So as a friend once told me, there are those little boxes in life you just need to check off ... did that - check! Did this - check! Go to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the most famous race track in the world, spend two days lapping it at high speed on motorcycles, under the watchful eye of MotoGP legend, Kevin Schwantz - check!

Since first hearing "Gentleman, start your engines!", on ABC's Wide World of Sports during its first live broadcast of The Indianapolis 500 in 1965, "Indy" has meant something very special to me, and the world. I was 10 years old then and can recall about 10 years later in the mid 70s, my first visit to what is known as "The Racing Capital of the World". It's a huge facility where the passion and history of motorsport, blend perfectly into a heart pumping shrine! It is said at 1,000 acres, the facility could hold Vatican City, Wimbledon, Churchhill Downs, Yankee Stadium, the Roman Colosseum and the Rose Bowl. As you wrap your brain around that for a second, note that four holes of The Brickyard Crossing Golf Course next to Indy, actually lie in the race track's infield and trust me, they barely make a dent in it's foot print.

My "pinch me! - I know I'm dreaming" experience, came to reality via Kevin Schwantz, a talented racer whose connections plugged this whole thing into the closest wall socket and lit us up! Today, Schwantz' schools, now usually done at Barber Motorsport complex in Birmingham, Alabama, raise riders' abilities in a race track setting. Indy was in a sense, an extension of his school and an amazing opportunity even for him.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is most famous for its 500 mile race, with open wheeled cars lapping the 2.5 mile oval at speeds reaching 240 mph! But in 1994, Indy starting hosting a 400 mile Nascar race and then in 2000, construction took place to create an infield track to allow for a Formula One event. The infield track still used the speedway's famous front straight although the F1 cars ran this 5/8th of mile straight backwards or clockwise compared to the Indy car's counter clockwise course direction.

The F1 events ended in 2007, but in 2008 the Speedway hosted its first MotoGP event considered the pinnacle of motorcycle racing world wide. Actually, the first things to ever race at the speedway were motorcycles in 1909, although they only used the speedway portion of the track. MotoGP, while using the infield portion, does use the main straight in the same counter clockwise direction as the Indy cars. It is that monstrous main straight that will put a lump in your throat, lined with it's massive double decker grandstands and start/finish line made using some of the 100 year old bricks, the "brickyard" was originally paved in. There's a lengthy list of the most famous names in motorsport history that have crossed it in victory and many became famous just for doing so!

While our 150 mph top speeds on that straight paled to that of an Indy car, the drop into turn one was still a bit like sky diving and hoping you didn't meet God on the way down! The rest of the 16 turn circuit was filled with technical, late apex turns on asphalt that only gets used once a year. Which by the way, is the real reason we were there, as preparation for the Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP race held the following weekend on August 30th.

The straight itself doesn't get used much either, but it had the most interesting diamond cut surface, fascinating to see up close. After two days of wearing a smile, great food and unlimited access to this incredible place, a new memory of Indy has been firmly cemented into my mind, one I will never forget. That box now has been checked and many thanks go out to Kevin Schwantz and his great team of people. For more information, go to Schwantzschool.com.