Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis

May 12, 2015

Mario & Howard

 

 

Will Power

James Hinchcliffe

Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis

There are few things that could have torn me away from the Key West Songwriter’s Festival, but one of them was attending an Indy Car race in my hometown of Indianapolis. While not the Indy 500, the second annual Grand Prix of Indianapolis held on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is still worth a trip as far as I am concerned.

Not only did it give me a chance to see yet another Indy Car race, my fourth of the current season, but it gave me a chance to hang out in Indianapolis and see the many friends and family that I have there. Not only that, but I was able to bring along my friend and co-worker Howard to attend his first Indy Car race. 

 

Mario

Simon Pagenead & Howard

Sage Karam 

Townsend Bell & team

It was a very busy weekend as Howard and I flew up from Key West on Thursday night and early Friday morning, we were out at the track, taking in all the action of the Indy Car practice and qualifying. We had the opportunity to spend time in my friend Brent’s Tower Terrace Suite that overlooks the pit lane and served as a perfect viewing platform and home base during the weekend. 

Josef Newgarden

Simona De Silvesto & Howard

Tony Kanaan

The suite also had free drinks and catered food from the famous Jug’s catering which brought back many memories of days spent at the track with their apple butter biscuits and fried chicken. It was really cool to have a nice cushy suite to hand out in, complete with closed circuit TV, live timing and scoring, comfy couches and seats along the main straight. 

 

Courtney Force & Howard

Of course we also spent a lot of time roaming through the garage area and pit lane, taking in the cars and stars of the Indy Car series. Howard was thrilled to get to meet Mario Andretti and we also crossed paths with Drag Racing star Courtney Force. I was able to catch up with many of my friends who work in Indy Car and pretty much enjoyed the entire experience.

 

Will Power captured the pole for the race in a somewhat lackluster qualifying round, but we still had a great time at the track. Of course during our down time I tried to show Howard a few of the places that I love in Indianapolis which included stops at Outliers Brewery, Flat 12 Brewery and Brugge Brasserie for dinner. It was a pretty fun visit in addition to the racing stuff.

Michael & Colts Punter Pat Mcafee 

It was the race that we were there for and we had a spectacular race day, starting with a ride around the track at blazing speed in one of the pace cars. It was strange going the opposite direction at the Speedway on the road course, but it was a fun and exciting ride. The car was driven by one of the Mazda Pro Series drivers and he did not back down, screeching through the turns and hitting speeds upwards of 150 mph on the straights.

 

The race was good, though it was pretty much a total domination by Will Power who won going away from the pole position. There was a multi-car pile-up heading in to the first turn of lap one that took Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves out of contention and the race ran completely green after that initial yellow at the start.

 

Graham Rahal charged up to finish second over Juan Pablo Montoya in third and Sebastian Bourdais in fourth. Charlie Kimball came home in fifth place. All in all it was a good day with a good race, perfect weather and a pretty fantastic weekend. Howard had a great time and hopefully can return in the future for the big race in Indy, the Indianapolis 500.

Lindy & Michael

Scott Dixon