Touring the ‘home away from home’ for Conor Daly & Rinus VeeKay at IMS ahead of the Indy 500

INDIANAPOLIS — Step inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and you’re bound to find an IndyCar driver.

They aren’t always suited up and inside a race car, but many of them basically live at the track the entire month of May.

Most of the drivers, like Noblesville native Conor Daly, choose to camp out the entire month in the coach lot.

“It’s perfect. It’s literally everything that you need when you have a hot day at the track you come in here and it’s cool,” Conor Daly said “These days are so long and so busy it’s good to have a home base to relax at.”

The drivers, their families and even pets all stay at the track during one of the most exciting months of their year.

These aren’t just ordinary campers, these coaches have all the bells and whistles.

With large kitchens and bedrooms , comfy furniture and fully stocked fridges, it’s an experience the drivers say they soak up to it’s fullest.

“This is better than Christmas, better than new year, better than birthdays all wrapped in one,” Daly said.

Daly gave WRTV’s Kaitlyn Kendall a grand tour of his coach.

Touring Conor Daly’s camper ahead of the Indy 500

Even though he lives in Indianapolis, he chooses to camp at the track where he can get the most of his experience during the month of May.

Daly’skitchen is fully stocked for his friends, who are local, to come out and enjoy the track too.

“There is something about coming back here, because you can interact with everyone and have a great time,” Daly said.

He says it’s all part of the month of May experience.

But it isn’t just the camping – the drivers also hang out between racing and practices.

From dinners together to fishing trips and more, it’s like one big family camping trip – without the tents.

“Being together with all of the drivers and spending time with each other that you normally don’t because were always busy doing stuff. It’s nice to have that bit of brotherhood between rivals,” Rinus VeeKay said.

As one of the younger Indy 500 drivers, VeeKay’s enjoys the fact that he can bring his family along. His parents travel with him and he says it’s nice to have that piece of home while you’re on the road.

“It is nice to have my parents around her they always come to all my races,” VeeKay said.”I am 22-years-old, I need my parents and it’s nice to just have them around me all the time.”

Veekay also gave WRTV a tour of his coach, check it out below.

Touring Rinus VeeKay’s camper ahead of the Indy 500

The coach lot is a bit of an oasis, a home away from home for the drivers.

“It’s nice to kind of have a home to get away from that whole crazy racing business, sit down and have lunch with my parents,” VeeKay said.

VeeKay says it’s nice to have an opportunity to build a camaraderie among competitors. “We are race car drivers but outside the race car we still need to blow off some steam and let the mind wonder around a bit.” said.