I am a huge sports fan- all of them. When I was a teen, I made a list of the ten sporting events I wanted to go to. Attending the Indy 500 was on my list. But, never in my wildest dream did I think I’d ever get a chance to take a lap myself around the famed racetrack.
A work conference in Indianapolis hit in 2018, and I knew the closing party was at the speedway. What I didn’t know was that we would have the opportunity to ride with a driver at a really high rate of speed around the famed track.
As the bus I was riding on pulled up to the racetrack, I realized that as big as I knew the track was, it was even bigger in person. I had been to several NASCAR races over the years, including Talladega, which is one of the biggest tracks out there. But I wasn’t prepared for how huge this track was!
The conference organizers had us line up, and rotated several cars so that the line kept moving. My colleague and I got into the car and away we went.
Our driver, Brandon, hit a little over 100 miles per hour as we made our way around the track. He seemed so calm during the drive. I’m sure it was just another day in the office for him. But for me, it was fulfilling a dream that I never even thought possible.
I was taking a lap around one of, if not THE most famous race track at over 100 miles an hour. I felt like Ricky Bobby from Talladega. I kept wanting to tell Brandon to go faster!
The entire ride took about a minute, and it was one of the coolest minutes of my life. Even three years later, I am in awe that I was able to have this experience.
Getting out of the car, I had the biggest grin on my face. My colleague was not as impressed since she wasn’t a race fan. But she still had fun.
The other thing I got a chance to do was to stand on the famed bricks along the finish line. No, I didn’t lean down and kiss the bricks like the Indy 500 winners. But I did manage a pretty cool selfie to prove I was there.
You never know what you’ll get to experience when attending a work conference and being able to go to the Indy Motor Speedway and take a ride around the track was definitely a pleasant surprise. I still have designs to attend a race one day. But for now, I’ll let my one-minute ride take its place on my Top 10 list of things to do.
What experience have you had at a work conference that was unexpected and really fun?
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What a cool experience! You must have made so many people jealous ;)