Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix--Friday Notebook
Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix
FRIDAY NOTEBOOK
SONOMA, Calif. - Thirty-five years ago in
1970, the late Ronnie Bucknum was a driver in the first IndyCar race
held at then-Sears Point Raceway.
This weekend, his son, Jeff, is driving an entry for A.J.
Foyt, his fabled No. 14, in the Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix at
Infineon Raceway.
"It is (special)," Jeff said Friday. It was just told to me
yesterday that my dad ran here and that was the case. Once I found that
out, it was special. Before I realized that, it was very special for
A.J. to call me to drive the #14 car.
"I got to test here in April with another team. When we came
here the setup was right, right off the trailer. So I feel real good
about where we're starting the weekend."
If Bucknum has a "home" track, Infineon Raceway might be it.
"The first three-day school I spent in a racecar was here
and Juan Pablo Montoya was in that school," Bucknum recalled. "Then I
raced the Skip Barber Amateur Series, then the Barber Dodge Pro Series,
Formula Mazdas and the last four years, the American Le Mans Series
here. This is certainly the track I have the most laps on and the most
races on."
Bucknum said of his father, who won the inaugural race at Michigan
International Speedway in 1968 for his only IndyCar victory: "He got me
started in go-karts but we really didn't talk about his career much in
those days. I'm looking forward to the day I race there (Michigan) for
that reason."
***
Many of the drivers in the IndyCar(r) Series and Menards
Infiniti Pro Series(tm) are veterans of the Jim Russell Racing School
based at Infineon Raceway.
Among them are Sam Hornish Jr., Scott Sharp, Tomas
Scheckter, Roger Yasukawa, Ed Carpenter and Bryan Herta of the ICS and
Travis Gregg, Marty Roth, Jay Drake, Arie Luyendyk Jr., Jaime Camara,
Chris Festa, Scott Mansell and Taylor Fletcher of the MIPS.
***
ESPN pit reporter Jamie Little attended the Jim Russell
Racing School three months ago and earned an SCCA license to compete at
Infineon Raceway.
"I may come back in November for a race," she said.
***
Seven members of the Andretti Green Racing Team and one from
Target Chip Ganassi headed to Twin Cities Speedway near Marysville
Wednesday night for Jimmy Sills Sprint Car School laps on the
quarter-mile, high-banked facility.
Participating in the off-day adventure were Kyle Moyer, Dave
Popielarz, Josh Freund, Chris Badger, Dave Sharpley, Jason Beck and Nick
Ford of AGR and Blair Julian of Ganassi.
"They basically gave us a short school and turned us loose,"
Popielarz said. "Kyle was fastest. I spun a bunch. But we got 35-40 laps
each. After the first 10 laps, we said it was worth the money right
there. We've done it a couple of times."
***
Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford is now
special projects chief of the IRL. He was also a participant in the 1970
IndyCar event at Infineon.
"I think I finished fifth," he recalled. "The race track was
a lot different then, more primitive. It's been refined to the point
that it's a real race track. Back then, it was kind of a black-top road
that wound around."
The era was one in which the then-sanctioning United States
Auto Club started taking Indy cars to road courses.
"Road racing is a different technique," Rutherford said. "If
you've been a dyed-in-the-wool oval racer, you can't attack a corner in
road racing like you can on an oval and you have to learn that. I was
kind of an 'in-betweener,' because I did win a road race at Mid-Ohio in
'80 and finished second at Watkins Glen. I think the worst I ever
finished at Riverside in four tries was sixth.
"Then the European and South American road racers started
showing up and some of us went back a little. Some of our guys like
Mario (Andretti) and Al (Unser) hung in there and held a good account,
though."
