SPORTS

People's race car still in need of funds for Indy 500 run

Michael Pointer
michael.pointer@indystar.com
Skid, 5-year-old Australian Shepherd search and rescue dog, in the "People's race car."

Jill Reynolds sat in class every Wednesday in May while growing up on Indianapolis' Northside during the 1960s and '70s hoping her father would soon be arriving to take her to a "dentist" or "doctor's" appointment.

Actually, her father's normal off day from work was on Wednesday. He was picking her up to watch Indianapolis 500 practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was their little secret.

"I would just be like, 'Please God, let him come get me out of class,' " said Reynolds, now a retired special-education teacher living near Fort Collins, Colo. "It's May. It's the end of the school year. You knew there was action going on at the track. That's where you knew people were going."

Reynolds now volunteers as a search-and-rescue worker in Colorado and hasn't been able to attend the 500 for quite some time, but her family has had tickets for 50 years. But her feelings for the race still run deep. When she heard about the People's Race Car, she put up $100 and requested a paw print from Skid, the 5-year-old Australian Shepherd search and rescue dog she works work with, be placed on the car rather than her own name.

"It's just such a great idea," she said. "It makes you feel like you're still part of things."

The People's Car is the brainchild of longtime friends Travis Tetrault and Jason Godby of Indianapolis. They formed a race team called CuttersRT, a salute to the Cutters bicycling team in the movie "Breaking Away." (RT stands for race team, which also avoids any potential for copyright infringement, the two said.)

Go to cuttersrt.com, pay your $100 and you too can get your name on the car, which Tetrault and Godby hope to have ready for this year's 500. They are in charge of the fundraising. Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing will handle the car's set up.

The goal is turn it into a successful business venture while also building an appreciation for the race the two figured has been lost in recent times.

Signatures from a few of the early sponsors of the Cutters RT team, which is trying to raise one million dollars through collecting $100 apiece signatures, and hope to run the car in the upcoming Indianapolis 500, Monday, April 7, 2014.

"There's a lot of people that have complained through the years that the sport isn't like what it was in the '80s and '90s," said Godby, 39, the owner of Godby Heating & Air Conditioning. "OK, so what are you doing besides sitting in your mom's basement writing on blogs and complaining about it? Travis and I are trying to do something about it."

They need 10,000 donors to reach their $1 million goal. They say they are short of that, but declined to say how much. Donors also receive a t-shirt and towel. Tetrault said there have been many long nights in Godby's office stuffing envelopes.

"We're just mere spectators," said Tetrault, 38, who works in tech sales and residential construction. "We figured what better way to jump headlong into it and do something really unique."

It's an ambitious goal. Fisher has agreed to have no corporate decals on the car if the two reach their $1 million goal. (If they don't, she plans to run a second car anyway, but would use traditional corporate sponsorship.) Josef Newgarden will be the driver, CuttersRT announced on Wednesday.

"I don't know if they can do it, but good luck to them," Fisher said when plans were announced in February. "They have great entrepreneurial spirit."

Added Tetrault: "They're the experts at finding the drivers and engineers and getting a car to the track. We're just trying to raise the sponsorship money and get it qualifying."

Learning of the car also brought back wonderful memories for Kathie Mason.

She grew up on the Westside and now lives in Kokomo. Dylan O'Dell, her 22-year-old son, is a Naval petty officer aboard the USS Harry Truman in the Middle East. He remains a fan of the late Dan Wheldon. He's attended the 500 every year since he was 8 except for two years ago, when he was on active duty.

He seldom has a chance to come home, but he's scheduled leave this time so he can attend this year's race. His mother has what she thinks will be a nice surprise for him. She put up $200 to have his name inscribed on the car. Mason is asking her friends and anyone hearing about her gesture to avoid mentioning it to him.

"It's going to be emotional for him because I know what it is going to mean," she said. "I'm doing it not just because he's my son, but because he's a terrific young man. ... This is just to kind of honor him and all the sacrifices he makes for his country."

Tetrault (pronounced TET-trow) and Godby both say their goal is to make this year's race. If they don't, they will use the funds on a car next year. They are hoping to get more young donors, the type that may have missed out on some of the 500's longstanding traditions.

"We slowly developed it into understanding that it is a long-term approach," Tetrault said. "You can't expect greatness in year one is what we're learning. As much as you want it to happen, you're going to have adversity."

Reynolds, Mason and some others may shed a few tears of joy when it hits the track.

"You get that race ingrained in you," Reynolds said.

Call Star reporter Michael Pointer at (317) 444-2709. Follow him on Twitter @michaelpointer.