On Sunday the young Spaniard Alex Palou Montalbo took his first championship at 24 years old in his first year with Chip Ganassi Racing and second year in IndyCar. From the very beginning of the season he was on form, winning the season opener, finishing highest among full-season racers at the big-points Indy 500, and scoring eight total podiums in the 16-race season (three of them wins). This week the phenom took his trophy back to Indianapolis to celebrate at the series’ namesake race track.
As part of that celebration, he was allowed to drive any vehicle of his choosing around the famed circuit. At 24-years-old what car might you have chosen to drive around Indianapolis? A Lamborghini or maybe ZZ Top’s Cadzilla? While Palou has already run at Indy twice, in excess of 200 miles per hour, he chose a more sedate lap to celebrate his speed. A limousine decked out like a giant chicken.
I feel like this deserves a little more explanation. As it turns out, Palou’s favorite way to celebrate a victory is with a bucket of the good old American favorite, fried chicken. He is quite literally the winner winner, who enjoys eating a chicken dinner. Having grown up in Spain and spent much of his recent racing career running in Europe and Asia, I don’t imagine he had much of an opportunity to enjoy such a distinctly American dish following his prior Super Formula and GP3 victories. This must be a new tradition.
While The Chicken Limo is vaguely reminiscent of 1990s Trans Am ace Tommy Kendall’s El Gallo Grande, I don’t think there is actually any relation between the two. If you check out chickenlimo.com, you’ll see the bizarre and unique company operates in Indianapolis and Jacksonville, Florida. [They also offer a Hippo-themed party bus, the aptly named Hippopartybus.] Instead of being chauffeured around the track in the lap of Chicken-based luxury, however, Palou chose to drive the limo at a pretty quick pace around the 2.5-mile rounded-off rectangle race track.
It must be so much fun to be the IndyCar champion. Good for him. You go get your chicken, bud! You deserve it.
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