IndyCar Family Vacation! – Sonoma

All summer I have been waiting for my reader Tanya to send me her blog post about her family’s IndyCar vacations. Yes! I said vacation(S)! Each year, Tanya and her husband Augie plan their family vacation around an IndyCar race. But that is not all! These people are committed fans…they are from HAWAII! So they have to fly their family to the mainland to see a race. That is some serious IndyCar love! So, I am happy to hear about the vacation fun of this family, and hope you will enjoy reading as well.

My husband (Augie) and I are originally from Long Beach so we decided that Kale’s (my 11 month son) first race should be there with the family. So in April 2010 we took the 5 ½ hour plane ride from Kauai to Long Beach, CA.

As you know the track is set up in the streets of the LB, so driving down there is crazy so the whole family (all 11 of us) decided to take the little red bus down town. We were there all 3 days from 9am to 7pm and had a blast! On Friday as a family we cruised all through the convention center, checkout all the booths, walked the entire track and watched the practice. The convention center is great if you have kids, they have all kinds of inflatables, games and bmx and skateboarding shows. On Saturday we watched the qualifying and then we all split up to get our drivers autographs and pictures. Afterwards we walked around, listened to the bands. On Sunday we of course sat in the stands and watched the race itself. The stands were jam packed with fans…in LB everyone goes to the race. Then we all had a family dinner. All 3 days my son hung out in the pack and never complained once! He absolutely loved people watching, the car sounds and of course watching the cars go by. Here are a few pix…

All the drivers, of course, are so darn nice…here is Justin Wilson, me and my son.

Autograph session with Vitor Meira, one of my fav drivers. Hubby, son and I.

This is the view from our seats in Long Beach.

This is Kale and his Grandpa Thom watching the qualifying.

All of us…Front row(L to R) My mom Diane, me, Kale, Augie, Cousin Addy, Aunt Joyce

Back row(L to R) our good friend Chris, Uncle Leeroy, Sis-n-law Heather & Father-in-law Thom

So a few months after the Long Beach Grand Prix my father in law passed away. He was just few weeks from retirement and his plan was to buy an RV and go to the 100^th running of the Indy 500, and then travel to all the other races. Since he couldn’t attend all the races we decided to go in his honor and plan our yearly family vacations around the indycar races.

So in 2011 we headed to the Indy 500, the only difference this time I was 4 months preggos and my son was now 2. And wow it was an adventure to get there! 5 1/2 our planes ride to LAX. Then 4 hour plane ride to Chicago. Then at Chicago our flight to Indianapolis was delayed for 4 DAYS!! By that the time the race would be over, so we decided to rent a car and drive!! Of course were leaving the Chicago Airport at 2am in a horrible thunderstorm not knowing where were going LOL.

Of course we made it for the race weekend yay! And the long adventure to get to this race was completely worth it! We were in complete awe of the track; we didn’t even know where to begin. The fans were incredibly nice they hi-fived my son (which he loved), let us cut in every line when they realized I was pregnant and then when they found out we traveled from Hawaii just for this race they praised us all around! We did everything we could – visited the museum, watched practice, watched the band, cruised the track, autograph session, and watched the race. We were behind pit row and my son LOVED it! He couldn’t stop smiling and pointing at the cars. The only time we left our seats is when he needed to go potty.

This race ended up being so special for us for so many reasons: it of course was in honor of my father-in-law Thom; Augie favorite driver Buddy Rice was there…this is a childhood friend of my husbands and their families knew each other well; and of course not realizing at the time that it was Dan Wheldon’s last win. We just absolutely love this race, we cannot wait to return. Here are a few pix….

The only time Kale stopped smiling is because we made take a family pic, lol!

Cruising the museum.

Augie and Buddy Rice.

This year, 2012 we hopped on the 5hr plane ride to Sonoma, CA for Paloma’s (my daughter) 1^st race. We had a great time! Wine country was beautiful! On Sat we arrived at 7:30am and cruised around, hit the booths, hit the 1^st autograph session, watched qualifying, rode the Ferris wheel and hit the second autograph session at 5pm. We checked out the Formula Mazda cars which were pretty cool. We met one of the drivers, Cameron Parsons, who was extremely nice. He invited my son to sit in his car, of course Kale all of sudden became shy and said no. Then after watching Parsons race he wanted to return and get in the car LOL. We finally left the track at 6pm and on the bus that took us back to our car my and son says “Mommy, Daddy I don’t wanna leave the race cars”, the whole bus cracked up laughing.

On Sunday, race day, it was packed and filled with extremely nice fans. Everyone stopped to tell us how cute our kids are. Before the race we watched the Scott Dixon interview live which was so much fun! (We recorded the race and my son was very excited to see himself, when we got home, LOL.) Our seats had a great view of the track and of the scenery. Both of the kids were completely zoned out on the race, yelling every time the cars drove by. We had a blast! We definitely want to return to this race. Here are a few pix…

If Paloma were a boy she would have been named Kanaan!

Jan Beekus stopped to take a pic with my boys.

Paloma fell asleep during qualifying.

Kale watching qualifying.

Augie & Kale with Scott & Dario.

View from our seats at Sonoma.

It was great they had a photo booth and they email the picture to you for free!

Okay! Tanya! I am sure that I haven’t yet found any family who as dedicated to our sport as your fam! I can’t wait to meet you when you come to Indy again! Thank you so much for sharing your stories and photos!

-Jill

Milwaukee IndyFest – Review

As you know, I didn’t get to go to the Milwaukee race. Aaron & Nathan did go, and they really had a great time. There were bus trips from Indy. One left Friday, and one was a day trip that left Saturday morning, returning after the race. Aaron & Nathan went up Friday and stayed both days. It was a really great race with a family atmosphere, but Aaron doesn’t recommend the bus for families…it just limits your freedom. And with the young kiddos, you always want to have options.

A friend of mine who lives here in Indy, Heather, went to Milwaukee with her husband and ”almost” 4-year-old son for the first time! They stayed in an RV and she says having the RV there is a great idea for families. Someday, I may convince my husband to get me an RV. Sigh. Nathan and I decided to pick one out…how about a double-decker honey???

Anyway, Heather agreed to write a review of her family’s experience at the Milwaukee IndyFest. This is what she sent me:

IndyCar fans and parents who live within close proximity to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway have a difficult choice which race should be their child’s first.

For the Indy 500 you don’t just get to the track hours early to avoid the traffic, you get there early because you want to. All of the pre race activities: the pace cars, Gordon pipers, and driver introductions are a necessary part of the Indy experience. You want to be nestled in your seat by the time Florence Henderson belts out “God Bless America” and definitely ready to sing along with Jim Nabors and 200,000 other race fans “Back Home Again in Indiana”. So adding all this pomp and circumstance onto an already three hours-plus race and in all likelihood, your child will be ready to leave as soon as they wave the green flag.

Enter in the Milwaukee 225. Only being a four hour drive from Indy, we elected to make the Milwaukee race the first for our nearly four year old. And it was a perfect fit.

Thanks to Michael Andretti’s intervention for the Milwaukee race, the tickets were reasonable, all the seats had great visibility, and the track was so accessible. We camped on the asphalt lot right at the track for only $35 a night, so we were able to relax once we survived the Chicago Skyway drive. Qualifying and practices were free all day Friday; as was the IndyLights race that evening. Saturday’s IndyCar 225 race was under two hours long: perfect for the little fans. We were able to carry in snacks and drinks allowing this to be an inexpensive family trip.

Perhaps the most memorable aspect of the event will be the most challenging for our three year old to overcome. The awesome family funfest throughout the infield included a ferris wheel, carousel, bumper cars, and assorted other kid-friendly rides which were all completely free. Visibly every kid appeared to be in Heaven. And I was impressed too. Yet, you know for the next couple of years, we will be explaining why there are no free free rides for his next track experience.

Seeing the drivers up close and personal is absolutely no problem. With just a pit pass you get closer to the drivers than you do with a garage pass at Indy. Ample autograph sessions and the IndyCar experience in the infield were busy, but not impossibly crowded. The track relays a feeling of your county fair grounds. It is easily walkable for little ones. Overall, this is a great option as a first race for our Little Man.

We’ll definitely be back. In the meantime, we will be wandering other tracks looking for the bumper cars.

Big thanks to Heather for being an IndyCar Mom guest blogger. Lastly, I leave you with a photo Heather took of a shirt you can find in the Lids IndyCar Gear Store at any track.

Where was I after the Indy 500?

So funny! Today I met another “IndyCar Mom”…Heather! She lives about 15 minutes from my house and we found each other through IndyCar Mom, and then I noticed her on an online group I am in for photography! We have a lot in common. We got together for a playdate with the kiddos today and even found out our husbands work for the same company! Wow!

So Heather says she was following IndyCar Mom for a few weeks before the Indy 500. And she says…”I wondered where you were after the Indy 500!” OMGosh that is so funny! I thought you guys would be sick of me after Month of May and besides I was exhausted! And I honestly didn’t think you wanted to hear about my day at the Indy 500 since you were all probably there!!!

Race Day was HOT! For the first time in my post-teen life I wore a spaghetti strap shirt. I have really been trying to learn how to cope with being in the heat for long days so I made the leap and it really helped. And, I got a big floppy hat. I hate how I look with my hair up and a floppy hat on, but hey, Race Day is not about how I look! But that is why you will see no pictures in this post! HA!

So of course we took Nathan and I made a few mistakes. We had taken him to the track so much in May that I think I was just wingin’ it. I threw the sunbrella in the car, some lawn chairs, the Ipod touch we have for the kids and let Nathan get some outdoor toys for our pre-race time in the parking lot before going in to the track. I said no to baseball, but let him have the Nerf football, a decision I regretted soon after we arrived at our lot. He is only 7 and his football throw is unpredictable enough that we didn’t want him throwing it at people’s cars or their food (TONS of tailgaters in our lot). And that was the trigger for Nathan to act up. Then he didn’t want anything but begging for football. He was sure it would be fine, Mom!!!

Aaron usually heads over to the Track Scan trailer to sync his scanner while we are still chilling at the lot. So he headed out at 10:00. Well, he returns in 20 minutes saying his scanner is broke! Frustration! He had not taken his wallet, so he had to walk all the way back to the car to get it so he could rent a scanner for the race back at the Track Scan trailer! So that was the snag in the day. He met us in our seats at 11:00.

So yes…I was relegated to our regular seats in the SWVista. They ARE good seats. But I do really like to see the front straight. And it is so hot. My keep cool secret for the day was a thin wet towel that I draped over my shoulders. I could not believe how much that helped. It was actually a cut up old white t-shirt that I made into a workout towel. Perfect! I was actually cooler all day than any day I have sat in those seats for the race. The hat and the towel and the spaghetti straps saved me!

Every crash happened right in front of us on race day. Turn 1 was just slippery I guess, because everyone crashed into the short-chute wall. I was really feeling it for Ed Carpenter to win. He had a low line and was making up spots and just consistent. But the Turn 1 slide got him as well. Towards the end I held out hope that Tony could pull it out, but it was not meant to be again. Can’t believe that Dario took another one on yellow!

Nathan did really well for the whole race. We took a break for bathroom and snack around lap 150. We got ice cream and stretched a little. We returned around lap 175 and it was exciting the rest of the race!

Now you north side of the track people can be jealous, because I’m going to tell you that we park in a reserved lot across the street from the Brickyard Hotel, and we get out of the lot within 10 minutes of returning to our car, and are then home within 45 minutes of getting in our car. Hooray! Showers all around!

This one was for you Heather! Thank you…you were good motivation for me today! For the rest of you, my new friend Heather Harris will be guest blogging about taking her 4-year-old son for his first race last weekend in Milwaukee! I can’t wait to hear about it! And later in the summer, I have another mom from HAWAII, Tanya, whose family plans their mainland vacation every summer around an IndyCar race. Now THAT is commitment! I am going to have Tanya tell us all about that experience when she guest blogs after the Sonoma Race!

DIY Tarp Racetrack

When the Month of May started ramping up, Nathan was getting crazed with playing racing with his IndyCar Hot Wheels. He was having races in the basement, making garages with his blocks and making chalk racetracks outside on the driveway and patio. So I got this idea in my head for making him a racetrack he could use outside. The chalk tracks were okay, but he had to put on knee pads to race around the concrete track!

I got all the supplies together, and decided that I should wait until school was out and the Indy 500 was over so that I could get him excited again, after all the fun of the race wore off. So today, I surprised him with my idea and we made it together in about an hour. Here is what we did!

First, you will need a 6′x12′ piece of green outdoor carpet. Don’t get the old plasticy kind, get the kind that is like a putting green. It is soft and is kind of like felt, which you need because velcro will stick to it. This carpet piece will cost around $35.

Second, you will need a 12′x16′ tarp that is silver on one side. Only the heavy-duty tarps usually come with a silver backing, so they are more expensive. It will run you $30.

Last you need a box of 15′ of sticky-back Velcro. This is also pricey…it will run you over $20.

You should find all of this at Menards, for a total of about $85. So this project is not cheap…but priceless if you ask IndyCar Mom!

To get started, we unfolded the tarp and unrolled the carpet over the top of the tarp. We cut a rectangle out of the tarp the same size as the carpet – 6′x12′. Next we laid the rectangle cut-out piece of tarp, silver side up, on top of the carpet. The first thing I did was cut Turn 1. I am a freehander, but for help with scale, I consulted the satellite view of the track on my Iphone. So I cut a curve for Turn 1 first. Then I folded Turn 1 over the Turn 2 corner, and used it as a pattern and cut Turn 2 to match. Then I folded Turn 1 & 2 over Turns 3 & 4 and cut them to match.

Next I got out my sharpie and drew the track, the pits, and the pit access roads. I used a scale of about 4-5 IndyCar Hot Wheels widths for the width of the track. The pit access road was about 1 width and the actual pits were about 2 1/2 widths. I made sure to leave a patch of grass between the track and pit access roads. After drawing it with a sharpie, I cut it out so we had all green “grass” inside the track.

Finally, we got out the box of Velcro. We only used one side of the velcro. Sticky velcro comes with two sides that stick together. But since we had the carpet to stick the velcro to, we only needed one side of the velcro. So we used the sticky side to stick pieces of velcro all over the underside of our silver “track”. I decided to use velcro because I wanted to be able to remove the track and perhaps make a road course later out of the leftover piece of tarp.

Once we got it all tacked down with Velcro, Nathan had a few final touches to add. First, he wanted a start/finish line and a yard of bricks. We had a white paint pen in the house, so we painted on the start/finish line. Then he drew a line of bricks on paper and colored it, and we taped it on the track with clear mailing tape. The yard of bricks spans the track and pit lane, but the start/finish line is only painted on the track! Let’s be technically correct!

And last, I was dreading that he would ask, but he wanted lines for the pit boxes. I thought…oh no…I didn’t measure this to scale…what are the chances that I can get 33 pit boxes on here…to scale. Believe it or not, with no planning….I had the space! You need 83″ to make 33 pit boxes that are each 2 1/2″ long. So I got out the tape measure and made a pit box mark every 2 1/2″ with the sharpie. We were done!

So Nathan went and got his only two 2012 IndyCars, TK & Helio. He made little cardboard numbers for their pit boxes and we used velcro to tack them down (in case he changes the pit boxes later). And of course, he got out the Lego Pagoda, which completes the look!

Here is the finished product! I hope you are inspired to make one too!

10-year-old Hannah’s Bump Day Report

The guys at www.morefrontwing.com ran this article and gave me permission to preview it here for you!

A smaller view: Indy 500 Bump Day

All commentary — By Hannah on May 24, 2012 9:29 pm

A Smaller View returns this year for the Indianapolis 500 and chronicles the adventures of a ten-year-old girl as she takes advantage of the junior credential program at IMS. Our junior blogger will submit reports on her experiences throughout the Month of May. We’re pleased to have the opportunity to present a view of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway through the eyes of the next generation!

I’m very excited to be back to blogging from the Indy 500 garages. James Hinchcliffe is my new favorite race car driver. Ever since I heard that Danica left I was really sad because she is the first driver I ever met. But then I heard that James Hinchcliffe took Danica’s spot and I saw some of his YouTube videos and he seemed nice, funny, and like a good person. J.R Hildebrand used to be my favorite race car driver, but he’s still in my top ten.

I’m really sad that Dan Weldon died; he was very nice to me when I met him last year. He’s going to be missed.

Today at the track I saw Charlie Kimble run into the wall. I could see where he hit the wall because there was a big black spot left behind. I was in the E Stand Penthouse when the crash happened and I got scared and jumped up. When I jumped up I saw smoke in the air, and I hoped he was okay. The penthouse had an amazing view of everything! The spotters …

CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE ARTICLE! http://morefrontwing.com/2012/05/24/a-smaller-view-indy-500-bump-day/

Open Letter to Indy Moms & Dads

Dear Moms and Dads in Metro-Indianapolis,

Do you know what an amazing family experience is right here in our city? I am not talking about the Children’s Museum, or the Zoo, or Monkey Joes! I wonder if you have ever thought about the future benefit you could receive as a family by making the Indianapolis 500 a part of your family life?

I have to believe that like my husband and I, you think about where your kids will end up living when they grow up. Will they live close, or move away? And how much will you get to see them? Well, I really believe if kids move away and have their own families, that the amount of time they visit you will largely have to do with the investments you make now in family traditions.

I recently heard a talk given by the owner of Chick-fil-a in Greenwood, IN, Rick Johnson, and his wife Katie. They have grown kids in their mid-20s and were talking about things they intentionally did to make memories and form traditions that when their kids got older and left home, would be the things they remember and want to be a part of and come back to. They go on a yearly fall family trip to Gatlinburg and stay at the same hotel and do the same things each year, and they said that even when their kids got in college, the trip to Gatlinburg was so instilled in them that they wanted to do anything they could to get there. It is family time, and deeply instilled memories make them want to make sure to be there!

That is the opportunity you have with the Indianapolis 500. It is a yearly experience, a tradition, that your kids will be in awe of and remember all the things you did there together, and they will want to come back year after year. I cannot tell you how many people I meet at the track who say they have been coming since childhood. They talk about it all as a family memory, not just a sporting event. There are so many activities during the month for whole families to participate in. I like to say it is like the Superbowl week we had in February, only a whole month EVERY YEAR!!!

I want the Month of May and the Indy 500 to be one of those things for our family. I want my son to be walking the garages with his dad during practice days when he is 30! If my kids move away from Indy, I hope they will always want to be back for Memorial Day weekend. In fact, I want them to so love the Month of May that they can’t stand the thought of living away from Indianapolis! For us, May is like November (both my kid’s birthdays) and December (Christmas). And I know that the kids will grow up loving the Indy 500, but remembering all the memories we made there.

Traditions are part of what knits a family together. It is difficult to remember things that happen in the monotony of daily life. Nathan could say something really funny at the dinner table one night, but we have sat at that table thousands of times! We remember things visually…where we were and what we were doing. That is why vacations are important and traditions are important. They create the framework outside the familiar visual memory of your home, to remember things that happen, that are said, and time spent together. I urge you to take advantage of the world-renowned race that we have right here to create lasting memories now, and that you will also enjoy future shared times with your adult children…and their children.

Sincerely,

Jill (IndyCar Mom)

IMS Photos May 2012

I am a photographer, so I do love bringing my camera and taking artsy photos at the track. And…well…I seem to be a bit obsessed with the Pagoda. But it is such an icon! It is just one of those things that when you see the photo, you KNOW where it was taken! So here is some of my fun from Saturday (Opening Day) and yesterday (Practice).

Opening Day 2012!

My goal as IndyCar Mom is to make more fans of IndyCar, and I believe I personally can do that best by inspiring parents to make their kids into fans. But as I write on the eve of Opening Day 2012, I want to champion my cause by telling you that in order to make your children into fans, you need to fan the flame of your own interest in the sport, and I actually 100% believe that you must do that WITHOUT your kids as well as with them! If you only went to the track when you were taking your kids, you would not fully enjoy it all as an adult. It would be like Christmas now that you have kids. Christmas was still pretty cool when you and your spouse were just the two of you and you gave each other great gifts and did fun things. But now, Christmas does seem to be 100% about the kids!

But with IndyCar, you have many opportunities to enjoy the sport. Many in the Month of May, if you live here in Indy. And more if you can make it to other races. So I really encourage you to enjoy some of the events without your kids. It will make the times you take the kids all that much better!

Aaron and I are going to the track in the morning…YAY! We get bronze badges every year and we see it as a date. Yeah, the bronze badges are $100 each, but it gets you in the gate all month free and into the garages too. My in-laws see the Month of May as a fun time with the kiddos, and we get to have lots of adult time together. We like to enjoy Opening Day, Pole Day and one weekday practice together, and then we bring the kids for a Sunday practice and the IMS Kid’s Day event. Aaron and I also love to find outside-of-the-track Indy 500 events to attend like the Carb Night Burger Bash (which people also bring kids to), IndyCar Nation events like the Pole Day evening event at the Dallara Factory, and we have done random things like the A.J. Foyt Wine event at Ruth’s Chris, Mike King’s Live Audience Radio Show, and the Last Row Party. That is just the tip of the iceburg. I think I need another blogger who would calendar all the “adult” type events so I can know everything that is going on in this town!

I do hope to meet some of you tomorrow. We all share our love for IndyCar in common, and it is great to make friends at the track that you can see each year. Here is what I look like…I will be wearing a brown IndyCar Mom shirt. Please say hi! And, my name is Jill…in case you didn’t know!

Kid’s Garage Passes for Month of May

If you read my blog, I can only assume that you are pretty into IndyCar, and know that during the Month of May you can purchase a Bronze Badge for entry into the garage area during all the May track events. Well, what you may not know is that the IMS is now allowing kids ages 9-17 to buy a Junior Credential that gets them into the garage area with an adult who also has a Bronze Badge. The cost for the Junior Credential is $75 and can be purchased at the IMS Credential Office.

Here is a copy of the paperwork we received from the track so that you have all the details! Hope to see more kids out at the Garages!!! Just 2 more years until our Nathan can get a credential…Oh Boy!

Find me!

So about two months ago, after I did the blogger night for Trackside, my husband says to me that I should get an IndyCar Mom T-Shirt to wear so people can find me at the race events this year. (……Loooooong…..Pause…..) Hmm…it is hard to describe to you how I felt the moment I realized that I would not be hiding behind a computer for all of this. I said, “Yeah, I will look into that.” And over the next week I got kind of anxious thinking about being “recognized”. Eeeww!

I guess if I am going to do this thing, I really want to meet any of you who read my blog. So…I got a screened T-shirt. Find me in May in a brown T-shirt with the IndyCar Mom logo on the front. Now I realize that you don’t know what I look like and so I’m just going to get it out of the way here. I am just a MOM…and I really get that haggard 40-year-0ld look down when I dress in summer clothing and don’t wear my makeup for hot track days! Here goes…

So FIND ME at the track…I will keep you updated on Twitter & Facebook if I will be there. I will be excited to meet you…AND your kiddos!