So I drove from Milwaukee to Indianapolis to go to the Red Bull Air Races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. First time I’d been to the Brick Yard.

So the way the Air Races work is there are 14 pilots.

Kirby Chambliss – USA – Red Bull

Matthias Dolderer – Germany – MD21

Matt Hall – Australia – Matt Hall Racing

Each pilot flies the track and posts their speed plus any penalties. Penalties include clipping a pylon, not being level going through certain gates, and not having the smoke on. Their speed is then pitted against another racer and the faster pilot advances to the next round. Then the fastest of the 7 losing pilots advances as the “Lucky Loser”. Making 8 pilots to race in the second round. The 4 winners of the next round then run the track and the fastest time wins.

I didn’t realize that Indianapolis was on East coast time and therefore I ended up getting to the race track an hour later than I planned. Then I parked on the Southeast corner and my seats were on the Southwest corner. Well a golf course runs along the East side so I had to walk the entire way around the speedway. 2.5 miles each way. I walked 8.5 miles that Sunday. I ended up getting to my seat just as they started the National Anthem so I didn’t miss any of the Master Class races.

Additionally, they had a B17 fly over the race track. 

This is the second B17 I’ve seen since I’ve started this trip two months ago and B17 is the beginning of my license plate on my trailer. Serendipity?

Anyway, it turned out to be a fun, fun day. I survived walking 15,000+ steps and crossed off the Red Bull Air Races from my list.