Sam Stall, Freelance Journalist Profile

Articles

Ask The Hoosierist: Indy 500 Pace Car Driver

2 weeks ago | indianapolismonthly.com | Sam Stall

Q: Do the Indy 500 pace car drivers get any training? A:Piloting the pace car is a big honor, but it’s no walk in the park. Celebrity drivers, including Colin Powell, Guy Fieri, and 2025 pick, NFL analyst Michael Strahan, must parade around the 2.5-mile oval with 33 Indy cars close behind, then pull into the pits before the race starts. And they do it in front of a massive crowd watching their every move. Given the high stakes, it’s miraculous only one guy has ever choked.
Speed Read: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum

2 weeks ago | indianapolismonthly.com | Sam Stall

This museum started out a much more modest affair. Its first iteration—a nondescript building at 16th Street and Georgetown Road—opened in 1956. It possessed only a handful of cars, but soon donations of vehicles and other memorabilia broadened the collection. In 1976, the museum moved to its current location, a 96,000-square-foot, two-story building on the track infield. The big challenge was doubling exhibition space in the same footprint.
Indiana Offers Plenty of Minor League Sports With Major Fun

1 month ago | indianapolismonthly.com | Sam Stall

Indiana’s plethora of minor league sports teams occasionally offers some road trip-worthy, major league entertainment – from a car race so hazardous that crashes are literally part of the program, to a three-day salute to Indiana’s official unofficial sandwich. May 9The Evansville Otters celebrate their 30th anniversary this night. What better time to visit their vaunted stadium, Bosse Field?
Motorsports legal conference exploring immigration issues, racetrack gambling

1 month ago | theindianalawyer.com | Sam Stall

Listen to this story 0:00 0:00 Loading audio file, please wait. 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00 The lawyers attending The Racing Attorney Conference, or TRAC, in Indianapolis this week are, as the name implies, specialists in the small, highly rarified field of motorsports.
The Hoosierist: Renting In Indiana

1 month ago | indianapolismonthly.com | Sam Stall

Q: Out-of-town investors are scooping up Indy-area houses to rent. Where is the problem worst? A:It’s getting particularly bad in Lawrence and on the east side, but just like black mold, you’ll find it almost everywhere. In Greenwood, Noblesville, and McCordsville, developers have gone so far as to build entire communities made up of houses destined to be rented.
High school debate teams seen as path to recruit new lawyers

1 month ago | theindianalawyer.com | Sam Stall

Listen to this story 0:00 0:00 Loading audio file, please wait. 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00 It would be perfectly understandable if attorney Mike Langford, professional mediator and one of the owners of the Mediation Group in Indianapolis, wanted to spend his free time doing something as different from his day job as possible.
John Green's Latest Diagnosis

2 months ago | indianapolismonthly.com | Sam Stall

INSTEAD OF producing another devastatingly quirky novel along the lines of Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns, or his breakout The Fault in Our Stars (which has sold some 30 million copies, making it one of the 21st century’s most popular books), he has released a nonfiction volume under the auspices of Crash Course Books, his new imprint from Penguin Young Readers.
Speed Read: Indiana Gerrymandering

2 months ago | indianapolismonthly.com | Sam Stall

At the beginning of each decade in Indiana and 43 other states, the legislature redraws the districts that elect members of the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as state representatives, using the latest census data. The reason (at least the stated one) is to make sure each district contains a roughly equal number of voters. Almost since the dawn of the republic, state political parties that have held the majority have drawn boundaries in their favor.
The Hoosierist: Up In The Air

Mar 5, 2025 | indianapolismonthly.com | Sam Stall

Q: How much power does Indiana get from wind? A:It may be eye-opening to learn that we get roughly 10 percent of our electricity from eco-friendly wind turbines. But it’s likely less of a surprise if you’ve seen the kaiju-sized structures bestriding I-65 for miles through Benton, White, and Jasper counties.
The Hoosierist: Rough Patch

Feb 14, 2025 | indianapolismonthly.com | Sam Stall

Q: I reported a huge pothole on my street to the Mayor’s Action Center more than a month ago. Can I just fix it myself? A:Your frustration is understandable. At the end of winter in Indianapolis, we all want to search “fix a pothole” on YouTube. That said, this is not a DIY project. Turns out, the Indianapolis Department of Public Works frowns upon private citizens taking matters into their own hands.