IndyCar Series is Shockingly Family-Friendly

Cade Varela

Races Offer Good Times for All Ages

I recently took my youngest daughter to an IndyCar race in the picturesque streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. Looking at this world from the outside, it appears to be riddled with machismo and testosterone (not to mention B.O. and ethanol fumes), so I was surprised to find such warmth and family-friendliness there.

Five-year-old MotherProof.com guest columnist Cade was welcomed with open arms. Strangers with golf carts offered to lighten our load and give us rides around the venue (there’s a lot of walking involved at events like this). Crews working on cars paused to chat up Cade when she stopped to shoot some pics with her fancy-pants Hannah Montana camera. Tow-truck drivers stopped in the street to let Cade view the gory wreckage trailing them, and as the parade of cars moved from the paddock to the street course, Cade got up close and personal with the racecars and their drivers.

There was even an IndyCar Series interactive mobile museum, which is a loaded trailer where kids of all ages (including those of the grownup variety) can touch a fire protection suit and IndyCar steering wheels and seatbelts, as well as vote for their favorite IndyCar driver via touch-screen computers and sit in a mockup of a racecar and try their hands at virtual racing.

For a weekend outing, that’s a little more exciting than yet another trip to the local indoor bounce-house franchise (boing!), try taking the fam to an IndyCar race. You’ll have a blast and learn a little something too — double-layered sports bra not required.