2017 Rev Recap

When you hang around race tracks as much as I do (read: a lot), it becomes almost impossible to envision drivers dressed anything but a fire suit. You assume they wear one all the time—when they mow the lawn, when they visit the dentist, when they go out for ice cream. Saturday’s Rev event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, hosted by driver Josef Newgarden and attended by several other prospective members of this year’s Indy 500 field, was an annual reminder that these guys do have non‒flame retardant clothes.
To be fair, given the weather—“glacial” is an apt description—a little bit of fire might not have been such a bad thing. Still, the sell-out crowd of more than three-thousand gussied-up guests managed to stay warm thanks primarily to free-flowing cocktails. And of course, the event’s sixteen musical acts—including one that featured driver Will Power on drums and driver Mikhail Aleshin on guitar—generated their own variety of heat.
The real draw of the event—apart from the opportunity to mingle with a couple dozen IndyCar drivers—was the spectacular array of food from sixty-plus local chefs. Selections ranged from Scotch egg tartine, to beef barbacoa with pickled red onion and cotija on a garlic biscuit, to chilled green tomato soup, to chicken tostadas with satsuma, to mac and cheese. Dessert chasers included cake pops, mini cupcakes, s’mores bars, cookies, and gourmet popcorn.
Obviously, none of the calories associated with these dishes counted because the event was for a good cause—namely, the Methodist Health Foundation, which among other good deeds helps to foot the bill for the speedway’s infield medical center.
Bonus: Check out Kate’s gallery of drivers and VIPs at this year’s bash.