IndyCar For Kids: Andretti, IndyFest Step Up

As you may know, I am taking my daughter to her first full IZOD IndyCar Series race weekend this June, when we make the trip up to Milwaukee for IndyFest and the race at the legendary Milwaukee Mile. Now, when I bought my daughter's ticket about a month ago, it was $24 (high in North Terrace), plus $25 for her paddock pass. Given how much she'll enjoy it and how much she's looking forward to the event, I didn't feel too bad paying for that.

However, last week, I received an interesting email from the good folks at Andretti Sports Marketing:

Hello,

Thank you for purchasing tickets for the 2013 Milwaukee IndyFest. We're really excited about this year's event--the racing will be great and the infield will have more rides (all free with infield admission), attractions, and fun. I did want to give you a heads up on pricing--we have decided to lower the prices of Junior tickets in order to make it more affordable for all families to enjoy. Here's the best part--we owe you a refund!

If you paid by credit card, we'll refund your card, if you paid by check or cash at the box office, we'll need you to swing by to pick up your refund and get your new Junior tickets. When you get your new tickets in the mail, discard your old tickets--these are your tickets for the race. For print at home tickets, please print the new Junior tickets and toss the old Junior tickets.

Thanks again--I look forward to seeing you at Milwaukee IndyFest. Please tell your friends to come along!

About an hour later, I received new tickets for my daughter--her North Terrace seat was now only $10, and her paddock pass was free. I received another email explaining a $39 refund had been returned to my debit card.

You could have knocked me over with a feather. It's rare to get a price adjustment after purchase on anything, and here I'm going to end up saving about $40 on our trip to the Mile. More importantly, Andretti Sports Marketing and Milwaukee IndyFest have taken a really great step to make this event more affordable for families with children.

Really, IndyFest should function as a fantastic introductory IndyCar event for the kiddos. There are rides, concessions, a race that's easy to watch and follow, with plenty of seats with high visibility. I absolutely love what Andretti is doing here, especially with Turbo due out in theaters this summer.

I know I've talked a lot about INDYCAR ensuring they're as family and kid-accessible as possible, but here's Andretti Sports Marketing actually doing something about it. Huge kudos to them for their effort and the positive steps they've made to promote and support this race.

So if you have a family, nieces, nephews, grandkids, close family friends, etc., I hope you'll consider taking them up to the Milwaukee IndyFest this June. Tickets are affordable, and the overall trip should be manageable for most folks, as well. Remember, Champion Crew Conversation can get in you in a good hotel for $59/night--that's tough to beat! I'd love to see some sort of organized event or meetup there for the kids and adults. This is the sort of accessible event at a truly historic, important track that deserves our support.