The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio is annually held the last weekend of July or the first weekend of August, depending on how the calendar falls. In 2020, because of the Olympic Games, the race is scheduled for Aug. 16.

That is one of the last weekends of summer before it’s time to get the kids ready to go “Back to School.” That is why a trip to Mid-Ohio is special to the competitors and their families.

Tickets for the 2020 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio are now on sale. Be sure to click here for more information or to order tickets to one of the most anticipated weekends of the summer on the NTT IndyCar Series schedule.

Scott Dixon won his sixth Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio last July when the five-time NTT IndyCar Series champion started eighth and led 38 laps to claim the victory.

“It’s such a great family atmosphere and people camp and the people in the campgrounds, it’s just a cool place,” Dixon told NTT INDYCAR Mobile. “That is the vibe, too, because many of the team members bring their family with them, too. That is kind of cool to see what your parents do at the track and what kind of cars they work on. It’s nice to involve extra family members whether it’s grandparents, or kids or whatever direction. I think it helps generations stay in the sport and enjoy it at a young age.

“It’s a fun vibe. After the day is done the crew and drivers and team managers will cook out and you will go on your scooter or golf cart and cruise over to the other areas of camping and catch up with mechanics or friends who are camping out there. It has a really fun vibe to it that we don’t really see anywhere else. You get a little bit of that at Alabama but nothing like the crews who are so committed to staying there too.”

The drivers go through fan lines in pre-race, as Graham Rahal did in the photograph.

Also, drivers generally spend most weekends in their motorhomes in the driver/owner motorhome lot at IndyCar venues on the schedule. In larger cities, they may stay in hotels.

The crew members and other personnel, however, usually stay off premises at a hotel. But the large camping areas at Mid-Ohio allow many of them to camp out and bring their families for a fun-filled weekend getaway, just a few hours driver from home-base in Indianapolis.

“It’s cool, actually, because typically when you go to a race track you stay at the track in your motorhome and the team, mechanics and managers and engineers all go back to the hotels and you don’t have that time to chill out and chat,” Dixon said. “It’s nice to have that time at Mid-Ohio where just about everybody is camping. It’s a nice way to relax after a busy day on the track.”

That all adds up to why Mid-Ohio is one of Dixon’s favorite tracks and why Dixon is a favorite of the Mid-Ohio fans.