Indy Week 1 Recap

Back at Indy finally.  The build-up and anticipation to the month of May is like nothing else in racing, this is what being an IndyCar driver is all about.  Coming off a strong 2008 Indy 500 with a 6th place finish and ‘Rookie of the Year’ honors in one of the strongest rookie fields to date; I was really looking forward to getting back to IMS with the experience gained from ’08. 

I started out the week with a an IZOD photo shoot, then a round of golf at the Brickyard Crossing with IZOD’s Mike Kelly, IZOD photographer Troy Plota, IndyCar’s very own Brian Gordon and IndyCar Series Marketing folks.  It was a pretty good day and I went home with some lunch money from the round, being closest to the pin on a few holes paid off! 

Now down to business, from the get go we struggled to get the speed out of the car.  I was pretty happy with the balance of the car, except for too much exit push, but for some reason we were about 2 mph shy of where we needed to be.  Unfortunately this trend continued as we improved balance and took the down-force off the car as we were getting closer to qualifying trim.  It was really tough at times looking at the speed charts to see my name down near the bottom, keeping company with some entries that should definitely be a ways behind us.

One thing is for sure, since arriving in Indy I’ve been extremely busy.  The days on track are long and hectic, and once we wrap up the engineering debriefs it’s off to different appearances each night.  Wednesday of last week until now seems to just blend into one, that’s Indy.

Pole day came way too fast!  Over the previous day’s practice the 20 and 21 car teams worked closely together to pull the set-ups of the two cars in the same direction.  This definitely helped our overall balance.  After not having a teammate in ’08, it was nice to experience the upside to running two cars.  Despite our improved balance though, we just weren’t seeing the speed increase we were fully expecting.  We spent lots of time pouring through data comparisons from the two cars and for some reason we weren’t coming up with viable answers.  There was no need to make an attempt on pole day; we had our eyes set on Sunday when positions 12-22 would be locked into the field. 

Sunday morning the 20 and 21 cars rolled out for practice on identical settings and we were both trimmed to the same qualifying downforce levels, this session was going to be the true comparison.  Overnight we made changes to our set-up that Ed liked and found speed with, so I was really feeling optimistic heading into practice.  We completed our run with a lap of 220.6 mph with no drafting.  This was definitely an improvement for us, but for some reason we were still hanging around the bottom of the charts.  Ed went out on track for practice and on his second time by the start/finish line he turned a lap of 222.4 mph all alone.  Looks like we held steady on our speed deficit to our teammates and it was back to the engineering room to go through all the data.  Once again, the answers we were looking for just weren’t coming to us.

Ed and the 20 crew did a great job in qualifying their car in the 17th position at 222.7 mph.  I was happy to see them locked into the field with a solid starting position.  Ed and I work closely together and I always want to see him do well, even if I’m struggling.  

Following a qualification simulation run the entire team was very unhappy with I had a Versus microphone in my face shortly after removing my helmet.  I was asked why we were struggling, and I really wasn’t sure how to answer the question because to be quite honest I didn’t know!  The engineers could hint at a few reasons, but there wasn’t anything that was completely adding up. 

I answered with something to the tune of:  “I’m extremely frustrated and have no idea what the reason is for our lack of speed, we have some ideas, but unfortunately those answers just aren’t available to us right now.  If I were to give my reasons it may not be politically correct.  I’m not sure we have the resources to immediately fix the problem.  I just don’t know”.

Well as you could imagine that answer was interpreted in many different ways.  I know better than to answer with a response that is open for interpretation, obviously I was frustrated.  So I’m going to clear it up for those who care to understand.  What I meant is basically this:  We are all professionals here and we can’t put our finger on the exact problem for some reason.  Ed and I are running identical settings on the cars, but I’m slower by 2 mph over the entire lap.  Does that touch a nerve with Honda?  I don’t know and I don’t want to find out, I don’t think it’s an engine issue at all.  I have slightly less front grip at exit than Ed, but we are both running identical settings.  Does that touch a nerve with Firestone?  I don’t know and I don’t want to find out because I don’t think it’s a tire issue.  In a tough situation I’m trying to be as P.C. as possible.  What I meant by the “resources” comment is that I don’t think we have the resources to throw everything, including the kitchen sink at the problem right now.  Tony Kanaan could not get within 2 mph of his teammates, he takes Marco’s car for out for a 5 lap spin and he’s as quick, if not quicker than any of them.  Why?  I have no idea and nor does he!  The very next day he rolled out in a brand new car and posted the speeds he was expecting.  This stuff will drive you crazy!

I hope that clears up at least some of the confusion.  I’m extremely passionate about my racing career.  It consumes everything I do and it is the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think about before I go to bed.  I know what we’re capable of here so it’s gut wrenching to go through such hard times.  As they say… “that’s racing”.

Monday was a nice break from the on-track action as I took part in the annual Indy Family Foundation Charity Golf Tournament, which benefits the Benevolent Fund of Motorsports.  This program is set up to aid drivers, crew members or anyone in the racing community should they be injured to a point of needing financial assistance.  It’s a great cause and I am a strong supporter of the IFF.  My foursome included Tony George, friend Jim Thompson as well as Mike Kelly from IZOD.  The tournament was a best-ball format and we wound up solidly inside the top five with a score of ten under par.

Back to business….

Yesterday we rolled out our test car, 21T, as we continue to try to put our finger on the elusive solutions to our problems.  In that we are using the 20 car’s settings we thought it would be good to get Ed in the car to not only see what speed he could get out of the car, but to be sure the two cars at least feel similar.  This is definitely one of the benefits of having a great teammate who is willing to help.  Unfortunately, the feedback we received from Ed wasn’t encouraging.  He confirmed my issues and concerns that I have been vocal about over the past week.  Ed was only able to turn a 217.7mph lap speed, again near the bottom of the speed charts.  Now we faced the unfortunate truth that the two team cars are, for some reason, very different and are not transferring set-up data efficiently.  We then underwent very lengthy changes in the garage hoping we could find something that would close the gap.  After another very long day I was only able to turn 22 laps.  Again, we spent most of the night in the engineering room. 

Honestly, I’m confident we’ll solve some of these issues and I’m even more confident we’ll have a good handling race car out there during the only thing that matters in May, the 500 mile race itself.  When the green flag flies qualifying doesn’t matter, practice doesn’t matter, it’s a new game. 

Make no mistake, Vision Racing has given me the equipment needed to be very competitive just as we have shown earlier this season.  I have praised this team and still do for what they have accomplished in such a short amount of time, not many teams could put a deal together in five days and be sitting fifth in points three races into the season.  Vision has done that and they have done so because they are a very professional organization.  We haven’t lost our way. We have our sights set where they need to be and we’re all confident things will turn around very soon.

I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for some decent weather over the next few days. 

Until next time….

RHR