I was at Indy in 1996 too. I thought I'd get to lap at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but we instead lapped at Indianapolis Raceway Park. That's kind of like expecting a date with Halle Berry, but getting set up with Marion Barry instead.

It was my understanding that IMS had to do some unexpected track work for the Brickyard 400, and that's why they denied us access. Phil didn't find out about it until Thursday night or Friday morning - it was IMS's screwup, not FOCOA's. I took the track tour and sure enough, there were construction crews working on the track.

I was disappointed, but 1996 was my first FOCOA national meet, and I was so excited to find out I wasn't the only guy in the world who thought Fieros were cool that it more than made up for the diappointment of not getting to lap IMS.

OK, I still can't reach anyone at Focoa, apparently due to the illness in the family. When you call in now, you get a voice message about the family situation, and then are allowed to leave a message if you want. I keep leaving them, but I have yet to receive a call back.
BTW: The phone number on their web site is incorrect. It has changed from 714-917-2007 to 714-635-0898, but they obviously still have not gotten around to changing it on their site yet.