Well that was interesting, wasn't it? Last night, I watched my first ever IndyCar race, and it was certainly a good one. So what did I think of it?

I don’t think there is a better place to start this than the aero kits. I know these are new, and from what I can see from Twitter, they made for a much different race than usual. With winglets being knocked off cars everywhere, the caution came out very often for the first half of the race, which ruined it for me a bit. At one point I was expecting the pace car to have to come in and refuel! I'm sure I'm not the only person who expects that IndyCar might change something about them to improve the racing quality. Then again, it is a narrow street circuit. Perhaps it will be better at NOLA.

I decided to support Juan Pablo Montoya, as I know him better than the others thanks to his days in Formula One and NASCAR. It turns out that this was a good pick, with him winning the race.


I couldn't help but compare it to Formula One: and I would say that it seems much better. I haven’t been an F1 fan for a year or so now, with the rules getting worse, the cars more boring and the racing less interesting. The IndyCar engines certainly sound much better than the F1 V6s, and the cars look slightly like late 80s F1 cars, only with much more aero. The pit stops seemed quite unsophisticated, nowhere near as fast as Formula 1, but better than NASCAR.

Norm Sellgren first race was with his son to Edmonton in 2008, my son met and hung out with Dan Weldon and got a Diecast signed which he still has seven years later.

And finally, Adrian Rickard, having follow CART with late night highlights on Channel 5's Live and Dangerous shows, this teenager was extremely excited when they announced they were coming to Rockingham in Northamptonshire. The lead up was somewhat muted having been only a matter of weeks since the terror attacks in New York and Washington. Compounded with the horrific accident that nearly took Alex Zanardi's life in Lausitz the week before, the atmosphere leading was subdude. But come race day you could focus on the track, and it was weeping... which delayed the start, which resulted in a shorter race due to loosing daylight. Memories of the race... the noise, the speed, the cars, anyone following CART during this period will fully know and understand how breathaking these cars were seeing them first hand. Then we come to the last laps. My dad and I were sat high in the Turn 1 grandstand, surrounded by Swedes, heavily backing Kenny Bräck, we, on the basis that they had a facotry close(ish) to where we were from were supporting Penske and Gil de Ferren. I'll let the video below explain the rest...

Again thank you to everyone who contributed to the three parts of 'My First Indycar Race', hopefully some new fans will make first memories in the coming months. I would appreciate if you took a little time to check out Sporting Memories and read about the work they do, and understanding the importance of sharing your memories with friends and family.

Part One

Part Two

When I tweeted @IndycarUK early last week, asking about TV times, and explaining that I was new to IndyCar, Adrian asked me if I would be interested in writing a guest article for the site, about my experiences watching my first ever IndyCar race. I said I'd be delighted to, and so here I am! I've decided to do this in two parts - my thoughts before the race, and my thoughts after the race. But to start with, I'll introduce myself.

I'm Jake Kilshaw (@jakekilshaw - yes I know, a very creative username), and 15. I'm currently in my GCSE year at school, and my goal is for a career in motorsport journalism. I'm a fan of a wide variety of motorsports: bikes; touring cars; sports cars; endurance; F1; rally; NASCAR, you name it. But I've never watched IndyCar. I've known what it is, and had a rough idea of how it works, just never followed it. I decided after having seeing some IndyCar drivers in other categories such as Formula E, and discovering that some of the NASCAR teams like Penske are also in the series, that I should give it a go.

So what do I know about IndyCar already? Looking at the entry list, I can see some familiar names: Takuma Sato, Sebastien Bourdais and Juan Pablo Montoya will all, of course, be known to any F1 fan from a few years back. And the latter, from NASCAR, too. There are some Formula E names as well: Simona de Silvestro, for example. And then, there are some people that I seem to know, but from where, I'm not sure. Will Power, and Ryan Hunter-Reay - perhaps I have just seen their names on motor sports news websites.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to contribute, read and share in Part One of this blog. 

I still have plenty more stories to tell and memories to share, so lets start with a track from an area of the US that many fans would like to see a return to Portland, Oregon, Christine Miles tells us her memory of the race from 2002, the heat... 96 degrees Fahrenheit all weekend - lobster status! And the fan access, I have never been so close to race car in my life.

Jo Husband made a long distance trip from England, but travelled east. In October 1999 I had the chance to go out to the Surfers Paradise Indy but, busy with my equestrian work, I decided the timing wasn't quite right. It was a decision I was to bitterly regret as a month later one of my favourite drivers lost his life at Fontana & I'd missed my only chance to have seen him race. I vowed there & then to get to Surfers the next year as a tribute to Greg & in spite of still being on crutches following knee surgery, I did just that.

It was a truly fantastic experience. They literally shut down this normally hectic city for 4 day to hold a massive party with a race on the side! It certainly wasn't called the IndyCarnival for nothing. With sun, sea, sand & even a mariachi band it sure beat a soggy summer's day at Silverstone. The place was manic & buzzing but warm & welcoming too. I even got a thank you hug from Barry Green for flying out there!

I could probably write a book about that weekend but the race itself didn't exactly go to plan. Australia is a heck of a long way to go for 'your' driver to not even complete the first lap, but sure enough the top three on the grid, Montoya, De Ferran & Franchitti tangled at the notorious first chicane. The strange thing is it didn't really matter. Adrian Fernandez went on to win but the result wasn't the most important thing that day. It was all about the atmosphere, the fun & the camaraderie, borne out by post-crash Franchitti & Montoya watching the race together eating ice cream! And for me personally, it was about keeping my promise to Greg Moore.

I Loved Cart on twitter first race was to Detroit in 2012 (the one with the road surface getting loose) I met my racing idol MarioAndretti that day.

Back to Indianapolis and firstly Gary Blinebury's first race in 1981, I watched AJ win his last 500-mile race in a torrential downpour. Few Silver Crown cars in the field too.

Jimmy Gray, we went every year so not sure but I'd guess '76-'77 and my first memory is sleeping in the shade of the car in the infield.

James Alban was in 1990, and saw Arie Luyendyk win his first Indy 500, I sat in turn one...I was just 11 years of age, but the event kept my attention the entire time! 

Back to 1962, Mike Silver, the best memory was meeting Louis Meyer after the race. Watching drivers wrestle the steering wheel was exciting.

Andy Baker made his first trip to the speedway in 1988, I was 8. Race was fun & memorable, but bummed AJ didn't win. Same seat every year since.

And finally for Part Two, 1978 and the Ontario Speedway in California, Patsy White went, with husband LeRoy, who was the refueller for the 98 Parnelli Car.

Our final look back through people's first Indycar race, Part Three will be posted in the next few days, with stories from Rockingham, Indianapolis and Edmonton, to name but a few. You can also check out Part One of this series and also Sporting Memories Network and the Alzheimer's Society.

Twitter never lets you down! Just one tweet sent my phone into battery meltdown. Looking forward to the new Indycar season I asked for your memories of your first Indycar race, where it was, when, who you were with any memories of that day.

So lets get things underway with Rick Snodie, My first race was at Elkhart Lake, WI in 1991 and I went with a friend and my brother. We camped all weekend. I remember having pit access and seeing Paul Tracy in the pits. My daughter and Mom came on Sunday and my daughter got Arie Luyendyk's autograph. Michael Andretti won the race. The other series running that weekend had Walter Peyton competing in a stock car.

The first of many 'first races' came from Indianapolis, Mike Patterson remembers 1976, My Mom, Dad, younger brother and I piled into a station wagon with my Dad's co-worker and his wife and son. We watched from Reserved Parking which was up against the fence outside of the backstretch. Got poured on and the race was called after 102 laps but my hero, Lonestar JR, Johnny Rutherford won the race which made my day!

Aaryn Ryan from 1996 Indy 500, the most vivid memories was parking at Don's Guns and sitting behind the pits.

Moving south westerly to Pheonix, Matt Archuleta remembers a visit from the mid 1970's, loud and glorious. Here's a blurry pic of me on the left and my family

North of the boarder, and Steve Wittich first trip to an Indycar race was the Molson Indy at Mosport in 1978 won by Danny Ongais, I was seven, and all I remember was the blur of colour.

A return to Indianapolis for a few stories and memories, firstly from Andrew Loviseck, and the 1985 500, I was sat against the fence between Turn 1-2. Saw Sullivan spin & win and saw a lot of other things I was prob too young to see.

Michael Miller's first race was a more recent memory, the 2012 Indy 500 two days after I graduated from High School. I had been going to the track for years for practice, but I won some race tickets.

A few years earlier and to the 1972, when Mark Donohue was victorious, Tom Waitt remembers, I was a kid and was mesmerized by Mark Donohue and the beautiful blue 66 Sunoco car at IMS.

DJ's first Indy 500 was in 2001, thinking that Michael Andretti was going to win when there was a rain delay after halfway. And the Aerosmith "incident"...

Chris Meinaltowski was 6 and a half for his first trip to the Indy 500, 
at that age I was blown away by the sounds, the smell of the fuel, & the odd little bump at pit out.

We round off part one of this trip down memory lane with a journey to these shores, in 1987 to Silverstone and Brands Hatch, Andy Hallbery remembers, when USAC brought the Indycars to Silverstone and Brands Hatch. I was eleven! I got Gordon Johncock and Danny Ongais autographs.