INDIANAPOLIS — Conor Daly from Noblesville starts on the inside of Row 7 Sunday in the Indianapolis 500. On Tuesday, Daly turned some hot laps on a smaller track.
The IndyCar driver with the mullet under his helmet sat on the pole position at Fastimes Indoor Karting. Daly led several heats of kid racers with Type 1 diabetes, which he was first diagnosed with when he was 14. Daly is now 29, about to start his eighth Indy 500.
"This is where I started, in a go-kart, and you never know what happens next," said Daly. "But I hope that everyone has fun. I've never seen someone come off the track frowning."
Eleven-year-old Treyton Spurgeon, a fifth grader from Martinsville, climbed from his go-kart and took off his helmet to reveal a big grin, despite getting lapped by the pro.
"He passed me twice," Spurgeon said. "I tried to catch up to him, but I couldn't."
Daly invited about 20 children who share his health condition to Fastimes Indoor Karting for some hot laps and encouragement.
"He has diabetes while driving the car," Spurgeon said. "He figures out ways to keep his blood sugar up, so he doesn't go low during the race while he's driving."
"I'm still dealing with those day-to-day difficulties that any other kid would with diabetes," Daly said. "So that's why it's always important for me to try to relay that message like, 'Hey, you can do what you want.' It takes a little bit of work, it does, but you can do what you want to do."
"That's really important because people all the time, they're like, 'Can you do this? Can you have that?' I can have everything, just normal,” said 15-year-old Molly McCurdy, who just finished her freshman year at Plainfield High School.
McCurdy has a learner's permit — no driver's license yet — but she's learning quickly. McCurdy qualified for the winner's heat and turned the third-quickest lap of the session.
"I think it's a feeling of community, sort of," said McCurdy. "Like I don't see Type 1 diabetics at my school, so it's kind of fun that we got someone out here to gather all the diabetic kids."