With the Memorial Day holiday approaching, it means that some of the best racing will be happening soon! This weekend is always a fantastic spectacle for race fans. Whether you’re a Formula 1, IndyCar or NASCAR fan, it all happens on the same day, and you can literally watch all of it from start to finish because the races are so perfectly timed.
The caveat this year is that we won’t be waking up to F1 at Monaco. Since the schedule has shifted, we’ll be watching them race in Montreal, in between the Indy 500 and the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600.
The Indy 500 is one of the most iconic and long-standing races in the US, and it will be happening on Sunday afternoon, along with all the other racing events. I grew up watching the Indy 500 and still enjoy it to this day, whether it’s because I know some of the drivers that I’ve competed against, or because I know some of the commentators, such as James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell. In fact, James was a teammate of mine in the Mazda Prototype program.
Closer to home, my brother is a full-time spotter for Felix Rosenqvist, who’s been having a great month of May at Indy, so of course I’ll be cheering for that team effort. My brother, Chris, gave a great interview about his work earlier this week, and you can watch it here.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway is officially known as the Brickyard because it was originally built from bricks, back when the racing there started in 1911. There have almost always been 11 rows of cars, three wide, totaling 33 entries for the starting lineup at Indy, and no other race has that grid format.
To this day, there’s still a row of bricks as you cross over the finish line. I’m proud to say that I’ve been able to kiss the bricks after winning at Indy, during the IMSA GT era when I was driving with Mazda. It’s an opportunity few get to have, and a memory I’ll never forget!
Memorial Day is a time to appreciate our military and those who sacrificed their lives to keep our freedom, but the weekend as a whole has become synonymous with fantastic racing. Whatever your Memorial Day Weekend plans are, I know what I’ll be doing: I’ll be cheering for the No. 60 of Felix Rosenqvist as his car rolls off from the second row for the Indy 500 on Sunday.