Is an IndyCar driver coming to your town?

In my case, YES. Tomorrow, Tuesday May 20th, Pippa Mann will pay me a personal (well, not actually) visit in the great city of Cincinnati, Ohio.

The other Indy 500 drivers will also fan out over North America to spread the good gospel of the world's greatest race and IndyCar.

Check out the graphic, below, to see if one will be near you.

—Chris

Market	2014 Driver
Birmingham	Charlie Kimball
Bristol, CT	Helio Castroneves
Charlotte	Juan Pablo Montoya
Chicago	Scott Dixon
Cincinnati	Pippa Mann
Columbus, OH	Takuma Sato
Dallas	Tony Kanaan
Dayton, OH	Alex Tagliani
Denver	Justin Wilson, JR Hildebrand
Detroit	Will Power, Ryan Briscoe, Buddy Lazier
Houston	Ryan Hunter-Reay
Louisville	Jack Hawksworth, Plowman, Sage Karam, Carlos Huertas, James Davison, Mikhail Aleshin
Miami	Carlos Munoz, Sebastian Saavedra, Oriol Servia
Milwaukee	Ed Carpenter, James Hinchcliffe
Nashville	Josef Newgarden
New Orleans	Graham Rahal
New York	Kurt Busch, Marco Andretti
Tampa	Sebastien Bourdais
Toronto	Jacques Villeneuve, Simon Pagenaud

Notes from the Cathedral of Speed: OCD Meltdown & More

Despite knowing I'll spend hour after hour at the track over the next weeks, I found myself having an internal struggle, at the end of the day, trying to decide whether I should leave or stay.

ABSURD.

But that's what happens. It's occurred more than once. "Should I stay for the last 10 minutes? Maybe just one more sweep of the garage area... A few more minutes in the stands?" 

I'm afraid I'm going to miss something--it's crazy. I don't know what else to say. Indianapolis Motor Speedway just does that to you.

That's quite enough about that...

In other news, great day cutting the ribbon on the 2013 Social Media Garage. Connected and reconnected with all kinds of people I never thought I would meet when I dove in to Twitter/"blogging," but it's been a true joy. Can't thank Cassie Conklin and IMS enough for inviting me back. Friendly reminder to please follow @Erock_in_Indy @OpenWheelMom @nascarcasm and @KelseyUSA--kicking out the juicy content like mad men and women. 

BTW: Josef Newgarden is a beast--all the way around. No other way to put it. Thanks to him and Pippa Mann for pulling in to the SMG, today. They lit it up.

Hmmm... Got nothin' else--other than this: The best thing? It's only day one. All kinds of theater to play out, in the coming days.

As always, thanks for reading and following. Sincerely hope you guys get even a smidge of the enjoyment from this blather as I get from putting it out there.

Stay tuned...

--Chris  

Get over The Hump, do a little good

The Hump: That moment of indecision late, late in the IndyCar off-season when withdrawals have you weighing ice-picking your eardrum and tying your uvula to a top-fuel dragster. LEAVE YOUR UVULA ALONE. Relief is in sight. 

The good people at Indy Cars and Coffee, the Graham Rahal Foundation, and the Dallara IndyCar Factory have come together to save you from despair. A one-off special has the ICC folks rolling their glorious rides up to the Dallara Factory on Main Street in Speedway on March 9th. The occasion? IndyCar driver meet-and-greets, factory tours, iRacing challenges, and more! 

But wait. We're just getting to the good part. All proceeds of this special, one-time event go to the official charity of andhesonit.com, the Graham Rahal Foundation, benefiting Alex's Lemonade Stand and Serious Fun. 

Kids. It's for the kids.

  

So... cram the fam into the Family Truckster, roll up on the Dallara Factory around 11:00 AM, and have a blast. Graham will be there, Tag and Pippa, too. 

Cost is a measly ten-spot, and once you drop a little something extra into the kitty for kiddies, even Old Man Winter can't put the chill on the warm and fuzzies you'll feel.  

A few deets:

• iRacing challenge is $5/5 minutes, and the fastest time of the day wins a SPECTACULAR Grand Prize—a 185 MPH grand prize, to be exact. Oh, what could it be?! 
• Get your picture taken with an IndyCar
• Take a 2-seater ride
• Generally have fun, communing with your fellow fans, getting warmed up for the start of the IndyCar season.

Seriously. Why not? Get past this last bit of excruciating inactivity, have some fun, and do a little good. It's a win-win-win! 

A grand time shall be had by all.

—Chris