Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix--SATURDAY NOTEBOOK
SONOMA, Calif. - Crew, TV personnel and other
members of the Indy Racing League family engaged in a friendly karting
competition Friday at the Infineon Raceway Karting Center after the end
of the day's sessions for Sunday's Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix.
No "pro" drivers were allowed, although Thiago Medeiros sneaked
into one of the four-driver teams for a quick stint.
Although it was all in fun, that didn't mean drivers weren't
itching to go. Helio Castroneves walked out with a group from Marlboro
Team Penske. Sam Hornish Jr. also attended, along with Danica Patrick.
Bev Patrick wore her daughter's driver's suit and helmet. Teams
found various ways to do the required driver changes and handoffs of a
neck brace. And some didn't always "keep it on the black part," raising
clouds of dust and dirt from off-course excursions.
For the feature, Mari Hulman George, chairman of the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway Corp., gave the starting command, as she does annually
for the Indianapolis 500. IRL President Brian Barnhart awarded the
prizes.
The crew of Marty Roth's Menards Infiniti Pro Series(tm) team,
composed of Greg Patterson, Matt Schuett, David Milby and Steve
Erickson, won the competition. They listed Margaret Disher as "team
manager" and Roth, an Indianapolis 500 veteran, as crew chief.
***
Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears, dubbed variously as
"Rocket Rick" and "The Master of Faster," is on hand this weekend as a
driver-coach for the Menards Infiniti Pro Series(tm) and a support
consulting role for Marlboro Team Penske.
He said his career started at Infineon Raceway.
"I ran Formula Vees and Super Vees here when I first started in
the SCCA," said Mears, a native of Bakersfield. "In the early '80s, I
drove here when Ford started that Probe project with Zakspeed. It's a
fun track. I can't remember how many races I ran here.
"I like it because they kept all the basics....up the hill into
Turn 1, the Carousel, the elevation changes. They just retuned it and
kept the character of it."
When the IndyCars returned to road courses in the early 1980s,
Mears was one of the drivers who excelled, winning twice at Mexico City
and once at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) in the early going.
"I had to learn road courses more than the ovals," Mears said.
"The faster the track, the faster the corners came natural to me. The
street circuits and slower corners, I had to learn."
***
Michael Andretti stopped by the Comcast Media Center at Infineon
Raceway for a short visit with the media Saturday morning.
"It's going to be track position that's king here....good
qualifying and good pit stops," Andretti said. "It's a great track but
difficult to pass. I think we have as good a shot as anyone else.
"I think it's very important to the series to come to places like
this....St. Pete (Florida), The Glen. Hopefully next year we'll be
adding more. I'd love to see some of the good popular events...some
street circuits. I think it'd be good to eventually get to that (half
ovals, half road courses)."
He was asked about whether special drivers might be brought in by
teams for road courses, similar to some in NASCAR.
"No, we want drivers who can perform on both," he said. "I raced
here in 1983 (in Formula Atlantic). Obviously, they've changed a lot
since then. It's a very unique place, unique layout, elevation changes.
It's really fun to drive."
About Danica Patrick, Andretti said, "I think Danica's been
fantastic for it. Because of her, a lot of people are seeing the rest of
us."
***
Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser, the grand marshal for
the Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix, finished third at Infineon Raceway
in the last IndyCar race here 35 years ago.
"It's been so long ago....I remember I didn't win the race," Unser
said. "We should've. We made a setting before the race that was not
happy, so I couldn't run with Mario (Andretti) or (Dan) Gurney. It's
still a beautiful place. The racetrack's almost the same. There's some
blind spots in it like a good road course. I even ran a USAC stock car
race here."
That season was unique in that championship races were held on big
ovals, small ovals, road courses and dirt ovals and Unser still says it
was his most satisfying championship.
"I wish they (the dirt tracks) could come back today but they
can't," Unser said. "The car owners wouldn't buy three different cars.
I'd like to see a lot of guys run dirt races but you just can't say that
today. You had to be an all-around racer then - not that we were better
then than they are today. It's just a different time. Today, they're not
raised like we were. We had to make a living anywhere we could."
***
Bobby Rahal, the 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner and co-owner of the
cars to be driven by Buddy Rice, Vitor Meira and Danica Patrick in
Sunday's Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix, was fifth in the Moly Shield
Oil Historic Grand Prix on Saturday in a car he'd never driven before,
but treasured still.
The car was a 1974 Brabham driven by Carlos Reutimann, Carlos Pace
and John Watson in Formula One and claimed five F-1 victories in 1974
and 1975.
"At my first Formula Atlantic race in 1974 at Watkins Glen, this
car won the F-1 race," Rahal said. "I remember looking at it and saying,
'That's the car I want to drive in Formula One.' Now, 31 years later, I
have. And next month, when we go back to The Glen, it'll be like back to
the future."
Rahal had not driven at Infineon since 1980, when he competed in
both an IMSA Porsche 935 and a Can-Am car here
"It's the same track, except for a chicane, but they've made a lot
of improvements, too," he said. "It's fun."
He said he's driven 10 races in various historic races over the
past five years.
###
---------------------------
John Cardinale
VP of Media/Community Relations
Infineon Raceway
Highways 37 &121, Sonoma, CA 95476
wk: 707-933-3907
cell: 707-334-9805
