The parade is the third largest parade in the country. 'cause you've got floats, you've got all 33 drivers, you got 300,000 people come downtown.
That is the most moving mile in any race ever. Yeah. Go be a part of the Indy Mini at least once. So, so moving.
How do we create almost like a statewide road show, more of these communities involved?
How many years do we need to be the first truck in the infield to get a spot in the parade? From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get IN, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation.
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Subject to credit approval federally insured by NCUA. Now let's Get IN. I'm joined by Dave Neff, the new president and CEO of the 500 Festival. Wait, 500 Festival or the 500 Festival?
The 500 Festival.
The 500 Festival. Dave is an old friend, a mentor of mine. Uh, he is maybe. Like, not on my account, but on many accounts.
The most connected man in the city of Indianapolis, and I'm so excited to share the mic with him. Also, a podcast host.
Yes.
Talent Scout comes out twice a month. Talent? Yes. The IBJ Podcast Network.
Yeah.
He's rocking and rolling. Doing all the things. Has an interesting background as well. Running the NIL collective for Purdue University.
I mean, the list goes on and on and on. Dave is connected to just about everyone in Indianapolis, and I'm so excited to learn all about. The 500 Festival, the Indy Mini in its 50th year, and all the cool things that happened during the month of May here in the city of Indianapolis. Welcome to the show, Dave Neff.
Man, what an intro. Thank you. Nate, come on. This is, this is fun to be on this side of the mic. 'cause as you said, for the last seven, eight months I've been. Hosting a podcast with the IBJ Media Network Talent Scout, which has been a ton of fun. I'm nowhere near as prolific as you are in terms of, uh, churning out three episodes a week.
But, uh, it's, it's a, it's a blast to be here. I know we've been working on this for a while and excited to get in the combine.
Yeah. I'm really excited to dive into. First off, the roads that led you to the 500 Festival. Yeah. Uh, you've been, I mean, from edge mentoring to the NIL, you've just been, uh, accumulating some very unique experiences that are culminating now as president and CEO of the 500 Festival here in Indy.
Take me through what were the decisions and, and what were the signs that made this the right next move for Dave now?
Yeah. Well, I'm a native son of Indianapolis. Right. Love, love the city, grew up here. Fortunate to grow up here. You know, some, some people want to get out of indie. I I have always loved it, you know, and, um, grew up on the north side 75th and Allisonville went to Ball State Chirp Chirp and, uh, sports administration major.
And, and really my first break after some internships in college, um, was really getting on with, with Pacers Sports & Entertainment, and that was 2007. And from there, really all roads, even. Even today in 2026, lead back to PS&E. I feel like I, but the world was open to me in terms of like how the city works.
We got. Final Fours, big 10 Championships, super Bowl that came in 2012. How all the different organizations work together. Sports Corp, Visit Indy, CIB, um, PS&E, Indy Chamber, the list goes on. And so I've just, um, you know, my, my career, I have had a few stops along the way, as you mentioned, but being able to cut my teeth at PS&E for four years, spend three years with ExactTarget, sort of in the heyday when we, uh, went public and then got acquired by Salesforce.
I lived through all that. And then helping to kind of co-found and lead, uh, as the, as the founding employee, um, EDGE Mentoring for six years to Prolific for four, and then the last couple leading Purdue's, uh, NIL Collective Boilermaker Alliance. It, it does feel like all those experiences have shaped and prepared me for this, this new assignment.
I could see myself doing this role for, for a long time. It's a, it's a tremendous honor as a, this is our 70th year as an organization, so 500 Festival is an institution. It's been around for a long time, and obviously it supports our state's crown jewel, which is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Speed City.
Gotta throw that out there because I do think that's our DNA, um, as a city, not just for racing, but for as broad application in terms of how that can be used.
Yeah. Well, I mean, you talk about the illustrious history of the 500 Festival. This is 70 years as an organization,
correct? Yeah.
But the roots of it actually don't come.
From the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the roots of it come from the Kentucky Derby. I believe
so, yeah. So there were four local business civic leaders in the, in the mid 1950s, uh, one of whom was Alex Clark, former Indianapolis Mayor from 52 to 56, I believe. Another one was Howdy Wilcox. I'll come back to Howdy.
And then, um, a third was, um, a guy by the name of J.W. Baker, and then the fourth was a guy by the name of Joe Quinn, who was the head of safety at IMS. Those four gentlemen had gone to the Kentucky Derby in 1956, saw this Kentucky Derby Festival that had been created a separate entity to really help promote.
The Derby and all the events surrounding the Derby and I said, you know what? We need to bring this back to Indianapolis and start a 500 Festival. Obviously the 500, the track was built in 1909. First race was 1911. We didn't come along until 9, 19 57. Howdy Wilcox, one of those four co-founders, unique guy.
He um. He actually started, uh, the Little 500 at IU in 1951 was the first Little 500 race, which the Little 500 at IU was inspired by the Indy 500. So we're all kind of interconnected from Indy 500, Little 500, 500 Festival. This, this guy, Howdy Wilcox, was sort of in the middle of it all, make it happen.
And so, um, yeah, this is our 70th year. We've had a parade every year outside of the two COVID years. And then in about 50 years ago, sort of took over the, um. The, the Mini-Marathon, which is now the fourth largest half-marathon, uh, in the, in the country. We've got the 500 Festival Princess Program, which is, which is well known.
33, uh, young ladies from Indiana Colleges every year are selected. Pretty competitive to get into that. They're ambassadors for the 500, uh, Breakfast at the Brickyard, firmly known as the Mayor's Breakfast, and about 30 or 40 other events that we do to really, really promote. Celebrate the Spirit and legacy at the Indy 500.
And then we also exist to drive positive community impact and produce high life enriching events for all Hoosiers. So it's a pretty broad canvas with which to paint, but um, yeah, it's a, it's a great marriage of like my sports business background and my passion for, for this community.
And when you saw the opening
Yeah.
Like what made this the right one to jump
out? Yeah. I just think jobs like this don't come open very often. Right. My predecessor, Bob, uh, Bryant was in it for 12 years. Um, I'm actually only the fifth leader in 70 years. The first gal, Joe Houk, did it for 30 years, and then there was a lady that did it for, uh, about a decade.
Liz, Kraft, Kirk Hendricks for 10, Bob for 12. And so it's just these, these roles don't. Come open very often. Right. And I think there's other opportunities, not, not that they'll, you know, it's a, it is a bit of a tough job market out there, but some roles, you know, whether it's, um, just BD for a company, right.
I, I think you can always kind of find those jobs at some company. But to be able to step into a role like this, that I, again, when I, when I learned last summer of 25 that Bob was gonna be retiring and that there was gonna be a search as soon as I heard it, you know, you just kind of get these gut feelings of like, man, like I looked at the job description.
I'm like, I've done. Virtually all of this, right? Like I feel like no searches, you get a search firm involved, all sorts of weird things can happen, right? Yeah. And
there, but then there's also people that probably come more from the festival side of things. Yeah. More from the race organizer. 'cause the, the flagship thing, right?
Yeah. You think of the parade.
Yeah.
The the 500 Festival Princess Program. Yeah. And the Mini-Marathon. Yeah. Like I don't think that a lot of people realize, like you all are the organization behind. Yeah. The Mini-Marathon, which is like a blue chip, the biggest half-marathon in the world. Or at least in America, I believe.
Right?
Yeah. Top, uh, number four. But the top three are all in New York or Brooklyn. So we're, we're, we're coming for 'em though. Mm-hmm. But no, I mean, to your point, I think there has been chapters in the past where somebody with more of a festival background was a better fit because operationally they needed to professionalize some things.
I'll say. The, the staff and the team that's in place that I inherited is, is super talented operationally. Um, obviously there's always things that we're gonna be looking at to innovate or, or try to improve upon, but like there wasn't anything fundamentally broken. Something that the search firm and search committee really was looking for is that they needed somebody that was.
Connected in this community, in this state that can, that can bring, you know, more, I think just visibility and promotion and obviously sponsorships, corporate members and, um, really work well with the other, um, civic partners like the Sports Corp Indy Chamber, um, Downtown Indy, some, some of those groups.
And so. When I heard that, if that's what they're looking for, I'm like, man, I, I, I know I can do this. And so, you know, you hear a lot if you're ever in a search process about other candidates and names, but what I learned is like you just gotta kind of keep your head down, focus on doing the best that you can and let the chips fall where they may,
relationships and capital.
When it comes to like the social side of things and connections, you have no shortage of, again, like from, I mean, you've given. Talks about this building up your relational capital like that has just been, I mean, a part of your DNA here in the city of Indianapolis. And I mean, I'm sure there are tons of places that you've posted about and talked about growing those relationships 'cause they are so, so important.
Yeah. What I would like to talk about now is. How us as Hoosiers need to be thinking about the 500 Festival? Yeah. What it means for us. What I think there is like a little bit of gray between what's the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, what's the, you know, IndyCar. Yeah. And what is the 500 Festival and why is this even more, uh, specifically hosier?
Yeah. Like this is like an an US thing.
Yeah. Well I think it's important to remember, um, for the average, uh, Hoosier out there, Indiana citizen. We are totally okay. I-M-S-I-M-S museum, the festival of them, thinking that we're just one organization, right? We're not trying to be like, well, we're the festival that's IMS and trying to delineate because to the average person, they, they don't delineate is, is and is the uh, bare facts.
And so I think something that we've kind of started, we haven't really publicized. This is something that we're calling the I 500. Collective, which is really those three organizations. Ims? Yeah. It's Dave
and his collectives.
IMS Museum. Well, this started way before this started last fall before I was in the role.
But I-M-S-I-M-S museum who also has a new leader, Michael Good, great guy. If he's not on the pod and need to get him on, and then myself at the festival we are having. Regular monthly calls, both from a leadership standpoint and then our, our teams, like our, our marketing teams, our education programming team, our sponsorship teams, just to be sure that we are collaborating and working well.
And, and, you know, I'm, I'm self-aware enough to be like. We gotta see the forest from the trees. We came along 40, 50 years after IMS, without IMS, there is no festival. Right? Yeah. And so while we're a separate organization, separate budget, separate board, governance, all that, um, at the end of the day, we have to, we have to collaborate well, we have to partner well.
And some people might even say, well, the festival's sort of the community engagement arm of IMS. 'cause you think about it, we've got a volunteer army of about 2000 volunteers. IMS. Most of their staff, even the, the, the yellow coats out, you know, they're paid staff. They're not really volunteers. So. We're gonna be doing something on, on May 1st this year.
First time we're, we're, we're tapping into our board, you know, our board's, uh, a fun coveted board where every board member gets a pay car, uh, April and May this year. They're Chevy Silverado trucks, but, oh, uh, they're gonna be, we're gonna be, we're gonna be working with, um. IMS to distribute milk bottles across the city of Indianapolis to just different leaders.
And so historically that's just been IMS and sort of their team doing that. We're like, well, we've got 33 board members that, let's, let's tap into them. And so we're, and if
you're on the board, you get a pace car. That's how you get 'em. Yeah.
Yeah.
Because I see those things driving all over during the months of, I mean, starting Yeah.
April, may.
Yeah.
And it's like, dude, those things are
sick. Yeah. So, yeah. So we're, we're excited. That's something new that we're gonna do this year again. We don't really care if people think it's IMS or the festival. Again, it's, it's more about blanketing the city, the region, the state with, with, Hey, this is the month of May, is the greatest month in the state of Indiana.
What else is going on? And yeah. What are you all working on throughout the year?
It's sort of like a Chamber of commerce type program. We call it our corporate member program, where we're gonna have multiple events. We just had one a few weeks ago at Lucas Oil's headquarters. They're our new parade title sponsor Had.
250, you know, folks there, corporate members as well as prospective corporate members because we view that as a a, a B, two B sort of networking opportunity for companies that wanna align around the month of May and the 500. And, and again, it's not just a spring thing. 'cause I did have a few people ask me when I got this job, like, so is that a full-time job?
Or you, you know, you kind of just working in April and May. It's like, no, that's a full-time role. We've got 18 full-time staff. We've got a a dozen interns right now. We've got. Um, you know, two boards, our festival board, and then we've got a foundation board. Um, but you know, something that doesn't get maybe as much play that we're really proud of is we've got an education program, Nate, where a third of all fourth graders in the state of Indiana are going through a 12 week curriculum that's, you know, STEM based learning about motor sports, learning about just the history of IMS and I actually got to go, we do these things in, in the month of March called.
Mobile trips where we'll take like an indie car and there's like six different stations and we go to a, you know, I was up at Fort V Elementary a few weeks ago seeing one of these mobile trips in action. And now that we're in the month of April, we do something called study trips where students will come to IMS and, and basically have like a, a field trip, you know, see the museum, see get, get tours around the track, that sort of thing.
And so we're, um, we're working with schools really year round to kind of get them onboarded into that. Yeah. And then we've got something called a kids fit. Program where we're trying to kind of get elementary age kids up to, you know, running a mile and then kind of getting them on a path. It's, it's partly towards just, you know, fitness and obviously our tie in with running the, the, the, the mini one day.
And so we've got, um, a lot of work that we're doing year round, even in the fall. With those schools. And then we're, we're trying to think also about how do we create almost like a statewide roadshow when we're not, you know, in the spring and partnering with IMS or IMS Museum to kind of get more of these communities involved as we lead into sort of the start of the year in ramping in May.
That is the thing, right? I grew up in northern Indiana. Yeah. And. The 500 wasn't really a thing. Yeah. I mean, I'm 30 minutes south of South Bend and like I had never, I had heard of it. Yeah. But like, it wasn't, uh, like unless your family is a diehard indie car fan, like you didn't make make the trip down every year.
Yeah. I get to college and everyone's like, everyone from Indie is like, dude, yeah, you gotta go to this. Walked in still. Like, I will never forget walking into IMS for the first 500. I'm like. Oh my, my life has changed. Yeah. I haven't missed one since. Right. Obviously except for COVID year. But, um, thinking about that, like getting more motor sports fans Yeah.
And more, and even if you're not necessarily diehard, like you're following them at Barber and all across the nation. Yeah. Like being fans of the biggest spectacle that the state of Indiana and the, the world. Yeah. Right. The biggest spectacle in racing.
I mean, it's the single, single largest sporting, single day sporting event.
Right. Yeah. I mean that's, that's pretty remarkable to have 350,000 people. At one event. And I do feel like, Nate, that, you know, I grew up in Indy and I was not an every year race. I may have went to the race twice, so it wasn't like I came from some die hard racing family or a big, big car guy or whatever.
But I think I also understand at the same time that the cultural significance of like, you've traveled outside this country and. We all have. And if you tell people you're from Indiana, usually the first thing you hear is, oh, the Indy 500. Right? Yeah. Like that is our, that is our brand. That's what we're known for internationally.
And so I think, it seems to me anecdotally that there's been a, a new generation that's really embraced the 500 and the track. I mean, I, I don't wanna speak for IMS, but I know just based on some, some media reports they're anticipating they could sell to the grandstands by late April or early May. I mean, the investment.
You know, God bless the Hulman-George family for being stewards for whatever it was, 70 years before selling to Roger Penske in 2020. But I think Penske's, you know, investment in the track, now you've got Fox that's, that owns a third of Penske Entertainment and they're really investing like, you know, the, the first, what, four, four or five races we've had of the year.
I mean, viewerships up, like there's a lot of good. Just, it feels like downhill momentum, not just with, with the 500, uh, and IMS, but really the series as a whole. And so it's, it's fun to see twenties and thirties somethings that have really like embraced it. It's not just like old gearhead at all about the 500, you know?
Yeah, no, there's a lot of young indie car fans that. Found their favorite drivers and uh, later on we're gonna have episodes with Pato. We're gonna have sweet, a few different drivers on, uh, to kinda get people hyped up for, I mean, everything that is the 500. And that's kind of like what a big part of your job is.
Yeah.
Getting people excited about more than just, you know, the race and the experience the day of. But it's the Mini-Marathon. It's the parade leading up to it and all these fun things. Talk tos. What exactly? I actually have never gone down hand up. I'll say it. I've never gone down for the parade.
Yeah. Oh, you gotta come, man.
Yeah. Talk to me about
what we can expect here. We'll get, we'll get you some tickets. Um, so the, the, the parade is the third largest parade in the country. Right? You got Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, and you got the Tournament of Roses Parade. No. And then we're the third, so, so
third largest parade?
Yeah. I mean, there's been years where
is that from float or
from
attendance? No, no attendance. Attendance. I mean, there's been years where. It's been, you know, 300,000 people come downtown and, and line the streets. I mean, we're anticipating probably a quarter of 250,000 people. So, um, it's a massive turnout.
Um, it's, it's, um, yeah, you've got marching bands, you've got floats, you've got all 33 drivers, which is all, you know, the. They come out in rows of three, which our board members, again, are driving the trucks and the drivers are on the back with their families usually standing up. Right. Talk
about like a stressful job.
Yeah. Right.
Like
if you're driving below
Yeah.
And you're like, do not brake hard.
You gotta keep, you gotta keep, keep your foot on kind of tapping the brake. But yeah, no, it's um. You know, it's, it's largely a free event. We do sell, um, some tickets to the parade. There's some VIP sections, you know, it's broadcast by WTHR, so it's broadcast locally.
It's a great little route. I, I think it's like a mile and a half. Uh, don't quote me on that. I'm still learning that, you know, new in the job. But, um, I've watched it the last three years on Monument Circle from like star financials. They, they get a bunch of tickets and so my, I've been taking my family the last three years, which has been a ton of fun.
Um, but to be on this side of it, you know, I've now lived through it where I'm gonna be, have the headset on and making sure that we, nothing goes on. Okay. So you're not in the
parade, you're not waving
hands, kissing babies? No, no, I'm not, I'm not in the parade. Our board chair, Christina Moungey from Chase every year, the board chair of the festival is in the parade, usually riding on the back of a Corvette or something.
What's
the lead like? What leads the parade?
Well, we have a Grand Marshal, which not ready to, to, to announce that quite yet. You know, last year it was. Scott Pollard, former pacer who got a heart transplant helped and we
just had an episode with it.
Did you really?
Yeah. Crazy story.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh. When he talks about like his, the family of his heart donor listening to his heart for the first time.
Dude, I chills. Yeah. Yeah. His, his story's wild.
Yeah. And I think that family flew in, brought him, you know, to Indy for the parade as part of that last year. Again, I wasn't in the role then, but yeah,
he's the, he was last year.
He was last year. Okay. See Tamika Catchings a couple years ago, but I mean. Grand Marshals.
Um, you know, we've had one every year. I mean, we had President Gerald Ford back in the day, Walter Cronkite. I mean, there's been some like big name celebrities, you know, that have done it more national, and so we're, we got some things we're working through. I'm not quite ready to, to share that yet. But yeah, there's a parade.
Grand Marshal,
any alliteration in the potential. The potential Grand Marshal's name?
I don't know. Maybe. Yeah, maybe, maybe
Laura. Alright, there we go.
But, uh, you probably did see that, um, Curt Cignetti is driving the Pace car Sunday morning at IMS, so sick. So that's, that's huge obviously with the year the Hoosiers just had in football.
But, um, I, uh, so yeah, we'll, we'll share that, uh, news soon on who the parade Grand Marshal is, but really every Saturday. The month of May, we have a big event. So the first Saturday's, the, um, the, uh, the mini obviously, and then we, it's not our event, but Rev is that night. So the big event out at IMS, I think that that's a benefit for the IU Health, uh, foundation fundraiser.
And then the second Saturday we take over Monument Circle. Wait. Yeah.
Rev is a benefit for the IU Health.
Yeah. All the medical staff that like treat drivers and that sort of thing. Yeah. Out there. Yeah. It's the rev is, rev is supports the IU function. Oh, I
thought it was for a philanthropy that was tied to.
Uh, IMS?
No.
Wow, I didn't know that.
Yeah,
yeah, yeah. I mean, signature Blue chip event. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's a time,
it's like a zoo ation type event. Yeah. I remember when I was getting started, but, um, and then the second Saturday in May, this year, May 9th will be, uh, rookie run or Kids' Day where we have. All sorts of activations that take over Monument Circle and the four spokes, and we'll have, you know, 15, 20,000 kids families down there for that.
Third Saturday is Breakfast at the Brickyard, which is um, we used to be called the Mayor's Breakfast. We will have about 85 mayors from the state of Indiana attend that. All the 33 princesses attend. We'll have about. A thousand people. A lot of, you know, engineering firms, companies that like to do business with.
I was gonna say, I, I got invited to this this year and I have a wedding that day and can't make it. And I'm,
oh man.
They're one of the engineering firms that is like, I think they're the title sponsor of, uh
Oh yeah. CHA or, yeah, they outta Bloomington.
I, I believe they were like, dude,
Midwest, it used to be Midwestern Engineers.
They got acquired by CHA.
Yes. And they were like, oh, we love your content. We think that you like, would love to be. 80 mayors across the state of Indiana. Yeah, that sounds like my heaven. Yeah. Yeah. And then I have a wedding that day, so I will, I will unfortunately not be able to make it this year. Yeah. But I want to.
Oh yeah. But it seems so cool.
Yeah, it sold out. It sells out like way in advance. I mean, it sold out like a month ago. Yeah. So, yeah. And then the fourth Saturday obviously is the parade. Uh, and then we roll right into the race on Sunday. You got the victory celebration the day after the, you know, on Memorial Day itself, what's,
what's the victory celebration?
So that's where they give out the purse, like prizes. The, the, the money prizes. That's the Monday night. It's not our event, that's i's event, but it's at, it's been at the JW I think this year it's at the convention center. So it's, you know, tables of 10. You know, it's a nice gala type event, but it's that Monday night, so Memorial Day after the race, and so they're giving out the checks for all the different, you know, how people finished on the podium and all that.
That's kind of sick. Yeah. I'm excited to go. I've never been. We have a table, so I'm gonna try to it, you know, after that I'll be able to take a nice long nap, so. Yeah.
Yeah.
There
it's like, you, you have to sprint the entire month of May, for
sure. Yeah. Yeah.
Talk to us about the, the indie. Mini this year. You know, the half-marathon, I believe this is year 50.
Uh, this is the 50th mini. So yeah, it's a big milestone year. Um, you know, last year, Nate, we had about. It was right around 21,600 people registered for the many. Um, this year, knock on wood, uh, we are trending towards potentially 30,000 registrants, which would be a huge lift. Um, you know, to have e effectively 50% more folks registered.
Um, you know, re running as a whole, I think is just post COVID. You know, when people were cooped up, people have just gotten back outside, gotten active. The industry's coming back. Believe it or not, in 2013, the many set an all time, uh, record for our race. We had 42,000 registrants in 2013, and then just running industry as a whole started to dip, and, and we got down, you know, and then COVID happened.
We didn't have the race for two years, so it's slowly starting to come back, but it's been exciting to see that. Last year, 21,600 this year. Who knows, we might sniff 30,000. And then it just becomes about, you know, runner experience operationally, making sure people have a good experience and that they're not, you know, stacked on top of each other as they get started having different corrals that extend out.
So, dude,
okay, here's my number one recommendation. Don't lie about your times, don't lie about your times on the mini. Like, get everyone in the. Proper bracket of like where you're supposed to be at, factor in the fact that you're gonna come out of it pretty hot there in the beginning. I remember the first year, I had no idea, this was the first race I ever ran.
I, uh, I sign up for the mini, I'm like, this thing is, and I was like, but I'm slow. And I ended up like having a really good training block. But I put like, really slow time. Maybe like 10, 12 minute miles.
Yeah.
And they were, I was back with the strollers.
Yeah. Yeah.
And I'm like trying to weave through strollers to get, I was like, oh, okay.
I'm in the corral F right now. And I'm like, okay. So get your times right on there and, and it makes it awesome.
Are you, are you doing the mini this year? You signed up?
I have a bachelor party.
Oh man. Bachelor party wedding. You got a full may.
Literally, I was looking at it every weekend in May. Like we have,
but I know you'll be at the race.
Oh, wouldn't miss it Well, we're we're running back the tailgate this year. That's right. Yeah. So we're gonna be, we're bringing the truck back. This will be year three of our rig. That is all things tailgating. I mess. Question for you.
Yeah.
This is, we're gonna prophesize something. How many years do we need to be the first truck in the infield to get a spot in the parade?
Oh man. I think we can probably make that, make that happen. You know, I'll, uh, you know, I gotta talk to the team. I don't wanna come over the top with stuff, but no. Getting, getting, uh, the truck is a, what we call a specialty unit in the parade I think we might have a, a, a, a spot for you.
A specialty unit. You hear that?
Yeah. Like, I mean, that would, so
industry, industry lingo for
you. Yeah. Specialty. I mean, that would be like my goal. You know, we have. Larry Bisceglia was the first truck in the infield for 37 years. I've done two, so I gotta go 35 more 500s So
what time do you show up?
Uh, it's a undisclosed time.
Oh,
ok
okay. Oh yeah. You
can't
let your
competition
know Yeah, it's, yeah. Yeah. Well, 'cause you know, that would be the one thing. It's like you live in a world where it's like, oh, I'll show up and just like beat this guy out and like, honestly. At some point, someone might have to do it, and I'll be like, Hey dude, come on.
Like, let's,
yeah,
like, be part of our group. Join us. Don't compete with us. Let's go. But it's gonna be so much fun. Awesome. Uh, we're working with some really cool partners on our end too, to like make it the craziest tailgate that anyone has ever seen. Like it's gonna be a ton of fun. So we have. The Mini-Marathon.
Yep.
Right. Gonna be,
yeah.
You're thinking leaning towards 30,000 people potentially.
Yeah,
that's,
it's gonna be massive.
Wild,
and, and three days before that, I'd be remiss not to say April 29th. This year is Kickoff to May on Monument Circle. Yeah. So hopefully when this episode drops, still be a few days for people to register for that.
It's a free event. It's on Monument Circle. Governor Braun will be there. Mayor Hogsett. Um, Doug Bulls, president of IndyCar IMS will be there. Might have a few other, uh, special guests. All the sports mascots are there. They're gonna do a little Soap Box Derby, have some fun around the Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, it's a, it's a little bit of a track that we lay out there on Monument Circle, but well, food trucks, it's a free event come out.
Um, all the, all the pace cars will be there, so the board with all their trucks. So we're just trying to like. Some life and energy and just be that community kind of convenient partner.
This is called the Kickoff to May.
Kickoff To May. Yeah. And
this is in
on Wednesday, April 29th. So it's in April, but uh, yeah, so that's, that's April 29th and then, and then the mini is Saturday, May 2nd, so,
yeah.
Yeah. And I mean like, do you know offhand, how far do people travel for the mini. Like,
we have all 50 states and, and you know, a, a couple dozen countries. So, I mean, it's all, yeah, people come in from all over.
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Affordable work wear. Now, let's get back into the episodes. What's been the most surprising part about taking over the 500 Festival?
Realizing how many people have the vanity license plates. You know, I, I can't remember the exact number, but it's a surprising amount of, like, I've got, I've got FV one now on my, oh, you got a 500 Festival on the
truck?
The truck
come. Let's go. Come on,
man. Yeah. Well, because Wait, what percentage of that? I do have to, I think it's like $30 or whatever.
Yeah. I think it's like 50 bucks for vanity play. I, I don't know what cut. I, I see like our overall revenue, like it's a decent little recurring revenue Right. You know, stream, but bigger than I would've thought, you know?
Yeah. So, um, I don't, was that the most surprised? That's just an interesting tidbit. You know, a lot of people, so we, we've got a really cool office. I encourage anyone to come check it out. It's in the factory arts district, so down there like. Used to be called Circle City Industrial Complex. Yeah.
Factory Arts District sounds way cooler than the Circle City Industrial Complex.
So yeah, they did a little rebrand, but a lot of people still think we're on 21 Virginia Avenue, which is where we were for a long time down there by like Elevate Ventures. But, um, no, I think just the, um. You know, being around for 70 years, you know, I've done some pretty entrepreneurial stuff with Edge and Boilermaker Alliance, but just to, to hear some of the stories of just people that have been a part, like we've had volunteers that have been with us.
Al Wurster just got profiled in one of the, uh, current magazines. He's been a volunteer and engaged. He was. Past board chair for 40 years, you know, since the mid eighties. So people have like a deep emotional,
well,
he was the board
chair for 40 years.
He was the board chair for six or seven years. Uh, well only actually you're only chair for a year or two.
I think he might have had an extra year, but you're on the board generally for six years. Seven, if you're the chair. But no, he's been a volunteer for 40 years. Oh. So he's like our track liaison committee, uh, chair. And so that, that's the role, like on the day of the parade, he's helping get the drivers from the track over to the parade and then back.
So Wurster Construction, he's, he's, um, you know, well-known local, local business guy. But just folks like that, that. Have so much passion in history. I mean, I, I was aware of that, but to hear some of these stories, yeah. Now 90 days into my role, it's been, it's been really cool to see. So,
well, I mean, the volunteer aspect of.
A lot of what you're doing is so important from the mini Right. You talk about every single one of those aid stations. Yeah. Like you gotta have companies in corporate or churches or whoever out there helping be great hosts to this race that we
put off. We just, we just picked up another pit station is what we call that for, for the mini and.
It takes, you know, for some of 'em, some are smaller, but a general one is like 50 people and we just got Elanco to take, take one of 'em. Right? So they're gonna get 50 volunteers. And whether that's 50 employees or employees and families, like it really is a community, you know, effort to pull off a lot of our events.
And, and I kind of liken it, so we started in 57. I feel like in some ways the festival was the precursor to the Indiana Sports Corp. Right? So he came along in 79 as the first sports commission, which obviously they do all sports, right. You know, final Fours and, um, swimming, and diving, you know, all the, all these different events that we do.
We were just a, a. Geared around, you know, the 500 right in the month of May, but we kinda had that original volunteer army, which the Sports Corp is known for having a robust volunteer army. Right. So it's sort of, it's sort of, I never really connected those dots until I was preparing for all these interviews to be like, wow.
Like the, the festival kind of does have some. OG Roots is one of these first kind of volunteer heavy LED type organizations. Yeah. And now we've got a bit of a bigger staff, but we still lean very heavy on our volunteer army. We've got a parade committee, a mini committee. Oh, I'd be remiss. The memorial service, uh, I forgot to mention that, is on the Friday before the parade.
So it'll be Friday, May 22nd, where we're honoring gold star families, families that have lost, you know, family members in combat. And then we've got a, uh, on the, on the American Legion Mall there. Uh, a really nice tribute memorial service since that's Memorial Day weekend. And just making sure, yeah, we're, we're dialed in with, with the Adjutant General, TAG, of the Indiana National Guard and, and we always honor someone every year at that.
So that, that, I have actually never attended that. I'm excited about that this year. So
the, is it the Gold Mile?
Gold Mile, yeah. That's on the back, back stretch of the track. Yeah,
dude.
Yeah,
I, I told Bob when I talked to him about this, that if you don't know what's coming for you there. That is the most moving mile in any race ever.
Yeah. Like, I don't know.
It's real, it's relatively new. I think they just started doing that in the last 10 years. 'cause I ran the mini 15 years ago and the, the Gold Mile was not a thing back then. So,
yeah, I mean I think I ran my first one in 20. It'd been the last one before COVID, maybe. That was, I dunno, whenever, no, maybe it was first one back from COVID, whenever that was.
I got there and just like, yeah. Like it almost takes, it's like a good way, takes your breath away, which is tough when you're running, but you're like the reverence. But then you have families out there too, and it's just like, yeah. So, so moving, and I would, I would encourage anyone, whether you walk, you jog, you run, like go be a part of the Indy Mini at least once.
Like if we didn't have a bachelor, like I'll do it every year. I have bachelor parties and weddings sometimes take precedent, but like, it's so, so
that's cool that you know about the Gold Mile. That's awesome. Oh,
oh dude, I love it.
That's really
cool. I mean, and it's like you need a little bit of a motivation.
You're like,
yeah,
you're like in the middle. Like what? You're probably a mile, like six and a half or maybe eight.
Yeah. Yeah.
Kinda somewhere in there and you're like, oh gosh, this is starting to suck. Like, why am I doing this? And then you see this and you're like, yeah, this is honoring all of Indiana's fallen, uh, combat vets.
Yeah.
From every, every conflict. Yeah. You know, like from all the way back to black and white pictures to modern times and
Yeah.
And you're just like, oh. Like those guys. Yeah. I can run this race. I can, I
can do this. I got five miles left.
Yeah. Actually the, those my first ever, I cooked my first ever mini, like my fastest race ever.
Yeah. Literally rained with my, my, uh, heart rate was at like one 90 for like, for like eight miles. It was crazy. But I got so right as I was about to die, like I was like,
oh gosh.
Right as I was about to just like totally fail, I come to the Gold Mile and I'm like, I can do this. Let's go. I get back And then you have the bricks.
Yeah.
And I get back around and I'm like, oh man, now it's really starting to hurt again. And I see a guy again. I started in the way back.
Yeah.
I see a guy a little bit out ahead of me and he is like wearing like a veteran shirt and is running on a prosthetic, like a real, like one real leg in a prostetic.
And I'm like, if that guy can do this, I can do this. Yeah. And then like I found someone above the ear in front of me again and like in a wheelchair that was like still cranking. And I'm like,
yeah,
they can do this. I can do it. Dude, I ended up putting together the Race of a Lifetime. That's for my first one ever.
And it's just like,
did you get passed by a stroller? Has that happened to you yet?
No, I haven't got, I, I didn't get past, luckily for me, I passed the strollers and that. But some of those people can cook.
Yeah, they can.
And uh, I know one of my good friends, Ali Brett knocker, do you know Allie?
Oh yeah.
She, uh, she does, um, she rides a lot with Ainsley's Angels.
Uhhuh,
like, she pushes, you know, like some of the, um, you know, physically disabled individuals that still wanna complete these races. Yeah. And it's like, what an awesome way. Like yeah. If you're a run club member out there and you're like, oh, I don't know, go volunteer for that helps someone else accomplish their goal of, that's really cool.
Of completing a, a mini that, that would be so fun.
I've never pushed another adult, but as a father of four kids, you know, my kid's a little bit younger, you're trying to like, you know, just. Double time things, multitasking. I need to get a workout in, but I need to take one of these four kids. And so you're like pushing the stroller.
It's kind of hard to get your stride in, but you, it's better to get a, at least get a workout in, even though you gotta push stroll, you know? So
one of my buddies was telling me like, some of the best running strollers, they're like a bag.
Oh
yeah, yeah. Like they, you can get some pretty fancy expensive strollers where you're like, like I see some guys running up and down the monan.
And I'm like, that thing is, that's like a Soap Box Derby car you're rocking and rolling with. When you think about the ways that. Us as Hoosiers can support the work that y'all are doing. Yeah. From the 500 Festival. Yeah. Obviously, you know, talking about going to the parade. Yeah. Running the mini. Yeah. But like from the education perspective.
Yeah. From all the different things you're doing, how can we best support you all?
Well, I think it's time. Like having been a part of a few of these committee meetings, we've got some amazing volunteers, but I'm not. I mentioned Al War Star. I singled him out. There's a lot of like 30, 40 year type volunteers and I'm like, man, we need to start building like our ben, our, our volunteer bench.
Like how do we get more people engaged? It doesn't mean that you have to only volunteer for the, the parade or the minute we keep talking about those two big events, there's a lot of different. On ramps of how do we get you sort of into this like, volunteer, which, you know, India is like uniquely good at that.
We have such a strong, sort of civic minded, uh, group of folks that really care, whether it's the Sports Corp, whether it's the festival. And so I think, you know, raise your hand, reach out to us. Heck, ping me on LinkedIn. If you wanna volunteer, we'll figure out how to get you plugged in to one of our programs.
Um. You know, we've got a really cool for the young people listening every year. We have, we have 12 interns right now. Uh, they started with us in January and they're with us through the race, so it's full-time. Some are still seniors, like their last semester. Some have already graduated, whatever. But it's a great way to kind of get plugged in and, and some of our interns have become full-time staff members.
Or they end up going to, you know, some the Pacers or Indians or somewhere else in town. And so
you go intern for the 500 Festival. Yeah. And I guarantee you that Dave Neff can make an introduction to someone that you wanna know that's gonna help you out.
We, we've got a, we've got an awesome intern class and several of 'em, kudos to 'em.
Close mouth don't get fed. They're like, message me like, Hey, do you know anyone at the Pacers are like, yeah, come. You know, like, let's, let's try to make this work. Right? Yeah. Maybe from
there,
but I mean this whole like talent attraction, retention, I know you talk about this on other podcasts like. It's far more sticky place when you have a relationship or three, right.
Versus just like, I went to IU and then I'm getting, I'm going to Chicago next, or whatever. But like if you've done an internship in Indy or another Indianapolis City and then you've got some social capital with like Dave or somebody else, some other leader at the company is gonna introduce you to people at Visit Indy or the Indians or the Pacers, like, it just makes it far more stickier.
So
yeah, I do worry a little bit. Okay. I'm 29. Yeah. Like my generation's philanthropic bones. Yeah. Like I just. Think that I got, obviously the, uh, older generations have a little bit more free time if they're retired, but like I would actually encourage everyone ages 22 to 42. Yeah. Like if you're looking to accelerate your career or build your network, go volunteer for something.
Yeah. Find something you're passionate about. Yeah. Whether it be racing or sports. Like you could sit, I mean, you could stand courtside for some of these final four games if you would've been a volunteer.
Yeah.
You know, like there's volunteer gigs where you're. Escorting the teams to and from locker rooms.
Yeah. And I talked to a lot of people who are part of the, the army of volunteers that Sports Corp has. And it's not necessarily always like the youngest people. Yeah. Like the people that probably ha have the most to gain from it.
Yeah.
Like you have the most to gain from volunteering when, when you're young and trying to build connections and relationships.
And people don't forget the people who show up,
obviously building connections in your day job. But I've, I've honestly found like. I've probably built just as impactful, if not more, through my volunteer work, right, from, uh, sometimes it is just purely volunteering. Sometimes it ends up being on a board or whatever, but you can grow your network just as much, if not more, through volunteering.
Now, you know, you wanna do it from pure attentions and nobody can judge that except yourself. But I think just the, the doors that will open when you raise your hand, plus it's like. You never feel as good about yourself as when you're doing something for somebody else. That was a famous, uh, Jim Morris quote.
I, you know, I try not to invoke his name, but he, he did have a big impact on me as one of our sort of town fathers and somebody that I got to
yeah
know through my time at the Pacers. We both started there in 2007. Um, and so yeah, he, he, he left a big imprint in terms of just having this kind of heart for others Yeah.
And selfless service. So,
I mean, how cool is it that the new stadium for Yeah. IU Indianapolis is gonna be gym. The gym.
Yeah. Shout, shout out Baso. That's awesome. What they're doing over there. I can't wait. I, I mean, I know they're making quick progress on it. I can't wait to see it,
so. Yeah, absolutely. It's gonna be, it's gonna be awesome.
Yeah. And what a nod to an absolute legend Yeah. In the, the city of Indianapolis and the state of Indiana.
Yeah.
Uh, before we wrap up. Then get to on some fun, uh, Indiana Questions at the end. I wanna dive in. Um, obviously anyone who watched March Madness, an unfortunate end for our boiler makers. Yeah. Like after a incredible run.
Yeah. Especially for these seniors. And I know you got to be in very close proximity to Trey Kaufman-Renn. Yeah. Obviously to Braden Smith, to our boy Fletcher Loyer. Yeah. Like, talk to me about your relationship with the Purdue Boilermakers basketball team and what that means for our. I mean, obviously they did not, you know, win the national championship.
They made it in their time there. Right? They made it to the, the final game to the championship. They were preseason ranked number one for the first time in school history. Like it's never been a better time to be a boilermaker than it is. You know where we're coming right now, actually, obviously getting some more football momentum as well.
But talk to me about 'em.
Yeah, it, that was a tremendous experience, uh, running the, the collective for two years. It was, it was fast and furious. So you mentioned the Final four run. That was like three or four months into my job when we got to go out to Phoenix two years ago, and Zach Edey led us to the national championship, ran into UConn, which was a complete wagon of a team, sort of like Arizona felt like this year.
Um, but you know, to be able to have a small, small part. You know, leading the collective, helping to raise the funds, especially as it relates to this year's team to ke to keep those guys intact. Right. I mean, obviously revenue sharing kicked in last summer with the house settlement, so now the school can help directly pay.
But we had a unique window last year where not only was revenue sharing starting in July of 25, but we had this window where we could. People use the term front load money from the collective to help retain that team. And so, you know, it was not a foregone conclusion that all those guys would come back.
Obviously, it's a pretty cool story. Hats off to Matt Painter and in the, in the culture that he's created to have three, four year seniors and, and Trey Kaufman-Renn and, and Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer. And yeah, it was, it was a bummer that they couldn't make the final four here in Indy. That would've been a pretty cool just story in, you know, fairytale sort of like ending.
But you know, that Arizona team is, is incredible and I, I just think like Purdue's a special place and I'll always be a honorary boilermaker even though I don't have a degree from there. Um, and I, I, I think just navigating so that those, those early days of NIL mean, it's very entrepreneurial. People use the phrase wild, wild west.
That's true. Uh, obviously football and men's basketball got a lot of my attention, our team's attention. But we did work with women's volleyball. Uh, we've got some funds for golf, for baseball, some of the other, some of the other less, you know, prominent sports. But yeah.
Was it as crazy as people make it out to seem where it's like everybody, like you are the underwater basket weaving champion of Colorado and you're getting a million dollars.
Yeah. Yeah. I don't know about, I mean, you know, most of the big money was obviously going to the revenue generating sports like, like football, men's basketball. And I think it changed pretty quickly in a matter of, let's say three years to where, you know, a player making a hundred grand was a lot of money to like, now you got, you know.
Some of your stars making not just a million, but several million dollars. You
know, I mean, you're a power four starting quarterback, you're like two and a half million plus.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And some of you know, the media and agents I think kind of inflate some of those numbers, but though there are real numbers like players making, you know, couple 3 million bucks and, and maybe even more in some outliers circumstances.
I was gonna say like, is that like a crazy place to be in like a we, the state of Indiana, right? Yeah. We are headquartered or the NCAA is headquartered here.
Yeah.
And you think of like the. The governing body that has long time been like, no, you can, you can't accept a steak dinner. You, you can have the bagel but no cream cheese, like the whole nine yard.
Well, and I think that's why, I think prior to the House settlement, there was like 37 states that had enacted some sort of NIL law or statute, but Indiana never had one. And I think that, you know, I don't know why that was, but I'm chalking it up maybe to. The factor that the NCAA is in our backyard. So we didn't really have a, you know, all these southern states were like changing laws that they could backdoor money in from the school.
And, and at the end of the day, the NCAA has rules, and they are a governing body, but state and federal laws, trump rules. You know what I mean? So that's why they're, you know, still kind of in this, you know, trying to figure out how do we codify this with, with Congress and not have these patchwork, you know, state laws and Yeah.
Well, and it's like, I don't know, I would say pretty apparent to see,
yeah.
You, this is my words, not Dave's, but like you're pretty crazy to think that there wasn't some sort of financial incentives for a lot of schools around the country for a lot of years. Yeah. Because all of a sudden it seems as though like IU figures out how to win a national championship after being the worst and then second worst team.
Yeah.
In college football across the country. Yeah. Like I don't think IU was paying their players. Yeah. Like. If they were, that was money, they maybe not spent in the best way. Yeah. Then they get the ability to like raise some money and start to, you know, get a roster where your average age is 24 or whatever it was, and it's like, hey, all of a sudden we're players.
Yeah.
Like it's crazy to think about like. I mean, even you, I don't know. You're a second string offensive lineman and you're still like getting 75 grand or a hundred grand. Yeah. Like
yeah.
Holy smart. I mean,
if you're, if you're smart and there's a lot of, I know financial literacy, we were working on this at at at Purdue and the university was starting to own it of just like.
Even if you're making a few hundred thousand dollars over a four year career, let's say, like if you're smart with that and, and invested, like that can totally give you a leg up. 'cause mostly, you know, 99% of these student athletes are not going pro right. They're gonna, you know, uh, maybe land at Lilly, right?
That'd be a great landing spot, but some, maybe not even that in terms of like making what, you know, 50 to 80,000 in your first, you know, year outta school or something like that. So, um, yeah, it's, it's a, i I think they should definitely deserve. Obviously I wouldn't have taken the role if I didn't think student athletes should share in some of the economic pie.
Yeah. We could sit here and debate how much is too much. But um, yeah, it's, it's pretty, it's pretty wild kind of how it's all evolved last five years.
I definitely think that it, uh, like the pendulum was so far against student athletes. Yeah. And then it got a sway like really far the other way where it's like all the power to the athletes and I bet the, the landing spot's probably somewhere in the middle.
But you talk about even like Europe, let's say you're a freshman, that. Is an all American football player. Mm-hmm. Like, you can't even go back to your hometown. And, and in the previous, you know Yeah. Uh, the way it was Yeah. Couldn't go back to your hometown and host a clinic.
Yeah.
Like, you know, okay, we're gonna bring a hundred kids that are all gonna pay a hundred dollars each, like.
Back in the, that would've been really good money for like, uh, the average athlete. Yeah. And now it's like, you know, some of these, I just know from the wrestling perspective, it's like you win a national title, it's like five grand for 'em to host a clinic and Yeah. You know, it, it's pretty cool. Yeah. For, for them to be able to capitalize a little bit, especially in the.
Let's say like not the blue chip sports.
Yeah.
You know, like some of like, yeah. The top, top wrestlers or volleyball players or whatever it might be. Might be getting a ton, but it's like go back and host a clinic because you were on the national championship team. Absolutely.
And a lot of these, a lot of these student athletes, you know, especially maybe in sports like football, don't, don't always come from like a ton of affluence.
Right. Some, some come from quite frankly like poverty type situations. So while some old timers might be like, ah, scholarships should be enough, you know, I saw examples where. Kids that were making money could actually send some money back home so that their parents could like fly and watch them, you know, come to games, get a hotel room, pay for parking.
You know, it's stuff that adds up that a lot of these families may not just have the discretionary money sitting around to come watch their kids play you. So, yeah. Or
like, take time off work. You know, like if you are like a paycheck to paycheck and you're, you know, you have a very gifted child and it's like they play on.
Tuesday in Los Angeles. Yeah. Like I'll watch on tv, I suppose I'll stay up till 9:00 PM Eastern when it starts, like,
yeah.
I don't know. Like, did, did you guys see that too? Where it's like the expansion of the Big 10 made it harder on your, like, I, I just think about like tennis.
Yeah.
It's like if they're playing on the road and they're on a Tuesday night in Seattle, Washington.
Yeah. Like, that seems pretty challenging.
Yeah. They, I mean that they've been pretty savvy with scheduling. Like I know for men's basketball, they try to just make it, you know, one West coast trip right. Where they're gonna hit. Oregon and USC or you know, something like that versus it being too disruptive.
But yeah, I was there when the Big 10 expanded from 14 to 18. You're kinda just like, man, like this is insane. 'cause it's coast to coast now.
That stinking graphic, you know, like before like Big 10 kickoff and it's like the map like used to stay on easy and now all of a sudden it's starting on one side and working its way all the way over to the other.
And it's like all these flags are popping up out of everywhere. Great graphic, but like
it's
huge.
Yeah, it totally is. So, no, it was a great. Great two years. Um, super thankful to have landed at the festival. Uh, all like I said, loved my time with Purdue. Met some incredible just leaders, donors, um, staff at the university.
Um, but this is, um, being back kind of in, uh, my indie jet stream has been awesome. Yeah. So,
well, one final question to round out our, our Purdue NIL collective talk, like, was there one moment where you're just like, this is the craziest job ever.
Yeah, I think on my, my fourth day in the job was December of 23.
Transfer portal was open, uh, for football and, um, the, you know, athletic director and the head football coach at the time, like, Hey, we're gonna go down to Houston and uh, go to this country club. It was River Oaks and, um, we'd like for you to come. He was like my fourth day on the job. So I, I board a Purdue private jet at, uh, you know, four o'clock on a Thursday.
Literally fly down with, with those two guys and one or two other folks. Um, we're on the ground for what, three hours do this little fundraiser for 20 people. Fly back trying to raise some money for, you know, the portal. And I was like, man, is that gonna be like an every week thing? Because I was back back to West Lafayette by midnight, then I had to drive to Indy and it was not an every week thing.
But yeah, it was sort of like a, wow, this is kind of how the, how the sausage is made. You know? So like more
often than not, you're like on a, on like a plane going somewhere for 20 donors to like, you know, hey, we really need to. This five star in the portal. Yeah. And
yeah.
Um, yeah, I, uh, I can only imagine some of the story, especially you think about, again, closing that out, but yeah.
Retaining this team.
Yeah.
Like retaining the basketball team, making sure that Zach Edey doesn't go anywhere.
Yeah.
Like that was crucial.
Yeah. Yeah. To wrap this up, I think that the Zach Edey story was, was really cool. You know, there's a lot of talk about him maybe leaving after his junior year. Well, he makes the decision to come back for his senior year, and, and we had him on video just saying like, the Boilermaker Alliance was instrumental in that decision, um, because A, he was able to get paid a, a meaningful amount of money.
B, we went to the national championship his senior year, which wouldn't have happened without him. Then C, he ends up improving his draft stock. He's probably gonna be like an early second rounder and he gets picked number nine, you know, in the first round and going to the Memphis Grizzly. So, I mean, it was really cool to be like, wow, we had a small part in that.
Again, we weren't the only factor, but a small part in making, you know, in, in helping him decide to come back for his senior year.
So, yeah, absolutely, man. I love it. And I'm glad to see you with the 500 Festival. Yeah. Working to, you know, obviously shed some light on. The the biggest thing. Yeah. In the month of May, the biggest thing that, the biggest spectacle in racing as we call it.
Uh, I love it. People out there need to register for the mini
Yeah.
You guys are gonna definitely gonna sell out. I don't know. I don't know. I don't wanna put words in your mouth, but like, if there's,
you're, you're manifesting that I like
it. Right? Attend the parade.
Yeah.
The memorial on the Friday before.
Yeah. Kickoff to May.
Yeah. On April 29th. Yeah. Kick off
to May. Yeah.
April 29th.
Uhhuh,
what time?
11 to one.
I love it.
Monument Circle.
Uh, incredible stuff. We're coming to the end of the show. We have a couple fun questions all about the state of Indiana. Let's
do
it. This question is brought to you by our friends at JC Hart.
They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond. Check them out@homeisjchart.com My question for you. Why do you call Indiana home?
I was born and raised here and um, I think there was a period in my mid twenties when I left the Pacers to go to ExactTarget.
I was like, I'm gonna move out to the Bay Area or go work for pro sports team in Atlanta or San Diego. And I was still single, so that would've been the time to do it. But I ended up taking the ExactTarget job, um, stayed here, ended up meeting my wife. Now I've got four kids, I think to use like a farming analogy like.
When you're young, you're like, I don't wanna conquer and live in all these cities and whatever. Just travel. And I'm kinda like, you know what? I just wanna like plow the field that I've been given. Right? And it's like, not that, not that, you know, I'm not saying I'll never leave Indy, but I feel like I, I have to be a pretty compelling reason at this point.
I just feel like. I love this city. I love the state and wanna do whatever part I can to make it a great place for others, for my kids and my grandkids, Lord willing one day and just, uh, think we have a lot to offer. So,
yeah, it's like, I mean, do you spend your time searching the country for the most fertile ground, or do you just figure out how to make the ground we have here grow?
Yeah. And as you know, you can make a big impact here. Like, I mean, it's a meritocracy. If you're willing to put in the work, roll up the sleeves, you can. Meet whoever you wanna meet. I think if you're patient, you can get some phenomenal career opportunities. I'm living proof of that. And, uh, if you just play the long game, treat people right.
Be consistent. Do what you say you're gonna do, things will things, good things will happen.
Amen. Okay. What's your favorite Indianapolis 500 tradition.
We don't do this anymore, but I was fortunate early in my career to go to something called the Snake Pit Ball. Which was the night before the race at the Indiana Roof used to be a big deal.
It went away about six, seven years ago, but we might try to bring it back. So I don't know. We'll see. Pit ball, the snake pit ball. Yeah. So
I, I'm, I want to be involved
with it. Yeah. So,
well, I mean, it's, you do it the night before.
It's been the night before and then it went, it used to be called the Queen's Ball and the snake Pit Ball.
But I got to go, when I worked for the Pacers, I think some of my season stakeholders took me and I was like, man, this is like the night before the race. And you know, I didn't, I didn't. Know what all was happening at that time. That was a festival event or anything. But I'm like, I just remember being like, it's the, it's, it's sort of the culmination same day as the parade and I'm like, man, I'd love to bring that back.
So
people just built different back in Yeah. Maybe the Friday night, you know? Yeah. Like, I need a day to recover. If we're gonna go.
Exactly. We're gonna, but I think that's part of it. You're like so exhausted. Like, get the parade and let's hit the snake and then we're gonna, the race, it's just like
the
whole
nine yard part.
Yard.
Yeah.
Yard. Where do you spend race day?
We will be in our Tower Terrace suite. So the festival has a suite the entire month of May, which we're using for like our corporate members, our sponsors, um, our board will be there. So it's pretty cool. We actually, uh, all, if you're on the board, I think I'm, I'm in part of this as well.
We get to, um, drive on the track the morning of the race with like, each of the board members has their princess. They do a princess lap and then. We go in park and go to our tower Terra suite for or, so
that would be pretty crazy
to
drive the track.
Yeah.
Do you have a favorite driver?
Ooh, favorite driver.
So when I worked for ExactTarget. 12, 13 years ago we sponsored Andretti. This is 2013. Most of these guys are retired, but we sponsored Ryan, Ryan Hunter-Reay, he's still active, and then James Hinchcliffe and Andre, Marco Andretti, um, but a favorite driver right now. I don't know if I have a favorite right now. Yeah, I mean, I, I'd like to see Ryan, Ryan Hunter-Reay, maybe do something.
I know he's maybe getting towards the end of his career, but he's a great guy. Um. Yeah, my, my kids are getting really into it, which is fun to see them. Obviously polo is dominating right now, although there's a little bit more parody, but he is won two of the four races. I think he won the first, like five last year.
So absolute
beast. Like he, but
yeah, it's, it's fun seeing some of these young, new drivers kind of, kind of get in the game.
Okay. Final two questions for the day. First. Yeah. This is your opportunity to shed some light in part of Indiana that more people need to know about. Yeah. What is a hidden gem in Indiana?
I love going down to Sweetwater Lake. I've got a buddy that's, uh, got a house down there. We try to get down there a few times a year, just like 24 hours just to get away. It's just a small group of guys and kind of recharge. But Sweetwater Lake, which is in Nineveh, Indiana, just like an hour south. It's a great spot from a restaurant standpoint.
I haven't been here in a while, but I remember my first boss at the Pacer's taking me to Ralph's Great Divide. Have you been to Ralph's Great Divide Downtown? No. Oh man.
Ralph's
great divide. Yeah. Yeah. Also known as The Great Divide, but yeah, it's a, it's a little restaurant downtown, so check that out.
Whoa. What? What are we working with? Ralph's Great Divide.
Yeah.
What are we working with?
You've probably driven by it a million times there. Even sandwiches, soups, there's like, oh, all sorts of right by the interstate.
All right. Yeah. We gotta go.
Yeah.
Final question for you. This is where we get guest recommendations and learn about other people that are doing incredible things.
Who's a Hoosier? We need to keep on our radar. Someone who's doing big things.
Sarah Myer, Indiana Sports Corp. She been on this pod
She has not
been on yet. Okay. You better get her on. She's, um, yeah, we're similar age. I met her when she worked at the symphony. She's been at the Sports Corp for seven or eight years now.
She really ran the Swim Trials in 24. They're coming back in 28. She's chief of staff and strategy, so reports into Patrick Talty, but. Sarah's doing some, some amazing things other up and comers. Somebody I, somebody else I recently interviewed, his, his podcast is coming out here soon. Jason Vansickle, he manages the car collection at the IMS Museum, so it's kind of a, a big job.
You'd be amazed at how many of. Like the ones that they
own or the ones that they're like taking in off
of? Both. Both, yeah. Ones that they own, some that they dispense or sell. Um, you know, they've got some really exciting things. What job? Yeah. Like he's younger than me, like mid thirties. He's, um, but yeah, he's, he's a.
Car Nut grew up in Indy. And, um, just a, just a world that, like, again, I'm not necessarily some deep car guy, but learning from, from him and all that, the IMS Museum touches, I think they got several hundred cars in the collection. So thank you. Yeah,
Dave, appreciate you coming on the show. Yeah. Uh, appreciate all the work that you and the team are doing with the 500 Festival, with the Indy Mini, with the parade.
With everything going on, make sure that you check out the website, get all the dates, Kickoff to May, April 29th during the lunch hour,
11 to one Monument Circle
11 to one Monument Circle. We will see you there. Take it easy. We'll talk soon.
Awesome. Thanks Nate.
This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater.
Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at Sweetwater. If you want a behind the scenes look at everything we're doing across the state. Make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Nate Spangle.
Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hoosier State great. We'll see you next time here on Get IN.
