Nobody could drive through Indianapolis without stopping to see the Motor Speedway, the iconic Brickyard, home of the Indy 500, the most well-attended single-day sporting event in the world with more than 300,000 spectators. As I stood in the interior parking lot, content with taking a few pictures that failed to capture Indy’s massive scale and great traditions, Kelly disappeared for a minute and returned to announce that we were taking a private tour that included a ride around the entire 2.5-mile track. Yeah, baby! We held on for dear life as our tour guide Mike (who has attended 56 Indy 500 races and has a story for every one of ‘em) revved the engine of our extended golf cart and raced into the first turn at nearly 22 miles per hour, only about 220 MPH slower than the cars on race day! I was just like A.J. Foyt and Al Unser, except those guys probably never took those 9-degree banked turns holding onto the leash of a two-year-old English Lab. (In fact, Mike told us Pasha was, to his knowledge, the first dog to take the tour.) I prayed as we went into the third turn that we’d blow out a tire so that we could see the pit crew in action, but the golf cart held up well.

Canine VIP treatment