How a Podcast Led Me to an IndyCar Race

I started following Formula One in 2021 and with that came all of its support/feeder series. I mostly follow Formula Two and Three through social media because the times the cars are on track is at two or three in the morning. On rare occasions, I am able to catch a free practice or a sprint race but these are few and far between. Regardless I still grew to like many of the drivers and started following them on social media. During the fall semester of 2022, a TikTok popped up on my for you page and it was F2 drivers making a podcast. The clip made me laugh so I started listening to all the episodes from the beginning on my walks to class. Over the next few months, I would become obsessed with this podcast (sorry to my roommates who had to listen to me talk about it all the time).

While I was home for the holidays I got a notification that Marcus Armstrong was joining Chip Ganassi’s IndyCar Team. Who is Marcus Armstrong? Only the creator of this newfound love of mine, the Screaming Meals podcast. On this podcast, Marcus and two of his friends, James and Clem, talked about anything and everything. It started as a podcast about food but then it morphed into what it is now, which is a podcast that talks about wine, racing, and current events.

March 2023 finally arrives and I have made my plan for the race weekend. I skipped class to go down a day early because my goal was to get a picture with Marcus and get his autograph. I wanted him to know that I was here because of his podcast so I made a paper for him to sign letting him know! I got the opportunity to talk to him for about two minutes about the podcast and how excited I was to be at his first race. He loved the note that I made for him to sign so much he even took my picture with it (Marcus if you ever see this I would love to see that photo).

I stood in line for about an hour before the autographs started and I got to meet the nicest people while I waited. One of these people was a woman from the UK named Jane. I started talking to her about her Charles Leclerc phone case and she told me all about the races she had attended and photos she had taken. She had photos for all the drivers to sign and she ended up giving me one of her Marcus photos so I could get it signed! Autographs were on Friday so I ended up seeing her a bunch of times throughout the weekend. She later emailed me some photos of my interaction with Marcus and some others she had taken during the weekend. Aside from getting to meet the driver I was there to see, this might have been one of my favorite parts of the weekend!

I would say my first IndyCar experience was a success. The entire race was filled with action. I got to see multiple crashes and it was so interesting to see the differences between IndyCar and F1 in person. Marcus finished 11th in his IndyCar debut. This was a pretty great result considering how many cars didn’t make it to the finish. His teammate, Marcus Ericsson, ended up winning the race after many of the original front runners crashed out. At least one Marcus won, it wasn’t the Marcus I was rooting for but it was a Marcus regardless.

I went to St. Pete to watch the race but most importantly I was there to see Marcus race. This is someone that I never thought I would see in person so I was going to take every opportunity I could get to see him. Our seats were in the main grandstand but we also had Pit Passes that gave us access to the pit lane and paddock areas. In these areas, you can get close to the cars and the drivers are everywhere. I think I spent more time in these areas than in my actual seat.

The only letdown of the weekend was the lack of merchandise. Don’t get me wrong there was a ton of merchandise for lots of teams and drivers but because this was Marcus’s first race there was none for him. I would have bought every piece there if there had been some. I guess the sunburn I got during the weekend wasn’t the most pleasant either! I haven’t decided if I’m going to the race next year but I know that I’ll definitely consider it, especially if Marcus is still racing!