Yellow shirts make race day go round

SPEEDWAY, Ind. (WISH) — It’s hard to imagine the Indy 500 without the yellow shirts.

They’re worn by the Safety Patrol team and it seems like they’ve been around since the beginning of time, or at least the beginning of the Indy 500.

However, the truth is, they haven’t always been there. The shirts have changed over the decades in material, color and even sleeve length.

It’s not just race cars that makes race day go round. It’s the Safety Patrol team as well, nicknamed “yellow shirts,” for obvious reasons. Also obvious is the impression they’ve made on fans.

“They have all the answers. They are the source of information at the Motor Speedway,” said Cody Sankey.

Laura Hamm added, “The yellow shirts are known in Indiana and the Motor Speedway that if you have a question, that is who you go to.”

Around 2,000 yellow shirts will be found on race day, doing a variety of jobs.

“Security, directing traffic, get to your seat, answer questions, help you any way you can. Get checked…bags and things at the gates,” said Sandy Forrest, who has been on the team for 24 years.

It’s a season job, with little pay. So, what’s the draw?

“I feel privileged to have the yellow shirt on and driving up and down and helping people and helping my people that work for me in the stands,” said Jack Combs, who has been wearing his yellow shirt for almost 50 years.

IMS began outfitting workers in bright yellow shirts to make them more visible in the early 1970s, right around the time when Combs began.

“We did have the yellow shirts and they just started maybe a year before I come and they were blue before that,” he said.

Larry Gentry remembers the blue shirts. He was in his twenties when he started working at the track,

“It was a heavy shirt. It was great for cool days, but when it got 80, it was very uncomfortable. You could not roll your sleeves up. You had to leave your sleeves down.”

But even with the discomfort, these workers wouldn’t trade it for anything.

“There’s no better place than to be out here at the track. Even when it’s rainy, cold, whatever. It’s still one of the greatest places in the world to be,” said Combs.

The shirts aren’t the only thing that has changed.

According to Guest Experience Manager Brittany Lump, IMS originally hired the Indiana National Guard.

It wasn’t until the 1930s when IMS employed its own crew, which officially became Safety Patrol in 1948.