INDIANAPOLIS — For racing fans, some images never leave you: the Pagoda rising above the frontstretch, cars streaking across the Yard of Bricks, the charge into Turn 1. I’d carried those images with me for years.
Seeing them through the windshield of a NASCAR Cup car was an entirely different experience.
My only warning before we were off was an enthusiastic “Are you ready to do it?” from NASCAR driver Michael McDowell.
“Ready!” I answered back, wearing the biggest smile on my face — and probably a little nervous excitement, too.
McDowell rolled onto the throttle leaving pit road, and suddenly Indianapolis Motor Speedway felt nothing like the place I’d spent years watching on television. The only thing that came out of my mouth was a string of “Oh my God”s that the in-car camera could barely pick up over the roar of the engine.
That’s what happens when you ride shotgun with a NASCAR Cup Series driver around one of the most iconic tracks in motorsports.
From the grandstands, the track feels enormous.
From inside the car, everything happens in a blur.
The straightaways were almost deceptive. Even at nearly 170 mph, the car felt remarkably planted as McDowell rocketed toward Turn 1. The engine barked through each upshift, the vibrations running through the seat as the corner rushed toward us.
Then came the braking.
The car dug into the pavement, my body tightened against the harness, and in an instant we had shed enough speed to make the corner. That’s when I started to appreciate just how precise Indianapolis demands you be. The car never felt out of control, but it always felt like it was operating right on the edge.
Every bump in the racing surface came through the chassis. The outside wall looked impossibly close. At one point, McDowell guided the car so near the SAFER Barrier that, from the passenger seat, it honestly felt like I could reach out and touch it.
Yet behind the wheel, he never looked rushed. Every movement was smooth. Every input seemed effortless.
That’s what impressed me more than the speed.
It was the control.
Almost before I realized the lap was over, we were back on the frontstretch.
The Pagoda flashed past. The Yard of Bricks disappeared beneath us. The same landmarks I’d watched on race broadcasts for years were suddenly only a few feet away.
I couldn’t stop smiling.
One lap around IMS was enough to completely change how I look at this place.
It also gave me a new appreciation for what’s coming in Sunday’s Brickyard 400.
One Cup car speeding around Indianapolis is exhilarating.
Thirty-six of them, barreling into Turn 1 together, inches apart for 160 laps? That’s almost impossible to comprehend until you’ve felt just a fraction of what these drivers experience.
“It’s just a weekend that is hard to describe because you still come here and you still do your job, but it feels different,” McDowell said.
“You feel that thickness of it in the atmosphere. So yeah, Indy is a special place.”
Jessica Garcete is an IndyStar sports reporter. Get IndyStar’s motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter. Subscribe to theYouTube channel IndyStar TV: IndyCar for a behind-the-scenes look at IndyCar and expert analysis.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: One lap with NASCAR driver Michael McDowell turns IMS from iconic to unbelievable
Reporting by Jessica Garcete, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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By Jessica Garcete, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
