Do you wanna be in the movies?

Welcome back to week two of “The Experience.” Last week I mentioned how I became involved with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the upcoming Red Bull Indianapolis GP.

Actually, this goes back to a very special day in November 2006 at the MotoGP finale at The Circuito de la Comunitat Valenciana in Valencia, Spain. The 2006 MotoGP championship had come done to this final event. After having lost his lead in points with a series of mishaps late in the season, Nicky Hayden had to finish well ahead of Yamaha’s multi-time champion, Valentino Rossi, to secure his first world championship. The day ended up being his, and Nicky Hayden left Spain that weekend with the 2006 MotoGP world championship in his possession!

Three weeks later, Honda contacted each of their North American dealers, announcing the release of a 2007 CBR1000RR Repsol replica motorcycle in celebration of “The Kentucky Kid’s” world championship. My good friends at Dreyer Honda South accepted their allocation of one unit and immediately gave me a call with the news. Wow, what was I to do? I had to have it as it represented the pinnacle of the dreams of a young, 10-year-old racer I held up in the pits at Indianapolis Raceway Park over a decade ago.

Let’s flash forward to the spring of 2007. After a long, cold Indiana winter, the Repsol replica showed up just as the weather was starting to break. In the meantime, I had acquired a set of replica Repsol race leathers as well as Nicky’s Arai replica helmet from his 2005 victory at the Laguna Seca MotoGP in Monterey, Calif. Are you starting to get the picture? I am a serious Nicky Hayden fan!

Well, anyway, the rumor mill had been brewing pretty long about a possible event coming to Indianapolis when I got a voice mail from somebody at IMS. Again, I’ve got to thank my great friends at Dreyer Motorsports for passing on to the IMS staff member their knowledge of a serious Nicky Hayden fan on the south side with just the motorcycle they were seeking for their media program for an event yet to be confirmed.

Lights, camera, ACTION!

My day on the stage finally came the first of July. It turned out to be a beautiful, sunny summer day with the temps in the low 90’s! Not bad if you’re on a beach, but how about on the front straight of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in full race leathers with most of the five hours “posing” for the cameras! Indy 500 veteran Stephan Gregoire, the old guy in the video, was clad in 1910 vintage leathers on a very cantankerous old machine for an equally long period of time.

Well, the final product of my experience that day is the Red Bull Indianapolis GP Event Introduction video that opened the official media event on July 16, 2007. Since then, many others have experienced this little piece of my experience as we continue our countdown to Sept. 14, 2008.

See you all next week on redbullindianapolisgp.com.

Greg