Welcome to The Speedway Zone!Hello Fellow Race Fan! Welcome to The Speedway Zone, a website created for diehard race fans by a diehard race fan. I hope you find the information available to you here helpful and interesting. Let me begin by introducing myself, the webmaster of this fine site and your friendly auto racing guide ... Say Hello to Speedway GuruWho am I?My wife - and staff photographer - calls me Mike. My friends call me Rocco. And although my dogs don't speak English, they sure treat me like The Supreme Leader. How nice would it be if the rest of the world treated us like our pets do? So what about me? I am the webmaster and editor of The Speedway Zone. I am the self-proclaimed Speedway Guru. I have been exposed to auto racing since I was old enough to remember but that doesn't mean I've been a diehard race fan all my life. At one point, I ignorantly made fun of NASCAR fans. But all that changed once my wife and I moved a short walking distance from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Eventually I developed a full blown passion for auto racing that led me to create The Speedway Zone. With The Speedway Zone, I am able to share my enthusiasm for auto racing with fellow race fans all over the globe. Keep reading on to get the full scoop on how I converted into a big time auto racing fanatic. Living in the Racing Capital of the WorldAs I mentioned on the home page, I am a Southwestern Indiana Hoosier.Today, I live in "The Racing Capital of the World" ... Indianapolis, Indiana. There is nowhere else in the world that I would rather live. Over the years, I've visited a few beaches and some of America's biggest cities but none were impressive enough to make me want to live anywhere else except Indianapolis. For almost three years, my wife and I lived walking distance from the most famous race track in the world ... the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I really enjoyed living near the greatest speedway in the world. My favorite part of race weekends were the monstrous crowds along 16th and Georgetown Streets. Wanting to experience a part of the excitement and enthusiasm, I would walk down to the track the day before the big race and just have fun mingling with the out-of-town fans. However, our initial introduction to living near the speedway did not happen without a little bit of culture shock during our first Indy 500 experience. During our first year of the Indy 500, when coming home after work, my wife and I had to yell at the cops directing traffic, "Hey, I live right down there!" to get through the traffic blocks. It was definitely a unpleasant experience dealing with the traffic. Needless to say, we quickly learned to either schedule vacation days on race weekends and get out of town or plan on staying home, especially on Race Day. However, after that first year of culture shock, I ended up really enjoying living near the speedway, especially during the month leading up to the Indy 500. Every day, all day long, I could hear the thunderous engines of the Indy Cars roar as the drivers did testing and practice runs. It was awesome!
My Journey As A Race FanAs a kid growing up, I remember listening to the Indy 500 on the radio while hanging out in the garage with my Dad while he worked on his car.Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt are two names I will never forget. However, as I got older my interest went towards professional football and other sports. Aside from the Indianapolis 500, I never really got into the NASCAR races my dad would watch on the weekends. To me, watching race cars go in circles really didn't grab my attention. In my defense, at that time, I really didn't understand the significance and danger of speeding around a speedway at 150 mph or faster. During my college years at the University of Southern Indiana, I listened religiously to Jim Rome's radio show. Romey would make fun of racing legend Dale Earnhardt and would call NASCAR "Neck Car". So for years, even after my college days, I unashamedly made fun of the sport of NASCAR and its fans. But the racing gods and a fellow Hoosier would have the last word ... Tony Stewart Converts Me Into A Diehard Race FanIt took a fellow Hoosier - some guy you made have heard of named Tony Stewart - to turn me into a full-blown racing fan.Tony Stewart spent the majority of his young life in Columbus, Indiana. Columbus just happens to be a town where I have strong family connections. My late Uncle Charlie - a distinguished Vietnam veteran - and his family lived in Columbus ever since I was a little kid. To make a long story short, my family in Columbus possessed strong enthusiasm for Tony. Before his passing, my Uncle once declared to me, "Tony Stewart. That's our boy! We like him!" That statement by my Uncle Charlie set the wheels in motion that would transform me into a diehard race fan. I began to watch NASCAR races on television and quickly became familiar with names of drivers beyond Indiana's favorite sons Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon. Soon, my new found interest in NASCAR bloomed into full-blown fanaticism with me and my Dad attending our first NASCAR race together ... the 2007 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard ... which was won by ... guess who ... And the rest as they say is history! So my fellow race fan, if I may suggest an idea ... go and grab a cup of coffee or your beverage of choice, then kick back, and just surf through The Speedway Zone and enjoy the journey of discovery!
The Speedway Zone strongly supports Tony Stewart and we root for him every weekend. As Hoosiers, we are proud of his success on the track. We are even more proud that Tony has not forgotten his Hoosier values and lives his life off the track using his fame and fortune to help others in need. Please visit the Tony Stewart Foundation.
Tony seems bigger than life but even a racing legend needs a solid team behind him to win championships. As the self-proclaimed Speedway Master of The Speedway Zone, I encourage you to visit the Tony Stewart Foundation and learn how you can help Tony make a difference!
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