Racing Against Time: Hospice Patient's Last Wish Fulfilled with Joyride Around Indianapolis Motor Speedway

64-year-old Douglas Smith is living with both prostate and lung cancer, but he's determined to make his final days full of memories. His caretakers at the Morning Light home are trying to turn his dream into a reality.

"Big box truck, down to a broken down lawn mower, I just like to drive," Smith said.

Smith grew up on the west side of Indianapolis, just a stone's throw away from the speedway. As a teenager, he came to love the renowned racecar driver Bill Elliott.

"You can't match the thrill of just being there and the feel and the roar of hearing it," he said.

When doctors gave him months to live and his caretakers asked him what he wanted his wish to be, as part of their Making Memories campaign, he had only one answer.

"It took me a couple days to come up with it, but my wish is to go to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and take a couple hot laps around in a NASCAR or an IndyCar, whichever one they happen to be running. I'd like to do both, actually," Smith said.

The home's Executive Director Madison Wood-Gonzalez and their team are trying to make it happen.

"I just hope that you realize that you are making someone's final wish come true," Wood-Gonzalez said. "Adults have wishes too. A lot of the time for our residents, this is one of the first times that they feel embraced by the community and that's what we're asking you to do, is to embrace this individual and help his dream come true."

More about Morning Light:

Morning Light is a free home for the terminally ill in Indiana. The team serves everyone, including the unhoused or low-income. It's the second largest home of its kind in the nation.