Today, he discusses what makes Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon formidable drivers.
You never realize at the time when you're involved with race drivers the impact they have on each other. They don't realize it. We, as team members, don't realize it. It's something we look back on and say, 'Wow! That was special to be involved in.' I really feel that what we're seeing today are two race drivers who at this point in their careers have intersected very well.
Their experience level, what they're trying to achieve, what the team is able to help them achieve is blending together very well. It happens over and over again in racing when two teammates have helped each other accelerate to the front. Right now, Dan and Scott are at the right point in their careers to truly be able to help each other and the team is helping them.
It was very evident on Pole Day, but it's been evident since the beginning of the season. When a race driver of the caliber of Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon are able to have the experience that they have to utilize the resource, then you can get the most out of the car. Everybody is supposed to have the same cars, so it comes down to the team being able to tune the car for the drivers.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (May 10, 2008)-Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon survived the drama of Pole Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and qualified 1-2, respectively, for the 92nd Running of the Indianapolis 500. Dixon, who was fifth on the starting grid mid-afternoon, pulled his qualified time from his first attempt and put in another four-lap effort around the historic 2.5-mile oval. Minutes later, he had taken the PEAK Motor Oil Pole Award presented by AutoZone from the grasp of Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe with a 226.366 mph average. Dixon held the $100,000 check aloft.
“It hasn't really sunk in yet,” said Dixon, who has two poles and one victory in 2008. “It means a lot. It's not just for me, though. I think a lot of it, and I think (team owner) Chip (Ganassi) and probably (team managing director) Mike (Hull) and (chief mechanic) Ricky (Davis) have touched on it already, but it's the hard work that goes into it. Indy, for our team, I think our development and working toward this race started well early in the winter. I think Chip Ganassi and Mike and all the guys in the team are adamant on putting up a strong fight for this year's 500."
Wheldon had earned the third starting position on the grid, but at 5:38 p.m., he waved it off to challenge Dixon for the pole. Although he fell short of the pole, Wheldon took second, knocking Briscoe to the outside of Row 1.
"It's a real tribute to the team," said team owner Ganassi, who celebrated his third pole start at Indianapolis (Bruno Junqueira in 2002 are Arie Luyendyk in 1993). "Every team works hard in the off-season to get better, and you're charged with making your team better than the other guys who make their team better. T his is the payoff."
Andretti Green Racings IndyCar Series program wrapped up its first test of the 2007 season Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. All four of AGR s driver participated in the two-day road course test and offered the following thoughts on their first outing of the year:
Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone The Canadian Club guys had a decent test plan and we made some good progress yesterday. Today, I think we took a little bit of a step backwards, but that is part of what you deal with when you're testing.
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone I think we did some positive things during the test to the Team 7-Eleven car. We seemed to go back a step in the last session today but I think we learned some things and that's what we were here to do. It felt good to finish at the top yesterday and to post the overall top speed during the test. I m really happy for the guys on the Team 7-Eleven crew and the rest of the team. We've made up some ground and have to keep working to get better.
Road Course Open Test An Important Starting Point For 17-race Season
From a team standpoint, Target Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull will be looking for execution, communication and at the competition. His team's drivers, 2005 IndyCar Series champion Dan Wheldon and 2003 series title holder Scott Dixon, each won two races last season. But Wheldon came up one point short in the season-long championship race to Team Penske's Sam Hornish Jr.
"Basically in testing, what we do is you've got to understand the tuning changes and the parameters that affect the car the greatest, and we can learn all of those things at Daytona," he said. "So testing is very important for us. Everybody works hard during the winter to try to improve their individual product. It's the first opportunity that you really have to come out and test with everybody that's represented in the IndyCar field.
AN INTERVIEW WITH DARIO FRANCHITTI AND DARREN MANNING
THE MODERATOR: We’re now joined by Dario Franchitti. Tell us a little about the testing, so far?
DARIO FRANCHITTI: The track conditions have changed a little bit for yesterday, so the entire team is stuggling to adjust to that. Other than that it’s been a good test.
Q. Is there any difference from methanol to ethanol and the new 3.5-liter engine?
DARIO FRANCHITTI: Well it smells a little different when you are following a car. Actually, in the past when you race with methanol when you would sit in the car the fumes would sting your eyes. It doesn’t do that with the ethanol. The engine has a lot of torque and you can feel that.
Q. About a possible race at Daytona
DARIO FRANCHITTI: “If we’re going to go racing here, I would like us to see us use the full 24-hour course. It’s my opinion. I think that would be good fun. There are a couple of things that maybe we would have to change because of the higher speeds of these cars but I would definitely be interested in doing that.
Can we learn anything? Yeah, we can. In a perfect world, we would go run down the streets of St. Pete or up at Mid-Ohio just now. I think that’s under snow so that could be a problem. But we sort of look at a corner and say yeah, this is similar to this type of corner. We try to get a general amount of information first of all and then try to get a specific corner to corner.
Andretti Green Racing’s Tony Kanaan Had The Fastest SpeedAt Daytona
The IndyCar Series wrapped up a two-day preseason test session at historic Daytona International Speedway on Thursday. Seventeen IndyCar Series teams have been navigating the twists and turns of the 2.72-mile road course at the “The World Center of Racing” for the last two days as they prepare for the five road/street course events on the 2007 IndyCar Series schedule. Even though the IndyCar Series doesn’t hold a race at Daytona International Speedway, drivers say they can pull information from the course and utilize it in their future setups. Overall, Andretti Green Racing’s Tony Kanaan had the fastest speed of the entire two-day session with a speed of 135.549. The stock portion of Speedweeks 2007 will kick off with the Budweiser Shootout and ARCA 200 on Saturday, Feb. 10.
Overall Speeds
1. Tony Kanaan, 135.549 2. Helio Castroneves, 135.335 3. Dan Wheldon, 135.226 4. Dario Franchitti, 135.134 5. Sam Hornish Jr., 135.056 6. Scott Dixon, 134.438 7. Vitor Meira, 134.149 8. Marco Andretti, 133.887 9. Scott Sharp, 133.456 10. Jeff Simmons, 133.260 11. Kosuke Matsuura, 133.006 12. AJ Foyt IV, 132.821 13. Tomas Scheckter, 132.663 14. Darren Manning, 132.124 15. Buddy Rice, 131.766 16. Danica Patrick, 131.645 17. Ed Carpenter, 130.843
The preseason test is the second visit for the IndyCar Series to Daytona International Speedway. Last September, the IndyCar Series held a compatibility test at Daytona International Speedway with four teams – Chip Ganassi Racing, Penske Racing, Panther Racing and Andretti Green Racing. “The name says everything,” said Andretti Green Racing’s Tony Kanaan, who was the fastest driver of the day with a speed of 135.549 mph in the four-hour afternoon session. “I walked into this place in September, it was my first time ever here, and I was pretty impressed. Again, last night when I walked in again, it always gives you that.”
Dan Wheldon, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Sam Hornish Jr., Scott Sharp, Buddy Rice, Darren Manning, Ed Carpenter and Tomas Scheckter are participating in the two-day testing session just after competing in last weekend’s Rolex 24 At Daytona.
“No question that it’s a challenging place – especially when you are coming from a 24 hour,” Helio Castroneves said.
“To make the change from the DP (Daytona Prototype) car to the Indy car – it’s a big change. You can ask anyone that did the 24. It’s kind of a relearning. “The only time I ran here is with the DP cars, so for me to find the braking points and the turning and everything in an Indy car, and all of the sudden becoming three times faster than I am used to. Again, after two laps I got used to it and back to the same rhythm.”
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