The track is carefully manicured as though the green of the 18th hole at McHenry Country Club. The pits are organized and ready for racers to pull in for a quick change of tires or repairs from a minor collision with a competitor. The drivers have carefully dressed in preparation for a possible crash. And then there are the cars – sleek, ground-hugging IndyCar rockets that make the 500 one of the most anticipated racing events of the year.

IndyCars run twin-turbocharged 2.2-litre V6 engines that will hit speeds of approximately 240 mph. That’s why the crews are so diligent in assuring that the track is clean; hitting a piece of debris on the road at 240 mph can be, well, problematic. 

The roads we drive with our street machines lack the luxury of crews that sweep the pavement before you go. And though we don’t hit those speeds on Route 120 in McHenry, hitting an object in the road can still cause problems. Just multiply the 35-mph speed limit by seven and it’s not hard to imagine the potential impact on your ability to maintain control.

As mentioned before, ‘then there are the cars.’ An IndyCar comes with a crew of specialized mechanics, led by a crew chief, to keep it in tip-top condition. These are luxuries many drivers also lack.

The Indy 500, after all, is an endurance race. It’s physically taxing for the driver requiring their full attention 100% of the time. It’s also physically taxing for the vehicles. If there’s a weakness – if something isn’t quite right – a few laps at 240 mph is liable to expose it. That exposure may reduce the team’s chances of winning the race. In the worst case scenario, a problem with the IndyCar could create a dangerous situation on the track.

Fortunately, there are auto repair technicians who will keep the cars in our McHenry driveways in safe and reliable driving condition. But it’s up to us to use them. If an Indy driver chooses to pass up a recommended pitstop, they could find themselves in trouble. When then, are ‘pitstops’ recommended for us?

Fortunately, we have a schedule in our glove boxes that help us know when to make a ‘pitstop.’ It’s called the Owners Manual. And if we follow its recommendations, we’ve made a good start. But we can do more. If we hear a noise or feel something unusual while driving, we should check it out. And, if we don’t know, we should bring it into the ‘pits’ at our trusted auto repair shop.

Beyond that, if we have the right auto repair shop, a repair shop in the McHenry area we know we can trust, they’ll check out vehicle out when we bring it in for basic maintenance. They’ll look the vehicle over, even if we’re only there for an oil change or to have the tires rotated. 

We’re not driving in the Indy 500, and that’s not an IndyCar in our McHenry driveway, but we still want safe and reliable transportation.

This year’s Indy 500, the 107th Indy 500, is May 28.