Singer-actor-comedian Jim Nabors stopped by The Indianapolis Star today to talk racing, singing, his health and life in Hawaii. Following are highlights from IndyStar.com’s interview with Nabors, who for decades has sung “Back Home Again in Indiana” before the Indianapolis 500:
What the song means to Nabors: Years ago, Nabors said a friend sent him an old 78 rpm record, an early recording of “Back Home Again in Indiana,” which he has framed and hung on a wall in his Hawaiian home. “It so nostalgic for a hundred years of racing. It’s incredible the things that touch your heart. And sometimes music does. And certain songs do with me, and that’s one of them.”
About missing the 500-Mile Race because of health: Nabors, who has suffered from heart problems and has a pacemaker, said he was especially touched by the way IMS handled his absence in 2007, one of a handful of times since 1972 he couldn’t make the race.
Worried about his health, doctors wouldn’t let Nabors fly to Indiana. So the affable actor known for his role as Gomer Pyle made a video greeting played at track before the race. And instead of finding a replacement vocalist to sing “Back Home Again in Indiana,” Speedway officials invited the crowd to sing along, preserving Nabors’ status as a 500 tradition.
“I was very flattered. I thank Mary (George Hulman) for that sweet, sweet gesture,” Nabors said. “I was lying in a hospital with tears streaming down my face, because … the crowd sang to me. I thought that was kind of moving.”
How race song tradition started: In the early 1970s, Nabors met former IMS owner Tony Hulman while attending the 500-Mile race with Jim Harrah (of Harrah Casinos). Hulman had seen Nabors’ singing act in Lake Tahoe, Nev., and approached the actor about singing during the race. “Would you like to sing the song?” Nabors said Hulman asked. “And I thought he meant the Star Spangled Banner. So I says, Well, OK.”
Hulman led the actor to where the Purdue band was gathered, and Nabors asked the conductor, “ ‘What key do you guys do this in?’ And he says, ‘We only got one key.’ And I said, ‘No, you got two keys.’ And the conductor says, ‘Well, you’re not singing that.’ And I says, ‘What am I singing?’ And he says, ‘Back Home Again in Indiana. Do you know it?’ And I says, ‘Well I know part of it, I’m sure.’ I’d heard it all my life.”
To avoid goofing up in front of hundreds of thousands of people, Nabors said he wrote the lyrics on his hand, just to be sure. “I had no cue, I didn’t know what the intro was going to be like or anything. … And 30-something years later I’m still at it.”
In his free time: When he’s not touring the country, Nabors keeps busy growing macadamia nuts on his farm in Hawaii, where he has lived for more than 35 years. “We farm; I have a farm on Maui. It was all jungle, and I had no idea about farming, to be honest with you. We have about 500 acres, cleared the land and planted about 13,000 seedlings, which are now big trees, huge trees. We’ve worked hard, but in farming you don’t make much money.
“It takes eight years before you get a crop,” he continued. “And somebody asked me one day, ‘How do you plan to take care of your old age?’ And I says, ‘I’m just waiting for my nuts to drop — and hope my voice doesn’t change.’ ”
About his brush with death in the early 1990s: “It was pretty dramatic. I was in India, and I got cut there,” Nabors said. “I got sick … picked up hepatitis B and it destroyed my liver and I wasn’t even aware of it” until a doctor’s appointment some time later. “(The doctors) said, ‘Well, you’ve got about two months, unless you get a transplant.”
Nabors got the needed organ, in large part through the efforts of longtime actress-comedian friend Carol Burnett, who arranged for his treatment at UCLA. “She’s like my sister,” said Nabors, who turns 79 next month. “We’re very close.”
Race predictions: Nabors wouldn’t predict a winner for this weekend’s race. “I’ve watched all these kids grow up over the years. I never pick favorites. I like them all and I root for them all. I just hope it’s a safe race.
“I remember when Danica first (raced). I was really pleased that they had a lady there and was competing big time. That was a real change of pace, and very good, too. I remember when Danica was leading for 28 laps there, I think I’ve never seen the crowd like that, especially the women standing up, beating their husbands over the head. It was pretty funny.”
Favorite part of the Indianapolis 500: "I guess it’s … after Mary (George Hulman) says ‘Start your engines,’ … that first roar; it brings goose bumps all over you, man," Nabors said. "There’s nothing like it. It’s probably one of the most exciting things that happens in sports. Period.”
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