Fans Have Spoken – Excitement is the Key
It has been a solid year for discussion of NASCAR. The season started with the Daytona 500 being delayed by rain. Then, once the green flag fell, all the talk was about Juan Pablo Montoya having an equipment failure, turning right into a jet dryer and the resulting fireball. Of course Matt Kenseth won the race, but true to his personality, no one remembers it. Then after a couple of races, the two top series in NASCAR headed to Bristol Motor Speedway to what appeared to be an empty track (it’s amazing what a large venue looks like half full).
After the rain-shortened race in California, the boys headed to Martinsville. After the first half (and most of the second half) of the race made sleeping medications unneeded, an interesting thing happened. Jeff Gordon dominated that race, but Jimmie Johnson ran him down and took the lead. Gordon wasn’t done, however. Working hard, Gordon and Johnson battled with Gordon taking the lead. Then it happened. David Reutimann, trying to stay in the coveted top 35 in points, which insures a start in the next race, had problems. Running around the track at what many called 20 mph, Reutimann had problems. He couldn’t turn left due to tie rod problems and then the engine gave up the ghost. He stalled on the front stretch. Caution came out, a green-white-checker was in the cards, and the field was bunched up. On the first attempt at the infamous two lap shootout, Clint Bowyer tried to pass both Gordon and Johnson in the first and second turns (the story is fuzzy, but Bowyer says he got pushed by Ryan Newman and had to make the make the attempt to pass while others say that Johnson and Gordon, who did not pit, had old tires and couldn’t get a fast start) and what Gaston Gazette sportswriter Monte Dutton called “synchronized spinning” resulted. Gordon and Johnson finished lower than they deserved and Newman won after a fierce battle with A.J. Allmendinger (where did he come from?).
The verdict was in. I penned a commentary last year saying Martinsville was the new Bristol and that prediction came true. While Bristol had good racing and lots of two-groove passing, the excitement factor was missing. Even though the same factor was missing for 250 laps at Martinsville, the end made everyone leave talking about the race and how great it was. Unfortunately, Reutimann immediately became the villain—the guy who changed the face of the race—it was obvious that Gordon and Johnson had the best cars—and the phone lines lit up on the NASCAR programs on SiriusXM radio. Never has a nice guy been so criticized and discussed. No one wanted to discuss California or Phoenix.
What has been missing the last few years is the excitement factor. When the Bristol track was reconfigured, and when the Chase made drivers so concerned about point totals in their quest for a place in the Chase, we lost that urgency to actually take chances to win a race. Add to that a driver who just wanted to keep his team in the position to make the next race, and the excitement factor raised by 1,000 per cent. People responded.
Those of us that consider us purists and like watching racing are in the minority. Since football has become the sport of choice in these United States, it should be obvious that good old fashioned racing is what has been missing from today’s NASCAR. That’s why I applaud Bruton Smith. He is willing, apparently, even though promised announcements have not been made, to change his track to add that excitement to Bristol. Smith heard the fans and realized that without the fans, there would be no races or NASCAR. That was refreshing. And as many media types or drivers cry about the changes that may come to Bristol, we always have Martinsville. It has pretty much been like it is for over 60 years and it works. That is what racing was like for six decades and the attempt to sterilize the sport should by now be clear to the powers that be is futile. Folks want excitement. And that’s all that matters.
Sam Hornish Jr.: I feel like we’re going to continue to work hard
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[/media-credit]After not having the warranted success at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series level, Sam Hornish Jr. took a step back to the NASCAR Nationwide Series to spend some more time learning. Hornish proved his talent last year, winning the second last race of the season at Phoenix. Now he enters the 2012 season, ready to run the full schedule.
So far, it hasn’t gone as well as he would’ve hoped as he sits sixth in points, 54 points behind Elliott Sadler.
“We would’ve liked to have better results so far,” Hornish says. “But all in all, we’ve shown that we’ve got an opportunity to take a big step forward moving on out so looking forward getting through our couple off-weekends here and getting back to racing.”
Once he gets back going, Hornish is hoping to win some races and contend for the championship.
“I feel like we’re going to continue to work hard and try to get the results we want out of it,” he says. “We really have a good opportunity to bring a couple sponsors along, with Alliance Truck Parts and WURTH Group. They’re new to racing and sponsoring anything, so we have the opportunity to bring them along.” He adds that he hopes to make the transition back to the Sprint Cup Series.
Hornish made the move over to NASCAR full-time in 2008, driving for Roger Penske.
“It’s been a good relationship so far,” he says of the partnership with Penske. “Roger has always been really good to me and we started off back in 2003. When we started off, we had a couple goals in mind – we achieved the first couple, and now we’re working on the next one.”
One of the benefits to the Nationwide Series program at Penske is Hornish can lean on teammate Brad Keselowski, but he says that it works both ways as he can also help Keselowski if he is having problems.
“I kind of look at it that we’re both in the same boat and that we’re doing everything we can do to learn as much as we can to be successful,” he adds.
In continuing to work at his NASCAR career, one of the biggest lessons he learned in racing as a whole about attitude plays a huge factor.
“There’s a lot of about your attitude and a lot of about persistence and not wanting to give up and to continuing learning,” he says. “Racing is ever evolving; I believe you have constantly willing to learn and try new things. I guess that all goes with your attitude; you got to be willing to do those things. You got to have a good attitude, embrace the positives and remember a bad day at the race track is always better than a good day anywhere else.”
The 32-year-old started in racing, running go-karts to have something to do with his dad.
“All of the sudden it was 30 weekends a year and we were traveling all over the United States and Canada,” he says. “I continued to move up to ladder and eventually found myself in open wheel and after I achieved everything I wanted to achieve over there, I decided I wanted a new challenge and moved over to run stock cars.”
While racing in open-wheel, he won three IndyCar championships and the 2006 Indianapolis 500. Of the transition, Hornish says one of the biggest differences between open wheel and stock car is the people.
“In NASCAR, it’s called “stock car” racing, but there’s a lot more lien in the rules and what you’re allowed to do – geometries, set-up of the cars – that you’re not allowed to do in IndyCar,” he explains. “IndyCar is more of a spec race, where everybody has the same car. There’s sometimes when there’s different engines, but the package is the same and it’s really hard to gain advantage. Over here, it’s really easy to get yourself lost if you’re not doing the right things, just ‘cause there are so many things that you can change with the car itself. With all those things that you’re changing, you have to have the right people to be able to make the changes to help you move forward and allow you to kind of learn the things you need to be successful.”
Hornish says one of the biggest racing memories in his career was the Indianapolis 500 win, but there are also plenty of other good memories.
“There’s a lot of my favorite memories that don’t necessarily coincide with a win,” he says. “There just more of a good day at the track or involved in racing. Racing has always been a family sport for me; it started out as something to do with my dad. Now I take my family to the race track with me and hopefully some point in time, I can have the roles reversed when I’m watching somebody else race. But we’ll see how that all plays out.”
Besides spending time with family away from the track, Hornish enjoys building and restoring things.
“I restored a 108 barber chair a year ago and two years ago for Christmas, I redid my dad’s 1950 Swing Bicycle that he had,” he says.
IZOD IndyCar Series Tests New Chassis at Indianapolis
On April 4, nine IZOD IndyCar Series drivers took to Indianapolis Motor Speedway to test the new chassis and perfect it for the Indianapolis 500 in May.
Topping the charts was Andretti Autosport driver Marco Andretti with a time of 41.1664 seconds.
“On our own, it’s pretty similar (to the old car),” Andretti says. “But I think in traffic right now, their creating a lot turbulence and you lose a lot of grip so we’re trying to make that better.”
Kanaan would end up second on the charts, 0.04 seconds behind Andretti. Kanaan had tested the previous version of the new car last year at Indianapolis and Auto Club Speedway, however says this test was much better.
“It was more balanced than it was last year,” Kanaan says. “We worked on it, we talked about it. Some people criticized (the car) at the end of last year, but it’s a new car and we have to figure it out. Dallara did a great job, along with (IndyCar vice president of technology) Will Phillips and the people at IndyCar. It’s going in the right direction.”
Kanaan added that he went out of the pits flat right away, saying the aero kits are much better.
Teams can change the aero kits, but must utilize the new rear-wheel guards. These are both safety and they promote more downforce while creating less drag.
Beyond that, they could experiment with the rear-wing mainplane angle, underwing stakes and sidewall extentions and the wickers on the front- and rear-wing mainplanes.
“The configuration we have now is the one we intend to come back with in May,” Phillips says. “We need to look at what comes out of today and see if anything further needs to be changed. We’ll get some feedback from teams and drivers (regarding) what the car is like in traffic and what it’s like on their own.”
Kanaan and Andretti joined fellow Chevrolet powered drivers Ed Carpenter, JR Hildebrand and Helio Castroneves. Driving cars powered by Honda were Scott Dixon, Takuma Sato, Mike Conway and Justin Wilson. The group recorded a total of 495 laps on the day.
Helio Castroneves says the test was important for his team to continue to learn the car.
“Like anything else you have to develop it, and right now that’s what we’re doing,” the three-time Indianapolis 500 champion says. “Every time we are at this place it’s extremely important because you find out what to do and what not to do.”
The final package that has been put together by Dallara for teams to work with was tested in both scale model and full size testing in the wind tunnel in an effort with IndyCar and Dallara. They put the package together based on the testing done by Kanaan and Dario Franchitti.
Now it’s about perfecting that package to be the team to come out on top in May.
“Springs, ride heights … just trying to get the aero to the right attitude of these corners,” Wilson says. “It’s just a steep learning curve the first time out on the track. Once you’re behind the wheel, it feels similar to the old car through the corners.”
Marco Andretti: Bad Luck Bites Early, Looking Forward to Long Beach
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[/media-credit]Looking at the box scores, you could say it hasn’t been the best start of a season for Marco Andretti as he finished 14th at St. Petersburg and 11th at Barber. However, it doesn’t indicate how strong he has actually been.
“I think so far we’ve just had a bit of bad luck,” Andretti says. “We’ve been on the wrong side of that.”
The last race at Barber Motorsports Park is a perfect example as the team played it conservatively in qualifying, not getting as much speed as they would’ve liked to out of the car, qualifying 13th. In the race, Andretti looked strong in the middle of the race, before contact with EJ Viso caused the front wing to break.
With this year marking the first year with the new chassis, it is a learning experience for everybody, but the 25-year-old says he likes the new chassis so far.
“The racecar, driving it itself, has been a lot of fun,” the Nazareth, Pa. native says. “So far, we’ve been quicker every road course and it’s got a lot of more downforce. As a driver, a lot more grip, you like that. You can carry more speed so on the road courses; we’ve been quicker everywhere we’ve gone so it’s been a lot of fun.”
From road courses to ovals, it has been all about making sure the cars drive well for the drivers while producing solid racing. That diversity of types of tracks is something Andretti enjoys about the series.
“The beauty of the IndyCar series is it is that diverse – small oval, big oval, road course, street course,” he says. “I like the diversity and I think the diversity is key.”
In continuing to work on tweaking the cars, IndyCar Series drivers took to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval for some testing.
“On our own, it’s pretty similar (to the old car),” Andretti says. “But I think in traffic right now, their creating a lot turbulence and you lose a lot of grip so we’re trying to make that better.”
At the end of testing on April 4th, Andretti topped the chart of nine drivers that took the track. Being victorious in this year’s running of the Indianapolis 500 is already on Andretti’s mind after previous success there.
“That’s been my goal,” he says. “I’ve been on every step of the podium there, except the top one. So winning Indy would be great.”
To go along with a win at Indy this year, Andretti added that he would like to stream together a couple of wins together.
Beyond having a new chassis for this year, Andretti has a teammate as Andretti Autosport added James Hinchcliffe to their driver line-up for 2012. Andretti says so far working with Hinchcliffe has been fantastic.
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[/media-credit]“A solid guy like him, you just hit the ground running,” he says. “As far as the camaraderie goes, it’s just made it better. The three of us (Andretti, Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay) have been on the same page with one goal in mind, and that’s winning.”
Hoping to find his way to victory lane, Andretti heads to Long Beach, a track that has been very good to the Andretti family.
“My thoughts are to just show up and hopefully be competitive off the truck,” he says. “I’d love to bring home there for the team, but also for the family as it would mean a lot to us. I think it’s where dad (Michael Andretti) had his first and last win, so they’ve been very successful there. So I’m looking to show up to win.”
Success there has been definitely evident for the Andrettis through the years as Mario Andretti won there four times while Michael Andretti won there twice. Andretti Autosport also looks for their third win in a row as a team there as Ryan Hunter-Reay won in 2010 while Mike Conway won last year.
Coming from a family with as much success in the series as the Andrettis, it is very easy for Marco to call both his father and grandfather his racing heroes.
“They are both my heroes and they were both the ones to beat in their eras,” he says. “So it’s tough to pick between the two of them.”
