Team IndyCar Takes on “The Amazing Race” – Week Four

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor

The 30th season of the CBS reality show “The Amazing Race” is underway and this season’s cast includes 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***

Leaving Morocco in second place, the teams were instructed to fly to Nice, France and then self-drive themselves to Saint-Tropez for the first Road Block of Wednesday’s double episode that would be comprised of the fourth and fifth legs of the race.

The Road Block was named “Who’s ready to break wind?” and one member of each team would have to sail a tiny dinghy around a course to retrieve clues on two different buoys before returning to shore. Rossi elected to take on the Road Block, keeping the team in second place despite losing some time by having to sail back out a second time after returning with only the first clue.

From there, the Detour awaited and teams could choose to either make 50 baguettes (“Bread”) or make a pair of sandals (“Tread”). The two elected to make the baguettes, powering through the task and staying in second place.

Before being able to check in with host Phil Keoghan at the pit stop, teams were faced with the second Head-to-Head of the race. Like before, two teams would face-off against each other with the winner getting to check-in at the pit stop, while the loser was forced to take on another team.

This week’s Head-to-Head was a game of Pétanque, in which teams would throw metal balls in alternating turns, the closest to the pin wins. For Team IndyCar, Daly was able to get closest and Team Extreme was never able to best him, leading to an IndyCar win and as a result making them the first team to check in. With their first leg win under their belt, Rossi and Daly each won a $5,000 prize.

The fourth leg would finish with the teams in the following order: IndyCar, Big Brother, Extreme, Chomp, Well Strung, Yale, Firefighters, and Ocean Rescue. Team Slam Dunk was the last team to check-in and this time around, the NBA stars would be eliminated from the race.

First win of the year hahaaaaa That felt good. @AlexanderRossi and I will be hosting games of #Petanque all week. @AmazingRaceCBS #IKEAfurniturePaidFor

— Conor Daly (@ConorDaly22) January 25, 2018

Leaving the pit stop in first place after an overnight stay, teams set out on the fifth leg of the race in the second of the two episodes.

From Saint-Tropez, they would head 120 miles inland to Chateau des Baux in Les Baux, France.

Once they arrived, Daly, ever the comedian, said: “I’m from Indiana for a reason. They call me Indiana Jones. I can check off walk through a castle city at 4:30 in the morning off my bucket list.”

“It’s actually pretty bad ass,” Rossi added.

Unfortunately for Team IndyCar, the location did not open until 8:30 am, allowing the other teams to catch up to them prior to the Road Block.

This go around, it was Daly’s turn to take on the Road Block (“Who wants to go medieval?”), a task that would see one team member build a catapult, while the other was locked up in a stockade on the sidelines. The Road Block was once again the Achilles’ Heel for Team IndyCar as Daly struggled with the building task, dropping them all the way to the back of the pack by the time he finally had it built to the proper specifications.

Teams would then head over to the Café de la Fontaine, where they would receive their next clue.

Once there, a Detour awaited, with teams getting the choice to head to a bull fighting stadium, where they were to search among 100 replica bulls for red, white, and blue ribbons (“Full of Bull”), or solve a puzzle of a famous Vincent Van Gogh painting (“Colorful”). Rossi and Daly chose the former, completing the task in short order and moving back up the leaderboard to fifth place by the time they left the stadium.

The only thing that remained was a trip to Hotel Benvengudo, the pit stop for the fifth leg of the race.

Team IndyCar would keep their fifth-place position all the way to the check-in mat, staying alive in the race for another week.

Week 4 Standings

1. Team Ocean Rescue
2. Team Extreme
3. The Firefighters
4. Team Yale
5. Team IndyCar
6. Team Big Brother
7. Team Well Strung

ELIMINATED: The Ring Girls (Leg 1), Team Goat Yoga (Leg 2), Team Slam Dunk (Leg 4), Team Chomp (Leg 5)