Alumnus celebrates Little 500 on film

Not all the activities during this year's Little 500 weekend will occur on the track.\nProducer Kendall Harnett's documentary about the history of the race, "Free Wheels: The Fifty Year History of the Little 500," is scheduled to premiere Saturday, before and after the men's race.\nAbout one hour of the documentary will be shown at 10 a.m. in the Hoosier Room of Memorial Stadium and at 8 p.m. in the Bloomington Convention Center. \n"It's going to be fun," Harnett said. "I'm selecting stuff from different eras to show. I hope it gets people excited."\nSaturday will mark the end of a four-year process for Harnett, a former Cinzano rider and Bloomington native. Harnett has worked on the project since the summer of 1997. The last few months he has worked 18-20 hour days to complete the documentary, which is just less than four hours long. Co-producer Doug Haight has provided assistance throughout the project.\nThe documentary is divided into chronological chapters discussing various time periods of the race. Between chapters, the story of two teams competing in the 1998 race, Dodds House and Chi Omega, is told. \n"I think the Little 500 needed to be documented this way," said Lindsey Hawkins, a Chi Omega rider from 1997-99. "What Kendall has done is amazing."\nHawkins, who now works in Chicago, will be one of many alumni riders attending the races and screening of "Free Wheels" this weekend. The premiere of "Free Wheels" will join the men's and women's races as a centerpiece to the weekend.\n"The documentary has been heavily anticipated for the past year," said race director Jonathan Purvis, who was a member of the 1998 Dodds team. "Alumni are looking forward to the release and it helps us seugway from the 50th anniversary into the next 50 years.\n"It gives alumni another reason to come back. It's definitely a good attraction for us."\nBoth Purvis and Hawkins were on teams Harnett followed. Purvis has seen short clips of the documentary, while Hawkins will be seeing the footage for the first time at the screening.\nHarnett followed Dodds and Chi Omega from the end of the 1997 race until the 1998 race. Dodds won the 1998 men's race, while Kappa Kappa Gamma edged Chi Omega for first place in the women's race. Besides showing race footage of both teams, Harnett followed Chi Omega and Dodds on their spring break trips.\n"I thought it was a privilege to have Kendall there with us," Hawkins said. "He was a great spirit to have around our team. The footage is something I will always treasure."\nHarnett said last week he plans to show the parts of the documentary discussing the formation of the men's and women's races. He also said he will probably show the section introducing the Dodds and Chi Omega teams.\nHarnett, who edited "Free Wheels" from his home in Evanston, Ill., will attend both screenings. The screenings are open to the public, and Harnett will be available to discuss the documentary.\nThe documentary can be purchased through the IU Student Foundation's Web site, www.iusf.bloomington.com, for $40. Some copies will be available this weekend.