INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Every year before the Indianapolis 500, alumni of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity honor a late leader with a memorial tailgate.
The long-time CEO of the fraternity, George Spasyk, lived in Indianapolis, inviting many members to experience the greatest spectacle in racing for the first time. His love for the race lead him to inviting about 90 members along with others in the Greek life community to experience it. Spasyk would open up his home, giving members like Mark Bauer a place to stay.
Bauer said, “The conversations this weekend always start with the race and racing, but it doesn’t take long to get into that brotherhood. There would be two dozen guys that would stay at his home. Of course, as a young guy, if you got the floor and a sleeping bag, that was OK, because it was free.”
Dan Hartmann also went to his first race thanks to Spasyk. He now is the CEO of the Lambda Chi Alpha Educational foundation. He says it’s their job to continue Spasyk’s legacy. “He would walk through the different flags that new first timers would be seeing at the race, explaining how it would work. George is a staple for a lot of people that are here for their experience with motorsports and IndyCar.”
