Against the glittering blue backdrop of the Detroit River shining through the Renaissance Center's glass windows, and the sound of zooming cars completing lap after lap, hundreds of racing fans lined up for free autographs from their favorite IndyCar drivers.
The autograph signing is just one of numerous free activities at the 2024 Detroit Grand Prix, including the annual Comerica Bank "Free Prix" day to kick off the weekend on Friday. A sponsorship from Comerica Bank offers grandstands 1 and 9 to the public on Friday, but seven free viewing platforms along East Jefferson Avenue are also available to the public all weekend.
"Over half of this racetrack is open for free," Detroit Grand Prix Chairman Bud Denker said during a public address on Thursday. "Name me another location in any motorsports, football, baseball, basketball, or hockey that lets the crowd come in for free. And we do that here in Detroit. So, inclusiveness is very, very important for our communities and for everything we do here."
More:Here's what's free at the 2024 Detroit Grand Prix (freep.com)
Free Prix day allows even more people to come in and meet the revered racers with armfuls of any and all racing merchandise you could imagine — admittedly one of the highlights of the weekend, besides the actual races.
For Kyle and Jessica Breen-Bondie and their three kids, Sebastian, Luca, and Josie, all of Oak Park, Friday has been the only day they've been able to make it to the Grand Prix in recent years, even though they're such big racing fans that their sons are named after drivers.
"It's pretty much a staple for us to take Friday off of work and come down here. ... It's super special to be able to open it up for everybody to get a chance to see what it's like," Kyle said. "Motorsports isn't usually the most accessible thing but when it's brought downtown where all the people are. ... Most people don't even know how fortunate they are to be able to go to a race like this right downtown, 20 minutes away."
Even though his kids are young, Kyle says they all enjoy racing to an extent: Luca, the middle child, is especially into racing right now, while Sebastian would love to meet one of the five race car drivers that inspired his name, and toddling Josie in her black-and-white-checkered hair bows just likes to watch the cars fly by.
But for Kyle, now that Josie has joined the family on their yearly excursion, the best part is to have all of his kids with him at the races.
"Every year, I take the same picture. It started with me holding Sebastian in the grandstands on Belle Isle, but this year, I've got all three of them," he said.
For Luis Padilla and his daughter, Madison, of Brownstown, it's a very similar experience.
Padilla has attended the Grand Prix since the early 1990s, but in 2018, it became more of a father-daughter activity when Madison joined him.
"I would see him watching it at home and then one day it just caught my eye," Madison, now 21, said. "Ever since then we've watched everything together."
Through their years attending the Grand Prix, they've developed a tradition: take pictures with their favorite IndyCar racers each year, and then when they return the following year, have the driver in the picture autograph the photo.
Since 2018, the two have traveled for the Indianapolis 500 and other events, but despite the thrilling races and astonishing racers, Padilla says the best part has been making memories with his daughter.
More:2024 Detroit Grand Prix: Tickets, schedule, more (freep.com)
For others, like Veri Farrow, of Raleigh, North Carolina, it was their first time at the Detroit Grand Prix or any race.
"I've been into racing not long, a couple months, but it was very much like 'I fell in, now I can't get out.' Down the rabbit hole," said Farrow. "I saw a TikTok edit of Lando Norris to a Taylor Swift song, and I said, 'Who is that?' From there I found (Pato O'Ward), love Pato, and now I've just stuck with McLaren because I like all of their drivers. I'm a fan."
And truth be told, while many fans in line wore jerseys or T-shirts they'd bought in merchandise shops outside, Veri sported a shirt that said "I 🧡 McLaren."
On the other hand, Umair and Fuzail Ahmed, brothers from Troy, wore bright Honolulu blue Detroit Lions jerseys.
Not only repping their team, the brothers wore the jerseys in support of Nolan Allaer, a driver from Grosse Pointe who wears a Lions racing helmet.
"We're pretty new to this, but he's one of the ones we know because of his Lions helmet," said Umair.
"Whatever it is, we love the Lions, so we decided to match him," added Fuzail.
However, it was their cousins, Safa Kaladgi and her sister, Simra Kaladgi of Toronto, who dragged them to the Grand Prix.
Safa's fascination with racing goes back the furthest, she said: "I got into it 2020-ish, and if you ask anybody, we don't really know where it came from, it just went from zero to 110% really quick."
After years of Safa's begging, Simra joined in her sister's passion after the two attended the Indianapolis 500 last year. The two later started an Instagram podcast, and one of their favorite racers, Scott McLaughlin, took notice.
"He reposted us, so when we were just talking to him, he was like, 'Oh I actually remember you guys, you posted that video,' so that was really cool," said Safa. "And then Marcus Ericsson happened to remember me as well, and he's one of my favorites. ... The accessibility that IndyCar gets you is unreal."
There will be more free autograph opportunities on Saturday, June 1, with WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series drivers from 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. and with INDY NXT racers from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
