Omaha Productions brings Peyton’s Places to Indianapolis Motor Speedway
“I’m telling you, P, you took a wrong turn.”
Jeff Saturday is sitting next to Peyton Manning, with Waze giving directions in the background: “Turn left, and then, turn left.”
“It’d be pretty silly if this place didn’t have parking,” Manning said. “If we have to go around this thing 500 times before we get off, I’m gonna be hot.”
The camera zooms out to show Manning and his longtime teammate driving around the track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
And, we’re off — a new episode of Peyton’s Places, with a uniquely Indiana flavor.
Manning says that in 13 seasons in Indianapolis, he learned that Hoosiers love three things: “Basketball, the Colts and the Indy 500.” He’s always wanted to race a car at the Brickyard. Now, he’s got his chance.
Only, it’s not what you’d expect. He and Saturday approach a garage and unveil … is that a Colts football helmet on wheels?
Time for a history lesson on the helmet buggy — what Manning calls “one of the finest pieces of automotive machinery America has ever built.”
The helmet car debuted in 1971 and was football’s version of the bullpen car in Major League Baseball. Manning says California entrepreneur Joseph Baker wanted the “ultimate sports car” and hired the makers of the Batmobile and Knight Rider’s KITT to build it.
The cars served numerous purposes, from marketing gimmicks to an injury cart. Super Bowl XII featured a helmet car parade.
This is the behemoth Manning is going to race. His has a Colts logo. Saturday’s has a Houston Oilers logo. (“I spent 13 years blocking and protecting you,” Saturday said. “This is how you repay me? The Oilers? You could’ve gotten me a Weiner Mobile.”)
Manning hits the track in a racing suit with his many sponsors (“the closest I’ll ever get to having tattoos”) and Saturday is sporting a “Bum Phillips look” — complete with a cowboy hat and jacket. They’re greeted by Pat McAfee, who’s waving the green flag.
“Don’t get surprised on Turn 1,” McAfee says. “You’ll hit it at maybe 12 miles an hour with some heartburn after a shrimp cocktail at St. Elmo’s. Turn too early, you’ll run out of room on the exit and crash. Turn too late, you’re part of the wall.”
And they’re off — very, very slowly.
They jostle along the way, trading the lead back and forth and occasionally bumping into each other.
“Jeff, you’re driving pretty reckless now,” Manning says. “If you want insurance, I know people.”
Eventually, there’s a photo-finish, with McAfee waving an orange and white checkered flag.
“It’s a photo-finish,” McAfee says. “And, the winner is, by a facemask…”
We won’t spoil the ending for you.
The episode debuts at midnight Sunday on ESPN+.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Omaha Productions Peyton's Places comes to Indianapolis Motor Speedway
