Indiana native Chase Briscoe said if he were single, he would probably run the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 double, but now that he’s a husband and a father, he doesn’t want to risk getting hurt.
“It can happen, obviously, in a Cup car, too, but I think adding that risk is something I’m just not willing to do right now,” the father of three said. “Even that same reason is why I kind of stepped away from Sprint Car racing as a driver. I don’t want to get hurt.
“I’ve had a lot of buddies get hurt and paralyzed here lately. Like I said, it can happen in a Cup car but just adding that risk to me is just not worth it right now.”
Briscoe admitted a start-and-park situation in the Indianapolis 500 appealed to him, but he knew that scenario wasn’t a reality.
“I would love to do the pre-race, do the driver intros, the ride around, do the pace lap, take the green flag and I’ll just pull-down pit road and watch the race,” Briscoe said.
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Chase Briscoe practicing at the Brickyard.
Briscoe admits he always watches the Indy 500 as well as every practice, tuning, and qualifying. However, he never possessed an inching desire to compete in the prestigious race.
“I don’t know, for whatever reason, I think I’ll just be the first one to admit that I’m not man enough to do it (race in the Indy 500),” Briscoe said. “I don’t want to wreck at 240 (mph).”
A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association’s sports feature category. During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication’s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.