Josef Newgarden – Getting Settled In

Dublin, Ireland (October 25, 2008) – Today Conor and I headed to his grandmother’s house after celebrating one of Conor’s cousin’s wedding celebration. We had a great time during the ceremony and the events that followed later in the night. Once we arrived back in Dublin it was time to get some lunch. Conor and I walked down to the new mall that was located literally right next to his grandmother’s house. We headed inside, had some lunch and walked around for a bit to kill some time.

Once back at the house, Conor’s grandmother and his aunt offered to do some laundry for us, which was extremely nice of them. We went through our bags and took out everything that needed to be washed.

Another great thing about Europe is their TV. Over here they have tons of channels that are specifically for racing programs. They show everything, whether it’s F3 or Formula Ford – it’s really great stuff.

Conor and I both didn’t want to watch TV all day, so we called up Peter Dempsey (Cliff’s son, who has been racing this year’s Star Mazda series in the U.S.) and asked if anyone had plans for the evening. Peter knew of an indoor karting place that was built recently and asked if we wanted to go. Of course we were in, so we made the plans and got ready. Peter and one of our mechanics, Bob, picked us up and we headed back to Peter’s house to grab some helmets. When we arrived at the Dempseys’ residence, Michelle, Peter’s mom, made us dinner which was excellent and really nice of her. She has always looked out for us during the race weekends when we are hungry.

It was getting close to our scheduled time at the karting track, so we headed out with our helmets in hand. This track was built in a warehouse and the surface was extremely slippery. This made for some fun racing and big power slides. The karts used were actually from Michael Schumacher’s indoor karting track and were kept up nicely. Everyone did about 40 laps for practice and fun and then lined up for a “grand prix” race. The race was about 10 laps long and was a lot of fun for everyone. I could get used to living in Europe!