Team IndyCar Takes on “The Amazing Race” – The Finale

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor

The 30th season of the CBS reality show “The Amazing Race” is underway and this season’s cast included two IndyCar drivers, 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi and Conor Daly, among the 11 teams competing for the $1 million prize.

As the duo races around the world, we’ll track how they’re doing in the race and see if they can capture the checkered flag when all is said and done.

***SPOLIERS AHEAD***

After winning back-to back legs, Team IndyCar headed into the finale full of confidence that they could keep up the momentum over the final two legs.

From their start in Chiang Mai, Thailand, teams all flew to Hong Kong for the penultimate leg of the race.

Once they arrived, they would have to travel to Victoria Peak, where they would get their next clue from the photographer at top. Rossi and Daly arrived at the location first and left first.

They would next face a Detour, with their options between tying up 50 crabs in the middle of a downpour (Hairy Crab) or taking a food order at a restaurant in Cantonese, while the other team member had to decipher the correct dish (Grub Grab).

All but one team chose the crab task first, including IndyCar, but Rossi and Daly quickly realized how long that task would take and swapped to the restaurant task instead, falling to second place by its conclusion.

The Road Block awaited teams next, with Daly electing to perform the challenge aptly named “Who Wants to Get Smashed?” To complete it, he would have to smash old electronics with a bat to find two halves of a clue.

From there, they would have to go to Lan Kwai Fong and search the street for signs that correlated with a particular leg number. Once they had the correct numbers, they would have the combination to the briefcase handcuffed to Rossi’s wrist, which contained the location of the pit stop, where the final three to continue on the race would be determined.

Unfortunately for Rossi and Daly, they weren’t able to figure out the combination in time and their race came to an end a lap short of the finish.

Though they weren’t able to snag a podium finish, Team IndyCar can still hold their heads up high, having walked away with three leg wins and some prizes in the process.

“There’s a lot of things I’ll look back on with huge positive memories,” said Rossi. “The Amazing Race was something pretty special. Very rarely do I get to be in such a competitive environment outside of the race car. It was an honor to meet these people and race with them.”

Final Standings

1. Team Big Brother
2. Team Yale
3. Team Extreme
4. Team IndyCar – Eliminated Leg 10
5. Team Ocean Rescue – Eliminated Leg 9
6. The Firefighters – Eliminated Leg 8
7. Team Well Strung – Eliminated Leg 6
8. Team Chomp – Eliminated Leg 5
9. Team Slam Dunk – Eliminated Leg 4
10. Team Goat Yoga – Eliminated Leg 2
11. The Ring Girls – Eliminated Leg 1