Conor Daly – Driver for Juncos Hollinger Racing
This first-person essay is part of a special series leading up to the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 25 on FOX in which INDYCAR drivers penned letters about what the historic race means to them. Read them all here.
Dear newborn infant baby Conor,
When you get old enough to read this, you will have already been to several Indy 500’s because you were going to the track since the day you were born.
As frustrating as it was to watch the on-track sessions in “Racing Babies” (which was essentially daycare in a concrete prison under the tower terrace suites on the front straight), just wait until you get to take in every day of practice, qualifying and the race from a seat out front of suite 37 on the front straight.
You will begin to understand as you get older how much this race means to every team member, every driver, every fan that shows up just like you to watch this incredible event unfold. The feeling of cheering for the underdog small teams just to make the race will make you smile on qualifying weekend.
Then every year as you get older, maybe the cars will go a bit faster. What will next year’s pole speed be? How is it possible to go over 230 mph? Do only superheroes have the ability to do this? That is what you will think.
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It’s hard to believe I get to tell you this, but you will get a chance to write your own superhero story.
You will get a chance to represent the town you grew up in.
You will get a chance to live out what you only thought was possible for others and not yourself.
You will get to feel a rush of adrenaline and passion like nothing else in this world when you stand alongside a race car with YOUR name on it, at the greatest racing facility on planet Earth.
The love you will develop for this absolutely ruthless yet beautiful sport will almost be considered psychotic!
The love you will develop for this absolutely ruthless yet beautiful sport will almost be considered psychotic!
When the national anthem plays every year, when “(Back Home Again in) Indiana” plays every year, you will cry every single time because of the incredible magic and indescribable aura the event possesses. The meaning of every day you get to spend around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway or behind the wheel of a race car will be almost impossible to describe. The love you will develop for this absolutely ruthless yet beautiful sport will almost be considered psychotic!
Be thankful for every day you get to live this dream because it will NEVER get old.
You will wake up every day craving the Month of May, kissing the bricks and chugging milk more than anything else in life.
– Conor
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