It's Community Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the garage area is packed. Teams are rolling out their backup cars for display while children examine them excitedly. One of them looks into the Kelley Racing garage, searching for her favorite driver, Sarah Fisher.
The pit lane is nearly empty. Sure, the media pit stop competition is taking place right by Gasoline Alley, and down the pit lane some historical cars are on display, but there is little action on the pit row.
Doug Kindig is one of the few men on the pit row doing work. Kindig is preparing Scott Sharp's pit for race day.
This was not what Kindig was planning when he graduated Ball State with a degree of marketing in 1991, but he is happy.
Love for the Speedway, and racing in general, started young for the Indianapolis native.
"I've been going since I could walk, I haven't missed [an Indy 500] since then," Kindig said. "[The Indy 500 is] the most important race. That was the race I dreamt of winning as a kid. Back then I wanted to win as a driver, but I got to the point where I knew I wasn't going to win as a driver, so I thought the next best thing would be to [win] as a crew member."
Kindig didn't get into racing right after college. After graduation, Kindig traveled to Colorado and put his marketing degree to work.
Kindig's first experence as a crewmember at Indianapolis was in 2000, working as a volunteer for Andy Hillenburg's team. By 2002 Kindig was working full time in Indianapolis for Kelley Racing. He is hoping that his work with Kelley Racing will lead to more opportunities.
"Everybody, to get into the sport, needs to pay their dues to get into the sport," Kindig said. "[Everybody needs] a good personality and a good work ethic to move up."
Kindig is in charge of transportation for Kelley Racing's No. 8 Delphi Car, which carries several responsibilities.
"Doug's a very a important part of the team," team manager Paul Harcus said. "He not only works long weekends, but he also works longer than everyone else. He starts the weekend off with driving the cars to the track, and then he sets up the pit areas. He's responsible for bringing all the stuff in the pits, he builds all the wheel guns we use on raceday and he just stays very busy."
Kindig may not stay at Kelley Racing for too long, though. Eventually he would like to put his degree to use again.
"I'm having a great time," he said. "My goals, at this point, are to continue my knowledge of racing and use my marking degree and get involved with a team or the league with a marketing or sales position and use my degree."
Still, Kindig doesn't see himself leaving the racing business any time soon.
"My goal is to still be involved with the racing, but to be able to apply my business knowledge and my racing capacity," he said.
Kindig's one regret is that he has not come back to Muncie more often. The last time he visited Ball State was the 2002 Homecoming game. Kindig wasn't there on pleasure, either. He brought a show car to the stadium for Kelley Racing to promote the sport.
"[Ball State's] a great university, I learned a lot and had a great time," he said. "Unfortunately, with our schedule I don't get to come back home as much as I'd like."
Perhaps Kindig will advance to the levels of other Ball State graduates like David Letterman, who co-owns a team with 1986 Indy 500 champion Bobby Rahal and 1994 graduate John M. Lewis, who serves as senior director of the Indy Racing League.
"He's got a great attitude, a hard worker and in racing those are two things you really need to be successful in this sport," Harcus said.
Kindig is the first person at the track for Kelley Racing, and is working from the moment he arrives to the moment he leaves.
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