The Paddock Storyteller: Decades of IndyCar Coverage & Insider Tours with Mary Bignotti Mendez | FanAmp Fast Lane

Mary's start in motorsports

#1. How did you get into motorsports and what was your early career like?

My name is Mary Bignotti Mendez. I go by my maiden name in the middle because it's a famous name at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway because my dad was a very successful chief mechanic. He had seven Indy 500 wins starting with A.J. Foyt in the early 60s. He had Graham Hill win in 1966, came over from Formula 1, and then Al Unser Sr., won back-to-back races in '70 and '71, Gordon Johncock in '73 and then Tom Sneva in '83 and he was 70 years old about that time and he decided to retire.

So I really started going to races to spend time with my dad once he retired, because he was away a lot when I was growing up and he was a consultant for mobile oil. At some point in the early 90s, having volunteered in timing and scoring and went to a handful of races a year, the team of Doug Shierson Racing in 1990 hired me to be their team scorer because they saw me at the track, they knew me. So I ended up scoring for Arie Luyendyk and Scott Goodyear and Arie won the race in 1990 here at the Indy 500. So I actually have one that I can claim I was part of.

I actually was a volunteer for a while in timing and scoring. I would be assigned a race car, and every time that car took a lap, you'd have to write down, there'd be a digital clock, and you'd write the number that lap finished, and then you have a whole score sheet when you're done. That didn't last very long. They made me write a log of every race control report. So I did that for a number of years and then I was hired in 1990 by Doug Shierson.

I started in '92 working as a spotter, was what they call it, assisting an announcer for the radio broadcast. I worked with the radio network for a while, and they actually gave me a stint with the microphone of being a pit reporter. So I did that for another handful of races.

I've worked with the television pit announcers, and I've been up in the booth. Even here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, they used to have a trailer on the roof. And that's where the TV broadcast booth would be. It a great place to watch. But what I would be doing as a spotter is listening on a scanner to what the driver team communications were. I'd be writing notes and then passing the notes to the announcer, either in the pits or up in the booth.

Around 1997, I think, was the year that Honda wanted the race teams to come and race in Japan, because they had built a racetrack in Motegi and I decided to go to that race. Not because it was a race, but because I wanted to meet my airline mile status. In doing that, I had been working as a pit spotter for Ned Wicker, who owned IndyCar Magazine. I asked him, "Well, hey, I'm going. Do you want me to write a story?" And I had never written a racing story yet. And he said, "Well, go ahead, write a story and we'll take a look at it."

That was my first story published, and I had several others published. Chris Economaki had me write some stories for Speed Sport News. But I could see that there weren't that many opportunities to write. There were other people submitting stories. And so I didn't get to do one that often.

So I thought, "Well, I have to find another outlet." And I happened to go to the IndyCar race in Toronto, Canada and there was a magazine sitting there. And I picked up this magazine. And I wrote a story about two Canadian drivers. It was about Alex Tagliani and Patrick Carpentier and had quotes from them and just emailed it to the editor and didn't hear anything. A week went by and I thought, well, they probably don't like my article. So there was one other publisher in Canada and I sent an email saying, "You won't hurt my feelings, but I wanted to see if you had any interest in that story." And they said, "yes, we're going to publish your story. And by the way, we want to hire you."

So that's how I got started writing for Inside Track Motorsport News. And I think I've been writing for them for about 25 plus years. So it worked out well. I do try and cover and attend all the IndyCar races in the 17 race season. And it's a real privilege to be able to speak to the drivers and get to know them, get to know their personalities.

#2. What else do you currently do at the track with motorsports?

The other thing I do at the track is I do tours for the corporate hospitality programs. A company invites a lot of VIPs and we actually take them to see a race car up close and explain the technology. We'll maybe bring them to the Firestone tires, have them learn about the technology involved in making the tires and take them out to pit lane, explain the strategy and what happens during a pit stop, maybe take them to technical inspection. So there are a number of places we can take them and the whole tour takes a good 45 minutes to an hour but the guests are so appreciative.

When I first started doing these tours and IndyCar racing was really popular in the 90s, I think I counted up the Long Beach Grand Prix and I think I had 25 tours, which I didn't do all by myself. I had people helping me because it didn't take very long for me to realize that on a race morning, everybody wants a tour at the same time. You have to fit it between the race and their lunch and there was that magic hour that everybody requested. So I can tell stories, which is really great, to entertain the guests and to make a point or to actually illustrate something based on what a driver has said that I can remember.

Yeah, well, you know, that wasn't the team that I was really doing the tours for, but I like to give them a little bit of everything because you never know when that's going to become an important topic.

Mary's current role

#3. What is your current role and how would you describe it in a sentence?

I provide a lot of informative information so that people really get that behind the scenes effect, almost like looking under the hood, so that they will have an understanding when they actually watch the race what's going on. It's not just the car going by.

#4. What does your day consist of when you're at the track?

It depends on what day it is because a lot of the races are road course races and that's usually a three day weekend so you know Friday there's a practice we usually have a bullpen where bullpens are kind of fun because it's everyone you know.

We'll have the bullpen where divided by category of the different, like they'll have the radio people, the TV people, the local journalists, and then the internet journalists. And so you're kind of in little section. And then as the driver comes up to talk to you, you have five to 10 people all trying to ask a question at the same time.

It's almost elbows out like on the racetrack, but everybody's pretty cool about it. So you get the time with the drivers and then it might be time to grab lunch and then you have this actual track session. On Saturday, usually there's another morning practice and then there might be qualifying, I might be doing a tour in between. So the day goes by very fast. Usually on race day there's a warm up of 30 minutes on a road course where the drivers get a final practice session and then I might have one or two tours, it's like grab lunch if you can and then go into the actual focus on the race itself and observing that.

#5. What are the most rewarding and the most challenging aspects of the job for you?

Rewarding
The most rewarding, I think, is working with the people that you come into contact with. And you might not even know the effect you have on them. But it seems to be a very positive experience for them and for me, because I get them coming up to me and thanking me for the tour. I know they mean it from the heart, because I know they learned a lot.

Challenging

The most challenging might just be traveling, especially the way the season is scheduled, there aren't a lot of breaks like we've had three weeks between the first four races and there will be a break after this Detroit race, then we have a weekend off but then it's almost non-stop until the end of the season and to have the stamina, that's going to be a little difficult.

#6. What are the top 3 qualities that enable you to succeed in your role?

Curious

That's a good question. You know, some people think because of my family heritage, what I know, I've learned from my dad and that really isn't necessarily true. I mean, if I had a question I could go ask him, but most of stuff I've learned by asking questions, by being curious, you know, maybe knowing some of the people on the teams if you ask.

Outgoing

Yeah, I'm an outgoing person. And I found it interesting when I would be with my dad, like a lot of times once he was retired, but he was working as a consultant going to races, we'd go out to dinner together. And if there was somebody in racing, I would say, "Hi, how are you?" and I had no trouble starting a conversation. And he used to say to me, "Well, you've got quite the gift of gab." And see, I realized later that he admired that because he didn't have that comfort level of being outgoing.

Interested

I just enjoy it. I don't know how it came about that I was born into a family that was involved in racing, I've really taken quite, as you can see, the interest in it.

Mary's advice

#7. If you could go back, talk to your younger self, and give any advice about your career path to where you are today, is there one thing that you'd go back and say?

I don't know that I would do anything that different. It's kind of evolved. I would have never expected it to end up doing what I'm doing. I did work for television for number of years, and you get to a point where you don't want to be running up and down the pit lane in the heat. You get older, and maybe it's better for someone younger to do that. But I was probably doing that up until my 60s. I don't know that there would be anything that I could think of to do differently.

Doors open for me, in the sense that, I was asked to work on a team as the team's score. And that really then was the first time I went to all the races. You meet people and in the racing community, it's like a big family. You do make connections, you do make friends, and it's kind of a unique environment.

#8. If you could give one piece of advice to someone looking to follow in your footsteps what would that be?

I know a lot of people have an interest in racing. They think, this is cool and they find the excitement. I think it's something that you have to be very persistent at in order to find your way. And there are people that maybe find internship positions and start that way.

They have to start out at the lower ranks and work their way up to get that experience, I think is, it's much easier to get in at a lower level. You know, be educated, and study in school and get your degrees or whatever, because I think that helps a lot.

Mary's career highlights and favorite moments

#9. What has been your favorite moment from all the years you've spent at the track?

I might have to think about that. I'm not sure what would be my favorite moment. I think Arie Luyendyk winning in 1990 was pretty spectacular because that was my first time with a team working and then to have them win, I might say that was the highlight.

#10. What is your favorite track to give a tour at?

Well, it's hard to beat the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But if it wasn't Indianapolis, I would say maybe Laguna Seca. It's the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. It's a really nice track.

Greg: What is a fun fact you like to tell on that tour?

There was the pass for the win, I don't remember what year it was, I'm going to say '96, where Alex Zanardi passed Brian Herta going through the corkscrew. And he actually got all four wheels off the track. And then, you know, it's a blind turn coming down a hill. And he went to the inside, completely went off all four wheels on the last lap, and then came back on the track and Brian was behind him, so he got in front of him, came down, took the checkered flag.

Technically, the way I would look at it, if your four wheels aren't on the racing surface, then you're out of bounds and the officials would have not allowed that win to happen. But they were not paying attention, I guess. I don't know. I mean, they were getting ready for post-race activities. And I think it caught everyone by surprise. I remember Alex Zanardi saying that he went off the track in practice I think on friday, and realized that was a possibility so then when he was trying to Brian he actually made that he did it intentionally to go off the track in order to pass him so that that that was think one of the more memorable things they call it "The Pass."

#11. Bonus: What makes the Indy 500 so special?

For someone like me who's been coming back for 48 years, you know, the thing about the Speedway is, I mean, I can remember showing up here having been away for a while. And even one time they had winter media, content days they call it, where you get to interview the drivers, but there's no track activity.

And I can remember just parking and walking out and just getting chills, like chills and the hair in the back of your neck standing up. There's no other place like Indianapolis. And the drivers will tell you it's such a big place, like when it's filled with people. It's totally different on race day than what you've seen so far. But I just don't think there's any other place like it in the world.

It's called the greatest racing spectacle in the world, but it truly is. So I would say I've always been very fond of this particular track.

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