Event Car Hot Laps from 2022

 

 

If you are a member of the IndyCar fan club (IndyCar Nation),you can enter a lottery to win a hot lap around the track. I won a lap last year and it was a great story. Initially, I was given bad information about where to meet the VIP driver. So I lined up in the wrong place. By the time I figured it out and went to the right place, I was last in a long line of about 50 people. No worries, they had two cars and they were taking three at

a time. So, I noticed that the two guys in front of me in the line were Japanese-looking and were covered in Takuma Sato clothes and memorabilia. So I asked them about it and quickly discovered that they did not speak English. This became important because, when we got to the front of the line, the greeter came over and asked the three of us who wanted to ride shotgun. I actually hesitated (I am so polite), but because I had actually understood the question, I was able to speak up first. So we piled into the "event" car, a souped-up Honda HPD Civic Type R with a radical striped red paint job and a stick shift. I was in the front seat and my two Japanese companions were in the back. And we were off, like a rocket ship. Full throttle off the line, tires spinning in the dirt, swing way out to the right side of the track, jump on the brakes, hard, for turn 11, make the corner, tires screaming, and wham, full throttle! It was like riding the Wild Mouse, only wilder. At the end of the lap, our driver introduced herself; her name is Ayla Agren and she is a European formula car race driver. But she had a big wreck, so now she drives IndyCar "event" cars. It was an absolute blast. But wait, there's more. After I got out of the car, I was milling around, and the greeter came over and asked me if I wanted to go again, but I couldn't ride shotgun. So I got another lap, this time from the back seat; even wilder. Good times.