From indycar.com
Non-equal parts serious race car driver and showman, Canadian Paul Tracy says there's nothing unlucky about his 13th starting position for the Indianapolis 500.
"Seriously, we can win the Indy 500," Tracy said in his latest blog for Racer.com.
"That got your attention, right? Well I'm not kidding. I have a way better, stronger car relative to the opposition than I did in 2002. Back then, Team Green had a mediocre, mid-pack car, but the team played it smart on strategy and I put a few moves on people and we mixed it up and made it happen. Now I reckon that between us, KV Racing and myself, we have this GEICO No. 15 car looking good in a straight fight.
"The race is a long race, and we've got an OK starting position. We're starting in mid-pack, and we'll go from there. A lot of things can happen in a 500-mile race. You work on that car until the end of the race to get it competitive."
In five previous years, Tracy's best starting position at Indy was seventh in 1993. In 2002, he started 29th and was the runner-up to Helio Castroneves. Mario Moraes, his month of May teammate with KV Racing Technology, will start seventh.
"Looking at the bigger picture, I'm checking out the grid now and the only cars quicker than us are from Penske, Ganassi and AGR, plus a kinda Penske-Matos and my teammate, who has an unlimited engine/tire deal," Tracy said.
"I think that's as good as we could have expected to be. We're even ahead of one of the AGR cars, Hideki Mutoh's, and we know he's not a slouch on ovals - and we've beaten good drivers and packages like Justin Wilson at Dale (Coyne's) team, and Dan Wheldon's Panther car. (Team co-owners) Kevin (Kalkhoven) and Jimmy (Vasser) and (team manager) Mark Johnson are happy, the sponsors are happy, and now we can focus on what lies ahead."
photo:IRL - Dan Helrigel
Non-equal parts serious race car driver and showman, Canadian Paul Tracy says there's nothing unlucky about his 13th starting position for the Indianapolis 500.
"Seriously, we can win the Indy 500," Tracy said in his latest blog for Racer.com.
"That got your attention, right? Well I'm not kidding. I have a way better, stronger car relative to the opposition than I did in 2002. Back then, Team Green had a mediocre, mid-pack car, but the team played it smart on strategy and I put a few moves on people and we mixed it up and made it happen. Now I reckon that between us, KV Racing and myself, we have this GEICO No. 15 car looking good in a straight fight.
"The race is a long race, and we've got an OK starting position. We're starting in mid-pack, and we'll go from there. A lot of things can happen in a 500-mile race. You work on that car until the end of the race to get it competitive."
In five previous years, Tracy's best starting position at Indy was seventh in 1993. In 2002, he started 29th and was the runner-up to Helio Castroneves. Mario Moraes, his month of May teammate with KV Racing Technology, will start seventh.
"Looking at the bigger picture, I'm checking out the grid now and the only cars quicker than us are from Penske, Ganassi and AGR, plus a kinda Penske-Matos and my teammate, who has an unlimited engine/tire deal," Tracy said.
"I think that's as good as we could have expected to be. We're even ahead of one of the AGR cars, Hideki Mutoh's, and we know he's not a slouch on ovals - and we've beaten good drivers and packages like Justin Wilson at Dale (Coyne's) team, and Dan Wheldon's Panther car. (Team co-owners) Kevin (Kalkhoven) and Jimmy (Vasser) and (team manager) Mark Johnson are happy, the sponsors are happy, and now we can focus on what lies ahead."
photo:IRL - Dan Helrigel