Racing Traditions and the Magic of the Indy 500 with Doug Boles

In this illuminating episode of “Fast Cars Fast Girls” hosts Abby Meyer and Mike Knapp discuss the traditions, challenges, and excitement of race organizing with Indianapolis Motor Speedway President, Doug Boles. Gaining insider perspective on the lead up to major racing events and coordination of extraordinary natural phenomena at the racetrack, listeners are treated to anecdotes and insights from the heart of this vibrant community.

The discussion explores hot topics such as the longstanding victory celebration of drivers drinking milk, the incredible talent and diversity in the racing field, and the anticipation surrounding Pietro Fittipaldi joining the league. Rigorous debates and personal reflections make this episode a must-listen for racing fans and those interested in the gripping world behind the scenes.

Examining the rise of young driving talents like Pato O'Ward and Colton Herta, and looking to the future of the race series amidst changes, the conversation ignites a sense of thrilling anticipation. The increased representation of ovals on the schedule, the potential for fandom crossover with the participation of driver Kyle Larson, and predictions of future dominance paint a vibrant picture of this fast-paced sport.

Listeners will be enamored with deep-dives into the world of night racing, nostalgia-inducing reflections on favorite spots to watch the races from, and heartfelt conversations about the character and atmosphere of the Indy 500. This episode beautifully captures the unique essence of racing – a blend of exhilarating speed, fierce competition, and shared passion.

Join the hosts as they wax poetic on the vibrant memories and passionate dedication of Indy 500 enthusiasts. From the emotional connection fans foster with drivers to the unique silence during TAPS, this episode encapsulates the unyielding passion and unforgettable experiences that define the racing community.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
All right. Welcome to Fast Fires, Fast Girls. I'm Abby Meyer,
along with my co-host, Mike Knapp.
And this week, a little late for President's Day, but you know what?
Always late, worth the wait, is what I say about myself.
Doug is never late, but he is always worth the wait.
Well, I think my schedule got in the way of President's Day,
so that's on me, because we have been doing this as a President's thing.

(00:21):
We have. Well, you know what? Now, honestly, it was yours and my schedule. Okay, good.
I don't feel as bad. Yeah, no, don't feel bad at all because I only had maybe
three days in February, and I said to Lisa right off the bat,
I don't think it's going to happen before President's Day, and that's fine.
That's good. But anyhow, you heard your voice now, President Doug Bowles. Thank you.
My travel schedule in January, February, and March is worse than the rest of the year.

(00:45):
It's kind of crazy. But by the time March ended, I figured out I'd been out
of the – I'd spent the night somewhere other than home on 32 of those first 90 nights.
So for me, that's more travel than the rest. Because by the time we open up
here, I'm pretty much here.
Or if I go to an IndyCar race, I'm in and out, right? So maybe it's two nights

(01:05):
instead of a long period of time.
So it's kind of weird. February this year was really busy. Well,
and then you were putting on a once-in-a-lifetime natural phenomenon here.
First time on the schedule, and who knows if it'll ever be back on the schedule,
at least during your tenure.
So that probably speeded up the spring a little bit as well.
It did a little bit. It also allowed us, so you're talking about the eclipse,

(01:27):
what it allowed us to do is really get prepared in a lot of ways operationally,
facility-wise, a lot earlier than we normally have.
Gavin, it's funny just walking around the building now talking to everybody
and there's not the panic that sometimes you feel when you're 38 days away from
the Indy 500. A lot of it's because.
We did a lot of our de-winterization early, you know, getting ready for folks

(01:47):
to come in here. A lot of the grass prep to get the greenness going around the
facility we started early.
So that's been pretty good. But you're right.
It's 129 years from now, I think, that the next total solar eclipse comes across
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
So that would be the 237th running of the Indy 500.
So we're going to leave really good notes, and we'll put them away in some time

(02:08):
capsule or whatever it is. And maybe whoever's here at the Speedway 129 years
from now can pull out the notes and go, yeah, traffic was a problem.
They had some concession lines. They just go through the challenging things.
Maybe they can outdo us. And then go, hey, this was really cool.
They partnered with Purdue and NASA and, you know, all the good and bad.
And they can make it better. They should do that.
Well, my wife and I were here. And it was a phenomenal experience and a great

(02:28):
day. You guys outdid yourself with that.
It was really neat to be – it would have been fun to see it in your backyard.
Yard, but it was really neat to see it with just so many different people.
So many of whom have never been to the Speedway before.
And they came with just sort of this, you know, different approach.
You know, they're not carrying a lot of their coolers. They didn't know exactly
where they were going to sit. And you could just watch people look around and

(02:49):
go, oh my gosh, this place is really big. What am I doing?
And then maybe my favorite moment of the day, I didn't watch from on the front
stretch or the yard or turn one, but we let people out on the track.
And so I was kind of behind the normal IndyCar garages. And when the,
when the sun completely disappeared, the whole place cheered.
And then it got super quiet and we played that sort of like Disney-esque standing

(03:11):
in line for Space Mountain music and how much fun it was.
And then when the sun came back out, everybody cheered again.
It was just really neat to be part of that.
Well, I've been coming here for, well, since 1979 and seeing people with blankets
spread out on the main straightaway and all that. So I just thought that this is like.
The Speedway is for is being just a part of the community. And I think that

(03:31):
over the last however long, I think that's what it's become is instead of,
which was great at the time, but instead of a standalone place where,
you know, it's sacred once a year, this is what we do.
Now it's a real part of the whole community and all the events that you guys
do is what makes it even more of a special place, I think.
And I think one of the things, and Roger believes this as well,

(03:53):
it's a community asset and at some level you know
we have to try and use it for things like that so obviously during covid
we had the speedway high school got to drive around and walk
across the yard bricks you know to graduate an impd
police officer we held a funeral for her out here because you couldn't have
a funeral somewhere else and we continue with like speedway high school to let
their seniors come out and do their senior class photo and just things like

(04:15):
that it just is important for us to to engage in the community i'm sad i'm as
old as i am it's frightening i I sat on that. Yeah.
But you know what? Time goes fast. Well, I got to get in under Community Day
when you could still drive your car around the track.
So that's a question we get all the time is when are you going to do that again?
And the festival really was who was in charge of that.

(04:37):
And the festival used it as a way to raise money for the festival.
And then it got just to be a bigger challenge for them. And then now Community
Day, we sort of take drivers out in and about the community.
Yeah, into the community. We make it a truer Community Day.
But yeah, no, I was actually going to say, so you know, my apartment's not far from here.
We could actually hear the cheers. And I knew it immediately because I know

(05:01):
how the sounds from the track sound, you know, from my backyard.
Because I didn't make it over that day. And so I was with the dog watching.
And as soon as it went dark, I heard this huge, whoo!
And I started, I was like, yeah, that's the Speedway. Yeah. Yes, it is.
It was a really, really neat moment to see that and hear that and be part of it.

(05:23):
Yeah. Well, and you know, it's something that seems so simple,
you know, like, okay, the moon's going to block the sun.
It's going to be dark for a couple minutes, like, what's the deal?
Like, it gets dark every night.
But, you know, it's like if you had snow in July, like, okay,
yeah, we've seen the sun get dark before, but like, not like this.

(05:43):
And just to have, you know, and also to have so many people looking at the same
thing at the same time. And just that thought of how many people across,
you know, the state of Indiana, across the United States were all doing the
exact same thing, thinking to themselves, how cool is this?
That was kind of one of the things that we were really surprised at is how much
attention people just from everywhere wanted to come to be part of this one particular thing.

(06:07):
And we had so much media coverage and a number of national broadcast teams that came here for that day.
So NBC Nightly News and CBS Nightly News both had their anchors here at the
Speedway doing the nightly news.
And we were – after the eclipse was over and we all were sitting around talking
at one point, we said, when's the last time – we couldn't think of the last

(06:28):
time that more than – nightly anchors go all over CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox on their own.
But when's the last time you can think of an event where the nightly news took
their main anchors and more than one of them was at the same location for the
same time for something that was good news?
Normally, they show up when a disaster has happened or a school shooting or
some terrible thing. Right.
And then to have both of them standing here basically right next to each other

(06:51):
doing the nightly news for a really cool reason that we all came together to
celebrate something, not came together to mourn something. It was pretty cool.
It was pretty cool. And you know it's a big deal when Jim Cantore shows up.
So I had so much fun with him. He was such a great guy. Look at the back. He was such a great guy.
Oh, my God. I don't know if you saw. He ended his on-air part and took a drink

(07:12):
of milk and then poured it on him. And I know that's a tough subject, right?
I mean, we all believe in the drinking the milk. And then we split our ways
on whether you should dump it on yourself or not.
And that's a fun argument to watch on social. But he poured it on himself.
I'm on the camp of when you win the race, you kind of get to do whatever you
want. So I am too, but we can talk about that in a minute, but I'm,
I'm kind of in that camp too.

(07:32):
But, but, but Jim Cantore was so excited. He did that. And I was like,
and I gave him a high five and said, I said, you have a change of clothes, right?
And he said, no, I said, man, you're in trouble.
So I went over to the gift store and we bought him a long sleeve.
This is May Hunter's shirt. And then, uh, so he's, he's takes his shirt off
and pit lane puts that shirt on. He goes, here, you can have this.
And he threw me his, his weather channel shirt.

(07:55):
And I threw it in my bag bag, and it took me like three days before I opened my bag up.
I opened my bag up at home, and it smelled really bad, and the shirt is completely
stiff from dried milk all over it.
But back to the argument, it's interesting how people are, that's not respectful.
The milk's meant to be, you know, meant to drink it. Don't pour it on yourself.

(08:17):
And I completely get that. I mean, there is something about that.
But what I love about race car drivers, and especially, Especially,
I mean, Sato really, well, Weldon did a little bit, I mean, really celebrated
by going out and laying down the bricks.
But then Sato won by being crazy. Will Power was crazy.
I mean, everybody's kind of had their own thing and just celebrate with just
this relief that they've won the Indy 500 and excitement that they've won it.

(08:40):
It's like the greatest moment of their life. And it's just almost automatic.
They just, their arms are flailing and they pour it on themselves.
I feel like it's an instinctual, I don't know that they necessarily think to
themselves what they would do. Or maybe they do.
But in that moment, I think that it's just pure instinct, whether they drink
and pass or drink and dump.
And I think that's exactly what happens. And they just celebrate.

(09:01):
And that's the best part. I love that pure emotion. Right. Just that raw.
I mean, and that's what you love about it is that you feel like you're there
with them. A hundred percent.
Oh, and that's and for me, it's you know, I'm fine with it.
That's how you want to celebrate because you just want the greatest face in
the world and you celebrate the way you want to.
If you just want to have a drink, it's not a orange juice. Well,
we know what happens when that happens.
And then the day of social media, that would not be pretty. It would be a pretty

(09:25):
ugly day. Can you imagine?
No, Emerson's lucky there was not social media. And I think he'd tell you today
he wishes he hadn't done that. I mean, honestly...
And I might catch some flag for this, I personally don't care that he drank orange juice.
Like, I get it. Some people don't like milk. Like, I don't think it was as big
of a deal as Penny made it out to be, but it certainly is funny to make jokes about.

(09:49):
Yeah, he's coming back in May, so maybe somebody will grab him and I can ask
him about it. Right, we should. We should ask him about it.
I'd love to talk to him just because back then he was one of my, he was a minor fan.
Oh, I mean, how could you not be a huge fan? And realistically,
he could have won their stories five times.
We're sure. He had, you know, a couple of times, well, I mean,
crashing in front of Little Al with a lap lead, lost a gearbox one time when he was near the lead.

(10:13):
I think he had another issue another time. I mean, you know,
you look at that small period of time he was here and what he did and also what he could have done.
You know, he's just one of the all-time greats ever here. Well,
and you think about the big deal we made about Alonso coming.
I mean, Emerson Fittipaldi is a world champion. He came and not just came to
race here. He decided to become an IndyCar driver, right? It was Nigel Mansell-like.

(10:35):
I mean, you really think about what a big – if social media had been around
back in that day, the whole internet would have broken that Emerson Fittipaldi
was going to come run in the Indy 500 and then ultimately the IndyCar series.
And driving a pink car. I know.
A lot of people don't realize that, right? He didn't come over and get with
Ganassi or Penske right away.
He came over and ran in a back marker and somehow decided he liked it and stayed around. I love that.

(11:02):
I'll tell you what. But speaking of the Fetopaldis, I am so excited about Pietro this year.
It's fun to have him back. I feel like, you know, he's a couple years older,
a little more mature, which is always nice on IndyCar drivers just because,
you know. It's true. Yep.
A little more mature. He always looks good on our drivers. And he just really
seems to have a good attitude and excitement about this season.

(11:24):
I'm excited to see what he does. I think across the board, the series has a
lot of great personalities like that.
You just feel really good about the drivers we have and who they are and what they're about.
And the stories behind them are pretty diverse.
So you've got some pretty good reasons to like different people and root against somebody else.
And, I mean, the series is doing a great job. And that's another perfect example.
Somebody that was here and now has come back and has got another opportunity.

(11:47):
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely awesome. But, you know, you look at maturity,
it's really crazy. And, I mean, I don't want to ever let people know what I
was doing when I was 19, 20, 21 years old.
But it's just— Sometimes I don't want them to know what I'm doing at 57. Yeah, yeah, me too.
Me too. But it's amazing to be always—I think there was a little stretch where

(12:08):
we may be worried about who was going to be next after this group of,
you know, guys that are in their 30s and 40s.
And now we know that we've got and and
but just how good they are at such young
ages and and now especially when you take the guys like
pato or like colton heard who were 19 and 20 and now they're you know 0.3 24

(12:29):
25 and they're even better just what do you think about that by heading into
may and and just the the sheer amount of talent that they were beginning to
see up and down the field well you hear the drivers talk about all time that
the competitiveness of the series it is is at an an all-time high.
And I think that's not just hyperbole.
I think that's really true that that's, that is in fact the case.
And we do have a lot, a lot of great young drivers. Pato Award is our number one merch seller.

(12:54):
He is by, if you use that as the metric, he's the most popular driver we have.
And it's not just because of the on-track, it's because of the personality off-track.
So he sort of got that whole package, which is really, is really fun to see.
So as you see those drivers sort of growing into those spaces,
I think you, you let, you worry less and less about the day that
Scott Dixon isn't here, or picked some of those drivers that are,

(13:15):
Elio's not just running one race a year, TK's not running with us,
some of those folks that you could just count on for the last two decades.
I feel better, and like I said, especially with somebody like Apato,
who's a top seller, and you look around.
Plus, you put him with the McLaren brand, which that McLaren brand has a lot
of interest from people beyond the racing side.
I mean, it's a pretty cool combination in that one for sure.

(13:37):
It really is. Well, and Apato is also a driver that, even at this age,
I can see him later on, once he's no longer driving, still being an excellent
ambassador to the sport, like Mario is right now.
You know he absolutely has that personality and that
draw and just that ability to connect with people yes you know
and not everybody has that ability to when they're

(14:00):
talking to you make you feel like you're the only person in the room and he's
he's one of those guys that like he just you can hone right in and you you are
the most important person in pato's world right then we just did a fan fest
thing at the bottle works here downtown last week with pato and he's amazing
i I mean, it's great with the fans.
He's got that high energy, almost Elio-like, right? It's not like I have to

(14:22):
be here and sign your autograph.
It's like I'm here and I'm going to give you everything I've got.
I get to sign these autographs for you guys.
And that's pretty cool to see that. And, you know, like Alex Pillow,
the fact that Alex Pillow decided to stay here and not go somewhere else.
He was another great driver, unbelievably talented.
Some people might argue he's the most talented open-wheel driver on the face
of the planet at the moment. And, you know, there's just some pretty neat things

(14:44):
on that side of the IndyCar series that are on their way up versus guys who
are getting ready to leave.
Well, we've got so many ovals. Sorry, I'll let you go right back.
I was just going to say we've got so many ovals on the schedule this year, too.
I really, I mean, I love my ovals. And I attend them, as should everybody. Yes.
Quit saying you want ovals and they're not going to damn ovals.

(15:07):
But I love that we've got more ovals because I think that it really is going to challenge,
you know, like Palou has been very dominant on other types of courses,
but has not necessarily been dominant on ovals.
You know, Newgarden, we know he's going to be a force to be reckoned with on
every oval. Doesn't matter, big, small.
I think Alex just needs to get

(15:28):
a couple of those wins and I think he'll be fine. I mean, he's good here.
Oh, he is. I mean, he's had a couple of things that have kept him from being
the winner's circle here. So, I mean, he obviously knows how to be really,
really fast around this place.
And I just think it's maybe kind of like Pato is right now.
He's gotten so many seconds that the series ought to look out the minute Pato wins a race again.
It may be a string of races he wins. And I think Alex is probably the same way on an oval.

(15:50):
But Joseph definitely is the oval king at the moment. He certainly is.
Well, and if you're talking being fast around here, Alex, turned the first 235
mile on our lap in quite some time. That's true.
Lighter cars, a little bit different tech. There's some discussion going on.
What do you think is a track record, a possibility?

(16:11):
It's funny. Absolutely, I think we'll be faster. A lot of it's going to depend
on weather, right? So much of it's weather dependent. How's the wind? How's the temperature?
So I think we have to see where that lands. I definitely think we'll be faster.
And I was in the camp when the delay for the hybrid was coming.
I actually called Roger and said, hey, can we leave the lighter components on the car?

(16:31):
Because that'll be awesome in May. And one of the great things about May is
speed. And we could have a chance of breaking a track record.
And then Roger was all in on that. And so fortunately, we're here,
you know, 30 pounds lighter or so for May.
But then talking with drivers, I think they all believe it's definitely going
to be faster. But I think they're concerned about actually that it's 237 miles

(16:52):
an hour single lap, now obviously 236 for the four.
It's going to be hard. I think I looked at it the other day.
It's between three and four-tenths of a second per lap. So when you think about
it, it doesn't seem like a lot.
But when you're in those 38-second laps, you know, three-tenths of a second is a lot.
Well, and when you're going into, you know, turn one and three at 242 as opposed

(17:13):
to you probably have to go in at 246, 247 probably too. Right. even all of that out.
So it's going to be interesting.
And I think the 235 thing, obviously, you're going to see a lot more of that.
But it would be really cool. Ideally for me, I would love for Ari's 237 lap
to remain the single lap track record just to pay tribute to that age until we're really there.

(17:35):
And then the four lap track record fall and have somebody have a new four lap
track record. It would be pretty fun.
So if it were to happen, will you have some sort of homage to Tom Carnegie?
So we've talked internally about do you have Dave Klaber say it or do you just
have it queued up and you just push the button? and people know as soon as they

(17:55):
hear that voice and it's, you know, it's, so we'll, we'll see what we do. I mean, I love Dave.
Don't get me wrong. I do love Dave.
But I'll say this. I don't think Tom Carnegie would have mystified,
would have missed announcing the qualifications.
You know, and, and I love you, Dave.
Well, and the other thing about Dave is, I mean, Dave learned under Tom, right?

(18:17):
So, I mean, Dave has an awful lot of respect for Tom. So I don't know.
We'll see what we do. Yeah. But we've talked about it. Could be fun.
We'll see how fast they end up going. Yeah. Well, and yeah, I mean,
I can't wait to see the photo ops with Ari just because, I mean,
he's such a cool guy. He is.
And yeah, I mean, he's ready to see somebody break one of those records.

(18:38):
I'm sure he'd like to keep one. Yeah. Not both. Yeah, just one.
It'd be nice if he could have one. Yeah, if he could keep the single,
I'm with you. Keep the single.
But at the end of the day, you know, if they both fall, he's still a two-time
Indy 500 winner. Nobody's taking that away.
Yeah. Some of the greatest hair of all time. And another guy we talk about back
in that era was Emerson, another guy who just knew how to get around here.

(19:00):
And one of my favorite, I forget what year it was, Nari was qualifying,
and I forget who was doing the track announcing at the time, but he...
Described him going through turn three and he was like you know a classic indianapolis
motor speedway lot and it's just like that
i yeah i just kind of got that shivers when i
thought about you know just hearing that and somebody who had seen racing for

(19:23):
so long right and and then to you know say that about ari because you know he
didn't win a lot of races other places but right he got it down here yeah he
was definitely good here at some level you know it's all that matters yeah yeah I mean,
you would live forever if you went here.
Right. All that matters is he wasn't the first 500 I went to.

(19:45):
That's cool. He is immortalized in my mind, at least.
Yeah. And Rick Mears won the first one I ever went to. And AJ won my first one.
So we all got some pretty iconic folks that picked up the first race.
Speaking of AJ, and I'm not going to drop any names or anything else. I don't break any rules.
But I came across somebody in my other job in the last week that happens to
have the Pace car from 1967 in their garage. Good deal.

(20:09):
Yeah. And yeah, anyhow, I was like, no kidding. And so they started telling
me about all the different cars they had. And they had all kinds of cool cars.
They had a really cool looking Corvair.
Dangerous in any speed, the Corvair. Yes, it is. But yeah, the 1967 Pace car.
That's awesome. Yeah, because I came in and I go by AJ in my professional, in my other job.

(20:32):
And so he said, oh, AJ, you know, I've got the Pace car from,
you know, and he goes, I bet you don't even. And I said, oh, don't even.
I said, I'm the wrong person to think that I don't know who you're talking about. Yeah.
That's great. I said, I've got
the program at home. Yeah, that would be a pretty priceless item there.
Rutherford just sold his event car from his win in 80.

(20:56):
Wow. That was a sweet car. It was a really great car.
Yeah. And it went for $90,000 or something. I believe it. Before the buyer's
premium, so you're really out $100,000 for that car.
Yeah. And he has the absolute nicest signature in handwriting. It's beautiful.
I mean, it's a work of art. It is. Well, he's an artist, you know,

(21:16):
so that's part of why that is.
He did our program cover a couple years ago. He's got some unbelievable artwork.
And he still does some of it. I got a chance to go down there.
Carter and I went down there, I don't know, five or six weeks ago to do a little
thing with him because we did the bronze and silver badge in honor of his 50th
anniversary of his first win.
Another beautiful car, by the way. Yeah, that McLaren was such a great car.

(21:38):
And then I got a chance to just go in and see his place. But he's got artwork
and things that he's done around his house, but he's really talented.
So that signature fits perfectly for the artist that he is. That makes sense.
I did not realize. I didn't know what an artist he was. I'd forgotten about
the program and everything.
Just hadn't clicked in my head. Yeah, he's a really great artist.
But yeah, it's a beautiful signature. Oh, beautiful signature.

(21:59):
I mean, it doesn't matter what he's signing. It could be a hat,
the bill of it, the brand, turning.
It's still just perfect. And you have people that do an autograph like this,
and they're done. Yeah, it's real quick.
And he just takes his time. And I've got a frame in the little hallway that
leads into my office that Sports
Illustrated with him on it after one of the 500 that he signed to me.
And it's just super cool. Oh, that's awesome. It's that beautiful signature.

(22:21):
Yeah. I had a book. It was just like a coffee table book from 91 for the 75th anniversary.
And for the 100th, I brought it to the autograph session and got his signature on the front of it.
And yeah, it's a beautiful signature. It really is. All right.
Obviously, outside of May, IndyCar race that you're most excited about that

(22:41):
you think might— And I'll say this because I know it's hard to choose because
you know all the other track guys.
And so I'll say, which race do you think might give us the best chance for a surprise winner?
Well, anymore, who knows? It's so competitive. You just don't know.
Well, especially with Nashville being the finale.
Yeah, that's going to be an interesting one. And although you would put all

(23:01):
your money on Joseph probably right now to see what happens the rest of the
year. I'm excited to go back to Milwaukee.
I don't know what kind of racing it's going to produce. I hope it's good.
My first IndyCar race outside of the Speedway was in Milwaukee when I went.
And it's just kind of a racing town. The history of the track is older than we are.
I mean, it's the one track on our circuit. It's not as continuous operating
like we have, but I think it's like 1906 or something.

(23:22):
Yeah. So it's a little bit older than we are. Just really cool to go back there.
And Roger's so excited about it. It's neat to see the energy and the excitement
that he has. So looking forward to that one.
Beth and I usually take the camper to Iowa, and that's always fun because we
go for the racing, but then we also wander around and watch people drink and
have a good time and listen to music that I don't know who the artists are,

(23:42):
but it's fine. She does, so that's good.
So those two are probably the ones I'm looking forward to the most is Milwaukee
and going back to Iowa. Excellent. Excellent. I love Iowa.
I really want to go to Iowa this year. I'm going to have to do some creative scheduling.
But it's i say it's it's
marked on the calendar is like i i make up

(24:04):
my own little paper calendar you know when i'm combining my
work schedule and my race schedule and i it's you know ro for request off is
on the iowa days so and one thing i plan it on plan it on going but one thing
i'd recommend to anybody is then to take a trip on saturday night down in oxfam
i went up i went down there for the first time last summer and that was but

(24:24):
but not the nationals but just to in Knoxville, I see it.
Yeah, because that's for night racing. And it's during Iowa, which is 100% right.
So I was going to do that last year or two years ago. I can't remember when
we were going to do it, and it rained.
It was one of those nights where it rained, and so we thought,
I'd love to go. Oh, two years ago.
Is that what it was? Yeah, I went last year. And everybody stuck.
Even though it's not Knoxville Nationals, it's still going to Knoxville in the

(24:44):
history of that place, too, would be.
And I'm such a short track fan anyway, so I love to get to as many short tracks
as you can. And really, what, is that the drive's eight hours to Iowa?
Something like that. Yeah, it's not bad, right? I mean, it's,
and you can. It's an easy drive, honestly. Yeah, it's not bad at all.
So it's a great race. So I will have to try and get to Knoxville then because

(25:05):
that's definitely a place I want to go see.
Yeah, it definitely had a little bit of a IMS feel to it in a sense because
it's been there so long and has the Hall of Fame there.
And I parked in some guy's side yard and walked the four blocks over and did all that kind of stuff.
So it really had that kind of – and just I was really surprised that it was
just Saturday night of racing just how many people were there. Right.

(25:28):
It's, you know, outside of the Nationals and everything, it's still a big deal.
Yeah. No, everybody talks about Knoxville, so I'd love to go see it.
I'd love to see the Nationals sometime, too.
That would be really cool to do. I agree. And they go fast. Yes.
Yes. They go fast. Yeah.
All right. So we got all kinds of things coming up here at the INS.
Yes. Obviously, we got the month of May creeping up.

(25:49):
We've got Rev, both the Mini and Rev, kicking off the month.
Yep. And we're on track right now as we film, or as we tape this.
We've got 20 days of BMW on track. We just got done with the Eclipse,
obviously, the Shell Eco-Marathon, where we brought kids in from all over,
university and high school kids from all over the world to compete in a fuel
mileage challenge, basically is what it is.

(26:09):
So we've been crazy already. And then you're right, you get into May,
you've got the Mini and Revs that really kind of kick things off,
that you got the Sancio Grand Prix, and we roll right into everything for the
Indy 500. And then we sort of clean up a little bit here.
I think we're at Detroit the following weekend for IndyCar.
So our ticket team does the ticketing for Detroit. So we're still pretty involved in how that works.
And then we've got a whole host of things through the summer.

(26:32):
Brickyard on the Oval, which will be interesting to have them back on the Oval this year. It will be.
So that's going to be a good one.
I hope ticket sales for that are better than they've been in the last 15 years, which is crazy.
Because people got to the point where they just didn't want us to be on the
Oval. Now we're back on the Oval. We'll be like, thank God you're back on the oval. We'll see.
Hopefully it'll be good racing, right? I mean, you know the worst thing you

(26:54):
can do for a race fan is give us exactly what we ask for.
That's what we try to do, though. I know, but we don't know what we want.
Collectively, it's a group.
The thing is, we're hungry, and we don't know what we want, but we know what we don't want.
Right, but sometimes we – and I'm a race fan, too – but sometimes we don't know
what we don't want until after we've gotten something. We're like,
well, I didn't want that.

(27:15):
That's true. That is just like, you know what, I should have been more particular.
Yeah, so – but no, May is going to be great. Having Kyle Larson run is going to be really fun.
Yeah, I always enjoy when we have drivers. that bring crossover fans,
new eyes, new excitement.
I think that'll be really fun to have him. He's been great in terms of the way

(27:36):
he talks about the 500 and just kind of the methodical and the way that he's
learned through things. You have some great teammates.
I did say to Pato the other night at the thing, I said, hey,
look, I'm really excited Kyle's here, but don't let him beat you.
I want Kyle to come here. I want him to have a great Indy 500,
but I want a regular to win. For me, you want a true IndyCar guy to win it.

(28:02):
And that said, if he won, he will have done it because he deserved it. Certainly.
He's been great. I'm really excited about having him. The one thing I love about
short track drivers, and we saw it when Brian Clausen was here,
the number of short track fans that show up in their short track shirts is really cool to me.
And that's getting grassroots folks to come back to the Speedway.
And I think Kyle helped that, as well as some of the diehard NASCAR fans who

(28:25):
may not have checked out the Indy 500 before.
But will be a little more interested now that, yeah. Things will be really good.
Now they've got a little skin in the game.
Yeah. So if you think of an event that's never been here, so I'll say F1 isn't
in this, but think of an event that's never been here.
What would you like to see at the Speedway someday?
That's a great question, and I don't know that I have a really good answer for that.

(28:48):
You know, obviously, we're still grade one in the event an F1 opportunity was to ever come up again.
It's just too cost prohibitive. I mean, the amount of money that it costs to
pay Liberty to have them come here right now is too challenging,
although I think having a Formula One race here is appropriate.
We've talked about do you pair WEC with EMSA, which is the World Endurance Challenge,

(29:12):
which is basically EMSA everywhere but in the U.S.?
So that's something that we might agree on here. But I kind of like our mix right now.
You've got IndyCars both on the road course and the oval. At some level,
I'm glad we don't have a second road course race, although I love the doubleheader
weekend where NASCAR and IndyCar was together.
But I was at a point where I thought that if we ended up having to have IndyCar

(29:33):
back as part of that, I'd love to change the layout so that at least it made
something a little different than the same layout that they do in May.
We have our vintage race here in June. Brickyard is July.
We've got the dirt track and sports cars in September. And then we have our
Indy eight-hour sports car race in October.
So I think we've got a pretty good schedule across the board.

(29:53):
So I don't know if it's not Formula One or WEC. I don't know what the,
you know, our fans would tell me it's the Freedom 100.
The two questions I get more than any are, what do you do the rest of the year?
Because they think the 500 is out.
And then the other one is, when's the Freedom 100 coming back?
So, you know, that would, someday I'd love to see it back here.

(30:14):
I understand, you know, why we've kind of put it on the shelf for the time being,
just trying to get drivers in those cars some oval experience before they come here. it's so fast.
But I think we need to make it a priority to give them that experience so that
we can bring the Freedom 100 back someday. So let's just continue to work on that. I do too.
I mean, the Freedom 100 is some of the best racing.

(30:37):
There have been so many close finishes and I'm obsessed with the Turn 2 suites.
I know they're the older suites, but they're the best because they're so close to the track.
And the Freedom 100, you feel like you could touch the car,
Well, you touched on it. I mean, if anybody ever had, if somebody's out listening
and they got a buddy that invites them to come to a practice day in a Turn 2
suite, 100% do whatever you can to go take that time in the suite,

(31:01):
because you're right, it's crazy.
It's crazy how close you are. If you are right there, I was built in the middle
70s, and you're looking right down on the race cars and the noise and the speed,
the sense of speed as they are exiting turn two and coming at you because they've
already apexed. So they're coming to the exit apex.
It's a spectacular. I couldn't watch the whole race from there. It would drive.

(31:21):
Oh, I think I'd have a not much to make of something. Well, and also because
that seems to me just with how the track is situated, if there's any kind of
wind gusts, that's where everybody stuffs it into the wall.
Right. And so, yeah, I've been there also when a car has crashed there and it's
terrifying for a second.
Somebody posted a video a couple of years ago, social video,
where he's just talking, you know, it's a selfie video and he's just standing

(31:42):
there talking about how excited he used to be to speedway.
And somebody crashes behind him and his face and he's like, oh,
and I think foul language comes out of his mouth. It's fantastic.
It's a fantastic video to see, but it's because he's excited.
He's right there in the craziness. And then you almost feel the impact when you're there. Yeah.
You're so close. Yeah. It's crazy. And it's just like sitting in right above
turn one, which I love those seats.

(32:03):
And my goal is to someday see a 500 from there.
But it's almost the same thing because the way the seats are angled and everything,
you're almost looking right down over.
Those to me are the best seats in the whole building. Funny,
I get that question all the time. What are the best seats?
And I'm like, I call customers every night and it doesn't matter where they sit.
They think they have the best seats in the house, which is really awesome because
the seats are, it's about what you see, but it's also about where you park, who you sit with.

(32:27):
Where you sat the first time you came. I mean, all those things go into deciding
where the best seats are.
But if you push me and it's like, you got to pick, I would tell you it's the
top of turn one somewhere, up high in turn one or up high in turn four.
I mean, there's just something spectacular about those locations,
but turn one is probably the best. I would say also high in turn three.
So all the turns are good, right? If you're high up in the turns and they each,

(32:49):
I actually just did I did an interview this week with a paper,
a group of papers that does like Bloomington and Terre Haute and some other
papers, and they're doing a piece on the different corners.
And do they have their personalities not just on the track, but is there a personality
in the grandstands? How are they different? So that's the parent-parent contrast.
And you talk about Turn 3, and the thing I talked about Turn 3 that's so great

(33:11):
about Turn 3 is, A, the terminal velocity.
Typically, the wind's coming from the south to the north. So going into turn
3s where you see those 245 mile an hour speeds.
And then there's this weird thing, you come out of turn two,
and unlike the front stretch where it stays really tight the whole way,
you come out of turn two and it just widens up.
So that's when we see all those four and five wide fanning out down there.

(33:32):
And then I think drivers forget, and then they get to the end and they go,
oh, I got to get all the way back to that one groove.
And so there's something about turn three that is exciting to watch,
that whole craziness on the back. It is. Well, and since it's,
you know, there's not pit lane there. There's not the big go-to there.
There's not all the suites on the inside.
You can see so far down. I mean, you can see clear to turn two.

(33:53):
So, yeah, that's where if we didn't live at the polar opposite end of turn three,
because, and that's what I always tell people when they ask me,
you know, what are the best seats?
I said, okay, so first you got to figure out where are you parking. Right.
Because where you're sitting is extremely relative to where you're parking.
Like where you're going to enjoy sitting. And I know that I can never get my
family to go there because my mom's not going to walk that far.

(34:15):
She's been very clear about that. If you walked in gate one right here by turn
one, the main gate, and had to walk to your seats in turn three,
you're walking around the outside of the racetrack, right?
I guess you could walk through the infield and under the tunnel,
but just walking around the outside, you're probably – let's think about that.
That's half a mile, another – it's two miles easy from here to those seats.

(34:39):
No, it's right about two miles from my mom's house because Molly and I did it for the air rig.
To turn four, though, or to turn three?
Because you know she's a runner so yeah like we can do it
yeah sure no i would get that was one of
those days that afterwards like i look at the the fit fitness tracker and i'm
like yeah so you had the five eighths mile front stretch you got a quarter mile

(35:01):
turn another eighth of mile then you're at the grandstand and then whatever
you've got right here and a little bit out yeah so you're probably a mile probably
a mile probably a mile and a quarter mile and a half from here and then And
then whatever you've got, yeah.
But it's, and that's okay in the morning. Yeah. Right?
It's always much better the way it is. Yeah, the full day in the sun and a couple

(35:22):
beverages and a bunch of people, that's a long way home.
You know, the number of times that I have left this facility and have said to
my friends, judge me if you want, but I'm getting a taxi.
And, you know, then Lyft and Uber came along, although now where they pick you
up, by that point, I might as well just walk the rest of the way back to my
mom's house. But, yeah, I remember there was one year that I did try to hail a cab on 16th Street.

(35:44):
That's funny. My friend said, you are not. I said, I can't walk anymore.
Can't do it. I'm not going to make it. I'm too.
Well, that's what I'm happy about is I've worked my way up in the Southwest
Vista. So I'm like two rows from the top.
So probably, you know, the first quarter of the race, the sun gets behind there and I'm in the shade.
So I'm like, I really don't want to change. Yeah. My only one is I hope to get into the last row.

(36:09):
That's what I keep going up and past it every year. Just because you can put
your stuff behind you. Right. Yeah. There is a space back there.
Yeah. But yeah, it took me a long time to finally get up there.
But I'm more than happy with it.
And I think that's the way it works with a lot of people is they finally get
to where they want to get up high enough or you get to an aisle that you want to have.

(36:31):
And then you say, listen, these are our seats. This is where a lot of people
are like, hey, these are the seats that my grandpa brought me.
I don't want to leave them because this is where we sat.
Because it's nostalgic. So as far as you know, then bringing that up,
who are, what's the longest somebody's had tickets up to?
Oh, we've got a bunch of customers who are, this will be over 75 races for them.

(36:52):
It's amazing how many of those, you know, I had the one customer who passed
away a couple of years ago. He'd been to over 90.
Um, Oh, I think I remember there was something on him. It's,
it's pretty impressive.
The number of people that are North of 60 for sure.
Um, and there's a lot that are over 75. One of the things I try and do on race
day is if I know somebody's come hit their 75th anniversary or 75th race,

(37:15):
I try and go say hello to them during the race.
Oh, that's awesome. It's just fun to say thanks. Well, yeah.
And usually they've got a kid there who's my age, and then they've got a grandkid,
and then maybe even a great, you know, it's just the generations of families.
It's pretty fun to see. That is very cool. And it's crazy to think because,
I mean, this year we're by 25th. Yeah.
And so, I mean, I missed a few here and there. I haven't missed one since 09.

(37:39):
Right. Yeah, and Michael's 50. I mean, I'll be 79 years old at the time, but that's my goal.
And I couldn't hardly imagine what it'd be like to have gone.
Especially, I don't feel like since I got here in the late 70s,
the speeds have gone up and the cars have sort of changed.
But not, you know, you go back 75 years and just the evolution of the cars and

(38:01):
to have been able to have been here to see that, I would love to have conversations.
The 60s and 70s, just the change year over year really, would have been fascinating.
I started just a couple of years ahead of you, but I followed the racing as
far back as I can remember. Then the middle 70s were the same.

(38:22):
Even in the 80s, when I'd get my auto week at home and you go to the back of
the auto week to see that somebody's got a photo of the new March or the new
Lola or something and how it was going to change year over year.
We don't see that as much now.
And that's just all of us, right? We all look back and go, that was the romantic age.
We need to do that again. I hear from the old guys that are like,
ah, the roadsters need to come back.

(38:43):
And the folks that are falling in love with the sport today,
25 years from now are going to say, oh, the era of Pato Ward and Alex Pullover and Joseph Newgarden.
That's what's so cool about the sport.
It is. Well, and you know what's funny is, so I got into the sport right after
the split. So like in the dark day.
But I didn't know any different. front. Right. So, you know,

(39:05):
coming in with no expectations, these were still super cool, super fast cars.
And it was still super exciting. Like I was still hooked.
And so like, once I got old enough to like know about the split and people were
like, oh, that wasn't good racing. And I'm like, seemed fine to me.
You know, like I had a, and actually my first race was in Southwest Vista.
So that's got some nostalgia for me. And speaking of the different turns, where we sat,

(39:30):
it was this whole section that somebody from my mom's hometown got like 20 tickets
and it ended up being, it was friends of her parents.
And so then it was their kids that were managing it at that point.
I mean, it was like 20 or 30 tickets in this section.
And there was one guy who was not with our group, but came every year.
And when they would play Stars and Stripes Forever, he would stand up,

(39:52):
turn and face the crowd because he was on the front row of the first section of Southwest Vista.
And he would raise up like he was the conductor and he would conduct the entire
song and he was oh it was hysterical it was so funny and he must have actually
been a music director because he knew every cue right like i mean it wasn't
like he was just up there farting around yeah like he legitimately conducted

(40:13):
the entire song and oh it was fantastic and my mom.
He had been doing it for a long time because when when i
saw that she goes oh i can't believe this guy's still here he used to
do this when i came but that's that's what's
neat about this the place is so big that that
for that the folks that sat in that section probably that's part of the
tradition of the event right when's the guy going to stand up

(40:36):
and conduct from the first row that start the stars and stripes forever and
each each area has sort of a character or something like that and that's what
makes it that makes it so special and i'm sure the year that people got there
where's the guy right yeah the first year that he was gone it's terrible to
terrible to lose that and I don't know when,

(40:56):
I don't know do we still play Star Wars I don't think we play it anymore I don't
think we do I don't think we do no we should probably bring that back Donald
would be happy we brought that back Donald Davidson that's true I know the pretty
man knows it because they always know Susan for sure and I think about you know
now that you say that I just remember that as a kid coming to my first races
and it was just part of it right yeah,

(41:17):
well it also just feels very Memorial Day-ish too like you feel like you should
hear that song in every Memorial Day parade yeah yeah.
That's the one thing I think we do a good job of, though, of celebrating men
and women who serve. Oh, absolutely.
And then those who pay the ultimate sacrifice as Memorial Day weekend.
I think that's still, I mean, that's, other than back home again in Indiana,
probably my favorite moment is when the military men and women march down.

(41:40):
And then how TAPS, the whole place. It's just, you can pin drop.
Yeah, just gets quiet. Yeah. I mean. Pretty wild, right?
Yeah, I hear 350,000 people hush. Yeah. It's pretty cool.
Well, I think that's all the stuff that it makes. And I'm not being critical
of it at all. But I've gone to the Daytona 500.

(42:00):
And I had fun. And I'd love to go see it again. And it is a big deal.
And I've gone to other NASCAR races. So it just feels like a NASCAR race.
But when you come to the 500, that's the, you know, because I mean,
you know, we've all been to, I've been to 40, 50 other IndyCar races.
But this one, there's just something about it that there's an electricity that

(42:23):
you really can't understand unless you've been here.
Correct. And that's when people say, what's it like? I don't know how to tell you what it's like.
There's no way to describe it. You just have to experience it.
And it's not a race. It's an event.
The Daytona 500 is a race, and it's a great race. And I've been to,
and it's a really fun race to go to.
And there's an elevated excitement of that race versus a traditional regular

(42:45):
IndyCar, regular NASCAR race. I mean, that clearly is their big one,
but it's not an event where this one is just, it's a race.
It's really an event that just happens to have a race going on.
And that's part of what makes it so special is there's just so much else that's going on.
And like when people say, how do you describe it?
Yeah, so you know that time when you're sitting on the beach and you see this

(43:08):
unbelievable sunset and you're like, wow, that's awesome.
I'm going to take a picture and you're going to send it to your buddies and
you look at it and you go, it's a picture.
You can't you have to be there to experience that
sunset just like you have to be here we can see all the pictures
in the world all the video it just doesn't do
what coming here does to see it live yeah that's the best analogy i have to

(43:30):
kind of explain to people how you can't well and you know i think it says a
lot that local people we don't say what are you doing on memorial weekend we
say what are you doing on race week right right and everybody knows what race
you're referring to We have multiple races here all throughout the year.
We have multiple race tracks around here, you know, like NHRA out at the Big Go.
You know, like there are big races that come outside.

(43:53):
But everybody said, you say race weekend. We know you mean the 500. It is a.
A whole event. For sure. It's definitely an event.
Well, and to go back to something I was going to say earlier when you were talking
about some of the, like, Pato and the way he approaches the fans.
I think a really cool element to a lot of the drivers is the fact that they live here.
Yep. And they get it and they know.

(44:15):
It's one thing to know what May is like, but then it's also another thing to
know how it just fits into the rest of the year.
You look at Pacer games and when you get, you know. 100 days out with the players was so cool.
Doing the food and yeah no i think that's right and i think for them to be in a community where,
people know them and where i'm sure at some

(44:37):
level what they want to go out and don't want to be picked on there's probably that
side but the other side of it for them too is to go i do
something really cool i race in this really cool race in
this really cool series and people know it and and
want to come up and say hello to me so i do think there's i think
that makes it special for them as well that they're in a community that really appreciates
who they are and what they've done i mean because and for me and

(44:58):
i mean i've been a sports writer for 25 years and
i've met a lot of famous athletes and stuff but and and i've probably interviewed
everybody in the paddock by now but are all the drivers and but it's still a
real kick for me to interview drivers and you know and just to talk to them
and i think that's one of the things about motorsports is that you know even
though you get more used to seeing all the drivers like there's still that little.

(45:21):
Kid inside of you that's like okay i just talked to
scott yeah like yeah i just talked to ari line like that
was cool you know and i feel like everybody who works
in motorsports still has that little kid inside of them so
we all get it it's like you're like i'm gonna be uncool for just
a minute yeah well last year one of
my i guess i'm a unicorn tk was one

(45:42):
of my unicorns i'd never interviewed him right never got a picture
i never got out of there so i finally did not autograph an interview with
him and i mean after i finished well i
did two things after i finished i turned the recorder off and i said i'm
done as a reporter just as a fan thank you for everything you've done right
thank you for what you do for the any 500 blah blah and then the second thing

(46:02):
i did is i went and called my wife and i was like that was just one of the coolest
things i've ever done yeah you know and and yeah it is just to that that racing
you know family and everything thing is different.
And that's what makes this place so special to all of us.
Agreed. And the drivers go out of their way to make it. They do.
They absolutely do. The fans are what created this event and continue to sustain it.

(46:27):
Fans don't show up. It's 500 miles on a.
Little piece of asphalt right well like it was four years ago which
was terrible you know we don't ever want to do that
again but yeah um no we're fortunate to have the drivers
who we do for sure and and i'm excited that tk lives
in our market because yeah it's a bummer to not have him
in a car but it's awesome to have him here i mean he'll he'll do anything you

(46:48):
ask to help promote him he's just a fantastic person and it's and i'm just so
glad that he and lauren and the gang are here yeah all right well i know you
gotta go i'm off to the next thing but i'm gonna make a you pick who you think
is going to be the champion this year and why is it going to be alex blow.
Oh man i don't know you can pick 500 or series a series i have no idea right

(47:12):
now i mean we just haven't had enough races for me to even even have an idea
i know that's why it's fun to guess that,
i don't know i feel like it's gonna it's gonna be one of the one of the pinsky
guys again on the series. I guess we'll see there.
And it feels like a Chevy right now for the 500, just based on the half a day
of oval open tests we had. But that's pretty premature.

(47:36):
But it feels to me like it's got to be, it's going to have to become somebody from the Chevy camp.
But the Aaron McLaren guys are pretty strong. I kind of have a feeling they're going to.
Be nice. Be nice to see them play in the winner's circle. It would be very,
especially the 50th anniversary.
That was the last time one was there. Yeah, that would be pretty awesome. It would be pretty cool.
But whoever it is. Side by sides of those cars. Whoever it is,

(47:58):
I'm looking forward to just a bunch of excitement at Victory Lane and celebrating.
And then we could spend a year together promoting the 109th run. I bet. I bet.
Awesome. Well, Doug, thank you so much. Happy President's Day.
Happy President's Day. Happy early May. Yes.
We'll be seeing a lot of you soon. All right. Thanks, guys. All right.
Thanks for listening. Bye.