Drivers Start Your Engines

 

 

April 26, 2021

Drivers Start Your Engines

It has been a long time coming for me to make a return visit to St. Petersburg to attend the Indy Car St. Pete Grand Prix. I was all ready to board a plane just over a year ago when the event was among the first to fall victim to the Coronavirus pandemic and was canceled. They eventually held the race last October but I could not attend and had to wait over a year before I could get back to attend this year’s race.

The pandemic continues as currently there are 33,285,045 cases so far in the United States with 592,630 deaths. In Monroe County there have been 6,938 cases with 3,241 of those in Key West and 49 deaths. Thankfully Kathy and I have been able to avoid coming down with the virus through isolation, social distancing and being careful. Now we are both fully vaccinated and ready to carefully begin to reenter society and begin enjoying life.

The race is one of the first major events that I have been brave enough to attend and it is still very different than in previous years as attendance is still limited and covid protocols such as required mask wearing, social distancing, and such are in full effect. They even took every attendees temperature before they could enter the grounds. The biggest difference for me at least is that they prohibited entrance to the paddock and pits and did not issue hard cards or credentials to anyone but essential crew members. 

This meant that I would not be able to enter the Indy Car pits or paddock for the first time in many years of attending the race in St. Pete. It was a bit of a bummer but the support paddock was open which meant that I spent a great deal more time hanging out in the paddock where the support series including the Stadium Super Trucks, USF 2000 , IndyPro and Indy Lights cars and drivers were. I generally don’t spend much time in these areas so it was interesting to get behind the scenes of the up and coming young drivers.

Since I wasn’t staying downtown and within walking distance from the street circuit which utilizes city streets and airport runways from the Alfred Whittfield airport, I had to drive through town to get to the track and was able to enjoy some of the many colorful murals that can be found throughout the city including some beautiful ones in support of the Black Lives Matter movement which were pretty cool.

 

Diversity is an area that has often eluded Indy Car racing and in recent years they have taken steps to address it by starting a program to encourage minority drivers and women to take a greater role in the sport. One of those initiatives is highlighted by the first all-black team in the USF2000 feeder series on the road to Indy. The Force Indy racing team in black-owned, has an all-black crew and an effervescent young driver named Myles Rowe.

I was very interested to check them out and show my support and was able to meet and talk to young Mr. Rowe who is a talented driver and about as nice a person as you would want to meet. I certainly wish him and his team all the best as they navigate the season and move up the ladder hopefully to Indy Car. It would be beyond cool to see a talented young African American driver find success.

It was a great first day at the track as I got to see the first and second Indy Car practice, a couple of support series races including the Stadium Super Trucks which are just a blast to watch as they bump, grind, crash and mash into each other all while negotiating a series of jumps which are pretty cool to see. I also managed to run into my friend John and his wife who live just north of St. Pete and are regulars at the race. It was really cool seeing them and getting to hang out.