Savage Words: One trip to SVCC opened my eyes, and scared the bejesus out of me

One of my responsibilities as the Director of Public Relations at IndyCar in the early 2000s was to take the winner of the Indianapolis 500 on a victory media tour.

The obvious destination was New York City. I took the winner of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing to the big city where he appeared on several national television shows like The Today Show, Late Night with David Letterman, Regis & Kelly, and many, many others. It was a two-day whirlwind.

There were a few times when I’d branch out and take the winner to Chicago, Detroit and Dallas throughout the summer to continue to promote the 500.

But in 2004, I threw a real wrench into the plan. I scheduled Buddy Rice, the winner of the 500 on Memorial Day, to appear in Des Moines in August. Obviously, Des Moines isn’t a monster media market, and my plans got the attention of my boss and other executives at IndyCar.

“Why in the hell are you taking Buddy to Des Moines (expletive), Iowa,” I was asked by one of the team leaders at Rahal Letterman Racing, the IndyCar team Buddy raced for.

He was right, it may have been a bit of a change, but I explained that as a native of Phoenix, many American race fans would relate to Buddy if I took him to Des Moines, or more specifically, the Knoxville Nationals just down the road.

Plus, it was an excuse to get me back to the Nationals. I’d missed it for a few years because of my IndyCar obligations.

So I took Buddy to the Nationals, took him into the infield. We walked over to Turn 3 and watched hot laps as the sprint cars came roaring down the backstretch into the turn.

They went by. Buddy took a step back, and looked at me.

“Those guys are crazy,” he said.

I found that peculiar.

Three months earlier, he went 240 miles per hour, screaming down the front stretch at Indianapolis with a concrete wall directly in front of him. And he thought THESE guys were crazy?

It’s all perspective, I guess.

I’ve been around motorsports my whole life. But two weeks ago, I went to the Sioux Valley Cycle Club to cover a Quad TT race. That particular form of motorsports I’d never been around, and I wasn’t entirely certain what to expect.

What I got was an eye-opener.

As I got my camera ready for the gaggle of quads headed my way for the first time, I thought of Buddy when they went by for the first time.

These folks are crazy, I thought to myself.

If you’ve never been to a quad event at SVCC, I’d encourage you to go. These guys and gals twist and turn their quads that seem to defy reality, and they flat-out get after it.

I ran into wingless sprint car driver Chad Mellenberndt in the infield area. He started on quads as a youngster. I told him the quads half scared me to death the first time they went by me.

“At this part of the track,” he asked with a smile, pointing to where I just was. 

I nodded. 

“Ah, man, they don’t crash here,” he said as he pointed to the other side of the race course. “If they crash, they crash over THERE.”

Thank God I wasn’t over THERE. I nearly wet myself where I was…you know, the safer area, as Mellenberndt put it.

As I stood with Chad, the riders from the previous race came into the pit area. As they got off, I was stunned. These were little kids climbing off of their quads.

They didn’t go as fast as some of the open events where adults were crushing the course. But still, these little kiddos – both boys and girls – weren’t messing around either.

As I walked back to my car with my bottom jaw on the ground after what I had just seen, I saw a little guy in a tiny racing suit at a shaved ice food truck. There he stood, all by himself, ordering a refreshing treat. He looked totally calm, totally collected. Meanwhile, I was a wreck.

I made small talk with him. I asked him if he was ever scared out on the race course. His answer told me everything I needed to know. I guess it doesn’t matter if you’re an Indianapolis 500 champion at 240 miles per hour, or a 10-year-old tearing up the ground near Renner on a quad.

“Scared of what,” he asked with an inquisitive look.