CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
INDYCAR CONTENT DAYS MEDIA AVAILABILITY TRANSCRIPT
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
January 11, 2024

R.C. ENERSON, No. 50 ABEL Motorsports Chevrolet:

THE MODERATOR: Joined now by R.C. Enerson, who is driver of the No. 50 Abel Motorsports Chevrolet, eyeing a return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a second run at the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. May is going to be here before we know it. How excited are you about this opportunity?

R.C. ENERSON: Really excited. The goal is to be back again. We had so much fun last year, and I think we had a really good performance for a new team, my first time once we qualified in, getting all the practice in. And it was a big learning curve, that’s for sure. Hopefully this year the goal is to be more prepared, and now that we’ve done it, it’s just doing it again.

Q. I know the whole crew had a blast last year and Bill was on cloud nine. Just the whole energy from the team was — can you get into what it was like last year?

R.C. ENERSON: Yeah, our sole focus was to make the field. So I don’t think we ran in traffic a single lap up until after qualifying. So we were dead set on trying to make it in, and we succeeded with that. And the crew — the emotion on qualifying day, which all the way up to the 500, seemed like time could not slow down at all — it was just full throttle all the way through.

It seems like you don’t have time and then you get to qualifying day and it feels like it’s a week long. It was amazing. The crew was amazing. Bill, John, everything went right for us that day.

I still think we had more speed left in the car after the first run we did.

Q. What did you learn ultimately from last year, not only the race but just the couple weeks in general?

R.C. ENERSON: It was definitely a busier schedule than I’m used to. That was a very busy two weeks. The learning curve in the car was — the biggest part was just running in traffic. You have so many tools at your disposal. Like on a road course we’re used to just staying to roll bars. When now you get on an oval and not only do you have anti-roll bars, you’ve got 20 weight jacker clicks.

And it’s just a lot to take on. The first day running in traffic I was more mentally exhausted in the one-hour practice session than I’d been all of it combined.

Q. Now that you’ve lived this, is your comfort level a little bit different now this year?

R.C. ENERSON: Yeah, I think we’re just going to be more prepared and I’m going to know what to expect from the car, especially when we start trimming out and then on qualifying day when we turn up the boost. And the biggest one that I’ll have more experience in is just running in traffic, because that was the real battle the entire time.

Q. When you were qualifying for the Indy 500 and you looked down pit lane and see the drama playing out at a well-established, highly funded team at Rahal Letterman Lanigan, and here you are hardly even a startup team, and what you had achieved and what they were going through, were there times when you just wanted to exalt in the moment, or did you ask yourself, is this really happening?

R.C. ENERSON: Yeah, it was a bit of a pinch-me kind of day. Especially just qualifying day in general was nuts for us. I remember I think I sat on the toolbox in the garage with timing and scoring up on my phone for about three hours. And you’re sitting there, and the only way we would go back out is if we dropped out into the 30th spot to where we’d have to participate in Bump Day. That was the only way we would go back out.

And just kind of sat there, and then they actually got me back in the car for the last, I think it was 30 minutes, of qualifying where you have the line that went all the way through Gasoline Alley, people jumping around. So that was — it was exciting. But once we say the one run go out and we knew there was only one more car that could make it on the time, we knew we were kind of locked. And it was just — they wouldn’t let me get out of the car until the garage because I was freaking out.

Q. (No microphone.)

R.C. ENERSON: Yeah, it was really good. The fact that I didn’t have to suit up and run on Sunday was great. It would have been great to suit up for pole, but our goal was let’s just make sure we were in the show. And we were able to achieve that even though we were pretty much the unanimous pick to be bumped.

Q. Is the goal with your program to do more races down the road this year, next year?

R.C. ENERSON: I think it kind of all just depends. You look at funding, you look at — they also have a full Indy NXT program going on right now, so you don’t want to interfere on that. The Indy 500 doesn’t interfere with anything on the Indy NXT schedule. So I think that’s what really opens that up. I think the goal would be to look past future 2024. I think 2024 running the 500 is kind of just the sole focus.

Q. What do you do when you’re not getting ready for the 500 to keep in race shape?

R.C. ENERSON: I am full-time coaching, whether it’s private coaching, but mainly just full time at the racing school, Lucas Oil School of Racing. So anybody with a driver’s license, or these karter kids where I went into a racing school coming through, we’re their first stop going from go-karts to cars. And we run an event per month.

I’m the one that answers the phones for it, emails, everything. That’s my full-time gig. I love teaching these kids that — kind of trying to be the role model that I had when I was their age and help grow the sport. We need more drivers in every series.

Q. Where is that located?

R.C. ENERSON: Lucas Oil School of Racing, our shop is based in the Tampa-Bradenton area. We’re in New Port Richey, but that’s just where our base is. We go to tracks, Sebring, Homestead. This year we’ll be at Mid-Ohio in the summertime, Kentucky, Chicago Autobahn.

We kind of go everywhere, so we’re mobile. But we host these events and we can take on 36 or so students on a two-day program. And then we also run our race series, which is the jumping point for them to get into, say, the ladder system, USF2000, that program.

Q. When they see and hear that you ran in the Indianapolis 500, does that change the —

R.C. ENERSON: It’s like a 50/50 shot. Half of them have no idea, and then half of them will ask me about it. I have no problem talking about it with them. Most of the questions I get from them are just like, hey, what was it like going through the whole ladder system? Not necessarily where I’m at right now. It’s because they’re wanting to get to there.

So it’s like, what did you do and what class did you run? Did you go through the whole thing with them?

The other thing is they’re like, how do I get sponsorship? It’s like, well, we’re still figuring that out, too, and it’s a never-ending battle. One day at a time.

Q. You’re a Florida native; your dad is a local Southport High School graduate. When you made this field and you just had that time with your family, what were those conversations like? How special was it for him to see his son running the race that he grew up here just a few miles south of here?

R.C. ENERSON: It’s pretty amazing. I’ve been going to the 500 with my dad too since I was three years old. It was my first 500, so that would have been 2000. And he’s been going to it since he was a kid, as well. To come up through that many years of karting, where it was more or less just a hobby, through karting, finally getting into cars, pro racing, all the work that had gone into getting to INDYCAR. But after we already got to INDYCAR, then it took another six years to get to the 500.

It’s been a never-ending battle, but our motto is never quit. You just keep pushing, finding opportunities, seeing what we can do to keep being on track.

Q. I know obviously the Southport connection. Did your dad and Robin Miller have any kind of connection at all?

R.C. ENERSON: I believe my dad’s older brother and Robin Miller had a connection. I think my dad’s older brother worked on his car, one of his Formula Fords, 1600, something like that.

Q. Heading into this year, how important is it for you — you ultimately didn’t get to finish the race, but how important is it that you managed to get some race laps under your belt at the 500, and how much of a boost do you think that will be heading into this year?

R.C. ENERSON: I think it will be — it’s like anything else, every time you do it — it’s just going to keep getting easier every time you keep doing it. The first time around, that’s when you’re the most nervous. That’s when you’re going to make the small mistakes. And when you come back the next year, you know exactly what you’re supposed to expect.

Like I said, I think the biggest learning curve, especially in race mode, was just running in traffic. I talked to a couple of the drivers because I was like, I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing.

But they’re like, no, you’re doing the right things. It’s just really difficult to pass.

I was like, okay, at least I’m headed in the right direction.

All the tools you have, it’s just a lot to take on. And now the more I did it, once I got to the race, it was finally the point I got comfortable running in traffic and being ahead on my tools and kind of knowing where I need to place the car. It took a bit to get there.

Q. Heading away from the 500, is a full-time INDYCAR opportunity something you would be keen to try and push you?

R.C. ENERSON: I think everybody would be pretty keen on trying it, but that’s the goal. This year — that’s the problem with trying to be full-time is you’ve got to plan it so far in advance. It’s not like something you can do a month before the season starts. It’s got to be in the works almost a year prior. The goal would be to run the 500 this year and then look forward to 2025 and seeing what the possibilities are.

Q. Thinking back to last year, if I remember right, John Brunner didn’t get a chance to get the engine lease locked up until April, so that put a dent in the chances to go to the open test. The fact that these things are kind of situated already and kind of in place, you don’t have to go straight from the track to learning tools. You’re going to have a chance to have the open test this year to maybe play around with that. Is that kind of the plan?

R.C. ENERSON: That would definitely be on the radar. I think we would have been in a lot stronger spot had we made the open test, but still, it wasn’t just us looking at the 34th entry. There was a couple other cars that were prospected to be there. And it wasn’t until — I think it was after Texas that we were finally able to be 100 percent we got an engine, we’re ready to go.

I think being — again, it’s more preparation time where we only had a certain amount of time to prep for last year. We have double the amount this year to get ready, so we’re just going to show up a lot more prepared.

Q. On the other end of that, for you personally, what are the chances of you getting more opportunities in the Chevy sim to get ready now that — obviously being with Chevy last year, you assume that’s kind of probably the case this year?

R.C. ENERSON: Yeah, I’ve actually never been in the Chevy sim. I’ve been on my simulator at home, but I haven’t got a chance to be in the Dallara or the Chevy simulator. That would be pretty cool. I think that would be a lot more fun than anything else.

I think with the amount of time we have in front of us to May, it’s just going to be a lot better of an opportunity than even last year was, even though we did so well last year.

Q. How much work do you put in during the off-season to do events like this, like sim racing and all that, like for the 500?

R.C. ENERSON: As far as sim racing goes, we do it for fun. I feel like a lot of us just do it for fun. Whenever I have an evening off and not really doing anything else, what better video game to play than the thing I like to do the most?

I have a bunch of friends that I’ve met through there. Since 2020 happened, we were internet racing all the time. I met a lot of cool guys and do a bunch of league racing stuff, and it allows me to do the thing I love to do most for just fun on the side. But I don’t do it necessarily to prepare.

But I guess it keeps the reflexes there, and you’re just constantly able to drive something.

Q. Over the years I’ve been watching these races, I know you have to keep a lot of reaction time to stay sharp for these races. How do you train for that?

R.C. ENERSON: To be fair, I haven’t done a lot of the reaction training. If I was based here in Indy, I’d be at PitFit doing the D2 machine and a lot of that stuff. But I guess it’s just being on the sim. And I do get to drive the school cars every single event we go to. I feel like I have a million miles in those things over the past eight years.

So I actually get to drive a car on track. It’s not necessarily as fast as an INDYCAR, but it gets my butt in a seat and I’m able to turn a bunch of laps every time we go to an event.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
INDYCAR CONTENT DAYS MEDIA AVAILABILITY TRANSCRIPT
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
January 11, 2024

STING RAY ROBB, No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:

THE MODERATOR: Continuing with our afternoon session, joined by Sting Ray Robb, who will drive the No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, wrapping up his rookie season with Dale Coyne (Racing) last year, making the transition to A.J. (Foyt)’s team. Are you ready to go with the new team and new outlook, new fire suit? How it is? Let’s go, right?

STING RAY ROBB: Yeah, I’m ready to go.

Q. How has the transition been with the new team?

STING RAY ROBB: So far, so good. We haven’t seen a track in however many months since Laguna, but I’m excited. I’ve been to the shop a couple times, met with the engineers, met with the rest of the crew, and seems like everyone is pretty upbeat.

I think they’re doing a lot of really good things, and I think the Penske alignment deal is going to be good for both parties. I think we have a lot to learn from each other, so mutually beneficial, and I think everyone is looking forward to the season already.

Q. Are you one of those that come out of a new year with goals and that sort of thing?

STING RAY ROBB: I think I started working on those new goals after Laguna (Seca). That already felt like the new year to me. So when January already rolled around, I was halfway through the goals already. It’s good.

Q. What do you want to work on the most from a driver standpoint?

STING RAY ROBB: Finishing all the laps of the Indy 500 would be a good start. Last year was tough. And it was more than just the on-track stuff. It was the off-track stuff, as well, just the rigors of INDYCAR racing. For myself as a rookie, I think I overcommitted at times on and off the track, and so I think there’s a balance there.

I’m ready to go. I’ve watched the videos. I’ve learned what I can from my mistakes last year, and I think that it’ll just be a similar story to my past seasons. Rookie seasons are always tough, but sophomore seasons always seem to be a little bit better.

Q. Obviously it’s a new year, new team. You’ve got Santino, who’s coming back this year. What do you think you can learn from Santino given that you’re going to be with a new power this year as well?

STING RAY ROBB: That’s a great, great thing to have him back, and I think the team is excited about it, and especially, like you said, with that experience with the other power unit. We’ve gotten some engineers from other teams this off-season that kind of came from the other side of the world and have been joining the Chevy side. It’ll be nice to be transitioning together with those guys as well as having the knowledge of Michael Cannon and Santino (Ferrucci) to help us all learn something.

I think we can learn from my past in the Honda car just as much as we can learn from their past in the Chevy car.

I think it’ll be good just because year after year, you see the sort of tension between manufacturers. It seems like one is better at this track, one is better at this track. And I think Chevy is on the up and up right now.

Q. In relation to Milwaukee, how excited are you about going there?

STING RAY ROBB: Yeah, it’s good. Wisconsin is a wonderful place, and being up there at Road America is always one of my favorite places to be. Being just a little bit south in Milwaukee is going to be a good thing. I think it’ll be fun for everyone.

Q. Your boss has some good memories at Milwaukee.

STING RAY ROBB: Yeah, I need to take some notes. We’ll have a study date one of these days.

Q. How important do you see it sort of coming in as a rookie to then have a second year or sophomore year to build on that? There’s the first year purely for you to adapt and then the second year you feel like you can really kick on? How important is having that second year?

STING RAY ROBB: I think it’s super important. I think that for myself especially, I do better with experience. I always like to quote the book The Outliers, which talks about the 10,000 hour rule and how you have to spend 10,000 hours doing whatever it is in order to become great at it.

So I’m not anywhere near to my 10,000 hours in an INDYCAR yet, but I’m on my way to it. So having that rookie season out of the way and having some time off to kind of digest everything from the season and really focus on the areas I need to work on, I think it’s good.

I think it’ll allow me to go into the weekends not just from a learning aspect. It’ll allow me to go, okay, I already know what the deal is here at this track at this time and the tendencies with the team and whatever. So like you said, I’m not adapting during the weekend as much as I am preparing, which it makes a big difference.

Q. Do you see this as a multiyear sort of thing with Foyt, or is it a case of seeing how the first year goes and going from there?

STING RAY ROBB: I think it very well could be. With their results in the Indy 500 last year, I think we’re all hopeful for what the team is capable of doing. Like I said with the alignment, I think that both teams are going to have a lot to learn, and hopefully that’ll benefit both, and it’ll allow me an opportunity to learn and progress and have some success with the team.

Q. I remember last year you talked about how your deal with Dale Coyne Racing came together because of one gym pass together with Linus Lundqvist. How did this deal with AJ Foyt Racing come together?

STING RAY ROBB: I’m trying to even think, because this was kind of a long time in the running here. We weren’t really sure that AJ Foyt Racing was going to have an open seat before the end of the year. And so when we found out about the Penske deal and everything, we were really excited for the team because we knew that was a good opportunity for them to partner with another team just to learn and share resources that way.

At one point, I think my manager, Peter Rossi, was talking to Larry Foyt in passing and started up a conversation talking about the opportunity. And I don’t really know much, honestly. I was kind of a bystander this year when it came to joining the team. I said, yeah, let’s do it, sounds like a good program, and it sounds like they’re doing a lot of good things over there.

Especially with the Indianapolis-based shop, it allows me to go in and work with the team day in and day out, whereas I didn’t have that so much last year with DCR being based out of Chicago. That drive is a bit longer than I’d like to make on a daily commute.

But, yeah, I can do pit stop practices now. I can go bug the engineers before they kick me out at the end of the day. And it just allows me more opportunity to kind of be in relation with those guys, which I feel like I missed out on a lot last year.

Q. You mentioned the Penske partnership. What is it you think you can get out of that, and is that maybe the main difference compared to last year, when at Coyne it was a little bit you guys were more on your own?

STING RAY ROBB: Yeah, as compared to last year, I think it’s just going to have more data. Like that’s the biggest thing, especially for myself with guys like Josef and Will and Scott. Those guys, their driving style, from what I’ve understood, are different than what I’ve seen that work in the Honda. So I think that will be interesting to learn from them early on and have their success kind of right there for us to access.

Especially on — just having the affirmation of, okay, the car is good, it’s quick, now I can go work on myself. I think that an underrated part of being a young driver is having that good baseline to work from, having a good foundation so that you can work on yourself.

I think we forget a lot of times that drivers aren’t robots, as much as we’d like to be, and there are outside influences that can make a difference on how we perform inside the race car.

Q. We can see on your overalls that you’ve got some new partners on board. It sounds from what I’ve read in the press you’ve done a lot of hard work to bring that group together. Can you talk about that?

STING RAY ROBB: Yeah, so the big one on my chest right now is Pray.com, and that’s an app that is trying to help people bring prayer into their daily life. For me it’s a pretty good alignment. We were looking for companies that I could stand behind, that could stand behind me. And obviously faith is a big aspect of who I am and it’s where I find my identity. So having them step on board this year was really, really exciting, and I think it’s going to be a good long-term partnership for us.

Another brand, Goodheart, they have been with us for a long time. They came on I think around 2020 right before I won my Indy Pro 2000 championship. They’ve been with us ever since. As well as Tovuti, PNP, Pinecroft, all those guys, they’re returning this year, which is really cool to see. It’s hard to get those guys in the door and get them to our racetrack. So when they sign on and it can last, it means a lot, it means to see their support and they become part of the Sting Ray Robb family.

Q. With a teammate like Santino Ferrucci, will there be a pit row battle of hairstyles?

STING RAY ROBB: Maybe. I think that I need to find an electrical outlet with a fork. Does anyone have one around?

Q. On a more serious note, when you were five years old, you said you wanted to drive race cars. I wonder what that means now. I think you’re 23, driving for the iconic Foyt racing team.

STING RAY ROBB: Yeah, so I’m 22 now, and I think one of the coolest things about signing with Foyt this year was being at least associated with the name A.J. Foyt because that’s synonymous with winning, being the winningest driver in INDYCAR history. So for myself it’s cool to have that history and that legend to live up to.

It is really cool to be a part of that group because motorsports is a small family. It’s a very small community. We all run in the same world together. So for myself, this is the second of some very, very legendary drivers that have won a lot of races that I’ve driven for.

I have a box of Wheaties with his face on it that I’m hoping to get signed by the end of the year, but we’ll see how that goes, see if he approves of that.

Q. Along that line, have you had a chance to talk to A.J. (Foyt) face to face yet?

STING RAY ROBB: No, not yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

Q. I wonder if it’s getting harder or just different, the way to find sponsors now with this (indiscernible) coming into INDYCAR, or is it the same hard work to get any sponsors?

STING RAY ROBB: I think if anything it’s a help. I think that we’re all looking forward to the innovation that INDYCAR is doing with the hybrid system, and I think that myself, the team, as well as Chevy being a partner there, we’re all happy that INDYCAR has postponed the introduction of the hybrid system until later in the year so that way we can all get a good feel for what that will bring as far as the racing series goes and the competition we’ll lay out there.

I see no difference as far as partnerships go that are negative. If anything, it’s a positive.

Q. What could be the most valuable lesson that you take from Dale Coyne?

STING RAY ROBB: I mean, there’s a lot to learn from last season. But from him himself, I think Dale was really good at not overthinking things. He was really good at just kind of maintaining a good balance in his personality, especially on the stand as a strategist. He made some good calls last year, but we were in tough positions a lot of times. And in INDYCAR racing, little things make a big difference.

So for me I think that just learning from Dale’s experience and being able to sit down and listen. Instead of just giving him all the knowledge that I have, I should just listen to what they have to say.

Q. You’re joining a new team with AJ Foyt Racing and Santino Ferrucci as your teammate. What can you learn from another young driver like Santino Ferrucci for this upcoming season?

STING RAY ROBB: I mean, there’s probably a lot to learn. I think Santino is a good talent in the series, and I think that his personality goes well with what I have to give, as well. I think we’re going to get along just fine, and I’m looking forward to start working together.

One thing that I learned last year that I wish I had known better was kind of how to enjoy the off-track stuff, and I think Santino does a good job of that. He knows how to have fun away from the racetrack as well as on the racetrack. I’m looking forward to kind of learning that side from him and just getting some good time together, having some fun on the racetrack.

Q. This team has proved to show good speed on ovals. Are you excited for that going into 2024, knowing that you could possibly have a better shot at these oval tracks?

STING RAY ROBB: Yeah, I’m hoping to not be in the last row qualifying this year. That would be a good start for things.

Q. Last year Foyt showed a lot of speed, a lot more speed than we’ve seen, and I think everybody was deep in their soul cheering for Santino at the end of the race, an American driver in a Foyt car. Know you were in the back row last year and just the stress that probably caused you all weekend. I know you want to take it a race at a time, but you’ve got to be champing at the bit to be able to get out in that car, knowing it’s got some speed and show what you can do on the oval at IMS.

STING RAY ROBB: Absolutely. I remember talking to one of the drivers for the team last year, I can’t remember who it was, but they said, the car is fast. I don’t know why. Like I just hammer down and it goes.

And that was all there was to it. It wasn’t anything different that I was doing in the car that I was in on the last row qualifying. I was full throttle for four laps with no wiggles, no understeering. Stuck to the ground, trimmed out, and it just didn’t have it. I think it will be interesting to kind of have that feeling of like the car feels the same, but we’re just going faster.

At least that’s my hope.

I know there’s days like that where everything just kind of flows and it’s the way it’s supposed to be, so I’m hoping that we can get some of those this year.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.