When Verizon IndyCar Series driver Max Chilton leaves the paddock after The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on July 30, he’ll be walking out of a race for the last time as a bachelor.
Chilton and longtime girlfriend, Chloe Roberts, are marrying in Surrey, in southeast England, on Aug. 12 – two weeks after the Mid-Ohio race and a week before they return to the United States as husband and wife for the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway on Aug. 20. Coincidentally, they will be newlyweds in the Pocono Mountains, marketed in the 1960s as “the Honeymoon Capital of the World.”
While the views in the Poconos are beautiful, Chilton said, the couple will focus on his race after having enjoyed a short three-day “mini-moon” following their wedding.
Chilton, driver of the No. 8 Gallagher Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing, said he doesn’t have concerns about how the midseason nuptials will occur because Roberts has been managing arrangements with a wedding planner. The timing is necessary because the English weather is likely to cooperate with outdoor receptions only for a couple of months a year, he said.
The best advice Max said he has been given is that their wedding day will seem like it flies by and to remember to enjoy all its special moments.
“I don’t feel like I need any advice,” he said. “I feel like we’re perfectly matched.”
The couple met as children. Max can remember the first time he saw his future wife, who was 4 at the time.
“We’ve known each other since I was 6 and she was 4. I remember a couple of times we spoke, I’ll never forget it,” he said. “Her dad is an 18th- and 19th-century fine art dealer and we had gone on a Saturday to buy some art for the house.”
On the big day, Max will be in tails – a morning suit, he says. As for Chloe, “I’m sure she’ll look stunning.”
Max’s focus in preparation for their new life has been on getting their new house built in Surrey. A Georgian-style duplex, made of local brick with a slate roof in a lovely area, he said.
Once the wedding buzz dies down, the Chiltons have plans for a new project: Chloe’s art career. Plans are to build a website to sell her pieces, cloud paintings that are posted now on her Instagram account, chloeroberts323.
“She is doing the art side of things and I’m going to help her with the selling side,” he said.