Coming on the heels of the Trans Am Memorial Day Classic in Lakeville, CT, we wanted to keep the momentum going in establishing Armada Analytics as not only a premier firm in commercial real estate analytics, but also an ardent supporter of auto racing.
Earlier this month, we were once again proud to serve as the corporate sponsor of B2 Motorsports at the first Music City Grand Prix. Over the weekend of August 6th– August 8th, IndyCar came to the streets of downtown Nashville, offering three days of music, food, and the best in auto racing.
The clients who joined us, and know us primarily for our real estate underwriting services, were excited to learn more about our passion for racing.
The NTT IndyCar Series offered several events over the weekend, beginning with the TA2 series headliner on Saturday, and the race team sponsored by Armada.
Riding for B2 Motorsports was another up-and-coming racer, Franklin Futrelle, who took his first checkered flag on the TA2 circuit in Atlanta earlier this year.
Futrelle represented his race team and Armada well in Nashville: accelerating around hairpin turns and navigating the 2.17 mile course with aplomb, he finished 13th out of a field of 38 in qualifying.
Had he simply maintained his post position, we would have been impressed, but he managed to move up 7 positions, finishing 6th in Saturday’s race.
Many of Armada’s employees and our clients were inspired not only by Futrelle’s performance but the sheer size of the undertaking to construct a racetrack in the middle of a city as busy and congested as Nashville.
Since we know something about due diligence when it comes to building and infrastructure construction, we marveled in watching workers erect grandstands for the race late Friday and into the early morning on Saturday.
Compared to the TransAm Memorial Day Classic at Limerock, which centered on a TA2 series race as its main attraction, the Music City Grand Prix was a much larger event: racing fans, and Armada employees and clients alike, were treated to the music of country music stalwarts Brooks & Dunn, among other acts, along with a GTO race, featuring a number of high-performance luxury cars, and a Stadium Super Trucks race.
The latter showcased trucks speeding over ramps, and doing donuts on the track; the winner even removed this wheel at the end of the race, while performing donuts, to celebrate his victory.
All of these events were a preamble to the main IndyCar race, which took place on Sunday. Swedish IndyCar driver Marcus Ericsson, a former Formula 1 racer, representing Chip Ganassi Racing, would take the checkered flag, coming in a little over two seconds before his teammate, Scott Dixon.
After more than two hours of speeding around the track, Michael Fissette, who also attended the Memorial Day race at Limerock, was awestruck by the mental fortitude of all the racers he saw over the course of the weekend.
“When you spend your weeks assessing commercial property and real estate loans, it’s really a joy to escape to watch athletes such as these compete at such a high level,” Fissette said. “As I have become more familiar with auto racing, I have come to appreciate that driving 90 miles per hour inches from an interior wall requires both an immense amount of resiliency and skill. It’s really something to behold.”
Indeed, a large part of the objective of weekends such as we spent in Nashville, was to give our clients an experience that they wouldn’t otherwise gain from your typical corporate event.
Golf outings and retreats are great, but we at Armada find them no match for the excitement of attending auto sports events.
We plan on providing our clients with even more opportunities to join us on these unique once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
Photo courtesy of Chris Clark Photography
