Indianapolis Daily Video Blogs

If you can't get enough of Indianapolis and want a daily driver's perspective on the happenings at the brickyard, or
if you're like our five-year-old sister Alex, and can't see enough of Josef Newgarden, you can watch his daily video blogs from the speedway or check out some of the other Indianapolis videos of what's going on at the track.
                                   

Here is Newgarden's video blog from Monday, May 13th

 

Tristan Vautier

Tristan Vautier

We thought it would be fun for our blog readers if we emailed the drivers and asked them some questions they may not have answered before. 

The very first driver to email us back was Indy 500 rookie Tristan Vautier.  

THANK YOU TRISTAN!

So here's some things we found out about Tristan when he answered our questions.

* He has two cats back home in France that his mom takes care of for him since he travels so much.

* If he was stranded on a desert island with a fellow driver, he would choose his girlfriend Alya Agren, who races in the F1600 Series (that's pretty cool).   If it couldn't be her, he would choose his best friend , and former teammate, Mikael Grenier, who races Indy Lights.

* His worst habit is wanting all of his stuff symmetrical and put a certain way.

* His least favorite chore as a kid was cleaning the dishes, although he said he would usually find a way out of it.  (Our next question should be how he got out of chores, we could use ideas.)

* When he was little, he said that his favorite stuffed animal was a black panther, but he lost it when he was four and it took him a year to get over it.  


And some other stuff you just might not know about Tristan.

* He first got in a kart at age 4 and entered his first race at age 10

* He's from France

* He won the Indy Lights Championship as a rookie in 2012 and won the Star Mazda Championship in 2011

* He's one of four rookies trying to make the 2013 Indy 500

*  His teammate at Schmidt Peterson Motorsports is a fellow Frenchman, Simon Pagenaud



                                                            

Opening Weekend Review

Indianapolis opening weekend is over and practice continues all week leading up to Pole Day this Saturday, May 18th....Yeah!!!

Tires waiting to be used at Indy

 

*It used to be that the weekend two weeks before the 500 was pole qualifying weekend, but this year it was opening weekend and drivers got their first laps on the track.

*Carlos Munoz had the fastest speed at 223.023 (last year's pole speed was 226.484)

*Josef Newgarden was the first driver on the track after it opened Saturday.  When told that no 'first driver out' has ever won the 500 he said, "That changes this year!"

*3 time winner Helio Castroneves celebrated his 38th birthday Friday.

*103 Year old woman was at the speedway for the car show and drove her 1930's Packard around the track.

*On Friday there was an Indy Family Foundation Festival on Main Street in Speedway, where Sarah Fisher, Josef Newgarden, and others got dunked in the dunk tank.

Check out Racer magazine's Indy 500 Notebook, days 1 and 2.

IMS Opening Day

Today is opening day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway!

 

If you are lucky enough to be nearby, the track opens at 10:00 with on track practice and rookie orientation starting at noon. 

If like us, you aren't near Indianapolis you can go to Indycar.com for live streaming video and real-time Timing and Scoring.

The Greatest Spectacle in Racing

 

It doesn't matter who is in charge, it's still the Indianapolis 500!