FORT WORTH, Texas – When in Texas …

That was Simona De Silvestro’s philosophy when she walked in to Billy Bob's Texas on June 6 to learn the rudiments of line dancing. Instructor Wendell Nelson whirled the KV Racing Technology driver – wearing cowboy boots – around the dance floor following the weekly 45-minute session.

Learning to line dance -- a choreographed dance with a repeated sequence of steps for a group -- has been of goal of the Swiss-born De Silvestro.

“There was a full group of people learning, so there were a lot of people and it was kind of cool because you could kind of fall in,” she said. “I’m a terrible dancer, so I thought being in a line would be easier because you could look around and see what’s going on. But most of them were pretty confused, too. But it was a lot of fun.

“I’ve been looking for it for years now, since I moved to the U.S. I was like, ‘Man, I really want to do that once,’ and I didn’t know where to go, so to go there was really fun. It was a good experience.”

De Silvestro was sent home with a “cheat sheet” with outlined steps for her to continue her education and possibly to teach some of her fellow IZOD IndyCar Series competitors following the Firestone 550 on June 8 at Texas Motor Speedway.