Transitioning from road racing, or open wheel racing, to stock cars is more than a matter of sliding in through the window.
While talent and ability are the foundations of success for any driver; they’ll count for nothing if there isn’t good communications with the crew. And, it’s not enough to know that the hauler is parked in the garage; rather than the transporter is parked in the paddock. A lot of people will be following Danica Patrick’s transition from IndyCars to stock cars but she had it easy as a born in America driver. What about overseas drivers, like Starbeast Motorsports’ Narain Karthikeyan (from India) or Darryl O’Young from Hong Kong? When Auto123.com interviewed O’Young this writer was expecting a clipped British accent but, was surprised to hear unaccented American English. Still the two-time Porsche Cup Asia champ admittedly had to learn NASCAR jargon. So, while most aspiring drivers will play video games to get acclimated the 29-year-old O’Young picked up a copy of NASCAR for Dummies to help him communicate with Starbeast personnel, and racer Andy Hillenberg for his recent ARCA test. He explained “it was a huge challenge for me to understand the technical terms (like) when they talk about wedging the car. I picked up the NASCAR for Dummies book,” he said to learn the racers language. He also was aware the going fast – all alone – was only part of stock car race. “There is a challenge that’s going to be the hardest. All of pack will go quick in oval, but driving in traffic and working with the cars that’s going to be the biggest challenge.” He’s hoping to get “to feel the car and understand what is happening.” To do that he’ll probably have to reread his book to understand what his crew told him. Photos: NASCAR
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