Experience all the Speedway offers

For those of you who may not have noticed, there happens to be a huge sporting event with large international implications in our own state's backyard this weekend. No, it's not the Indianapolis Colts seeking to be 4-0. Nor does it relate to basketball, even in a state where basketball controls some lives for months at a time.\nGet your laughs and chuckles out right now for you fans who either do not think racing is a sport or who just choose not to recognize it at all. Yes, I am referring to the third and final big race of the year at the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, the Formula One United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. \nThe Grand Prix brings tens, even hundreds of thousands of visitors to Indianapolis from foreign countries to root on their native driver or team with more passion than you see at almost any American sporting event. These fans are some of the most knowledgeable about their sport in the world and take great pride in flaunting their favorite team colors with apparel or flags on race day.\nMy recommendation for you is to take a little bit out of your day on Sunday and just follow a bit of the race to learn a little about the Formula One series and its world class drivers. Formula One has the best all-around drivers in the world hands down; it is the top of the international peak in terms of racing and all of it will be on display Sunday at the Speedway.\nThis year's Grand Prix should be especially exciting as both the Driver and Team Points Championships are still up in the air. Formula One's new scoring pattern as well as inconsistency from the Ferrari team has kept the championship race close throughout the season. Ferrari's five-time World Champion Michael Schumacher leads BMW Williams' Juan Montoya by just three points going into Indy, and McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen is a mere seven points from the top spot.\nSchumacher can clinch the title with two scenarios but must finish at least second to do so and receive some help from Montoya and Raikkonen. Not to mention that Ferrari actually trails BMW Williams by four points in a heated Team Championship race. Either way, this year's Grand Prix is likely set to be the most exciting and competitive in the short four-year history of the race.\nI have a personal affection for racing (just as much as any other sport) as I lived just a mile from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway until I was 6 years old and can recall hearing the cars roar from my baby-sitter's house throughout the month of May. Since the 1989 Indianapolis 500, I have missed just three of the big races (those being the Indy 500, Brickyard 400 and the Grand Prix).\nI have told all my friends at least once before that if you were born in Indiana, you must go to the Indy 500 and the Speedway at least once to live the experience and atmosphere. Some of them scoff at the notion. Most say they will go at least once to see the atmosphere; some have already gone; and all of them have said they would love to go back.\nBeing an Indiana native and not going to an event at the Speedway is like coming to IU and not going to a basketball game, the Little 500, a Broadway musical at the IU Auditorium or a performance at the MAC by our top-notch School of Music. To get the full college experience and to get all out of your time here at IU, you should attend all of these things at least once in your time here, or you are doing yourself a cultural injustice. As for all of you out-of-staters, you are Hoosiers now and should also live up all of the experiences the state of Indiana has to offer, including those at the Speedway.\nEven if you are not a racing fan, you have to live the experience at the Speedway at least once, whether it is the 500, the 400 or the Grand Prix. I still get chills and goose bumps every time I enter the Speedway. The racing capital of the world may not suck you in like it has me, but I am still sure it will leave you yearning to come back and experience it again.