In little over a week the Indianapolis 500, a race steeped in legend like no other, will be run for the 91st time.
The five hundred mile super-fast marathon around the hallowed tarmac of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, complete with the famous line of bricks forever reminding drivers and fans alike of the inestimable history the arena holds, is among the most daunting achievements that a driver can claim – to win the 500 is to win the Great Race.
The 500 differs from all others on the Indy Racing League calendar in that the entire month of May is dedicated to practise, testing, qualifying and preparation for the race itself, an intense few weeks of fine tuning that mirrors no other race worldwide.
It is with great pleasure, therefore, that UpdateF1 were able to take a few minutes of precious time from the schedule of Britain’s Dan Wheldon, winner here two years ago, and current ‘form man’ in the IRL with the Target Chip Ganassi team.
Wheldon, who will start the race in sixth position – that’s second row in Indy terms – with his team mate Scott Dixon in fourth, is considered by many as the favourite in a field that includes such as Marco and Mario Andretti, Al Unser Jnr, Tony Kanaan and Helio Castro-Neves, as well as the one and only Danica Patrick, poster girl to millions of IRL fans.
Here is what Dan had to say:
Dan – the Month of May, obviously the jewel in the crown of the IRL series – the Indy 500 – is just weeks away; is there a difference in approaching the 500 when compared to the rest of the season?
“Absolutely. This is the biggest race in the world and certainly the biggest race on the IndyCar Series racing calendar.
For everybody involved at Target Chip Ganassi Racing and especially myself, this is our main priority in the season to win this race. Naturally, we go into every race trying to win, but with this race in particular, you do everything in your ability to win it.
Even if you don’t have a car that’s quite capable, you try and risk stuff from a strategic standpoint to put you in Victory Lane rather than try to concentrate on earning points. This is one race where points go right out of the window.
Obviously it’s a great event; not just from a driving standpoint, but as a spectacle. A ton of spectators come out for this race and there’s a lot of history and tradition at Indy as well, so it’s certainly our key event and for me it’s the deal and end-all of my season.”
Who do you see as your main rivals – I’ve read you reckon the 500 is a race that can be won by 10 to 15 drivers – can you give us some names?
“Obviously you have a month leading into this race to prepare, so the competition is much tighter than normal. There are certainly very strong candidates to win the race.
My fierce competition will come from the two Penske cars (Helio Castroneves and Sam Hornish Jr.). Tony Kanaan and the other three Andretti Green Racing cars (Dario Franchitti, Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti). Vitor Meira is always strong here and may spring a surprise.
Michael Andretti showed us last year that although he didn’t have the outright speed to win the race, he nearly did it on strategy, and that’s what I talk about when I talk about Indy…You don’t always have to have the fastest car to win it.
Even Buddy Rice could be factor. His team is not as financially sound as say Target Chip Ganassi Racing, but if has a consistent car over the race period, he could certainly be a factor. Ryan Briscoe could be strong this year. Tomas Scheckter might be another one.
There are definitely a lot of people on this grid that could not only spring a surprise. But overall, I’m expecting my main competition to come from the Team Penske cars, my Target teammate Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan.
Indy seems to have a recurring novelty value, too, thanks to the ‘girls’ – just how good is Danica?!
“She’s certainly always under the microscope that’s for sure and she’s under a lot of pressure. She’s now at a team in Andretti Green Racing that’s capable of winning races, and for this race, she’s surrounded by four very talented teammates.
But I’ve yet to see her settle into the environment where she’s extracting her true potential. So I think it’s difficult to say right now. Do I see her contending for wins race weekend in and race weekend out? Probably not, but I think that may come over time. Certainly it’s very hard when you join a new team, especially when you go to a team where there are some people that are already very well established. Only time will tell.
She’s certainly great for the Series and on a personal level; she’s a very nice person also.”
Moving away from IRL for a moment, there were stories a year back regarding you moving to Formula One, and the mention of a testing role at BMW came up more than once. Can you tell us anything about that?
“It was certainly an option, but it’s like any deal in motor racing…As an individual you have to be happy with the deal that’s proposed to you and you’ve got to feel very confident in it, and to be quite frank, it has to feel right.
And I never felt that the BMW deal was 100% for me. When speaking with Chip Ganassi, who is a very successful team owner, the report we had off the bat just made me want to drive for him.
Obviously I love the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar Series, so it wasn’t an easy decision to make, but one that I’m very comfortable with in retrospect. I guess you never know what the future may hold. Julian Jakobi from CSS Stellar Management is guiding my career and has close connections with F1 and I certainly have not closed the doors to any potential offers with regards to going back to Europe.”
How do you see your future career- obviously you have great success in a very competitive series in the USA, but do you harbour a desire to race in Formula One, or is it – as many across the pond think – too far up it’s own…..?
“I’ve achieved what I set out to achieve in IndyCars and that is to win the Indianapolis 500, to win the driver’s championship and show that I can consistently win races.
Right now, I still love the Indy 500 and I want to win that race at Target Chip Ganassi Racing. I want to win it twice in two different top teams. That’s a personal goal of mine. But in the long term future I would certainly consider Formula 1 and possibly even NASCAR.
It depends where things stand when your contract comes up, what the options are and where you feel you’re going to be most happy. I think that’s the most important thing…if you’re happy in the environment you’re racing in, you’ll perform very well.
We’ll just have to wait and see, but I really haven’t closed the doors on any one series in particular. I still love these IndyCars. I wish I could predict my future, but I can’t…we’ll have to wait and see. I’m sure whatever I choose I’ll be very happy doing it and very successful.”
That brings us on to Montoya, another Ganassi driver – his walking away from F1 took a lot of guts, I reckon; do you talk to him, how’s he getting on?
“I just spoke with Juan the other day. Certainly it’s a very big transition purely because the cars are so different to anything that someone with a European or South American race background is used to.
I think…and I think Chip would agree, that his team is not the most competitive right now, so that makes it a bit more difficult for Juan. But I also think that from an experience standpoint that Juan is learning very fast and it’s not often that you see rookies without a NASCAR truck background or a midget background or a Busch Series background perform particularly well. It’s very difficult.
Although the results might not look as encouraging to the outsider looking in, I think from the people inside NASCAR that he’s showing a lot of promise in what is typically a very, very competitive series. It will take some time and will take longer then how he might adapt to other open-wheel series’, but I think in time he’ll perform very well.
We could be talking about him soon like we talk about Tony Stewart. And who knows? Juan and I could be teammates down the road! That might be a great combo for Chip in NASCAR!”
What do you make of Lewis Hamilton? Another British driver being hyped, or the real deal?
“I certainly think Ron Dennis deserves a lot of credit and a lot of praise for investing in Lewis from such a young age.
I’ve been familiar with Lewis back since when he raced go-karts. It’s great to see, not only an Englishman doing very well which will be great for the British GP, but it’s great to see two people that have been loyal to one another turn into such a success story. I think that’s very nice to see. Unfortunately in motor racing these days, you really don’t see much loyalty. I think it’s great from that standpoint.
I wish Lewis every success in the world and I hope he can become world champion. If he’s not this year, he will be very soon. It’s great for the British GP as well. The British GP has always been a huge race on the F1 calendar, and now with a Brit that can potentially win it, I think it will get the recognition that it deserves and the crowd attendance that it should have.”
Back to Indy – it’s a long, long race – what is the hardest part of driving the 500?
“That’s exactly it…it’s long and it’s very mentally tiring. The biggest thing is judging and timing the traffic. You weave through a lot of lapped traffic during a 500 mile race. Driver’s cars deteriorate very quickly from a handling standpoint. And certainly the conditions…when it’s hot and windy which they often can be during the last weekend in May.
It’s about being very disciplined and calculated through the lapped traffic. Sometimes you can lose time, but if you let it get to you, it can really affect a large part of your race. So I would say that your mental ability to calculate and time your way through lapped traffic is definitely the hardest thing in the Indy 500.”
I often read that the 500 is ‘not the race it used to be’ –but looking through the names brings up yourself, Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves, two Andretti’s, Unser, Sam Hornish, Franchitti, Buddy Rice, Scott Dixon to name just a few – surely that’s a roll call of talent as good as we are likely to see anywhere these days?
“I absolutely agree with that statement about talent. Sure you don’t see the numbers now with cars trying to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, but I certainly feel that the depth in this field is still incredibly strong.
I don’t think any series in the world is boasting of the greatest numbers that they’ve ever had. I don’t think anybody can say that. But like I said, I agree with your statement that the depth of talent involved in the 500 field right now is immense and that’s pretty impressive to say the least.”
Finally – it’s foolish to ask a top line racing driver if he could beat another, but given a Mclaren, how do you see yourself matching up against Alonso? And, to get the balance right, what if Fernando were to swap his Mclaren and race alongside you?
“That’s a very difficult question to answer. In any series, you’ve got to look at the amount of miles and preparation that driver’s do before they jump into that race car. That’s where Lewis Hamilton is very strong.
Ron Dennis has given him a good grounding into F1 with lots of miles. It was the same for me with the way Honda and Andretti Green Racing introduced me into the IndyCar Series. I did a lot of miles prior to actually racing.
I certainly think that with adequate miles before starting a race season, I could perform just as well. Everybody involved in motor racing has to have confidence in their own ability, but I’ve shown in various disciplines that I can win in every formula that I’ve ever raced in. I wouldn’t expect it to be any different in F1. It might be more difficult at the top levels like F1, but with the right amount of preparation, I would see myself competing favourably with Alonso.
And likewise him in IndyCars, with the same preparation time prior to a race season. I have to say that I would find it very difficult to see Fernando racing on an oval because of the safety standards involved in F1. Those guys racing at over 225 mph being so close to the wall would probably put them off somewhat. I’m not sure that would pass Bernie Ecclestone’s safety policy.”
It remains only to say thank you Dan Wheldon for taking the time to talk to the readers of UpdateF1, and we wish you the best of luck for the race, and the remainder of the season.
Questions by Steve Turnbull, many thanks to Mickey Ryan for help in organising this interview.
Written by Steve Turnbull on Fri, 18 May 2007 11:18:11
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