Amy Grant Recounts Her Wild Trip to the Indy 500 During a Stop on ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’
Amy Grant released a two-CD, deluxe edition of her breakthrough Heart in Motion album earlier this year, in honor of the project's 30th anniversary. On Monday (Oct. 18), Grant hit the stage of the The Kelly Clarkson Show to perform "Good for Me," a 1992 single and the first track on Heart in Motion.
But before she stepped onstage, Grant told show host Kelly Clarkson the bizarre story of how the "Good for Me" lyrics once got her invited to annual racing event the Indianapolis 500 — and why she probably won't ever be invited back.
It all started because of the lyrics in the second verse" "You like to drive like Mario Andretti / I like it taking my time..." At the time, Mario Andretti was a world-renowned racing driver, and both his sons — named Michael and Jeff — followed in his footsteps to become professional auto racers, too.
After hearing the shoutout to the elder Andretti in "Good for Me," the family invited Grant to the Indy 500, where all three family members were racing.
"They were part of the Paul Newman racing team," Grant recounts to Clarkson, adding that once there, she tried to be sensitive about all of the routines and customs surrounding racing culture.
"It's such a superstitious culture, and so I was trying to do everything right," she continues. "And the first Andretti crashed, like, part of the car came up in our box. And one had trouble — and then the third Andretti wrecked. I mean, like, it was the worst day in Andretti racing history."
"I've never been invited back. Like, ever," the singer sums up with a laugh. "But I am still singing the song!"
True to her word, Grant followed up that story with a rendition of "Good for Me," proving that the song's infectious beat and uptempo rhythms are just as catchy as they were when Heart in Motion first came out in 1991.
During her stop on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Grant also offered a health update on her recovery after having open heart surgery in 2020: "I'm better than before. It was like driving a car on a flat tire — and they fixed it."
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