What an “Indy”credible Weekend
I just had a great weekend in Indianapolis, which is one of my favorite cities in the world for hosting sporting events. I want to start off by saying thanks to Chris Gahl and the Indianapolis CVB for having me in their magnificent sports city this past weekend. It is no surprise that Indianapolis has become such a hot bed for hosting sporting events with the dedicated crew over at the CVB.
I arrived in the “Circle City” coming out of NYC on Saturday and headed straight to Borders in
downtown as I was scheduled to host a book signing of The 100 Sporting Events You Must See Live.” They had me signing right after legendary Redskins Coach, Joe Gibbs, who hosted his own book signing while in town with his NASCAR team. Thank you to everyone who came or should I say stuck around after Mr.Gibbs left. It was great to see so many smiling faces and feel the enthusiasm everyone expressed for the book. It’s a good thing I listed so many Indianapolis sporting events on my list or things might have gotten ugly with the locals.
On Sunday I got to witness an event in which I admit I made a mistake for not putting on my list of top “100 sporting events you must see live.” The Brickyard 400 was one of the coolest events I have ever been to; I mean Indianapolis Motor Speedway itself is a spectacle worth seeing alone. The size of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is mammoth and if you think your college’s football stadium is big, it is nothing compared to this speedway. In fact the stadium holds over 275,000 people. On this day it was most likely filled with about 175,000 crazy NASCAR fans rooting for Tony, Mark, and Junior. These people are passionate. How else can you explain all the RV’s in town for an entire whole week leading up to the event? Not sure if these people work but they sure as hell love NASCAR. I also enjoyed hanging out in the middle of the track which basically has its own little state fair thing going on during the race. It is absolutely crazy in there with so many things happening from merchandise sales, sponsor promotions, and some good old fashioned partying. The event was a completely different atmosphere then any that I have ever experienced.
What was really cool was before the race we actually got to meet some of the pit crews. I had my picture taken with some of the NAPA 
race team guys. Earlier in the day I participated in a NASCAR fan pool where each person in our group got to pick a piece of paper out of a hat with the name of a driver on it. I chose Michael Waltrip so I got my picture taken with his crew which was really neat, they are all nice guys. During the race, I watched from a first class suite in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where I could sit inside or outside and took some amazing pictures of that view. Some people may say that they don’t understand how it can be exciting to watch a sport where race cars drive in a circle for 400 laps, but I guarantee you those people have never been to a race. When those cars drive by you, it is such a rush that is hard to explain. It kind of feels like standing on 72nd street in Manhattan and having huge trucks flying by going 75mph and just missing you. How about feeling that for 200 laps? You like them apples?
After the race we headed down to Indianapolis’s famous St. Elmos Steak House where I enjoyed one of the best steaks I have ever had. The shrimp cocktail sauce almost burned my head off though. As I was sitting there enjoying my shrimp cocktail while hosing off my head in between bites I happened to look over and see Peyton Manning enjoying a nice steak (no joke). While I was blinded from the glare of Peyton’s huge Super Bowl Ring I also made out Archie Manning sitting with Peyton and his wife. Archie is one of the nicest guys in sports. I had the fortunate opportunity to profile him for Incentive Magazine one time and have been lucky enough to do many appearances with my company for him over the years. He is a first class guy with a pretty good gene pool I must add. He should bottle that stuff up and sell it.
After dinner we were walking to our hotel and passed the Canterbury Hotel, most famous for the alleged rape of a teenage beauty queen by Mike Tyson. My local guide told me it took place on the seventh floor. Not sure how he knew this. I don’t think they are going to name a suite after him in that hotel anytime soon.
On Monday my last day in Indianapolis before I had to head to Chicago I got to experience some really cool once in a lifetime type 
stuff. It started out with a tour of the brand new Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts, the 2010 Final Four, and the 2012 Super Bowl. The stadium was unbelievable, first class all the way around and will revamp the way football fans attend a game. We were able to go on the field and throw some passes and kick some field goals, I hit at 35 yarder and felt like Adam Vinatieri out there. Then we headed to Conseco Fieldhouse, home of the Indiana Pacers, and it felt like I went back in time to 1950, 1950 in a good way that is. Even though the arena opened in 1999 it has an old historic glow to it with all of the new amenities like the open concourses and beautiful luxury suites. From the brick walls to the old style looking sponsorship signs it was a really genius way to build a new arena and still honor the tradition of Indiana basketball. Like the Lucas Oil Stadium tour, we were able to go down on the court and check that out, which was awesome. I started to picture some of those crazy off balance buzzer beater shots that Reggie Miller used to hit……..that’s when I got sick to my stomach and new it was time to hit the airport and get out of town.
2 Comments on “What an “Indy”credible Weekend”
-
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
-
Amiable post and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Say thank you you seeking your information.
