Next up is the grand-eloquent heir to the throne and owner of a Firestone Indy Lights team, Lauren George. Currently a freshman at the University of Notre Dame, Lauren has impressed with her straight-forward blogging that gives readers glimpses of The Family, and sparkling Twitternality (Tweeting personality). And I can tell you sheeeeee's on it below as well.
So let's rock and roll, Racing Royal Family style ...
pressdog: Bestest Christmas present ever:
Lauren: Hm, I can’t think of a Christmas gift that I have been given that really sticks out. I have been given some pretty epic birthday presents, though! (An Indy 500 program from the year I was born, signed by Rick Mears. And Dixie gave me his helmet!) But at Christmastime I really get more into giving than receiving…honest!
I become obsessed with finding the perfect gifts for people. I think it’s also a competition thing, actually. I could tell my brothers felt outdone last year when my mom opened her present. I think I almost got tears out of her, and that is not an easy thing to do! It was the ultimate gift giving success.
pressdog: Best part of Christmas when you were a youngster?
Lauren: Growing up we spent Christmas out in Colorado -- just the five of us. We’re a close-knit little unit and it was great to get away and just spend some relaxing time together. And it was nice to have a white Christmas every year!
pressdog: Talk about Christmas with the Hulman/George family. Is it going get a little weird especially after recent events? Do you all posse up for a great big deal or each have your own?
Lauren: We have always done our own thing. Like I said, we used to go to Colorado, but now that we stay in Indy these days, we still maintain our own family traditions. I’m sure we will go visit my Grandma on Christmas or her birthday, which is the 26th.
pressdog: Tell me about your sparkly quarter midget. Did you drive it? Why did you stop? What became of it? Ever think of doing some driving like Ed?
Lauren: Oh gosh, I am never going to live this down with my family. I actually feel pretty bad whenever someone brings it up. I guess Ed spent a good deal of his summer working on it-- it was beautiful! Sparkly blue with a pink number 6 (my age at the time). I had a purple and pink suit. I definitely looked the part, but for some reason or another I never actually ran it.
We went out to practice one day but I didn’t even get going. I honestly don’t remember why. I can’t imagine that I was scared… I was probably just being a brat that day. I regret that. I don’t really think I would have pursued it professionally, but it would have been fun to try.
It was also right about that time that I got interested in another form of horsepower -- I started riding horses and eventually I was riding competitively, so I never really thought about racing after that point. I guess it worked out for the best, at least for my mom. She wouldn’t have liked having all three of us racing.
pressdog note: Since her memory was foggy, Lauren connected me with Ed Carpenter to get the "whole story" about what happened to the sparkly quarter midget. And Ed told this tale:
Toward the end of Ed's quarter midget racing days, he got the idea to make Lauren a quarter midget. A "quarter midget" looks like a midget sprint car only one quarter size, hence the name. They're basically go carts with a midget bodies on them. Many racers, including Sarah Fisher, got their start in quarter midgets at a very young age.
Ed got a car from a friend and got it pained like Ed's car but with some pink accents, got the fire suit and helmet all made and took it out to the fairgrounds to get Lauren going on it.
"We started it and she was pretty freaked out by the sound," said Ed. "So we turned it off, took the chain off and pushed it around the track to get her comfortable." So imagine Ed and others physically pushing a non-running quarter midget sprint car around the track with little 6-year-old, sparkly fire suited and helmeted Lauren strapped in at the wheel so she could get comfortable with it.
"Well that's about as comfortable as she ever got," said Ed. "It was a lost cause, so we sold the car. That's where her driving career began and ended."
pressdog: Do you read all the responses to @IAMLaurenG on your Twitter stream? Does anything in there that shock/disturb you?
Lauren: Of course I read them all! Nothing too disturbing yet. After one of the TweetUps someone said that Danica needed to move over because I’m the new hottie of the paddock. That made me laugh… I just don’t see myself ever being asked to do a Maxim spread. Other than that I get some pretty entertaining ones from friends, but the Vision fans keep it pretty clean and classy.
pressdog: Movie that always makes you laugh:
Lauren: Driven. It’s so absurd that it’s funny. I especially like this scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuxY4G0E-HQ I am always secretly hoping for this to happen at an IZOD IndyCar party… unfortunately our show cars don’t usually have engines. Or fuel. Or a number of other parts that I am sure are necessary for spontaneous street racing.
But as far as movies that were actually intended to induce laughter… Liar Liar is great. And I generally watch Christmas Vacation 10-20 times throughout the holiday season. It just never gets old.(pressdog note: OMG. Christmas V action is one of my all-time favs. See Christmas traditions below.)
pressdog: Now that you have been at Notre Dame for a while, what's your favorite and least favorite part of college life?
Lauren: That’s a tough question. I miss soft laundry. I feel like my clothes always end up crispy here. I should probably learn to do laundry properly at some point. The hardest part is that I have yet to meet someone who cares about racing. It’s all about football here. I am sure someone is out there, but I haven’t found them yet. My mom suggested I put out an ad, but I told her that may seem a LITTLE desperate.
There are lots of great things about college life, especially being at ND. One little thing that brings me a lot of joy for some reason is the waffle iron in the dining hall. It has the Notre Dame logo molded into the center. I always feel very official while enjoying a Notre Dame waffle.
pressdog: Do people at ND look at you like "George, hmmmm George family? I'm not real familiar with them ..." or do people recognize the whole IMS thing? Is that good or bad?
Lauren: Oh, they have no clue! It doesn’t really come up. That’s a good thing most of the time, especially after this summer. I needed to get away. But racing is definitely on my mind a lot of the time, and sometimes I find myself with nobody to vent to. Fortunately my racing friends are only a phone/skype call away, so it’s easy to get my fix. I was actually thinking I should start a Notre Dame IndyCar club… maybe that will come to fruition at some point. There has to be someone around here who can carry on a conversation about IndyCar. I did see someone with an IMS shirt the first day of classes… but I haven’t seen him or his shirt since.
pressdog: What's your major so far?
Lauren: Business has always been the plan-- Notre Dame has such a great program. It’s exciting to be in class and constantly have racing in the back of my mind. I am always thinking of how what I am learning applies to our sport.
That said, I have many other passions so I am also planning to pursue a double major or minor in Peace Studies. If I have time I’ll try and study some more Art History. I’m studying Italian too. There are just too many things I want to learn about! I don’t think I’ll have time for it all, but then again I guess I’m not in a huge hurry. Shoot for the moon, right?
pressdog: Is there still controversy over the whole Heather's cleavage blog post?
pressdog note: From Lauren's blog of 7/24/09: "Speaking of babes, even while on best man duty, Ed still couldn’t keep his eyes of his own bride. In the middle of the ceremony, he leaned over to me, nodded at Heather across the aisle, and whispered, 'Lauren! Look… at Heather’s…boobs!' "
Ed claimed Lauren pulled a journalist and took it out of context. Ed said there was a pine needle or some such on wife Heather's cleavage. And, since she was holding/standing with their daughter, Makenna, Ed feared for Makenna's safety from said needle. Lauren responded with an eye roll. The controversy still rages. Read Lauren's entire blog post HERE.
Lauren: You know, it hasn’t been brought up lately. I should throw something controversial into one of these to get him going again…
pressdog: Top of Lauren's Christmas wish list this year (no fair saying "World Peace" or "a FIL sponsor for James"):
Lauren: An IICS sponsor for Ed? I guess you won’t let that count either. Hmm… the only things I have asked for so far are gloves, scarves, and hats. I am not prepared for a Michiana winter!
pressdog: Do you have a real Christmas tree or a fake one? How do you feel about holiday decorations? Griswold or minimalist?
Lauren: Fake. My mom is allergic to pine, which is unfortunate considering it’s one of her favorite scents! But you can call me Clark W. Griswold, Jr! I like my house to feel like the North Pole. That has been one of the hard parts about being away at college, I feel like there’s no time to get into the Christmas spirit. But I was happy to come back after Thanksgiving to find that my roommate had put up twinkle lights! We were meant for each other.
pressdog: On New Year’s Eve, are you more likely to be the designated driver or drive-ee?
Lauren: Well at my age (18), the driver, of course! To be honest, we have spent the past several New Years’ in Montana, so there aren’t many places worth driving to anyways! We usually just hang around the house and relax. This year will be one of my first New Year’s in Indy for a while. I don’t have any plans yet, so we’ll see.
pressdog: During holiday family times is there a bunch of racing and IMS chit chat or do you guys find other things to talk about? What dominates the discussion?
Lauren: We don’t actually know how to talk about anything but racing. Sometimes one of us will bring up another subject, but the conversation manages to find its way back to some form of motorsport within 37 seconds or so.
pressdog: What does the significant-other, James Davison (pictured with Lauren, left), want for Christmas (no fair saying World Peace or "a FIL sponsor.")?
Lauren: If you asked him I bet he would tell you an IndyCar test or a sponsor for the 500. Other than that, he would say nothing. And he means it --he’s simple like that. That is one of his lovable qualities, but it also makes it hard on me during Christmas.
I don’t think I will ever be able to top last year, though! He loves the early ‘90s Delta Force Indy 500 Intros with Paul Page commentary (he knows them word for word!), so I had some help from IMS Productions with editing the 1992 intro to include clips of James. He loved that… but I don’t know where to go from there. He is back home enjoying an Australian summer and visiting his family for the holidays, so at least I have some extra time to come up with something good.
pressdog: Any special holiday traditions (for example, my family always watches Christmas Vacation on Christmas Eve)?
Lauren: We’re big on traditions. Even though we are all growing up things stay pretty much the same. On Christmas Eve we open one present each -- and it’s always pajamas. Then in the morning Ed is usually the one to wake me up to go down and see what Santa brought us. (Yes, Santa is real.)
The boys and I like to stretch out the present opening process for as long as possible, so we usually start slowly and then take an intermission for my mom’s world famous biscuits and gravy! Then our favorite present comes at the very end -- a photo album documenting the whole year, starting with last year’s Christmas until the present. It’s great to look back on all of our great memories throughout the year. Our mom puts a lot of work into it and it really means a lot to us.
When we started staying in Indy for Christmas a few years ago we went to see a movie on Christmas night. We have done it every year since. (In fact, I would like to take this opportunity to tell my family that we are going to see Sherlock Holmes this year, and it’s not up for debate.)
Well done, Bill. You too, Lauren. And a pox upon all you who read this -- enjoyed it -- and didn't say as such. You're common thieves, you are!!
Posted by: Roy Hobbson | December 16, 2009 at 07:39 PM
I really like Lauren, and like this Q&A. Thanks to both of you!
Posted by: Sue | December 16, 2009 at 09:26 PM
LG does it all! She's just so genuine. I saw her several times at Mid-Ohio this year: having fun with her girlfriends and then later talking racing with Mike Hull. The future of Open Wheel in North America is in good hands.
Posted by: Tom | December 20, 2009 at 10:49 PM
Ahhh. Ms. George is must be looking in the wrong places for the IndyCar fans. Well, okay, including myself I only know 2.5 fans in the area but, we still exist!
I guess seniors and freshmen don't run into each other a lot!
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