Photo gallery: Pacers' Speedway experiences

Granger was the honorary starter for the May 15 practice session, waving the green flag as the cars roared by. O'Brien spent the night on the infield of the Speedway on May 14 as part of "Operation Restoration," a fund-raiser for Wheeler Mission to benefit the homeless of Central Indiana.

ABA legends Darnell Hillman, Mel Daniels and Bob Netolicky were at the track on May 17 to present retired Speedway public address announcer Tom Carnegie with an autographed jacket on behalf of the franchise.

Granger was joined by teammate Jeff Foster in the annual 500 Festival Parade, which also included WNBA Indiana Fever stars Tamika Catchings and Katie Douglas.

Granger, who also took a ride in the Chevrolet Corvette Pace Car with three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford, was awed by the sound and speed as the cars roared by at the start of the Thursday practice.

“It's unbelievable how fast they drive those cars,” Granger said. “I've never experienced anything like that. I got kind of dizzy when the first one was coming at me so fast. I kind of flinched because I wanted to make sure I didn't fall onto the track. It's amazing, it really is. I have a lot of respect for race car drivers and their abilities. There's no possible way I could fit in one of those cars. I barely fit in the Corvette, and that was a Pace Car. It was an exciting, scary experience.

"It's just amazing to be that close to the Indy 500 cars. I've never been that close before. You just don't get to do that every day. When I was in the Pace Car, I was getting sick to my stomach, and we were only going 100 miles an hour.”