INDYCAR theme fills day for 'Adventure Women'

Valentina Martinet attempts to maneuver tire and air gun in a fluid motion. It’s not a record time, but she’s ecstatic by completing the task.

“That’s hard,” she exhales, raising her arms as if crossing the finish line of a marathon.

The videographer whirls around to capture the tire change exhibition in the Andretti Autosport shop by the four women who star in the Italian TV show “Donnavventura” (Adventure Women). The group, which includes a ski instructor and architecture student, was selected to tour the United States for four months.

Their dolce vita will be edited into 10 hour-long episodes starting in January 2014. The show, which is viewed by more than 3.5 million each week, is in its 25th year. The group began their “extraordinary adventure,” as described by Michela Gazosi, in New York.

“We are discovering this country and we drive every day for long distances but it is exciting,” said Gazosi, who also was a member of the 2011 Indian Ocean adventure team. “In New York we went on a cruise of the Hudson River and saw Manhattan from the sky (helicopter tour). We then went to Amish country (in Pennsylvania). They are a little shy. Then we went to South Bass Island in Ohio. We toured the island and it was very relaxing.

“We changed completely by coming here with the Indy cars.”

The women began their INDYCAR-themed day training like the race car drivers at PitFit Training before visiting the Andretti Autosport shop, which included the tire change demonstration. Their adventure was made complete with a behind-the-scenes tour of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and pace car rides on the 2.5-mile oval with former Firestone Indy Lights driver Anders Krohn behind the wheel.

“I have never gone that fast before,” Martinet says. “I closed my eyes a few times, but it was a great adventure.”