Sam prepares for road courses
source:
irl.racing-live.com
There is no question that Sam Hornish, Jr., is an
extremely talented and successful race car driver. Winning the 2001 and 2002
IndyCar Series Championships with Panther Racing, then being selected to drive
for Roger Penske's legendary open wheel team are proof enough of that fact. What
remains untested is Hornish's ability to win while negotiating the unfamiliar
right turns of a road and street course.
Considered a natural talent on ovals, Hornish actually honed his racing skills
in junior series by running on road courses. From 1996 to 1999 Hornish ran in
both the F2000 and Toyota Atlantic series with several top five finishes on the
road course portions of the schedules. In 1999 Hornish took the Rookie of the
Year title and won the Atlantics race on the oval in Chicago.
In 2000 he would take some modest backing from his family trucking firm and run
eight races for the low-budget PDM Racing team. Several good runs with PDM
including a startling third place finish at Las Vegas in an outdated chassis
would propel Hornish into the Panther Racing ride in 2001.
From there on, Hornish would not even test a competitive road racing car until
this past winter. Roger Penske's organization knew they had to get Hornish some
testing in a high horsepower car on a road course, but the IndyCar series
restrictive testing rules allowed for almost zero off season testing of any
kind.