A Little Known Fact About Me

You probably don't know this about me, even if you know me personally. I am an Indy Car Racing Fan. I'm not a fanatic. I'm just a fan. I don't watch every single race. I do have a favorite driver, Danica Patrick. But now she's going to NASCAR and I am most definitely not a NASCAR fan. The one race I watch every year without fail is the Indianapolis 500.

One of my dreams is to go to an Indy car race. I almost made it several years ago. The Indy cars used to race in Phoenix out at the Phoenix International Raceway. One year my nail tech got tickets and offered them to me! I was beyond thrilled. Until I saw the date of the race. It was Easter Sunday. Since I worked at a church at that time as the Administrative Assistant for the Programming Department, there was no way I could go. I was so bummed.

That was my closest brush with an Indy car race until this past week. Last Monday and Tuesday as Dan and I were travelling home from KS via Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, we started seeing semi-trucks with racing team logos. We saw the Andretti team, the Penske team, and the Indy Car Race Experience trucks among others. We speculated for miles about where they might be headed. We thought the racing season was over, so we weren't sure if it was a special event or what. We lost them in Flagstaff, AZ, so Dan speculated that they were probably headed to Las Vegas, NV. It was so cool to pass truck after truck which we knew were loaded with expensive Indy cars.

I never gave it another thought. Until yesterday. The news that Dan Wheldon was killed in the Las Vegas 300 first flashed on my computer screen. I jumped up and turned on Fox News to see a horrific crash. As details of the crash became available, I realized that some of the cars involved could have been the very ones we passed on the freeway just a few days prior. What a creepy feeling.

My heart goes out to Dan Wheldon's wife, children, extended family, team members, crew, and friends. I know that auto racing is a very dangerous sport, but when you see race after race with no serious injuries, you kind of forget. I'm sure that this accident will cause changes to the Indy car races. I hope those changes mean no more tragic deaths on a raceway.