100 Days to Indy

I'm frightened.

I'm so sorry.

It's my first day in show business.

Hello?

- Have I been queued? Oh. - Yes.

- I was? - We can start.

Okay. I need... I need one of these.

- I got you. - Okay.

What you need to understand about the Indianapolis 500,

there's something about the place that you notice

when you're on the starting grid.

It's gonna be a great day. Nice to be part of history.

You're minutes away from watching an event

that has been posted for more than a century

and causes the hair on the back of your hands to stand up.

And then they fire the engines,

and suddenly, what was an audible,

palpable hum becomes a violent shriek of thunder.

Drivers, start your engine!

- Do a good job. - Copy that.

That's the Indianapolis 500.

The greatest spectacle in racing!

The Indianapolis 500 is our Mecca.

It's our Super Bowl.

Indy is one of the greatest spectacles in all of sport.

This place chooses the winner every time.

And you got to earn it.

I want to be the guy to beat, and I want to beat

all the rest of them, so bring it on.

Marcus Ericsson wins the Indianapolis 500!

I think this 2023 season is going to be tough.

Real tough.

For 17 races, we got to go out and do our jobs.

It's very easy to doubt yourself, for sure.

We're risking our lives, but it's what we want to do.

It's what we love.

IndyCar is just so, so competitive.

If you make one little mistake, there are 26 other cars

out there, and they will beat you.

I'll do, like, anything to win the 500.

We've actually had a very poor performance

at the Indy 500. It's unacceptable.

When I want something,

I make sure that nobody works harder to get it than me.

It's dangerous, but that's the thrill of it, as well.

Enh!

- Let's go, Grosjean. - Thanks.

The Indy 500 is the one event, I think, in the world

that can take your name to an entirely new level.

This is no exaggeration.

If you win the Indianapolis 500, you're going to be immortal.

So cold.

- I always suck at that. - We missed.

- Yeah. - The Danes missed.

Drivers... if I can get the drivers here

and get you to the ready room

right on the other side of the stage,

and then they'll call you out from there.

Thank you all for being here tonight.

So, the first guy, one of the fastest guys

in the NTT IndyCar Series,

he's going to be in victory lane soon,

Christian Lundgaard.

Great for Christian Lundgaard.

Huge congratulations to Christian Lundgaard

and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Colton Herta, who's gone from the kid to the guy

that's leading one of the best teams in the paddock.

22-year-old Californian Colton Herta,

one of the young faces of IndyCar.

Pato O'Ward. Fans love him.

We love him. He loves our sport. He's super fast.

And one day, I'm certain his face

will be on the Borg-Warner Trophy.

Pato O'Ward is back in the championship mix.

Way to go, boys. Way to go!

There it is, baby. Checkered flag.

Nice job. Nice job.

And this guy still dominates today.

He's a two-time IndyCar champion.

He still wants to win the Indianapolis 500,

maybe more important than he wants

to win another championship. Multi-time winner.

Ladies and gentlemen, Josef Newgarden.

Yeah!

Here comes Josef Newgarden on the high side!

- Oh! - Newgarden on McLaughlin!

Newgarden has done it!

Let's go! Good team!

The one, the only, the four-time winner,

the only guy in our field that has a chance to win five

Indianapolis 500s.

Ladies and gentlemen, Hélio Castroneves.

Hélio Castroneves has won the Indianapolis 500!

A three-time Indy 500 champion.

Welcome to the Four-Time Club, Hélio Castroneves!

And 100 days out from defending his championship,

ladies and gentlemen, our 2022

Indianapolis 500 champion Marcus Ericsson.

Marcus Ericsson wins the Indianapolis 500!

You are an Indy 500 champion.

Here he is, everyone... Marcus Ericsson.

Ericsson has won Indy.

I'm gonna start right out with a question

that really relates to you, Marcus.

Hélio, I want you to tell Marcus what he needs to know

to win two in a row. You did it.

What's he have to do to win again this year?

He's not gonna tell me that.

Why... Why am I gonna tell him that?

I'm still racing.

- No, I'm not gonna ask him that. - Okay.

I have to say, he's a... He's okay.

He knows how to do it.

He doesn't need any advice. I can tell you that.

So, Josef, every year, is the pressure more

to pick up an Indy 500 win?

We just have to be better

than... than what we were the last two seasons.

There's no doubt about it.

It is so special. It is so difficult.

You know, you get... You get one chance every year

to win this race, and hopefully we'll have a good shot this year

to... to... to be up there with these guys.

And let's hear it for all these guys

for spending time with us tonight.

100 days to the Indianapolis 500.

- Yeah! - Whoo!

There you go.

When you're in IndyCar, you know, living and breathing

the Indianapolis 500 is a big part of the whole equation.

The 500 always comes first.

We've actually had a very poor performance at the Indy 500

the last two seasons, which for us at Team Penske

is just... it's unacceptable.

You know, growing up playing baseball, basketball.

My life really shifted when I was 13.

I just started racing karts.

Then, you know, my life really became consumed with racing.

Oh, yeah. I know what's next.

I've done this 11 years now,

as far as racing IndyCar full-time.

So this is going to be my 12th attempt

at trying to win the Indianapolis 500.

It's absolutely a year where we've got to turn that around.

We all know it, and we all want it.

He's being cool with you guys.

Who are these people? Who are these people, dude?

I struggle to leave the professional side at the track.

If it wasn't for having a family, it wasn't

especially now having Kota, my young son,

like, I just would not stop thinking about racing.

It's... It consumes me.

Oh, is this... But this is your thing?

Um... yeah.

So, you pop that over... Like, you literally...

You pour it in... into here?

Yeah. You want to be the brave one?

- Oh. Okay, I'll try. - You waste it,

then it's your fault.

- Oh. -

- Oh, beautiful. - It's fine.

It's going just fine.

I met Josef.

I was working at Disney World, actually, funny enough.

I was in entertainment, so I was a princess.

I was trying to stay in character,

but we were flirting back and forth, and I left.

And then, all of a sudden, the waiter came

and gave me an e-mail address.

Who leaves an e-mail address?

And come to find out it was his dad

that left the e-mail address because he could tell

that Josef had, like, a little crush on me.

So, he was our wingman. Yep.

I'm gonna try and see if he's hungry.

Yeah.

Ash, you should just see...

He's just kicking his legs.

Josef is very dedicated, very serious.

But he's also... He has this flip side

of being incredibly silly and goofy.

Get over here.

He's definitely gonna be the fun parent as a dad.

Yeah.

You know, you hear all these things

about being a parent for the first time,

and it's... it's just impossible

to understand it until you do it.

You know, there's people, I think, in sports

that... that think you slow down

or that things change, and... and it hasn't.

And nothing negative has been noticeable to me.

- Have you tried it? - No. That's all you, dude.

I don't know. It tastes like wine, yeah.