The Month of May is finally here! That means the Greatest Spectacle in Racing is rapidly approaching. The biggest time of year for every race fan means the busiest month of the year for a lot of us as well. We have exciting events and plenty of on-track action coming up in the near future.
Right now, we are wrapping up one of the longest breaks in our season. I haven’t been in a car since the Sebring event in March. So, I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel and I’m hoping to get a test in before our next event on GMR INDYCAR Grand Prix weekend May 12th and 13th at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
But in the meantime, I have been busy with some other amazing events. Before I get to that, we hope you can join us not only at the track but at some cool events during Indy 500 week.
First, the annual Prime 47 Burger Bash is back! It is on Monday, May 22nd in the USAC headquarters parking lot. There will be Indy 500 drivers, some of my teammates, my car, great food from Prime 47…Indy’s Steakhouse, a live broadcast of “Trackside” on 107.5 The Fan and auction items to benefit the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. This is a free event open to the public, but there are also VIP tickets available for purchase. VIP ticket holders well enjoy free food and drinks as well a reserved viewing area close to the stage and inside access. Tickets are available here via our friends at Basic &Simple. Just send Mark Lynch an email at Mark@basicandsimple.org that the donation is for Burger Bash tickets. Donate – Basic Needs, Simple Solutions
Then, just a few nights later, on Thursday night, we are helping with the Indy 500 Weekend VIP Kickoff benefitting Race for RP and autoimmune disease research. This event will be at the very cool SILO Auto Club in downtown Indianapolis and hosted by Derek Daly with help from my Dad, Kevin Lee, and some of his NBC Sports co-workers. It will be a first class catered event with the chance to race in professional simulators and a private concert from country/pop artist Clayton Anderson. And there will be an auction with some unique items there as well. Tickets are available at: SILO Race For Research Event – Campaign. I’ll be racing again the next night in the Carb Night Classic at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
With some time between races, we’ve had some opportunities to support some other fund raisers. Just over a week ago, I got to help with a pair of events and Turn 3 Motorsports donated their time to bring my car to both events. The first was to support the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center in their annual ChuckStrong Tailgate Gala to raise funds for cancer research in the name of former Colts coach Chuck Pagano. Along with photo ops with my car, we were able provide some cool experiences and hospitality at this year’s Indianapolis 500 for their live auction. It was a very successful event which, in total, raised over $1.7 million for cancer research! I am very proud to be a part of something special and help do my part to help accelerate cancer research. The event was also a lot of fun as well and I got to meet some Colts players and Coach Pagano!
The very next day the team and I visited Republic Airways for their annual Plane Pull event. Many corporate teams entered to see who could pull a full-size passenger airplane a set amount of distance the quickest. I was able to participate on a team with the Arrow McLaren IndyCar drivers and few other athletes. With all of us pulling, it wasn’t as hard as you would think, but we were still a few seconds slower than the top teams (pushing my race car is a lot easier!) It was a lot of fun and a creative way to raise money for local children’s charities!
Next up, I hope to be getting back in the car to shake off the rust at Road America next week. Road America is my favorite track on the calendar. It is a super fast, high commitment road course with plenty of elevation changes. It’s always an exciting race and one I look forward to every year in June and it will also help get me ready for the road course races at IMS in less than two weeks.
I can’t wait to race in front of the home crowd again at the most historic track in the world!
Finally, I want to give a shout out to all of my partners who have helped me get this far. We are working very hard to try and put together the rest of the season so if you know anyone interested in partnering, please reply to this email. There’s still room on the car for more stickers and guests in our hospitality program.
Stay fast!
Jackson