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How did you become a fan of open wheel racing?
I am sure we all have some stories about how we came to like and follow open wheel racing. If you have a moment...share it.
My fascination with open wheel racing started when I was about 6. My mom got to know Emerson Fittipaldi and through him we got tickets to attend the PPG IndyCar Series event at Road America. From that weekend on, I was hooked. My parents took me back to Road America every year for the IndyCar / CART / Champ Car race till I was old enough to go on my own. Then I started going to other venues as well and now 24 years later I am an avid fan who try's to take in at least 2 or 3 IRL races each year.
My fascination with open wheel racing started when I was about 6. My mom got to know Emerson Fittipaldi and through him we got tickets to attend the PPG IndyCar Series event at Road America. From that weekend on, I was hooked. My parents took me back to Road America every year for the IndyCar / CART / Champ Car race till I was old enough to go on my own. Then I started going to other venues as well and now 24 years later I am an avid fan who try's to take in at least 2 or 3 IRL races each year.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Christy on -
Good topic ;)
My first ever experience was in 1997 at Indy...the lovely three day race :) I love that track..it is such a family reunion every year :) I picked Arie to win and even going into the grass He won :)
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Permalink Reply by 1969Andretti on -
It was 1969. My parents took a motorhome and went to Indy.
I was left home with a babysitter. I had been to a few races in Milwaukee before and followed Mario,
After his crash and burn pre-race, I was really rooting for him to win.
I remember taking out our big multi band radio out to the backyard to listen to the race.
I sat and in my mind drove with Mario. When he won I cannot describe what I felt, but it felt better than I had ever before.
Ever since I have been a huge fan, and even went to driving school and bought / raced a Formula Vee, the Formula Fords and Formula Mazda. "It ain't racing unless you can see the wheels!"
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Permalink Reply by INDYGRL4EV on -
Well, Kansas Speedway hasn't been around for too long, but almost every year since it has opened, all of the NASCAR fans are always trying to get rid of their Indycar tickets. So, I have been a fan of the IRL for a few years (since Kansas Speedway has been open). This year, my parents promised be two races, though. I am so excited to see a race at a different track!
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Permalink Reply by 1969Andretti on
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Go to INDY, you will not regret it, I promise!!
It is the greatest event I have ever been to.
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Permalink Reply by INDYGRL4EV on
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I really want to go to Indy or Nashville, but those would require us to get a hotel and all that, so it's probably going to be Iowa because that is the next closest track to us.
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Permalink Reply by 1969Andretti on
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The trick is you park in a carwash near the track. ($25 for the weekend) Food is no problem as there is a white castle nearby.
It is a HUGE party, and then you sleep in the car/truck.
In the AM you wake, put a few quarters in the wash and you got a cheap shower!
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Permalink Reply by Joe on -
My dad had been going with a group of friends to the Indy since the 70's. I started going to the 500 along with the group in 1988. Since then, I have only missed three years of the 500 (93, 94, and 95) when I lived in Colorado. Starting about two years ago, my wife and I started to attend some of the other races, and this year are looking to attend somewhere around 6 or 7 races.
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Permalink Reply by i_am_indy on -
Right after I started dating my husband he went to the 2001 Indy 500. I had never really paid much attention to racing of any sort but decided to watch on TV . I've been hooked ever since...never had a chance to actually attend an Indy 500 yet but I've got my tickets for this year.
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Permalink Reply by The RPC on -
I grew up about a mile from the track, so even if you didn't go to the race, you were always a part of May. But back in the 80s, tickets were scarce, but my family first got tix in 1986 and have been hooked ever since. Our first year was also a rainy affair, but fun none the less. I only missed 2 race since then, and if you aren't there, and watching it on tv, you feel like you are missing something.
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Permalink Reply by KoHoSo on -
It was May 1970, and I was about 5 weeks shy of my fifth birthday. My family and I were living in Louisville, Kentucky back then, and one of my parents turned on WLKY 32 which was then an ABC affiliate. I has seen "racing" in cartoons before, but never the real thing.
This was still in the day when the "500" was a delayed telecast, so we were all gathered around the TV in the evening. But, this was certainly not the usual program that my folks would turn on. I remember being fascinated by the magnitude of the crowd, all of the different cars, the many colors, and the excitement in the announcers' voices. Then came the clincher that made me a life-long fan.
The camera focused on one car for a moment. It was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen...a purpleish blue slightly wedge-shaped machine with the coolest yellow lightning bolts running along the front and its sides. And, it was #2...my lucky number! (well, according to some cheap astrology book that my hippieish aunt had given to me a couple of months earlier).
Knowing nothing about anybody in the field, immediately picked this driver to be my favorite. Unser seemed like such a strange and exotic surname at the time, and he came from some far away land called New Mexico.
Well, as most of you know, Al won that race in 1970 and I thought that he was the greatest thing since Bugs Bunny cartoons. And, he won it again in 1971 in that same scheme...the good ol' Johnny Lightning Special. And, even though I was heartbroken when the Topper toy company got in trouble with the government and canceled its Johnny Lighting sponsorship, I stuck with Al through the rest of his glorious career and became convinced that the Indianapolis 500 and the men who drove in it were part of one of the two greatest sporting events that there ever could be (the other being the Kentucky Derby...what a great way to start and end May, huh?)
Through my life -- especially after the explosion of cable television -- I have become a huge fan of almost every other major racing series. But, even through this past 12 years of open wheel stupidity and as I become older and more grumpy about how things ain't what they used to be, IndyCars always have been and probably always will be my favorite...all thanks to the greatest paint scheme in racing history and the good man who drove it to victory.
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Permalink Reply by topkartgirl on -
I have a great story!! Last year I went to St Pete on a fieldtrip for physics and I was immediatley hooked. Everything about it fascinated me!! We were given the chance to talk to the AGR engineers and meet some drivers. Best day ever!!
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