My Indy 500 Adventure

I still can't believe everything I got to do in the past week that I spent in Indianapolis. It was a dream trip, and I came home with exactly the kind of insider understanding I need to have to write a book about Kate Reilly tackling the Indy 500. I won't claim to have all the details yet, but I have the general idea!

Here are the highlights, with more details and photos below:

• Book events: speaking at one high school, two libraries, and one bookstore
• Talking books with racing driver Pippa Mann (right, at one of the libraries)
• A hot lap around the speedway (up to 120 mph)
• Walking the track's front straight and pit lane before dawn on race day
• Working for ESPN in the pits during the race
• Seeing friends and eating outstanding gluten free waffles and pizza

Book Events

I made lots of new racing friends and met quite a few readers also. And it turns out, when you invite a racing driver to a book talk—especially when it's a local favorite and the only woman in the field—you increase your typical audience by tenfold. 

Lucky for me, Pippa Mann is a self-proclaimed "book nerd," and was happy to come talk to the audience about helping me with the details of my book. She also told everyone about her Get Involved campaign to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the pink car that she drove in the race (to an outstanding 18th place finish!).

A Hot Lap Around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The track is big. BIG. Two and a half miles, which only take about 40 seconds during the race, but which took at least a minute in a street car. Yes, it was over too soon, but with the street car in the hands of a professional racing driver, I got a sense of the racing line.

Other funny note: I knew our driver, Martin Plowman (aka, Plowey), and as a result, he spent most of the lap skootched sideways to look at me, with only one hand on the wheel, and barely looking at the track. As he hit 120 on the straights. But hey, he's a pro, that was a Sunday drive for him!

Pre-Dawn on Race Day

We got there early with friends who are part of the media. And as my friend Tony DiZinno put it, "Ironically, it’s the quiet moments of peace and reflection – more than the noise of 33 cars and 350,000 of your closest, screaming friends – that make you appreciate this place most. You feel the soul of the place most on race morning, early, pre-5 a.m., out on the course before the gates open to the public and you walk on the pavement, a track where so much history has been written."

We were out there at 4:30 a.m. on race day, and it is definitely a magic time, to think of some much to come that day, and so much that's come before. My favorite part of every race weekend is being there in the days and hours before the race, feeling the adrenaline and tension ramp up, seeing the crowds appear, and it was more true at Indy this year with the size of the crowd and the epic nature of the race than ever before. (It even made up for getting up the night before to get there!)

The 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500

I was in the pits, on official ESPN business (full ESPN team at top, pit reporting team below). I had a radio in each ear and a clipboard and pen in my hands. I tried to keep up with when 10 different cars stopped and what adjustments they made...although, thankfully, since I was covering the last 10 starters in the field, when I missed most of that information for most cars, it wasn't a big deal. I started to learn when to pay attention, and I sent at least one piece of useful information to the folks doing the actual broadcast. 

Mostly, I had fun. I saw in detail what happened throughout the race, and I gained a better understanding of the flow and changes that happen during the 500. I also had 10 teams' radio transmissions in one ear, so I got about as good a sense of what drivers and teams are saying and dealing with during a race as possible. 

The whole week, two thoughts kept running through my mind:

1. I can't believe I get to do this.
2. I hope I can write something worthy of these experiences.

I owe a massive thank you to a few people in particular: Steve and Liz, Tony, Patsy, Patti, Pippa, Meesh, Carolyn, and Jon. You all rock! I'm going to go away and write for three months, but after that...see you at Sonoma?!

Finally Cooled Down

It was HOT last weekend during the run up to IndyCar's season finale race in Fontana, CA. Standing in the pits for qualifying on Friday afternoon (at 2 p.m., in August, 60 miles inland from the ocean), ambient temperature was 99F and the track temp was 137F. The heat radiating up from the concrete and asphalt was intense.

It made for an odd race weekend: practice at 10 a.m. Friday, qualifying at 2 p.m., and evening practice before sundown. All for a race that would take the green after the sun went down on Saturday—or at least after the sun dipped below the edge of the Speedway. The reason? Not the heat so much as the glare of the sun. Turns out, it's not a great idea to be blinded when you're flying down the back straight at 220 m.p.h.

Yes, you see that speed correctly. On the Auto Club Speedway's speed-billboard (standing in Turn 1 to catch top-speed on the front straight), I saw a high of 226 m.p.h., and the driver who took me around for a hot lap on Saturday (at noon, in a Camaro, with air conditioning going full blast) said the drivers in the race would easily hit 220. We topped out at 130 m.p.h.

After that Saturday hot lap, my friend @cogitoergobibo and I repaired to an air-conditioned restaurant for a late lunch, and then to our hotel rooms to cool off again. We ventured out again at 4 p.m. (still hot) to make the tweet-up with Pippa. (That's us, @cogitoergobibo, me, and Pippa; photo stolen from Pippa's photo album from the Fontana weekend.)

The sun started to go down, and we made our way to the temporary stage on the front straight where driver intros would happen. We had IndyCar Fan Nation access to be inside the rope line to watch drivers come out to the stage—and the first one down the line, working the crowd the whole way, was Mario Andretti.

And then it was nearly race time. We scrambled off the front grid and made it to our viewing spots in time for the green flag. I was lucky enough to be in a seat on the rooftop deck of the pit suites for most of the race—which was a perfect view and a perfect temperature. If you look closely at the photo below, you'll see the green flag was waving, and Helio Castroneves had taken the lead before the line.

After the race, we wandered between celebrations (Tony Kanaan's for winning the race, Will Power's for winning the championship) and finally made our way back to the car and the hotel. We passed In 'n' Out on the way, surprised at the enormous line at 11:30 p.m.—but maybe we shouldn't have been surprised, because according to Twitter, half of the paddock was there post-race.

Sunday was another adventure, as we headed into downtown LA for the IndyCar Championship Celebration. I got to handle Pippa's cell phone camera as she and her husband walked the red carpet, and then we chatted with new and old friends inside. It was a (mercifully) short ceremony, and then the season was over.

Thank goodness we had Monday, to recover, is all I have to say.

Once again, the "trip" to the race proved hugely valuable. I finished connecting with IndyCar last weekend—literally and figuratively. I've made some great new friends (all thanks to social media) who've been incredibly supportive and helpful about connecting me to more readers and resources: I put my first book in Sarah Fisher's hands on Friday, thanks to one friend (info on her, for my non-race-fan readers), and on Sunday I connected with the Director of Communications for IndyCar, who offered to help me with whatever I needed to write about IndyCar accurately (and forever!).

The business of racing really does happen at the race, but the family of racing is also vibrant and present every race weekend. I'm starting to really feel like one of the family, and it's a pretty neat feeling.

If you want to follow great racing writers, fans, and racers, check out @cogitoergobibo, @stevewittich, @tonydizinno, @nasarcasm, and @pippamann. They're good people.

Fun and Research in Fontucky

Over the Labor Day weekend, I'm headed for a couple adventures, all to do with racing. With IndyCar, specifically. But it won't all be sunscreen and race fuel. And it's highly likely all of it will show up in a future book....

Next Saturday evening is IndyCar's season finale at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. The town otherwise known as Fontucky to the rest of the greater LA area (no offense meant to Fontana or Kentucky ... it's just a long way east of here). I'll be out at the track Friday for practice and qualifying, as well as there on Saturday for festivities and the race itself.

That will be one adventure—my second IndyCar oval race and my second at that speedway (I attended my one and only NASCAR race, so far, there a couple years back). Yes, I expect it to be hot. But I expect to hang out with a whole bunch of fellow crazy race fans/friends—including @cogitoergobibo, aka, the other member of "the crazy hair color race fan club" (pictured here with me on the front straight of the Indy 500; hair colors are more crazy in person). So we'll find shade and drink plenty of water. 

The other adventure will take place Sunday night, because the same friend got us both tickets to the IndyCar championship banquet. That's up at LA Live in Downtown Los Angeles, and it's a situation that will require a whole different dress code! Cocktail attire, I'm told. I'm looking forward to seeing what the scene is about.

I'll be comparing it to the one other Series championship banquet I've attended. That was the ALMS party 10 years ago. I remember it being partly interminable and partly a whole lot of fun. Then again, I knew more people then and was more connected to the series. This time around, I'll be more on the fringes. But whether I'm connected or not, it'll be a great opportunity for people watching and note-taking. 

Sometimes when I go to a race, there's specific research I need to do. But most of the time, I'm enjoying the event, taking in everything that's going on, and waiting for ideas to come to me. Not that I'm plotting new books or scenes in the moment. Instead, I'm soaking up the scene and the interactions for use later, when I need them. In particular, it helps to see how real-life drivers interact with passers-by, fans, and their teams. It helps to see what they're doing and when throughout a race weekend.

And I'm sure it'll help to see how they all interact—and what kinds of relationships they really have with each other—when the pressure and the performance of a race weekend and series are over. 

Kate might not ever end up at an IndyCar banquet (at least in print!), but you never know what I encounter next weekend might turn out to be useful. I sure can't tell you yet! 

Avoidable Contact: Daytona's Checkered Flag

**5 Days Until Avoidable Contact Launches!**
**Read an excerpt of the book, and posts about the research backstory, the first 10 hours,
and my sleep research**

The 24 Hours of Daytona 2013 wasn't a good race for The Racer's Group. For about three seconds, I wondered if I was a bad luck charm for them, and then I remembered ... that's just racing. And perhaps being there to experience disappointment on disappointment on disappointment was appropriate to remind me that I write happy endings, and they sure don't always happen on the track.

That's why I make sure Kate has successes in my books, but she doesn't do everything perfectly behind the wheel every time, and she doesn't take pole and win all the time. Because that's certainly not realistic!

But good race for the team or not, I was there with them the whole time, and I learned a ton. The final two posts from that year:

• To the end.
• Over, over, over.

As research does, it all helped. Going into it (research/races), I never quite know what to expect (see my sleep research post). But I know I'll get plenty of information, and I'll be able to do something with it.

Which is what happened after the 2013 race. I came home, wrote a bunch, did a lot more research by email and video, and then decided to return in 2014 to make sure I had the details right—especially of the brand-new series and the brand-new Corvette. Two posts from this year:

• What I learned at Daytona (2014).
• My favorite Daytona things (photos from 2014).

And there you have it, my on-site, at-race research. Of course, there are bunches of friends, sources, and stories that didn't make the blog posts or the book. But maybe they'll turn up in the future!

Next week, Avoidable Contact!

Avoidable Contact: My Sleep Research

**8 Days Until Avoidable Contact Launches!**
**Read an excerpt of the book, and read posts about the research backstory and first 10 hours**

In the end, I couldn't stay awake all night at the 24 Hours of Daytona. But I thought I could manage if I slept three hours—which was a compromise between as little as I could get away with and as much as I thought would allow me to be functional. And it worked! Therefore, that's how much Kate sleeps in the book.

As a sidenote, when I conceived my brilliant idea of starting the book with the green flag and ending with the checkers, I didn't consider one basic fact that would really mess up my schedule: writing in first person means lost time when Kate can't think about solving the mystery. Driving time and sleeping time weren't sleuthing time! That's when I got a little creative with the book's timeline and my fictional race's yellow flags.

On a different note, one of the wonderful aspects of research—whether it's history, modern technology, physical locations, or races—is when the writer stumbles across a great story or activity that they can include in their books. For me the best moment of my trip to the Daytona 24 was standing on the spotter's platform, high above the track, at 2 a.m. The view was incredible. I had other opportunities to talk with one of the spotters (Dr. Chris Murray, a chiropractor in his real life) before the race, after the race, and again at the 2014 race, and thanks to his information, I gave Kate's spotters a great story to tell in the depths of the night. (So thanks, Dr. Chris! That's him on the right in the photo above. On the left is Bob Dickinson, TRG's COO.)

The morning of a 24-hour race is an incredible time. The teams are past the halfway point, but they're exhausted. The dawn and daylight bring a sense of renewed energy, and there's a sense that if we've made it this far, we'll make it all the way. The worst is over. Two blog posts took me through the night and the next morning:

• Spotting, Sleeping, and Fog.
• Silver Linings.

I'll finish out the race with the last posts....

Avoidable Contact: Racing Into The Night

**12 Days Until Avoidable Contact Launches!**
**Read an excerpt of the book, and read the first post about the research behind it**

Something I knew I had to do, if I was going to write about a 24-hour race, was to convey just how long the race goes on. I mean, 24 hours is a long time to do anything continuously, and I expected that, to the teams, it could feel like an eternity. I wanted readers to feel something of that experience, and so I wanted the race to span the entire book I was writing. In the end, I cheated a little, and the total elapsed time in Avoidable Contact is in the 25-26 hour range. But I think readers will still get the idea!

One of the research experiences I wanted was to sit in the pits for hours on end, just as the crew does. Drivers come and go, and I knew that's what Kate would be doing. But I also wanted to understand what went on to keep the car running the whole time. And so, at the 2013 race, I sat in the pits for hours, listening to the radio transmissions between driver, spotter, and crew chiefs.

At five and then nine hours in, it already felt like we'd been doing this forever! See the posts:

• Five hours down.
• Midnight snacks.

I had one other important research task to accomplish in the depths of night during the Daytona 24: see how little sleep I could get away with! Many people don't sleep at all, or grab catnaps all day and night. I didn't think I'd be able to manage that ... and sure enough, I couldn't! I snuck away in the wee hours of the morning for some shut eye (but not a lot). That's the next post. 

I'll leave you with the panorama from the top of the spotter's stand at 2 a.m. An incredible sight!

The next posts take us into morning of the second day....

Avoidable Contact: The Backstory

Avoidable Contact, the third Kate Reilly Racing Mystery, launches in two short weeks! Have you read the first-chapter excerpt I've posted?!

As a lead-up to that day, I thought I'd revisit the experiences I had doing research for the book—namely, what I learned while I embedded with a race team for the 24 Hours of Daytona 2013.

At the end of 2012, I'd started writing Avoidable Contact, only it didn't have that title yet. It was a story I'd plotted out and set at the 24-hour race, but I wasn't yet comfortable with the idea of writing it ... because I knew I needed an insider's look at the event. That's when I contacted my good friends at The Racer's Group, who I know from my first year involved in racing, and asked for a favor.

Kevin Buckler, the team owner, and Bob Dickinson, my former marketing/communications contact at the ALMS and current TRG COO, came through for me. "Sure," they said. "Happy to have you embed with the team. Come on out!" They hooked me up with a credential, and I prepared to take a lot of notes (and plug their team whenever possible!).

I wrote eight blog posts that weekend, and took dozens and dozens of pages of notes. I'll spare you the notes, but I'm reprising the blog entries (they're all short) to give you a flavor of the research experience that went into my new book. Here are the first two:

• The race start.
• The first hours.

And here are two panoramas, one looking back at the pits from the front straight and the other looking at the front straight and the stands, all during pre-race ceremonies ... my experience there was peaceful and sunny, unlike Kate's!

More posts and tidbits to come soon....

Going to the Source

The story of my ride with Mario Andretti behind the wheel is only half the story of my incredible Long Beach Grand Prix experience. The other half has to do with going to the source for information about the racing world. Or maybe it's partly being immersed in the source and partly talking to the source. The being immersed int he world is the easy part: go to a race, walk around, and see what teams, drivers, and fans are engaged in.

Talking to the source seems like it'd be a little more difficult—until being at the races reminds me how nice people in the racing world are and how willing they are to talk about what they do for a living. (Usually the only catch is if they have the time to do so.)

The first person to sit and chat with us was Martin Plowman, or Plowey, a young driver who's racing anything he can get his hands on—including the Indy 500 this year with Foyt Racing. Plowey's long been a favorite of my friends Barb and Mary, and to Barb's delight, he was the driver for her two-seater ride! (That's the two of them pictured.) He was gracious enough to chat with us after our rides and tell us a bit about the difference between open-wheel cars and sportscars, since he's driven both. And he was kind enough to say he'd answer questions down the line for me, when I'm ready to transition Kate.

But the most amazing and incredible conversation was the hour I got to spend with Pippa Mann. A real-life, honest-to-goodness female racecar driver. The first female driver I've actually gotten to talk to who's a current competitor in the highest ranks. (It's kind of embarrassing to admit it's taken me this long to be able to get to one.)

The best compliment she paid me was telling me I'd gotten a lot of what it's like to be a female in the world correct (yes, I about fell over with relief).

Of course, what I learned from her is how much of the story I'm missing, primarily about the struggle for current drivers (of either gender; Plowey had similar stories) to put together deals to get themselves in a racecar. It's not what we might think, most pros don't sit at home waiting for the phone to ring, a team on the other end waiting to pay them to drive a car. No. Most pros are out hustling, pitching deals to multiple sponsors (and probably dozens of potential sponsors) and working with teams and corporations to assemble funding for a season. For a partial season. For a race.

I've sidestepped those issues for Kate so far. But I might need to reflect reality a bit more in a future book ... we might have to see Kate struggle with being assertive (but not aggressive) and direct (without being a bitch). To see her try to balance being tough, pushy about her needs and wants, and businesslike, while still being feminine. (To be clear, those weren't Pippa's words. That's my evaluation based on the role of women in the business world in general and from watching what seems like the tightrope that all female racers walk.)

Pippa is a lovely, warm human being. She's incredibly savvy about marketing herself, especially through social media, where she's built an enormous following—something she's done because she's genuine and personal with her fans. I'm enormously grateful for the time she spent with me, as well as for her offer to help me in the future. I'm really hoping that her absence (so far) this year from IndyCar's lineup is just a minor blip in her resume. I believe it will be.

Because of her (and others who are strongly encouraging me), I'm seriously considering two actions: heading to Indy for the 500 this year to see what that whirlwind of awesomeness is all about and getting Kate into open-wheel cars sooner, rather than later. I'll keep you all posted....

In the meantime, thank you to Pippa for the time, encouragement, and information (past and future). As much as we see and hear and talk about more and more women in the racing world, Pippa is one of the few who's working hard to make it happen. I'm always moved by someone working to fulfill a dream, and to see a woman doing so in a world populated mostly by men (drivers, at least) makes me want to support and cheer her on with everything I've got. 

Part of why I created Kate was to provide another instance of "racecar driver" as a normal, possible occupation for a female. So you go, girl. All of you, and Pippa in particular.