A surround sound system is connected to TVs propped against the wall. Basketball jerseys dangle from the ceiling and are draped over the blue-gray paint, accompanied by framed posters, flags and pictures around the room.
Situated in the center are four bikes, each locked into a stationary stand. Next to the TVs sits the 2002 Little 500 trophy, a motivation tool for future triumphs easily visible from the seat of the bikes.
To some, it is a makeshift garage. For Luke and Matthew Naas, it’s the “Grind Lab.”
The “lab” complemented the brothers’ new commitment to cycling. The activity had played a role in their lives, but it was never something they considered competing in over team sports such as soccer, football and basketball.
But now, with junior Luke and freshman Matthew riding for Sigma Alpha Epsilon, it’s at the forefront of their athletic career.
“We really didn’t start taking this super seriously until last year,” Luke said. “It’s new for us, which is why we’re really seeing how good we can get. It’s addicting when you can see that new passion.”
For many years, the Naas family would go on a summer bike ride for a mile distance 10 times the grade they were about to enter. The farthest they went was 90 miles as Luke was starting ninth grade.
But other than leisure rides, the brothers never rode competitively.
“It wasn’t like we were growing up to race,” Matthew said. “Just to go on the bike and have a good time.”
The brothers played four years of basketball for Westfield High School, and Luke even attempted to walk-on to Indiana in 2021, his freshman year of college. However, his rejection from the team left him searching for something to fill his competitive need.
That’s when he landed on the Little 500.
“Once I was here and I was in SAE and I knew I couldn’t play basketball, I knew I wanted to commit all my time to this,” Luke said. “We knew about Little 5 growing up — it was always in the back of our minds. Now we’re in it, which is really cool.”
The Naas family’s connections with the Little 500 extend far beyond the brothers. Their father, Bill, raced in the 90s along with his younger brother, Jeff. After his racing career, Bill became a coach for Sigma Alpha Epsilon, helping the team win the 2002 race while also coaching Kappa Kappa Gamma to five victories in an 11-year span from 1996 to 2006. But most importantly, he met his future wife, Gina, through Little 500.
The 2024 season marks Bill’s third year as the Sigma Alpha Epsilon coach since returning from a hiatus spent raising his children. After having already coached for a decade, he describes the new experience of coaching his boys as fabulous.
“It’s the most wonderful time from my standpoint,” Bill said. “I tell my wife all the time that I’m living my dream right now, being able to be with my boys and help them do something they want to do.”
The father-son coaching relationship has certainly tested Bill, Luke and Matthew. Bill admits the trio argues on rides, and the arguments can even extend to anger, but it is simply a part of their intensive training. From the boys’ perspective, the negatives are more positive.
“Over the summer, you can’t take a day off,” Luke said. “Every morning, he’s coming to wake you up early. He has that extra motivation to make sure we get to that final goal.”
For the brothers, it’s not the amount of motivation Bill provides — it’s how he does it.
“He knows how to push the right buttons because he knows us so well,” Matthew said.
Besides the fact they are his sons, Bill knows Luke and Matthew because he can relate to their current situation. In 1995, Bill raced alongside Jeff on the Sigma Alpha Epsilon team. The experience from Little 500 tightened their bond and connected them until this day, and Jeff now provides film analysis for the team as well as race day tactics.
So, when Bill sees his boys on campus, or he rides with them, or he and Gina spot an Instagram post of the two riding together, he knows what the future has in store for them.
“It just really warms our hearts because here they are, as brothers, and they’re really good friends,” Bill said. “You just see they’re gonna be lifelong friends.”
Both Luke and Matthew see their friendship put to the test, as the two are prone to arguing with each other more than any other members of the team. Still, Luke understands the close connection he has with Matthew, and the growth it will sustain as they continue to compete in cycling. In some respects, Matthew already notices it improving their abilities.
“It makes everything a little bit more competitive,” Matthew said. “Unfortunately, he typically — well, always — wins whenever we (race). That just helps us push each other more and more every time.”
What the two are pushing for is a victory in the Little 500, something Sigma Alpha Epsilon has not accomplished since it was under the tutelage of Bill in 2002. And due to the team racing as “The Corleones” that year, the fraternity has failed to hoist the trophy under its own name since 1963.
The 2024 “Spring Series” has started brightly for Sigma Alpha Epsilon, highlighted by a second-place finish at the qualifications and an ITTs win for Luke, exactly 30 years after Bill won it for the first time. Even with all the accolades, the team eyes the top prize above all else.
As a coach, Bill understands the drive and passion his boys have, but no matter the outcome, he already is a proud dad.
“I’m really proud of how they have taken on the challenge and how they have responded to it,” Bill said. “Very proud of their work and the things they are learning from this. I’m really proud of them both.”
For the brothers, a victory on race day is the end goal, but the responsibility they feel stretches beyond their family ties and into decades of Sigma Alpha Epsilon tradition.
“We’re not only representing ourselves, but also all those other teams in the past,” Luke said. “Everyone who ever put on this jersey as a part of our fraternity, we’re representing them.”
From the summer sessions in the “Grind Lab” to the events at Bill Armstrong Stadium, Luke and Matthew Naas will be representing their family name, a name tied to a legacy throughout years of the Little 500.
And on April 20, they will attempt to immortalize it in the record books.
