beer Sunday, Could 24, 2026, throughout the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
(Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar)
3 / 8
IndyStar’s greatest photographs from the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500
Morgan Berry and Taylor Klose put glitter on their faces earlier than heading into the Snake Pit on Sunday, Could 24, 2026, throughout the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
(Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar)
4 / 8
IndyStar’s greatest photographs from the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500
Brett Warner from Indianapolis smiles for a photograph Sunday, Could 24, 2026, forward of the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
(Grace Hollars/IndyStar)
5 / 8
Indy 500 followers marry within the stands earlier than the race
Kara O’Neil and Dr. Bert O’Neil of Fishers get married within the grandstands Sunday, Could 24, 2026, forward of the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
(Grace Smith/IndyStar)
6 / 8
IndyStar’s greatest photographs from the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500
Carson B., 5, and Ellie B., 3, obtain their lunches Sunday, Could 24, 2026, forward of the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
(Grace Smith/IndyStar)
7 / 8
IndyStar’s greatest photographs from the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500
TJ Kron sits Sunday, Could 24, 2026, forward of the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500 exterior of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
(Grace Smith/IndyStar)
8 / 8
IndyStar’s greatest photographs from the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500
Racing followers drink Sunday, Could 24, 2026, within the in discipline forward of the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
(Grace Hollars/IndyStar)
Jenna recorded her dad’s response, crying the entire time, proper together with Billie and their mom, Beth. Then, she posted the video. And, it went viral.
Commercial
The video acquired practically 500,000 views, was picked up by USA Right now, was posted by IndyCar and James Hinchcliffe reached out to arrange a storage tour for the household.
Every thing the web loves in a video was blended into one — endearing (Van Thomme at age 67 in Snoopy pajamas), tears, disbelief, cursing, pleasure, a misplaced mum or dad by no means forgotten, regrets and second probabilities.
Inside two hours, the messages had been pouring in from pals they hadn’t talked to in years, from co-workers who knew nothing about IndyCar and from strangers all around the world.
And that’s how it began, how Van Thomme, who had by no means been to an Indy 500, turned identified round Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend because the “IndyCar dad.”
Commercial
‘Stuff acquired in the best way. Life acquired in the best way’
Really, that is not how it began. It began in 1959 when Van Thomme was born to his dad and mom, Paul and Joan, on Lengthy Island in West Islip, New York. His dad, a mail service by day, was a lover of racing.
He had gone to the Indy 500 in 1952 and 1957, earlier than Van Thomme was born. He by no means made it again.
However his dad was all the time taking Van Thomme to native tracks. They’d go to Trenton Speedway in New Jersey to see the Indy automobiles and Langhorne Speedway in Pennsylvania. It did not matter what sort of racing — inventory automobiles, sprints, midgets — they simply wished to observe automobiles go quick.
Commercial
Earlier than the Indy 500 was on tv, they listened to it on the radio, the legendary voice of Sid Collins. The extra of a style of racing Van Thomme acquired, the extra he could not get sufficient of it.
His favourite driver rising up was A.J. Foyt, as a result of that was his dad’s favourite. Then Mario Andretti got here onto the scene. Then Van Thomme began following Al Unser, Jr., and Michael Andretti. “They each had been onerous chargers,” he says.
One summer time, when Van Thomme was a teen, they went tenting in upstate New York. His dad turned to him and mentioned, “Let’s make a journey. Let’s go discover Pocono Raceway.”
The two.5-mile oval in Blakeslee, Pennsylvania, had simply opened a couple of years earlier in 1969. Once they arrived, on a weekday, they could not get inside, so they simply drove across the exterior then walked up the grass and appeared into the observe.
Commercial
Years later, in 1982, they began going to Pocono for its annual 500-mile CART Indy-style sequence. They did that till 1989, all the time speaking about making it to Indy someday.
Then Van Thomme’s profession began up, working night time shifts in aviation.
“Stuff acquired in the best way, you recognize, life will get in the best way,” Van Thomme says. “After which we simply, we by no means actually determined, ‘It will be this 12 months. We’re going.'”
An previous photograph of Paul J. Van Thomme at a automotive present along with his 1966 Mustang. He instilled his love of racing in his son, Paul Van Thomme, who will attend his first Indianapolis 500 in 2026. The daddy and son had dreamed of someday going to the race collectively.
After that school street journey two years in the past, after listening to how a lot Indy meant to her dad, after listening to the way it sat on the very high of his bucket checklist, Jenna went to her mother.
Commercial
“And I used to be like, ‘I need to ship dad to Indy. I do not know when. I do not understand how we will do it,'” Jenna says. “However I need to shock him.”
Unbeknownst to Jenna, Billie had additionally approached their mother individually. “Hey, can we shock dad with Indy this 12 months for Christmas?”
They purchased the tickets in October. On the household Thanksgiving, “we had been all guffawing to one another, like, ‘He would not even know,'” Jenna says. She began posting photographs to Snapchat of her dad doing random issues with the caption: “He will the Indy 500, however he would not understand it.”
Conserving the key from their dad these 5 months was powerful. Jenna would sit in her room away at school and play completely different eventualities over in her head of how she thought her dad would react, and he or she would cry tears of happiness imagining all of it.
Commercial
Van Thomme most actually did not disappoint Jenna — or the world — along with his response to his Indy 500 ticket Christmas present.
“I had no clue. I had no clue. I actually did not,” he says. “I used to be blown away. I can nonetheless get choked up about it.”
Jenna and Billie had pulled off the shock. Now, Van Thomme had 5 months to attend.
He acquired a fairy story ending to his first Indy 500
“I will be such a basket case once I stroll by the gates,” Van Thomme advised IndyStar in April. “I am simply, each day, it is like I am getting extra amped up.”
Commercial
Van Thomme and his youngsters left Thursday at 3 a.m. and made the 14-hour drive from Lengthy Island to Indy, which felt like ceaselessly to Van Thomme. He simply wished to get there.
Inside IMS for the primary time Friday morning, as Van Thomme walked up within the stands overlooking the observe, he was in awe. The place is so large. Nothing, however seeing it in individual, might do IMS justice, he mentioned.
Van Thomme reached down to the touch the lanyard hanging round his neck, which held a customized ticket made by a buddy with a photograph of his mother and pop at their wedding ceremony.
“Carry it with you, so they’re with you,” his buddy advised him, “so you may have your dad with you on the race.”
Paul Van Thomme holds a customized ticket a buddy made for him with a photograph of his mother and pop at their wedding ceremony Friday, Could 22, 2026, on Carb Day forward of the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Jenna was getting her hair carried out Wednesday when her dad texted her a photograph of the ticket. She began crying within the chair. There have been numerous tears this weekend.
Commercial
When faucets performed earlier than the beginning of the race Sunday, “it hit me,” says Van Thomme, whose dad served within the Navy. “It all the time does, even once I watch it at residence.”
His dad was in a nursing residence in 2004 when he had a stroke. “After we acquired the phrase, inside 48 hours, he was going to be gone,” Van Thomme says. “It was powerful. It was actual powerful.”
Jenna by no means acquired to satisfy her grandfather, and Billie would not bear in mind assembly him. Van Thomme introduced Billie, only a month and a half previous, to see his dad hours earlier than he died. Van Thomme advised him to succeed in up and contact Billie’s foot.
He did.
Commercial
Van Thomme’s dad was with him all over the place he went this weekend. So many little reminders and waves of nostalgia main again to their journeys to these racetracks all these years in the past, the numerous talks they’d about drivers and velocity, all of the issues his dad taught him about automobiles.
The Van Thommes got the royal remedy at IMS, beginning Friday with a non-public tour of the Firestone storage,
From left, Billie Van Thomme, Jenna Van Thomme and their dad Paul Van Thomme stroll by a storage tour Friday, Could 22, 2026, on Carb Day forward of the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“It is the TikTok dad,” a girl with Firestone mentioned to Van Thomme. That is one other one of many nicknames Van Thomme has earned across the observe. Typically, “IndyCar dad” is shortened merely to “Indy dad,” too.
Commercial
On Saturday, Meyer Shank Racing gave Van Thomme, Jenna and Billie a tour of their garages, courtesy of Hinchcliffe, the place they acquired to see the automobiles shut up, together with the one pushed by Sunday’s Indy 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist.
In addition they acquired to satisfy Billie’s favourite driver, Will Energy, and Helio Castroneves. And Rosenqvist.
Sure. Van Thomme acquired to satisfy the driving force who received the Indy 500 at his first Indy 500.
Paul Van Thomme (proper) meets IndyCar driver Felix Rosenqvist (left) along with his youngsters, Jenna (entrance) and Billie (again) on Saturday Could 23, 2026, someday earlier than Rosenqvist received the Indy 500.
“It has been actually good, greater than I anticipated, much more,” Van Thomme mentioned Sunday as automobiles whizzed across the observe. “The entire environment is simply wonderful.”
However the end. That end to his first Indy 500 was a fairy story ending Van Thomme by no means might have anticipated on this entire “IndyCar dad” journey, in his a long time of eager to make it right here.
Commercial
As he sat in stand J, part 8, row L, Van Thomme watched the closest end within the historical past of the Indy 500 — Rosenqvist profitable in a one-lap shootout, simply 0.023 seconds forward of David Malukas.
After all, Van Thomme was rooting for Rosenqvist. He had simply met him the day earlier than.
